explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2393: Presidential Middle Names

2025-05-27T16:55:08Z

172.71.26.36: /* List of Presidents with middle names */ Given the last edit, adding into no-surname list. (Note: his eldar brother, Benjamin Kendrick Pierce, *was* named Kendrick, but more as a matrilineal to honour the (same) mother, probably where confusion started)

{{comic
| number = 2393
| date = December 2, 2020
| title = Presidential Middle Names
| image = presidential_middle_names.png
| titletext = The bottom of the list remains unchanged. Poor Rutherford Birchard Hayes.
}}

==Explanation==
A list of what Randall perceives will be the prettiest presidential {{w|middle names}} after the inauguration on January 20, 2021. [[Joe Biden|Joe Robinette Biden]] (46th president-elect) will take the second slot bumping previous second-place holder {{w|Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin Delano Roosevelt}}, the 32nd president, back to third. {{w|Warren G. Harding|Warren Gamaliel Harding}}, the 29th president, remains in first. Robinette is Biden's [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2008/08/joe_bidens_middle_name_is_robi.html grandmother's maiden name].

Overall, the ranking would not include every president, as many early presidents, such as {{w|George Washington}} and {{w|John Adams}}, lacked middle names. Some presidents were also more commonly known by their middle names as opposed to their first names, particularly John {{w|Calvin Coolidge}}, Stephen {{w|Grover Cleveland}}, Hiram {{w|Ulysses Grant}}, and Thomas {{w|Woodrow Wilson}}. In the case of Grant, the Senator who enrolled him at West Point messed up his full name as Ulysses Simpson Grant, hence he is widely known as ''Ulysses S. Grant'' with the spurious middle "S". Also, {{w|Harry S Truman}}'s middle name was just the letter S and was not an initial of a name; Truman's parents could not agree on which of his grandfathers' names to give him, but luckily they both started with the letter. One president has even changed his entire name: {{w|Gerald Ford}} was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr., officially changing his name in 1935. The humor is based on the sheer oddity of ranking people by the perceived prettiness of their obscure middle names. There is no evidence in the comic for how Randall’s list would deal with these cases.

The title text announces that {{w|Rutherford B. Hayes|Rutherford Birchard Hayes}}, the 19th president, remains at or near the bottom.

===List of Presidents with middle names===
(updated for 2021, as the comic)
{| class="wikitable"
|+ (Ordered by middle name)
! President
! Presidential order
|-
|James ABRAM Garfield
|20
|-
|Chester ALAN Arthur
|21
|-
|Lyndon BAINES Johnson
|36
|-
|Rutherford BIRCHARD Hayes
|19
|-
|John CALVIN Coolidge
|30
|-
|Herbert CLARK Hoover
|31
|-
|Dwight DAVID Eisenhower
|34
|-
|Franklin DELANO Roosevelt
|32
|-
|James ("Jimmy") EARL Carter
|39
|-
|John ("Jack") FITZGERALD Kennedy
|35
|-
|Warren GAMALIEL Harding
|29
|-
|Stephen GROVER Cleveland
|22, 24
|-
|William HENRY Harrison
|9
|-
|George HERBERT WALKER Bush
|41
|-
|William HOWARD Taft
|27
|-
|Barack HUSSEIN Obama
|44
|-
|William ("Bill") JEFFERSON Clinton
|42
|-
|Donald JOHN Trump
|45
|-
|James KNOX Polk
|11
|-
|Richard MILHOUS Nixon
|37
|-
|John QUINCY Adams
|6
|-
|Joseph ("Joe") ROBINETTE Biden
|46
|-
|Gerald RUDOLPH Ford
|38
|-
|Harry S. Truman (The S itself is the middle name)
|33
|-
|Hiram ULYSSES Grant (Ulysses SIMPSON Grant during his presidency)
|18
|-
|George WALKER Bush
|43
|-
|Ronald WILSON Reagan
|40
|-
|Thomas WOODROW Wilson
|28
|}

The Presidents without middle names — almost all of those before Grant, and a few a bit later — were George Washington, John Adams, {{w|Thomas Jefferson}}, {{w|James Madison}}, {{w|James Monroe}}, {{w|Andrew Jackson}}, {{w|Martin Van Buren}}, {{w|John Tyler}}, {{w|Zachary Taylor}}, {{w|Millard Fillmore}}, {{w|Franklin Pierce}}, {{w|James Buchanan}}, {{w|Abraham Lincoln}}, {{w|Andrew Johnson}}, {{w|Benjamin Harrison}}, {{w|William McKinley}} and {{w|Theodore Roosevelt}}.

==Transcript==
:<big>Prettiest</big>
:Presidential Middle Names Official Rankings
:(Updated for 2021)

# Gamaliel (Warren Harding)
#Robinette (Joe Biden) '''(NEW!)'''
#Delano (Franklin Roosevelt) 

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
[[Category:Rankings]]

3091: Renormalization

2025-05-20T08:38:33Z

172.71.26.36: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3091
| date = May 19, 2025
| title = Renormalization
| image = renormalization_2x.png
| imagesize = 221x345px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Applying renormalization to bullies successfully transformed Pete & Pete's Endless Mike into Finite Mike.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an electron shoved in a locker. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic refers to {{w|renormalization}}, which deals with self-interaction in physical systems. It makes an analogy between this and the kind of enforced 'self-interaction' that happens in the 'stop hitting yourself' meme. This involves the aggressor using a part of the victim's anatomy, typically the hand, and forcibly striking them with it, then accusing them of perpetrating the violence against themself.

The title text refers to the character Mike Hellstrom, nicknamed Endless Mike, from the 1989 TV sitcom {{w|The Adventures of Pete & Pete#Enemies|The Adventures of Pete & Pete}}. It links back to renormalization, because renormalization lets you remove infinities to get finite solutions, so in that sense it would turn Endless Mike into Finite Mike.

==Transcript==
: [Cueball poking an atom. Megan looks at it with a hand on her chin]
: Cueball: ''Hey, electron!''
: Cueball: ''Stop hitting yourself!''
: Cueball: ''Stop hitting yourself!''
: Megan: ...Wait.

:[Caption below the panel:]
: Renormalization actually started out as an effort to bully electrons.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

User talk:42.book.addict

2025-04-21T10:50:51Z

172.71.26.36: /* so why do you wanna to delete user talk:物灵? */

{{notice|I’m going on an indefinite {{w|WP:WIKIBREAK|wikibreak}} due to mental health reasons. I don’t know when I’m going to be back, but I will be focusing on recovery. I’m currently swamped with work and am transitioning into high school, which means that I have a bunch of work on my plate. I promise that this WikiBreak won’t be like last time (where I popped in and out as an IP), because honestly I have no capacity to be editing and have zero motivation to do so. Any thoughtful messages can be left [[User talk:42.book.addict|here]] and I’ll make sure to read them from time to time. Thank you!}}

<center>'''Archive 1'''</center>
<center>[[File:archive.png]]</center>
<center>For old and irrelevant messages, see my [[User talk:42.book.addict/archive|archive!]]</center>

== introductions ==
Just replying to your message (also dw no big deal for bothering me)
You click on your username and there should be an edit box. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 04:58, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:it says that i dont have permission to create the page…
:There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs, but you do not have permission to create this page. it says [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:33, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

I think you might have to wait some time (like a timer) until you can edit your own page... I think I only got to edit my page after 1 month of creating my account.--[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 21:31, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:ok, thx [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:52, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

My guess on where you live is somewhere in the GMT zone, so United Kingdom.--[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 03:43, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:nope, im a california girl :) ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 05:04, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

lol you never know with utc times --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 16:52, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

== Depends what you wanted to do... ==

Is the following what you intended? 
{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = [[File:trans_flag.png|45px]] | info = [[{{w|Transgender|This user is trans.}}]] | float = left }} 
{{clear}}...or is even the [[]] part not what you want?{{clear}}
{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = [[File:trans_flag.png|45px]] | info = {{w|Transgender|This user is trans.}} | float = left }} 
{{clear}}As brief a guide as I can manage:
*URL links use []. Although literal https://www.google.com will self-link without ''any'' wikimarkup, you probably don't want it to look like that most of the time.
** Just give the URL, as in <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com]</nowiki></code>, to get a [https://www.google.com] (i.e. a reference number), not the best way to do it. It can be organised better with a 'References' section, but we don't do that here (they do on wikipedia, but usually with other bits to it.
** Better to give the URL and the text to use (after a space, a character that never appears raw in any proper URL). This can be <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com Check It Out On Google!]</nowiki></code> or even <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com https://www.microsoft.com (only kidding!)]</nowiki></code>, to give [https://www.google.com Check It Out On Google!] or [https://www.google.com https://www.microsoft.com (only kidding!)]... But perhaps best not to do the latter too much (I really didn't want to post that without the "(only kidding!)" part, in fact.)
*Internalised wikilinks use the [[]]s.
**Anything that can be found under the title, e.g. "2: Petit Trees (sketch)" (or, because of redirections, "2" and "Petit Trees (sketch)" go to the same spot, so <code><nowiki>[[2]], [[Petit Trees (sketch)]] and [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]]</nowiki></code> gives you the literal links [[2]], [[Petit Trees (sketch)]] and [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]]
**Or use <code><nowiki>[[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|that comic with the little trees]]</nowiki></code>, additional text separated by the 'pipe' symbol (i.e. "|"), to link to [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|that comic with the little trees]]
**You can also link across to articles on other 'wikimedia family' sites, but I'm not going to try to summarise that, as the primary reason to do that is to go to an actual Wikipedia article, and there's a template set up to do that ''very'' nicely, already (and also a few other places, like Wiktionary, and some not-really-wikis with a similar philosphy like TVTropes). If in doubt, do it as a URL link ''or'' find a place where someone else has clearly markuped a link to the same site as you want to link to.
*So, anyway, Wikilink templates use the {{template|w}}-template, with one or two paramaters (pipe-separated). (It shortcuts the thing you'd maybe use [[]]s for
**Using <code><nowiki>{{w|article}}</nowiki></code> gives you a link to "{{w|Article}}" (it capitalises the first character, even if you don't)
**Using <code><nowiki>{{w|article|with alternate text}}</nowiki></code> gives you a link there but "{{w|article|with alternate text}}"
**If the article name has whitespace (or other 'URL-unfriendly' characters) in it, those characters in the URL (which you wouldn't want to use) will be rendered as something URL-friendly. The URL for "Whitespace (programming language)", for example, is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language) but you wouldn't normally use that so literally in any case, and definitely not when you can significanty shorten it with the {{template|w}} notation.
***What you can do is (without 'alternate link text') render it as <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)}}</nowiki></code> - i.e. {{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)}} - but that's not nice to see 'rendered raw' when you ''want'' the spaces. You could give it alternate text via <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)|Whitespace (programming language)}}</nowiki></code> to give {{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)|Whitespace (programming language)}} ...but that's wasteful and unnecessary.
***Instead, just do <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)}}</nowiki></code> (that's the literal copy of the article's own page title, from the rendered page) - and shows as {{w|Whitespace (programming language)}} - which is good. Although <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)|the programming language called Whitespace}}</nowiki></code> might be the best way to seemlessly link to {{w|Whitespace (programming language)|the programming language called Whitespace}} ...depends what you want to appear there.
***And you can link to header anchors pretty much ''like'' the URL of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language)#History by using <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)#History|the history of Whitespace}}</nowiki></code> to have you show {{w|Whitespace (programming language)#History|the history of Whitespace}} or whatever else you might want to use.
**Also, for the use of a link which is singular but which you would like to include as the plural (usually the "...s" or "...es" version), you could use article-name first parameter and ''pluralised'' article name as second, but instead of <code><nowiki>{{w|Plural|Plurals}}</nowiki></code>, for a link to the {{w|Plural|Plurals}}, you can save yourself a lot of effort by doing <code><nowiki>{{w|Plural}}s</nowiki></code> to also give you a linke to {{w|Plural}}s. Magic, eh? And it also works with <code><nowiki>{{w|Ox}}en</nowiki></code> to link the different standard plural of {{w|Ox}}en to the article for "Ox" (better than linking to the word for {{w|Oxen}}, which ends up redirecting to {{w|Ox}} anyway).
...so, anyway, that's the basics. And a few not-so-basics. So if the solutions to your tagging issue aren't already solved (or even if they are!), you might have enough info here to kludge it into whatever form of infobox info text you ''really'' wanted to use. Ok? Probably far too much info for you to absorb in one go, but covers loads of interesting possibilities. About the only thing you don't want to do is wikilink straight to the word "trans", at that'll be a disambiguation page. And there's also no way (or reason?) to use the terms "trans man"/"trans woman" as the pluralised "trans men"/"trans women" versions via the "directly add the plural suffix" thing, of course. :P Anyway, FYI. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.217|162.158.38.217]] 20:40, 25 May 2024 (UTC)
::oh my god thank you so much [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:38, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

== Welcome back, Tori! ==

How's life? [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 18:47, 1 December 2024 (UTC)
:Eh, it’s fine. I just came back from New York on a ''very'' stressful flight-missed the original one, did my Language Arts homework on the flight, and came back to California at 2 am. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:26, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

== Comics with inverted brightness. ==

At the most arbitrary, I'd suggest that, just maybe, ''panes'' with inverted brightness fulfil the category requirements, or perhaps a bit of white text because it happens to be written on a more shaded bit of background, but I'm unsure that the {{diff|358698|lavatory signs}} strictly invoke inverted brightness (if real signs exist that are light-on-dark, which at least some of them are, this makes it an ''un''inverted depiction of one of them), and I'm unhappy with your (presumed) linking of this category for a {{diff|358691|tree silhouette}} (it shows the perfectly cromulant situation of bright sky behind a relatively dark tree, again not inverted, merely drawn for contrast).

An interesting example is something like [[811: Starlight]]. The stars (white spots on floodfilled black background) really shouldn't be considered inverted (black stars on white sky would be inverted; it's only that the category specifically mentions night ''and'' space scenes makes it valid from that perspective), but the text and stickfigures/etc ''are'' definitely inverted (all due to the background they're on).

It's just my opinion, but I don't think that any patch of black-floodfill (especially in just a fraction of a pane or two, within an otherwise normal multi-pane comic) around a white detail is automatically ripe for marking as inverted. I'll reluctantly accept "night sky" or "space" (but only with stars... no "entirely featureless black, through a window/porthole") as cause for being classed as Inverted, due to the category explanation. But feel that the true "inversion" is where there is [[566: Matrix Revisited|pane inversion]] which results in white text and/or (character) stickfigures upon black background as a definite contrast to 'normality'. Before you go too far with HotCatting some things that I'd feel compelled to revert (as I'm very tempted with the tree silhouette, and almost certain I should with the Gents-signs, for example...). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.119|141.101.98.119]] 19:12, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

==Hey again, I know we have some bad blood but...==
Hey 42, it's Z1m. I know we haven't seen each other in a while (who am I kidding, it's a wiki; I meant talked) Can you do the little welcome thing so I can edit my talk page? Thanks! [[User:Maybe Bill Cipher|An anonymous Gravity Falls expert]] ([[User talk:Maybe Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:26, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:Why can’t you use your old account? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:38, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
::I forgot my pass :skull: [[User:Maybe Bill Cipher|An anonymous Gravity Falls expert]] ([[User talk:Maybe Bill Cipher|talk]]) 22:33, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:::SMH. Done. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:37, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
::::Thanks! [[User:Maybe Bill Cipher|An anonymous Gravity Falls expert]] ([[User talk:Maybe Bill Cipher|talk]]) 22:42, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

==I FORGOT MY PASS AGAIN ASDFGHJK<SAHFJEWIUBEIUWDBHIVHJ==
Help :( [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|Help I'm not OK]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 18:49, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
:''sigh'' '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:41, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
:I KNOW I'M A DINGUS DON'T LOOK AT ME LEAV EME TO MY BASIC YELLOW DORITO SHAME [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|Do not click on this link if you wish to keep your soul]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]])

==Hi (3==
Sorry if I'm bothering you too much, just wanted to say hi. {{unsigned|Definitely Bill Cipher|15:19, 17 December 2024 (UTC)}}
:Please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:05, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::Sorry [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|A dream demon]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:10, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:::It’s fine, as long as you remember. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 20:51, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::::So, uh... do you wanna take this to my talk page and we can talk or... [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|A dream demon]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 21:18, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

==Congrats==
:I checked and you're the contributor today that has made the most edits. I'm on the leaderboard too, but not in the top three *0(*. Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you. Talk to me anytime! [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:52, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::Ok, that’s nice. I’ve stopped viewing Contribution Scores as a measurement of my editing ability-it only measures how many points and how many pages I have edited, not the quality of my edits or how much of an impact they have on the wiki. A bot can spam and get onto the All-Time Top 50 Leaderboard, but that's not reflective of its helpfulness (none). '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:49, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:::I remain free from all such objectivity by staying firmly off the list. I ''could'' flatter myself that I deserve a place, for all my (useful?) work over the last 10+ years, but... no definitive tallying and I don't even fool myself that this statement can be believed. Which is liberating. No temptation to "edit for editing's sake", and remaining blissfully unaware how much time I must have spent not doing ''other'' important things. But that's just me (assuming you accept my account), and please don't consider this as downplaying the known-and-named contributors (current and past) who have made a more attributable contribution. Horses for courses. You (both) be you, and who knows where any of us might be in another ten years; hopefully managing to create a net positive outcome for the world, as the only thing that ''anybody'' should aspire to.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.182|172.69.43.182]] 17:18, 19 December 2024 (UTC)

== Bluey news just dropped. ==

https://youtu.be/ititZcuih8E?si=_9ceRfwc52qfa5Tu [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 20:23, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:NOOOO '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:25, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::wait, what?--[[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 16:53, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

== Deleting User Talk Pages ==
I noticed that you added some user talk pages into the pages to be deleted category. Even if they are an IP address and only have one comment, they still probably shouldn't be deleted. I only noticed because you had marked my talk page. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 09:19, 1 January 2025 (UTC)
:As I commented over on your page (sorry, didn't spot this, yet), I think that it's perfectly legitimate to correct (by ''requesting'' deletion) the creation of IP-based User and User Talk namespace pages. The intended source/target can never make any proper use of them, and they are instead left open to disproportionately high chance of ''improper'' use.
:IPs ''may'' have been more reliably associated with particular login-less users (such as myself) in the earliest days of the site, but it's not just the current proxy-provider that makes it likely that anyone coming here is effectively randomised. A 2015-era commentator almost certainly doesn't have the exact same IP ''from their ISP'' (which is Cloudflared away, anyway), unless they've taken great trouble to maintain statically upon it, and that's presuming that they haven't switched providers and/or routing hardware in the last decade, to further muddle it up.
:So far, I haven't seen any communications to a User Talk:<IP> page that deserves preserving (and User:<IP> stuff tends to be worse, thankfully rarer), but if a named user (who may or may not be currently active, or have had their own Talk page) contributes anything 'untrivial' then you could perhaps copy it to their own (newly created, if necessary?) user-page, or to whatever article Talk page it's identifiably about. Admonations not to delete Incomplete-templates and nice messages of agreement about some Conan-related link-finding are not al all that level of preservable conversation (well, not even a dialogue, as they weren't even acknowledged!), as 'recent' examples.
:Anyway, marking for deletion still requires that someone ''actually'' deletes them. Currently, '42' can't do that. (They're clearly eager to be helpful, but not yet admin-material.) Realistically, it will need someone else to actually do that bit. And I think the current 'someone else' concerned isn't overly eager to delete things not related to more current unwanted contributions. I'd have done a bit more cleaning up, myself, but by deliberately having kept out of consideration for such responsibiity, it's not something I should actively complain about. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.186|141.101.98.186]] 13:00, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

==Hiiiii==
:Heya, 42! Just wanted to check in because I left for winter break and I thought 'I wonder how she's doing?'
:If I'm being annoying, you can just say so and I'll leave you alone.
:Anyway, I'm gonna go comic hop. Talk to me anytime! [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|Come and talk!]]) 15:15, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
::I’m fine. I went skiing in {{w|Heavenly Mountain Resort|Tahoe}} 5 days during winter break and also went to {{w|Point Reyes Station}}. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:50, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Cool, if you wanna talk I'm here (3 [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:35, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

== I heard about the wildfires. ==

Are you safe? Are you alright? [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 08:43, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
:That’s SoCal, not the Bay Area, so I’m all good. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 10:10, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

== Any luck with Jeff? ==

It’s been a while since you’ve put up the “banner” on your page. Has he responded yet? [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 22:23, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
:Nope. I’ve emailed Davidy22 and he responded, but he doesn’t have server access. I tried on Gmail, Reddit, X, asked @ActuallyBerg from [[explain xkcd#History|the old forum]] who’s apparently a friend with Jeff on both X and Bluesky. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:25, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
::Damn… that’s slightly (very) worrying. Good job for trying tho [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 22:57, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Yeah…I’m just going to keep on trying, seeing if I can solve some of the problems remotely. Not too sure what much I can do about the ‘crat situation though. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:59, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Well good luck [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 23:07, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

== {{w|WP:REMOVED}} ==
kindly stop adding it back. thank you. [[user talk:lett‪herebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 15:53, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:very well. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:05, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
::ok, that's the limit. {{w|WP:NOBAN|don't post on my talk page again.}} if you wish to fiddle with minutae, go to wikipedia, where that sort of thing is appreciated. i'll also note that no one else has complained about my signature, only you. [[user talk:lett‪herebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 10:13, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
:::touche. to be honest, grabbing at your throat for a simple signature issue got a bit boring after a couple days. have a nice day! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 11:28, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

== Talk Page added to "pages to delete ==
Hey, I noticed you added my talk page to the "pages to delete" category. Why? I don't really want my talk page deleted. Qoiuoiuoiu (talk) 16:29, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:Sorry, changed it. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:58, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
::If you want my advice (no reason you do...), do a little more checking of the page history. ''And'' that of the partner page (compare User: <-> User Talk), where it exists. You might find a few of the ones that you marked for deleting weren't created, unused and abandoned, but actually 'in use' (even if not directly).
::You're eager, and I still completely support IP-related pages being marked for deletion (remembering that you don't have the power to ''actually'' delete them... which is probably a relief to a small handful of actal users, like the above), but maybe dial it back a bit so that you don't make a few more taggings that need to be reverted... Build up a personal 'hitlist', maybe, but do more poking around and keep it down to a handful of the 'best' candidaates that you find, not a couple of a dozen in quick order, which I think you did yesterday.... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]]
:::I did check the Page history of [[User talk:Qoiuoiuoiu]] though, and saw that it was created by [[User:While False]]. I also checked the User Page, and saw that it was edited slightly to change While False’s announcement. Because the entire purpose of [[User talk:Qoiuoiuoiu]] was to presumably reduce red links, I tagged [[:Category:Pages to delete]]. Checking page history and user pages honestly doesn’t take that much time, and I checked them for every single page (I think). Upon [[User:Qoiuoiuoiu|Qoiuoiuoiu’s]] complaint, I removed the Category and added a comment so that the talk page has a purpose. I believe that I was in the right to tag them in this case, and that is my decision. Although I do like the idea of the “hitlist”, and will create one. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:46, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

== Bluey ==

I can't believe you watch a ''children's'' show like Bluey. You should watch an ''adult'' show, like my personal favourite, {{w|My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic}} ;). [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 19:38, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
:[https://gamejolt.com/games/sonic/783884 nah I'm sending you to the green hills for that one buddy] /j [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 20:39, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
:LMFAOOO '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:38, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

== "Shared named" comics... ==

Not too sure about the shared-name status for "Advent Calendar", "Advent Calendar Advent Calendar" and "Advent" (more clear if there was "Advent Calendars", the AVAV ''might'' be deemed a copy (literally!) of AV, but it'd be a stretch to link the A to the AV and thus also the AVAV), but you can't really put just one comic in the Shared Name category, can you? If you're happy for it, then do it for all of them. And, when you do, might be a good idea to put the markup comment after the category membership tag with an explanation of which one(s) you're linking it with, to avoid random editors getting the wrong idea (or ''no'' idea) on spotting it... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.252|162.158.33.252]] 00:26, 12 January 2025 (UTC)

== Why do you have a hitlist? ==

Please don't put me on there 😭😭😭 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 13:53, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:It’s for user pages/talk pages to delete. It’s fine, you’re fine, everybody’s fine (except for me i have a flu) '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:59, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
::Ykkkkkk, I bet Jeff’s heir would be easier to contact… Just saying…… [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 17:01, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
:::which would be the next ‘crat with server control, someone who doesn’t exist yet since Jeff still needs to promote them. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:17, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
:::: dammit [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 15:53, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

==We're cooked==
You-know-who became president on MLK Day. We're so cooked, 42. [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:23, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
:as a Brit I too am concerned [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 14:36, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
::Yeh i'm scared [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:21, 31 January 2025 (UTC)
:::yayyyyy politics [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 16:38, 31 January 2025 (UTC)

== Different name in ContributionScores? ==

Hi 42

I just realized that in the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ContributionScores ContributionScores] you are listed as Victoria. How come you manage to have two different names on this wiki? Is that some error? It is confusing at least.

Keep up the good work --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:20, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
:I noticed that too! What's your secret?--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:06, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
::haha, there’s no secret. my name’s victoria, but i also go by tori. that’s why if you look up at old messages, some people refer to me as victoria or tori. if you want to keep on calling me 42, or 42.book.addict, that’s completely fine! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:05, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Yeah I guess what i was asking is how you managed to change your name on the leaderboard! I can't figure it out haha. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:11, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
::::oh, that’s easy-you just change it in your preferences. find the real name box, and input whatever you want. some people might find it confusing, and you might need to explain to people the difference, like this converstaion right now. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:18, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
:::::Oh, cool! Thanks. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:53, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

:Well if it is a part of the wiki I guess it is fine. But I think it is a bit confusing that we cannot see the user name of the person on the leaderboard. So it would be great if the name in the leader-board could also change to 42. But I guess that is not possible? As you know I'm made an admin, but also I have way to little knowledge of programming and wiki etc. And full time job, other hobbies and two kids, one of which seems to be older than 42. So it is not your age, but 42 comes from your love of Hitchhikers Guide to the galaxy? (Big fan me-self). Impressive the amount of work you have put into the wiki in such a short time. I have been a member since October 2013. I still remember [[Talk:30: Donner|my first comment]] on explain, actually made it before I signed up and then added my signature after signing up a few days later ;-) Back then I used much more time on explain. Had actually not intended to become admin. But second time I was asked, and with no active admins I accepted. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:39, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
::Oh, nice! Never knew that you were a parent. i ''could'' remove the Victoria from the leaderboard by blanking my real name in preferences, but honestly, I’d rather not. There are tons of other people with a situation like this, and I don’t think that it’ll cause much confusion. I’m always happy to explain why it’s listed as Victoria or not! (BTW, Victoria is literally on my User Page) '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:20, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Well we usually do not now much about each other and I had not read your user page before I found out you where also Victoria. Not sure what you mean by Victoria being on you user page. I searched on it and found no hit for Victoria... But no big problem. Just a bit confusing. Just stay on the leaderboard. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:26, 9 February 2025 (UTC)
::::weird...i could've sworn that i added it to my user page. i'll add it now to try to reduce confusion in the future. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:09, 9 February 2025 (UTC)

== You into Friday Night Funkin? ==

tldr it's a silly Newgrounds-inspired rhythm game with literally hundreds if not thousands of mods. you should get into it if you're not already

[[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:19, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
:moved this to the bottom so you'd be more likely to see this haha [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:03, 17 April 2025 (UTC)
::no-i don’t play rhythm games. moved it back up for chronological order. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:34, 18 April 2025 (UTC)

== Contacting Randall ==

Hey Victoria! Sorry to hear about your mental health issues, I hope you're getting better.

Here's some good news: I tried contacting Randall to ask him when he replaced comic [[36: Scientists]], and he replied! It's weird that Randall is easier to reach than the owner of this wiki... You can read the conversation and a summary of what happened [[User:FaviFake|on my user page]]. Among other things, he gave me the official release date, April 28th, and, after I asked, he told me he might reply to more simple questions! If you have some technical or administrative questions, I could ask them directly to him. If you're curious, there are more details about this [[User:FaviFake|here]]. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:32, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

==oof==
:I'm so sorry, 42. I go to therapy and picked up a couple things, so if you need me, I'm here. You can leave a message on my talk page anytime and we can yap about whatever. Hang in there 0) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:35, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

== Uncooperating User ==

Hi 42 
You originally wrote regarding [[User talk:Lettherebedarklight]] here: [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#Uncooperating_User|Uncooperating User]] 
I warned him not to change his signature to a link and also not deleting his talk page. But he has not complied. But now I saw your comment on his user page, after I rolled back his latest deletion... Regarding wiki policy. And since I do not go much into this I need some help here. I do not have time to read up on this. I'm just so unlucky as to be the only admin still active here... Not by my own wish. Maybe FaviFake should also say something here? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:39, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
:I believe this is what's happening: 42 originally noticed the user's signature, which is clearly a violation of the Wikipedia policy, and you warned them. They didn't cooperate, and then you warned them again, but this time you also told them to not blank their talk page (and to not redirect it), which wasn't among the things 42 pointed out. Because of this, she mentioned they're allowed to blank their talk page and redirect it to their user page, but not to have a signature that looks like an external link. And now, as you can see in [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:FaviFake&diff=367780&oldid=367750 this edit of theirs], they have done both things. The signature is not allowed, but blanking their page is. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:56, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
::But if they blanck their talk page, then I cannot discuss the issues that are in violation of with their signature. So how can this be an acceptable conduct. Maybe blanking their user page but not the talk page...? As far as I can see his signature link still go to his user talk page, and not to the rickroll link, you have to copy paste that to get rolled... But if it is a problem, should I then block him for being uncooperative? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:52, 7 March 2025 (UTC)
:::I don't know, 42 pointed it out because she was confused by the link. i'm not really an expert in Wikipedia policy either. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:22, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

== Formatting ==

Just wondering why you're using awkward formatting on your user page when you could easier use:
*Foo
*Bar
**Baz subthing
**Bat subthing
*Flibble
...etc? No need for BRs and NBSPs. Can be combined with colon-leveling (though can also replace it). Swap *s for #s to get (nested) numbered lists, or *# for indented numbers with #* continuing the numbers around sub-bullets (starts to get complicated, but it's an option) if you decided you need to. Maybe it's a choice you're making, but FYI if you haven't already picked up the bullet-point syntax in all your time here. 
Anyway, just perhaps whilst you're active again. No problem if you don't make use of this information now/ever. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.133|172.71.178.133]] 07:56, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:I never knew that-thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 15:55, 9 April 2025 (UTC)

== so why do you wanna to delete [[user talk:物灵]]? ==

he and i were both from another website. i chose to chat with him here because i don't want Zhou Chenxiao to revert my edit. why you want to delete? [[User:Translated ORK|Translated ORK]] ([[User talk:Translated ORK|talk]]) 09:56, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
:I will say this, here, in case you don't get to read my other note. This is not a refugee camp for conversations displaced from elsewhere. There's not even any chat goin on because it's all just you. (If there's another site where ''he'' is one-sidedly 'replying' to ''you'' , then I bet that place is equally bemused and unamused.)
:I can't speak for 42, but I'm not surprised someone else here wants to do that.
:Elsewhere you talk of Free Speech, but I think you might be confused. As well as the ''{{w|Gratis versus libre}}'' issue, this extends to what is written below any submission you are making: "Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors." Concensus may decide that the point you make is not worth the having been made. (Later, concensus may also decide that a removal/re-edit is bad and ''restore'' it, but that is a community issue to resolve.)
:This is as close to democracy as we can get (but, unlike the ''original'' democracy, we also let women and all kinds of other people 'vote'! ;) ), with shades of anarchy and the only totalitarian elements being when certain pages are locked-down/deleted by a designated admin who is probably acting upon community feeling (or on behalf of it, seeing where it is heading). It's a system that works (mostly hands-off). And you still can't falsely shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater without push-back. Does that make sense? (@UT, also @42...) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.36|172.71.26.36]] 10:50, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

User talk:42.book.addict

2025-04-21T10:50:19Z

172.71.26.36: /* so why do you wanna to delete user talk:物灵? */

{{notice|I’m going on an indefinite {{w|WP:WIKIBREAK|wikibreak}} due to mental health reasons. I don’t know when I’m going to be back, but I will be focusing on recovery. I’m currently swamped with work and am transitioning into high school, which means that I have a bunch of work on my plate. I promise that this WikiBreak won’t be like last time (where I popped in and out as an IP), because honestly I have no capacity to be editing and have zero motivation to do so. Any thoughtful messages can be left [[User talk:42.book.addict|here]] and I’ll make sure to read them from time to time. Thank you!}}

<center>'''Archive 1'''</center>
<center>[[File:archive.png]]</center>
<center>For old and irrelevant messages, see my [[User talk:42.book.addict/archive|archive!]]</center>

== introductions ==
Just replying to your message (also dw no big deal for bothering me)
You click on your username and there should be an edit box. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 04:58, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:it says that i dont have permission to create the page…
:There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs, but you do not have permission to create this page. it says [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:33, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

I think you might have to wait some time (like a timer) until you can edit your own page... I think I only got to edit my page after 1 month of creating my account.--[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 21:31, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:ok, thx [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:52, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

My guess on where you live is somewhere in the GMT zone, so United Kingdom.--[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 03:43, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:nope, im a california girl :) ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 05:04, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

lol you never know with utc times --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 16:52, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

== Depends what you wanted to do... ==

Is the following what you intended? 
{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = [[File:trans_flag.png|45px]] | info = [[{{w|Transgender|This user is trans.}}]] | float = left }} 
{{clear}}...or is even the [[]] part not what you want?{{clear}}
{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = [[File:trans_flag.png|45px]] | info = {{w|Transgender|This user is trans.}} | float = left }} 
{{clear}}As brief a guide as I can manage:
*URL links use []. Although literal https://www.google.com will self-link without ''any'' wikimarkup, you probably don't want it to look like that most of the time.
** Just give the URL, as in <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com]</nowiki></code>, to get a [https://www.google.com] (i.e. a reference number), not the best way to do it. It can be organised better with a 'References' section, but we don't do that here (they do on wikipedia, but usually with other bits to it.
** Better to give the URL and the text to use (after a space, a character that never appears raw in any proper URL). This can be <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com Check It Out On Google!]</nowiki></code> or even <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com https://www.microsoft.com (only kidding!)]</nowiki></code>, to give [https://www.google.com Check It Out On Google!] or [https://www.google.com https://www.microsoft.com (only kidding!)]... But perhaps best not to do the latter too much (I really didn't want to post that without the "(only kidding!)" part, in fact.)
*Internalised wikilinks use the [[]]s.
**Anything that can be found under the title, e.g. "2: Petit Trees (sketch)" (or, because of redirections, "2" and "Petit Trees (sketch)" go to the same spot, so <code><nowiki>[[2]], [[Petit Trees (sketch)]] and [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]]</nowiki></code> gives you the literal links [[2]], [[Petit Trees (sketch)]] and [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]]
**Or use <code><nowiki>[[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|that comic with the little trees]]</nowiki></code>, additional text separated by the 'pipe' symbol (i.e. "|"), to link to [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|that comic with the little trees]]
**You can also link across to articles on other 'wikimedia family' sites, but I'm not going to try to summarise that, as the primary reason to do that is to go to an actual Wikipedia article, and there's a template set up to do that ''very'' nicely, already (and also a few other places, like Wiktionary, and some not-really-wikis with a similar philosphy like TVTropes). If in doubt, do it as a URL link ''or'' find a place where someone else has clearly markuped a link to the same site as you want to link to.
*So, anyway, Wikilink templates use the {{template|w}}-template, with one or two paramaters (pipe-separated). (It shortcuts the thing you'd maybe use [[]]s for
**Using <code><nowiki>{{w|article}}</nowiki></code> gives you a link to "{{w|Article}}" (it capitalises the first character, even if you don't)
**Using <code><nowiki>{{w|article|with alternate text}}</nowiki></code> gives you a link there but "{{w|article|with alternate text}}"
**If the article name has whitespace (or other 'URL-unfriendly' characters) in it, those characters in the URL (which you wouldn't want to use) will be rendered as something URL-friendly. The URL for "Whitespace (programming language)", for example, is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language) but you wouldn't normally use that so literally in any case, and definitely not when you can significanty shorten it with the {{template|w}} notation.
***What you can do is (without 'alternate link text') render it as <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)}}</nowiki></code> - i.e. {{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)}} - but that's not nice to see 'rendered raw' when you ''want'' the spaces. You could give it alternate text via <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)|Whitespace (programming language)}}</nowiki></code> to give {{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)|Whitespace (programming language)}} ...but that's wasteful and unnecessary.
***Instead, just do <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)}}</nowiki></code> (that's the literal copy of the article's own page title, from the rendered page) - and shows as {{w|Whitespace (programming language)}} - which is good. Although <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)|the programming language called Whitespace}}</nowiki></code> might be the best way to seemlessly link to {{w|Whitespace (programming language)|the programming language called Whitespace}} ...depends what you want to appear there.
***And you can link to header anchors pretty much ''like'' the URL of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language)#History by using <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)#History|the history of Whitespace}}</nowiki></code> to have you show {{w|Whitespace (programming language)#History|the history of Whitespace}} or whatever else you might want to use.
**Also, for the use of a link which is singular but which you would like to include as the plural (usually the "...s" or "...es" version), you could use article-name first parameter and ''pluralised'' article name as second, but instead of <code><nowiki>{{w|Plural|Plurals}}</nowiki></code>, for a link to the {{w|Plural|Plurals}}, you can save yourself a lot of effort by doing <code><nowiki>{{w|Plural}}s</nowiki></code> to also give you a linke to {{w|Plural}}s. Magic, eh? And it also works with <code><nowiki>{{w|Ox}}en</nowiki></code> to link the different standard plural of {{w|Ox}}en to the article for "Ox" (better than linking to the word for {{w|Oxen}}, which ends up redirecting to {{w|Ox}} anyway).
...so, anyway, that's the basics. And a few not-so-basics. So if the solutions to your tagging issue aren't already solved (or even if they are!), you might have enough info here to kludge it into whatever form of infobox info text you ''really'' wanted to use. Ok? Probably far too much info for you to absorb in one go, but covers loads of interesting possibilities. About the only thing you don't want to do is wikilink straight to the word "trans", at that'll be a disambiguation page. And there's also no way (or reason?) to use the terms "trans man"/"trans woman" as the pluralised "trans men"/"trans women" versions via the "directly add the plural suffix" thing, of course. :P Anyway, FYI. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.217|162.158.38.217]] 20:40, 25 May 2024 (UTC)
::oh my god thank you so much [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:38, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

== Welcome back, Tori! ==

How's life? [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 18:47, 1 December 2024 (UTC)
:Eh, it’s fine. I just came back from New York on a ''very'' stressful flight-missed the original one, did my Language Arts homework on the flight, and came back to California at 2 am. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:26, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

== Comics with inverted brightness. ==

At the most arbitrary, I'd suggest that, just maybe, ''panes'' with inverted brightness fulfil the category requirements, or perhaps a bit of white text because it happens to be written on a more shaded bit of background, but I'm unsure that the {{diff|358698|lavatory signs}} strictly invoke inverted brightness (if real signs exist that are light-on-dark, which at least some of them are, this makes it an ''un''inverted depiction of one of them), and I'm unhappy with your (presumed) linking of this category for a {{diff|358691|tree silhouette}} (it shows the perfectly cromulant situation of bright sky behind a relatively dark tree, again not inverted, merely drawn for contrast).

An interesting example is something like [[811: Starlight]]. The stars (white spots on floodfilled black background) really shouldn't be considered inverted (black stars on white sky would be inverted; it's only that the category specifically mentions night ''and'' space scenes makes it valid from that perspective), but the text and stickfigures/etc ''are'' definitely inverted (all due to the background they're on).

It's just my opinion, but I don't think that any patch of black-floodfill (especially in just a fraction of a pane or two, within an otherwise normal multi-pane comic) around a white detail is automatically ripe for marking as inverted. I'll reluctantly accept "night sky" or "space" (but only with stars... no "entirely featureless black, through a window/porthole") as cause for being classed as Inverted, due to the category explanation. But feel that the true "inversion" is where there is [[566: Matrix Revisited|pane inversion]] which results in white text and/or (character) stickfigures upon black background as a definite contrast to 'normality'. Before you go too far with HotCatting some things that I'd feel compelled to revert (as I'm very tempted with the tree silhouette, and almost certain I should with the Gents-signs, for example...). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.119|141.101.98.119]] 19:12, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

==Hey again, I know we have some bad blood but...==
Hey 42, it's Z1m. I know we haven't seen each other in a while (who am I kidding, it's a wiki; I meant talked) Can you do the little welcome thing so I can edit my talk page? Thanks! [[User:Maybe Bill Cipher|An anonymous Gravity Falls expert]] ([[User talk:Maybe Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:26, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:Why can’t you use your old account? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:38, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
::I forgot my pass :skull: [[User:Maybe Bill Cipher|An anonymous Gravity Falls expert]] ([[User talk:Maybe Bill Cipher|talk]]) 22:33, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:::SMH. Done. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:37, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
::::Thanks! [[User:Maybe Bill Cipher|An anonymous Gravity Falls expert]] ([[User talk:Maybe Bill Cipher|talk]]) 22:42, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

==I FORGOT MY PASS AGAIN ASDFGHJK<SAHFJEWIUBEIUWDBHIVHJ==
Help :( [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|Help I'm not OK]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 18:49, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
:''sigh'' '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:41, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
:I KNOW I'M A DINGUS DON'T LOOK AT ME LEAV EME TO MY BASIC YELLOW DORITO SHAME [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|Do not click on this link if you wish to keep your soul]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]])

==Hi (3==
Sorry if I'm bothering you too much, just wanted to say hi. {{unsigned|Definitely Bill Cipher|15:19, 17 December 2024 (UTC)}}
:Please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:05, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::Sorry [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|A dream demon]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:10, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:::It’s fine, as long as you remember. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 20:51, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::::So, uh... do you wanna take this to my talk page and we can talk or... [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|A dream demon]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 21:18, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

==Congrats==
:I checked and you're the contributor today that has made the most edits. I'm on the leaderboard too, but not in the top three *0(*. Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you. Talk to me anytime! [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:52, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::Ok, that’s nice. I’ve stopped viewing Contribution Scores as a measurement of my editing ability-it only measures how many points and how many pages I have edited, not the quality of my edits or how much of an impact they have on the wiki. A bot can spam and get onto the All-Time Top 50 Leaderboard, but that's not reflective of its helpfulness (none). '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:49, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:::I remain free from all such objectivity by staying firmly off the list. I ''could'' flatter myself that I deserve a place, for all my (useful?) work over the last 10+ years, but... no definitive tallying and I don't even fool myself that this statement can be believed. Which is liberating. No temptation to "edit for editing's sake", and remaining blissfully unaware how much time I must have spent not doing ''other'' important things. But that's just me (assuming you accept my account), and please don't consider this as downplaying the known-and-named contributors (current and past) who have made a more attributable contribution. Horses for courses. You (both) be you, and who knows where any of us might be in another ten years; hopefully managing to create a net positive outcome for the world, as the only thing that ''anybody'' should aspire to.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.182|172.69.43.182]] 17:18, 19 December 2024 (UTC)

== Bluey news just dropped. ==

https://youtu.be/ititZcuih8E?si=_9ceRfwc52qfa5Tu [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 20:23, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:NOOOO '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:25, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::wait, what?--[[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 16:53, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

== Deleting User Talk Pages ==
I noticed that you added some user talk pages into the pages to be deleted category. Even if they are an IP address and only have one comment, they still probably shouldn't be deleted. I only noticed because you had marked my talk page. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 09:19, 1 January 2025 (UTC)
:As I commented over on your page (sorry, didn't spot this, yet), I think that it's perfectly legitimate to correct (by ''requesting'' deletion) the creation of IP-based User and User Talk namespace pages. The intended source/target can never make any proper use of them, and they are instead left open to disproportionately high chance of ''improper'' use.
:IPs ''may'' have been more reliably associated with particular login-less users (such as myself) in the earliest days of the site, but it's not just the current proxy-provider that makes it likely that anyone coming here is effectively randomised. A 2015-era commentator almost certainly doesn't have the exact same IP ''from their ISP'' (which is Cloudflared away, anyway), unless they've taken great trouble to maintain statically upon it, and that's presuming that they haven't switched providers and/or routing hardware in the last decade, to further muddle it up.
:So far, I haven't seen any communications to a User Talk:<IP> page that deserves preserving (and User:<IP> stuff tends to be worse, thankfully rarer), but if a named user (who may or may not be currently active, or have had their own Talk page) contributes anything 'untrivial' then you could perhaps copy it to their own (newly created, if necessary?) user-page, or to whatever article Talk page it's identifiably about. Admonations not to delete Incomplete-templates and nice messages of agreement about some Conan-related link-finding are not al all that level of preservable conversation (well, not even a dialogue, as they weren't even acknowledged!), as 'recent' examples.
:Anyway, marking for deletion still requires that someone ''actually'' deletes them. Currently, '42' can't do that. (They're clearly eager to be helpful, but not yet admin-material.) Realistically, it will need someone else to actually do that bit. And I think the current 'someone else' concerned isn't overly eager to delete things not related to more current unwanted contributions. I'd have done a bit more cleaning up, myself, but by deliberately having kept out of consideration for such responsibiity, it's not something I should actively complain about. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.186|141.101.98.186]] 13:00, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

==Hiiiii==
:Heya, 42! Just wanted to check in because I left for winter break and I thought 'I wonder how she's doing?'
:If I'm being annoying, you can just say so and I'll leave you alone.
:Anyway, I'm gonna go comic hop. Talk to me anytime! [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|Come and talk!]]) 15:15, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
::I’m fine. I went skiing in {{w|Heavenly Mountain Resort|Tahoe}} 5 days during winter break and also went to {{w|Point Reyes Station}}. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:50, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Cool, if you wanna talk I'm here (3 [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:35, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

== I heard about the wildfires. ==

Are you safe? Are you alright? [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 08:43, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
:That’s SoCal, not the Bay Area, so I’m all good. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 10:10, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

== Any luck with Jeff? ==

It’s been a while since you’ve put up the “banner” on your page. Has he responded yet? [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 22:23, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
:Nope. I’ve emailed Davidy22 and he responded, but he doesn’t have server access. I tried on Gmail, Reddit, X, asked @ActuallyBerg from [[explain xkcd#History|the old forum]] who’s apparently a friend with Jeff on both X and Bluesky. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:25, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
::Damn… that’s slightly (very) worrying. Good job for trying tho [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 22:57, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Yeah…I’m just going to keep on trying, seeing if I can solve some of the problems remotely. Not too sure what much I can do about the ‘crat situation though. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:59, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Well good luck [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 23:07, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

== {{w|WP:REMOVED}} ==
kindly stop adding it back. thank you. [[user talk:lett‪herebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 15:53, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:very well. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:05, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
::ok, that's the limit. {{w|WP:NOBAN|don't post on my talk page again.}} if you wish to fiddle with minutae, go to wikipedia, where that sort of thing is appreciated. i'll also note that no one else has complained about my signature, only you. [[user talk:lett‪herebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 10:13, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
:::touche. to be honest, grabbing at your throat for a simple signature issue got a bit boring after a couple days. have a nice day! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 11:28, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

== Talk Page added to "pages to delete ==
Hey, I noticed you added my talk page to the "pages to delete" category. Why? I don't really want my talk page deleted. Qoiuoiuoiu (talk) 16:29, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:Sorry, changed it. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:58, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
::If you want my advice (no reason you do...), do a little more checking of the page history. ''And'' that of the partner page (compare User: <-> User Talk), where it exists. You might find a few of the ones that you marked for deleting weren't created, unused and abandoned, but actually 'in use' (even if not directly).
::You're eager, and I still completely support IP-related pages being marked for deletion (remembering that you don't have the power to ''actually'' delete them... which is probably a relief to a small handful of actal users, like the above), but maybe dial it back a bit so that you don't make a few more taggings that need to be reverted... Build up a personal 'hitlist', maybe, but do more poking around and keep it down to a handful of the 'best' candidaates that you find, not a couple of a dozen in quick order, which I think you did yesterday.... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]]
:::I did check the Page history of [[User talk:Qoiuoiuoiu]] though, and saw that it was created by [[User:While False]]. I also checked the User Page, and saw that it was edited slightly to change While False’s announcement. Because the entire purpose of [[User talk:Qoiuoiuoiu]] was to presumably reduce red links, I tagged [[:Category:Pages to delete]]. Checking page history and user pages honestly doesn’t take that much time, and I checked them for every single page (I think). Upon [[User:Qoiuoiuoiu|Qoiuoiuoiu’s]] complaint, I removed the Category and added a comment so that the talk page has a purpose. I believe that I was in the right to tag them in this case, and that is my decision. Although I do like the idea of the “hitlist”, and will create one. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:46, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

== Bluey ==

I can't believe you watch a ''children's'' show like Bluey. You should watch an ''adult'' show, like my personal favourite, {{w|My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic}} ;). [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 19:38, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
:[https://gamejolt.com/games/sonic/783884 nah I'm sending you to the green hills for that one buddy] /j [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 20:39, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
:LMFAOOO '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:38, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

== "Shared named" comics... ==

Not too sure about the shared-name status for "Advent Calendar", "Advent Calendar Advent Calendar" and "Advent" (more clear if there was "Advent Calendars", the AVAV ''might'' be deemed a copy (literally!) of AV, but it'd be a stretch to link the A to the AV and thus also the AVAV), but you can't really put just one comic in the Shared Name category, can you? If you're happy for it, then do it for all of them. And, when you do, might be a good idea to put the markup comment after the category membership tag with an explanation of which one(s) you're linking it with, to avoid random editors getting the wrong idea (or ''no'' idea) on spotting it... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.252|162.158.33.252]] 00:26, 12 January 2025 (UTC)

== Why do you have a hitlist? ==

Please don't put me on there 😭😭😭 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 13:53, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:It’s for user pages/talk pages to delete. It’s fine, you’re fine, everybody’s fine (except for me i have a flu) '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:59, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
::Ykkkkkk, I bet Jeff’s heir would be easier to contact… Just saying…… [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 17:01, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
:::which would be the next ‘crat with server control, someone who doesn’t exist yet since Jeff still needs to promote them. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:17, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
:::: dammit [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 15:53, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

==We're cooked==
You-know-who became president on MLK Day. We're so cooked, 42. [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:23, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
:as a Brit I too am concerned [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 14:36, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
::Yeh i'm scared [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:21, 31 January 2025 (UTC)
:::yayyyyy politics [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 16:38, 31 January 2025 (UTC)

== Different name in ContributionScores? ==

Hi 42

I just realized that in the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ContributionScores ContributionScores] you are listed as Victoria. How come you manage to have two different names on this wiki? Is that some error? It is confusing at least.

Keep up the good work --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:20, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
:I noticed that too! What's your secret?--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:06, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
::haha, there’s no secret. my name’s victoria, but i also go by tori. that’s why if you look up at old messages, some people refer to me as victoria or tori. if you want to keep on calling me 42, or 42.book.addict, that’s completely fine! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:05, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Yeah I guess what i was asking is how you managed to change your name on the leaderboard! I can't figure it out haha. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:11, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
::::oh, that’s easy-you just change it in your preferences. find the real name box, and input whatever you want. some people might find it confusing, and you might need to explain to people the difference, like this converstaion right now. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:18, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
:::::Oh, cool! Thanks. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:53, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

:Well if it is a part of the wiki I guess it is fine. But I think it is a bit confusing that we cannot see the user name of the person on the leaderboard. So it would be great if the name in the leader-board could also change to 42. But I guess that is not possible? As you know I'm made an admin, but also I have way to little knowledge of programming and wiki etc. And full time job, other hobbies and two kids, one of which seems to be older than 42. So it is not your age, but 42 comes from your love of Hitchhikers Guide to the galaxy? (Big fan me-self). Impressive the amount of work you have put into the wiki in such a short time. I have been a member since October 2013. I still remember [[Talk:30: Donner|my first comment]] on explain, actually made it before I signed up and then added my signature after signing up a few days later ;-) Back then I used much more time on explain. Had actually not intended to become admin. But second time I was asked, and with no active admins I accepted. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:39, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
::Oh, nice! Never knew that you were a parent. i ''could'' remove the Victoria from the leaderboard by blanking my real name in preferences, but honestly, I’d rather not. There are tons of other people with a situation like this, and I don’t think that it’ll cause much confusion. I’m always happy to explain why it’s listed as Victoria or not! (BTW, Victoria is literally on my User Page) '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:20, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Well we usually do not now much about each other and I had not read your user page before I found out you where also Victoria. Not sure what you mean by Victoria being on you user page. I searched on it and found no hit for Victoria... But no big problem. Just a bit confusing. Just stay on the leaderboard. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:26, 9 February 2025 (UTC)
::::weird...i could've sworn that i added it to my user page. i'll add it now to try to reduce confusion in the future. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:09, 9 February 2025 (UTC)

== You into Friday Night Funkin? ==

tldr it's a silly Newgrounds-inspired rhythm game with literally hundreds if not thousands of mods. you should get into it if you're not already

[[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:19, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
:moved this to the bottom so you'd be more likely to see this haha [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:03, 17 April 2025 (UTC)
::no-i don’t play rhythm games. moved it back up for chronological order. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:34, 18 April 2025 (UTC)

== Contacting Randall ==

Hey Victoria! Sorry to hear about your mental health issues, I hope you're getting better.

Here's some good news: I tried contacting Randall to ask him when he replaced comic [[36: Scientists]], and he replied! It's weird that Randall is easier to reach than the owner of this wiki... You can read the conversation and a summary of what happened [[User:FaviFake|on my user page]]. Among other things, he gave me the official release date, April 28th, and, after I asked, he told me he might reply to more simple questions! If you have some technical or administrative questions, I could ask them directly to him. If you're curious, there are more details about this [[User:FaviFake|here]]. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:32, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

==oof==
:I'm so sorry, 42. I go to therapy and picked up a couple things, so if you need me, I'm here. You can leave a message on my talk page anytime and we can yap about whatever. Hang in there 0) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:35, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

== Uncooperating User ==

Hi 42 
You originally wrote regarding [[User talk:Lettherebedarklight]] here: [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#Uncooperating_User|Uncooperating User]] 
I warned him not to change his signature to a link and also not deleting his talk page. But he has not complied. But now I saw your comment on his user page, after I rolled back his latest deletion... Regarding wiki policy. And since I do not go much into this I need some help here. I do not have time to read up on this. I'm just so unlucky as to be the only admin still active here... Not by my own wish. Maybe FaviFake should also say something here? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:39, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
:I believe this is what's happening: 42 originally noticed the user's signature, which is clearly a violation of the Wikipedia policy, and you warned them. They didn't cooperate, and then you warned them again, but this time you also told them to not blank their talk page (and to not redirect it), which wasn't among the things 42 pointed out. Because of this, she mentioned they're allowed to blank their talk page and redirect it to their user page, but not to have a signature that looks like an external link. And now, as you can see in [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:FaviFake&diff=367780&oldid=367750 this edit of theirs], they have done both things. The signature is not allowed, but blanking their page is. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:56, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
::But if they blanck their talk page, then I cannot discuss the issues that are in violation of with their signature. So how can this be an acceptable conduct. Maybe blanking their user page but not the talk page...? As far as I can see his signature link still go to his user talk page, and not to the rickroll link, you have to copy paste that to get rolled... But if it is a problem, should I then block him for being uncooperative? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:52, 7 March 2025 (UTC)
:::I don't know, 42 pointed it out because she was confused by the link. i'm not really an expert in Wikipedia policy either. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:22, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

== Formatting ==

Just wondering why you're using awkward formatting on your user page when you could easier use:
*Foo
*Bar
**Baz subthing
**Bat subthing
*Flibble
...etc? No need for BRs and NBSPs. Can be combined with colon-leveling (though can also replace it). Swap *s for #s to get (nested) numbered lists, or *# for indented numbers with #* continuing the numbers around sub-bullets (starts to get complicated, but it's an option) if you decided you need to. Maybe it's a choice you're making, but FYI if you haven't already picked up the bullet-point syntax in all your time here. 
Anyway, just perhaps whilst you're active again. No problem if you don't make use of this information now/ever. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.133|172.71.178.133]] 07:56, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:I never knew that-thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 15:55, 9 April 2025 (UTC)

== so why do you wanna to delete [[user talk:物灵]]? ==

he and i were both from another website. i chose to chat with him here because i don't want Zhou Chenxiao to revert my edit. why you want to delete? [[User:Translated ORK|Translated ORK]] ([[User talk:Translated ORK|talk]]) 09:56, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
:I will say this, here, in case you don't get to read my other note. This is not a refugee camp for conversations displaced from elsewhere. There's not even any chat goin on because it's all just you. (If there's another site where ''he'' is one-sidedly 'replying' to ''you' , then I bet that place is equally bemused and unamused.)
:I can't speak for 42, but I'm not surprised someone else here wants to do that.
:Elsewhere you talk of Free Speech, but I think you might be confused. As well as the ''{{w|Gratis versus libre}}'' issue, this extends to what is written below any submission you are making: "Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors." Concensus may decide that the point you make is not worth the having been made. (Later, concensus may also decide that a removal/re-edit is bad and ''restore'' it, but that is a community issue to resolve.)
:This is as close to democracy as we can get (but, unlike the ''original'' democracy, we also let women and all kinds of other people 'vote'! ;) ), with shades of anarchy and the only totalitarian elements being when certain pages are locked-down/deleted by a designated admin who is probably acting upon community feeling (or on behalf of it, seeing where it is heading). It's a system that works (mostly hands-off). And you still can't falsely shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater without push-back. Does that make sense? (@UT, also @42...) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.36|172.71.26.36]] 10:50, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3057: Excusing Yourself

2025-03-01T01:24:24Z

172.71.26.36:

Hey look, a new comic! YAYYYYYYY! [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:39, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

Added the starts of a new explanation for people to edit in the future. It's nice being the very first stepping stone. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 17:00, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

I have to say, I was actually at the receiving end of something similar to the last panel-sequence. At a meeting, I was reading the minutes of the previous meeting (or some other administrative thing that even bores ''me''), and one of the people sat opposite me deliberately pushed themselves back onto the floor (though didn't roll away, content to have made their 'point')... Clearly unimpressed with my contribution. But it needed to be done so... I can't remember quite where I went from there (it was 30 years ago!), but I probably gave 'a look' and continued. Possibly extemporated/varied my delivery as he got back up and everyone else recovered from being temporarily distracted by his antics. (Which I suspect was planned, not ''totally'' spontaneous. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.36|172.71.26.36]] 01:24, 1 March 2025 (UTC)

;Is it Danish?

I labeled the panel 4 character as Danish, since she's being more rude than Black Hat and Megan is already present. Remind me, are there definite stylistic differences between Megan and Danish's hairstyles that are/aren't present here? --[[User:Jacky720|Jack]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|t]]|[[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|c]]) 18:05, 28 February 2025 (UTC)
:I don't know. From what I can tell, there are no stylistic changes between Megan and the Mystery Woman in this comic. Edit: I've just looked at [[2608: Family Reunion]]. Both Megan and Danish are present. Danish appears to be slightly shorter than Megan. However, I can't really see any difference in height between them. In [[1014: Car Problems]], Danish is the one reacting to Megan's slideshow. Danish appears to have longer hair than Megan in this comic. I also see no difference in hair length. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 18:29, 28 February 2025 (UTC)
: I can't see any major differences at the moment in this comic, but it makes sense for it to be Danish [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 19:24, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

3050: Atom

2025-02-12T22:14:13Z

172.71.26.36: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3050
| date = February 12, 2025
| title = Atom
| image = atom_2x.png
| imagesize = 281x385px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = What's weirder is that muons turned out to be INCREDIBLY cute.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a wobbly and wet BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Atoms are typically very, very small, and [[1490: Atoms|generally]] cannot be seen with the naked eye nor individually discernable with human hands (despite almost all things that they can touch, and even themselves, being ''made'' of atoms). The humor here comes from the fact that atoms, normally intangible in a singular form, have been given a large physical presence that apparently feels gross and nonsensical. The characters in the comic have found this out using a so-called "quantum expander device" which would be huge advance in modern physics (and possibly quite dangerous) if it existed, but unfortunately/fortunately it does not.

Although electrons are often depicted as orbiting an atomic nucleus very similarly to how planets orbit the Sun, this is an extremely simplistic model of how the electrons are positioned. Students are often taught a succession of more complex models over several years of schooling. In reality, [[2100: Models of the Atom|current understanding of]] the behavior of electrons is ruled by quantum mechanics and {{w|Schrodinger's Uncertainty Principle}}. An electron doesn't have a single exact location relative to the nucleus; rather, its location is probabilistic. It can be considered to be "smeared out", with specific locations in space having higher or lower concentrations. This is often visualized to be similar to how a meteorological cloud can be dense or thin. It's often depicted by showing the shapes of the electron density patterns with varying intensities of color, or densely-packed dots vs. spread-out dots. This is sometimes referred to as the "electron cloud model", though electrons aren't ''really'' composed of tiny droplets. A cloud in the sky contains water, [https://gpm.nasa.gov/resources/faq/what-are-clouds-made-are-they-more-likely-form-polluted-air-or-pristine-air] and is often assumed to be wet, but could be anything from vapour to ice-crystals. The feel of wetness is also a lot more complicated than we might think. Everybody knows what something wet feels like,{{Citation needed}} but there are no "wetness"-detecting cells in the skin. Apparently the brain uses various clues like temperature and pressure, along with past experiences, to determine when something feels "wet". [https://issuu.com/university_of_southampton/docs/reaction_magazine_winter_2021/s/14454287]

Scientists generally wear latex gloves when touching certain subjects of study, certainly those that are expected to be damp, and perhaps [[Ponytail]] and [[Cueball]] should be doing that here.

The title text expands on this, claiming that muons, a type of subatomic particle, apparently are "cute" despite ordinarily being subatomic particles with a mean lifetime of 2.2 microseconds, [[3043: Muons|give or take]]. Muons might be considered cute because they're small — like electrons and tau particles, they are considered to be point phenomena at the quantum level with no practical physical size (at or below {{w|https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck units#Planck length|subatomic Planck-scale}}), although ''possibly'' that (and the time they last) changes as a function of the quantum expander being applied to them.

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

:[Cueball is holding in one hand, away from himself, an atom approximately the size of his head with shaky lines drawn around the atom. Ponytail has her hand near the atom and her other hand above her chin. Hairy stands to the right of Ponytail.]
:Cueball: Ugh, the electron cloud is so weird and wobbly! I hate it!
:Ponytail: Why is it so wet? How can it even ''be'' wet?
:Hairy: I don't want to do physics anymore.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:When our lab was building the quantum expander device, we didn't expect our first discovery to be "atoms are really gross."

{{comic discussion}}

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

3047: Rotary Tool

2025-02-06T11:29:28Z

172.71.26.36: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3047
| date = February 5, 2025
| title = Rotary Tool
| image = rotary_tool_2x.png
| imagesize = 528x468px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It was great until my thumb slipped and I accidentally launched my telescope into the air at Mach 8.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NEWLY LAUNCHED ORBITAL TELESCOPE BOT. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

It is common to find multipurpose handheld tools that can function as higher-speed drills and lower-speed screwdrivers, switching between modes with a slider. The tool in this comic appears to have extended that concept to the extreme, covering both very high-speed and very low-speed tools. Presumably the tool has a rotating part at one end that can accept multiple attachments to facilitate the different uses.

All of these speeds are sensible for the specified uses. However, engineering a single tool to perform reliably across the required range of speeds is likely to be deeply impractical. Equally, designing the base unit such that it can be usefully employed to all these purposes would be a substantial challenge. For example, a household drill needs to be both portable and reasonably bulky, whereas a record player needs good stability, and a dental drill needs to be small enough to moved flexibly and delicately. In any case, it's highly unlikely that any individual would have a need for all these uses, so the market for such a tool would be extremely limited.

The title text highlights one of the downsides of combining functions in this way — the potential for using the wrong setting for the task at hand, by carelessness or clumsiness, with detrimental effects. In this case, while attempting to use the "sidereal telescope mount" option with an actual telescope, the user accidentally changed the tool to a much higher speed setting, launching it into the air at a {{w|hypersonic speed}}. More commonly, attempting to insert a screw while on the drill setting could cause damage to the item being screwed together, the screw itself, or the screwdriver bit.

The speed of the dental drill might seem excessive, but according to [https://sableindustriesinc.com/what-is-a-high-speed-handpiece-how-it-works-speed-more/ Sable Industries], a manufacturer of high-speed dental drills, they can run "at speeds of between 300,000 and 450,000 RPM." They squirt water as they rotate to cool the bits down, so they don't overheat.

The precession setting refers to the {{w|precession of the equinoxes}}, which happens on a 26,000-year cycle that corresponds to the RPM rate shown. The average person does not need to adjust their telescope for such minor shifts, certainly not on a constant basis.{{cn}} This may be beneficial for scientists making precise measurements but they would have more powerful and dedicated tools to this end. For commercial use by the public, this would not be remotely necessary.

The speeds labeled "record player" are intended to correspond to standard rotational speeds of {{w|Phonograph record|phonograph records}}. The intended playback speed standardized at 78 rpm (not 72 rpm as depicted in the comic) in the 1920s, with a diameter of 10 inches. The speed and size, as well as the required width of the groove encoding the music, dictated a playing time of about 3 1/2 minutes per side. Beginning in the late 1940s, records designed to be played back at 33 1/3 rpm (close enough to the 33 rpm in the comic) were produced, to allow longer play times (hence the LP designation, for "long play") on similar-sized records, which standardized on a 12 inch diameter. This was commonly used to release an "album" of songs, totaling about 22 minutes per side. Concurrently, an alternate format, 7 inch diameter records designed to be played at 45 rpm, was produced, allowing about 5 minutes per side. This was often used to release "singles" (a single song on each side of the record). The 33 1/3 and 45 rpm playback speeds supplanted 78 rpm, and remain the standards today.

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

:Multi-function rotary tool

:[A slider on the side of a tool with various settings.]
:Speed (rpm) Function
:0.000000000073: Sidereal mount precession adapter
:0.00070: Sidereal telescope mount
:[Following three are labeled "clock hands":]
:0.0014: h
:0.017: m
:1: s
:[Following three are labeled "record player":]
:33: 33
:45: 45
:72: 72
:300: Screwdriver [Current setting]
:1500: Drill
:2500: Airplane propeller
:35 000: Dremel
:60 000: Uranium enrichment centrifuge
:300 000: Dental drill

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Telescopes]]

Talk:1725: Linear Regression

2025-01-10T12:37:03Z

172.71.26.36:

It also seems likely that the teapot refers to the Utah Teapot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_teapot). It was one of the first complex 3D objects defined for CGI rendering, and has seen countless uses since. Notably in the Pipes screensaver, and early SIGGRAPH papers where it was rendered along side the 5 platonic solids as if it belonged with them.
[[User:Dkfenger|Dkfenger]] ([[User talk:Dkfenger|talk]]) 17:10, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
: I'm not sure I follow. How do you reach that conclusion? Given that the concept of constellations (and thus stars) is clearly shown in the comic, it seems much more likely to me that he was referring to Russell's Teapot and not to a computer rendering (if there was any reference at all). The fact that that shape could abstractly resemble a teapot may be all that there is to it. :) [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 18:06, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

I think that the teapot is a reference to the constellation Sagittarius. This seems most likely to me as the reference is to a constellation that looks like a teapot despite ostensibly being something else. Sagittarius is a constellation that is supposed to be an archer, but many people see it as a teapot instead. (http://www.space.com/30274-constellation-sagittarius-archer-dipper-teapot.html) [[User:Harperska|Harperska]] ([[User talk:Harperska|talk]]) 19:27, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

I think it looks like a alcohol drink with the little umbrella sticking out. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 06:25, 27 August 2016 (UTC)

Based on what is an R^2 value of 0.06 significant??? I'm removing that. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 20:59, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
: Oops, misread it! I read "insignificant" as "significant". [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:00, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

The teapot mention may just be a joke, not a reference. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.114}}

did someone check if it really was a Rsquared of 0,06?[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.67|141.101.104.67]] 20:56, 27 August 2016 (UTC)

:Asuming the top left of the image as 0/0 and measuring in pixels I get f(x)=-0,135x + 124,8 with R²=0,0197, calcuated with LibreOffice. The line in the image has f(x)=-0,094x+125. If I change a single point by one or two the R² value varies from 0,0195 to 0,0199. If I substract 10% of the x value from the y value R² increases to 0,0574. So I think R²=0,06 is a little bit inaccurate, but not completely wrong. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.83.228|162.158.83.228]] 19:01, 2 September 2016 (UTC)

::I think R^2 = 6% is very inaccurate if the true R^2 = 2%. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.56|108.162.219.56]] 00:07, 3 September 2016 (UTC)

Does anybody know of any real-world examples of a similarly low R^2 given in genuine research? It would be worth mentioning their existence if we can find one. [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 18:03, 28 August 2016 (UTC)
: In published research? I don't recall any. In submissions for review? At least twice. And of course one case where this comic could and should be used as an educational drawing - student reports, master's theses, etc. I've seen "conclusions" drawn from weaker data in those, far too many times for my mental health...--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.119|162.158.86.119]] 09:32, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

Rex is also Latin for king, which may be related in the context of constellations. {{unsigned ip|172.68.11.81}}

This is irrelevant to the humor of the comic, but I fixed the paragraph on confidence intervals because it contained at least three misinterpretations (I have a MSc in statistics). The phrasing can be improved if needed. Don't worry though, [http://www.andrewgelman.com/2017/12/28/stupid-ass-statisticians-dont-know-goddam-confidence-interval even experienced statisticians get it wrong sometimes...] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.40|162.158.234.40]] 09:43, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

Does anyone else think the "dog" looks like a cocktail glass with a stirrer on the left and a slice of lime on the right, held aloft upon a platter? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.118|162.158.74.118]] 12:32, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:Absolutely not. It's a straw and a slice of lemon, and I can't perceive how you could be so wrong! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.36|172.71.26.36]] 12:37, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

3024: METAR

2024-12-18T10:14:14Z

172.71.26.36: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3024
| date = December 13, 2024
| title = METAR
| image = metar_2x.png
| imagesize = 640x360px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In the aviation world, they don't use AM/PM times. Instead, all times are assumed to be AM unless they're labeled NOTAM.
}}

==Explanation==

In aviation, the {{w|METAR}} (Meteorological Aerodrome Report) is used to give pilots a brief overview of the current meteorological conditions at the airport. The METAR follows a specific structure and makes heavy usage of abbreviations, which makes it hard to read for anyone not familiar with it. The comic makes fun of that by assuming meaning of the words based on what non-aviation people might think the different elements of the METAR report may represent. The METAR in the comic is fairly alarming, describing dangerously fast winds, a possible tornado, freezing volcanic ash (in New York!), lightning and impossibly high atmospheric pressure.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Code !! Real Meaning !! According to the comic
|-
| METAR
| Type: Meteorological Aerodrome Report
| The comic assumes that this is just a spelling error and it should be "meter"
|-
| KNYC
| Station ID: 4 character identifier; for an airport, this would be the {{w|ICAO airport code|ICAO code}}. In this instance the identifier represents the automated weather station at Belvedere Castle in Central Park, NYC. Airport, weather and radio station call signs share a common heritage.
| "Station ID", which is actually correct, although people unfamiliar with METAR-reporting stations could presume that this is an AM, FM or TV radio broadcaster's name.
Among AM radio stations, KNYC is not a current call-sign (though {{w|WNYC}} is, and indeed serves New York City), but (among the 'western' subset of US stations) currently {{w|KNCY (AM)|KNCY}} serves the area around Omaha, Nebraska (being based in Nebraska City), and {{w|KYCN}} covers Wheatland, Wyoming.
|-
| 251600Z
| Time of observation: 25th day of the month at 4 PM UTC. Z is not part of the time, but simply global shorthand for {{w|Military time zone|"Zulu" time}}, i.e. {{w|Coordinated Universal Time|UTC}}. Normally most stations would report at a particular time every hour, in this particular case either 15:51 or 16:51 would apply, but more frequent reports are made during unusual and rapidly changing weather events (as may be the situation, in this case).
| Misreading the "25" as the hour instead of the day, pushing the trailing zeros into seconds which METAR doesn't use, and "Z" as a 2 on the end of seconds, all resulting in a nonsensical time. It's possible Randall is alluding to hours greater than 24 are sometimes used to indicate a time after midnight, e.g., in Japan 17~25h means from 5 P.M. to 1 A.M. the following day.
|-
| 18035G45KT
| Wind direction and speed: Wind direction 180° (directly from the south, degrees based on 0°=true north), speed 35 knots, gusting to 45 knots. This is quite stormy weather.
| Instead of interpreting the first 5 digits as direction and speed, it is assumed that it is one big number and the G45 stands for the time span in which this was observed with "G" standing for "good". 18,035 knots is an unrealistically high wind speed, faster than orbital velocity; the {{w|jet stream}} typically contains the highest winds on Earth, and may reach about 250 knots.
|-
| 6SM
| In weather reports related to aviation, "6SM" stands for 6 statute miles of visibility, meaning that objects can be seen clearly up to 6 miles away.<ref>https://weather.cod.edu/notes/metar.html#:~:text=6SM%2DVisibility,SM)%20up%20to%2010%20SM.</ref> This indicates clear enough weather to fly without instruments; the value has a max range of 10SM.
| The comic interprets "6SM" to humorously mean a "Size '''6 Sm'''all".
|-
| VCFCFZVA
| In the vicinity (VC): funnel cloud (FC) and freezing (FZ) volcanic ash (VA). This sounds somewhat unusual for New York City.{{Citation needed}}
| A riff on the repeated letters which give off the impression the string is constructed by random keypresses on the keyboard, as exemplified by a [[1689: My Friend Catherine|cat on the keyboard]]. There is a long history of this problem, as well as [http://bitboost.com/pawsense/ attempted solutions].
This string may or may not actually look like the pattern of characters that a walking cat could produce (and be reliably detected). All the letters are in a cluster at the lower left of the (QWERTY) keyboard, with some adjacently paired characters perhaps indicative of stepping on multiple keys and other neighbouring keys having been stepped over, not uncommon of an oblivious feline wandering across your desk. But the repeated cluster of "CFCF", and other implied paw-press events, seem less likely to emerge even from a rapid quadrupedal gait. A more casual stroll would likely also create single-character duplications, unless the keyboard repeat delay was set unnaturally high. It could, though, come from a repeated pawing at the keyboard.
|-
| +BLUP
| Heavy (+) blowing (BL) unknown precipitation (UP)
| Riffing on the fact that it looks like an onomatopoetic word
|-
| NOSIG
| No significant change is expected to the reported conditions within the next 2 hours
| The comic assumes that the transmitter of the METAR report wants the receivers to know that they do not have a significant other, which the comic finds sad. The observer could be trying to abuse the METAR report as a dating platform.
|-
| LTG OHD
| Lightning overhead
| OHD is interpreted as "overheard" instead of "overhead", indicating that they did not observe it themselves and instead just overheard people talking about it. Alternatively, it could be that they heard ''thunder'', which often accompanies lightning, and in more casual use this can lead to people referring to 'hearing lightning'.
|-
| A3808
| Altimeter setting: (calculated) air pressure at {{w|Mean_sea_level|mean sea level}} at the airport is 38.08. The value of 38.08 inHg is extremely high. The standard atmospheric pressure used in aviation is 29.92 inHg; the highest recorded surface pressure on Earth was 32.01 {{w|Inch_of_mercury|inches of mercury (inHg)}}<ref>https://learn.weatherstem.com/modules/learn/lessons/125/18.html</ref> ("A" for inHg, used primarily in USA, Canada and Japan; "Q" would indicate a value in hPa). This is used to adjust the altimeter in the aircraft to the local air pressure, instead of using the standard setting used in higher air spaces.
| The comic says that the observer saw an {{w|Airbus_A380|Airbus A380-800}}, a very large passenger plane. Note: The {{w|List_of_ICAO_aircraft_type_designators|ICAO aircraft type code}} for the Airbus A380-800 is A388 and not A3808.
|-
| RMK
| Beginning of the section with remarks
| Remarkable. Likely a comment about the A380 (as stated previously, it is quite large).
|-
| AO2
| The weather station is automated (A) and has a precipitation discriminator (O2), which can tell the difference between liquid and frozen precipitation.
| A reference to the {{w|fan fiction|fanfic}} site [https://archiveofourown.org/ Archive of Our Own], often abbreviated as AO3 ('''A'''rchive '''o'''f '''O'''ur '''O'''wn, or "AOOO"). It's nonsensical to describe this site as having a precipitation discriminator.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| SLP130=
| {{w|Sea_level_pressure|Sea-level pressure}} is 1013.0 hPa (approx. 29.91 inHg). The equal sign signifies the end of the METAR.
| "SLP" interpreted as abbreviation for sleepy, the numbers as a time, and the = sign as "around" (maybe confused with ≈)
|-
|
|
|-
| NOTAM (title text)
| Not part of a METAR report, but instead another aviation abbreviation. It stands for {{w|NOTAM|Notice to Air Missions}} (previously Notice to Airmen).
| Parsed as "not A.M.", indicating that a given time is to be interpreted as P.M. While AM and PM are indeed not used in aviation, as the comic says, they use a 24-hour clock system, not an "A.M.-by-default" 12-hour clock system.
|}

==Transcript==

:Decoding a METAR report:

:[A METAR report is shown with annotations. The report is:]

:<code>METAR KNYC 251600Z 18035G45KT 6SM VCFCFZVA +BLUP NOSIG LTG OHD A3808 RMK A02 SLP130=</code>

:[The annotations are:]

:* <code>METAR</code> "METER" (Usually misspelled)
:* <code>KNYC</code> Station ID
:* <code>251600Z</code> Time (25:16:002)
:* <code>18035G45KT</code> Wind speed has been 18,035 knots for a good 45 minutes now
:* <code>6SM</code> Observer is a size 6 small
:* <code>VCFCFZVA</code> Sorry, the station cat walked on the keyboard
:* <code>+BLUP</code> Weird noise the sky made earlier
:* <code>NOSIG</code> Observer has no significant other :(
:* <code>LTG OHD</code> We overheard someone saying there was lightning
:* <code>A3808</code> Hey look, an Airbus A380-800!
:* <code>RMK</code> Remarkable!
:* <code>A02</code> Fanfic Archive equipped with a precipitation sensor
:* <code>SLP130=</code> Observer got sleepy around 1:30

==Trivia==
The actual last three KNYC METAR strings, that were generated at about the actual time of publication, were:
KNYC 131651Z AUTO VRB03KT 10SM CLR M01/M14 A3066 RMK AO2 SLP374 T10061144 $
*''New York, Central Park : 13/Dec/2024, 16:51 UTC (11:51am local time) : Fully Automated Report : Variable wind, no more than 3 knots : 10 (or more) statute miles visibility : No clouds below 12,000 ft (3,700 m) : −1 °C (about 30 °F), dew point at −14 °C (about 7 °F) : Altimeter at 30.66 inHg (1038.3 hPa) : Precipitation discriminator present : Sea-level pressure at 1,037.4 hPa (30.63 inHg) : Temperature -0.6 °C (conversion from exactly 31 °F) , dew point -14.4 °C (from exactly 6 °F) : Maintenance check required (indicated by dollar sign)''
KNYC 131751Z AUTO 10SM CLR 00/M16 A3066 RMK AO2 SLP374 T00001156 10000 21028 56006 $
*''New York, Central Park : 13/Dec/2024, 17:51 UTC (12:51pm local time) : Fully Automated Report : (no wind measured) : 10 (or more) statute miles visibility : No clouds below 12,000 ft (3,700 m) : 0 °C (about 32 °F), dew point at −16 °C (about 3 °F) : Altimeter at 30.66 inHg (1038.3 hPa) : Precipitation discriminator present : Sea-level pressure at 1,037.4 hPa (30.63inHg) : Temperature ±0.00 °C (from exactly 32 °F), dew point -15.6 °C (from exactly 4 °F) : 6 hour maximum 0.00 °C (32 °F) : 6 hour minimum -10.28 °C (from 13.5 °F) : 3 hour pressure tendency, falling by 0.6 millibars (0.018 inHg) : Maintenance check required''
KNYC 131851Z AUTO 10SM CLR 00/M16 A3066 RMK AO2 SLP377 T00001156 $
*''New York, Central Park : 13/Dec/2024, 18:51 UTC (1:51pm local time) : Fully Automated Report : (no wind measured) : 10 (or more) statute miles visibility : No clouds below 12,000 ft (3,700 m) : 0 °C (about 32 °F), dew point at −14 °C (about 7 °F) : Altimeter at 30.66 inHg (1038.3 hPa) : Precipitation discriminator present : Sea-level pressure at 1,037.7 hPa (30.64 inHg) : Temperature -0.6 °C (from exactly 31 °F), dew point -15.6 °C (from exactly 4 °F) : Maintenance check required ''







==References==
{{reflist}}
[https://e6bx.com/metar-decoder/ ''Actual'' Metar Decoder]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Aviation]]
[[Category:Emoji]]

3022: Making Tea

2024-12-11T08:42:33Z

172.71.26.36: /* Methods mentioned */

{{comic
| number = 3022
| date = December 9, 2024
| title = Making Tea
| image = making_tea_2x.png
| imagesize = 690x291px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = No, of course we don't microwave the mug WITH the teabag in it. We microwave the teabag separately.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Microwaved by a BRITISH PERSON RAGING OVER TEA MADE FROM THE GREAT LAKES - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Tea}} is exceptionally popular in the United Kingdom (although [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpll9l535o decreasingly so], and not as serious a business as in {{w|Japanese tea ceremony|Japan}} and {{w|Chinese tea culture|China}}). Virtually every home has an electric kettle as a standard appliance for boiling hot water (used to make tea, coffee, soup powders, instant mash, etc) and teapots and other related crockery can be found in many cupboards, or even on a shelf in full display, whether or not regularly used. British people are perceived as taking tea seriously, having very specific and strongly held opinions on the proper way to make tea. In contrast, tea (especially hot tea) is less commonplace in the United States of America (Randall's native country) and owning tea-making equipment is probably far less common than having coffee-makers and/or juicers of various kinds. While some US households have kettles that can be put on a stove top, many do not have any specific device to boil water. As a result, when Americans need a cup of hot water — for tea or otherwise — the options are usually to use a pan on the stove, or to simply microwave a mug of water (the latter probably being more common in modern times). {{w|Instant hot water dispenser|Instant hot water taps}} are also common in many homes, water coolers, and public drinking fountains in the US; they are being marketed for "high-end kitchens" in the UK, in particularly fancy multi-function taps (US: 'faucets'), but the British are still somewhat reluctant to accept the 'mixer tap' concept, and probably will take quite some time to accept that tea-appropriate boiling water can be obtained directly from the sink's plumbing.

British people are stereotyped as taking genuine offense to microwaved water, believing it to be an objectively incorrect way to make tea. Randall mocks this stereotype through exaggeration, saying British people would be significantly less offended by someone stealing {{w|Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom|the Crown Jewels}} and using those for tea-making than they would be by tea made with a cup of microwaved water.

===Methods mentioned===
;Making it in a kettle
:Perhaps an intentional misnomer. Water may be ''boiled'' in a kettle, but the tea itself is made in a separate {{w|teapot}}, with loose or bagged tea-leaves, ready for pouring into any number of {{w|teacup}}s, {{w|mug}}s or {{w|vacuum flask|thermos flask}} as required. Making tea actually ''in'' the kettle, by placing the tea in with the water and then boiling it, would be considered ''very'' bad form (and likely void your warranty), and render the kettle less useful for its other purposes. Making the boiling water in a kettle, however, is standard practice (occasionally a {{w|Water heating|potable water geyser}} or similar may be available), leaving the tea-making process to occur in the teapot (as above) or the drinking vessel (as below). Randall may be suggesting that the spectacle of someone making tea directly in a kettle would be so bizarre that a British onlooker would in their bafflement completely forget to be angry about it, but the absence of a data point for the historically standard method "making it in a teapot" could suggest more that he's accidentally written "kettle" when he meant "teapot".

;Boiling water in a pot, steeping in a mug
:Identical to the basic boiling process above, except using a pot (commonly called a 'saucepan' in the UK) on the stove, rather than a kettle. This is slightly less convenient than using a kettle (since the pan often lacks a dedicated spout for pouring, and either whistle, which the steam sounds when the water boils, or the automatic cut-off found on most electric kettles), but is otherwise functionally identical. Nonetheless, the comic notes that Brits would take mild offense, considering it to be inferior to using a kettle.
:To confuse matters, British people would normally take '{{wiktionary|pot#Noun|pot}}' (in the specific context of tea-making) to be [https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/one+for+the+pot short for 'teapot']. However, a ceramic teapot should ''never'' be directly heated in the manner of a pan or a kettle. It should be filled with recently boiled (but not boiling) water, ''ideally'' after an initial small splash of hot water is swirled around it to 'condition' the teapot and then the requisite number of teabags (or quantity of tealeaves) dropped in.

;Making it in a chalice and ampulla stolen from the Crown Jewels
:A {{w|chalice}} is an ornate type of cup; an {{w|ampulla}} is a type of flask or bottle. Both are typically now terms used in relation to objects used in ritual. Randall is likely drawing a parallel here with the ritualism and particularity with which some people surround the making of tea and its associated artefacts.
:The {{w|Crown_Jewels_of_the_United_Kingdom|Crown Jewels}} are a set of items belonging the British monarchy, including ceremonial items and clothing using in royal coronations. These items have both major cultural significance, due to their historical connection with the monarchy, and major objective value, as many of them are heavily jeweled and/or made of precious metals. To steal items from these collection for the purpose of tea-making would obviously be both highly criminal and highly disrespectful. The ampulla referenced is used to anoint the monarch with oil during the coronation ceremony and the chalice may refer to a {{w|Eucharist|Communion vessel}}, giving them religious significance as well.
:More importantly for many, though, this would be incorrect tea-ware. The gold or silver chalices and gold ampulla are doubtful as being of suitable materials for British tea-making (as opposed to using cast iron, stainless steel, silver-plate, robust ceramics and/or fine china, for various stages of the process) and there'd definitely be some complaints that it does not taste like a proper cuppa. To use such objects to make tea would simply {{wiktionary|not cricket|not be cricket}}.

;Microwaving a mug
:As mentioned above, heating water in a microwave, for any purpose, is considered acceptable and common in the US. To do so to make tea is considered uncommon and borderline heretical in the UK. The reasons for this are difficult to pin down. Some argue that the microwave doesn't allow proper control over the water temperature (which is considered vital for proper tea-making), but this position is questionable at best. Others raise the danger of superheating water which might boil over when the tea bag is added, but this is likely a highly overblown concern. Some people even argue that microwaving changes the quality or composition of the water in some way, but there's very little science to back that up. Most likely, the preparation of tea simply has a sense of tradition and ritual in Britain, and using a microwave feels crass, modern, and completely disconnected from the cultural associations of tea. It may also feel wrong because it inverts the expectation that the hot water is poured over the tea, requiring instead that the tea be submerged in the water.
:The title text continues with this theme, by reassuring us that the microwaved mug doesn't have a teabag in it (analogous to the 'boiling tea-kettle' version). Instead, it is separately microwaved. In typical Randall fashion, this is pure farce: there is no reason to microwave a teabag.{{Citation needed}} Microwave ovens heat water molecules almost exclusively, and tealeaves (and bag) should be dry before use, with no water molecules to heat. The wrongheadedness of this claim does little but provoke a skeptic's doubts about how utterly perverse this colonial variation on tea-making has become.
:Ultimately, the real difference comes down to convenience: In the USA, the {{w|Mains electricity#Voltage levels|standard voltage}} for electric appliances (including an electric kettle) is 120 volts, while it is twice that (240 volts in practice, though nominally 230V) in the UK. Since the amperage for an electric kettle is the the same in both countries (15 amps), this means that an equivalent kettle in the UK has twice the power (3.2kw versus 1.6kw), and can heat the water in a fraction of the time. Meanwhile, a standard microwave has a similar power in both countries (from 700 to 1000 watts), for reasons unrelated to the supply voltage it is equipped to use. Therefore, heating a small cup in a microwave might take a few moments longer than a kettle in the USA, but is many times slower to wait for compared to using an electric kettle in the UK.

===Other tea controversies===

Other sources of controversy in the {{w|A Nice Cup of Tea|correct way to make tea}} are not covered in the comic, or hidden behind the other 'obvious errors'. Perhaps primary among these is the question of the difference between making (and steeping) the tea in a teapot and pouring the water over a teabag in a mug.

The former tends to be a more formal method, to serve in polite company, ''or'' from the traditional need to prepare a large volume of tea for an indeterminate number of recipients and refills, such as in a canteen/cafeteria situation, where the 'pot' stays hot for almost as long as the supply lasts. A prepared teapot of tea allows a fairly consistent 'brew' that is readily poured out into teacups (or mugs) as and when required.

The latter method relies upon individual teabags or loose-leaf tea in an individual infuser, and lets each recipient leave the tea in for as long as they personally prefer (or end up having to), which reflects more individual flexibility. Again, this splits between 'high' and 'low' class use. The infamous "builders' tea" often has the teabag left in for a long time (even during drinking), with plenty of milk and sugar, to perhaps produce an increasingly dense brew as the workman concerned takes opportune sips as he (usually) can during his work. Conversely, the trend in more stylish restaurants and tearooms tends to be to supply each customer their teacup together with an individual small vessel of freshly boiled water (rarely more than one or two cups-worth) and the recipient's choices of bagged tea (including fruit/herbal) and additions (milk, or equivalent, lemon, etc, plus sweeteners of all kinds), letting them prepare their own infusion exactly in their own way; this is often presented with an air of 'continental sophistication', but may bemuse and confuse the more down-to-Earth British tea-drinker used to their home method, as does the choice of dozens of fancy coffees from a barista when they'd be happy enough with a decent "instant coffee".

Further noting the issue of whether the milk (not obligatory, but decisively traditional) should be put in ''before'' the tea (or teabag!) is also often considered {{tvtropes|SeriousBusiness|Serious Business}}...

In [https://www.foodandwine.com/why-you-should-add-salt-to-tea-8549735 January of 2024], Michelle Francl, Ph.D., a chemistry professor at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, suggested to put a pinch of salt into tea, saying that the sodium in salt blocks the bitter taste of tea. This prompted a great outcry by [https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/jan/24/perfect-cup-of-tea-needs-a-pinch-of-salt-and-squeeze-of-lemon-says-us-chemist?scrlybrkr=361c99cc The Guardian] and a statement by the US embassy on X (Twitter): “Today's media reports of an American Professor's recipe for the 'perfect' cup of tea has landed our special bond with the United Kingdom in hot water … We want to ensure the good people of the U.K. that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain's national drink is not official United States Policy. And never will be."

==Transcript==
:[A line chart is shown. Above the chart are, from top to bottom, a heading, a subheading, and an arrow pointing right with a label above. On the line there are four labeled tick marks, with the labels written beneath the line. A small curved line is going from each label to below their tick. The first two ticks are close together on the far left side of the graph, the third is approximately in the center, and the fourth is on the far right side of the graph.]
:<big>Ways of Making Tea</big>
:By how angry British people get when Americans do them
:More angry
:⟶

:Making it in a kettle
:Boiling water in a pot, steeping in a mug
:Making it in a chalice and ampulla stolen from the Crown Jewels
:Microwaving a mug

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Rankings]]

Talk:3020: Infinite Armada Chess

2024-12-09T09:34:30Z

172.71.26.36:

Did I do well? Added a very very basic explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.147.132|172.68.147.132]] 04:25, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Well, yes but I wonder if just one tiny fix is needed. If you replace the white side with a simplyfied artillery tower, you reinvented space invaders.{{unsigned ip|172.71.160.70|04:57, 5 December 2024 (UTC)}}

I was personally hoping for an explanation of the Infinite Armada thing, and I feel like a link to the TV Tropes page doesn't really. Explain that at all. So I would love a bit of an expansion on that part! Just want to be sure I didn't miss some reference or something. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.91|172.68.23.91]] 05:48, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
: Likewise. I get the comic, but I assumed the 'armada' part was a reference that I just did not get. But it seems it is just a word choice. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.105|172.71.102.105]] 09:39, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:: The only "Infinite Armada" reference I can think of is ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic]'', which kind of makes sense because if you have a Star Forge to make chess pieces with, why wouldn't you make them all queens? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.159|162.158.167.159]] 18:47, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

I think that since the error was "out of bounds", not "out of memory", it's referring to indexing outside of the region of memory that the program allocated to deal with the board. This would happen since instead of addressing rank 1..8, you could address rank 9, 10, 0, or -1. Unless bounds checking is performed when converting the board coordinates into linear array indices, you'd get an out-of-bounds error (or worse, succeed in reading or modifying memory that you weren't intending to). --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.253|172.71.30.253]] 05:45, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:It was "Out of Bounds memory access". That means it was trying to access a memory address that was out of the bounds of the computer, as if it were trying to access the ω-th index of the board array, which would put it out of the memory range of any computer [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 06:15, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:: There is no hint that the bounds are those of the computer, the simplest explanation really is that the bounds are those of an array. The error message does come up. In addition, to try to access the memory at the ω-th index, you would need to construct the ω-th index itself first (which would fail or not terminate) [[User:Jmm|Jmm]] ([[User talk:Jmm|talk]]) 07:01, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::: The specific message, "RuntimeError: Out of bounds memory access", is a WebGL error issuing from its WASM cross-platform browser implementation. This implies to me that an attempt to render an infinite chessboard failed in a fairly trivial way, because of a poor implementation. It's very unlikely that there had been a problem with the [https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/tree/master/src Stockfish playing algorithm] yet, which would have failed with a different message if it ran out of memory, such as "Killed", which is all that shells like Bash print when one of their job processes is killed by the kernel's OOM killer, or by anything else for that matter. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.215.21|172.70.215.21]] 12:58, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:: If it were trying to access an index that was out of the range of the array, then it would probably have mentioned an index somewhere in the message, like "Out of Bounds index". However, it says that the "memory address" was "Out of Bounds," implying that it tried to access a physical memory address that was out of bounds. Anyways, it wouldn't make sense to use an unmodified version of Stockfish that would still expect on 8 rows for a larger chess board, as it's not a close approximation to having an infinite number of queens. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 20:30, 8 December 2024 (UTC)

Is this a reference to [https://youtu.be/rav29N0-h2c infinite chess by Naviary?] [[User:HaruruChanDesu|HaruruChanDesu]] ([[User talk:HaruruChanDesu|talk]]) 11:21, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

"it does not really need to consider the infinitely many pieces" => a chess Engine would need to consider the infinitely many pieces (or have a way to abstract them), even if some pieces are currently stuck because the engine recursively evaluates moves and counter-moves (i.e. evaluates the game up to some depth).

Is the cardinality of the set of all the pieces smaller than the cardinality of the set of all possible moves? My gut instinct says yes but I don't have the energy to muck around and see if I can prove it. If I did try I think that matrix diagonalization would be the first thing I'd try. Anybody less lazy than me on this? --[[User:Tomb|Tomb]] ([[User talk:Tomb|talk]]) 21:30, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
: The number of games is at least Beth one (cardinality of the continuum so uncountable). After some preliminary moves you can have a black queen on an otherwise empty row and a white queen in the black pawn row. Now on pairs of moves the black queen moves in its row so its column mode four is a base four digit while the white queen moves up one row to give the digits position. So we can map real numbers uniquely into games.
: The number of pieces is obviously countable.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.60|172.70.230.60]] 18:59, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
:: Thanks! --[[User:Tomb|Tomb]] ([[User talk:Tomb|talk]]) 19:12, 8 December 2024 (UTC)

Can someone explain the linked joke with all the extra queens? I don't understand why it's a bad position. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.126|172.69.59.126]] 16:49, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:Knight to d6. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.175|162.158.167.175]] 17:09, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::...is checkmate by black. White can't capture the knight with either of the two queens that attack it because they're both pinned, by black's bishop and rook. (And we know it's black's turn to move because the colored squares indicate white just moved.) [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 17:54, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Expected some discussion here already on the best opening moves given a infinite board or at least the board depicted.
1. e3 e6 2. Qh5 seems a logical start, but not entirely sure what would happen after that?
Any ideas? [[User:Flekkie|Flekkie]] ([[User talk:Flekkie|talk]]) 22:56, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:I think games will generally end in a draw by perpetual check that's something like:
:1. Qxd7+ Qxd7
:2. Qxd7+ (etc)
:It's tricky to prevent a player at a disadvantage from repeatedly sacrificing queens from further and further away down some file. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.138|172.68.54.138]] 02:43, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
::However, the rules of chess wouldn't cause this game to end in a draw since there are captures every turn, and captures reset the 50-move counter that triggers a draw. The players could agree to a draw - or perhaps the player at a disadvantage could hope to win by exhaustion, that is, by following this strategy indefinitely and hoping the other player collapses from weariness first. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 03:27, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

:::This assumes no chess clock. Alas, what I just wrote assumes a classic chess clock. Some games use time rules that require a modern electronic clock and add time every move, which in this case brings back the "recaptures go on forever" problem. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.149|172.70.207.149]] 11:49, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

Hit me up when this becomes real. I would like to try this out. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 12:29, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:It should be easy enough. You will rarely get the queens out in play from deep in the array. So maybe just put two chess boars together and put some placeholder in for queens in the extra fields. If ever a queen in the bottom row is moved, place extra queens that can now be moved into the 2-3 squares that would be outside the board...--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:39, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:It might be something one could set up in Infinite Chess, although having limits on the chessboard may be difficult. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.67|172.68.150.67]] 14:01, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
: Here's a finite approximation in ChessCraft: https://www.chesscraft.ca/design?id=5KM4 [[User:Promethean|Promethean]] ([[User talk:Promethean|talk]]) 15:37, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

While I understand how to play chess, I don't get the bit about "having a bunch of queens doesn't go very well". At first glance, the linked chess layout looks pretty solid. Can someone please enlighten me? Also, what does the TV Tropes link about Title Drop have to do with Infinite Armada, aside from that being the title of the comic? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.77|172.70.230.77]] 13:10, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
: ... Nd6. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.246|172.70.91.246]] 13:31, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:: Ah, thanks. Moving the knight there puts the king in check, and moving either queen to take it exposes the king to the bishop or rook, so checkmate. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.38|162.158.63.38]] 15:05, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:::<s>You are assuming that the opponent makes no moves while you spend at least three moves advancing your knight. Looks like either side can draw by always moving the king backwards whenever a queen has moved and made a hole he can move to and otherwise trying to make a new, deeper hole. Eventually he gets so far back that any attack turns into an infinite sequence of queens taking each other, with the attacker only having file attacks while the defender can retake from a rank, file, or diagonal. Any time the attacker breaks off the infinite sequence of queens taking each other to set up something else, the defender takes advantage of the break to move the king deeper and put more queens in front of him or to create more empty spaces to sidestep into when attacked. To me, this looks like a certain draw.</s> [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.252|172.69.33.252]] 16:21, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::::They're talking about the linked layout at https://x.com/chesscom/status/1841540380363211164, not the layout in the comic. It only takes one move for the black knight to move to Nd6 and put the white king in checkmate. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.167|141.101.109.167]] 20:59, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

You might be able to get the developer of fairy stockfish ( https://fairy-stockfish.github.io/ ) to add this if you ask nicely. I have seen them add several reader requests. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.143|172.70.211.143]] 15:46, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Could this be a reference to the meme about "eating an infinite armada of pizza"? The wording seems too similar to be a coincidence. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.46|172.70.114.46]] 14:46, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Would this guarantee a draw between two competent players who'd played the variant before, or would there be more nuance to it than there appears to be?

Can someone explain the linked joke with all the extra queens? I don't understand why it's a bad position. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.125|172.69.59.125]] 16:48, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
: The explanation of the linked joke is that the king appears safe at first glance, but in reality there is a simple move that wins the game for black. Moving the black knight to the top left corner of the queen square checks the king. The king cannot move to escape. Two queens are in position to take the knight and save the white king, but both of those moves expose the king to attack from other black pieces (the rook or the bishop).
:: Wow. Not only did White give Black a mate in one, they also blundered a mate in one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.176|162.158.167.176]] 20:21, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Really? This comic specifically references some obscure roblox game with like 350k visits? That can't be right. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.247|172.71.154.247]] 02:31, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

This was the variant played at the chess tournament held at David Hilbert's Grand Hotel. You'd think they would have struggled to fit infinitely large boards in the conference room, but they just kept moving the tables until they had enough space. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 08:01, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Clarifying "Surprisingly little memory to analyze conventional Chess": Without trying to "golf" the memory requirements, a board can be represented in 64 bytes, a reversible move in three bytes (start square, end square, piece captured). 40 moves without a pawn move or a capture is a draw, so the search stack is less than 5,680 moves. Two copies of the board (current search position, a board for looking back for detecting repeated positions), a few pointers for searching for moves to try: 20K of memory is plenty to search the entire Chess tree. And a truly unimaginably huge finite amount of time. (Golfers, start your carts!) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.12|172.68.55.12]] 12:08, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Queen to A9.56x10^14 -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 13:47, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Seems like a trivial win for white? Start w/ scholar's mate 1. e5 ... 2. Qh6, and just keep throwing queens at the king. It's much easier for the infinite queens to attack than to block and defend. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.76|172.71.154.76]] 18:21, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
:The problem is 1. e5 h6 2. Qxh6 Rxh6, if you keep trying to win h6 you’ll run out of queens that can move diagonally and black has an infinite supply moving vertically. 2. Qg4 Ng6 3. Qce2 seem like the logical next three moves? Except now black has a free move and a knight out. So at least it doesn’t seem trivial. I do think these games will be shorter than regular chess if they lead to a result, because long series of moves will tend to release the infinite queens. {{unsigned|Geoffk01}} 23:13, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

I cannot image this is not trying to reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSCNW1OCk_M , which recently resurfaced again. {{unsigned ip|172.70.114.35|18:57, 6 December 2024 (UTC)}}

Talk:3020: Infinite Armada Chess

2024-12-09T09:33:06Z

172.71.26.36:

Did I do well? Added a very very basic explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.147.132|172.68.147.132]] 04:25, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Well, yes but I wonder if just one tiny fix is needed. If you replace the white side with a simplyfied artillery tower, you reinvented space invaders.{{unsigned ip|172.71.160.70|04:57, 5 December 2024 (UTC)}}

I was personally hoping for an explanation of the Infinite Armada thing, and I feel like a link to the TV Tropes page doesn't really. Explain that at all. So I would love a bit of an expansion on that part! Just want to be sure I didn't miss some reference or something. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.91|172.68.23.91]] 05:48, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
: Likewise. I get the comic, but I assumed the 'armada' part was a reference that I just did not get. But it seems it is just a word choice. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.105|172.71.102.105]] 09:39, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:: The only "Infinite Armada" reference I can think of is ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic]'', which kind of makes sense because if you have a Star Forge to make chess pieces with, why wouldn't you make them all queens? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.159|162.158.167.159]] 18:47, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

I think that since the error was "out of bounds", not "out of memory", it's referring to indexing outside of the region of memory that the program allocated to deal with the board. This would happen since instead of addressing rank 1..8, you could address rank 9, 10, 0, or -1. Unless bounds checking is performed when converting the board coordinates into linear array indices, you'd get an out-of-bounds error (or worse, succeed in reading or modifying memory that you weren't intending to). --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.253|172.71.30.253]] 05:45, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:It was "Out of Bounds memory access". That means it was trying to access a memory address that was out of the bounds of the computer, as if it were trying to access the ω-th index of the board array, which would put it out of the memory range of any computer [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 06:15, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:: There is no hint that the bounds are those of the computer, the simplest explanation really is that the bounds are those of an array. The error message does come up. In addition, to try to access the memory at the ω-th index, you would need to construct the ω-th index itself first (which would fail or not terminate) [[User:Jmm|Jmm]] ([[User talk:Jmm|talk]]) 07:01, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::: The specific message, "RuntimeError: Out of bounds memory access", is a WebGL error issuing from its WASM cross-platform browser implementation. This implies to me that an attempt to render an infinite chessboard failed in a fairly trivial way, because of a poor implementation. It's very unlikely that there had been a problem with the [https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/tree/master/src Stockfish playing algorithm] yet, which would have failed with a different message if it ran out of memory, such as "Killed", which is all that shells like Bash print when one of their job processes is killed by the kernel's OOM killer, or by anything else for that matter. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.215.21|172.70.215.21]] 12:58, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:: If it were trying to access an index that was out of the range of the array, then it would probably have mentioned an index somewhere in the message, like "Out of Bounds index". However, it says that the "memory address" was "Out of Bounds," implying that it tried to access a physical memory address that was out of bounds. Anyways, it wouldn't make sense to use an unmodified version of Stockfish that would still expect on 8 rows for a larger chess board, as it's not a close approximation to having an infinite number of queens. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 20:30, 8 December 2024 (UTC)

Is this a reference to [https://youtu.be/rav29N0-h2c infinite chess by Naviary?] [[User:HaruruChanDesu|HaruruChanDesu]] ([[User talk:HaruruChanDesu|talk]]) 11:21, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

"it does not really need to consider the infinitely many pieces" => a chess Engine would need to consider the infinitely many pieces (or have a way to abstract them), even if some pieces are currently stuck because the engine recursively evaluates moves and counter-moves (i.e. evaluates the game up to some depth).

Is the cardinality of the set of all the pieces smaller than the cardinality of the set of all possible moves? My gut instinct says yes but I don't have the energy to muck around and see if I can prove it. If I did try I think that matrix diagonalization would be the first thing I'd try. Anybody less lazy than me on this? --[[User:Tomb|Tomb]] ([[User talk:Tomb|talk]]) 21:30, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
: The number of games is at least Beth one (cardinality of the continuum so uncountable). After some preliminary moves you can have a black queen on an otherwise empty row and a white queen in the black pawn row. Now on pairs of moves the black queen moves in its row so its column mode four is a base four digit while the white queen moves up one row to give the digits position. So we can map real numbers uniquely into games.
: The number of pieces is obviously countable.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.60|172.70.230.60]] 18:59, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
:: Thanks! --[[User:Tomb|Tomb]] ([[User talk:Tomb|talk]]) 19:12, 8 December 2024 (UTC)

Can someone explain the linked joke with all the extra queens? I don't understand why it's a bad position. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.126|172.69.59.126]] 16:49, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:Knight to d6. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.175|162.158.167.175]] 17:09, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::...is checkmate by black. White can't capture the knight with either of the two queens that attack it because they're both pinned, by black's bishop and rook. (And we know it's black's turn to move because the colored squares indicate white just moved.) [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 17:54, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Expected some discussion here already on the best opening moves given a infinite board or at least the board depicted.
1. e3 e6 2. Qh5 seems a logical start, but not entirely sure what would happen after that?
Any ideas? [[User:Flekkie|Flekkie]] ([[User talk:Flekkie|talk]]) 22:56, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:I think games will generally end in a draw by perpetual check that's something like:
:1. Qxd7+ Qxd7
:2. Qxd7+ (etc)
:It's tricky to prevent a player at a disadvantage from repeatedly sacrificing queens from further and further away down some file. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.138|172.68.54.138]] 02:43, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
::However, the rules of chess wouldn't cause this game to end in a draw since there are captures every turn, and captures reset the 50-move counter that triggers a draw. The players could agree to a draw - or perhaps the player at a disadvantage could hope to win by exhaustion, that is, by following this strategy indefinitely and hoping the other player collapses from weariness first. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 03:27, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

:::This assumes no chess clock. Alas, what I just wrote assumes a classic chess clock. Some games use time rules that require a modern electronic clock and add time every move, which in this case brings back the "recaptures go on forever" problem. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.149|172.70.207.149]] 11:49, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

Hit me up when this becomes real. I would like to try this out. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 12:29, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:It should be easy enough. You will rarely get the queens out in play from deep in the array. So maybe just put two chess boars together and put some placeholder in for queens in the extra fields. If ever a queen in the bottom row is moved, place extra queens that can now be moved into the 2-3 squares that would be outside the board...--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:39, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:It might be something one could set up in Infinite Chess, although having limits on the chessboard may be difficult. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.67|172.68.150.67]] 14:01, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
: Here's a finite approximation in ChessCraft: https://www.chesscraft.ca/design?id=5KM4 [[User:Promethean|Promethean]] ([[User talk:Promethean|talk]]) 15:37, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

While I understand how to play chess, I don't get the bit about "having a bunch of queens doesn't go very well". At first glance, the linked chess layout looks pretty solid. Can someone please enlighten me? Also, what does the TV Tropes link about Title Drop have to do with Infinite Armada, aside from that being the title of the comic? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.77|172.70.230.77]] 13:10, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
: ... Nd6. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.246|172.70.91.246]] 13:31, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:: Ah, thanks. Moving the knight there puts the king in check, and moving either queen to take it exposes the king to the bishop or rook, so checkmate. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.38|162.158.63.38]] 15:05, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:::<s>You are assuming that the opponent makes no moves while you spend at least three moves advancing your knight. Looks like either side can draw by always moving the king backwards whenever a queen has moved and made a hole he can move to and otherwise trying to make a new, deeper hole. Eventually he gets so far back that any attack turns into an infinite sequence of queens taking each other, with the attacker only having file attacks while the defender can retake from a rank, file, or diagonal. Any time the attacker breaks off the infinite sequence of queens taking each other to set up something else, the defender takes advantage of the break to move the king deeper and put more queens in front of him or to create more empty spaces to sidestep into when attacked. To me, this looks like a certain draw.</s> [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.252|172.69.33.252]] 16:21, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::::They're talking about the linked layout at https://x.com/chesscom/status/1841540380363211164, not the layout in the comic. It only takes one move for the black knight to move to Nd6 and put the white king in checkmate. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.167|141.101.109.167]] 20:59, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

You might be able to get the developer of fairy stockfish ( https://fairy-stockfish.github.io/ ) to add this if you ask nicely. I have seen them add several reader requests. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.143|172.70.211.143]] 15:46, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Could this be a reference to the meme about "eating an infinite armada of pizza"? The wording seems too similar to be a coincidence. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.46|172.70.114.46]] 14:46, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Would this guarantee a draw between two competent players who'd played the variant before, or would there be more nuance to it than there appears to be?

Can someone explain the linked joke with all the extra queens? I don't understand why it's a bad position. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.125|172.69.59.125]] 16:48, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

The explanation of the linked joke is that the king appears safe at first glance, but in reality there is a simple move that wins the game for black. Moving the black knight to the top left corner of the queen square checks the king. The king cannot move to escape. Two queens are in position to take the knight and save the white king, but both of those moves expose the king to attack from other black pieces (the rook or the bishop).

Wow. Not only did White give Black a mate in one, they also blundered a mate in one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.176|162.158.167.176]] 20:21, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Really? This comic specifically references some obscure roblox game with like 350k visits? That can't be right. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.247|172.71.154.247]] 02:31, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

This was the variant played at the chess tournament held at David Hilbert's Grand Hotel. You'd think they would have struggled to fit infinitely large boards in the conference room, but they just kept moving the tables until they had enough space. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 08:01, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Clarifying "Surprisingly little memory to analyze conventional Chess": Without trying to "golf" the memory requirements, a board can be represented in 64 bytes, a reversible move in three bytes (start square, end square, piece captured). 40 moves without a pawn move or a capture is a draw, so the search stack is less than 5,680 moves. Two copies of the board (current search position, a board for looking back for detecting repeated positions), a few pointers for searching for moves to try: 20K of memory is plenty to search the entire Chess tree. And a truly unimaginably huge finite amount of time. (Golfers, start your carts!) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.12|172.68.55.12]] 12:08, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Queen to A9.56x10^14 -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 13:47, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Seems like a trivial win for white? Start w/ scholar's mate 1. e5 ... 2. Qh6, and just keep throwing queens at the king. It's much easier for the infinite queens to attack than to block and defend. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.76|172.71.154.76]] 18:21, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
:The problem is 1. e5 h6 2. Qxh6 Rxh6, if you keep trying to win h6 you’ll run out of queens that can move diagonally and black has an infinite supply moving vertically. 2. Qg4 Ng6 3. Qce2 seem like the logical next three moves? Except now black has a free move and a knight out. So at least it doesn’t seem trivial. I do think these games will be shorter than regular chess if they lead to a result, because long series of moves will tend to release the infinite queens. {{unsigned|Geoffk01}} 23:13, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

I cannot image this is not trying to reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSCNW1OCk_M , which recently resurfaced again. {{unsigned ip|172.70.114.35|18:57, 6 December 2024 (UTC)}}

Talk:3020: Infinite Armada Chess

2024-12-09T09:31:51Z

172.71.26.36:

Did I do well? Added a very very basic explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.147.132|172.68.147.132]] 04:25, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Well, yes but I wonder if just one tiny fix is needed. If you replace the white side with a simplyfied artillery tower, you reinvented space invaders.{{unsigned ip|172.71.160.70|04:57, 5 December 2024 (UTC)}}

I was personally hoping for an explanation of the Infinite Armada thing, and I feel like a link to the TV Tropes page doesn't really. Explain that at all. So I would love a bit of an expansion on that part! Just want to be sure I didn't miss some reference or something. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.91|172.68.23.91]] 05:48, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
: Likewise. I get the comic, but I assumed the 'armada' part was a reference that I just did not get. But it seems it is just a word choice. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.105|172.71.102.105]] 09:39, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:: The only "Infinite Armada" reference I can think of is ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic]'', which kind of makes sense because if you have a Star Forge to make chess pieces with, why wouldn't you make them all queens? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.159|162.158.167.159]] 18:47, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

I think that since the error was "out of bounds", not "out of memory", it's referring to indexing outside of the region of memory that the program allocated to deal with the board. This would happen since instead of addressing rank 1..8, you could address rank 9, 10, 0, or -1. Unless bounds checking is performed when converting the board coordinates into linear array indices, you'd get an out-of-bounds error (or worse, succeed in reading or modifying memory that you weren't intending to). --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.253|172.71.30.253]] 05:45, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:It was "Out of Bounds memory access". That means it was trying to access a memory address that was out of the bounds of the computer, as if it were trying to access the ω-th index of the board array, which would put it out of the memory range of any computer [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 06:15, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:: There is no hint that the bounds are those of the computer, the simplest explanation really is that the bounds are those of an array. The error message does come up. In addition, to try to access the memory at the ω-th index, you would need to construct the ω-th index itself first (which would fail or not terminate) [[User:Jmm|Jmm]] ([[User talk:Jmm|talk]]) 07:01, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::: The specific message, "RuntimeError: Out of bounds memory access", is a WebGL error issuing from its WASM cross-platform browser implementation. This implies to me that an attempt to render an infinite chessboard failed in a fairly trivial way, because of a poor implementation. It's very unlikely that there had been a problem with the [https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish/tree/master/src Stockfish playing algorithm] yet, which would have failed with a different message if it ran out of memory, such as "Killed", which is all that shells like Bash print when one of their job processes is killed by the kernel's OOM killer, or by anything else for that matter. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.215.21|172.70.215.21]] 12:58, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:: If it were trying to access an index that was out of the range of the array, then it would probably have mentioned an index somewhere in the message, like "Out of Bounds index". However, it says that the "memory address" was "Out of Bounds," implying that it tried to access a physical memory address that was out of bounds. Anyways, it wouldn't make sense to use an unmodified version of Stockfish that would still expect on 8 rows for a larger chess board, as it's not a close approximation to having an infinite number of queens. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 20:30, 8 December 2024 (UTC)

Is this a reference to [https://youtu.be/rav29N0-h2c infinite chess by Naviary?] [[User:HaruruChanDesu|HaruruChanDesu]] ([[User talk:HaruruChanDesu|talk]]) 11:21, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

"it does not really need to consider the infinitely many pieces" => a chess Engine would need to consider the infinitely many pieces (or have a way to abstract them), even if some pieces are currently stuck because the engine recursively evaluates moves and counter-moves (i.e. evaluates the game up to some depth).

Is the cardinality of the set of all the pieces smaller than the cardinality of the set of all possible moves? My gut instinct says yes but I don't have the energy to muck around and see if I can prove it. If I did try I think that matrix diagonalization would be the first thing I'd try. Anybody less lazy than me on this? --[[User:Tomb|Tomb]] ([[User talk:Tomb|talk]]) 21:30, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
: The number of games is at least Beth one (cardinality of the continuum so uncountable). After some preliminary moves you can have a black queen on an otherwise empty row and a white queen in the black pawn row. Now on pairs of moves the black queen moves in its row so its column mode four is a base four digit while the white queen moves up one row to give the digits position. So we can map real numbers uniquely into games.
: The number of pieces is obviously countable.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.60|172.70.230.60]] 18:59, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
:: Thanks! --[[User:Tomb|Tomb]] ([[User talk:Tomb|talk]]) 19:12, 8 December 2024 (UTC)

Can someone explain the linked joke with all the extra queens? I don't understand why it's a bad position. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.126|172.69.59.126]] 16:49, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:Knight to d6. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.175|162.158.167.175]] 17:09, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::...is checkmate by black. White can't capture the knight with either of the two queens that attack it because they're both pinned, by black's bishop and rook. (And we know it's black's turn to move because the colored squares indicate white just moved.) [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 17:54, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Expected some discussion here already on the best opening moves given a infinite board or at least the board depicted.
1. e3 e6 2. Qh5 seems a logical start, but not entirely sure what would happen after that?
Any ideas? [[User:Flekkie|Flekkie]] ([[User talk:Flekkie|talk]]) 22:56, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:I think games will generally end in a draw by perpetual check that's something like:
:1. Qxd7+ Qxd7
:2. Qxd7+ (etc)
:It's tricky to prevent a player at a disadvantage from repeatedly sacrificing queens from further and further away down some file. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.138|172.68.54.138]] 02:43, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
::However, the rules of chess wouldn't cause this game to end in a draw since there are captures every turn, and captures reset the 50-move counter that triggers a draw. The players could agree to a draw - or perhaps the player at a disadvantage could hope to win by exhaustion, that is, by following this strategy indefinitely and hoping the other player collapses from weariness first. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 03:27, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

:::This assumes no chess clock. Alas, what I just wrote assumes a classic chess clock. Some games use time rules that require a modern electronic clock and add time every move, which in this case brings back the "recaptures go on forever" problem. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.149|172.70.207.149]] 11:49, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

Hit me up when this becomes real. I would like to try this out. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 12:29, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:It should be easy enough. You will rarely get the queens out in play from deep in the array. So maybe just put two chess boars together and put some placeholder in for queens in the extra fields. If ever a queen in the bottom row is moved, place extra queens that can now be moved into the 2-3 squares that would be outside the board...--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:39, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:It might be something one could set up in Infinite Chess, although having limits on the chessboard may be difficult. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.67|172.68.150.67]] 14:01, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

: Here's a finite approximation in ChessCraft: https://www.chesscraft.ca/design?id=5KM4 [[User:Promethean|Promethean]] ([[User talk:Promethean|talk]]) 15:37, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

While I understand how to play chess, I don't get the bit about "having a bunch of queens doesn't go very well". At first glance, the linked chess layout looks pretty solid. Can someone please enlighten me? Also, what does the TV Tropes link about Title Drop have to do with Infinite Armada, aside from that being the title of the comic? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.77|172.70.230.77]] 13:10, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

:: ... Nd6. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.246|172.70.91.246]] 13:31, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

::: Ah, thanks. Moving the knight there puts the king in check, and moving either queen to take it exposes the king to the bishop or rook, so checkmate. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.38|162.158.63.38]] 15:05, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

::::<s>You are assuming that the opponent makes no moves while you spend at least three moves advancing your knight. Looks like either side can draw by always moving the king backwards whenever a queen has moved and made a hole he can move to and otherwise trying to make a new, deeper hole. Eventually he gets so far back that any attack turns into an infinite sequence of queens taking each other, with the attacker only having file attacks while the defender can retake from a rank, file, or diagonal. Any time the attacker breaks off the infinite sequence of queens taking each other to set up something else, the defender takes advantage of the break to move the king deeper and put more queens in front of him or to create more empty spaces to sidestep into when attacked. To me, this looks like a certain draw.</s> [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.252|172.69.33.252]] 16:21, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

:::::They're talking about the linked layout at https://x.com/chesscom/status/1841540380363211164, not the layout in the comic. It only takes one move for the black knight to move to Nd6 and put the white king in checkmate. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.167|141.101.109.167]] 20:59, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

You might be able to get the developer of fairy stockfish ( https://fairy-stockfish.github.io/ ) to add this if you ask nicely. I have seen them add several reader requests. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.143|172.70.211.143]] 15:46, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Could this be a reference to the meme about "eating an infinite armada of pizza"? The wording seems too similar to be a coincidence. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.46|172.70.114.46]] 14:46, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Would this guarantee a draw between two competent players who'd played the variant before, or would there be more nuance to it than there appears to be?

Can someone explain the linked joke with all the extra queens? I don't understand why it's a bad position. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.125|172.69.59.125]] 16:48, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

The explanation of the linked joke is that the king appears safe at first glance, but in reality there is a simple move that wins the game for black. Moving the black knight to the top left corner of the queen square checks the king. The king cannot move to escape. Two queens are in position to take the knight and save the white king, but both of those moves expose the king to attack from other black pieces (the rook or the bishop).

Wow. Not only did White give Black a mate in one, they also blundered a mate in one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.176|162.158.167.176]] 20:21, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Really? This comic specifically references some obscure roblox game with like 350k visits? That can't be right. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.247|172.71.154.247]] 02:31, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

This was the variant played at the chess tournament held at David Hilbert's Grand Hotel. You'd think they would have struggled to fit infinitely large boards in the conference room, but they just kept moving the tables until they had enough space. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 08:01, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Clarifying "Surprisingly little memory to analyze conventional Chess": Without trying to "golf" the memory requirements, a board can be represented in 64 bytes, a reversible move in three bytes (start square, end square, piece captured). 40 moves without a pawn move or a capture is a draw, so the search stack is less than 5,680 moves. Two copies of the board (current search position, a board for looking back for detecting repeated positions), a few pointers for searching for moves to try: 20K of memory is plenty to search the entire Chess tree. And a truly unimaginably huge finite amount of time. (Golfers, start your carts!) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.12|172.68.55.12]] 12:08, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Queen to A9.56x10^14 -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 13:47, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Seems like a trivial win for white? Start w/ scholar's mate 1. e5 ... 2. Qh6, and just keep throwing queens at the king. It's much easier for the infinite queens to attack than to block and defend. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.76|172.71.154.76]] 18:21, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
:The problem is 1. e5 h6 2. Qxh6 Rxh6, if you keep trying to win h6 you’ll run out of queens that can move diagonally and black has an infinite supply moving vertically. 2. Qg4 Ng6 3. Qce2 seem like the logical next three moves? Except now black has a free move and a knight out. So at least it doesn’t seem trivial. I do think these games will be shorter than regular chess if they lead to a result, because long series of moves will tend to release the infinite queens. {{unsigned|Geoffk01}} 23:13, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

I cannot image this is not trying to reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSCNW1OCk_M , which recently resurfaced again. {{unsigned ip|172.70.114.35|18:57, 6 December 2024 (UTC)}}

Joe Biden

2024-11-11T12:42:43Z

172.71.26.36: Was premature to say "was", as he officially remains so (as of writing) until succession. A different 'past' word applies now and for all foreseeable future, fortunately.

{{Infobox character
| image = Joe Biden.jpeg
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = '
| first_appearance = [[915: Connoisseur]]
}}

<noinclude>:''For a list of comics, see [[:Category:Comics featuring Joe Biden|Comics featuring Joe Biden]].''</noinclude>

'''{{w}}''' is an American politician who became the 46th {{w|president of the United States}}. A member of the {{w|Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party}}, he previously served as the 47th {{w|Vice President of the United States|vice president}} from 2009 to 2017 under President {{w|Barack Obama}} and represented {{w|Delaware}} in the {{w|United States Senate}} from 1973 to 2009. He is married to {{w|Jill Biden}}.

{{navbox-characters}}
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Real people]]
[[Category:Politicians]]