explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1672: Women on 20s

2016-04-25T15:34:43Z

173.245.50.61:

One (potentially) legitimate concern I have seen expressed regarding the proposed rollout date for the redesigned $20s is that we may not be using paper money anymore by then!
[[User:Rajakiit|Raj-a-Kiit]] ([[User talk:Rajakiit|talk]]) 13:01, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

The weird creepy looking eye thing is the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Providence Eye of Providence]. And now that Randall mentioned it, I somehow have an intense emotional need to see a series of US currency with the Eye of Providence as the featured portrait on every bill....

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.23|108.162.217.23]] 14:46, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

The real question: why can't the Treasury leave the $10 bill alone, redesign the $20 bill (with Harriet Tubman on both sides), and release that redesign in the 2020s as planned? There is no rush here, so long as it is done.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.61|173.245.50.61]] 15:34, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

1632: Palindrome

2016-01-20T15:48:01Z

173.245.50.61:

{{comic
| number = 1632
| date = January 20, 2016
| title = Palindrome
| image = palindrome.png
| titletext = I hope that somewhere in the world, "Panamax" is the last option on a "size" drop-down menu on a sex toy site.
}}

==Explanation==
A {{w|palindrome}} is a word, phrase, or sentence that reads the same whether you read forwards or backwards, like ''race car''. Normally capitalization, spacing, and punctuation are ignored.

This comic is based on the famous palindrome: "A Man, A Plan, A Canal: Panama", devised by {{w|Leigh Mercer}}, which references the construction of the {{w|Panama Canal}} and is the first mentioned on the Wikipedia page for palindromes [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Palindrome&oldid=700753837 at the time this comic was released].

[[Megan]] recites a much longer palindrome for [[Cueball]]. This palindrome is based on the original, (and was posted in this [http://www.talking-time.net/showthread.php?p=1370627#post1370627 forum thread] more than three years before the release of this comic). It is much less logical, and manages to include the word anal (which then refers to the title text and sex toys, see below).

[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nam 'Nam] is an apheresis of Vietnam. See more explanation of the words in the palindrome in the [[#Trivia|Trivia]] section. Note that in the original version from the link above there were a comma before tables so it is two items in the list: God's 'Nam, tables, etc.

Due to its list like structure, the Panama palindrome is easily extensible by adding additional [http://www2.vo.lu/homepages/phahn/anagrams/panama.htm noun phrases], and some of these extensions lay claim to being "[http://norvig.com/pal17txt.html The Longest Palindrome Ever]".

The title text references the maximum size of ships that can fit through the Panama Canal, which is {{w|Panamax}}. [[Randall]] would really enjoy if this was the last option(i.e. biggest size) on a {{w|drop-down menu}} on a {{w|sex toy}} site. For instance such a site could have a banner saying; "If you have a ''Panama Anal'', then try our ''Panamax {{w|Butt plug}}''".

===The Palindrome===
Although it is less logical it is indeed a palindrome:
:'''Original''':
:: A man, a plan, a God's 'Nam tables, nitrate, tar, tinsel, Batman's dog: Anal Panama.

: '''Palindrome''', i.e. original sentence reversed:
:: amanaP lanA :god s'namtaB ,lesnit ,rat ,etartin ,selbat maN' s'doG a ,nalp a ,nam A

: '''With no spaces''' or other punctuation and in all lowercase:
:: amanaplanagodsnamtablesnitratetartinselbatmansdoganalpanama

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are walking. She holds up her arm and hand while reciting a palindrome:]
:Megan: A man, a plan, a God's 'Nam tables, nitrate, tar, tinsel, Batman's dog: Anal Panama.

==Trivia==
*In the [http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=1370627&postcount=6286 version] posted on-line in 2012, there was an extra comma after God's 'Nam:
**A man, a plan, a God's 'Nam, tables, nitrate, tar, tinsel, Batman's dog: Anal Panama.
**This means that it is not ''God's 'Nam tables'', but rather two items ''God's 'Nam'' and ''tables'', since it is a list of items.
*The '''meaning of the words''':
**These words are from the original palindrome: Man, Plan and Panama
**But what about the rest, taking the original with the "," as mentioned above:
***{{w|God|God's}} 'Nam - [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nam 'Nam] is here short for {{w|Vietnam}}; God's 'Nam would refer to a Quagmire of God's creation. (The Quagmire is a figurative name of the {{w|Vietnam War}}).
***{{w|Tables}} - can either be a piece of furniture or a data table.
***{{w|Nitrate}} - a polyatomic ion with the molecular formula NO3− that are mainly produced for use as fertilizers in agriculture. But as an oxidizing agents it can be used to create explosives where the rapid oxidation of carbon compounds liberates large volumes of gases.
***{{w|Tar}} - is a black mixture of hydrocarbons and free carbon. Originally referred primarily to a substance derived from the wood and roots of pine. But it has also been used in {{w|Tar#Definition|other contexts}}. For instance naturally occurring "{{w|tar pits}}", actually contain {{w|asphalt}} rather than tar.
***{{w|Tinsel}} - Tinsel, is a type of decorative material that mimics the effect of ice, consisting of thin strips of sparkling material attached to a thread. When in long narrow strips not attached to thread, it is called "lametta", and emulates icicles. It was originally a metallic garland for Christmas decoration. The modern production of tinsel typically involves plastic, and is used particularly to decorate Christmas trees.
***{{w|Ace the Bat-Hound|Batman's dog}} - Ace the Bat-Hound was the canine crime-fighting partner of {{w|Batman}} and {{w|Robin (comics)|Robin}} in DC Comics of the 1950s and 1960s.
***{{w|Anal}} - relates to {{w|anus}}. Searching for "Anal Panama" will return links to pages with {{w|porn}}. This is because the most used form of ''Anal'' is in regard to {{w|Anal Sex}} which is often used in porn. (It is not long since another xkcd comic referred directly to porn - see [[1629: Tools]]).
*The '''meaning of the sentence''':
**There are no obvious meaning of this palindrome.
**As it also seems it is not of Randall's device, then it seems less important for this site, than if it were.
**The original palindrome was also a list of things that lead to choosing Panama.
***A man had a plan to make a canal. He chose Panama.
**This one is also in list form:
***A man had a plan to use the Vietnam war with nitrate, tar and tinsel (maybe some kind of explosives with Christmas decorations), finally adding Batman's dog to get Anal Panama...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Sex]]

Talk:1143: Location

2015-12-24T20:00:54Z

173.245.50.61:

I thought the words "like" and "hang out" were references to facebook's "like" and google's "hang out". What do the native speakers think? {{unsigned|213.252.171.254|07:56, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

: Not in this case- here they're just being used as the everyday terms that facebook and google co-opted. {{unsigned|140.247.0.10|08:12, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

:: I agree. {{unsigned|122.60.40.91|09:28, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

: Native speaker here: there doesn't seem to be anything distinctive about the use of 'like' and 'hang out' in this comic to indicate they might be references. {{unsigned|170.194.32.42|10:33, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

:: The words aren't out of place otherwise, so it just might be a (big) coincidence. I still find it likely to be true. [[Special:Contributions/207.237.164.241|207.237.164.241]] 11:18, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

::: It's really not a "big" coincidence at all. 'Like' and 'hang out' are ''the'' most obvious word choices in their context in the comic. The same words are used in social network apps ''because'' they are common social phrases. It doesn't even warrant the word "coincidence", let alone a "big" coincidence. [[Special:Contributions/46.65.14.73|46.65.14.73]] 22:55, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

: Another native speaker here. You typically would not "hang out" – in real life – with people you don't "like" – as in you like your friends. There's nothing in the comic to make me think there's any connection with Facebook or Google+. [[Special:Contributions/24.41.5.167|24.41.5.167]] 11:44, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

: This native speaker agrees. The dialog is ordinary informal American English. That's why facebook and Google hijacked the words. Facebook and Google want to be seen as informal and idiomatic institutions. {{unsigned|174.125.142.147|15:25, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

::They'll be very disappointed when they discover that he just decorated the bushes around his house with green LED lights for Christmas. --Geoff [[Special:Contributions/128.156.10.80|128.156.10.80]] 19:22, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

No explanation for the space noises? [[User:Max Nanasy|Max Nanasy]] ([[User talk:Max Nanasy|talk]]) 21:28, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

: The game literally makes space noises. Like... ''whooosshhshhhssshhoooooshhh.'' Things like that. [[Special:Contributions/138.110.225.187|138.110.225.187]] 22:30, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

::Thank you for that. I had no idea what was being referenced, serves me right for not reading the title text. (This is not sarcasm, it sounded like it was when I read it to myself, so I'm adding this disclaimer) [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 22:33, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

:: But "space noises" is an oxymoron. In space, you can't hear noise. (Oh... you mean bad-sci-fi-movie noises...) [[Special:Contributions/207.225.239.130|207.225.239.130]] 19:16, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

::Another Google closed beta – you get to play by invite only. Meh [[Special:Contributions/24.41.5.167|24.41.5.167]] 23:53, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

I'm trying to find a game that I played on the computer about 2 years ago. I remember that you could see the entire play area the entire time. It was timed. The object was to get to a hole (maybe blue in color) to end the level. There were blocks that often blocked your path, which you needed to push out of your way or more often use them to make bridges to cross water. Some of the levels were very much a timing game where you needed to quickly move a block through a winding path(up, down, left, right only)to avoid being caught by, I believe, moving blocks.The closest screen shot that I've found is Chips Challenge, which is not the game that I played previously. I remember there were many levels, probably between 50 and 100. Ideas?[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 15:33, 6 December 2012 (UTC) RESOLVED : game was called Silversphere[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 21:24, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

: RE: Shine. The game was called Rodent's Revenge. Phenomenal Times, Shine, Phenomenal Times. Glad you reminded me about it!
:::Not the game I was thinking of, but fun game too. No animals of any kind in the game that I'm trying to find [[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 17:13, 7 December 2012 (UTC)
:OK got it. It was called Silversphere. [[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 21:24, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

I was absolutely certain that the bright green "fountains" were supposed to illustrate some radioactive material and them being "excited" was somehow a particle physics joke I couldnt nail down.

:My assumption was that his house was just in a good location to watch some space phenomenon. The Aurora, or a meteor shower.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.156|141.101.104.156]] 12:27, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

You should really try Ingress now. It's great. However, I don't understand what he lives beside that's so portal-worthy. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.185|108.162.218.185]] 00:54, 20 June 2015 (UTC)

By my house, across the Mississippi from St,l there is a Catholic Church with a portal on two idols and a bell tower. Unfortunately it is just out of reach from my bedroom. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.61|173.245.50.61]] 20:00, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:189: Exercise

2015-12-24T19:55:24Z

173.245.50.61:

See: Fitocracy (www.fitocracy.com), for these ideas in action.

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.8|108.162.242.8]] 15:11, 27 May 2014 (UTC) Rome_Leader

I thought he was saying he didn't have the patience for level grinding. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.177|108.162.210.177]] 00:03, 3 April 2015 (UTC)

Wait till you try ingress. [[Location]] [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.61|173.245.50.61]] 19:55, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

190: IPoD

2015-12-24T19:53:24Z

173.245.50.61: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 190
| date = November 29, 2006
| title = IPoD
| image = ipod.png
| titletext = For smaller numbers he has to SAVE lives. The birthrate channel is even more of a mixed bag.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Internet Protocol|IP}} is one of the main protocols of the Internet. It is used to route data packets from one computer to another, using other computers or even complete networks in between if needed. It is designed to use the fastest (not necessarily the shortest) route to the target, automatically using another route if a connection or a transmitting host fails.

Every participant of the network has to have a so-called {{w|IP address}}. The data is divided into ''packets'', each consisting of a header and the payload. The header tells the transmitting parties where the packet comes from and where it should go (together with some other details). The payload is the data to be transmitted.

[[Black Hat]] (and other statisticians) are using demographics as IP packets to send data. In order to adjust the death rate to encode the header, Black Hat plans to travel to New Jersey and go on a killing spree with a crossbow, instead of merely hacking the census bureau's computers. Such antics could only be used to ''increase'' the death rate, decreasing it would require saving lives instead, as mentioned in the title text. Also as mentioned, birth rates would be trickier to manipulate as doing so would require encouraging or discouraging women to have children and would require an approximately nine month delay, which is a great deal more difficult than taking a crossbow to a heavily populated area.

Crossbows were also mentioned in [[564: Crossbows]].

The title of the comic and the IPoD protocol is a probable reference to the {{w|iPod}}, a portable electronic device created by {{w|Apple Computer}}.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat sits at a computer. Cueball stands behind Black Hat.]
:Black Hat: You see, statisticians communicate using IPoD -- IP over Demographics. For example, the header of the next packet I send will be encoded into the New Jersey death rate.
:Cueball: So you're going to hack the census bureau and change the number of reported deaths?
:Black Hat: Guess again.
:Black Hat: Hey, have you seen my crossbow?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Crossbows]]

Talk:659: Lego

2015-12-18T21:22:04Z

173.245.50.61:

This is one of my favorite xkcd strips, and one that I happily point to in any discussion involving organ donation. [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 08:05, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

Hmmm... Where did the philote of the house go though? The pattern may be gone, but was the philote called back to outside?
Yes, I'm one of the seven fans of xenocide. 04:08, 21 November 2013 (UTC)
:+1 [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.61|173.245.50.61]] 21:22, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

Anyone interested in the issues raised in this comic would do well to look up the problem of the Ship of Theseus.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.53|108.162.216.53]] 17:03, 29 November 2013 (UTC)

For me, once you accept the fact of evolution, and therefore that all life on earth emerged from a common ancestor, it is patently obvious that the relevance of religion to what happens to my "composition" (self) after death is ... zero. To wit: "If you want to know what happens when you die, go look at some dead stuff." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 01:22, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

The point of this comic is excellent, but it is dampened for me by the fact that Lego doesn't sell general-purpose blocks any more, it's all precision kit crap. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:30, 23 January 2014 (UTC)
:[http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3498752&mr:keyword=&mr:trackingCode=A0545167-7315-E311-A497-90E2BA285E75&mr:match=&mr:adType=pla&mr:filter=56911854646&cagpspn=plat_5739898&mr:referralID=NA&mr:ad=35201231326&mr:device=c&camp=PLAPPC-_-PID5739898&KPID=5739898 Hi.] '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:38, 23 January 2014 (UTC)
::For the same price, you could equip yourself with the makings of a Meccano set. Something well out of the reach of most hobbyists way back when. Odd how the more we have the less we do with it.

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 04:11, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

The first time I read this strip, I immediately thought back to one of my all-time favorite books. The basis of ''Unwind'' by Neal Shusterman is essentially the idea behind this strip, except from an opposite point of view. --[[User:Hammy2211|Hammy2211]] ([[User talk:Hammy2211|talk]]) 21:34, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

: The premise of ''Unwind'' is that the future American culture has decided to believe that if a person's tissues are all transported into new people, the donor is then still alive, and therefore it is ok to "unwind" unwanted teenagers, since they are still "alive," just in another state of life. Obviously, the teenagers chosen to be unwound aren't ok with this view. Dystopian novels are fun. This is one you won't forget quickly. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.135|108.162.245.135]] 19:51, 12 December 2015 (UTC)

I disagree with this interpretation of the comic. I think ponytail is marking the box with a combination between a checkmark and an X mark, which in a test (where I live at least) means 'partially correct'. It is usually drawn as a check mark with the LONGER arm being one of the two lines of the X, but here, the SHORTER arm and PART of the longer arm seem to form the top half of the X. This makes me not sure that this was the actual intention, but I still think it was.
Now, I think ponytail in part wants to help others with her parts just like the current explanation says, but I also think she's afraid of making herself disappear while doing so. If she isn't an organ donor, she will stay complete and will continue to exist, but if she is a donor, then the arrangement will be gone and SHE will be gone forever. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 15:12, 14 July 2014 (UTC)

:I interpreted the unsual check mark as either a tick which had been turned to a cross, or a mix between a cross and tick. I also read the title text as a suspicious child questioning whether Grandpa has been taken apart or something similar. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:02, 24 October 2014 (UTC)

:I agree. It seems awfully strange that after being told that she's 'disappear' she'd go and disassemble herself... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 10:08, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

::Then again, organ donation only occurs after death (well, legally) so she's going to end up "disassembled" no matter what she picks there if she's dead (by decay or incineration or whatever). In fact, you could say that as soon as you die your body begins to disassemble. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 04:42, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

:I thought she was crossing out the box, indicating that she would like to exist for as long as possible, and would not like to disrupt her "organization" through organ donation. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.20|173.245.54.20]] 20:13, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

:It's a bureaucracy. If there's only one checkbox, you generally leave it empty if you don't want to do it, or fill it in (with a checkmark or an X) if you want to do it. If I saw a box like that with a checkmark in it, I would interpret it exactly the same as I would a box with an X in it. No-one at DEQ actually would expect people in general to be able to follow directions as complex as 'checkmark to say yes, X to say no.' Not only are there people who don't have very good English skills, there are a bunch of people who don't actually bother to read directions at all, so they are smart to keep it simple. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.135|108.162.245.135]] 19:42, 12 December 2015 (UTC)

1598: Salvage

2015-11-02T17:20:17Z

173.245.50.61: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1598
| date = November 2, 2015
| title = Salvage
| image = salvage.png
| titletext = My hobby: Taking advantage of the rice myth by posting articles on "how to save your wet phone" which are actually just elaborate recipes for rice pilaf.
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete|What is the "rice method" of saving electronics? That's why I came here, but no one seems to have mentioned it.}}

The {{w|RMS Titanic|RMS ''Titanic''}} was a large ocean liner which, when it was completed in 1912, was the largest ship afloat. The ship famously hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sank, killing two-thirds of its compliment (approximately 1,500 people) in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters ever.

As it sank, the ''Titanic'' broke into two pieces. The ship was lost for decades until the wreck site was discovered in 1985. A number of proposals have been made to salvage the wreck of the ''Titanic'' both before and since the wreck's discovery. The general consensus at this time is that the wreck is too fragile to be salvaged intact. Numerous expeditions have been made to the wreck site since its discovery, with several parties (without any outside authorization) taking various artifacts from the site. A popular view is that the wreck is effectively a mass grave and that plundering the site for profitable artifacts is akin to grave-robbing. Most believe the wreck should be left where it is, intact. That said, explorers have already done notable damage to the wreck.

This comic shows a fictional attempt to salvage the two main pieces of the ''Titanic'' wreck, which, as it likely would in real life, garners media coverage as a 'historic salvage'. The salvage seems to consist of several ships raising the hull via cables attacked to some sort of buoyant sled placed under the hull (as might actually happen). This is followed by even more helicopters carrying the hull in unison, again via cables to the cradle (a much less practical operation). The hull halves are then dropped into a giant tub of rice. The entire salvage attempt is increasingly cartoonish and unrealistic, but the tub of rice takes this to another level.

The punchline to the comic references the "rice myth", a popularly disseminated method of salvaging consumer electronics (usually cell phones) which have been submerged in water. The method entails burying the wet device in a bowl of rice. This process is commonly claimed to dry it out, but investigation reveals that the process does not hold water. This suggests that the wreck of the Titanic would benefit from being dried as quickly as possible - something that might not be of any benefit to a large ocean wreck.

Surviving non-metalic material on board the ship may not benefit at all from drying. Far more ancient shipwrecks are best preserved by keeping the recovered timbers ''wet'' (but progressively desalinated, where applicable), cool and as anoxic, at least while conserving chemicals such as {{w|Polyethylene glycol}} are infused into the wood to allow safe and gradual drying without causing further damage. Leather, cloth and other organic remains may have variations on this regime.

Thus the rice might benefit an electronic device briefly exposed to water, but not likely to ultimately benefit a ship that has been immersed for over a century, where the interest is in more than merely stabilising the remaining metal hull and infrastructure.

This comic may play on the dual meaning of the word "salvage" in respect of electronics and maritime wrecks.

The title text indicates that Randall considers the 'rice' method of electronic salvage to be a myth. There are numerous online discussions of the technique with mixed levels of success. Critically, where rice is tested against other methods, rice appears to perform worse than other methods. Controlled experiments on this topic tend to show that silica gel (aka "Do Not Eat" packets) is the most effective drying agent, with mixed results for rice.<ref>[http://www.hud.ac.uk/news/2013/november/researchshowsriceistheanswerforawetmobile.php Research Shows Rice is the Answer for a Wet Mobile]</ref><ref>[http://smartphones.wonderhowto.com/how-to/myth-debunked-uncooked-rice-isnt-best-way-save-your-water-damaged-phone-0154799/ Myth Debunked: Uncooked Rice Isn't the Best Way to Save Your Water-Damaged Phone]</ref>

==Transcript==
:[Megan is shown standing at the rail of a ship with a microphone reporting the event shown in the background. A small helicopter and a larger two rotor model, lowering a rope with hook, are hovering over a crane ship with it's hook down line going down in the water. It is depicted like a new screen as seen on TV. Below Megan are two headings. The first in a white insert with double frame, and the other written in white over the gray ocean water.]
:Historic Salvage
:Live

:[Four crane ships are shown lifting the bow part of the RMS Titanic. There are pontoons beneath the ship to help it float up. The name of the ship can be seen.]
:RMS Titanic

:[Both parts of the Titanic are now flown by helicopters, four for the stern and five for the bow. One helicopter for each part is a two rotor model. Ropes go from the helicopters down on each side of the ship parts to pontoons below them. Below in the ocean there are two crane ships.]

:[The two parts of the ship is now lowered in to a huge bowl of rice (labeled) standing at the coast just out of the ocean, which can be seen to the left. One of the five helicopters for the bow is missing. For scale there are drawn two trees to the left, and something is parked to the right, maybe a truck.]
:Rice

<references/>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]

151: Mario

2014-04-14T14:45:57Z

173.245.50.61: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 151
| date = September 1, 2006
| title = Mario
| image = mario.png
| titletext = Why would anyone ever, ever say that? Please, nobody ever say that.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|One-upmanship}} is the act of surpassing another person. In this case, one female character is one-upping her friend's claim of being taken on a mountain hike with a claim that she was proposed to.

Mario is the major figure at the {{w|Super Mario}} series. In the games, completing specific conditions causes a "1-up" to appear on screen, referring to an additional life. The comic relies on the homonym of the action of one-upmanship and the event of one-ups in Mario.

At the title text [[Randall]] implies that this is a pretty bad joke.

==Transcript==
:Megan: For our anniversary, my boyfriend took me hiking in the mountains.
:Ponytail: My boyfriend proposed to me.
:Ponytail: They should call you Mario, 'cause you just got <<1 up'd>>

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Video games]]

754: Dependencies

2014-04-14T14:38:54Z

173.245.50.61:

{{comic
| number = 754
| date = June 16, 2010
| title = Dependencies
| image = Dependencies.png
| titletext = The prereqs for CPSC 357, the class on package management, are CPSC 432, CPSC 357, and glibc2.5 or later.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Sorry: Wrong wiki-links, those links should be posted here by a template; and this explain is still a horror for non programmers. A Compiler and a Linker are still so different.}}
One of the responsibilities of a {{w|compiler}} (as well as the {{w|Linker (computing)‎|linker}}) is ''{{w|Topological sorting|dependency resolution}}'', the process of identifying what other components are necessary in order to construct a target component. Those other components may in turn may have their own requirements, all of which must also be satisfied.

On college campuses, course names indicate the department and level of a course. CPSC would be one way to express Computer Science classes, and course numbers in the 400 range would likely indicate a senior-level course.

The comic envisions a college computer science course (CPSC432) focusing on dependency resolution which has itself as a prerequisite. This dependency structure would send a naïve compiler into an infinite loop. In real life, the problem is solved by allowing an object to satisfy itself as a prerequisite. You see this, for example, every time you compile a recursive function.

The joke is that any student who successfully enrolls in the class already knows this solution because they must have employed it in order to get past the apparent infinite recursion in the class prerequisites.

''{{w|Package management}}'' is a problem in software deployment similar to compiler dependency resolution, except that the dependencies are collections of files known as ''packages''.

The title text posits a course on package management which is dependent not only on itself (recursive dependency), but also on the course presented in the main comic, which has a higher course number. Package managers resolve self-dependencies in much the same way as compilers do, but a dependency from a lower-numbered package to a higher-numbered package is typically disallowed because it can create cycles in what is supposed to be a tree structure. glibc is a commonly-used package on Unix systems. Its inclusion as a course prerequisite blurs the line between the course material and the course itself.

==Transcript==
:A portion of a page from an imaginary course catalog.

:Page 3
:[A table with four columns labeled Department, Course, Description, and Prereqs. Under 'Department' it reads, "computer science". Under 'course' it reads, "CPSC 432". Under 'Description' it reads, "Intermediate compiler design, with a focus on dependency resolution." Under 'Prereqs' it reads, "CPSC 432".]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Recursion]]

Talk:1350: Lorenz

2014-04-02T02:49:11Z

173.245.50.61:

I've had the story loop back to the first frame, so it wouldn't surprise me if this could go on infinitely if it had the available dialogue options.

This is going to be a hell of a thing. Good luck... [[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 15:39, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:I think this is one of those times when the custom field might come in handy. Duplicating Randall's code seems like it might be difficult, and it might just be easier to link to the original page. Probably. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:47, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
::I think it should just show a screenshot of the initial image and options [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.61|173.245.50.61]] 02:49, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

There's always new story lines, even when you think you've read them all, new ones appear to replace them. I don't think it'll ever be possible to record them all. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.192|108.162.212.192]] 15:55, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:The text changes, but there are recurring themes with the panels. The rocket, the big hole, the little hole, Dinosaurcomics, pokemon, waking up, stranded swimming.........[[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 18:03, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

When I go to XKCD, all I see is the comic from Monday... weird. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:45, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Same here... and a lot of space below it. [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 17:43, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: I think that happens when you have refreshed the page too many time -- kind of an anti spam for user submissions. I simply create an anonymous browser window and I got back to the real page once xkcd was not able to track me as a returning user. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 17:59, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Currently there appears to be a bug. Instead of the evolving, crowd-sourced comic, I just see an off-center copy of the previous comic, 1349: Shouldn't Be Hard. [http://i.imgur.com/pw2OfOL.png Screenshot here].
UPDATE: it appears to be a bug in the XSRF-blocking code. Chrome console shows me the error "XMLHttpRequest cannot load http://c1.xkcd.com/graph/1/. The 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header has a value 'http://xkcd.com' that is not equal to the supplied origin. Origin 'http://www.xkcd.com' is therefore not allowed access."
FURTHER UPDATE: you can work around this bug by going to http://xkcd.com instead of http://www.xkcd.com!
It also doesn't work if you have HTTPS Everywhere enabled.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.38|108.162.216.38]] 16:46, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

** I can confirm this bug in Firefox. Weirdly, the work-around functioned one time for me, but now going to "xkcd.com" rather than "www.xkcd.com" just gives me a copy of 1349 as well. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 17:40, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:The workaround didn't work for me, I still got monday's comic on either URL. (Chromium 36.0.1919.0 (260611), Mac OS 10.9.2) [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 17:45, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Same here. Used IE and Firefox. Removed the "www." and haven't. (Never used https:// at all.) Tried InPrivate (and FF equivalent) browsers. Gone into the code and can't even fudge it manually from ''<nowiki><div id="comic"><img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/shouldnt_be_hard.png" title="Every choice, no matter how small, begins a new story." alt="Lorenz" /> <script type="text/javascript">Bernardo.comic({el: $('#comic')})
</script></div></nowiki>'', and the rest, manually. (Indeed, that shows why I get 1349's "shouldn't be hard" image, by default.) Pity. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.224|141.101.89.224]] 02:25, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

This comic introduced(?) a font of its own of Randalls comic type. I don't know if it has been sitting there for long, but I just noticed it: http://xkcd.com/fonts/xkcd-Regular.eot -- phiarc [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.12|108.162.219.12]] 17:20, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Is it the same as was used in Externalities? [[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 18:00, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Does everyone have these options in some order for the first tile?
*Refresh... No New Email... Refresh .. No New Tweets... Refresh...
*These Stupid Tiles... I'll Just Play One More Game
*Oh. Hey. There's Some Kind Of Politicial Thing Going On.
*Let's See If BSD Is Any Easier to Install Nowadays
--[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:54, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

:If so, we can begin to build a map of at least the first set of options before the crowd-sourced ones. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:56, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
::Yes, though the second-tier options have changed [[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 18:00, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:::The first level options may be constant (Im seeing the same as Jeff), but I suspect that the following options is based on some sort of ckick though statitics / machine learning -- which means that the will continue to change until Randall closes off the 'voting' -- if [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1193:_Externalities 1193: Externalities] is anything to go by that should be within the next 24-48 hours, at which point automating the collection of story lines may be possible. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 18:11, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:::: I'm going to transcript some of what I get at least through the first few levels and then we can start with a list of options for those who don't want to go through them all. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 18:37, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
::::: I have no idea how one would do this, but it would be cool to render the transcript as a tree of some sort; having one vertical list will be hard to follow for more than a few decisions. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 00:14, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Ohh, this comic is buggy and the link here at the top gives just the page from Monday, showing errors on debuggers. But removing the WWW from URL helps. Further more I can't see that the result of the choices is dynamic. So let's prove this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:33, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
: Have a look at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/2b/lorenz_combination1.png and http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/9a/lorenz_combination2.png and you can see the option orders are changing -- this is a typical artifact of A/B testing where randomization of options is needed to avoid selection bias. I have futher observed "your car is on fire" instead of the "dinosaur" option, hence not only the orders are channging but the content as well -- maybe somebody else can capture this. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:08, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

How are new dialogue suggestions approved? Are they random, by popular vote (unlikely, not very many people would suggest the same thing), or is Randall approving them one by one? [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 20:26, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
: They may not need to be explicitly approved at all -- one of the beutiful things about click though measures is that the public '''votes''' for what is good by clicking -- this is also a factor in search ranking by your favorite search engine where statistics are driving the entire show -- in a search engine some input to the statistical process comes from the web pages, but other comes from what people are actually clicking [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:14, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

What is this a screenshot of? It's zoomed out so far. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:5b5bd04e-b9d6-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd [[User:Haithere|Haithere]] ([[User talk:Haithere|talk]]) 20:39, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
: you mean this : http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a1-2014/Rl92nFEWd9huvXABNkHKHg.png ? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:20, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: It appears to be a screen shot from a flight simulator program of some sort, however im not able to tell which, and since it is most likely an 'in-game' screen short we will never find out unless somebody else is playing this precises flight simulator program [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:37, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: I am not certain, but I strongly suspect that is Kerbal Space Program {{unsigned ip|108.162.242.111}}

A transcript is going to be futile. It appears as though the comic may go on indefinitely (I've definitely had some branches continue extending until I've seen frames that were present in other branches). I suspect what's happening here is that... options are "suggested", and those suggestions are displayed at random to people. The ones with the most clickthroughs begin to appear more often, until eventually the top 4 are "locked in" and no more suggestions can be made. Very creative! But I'm not convinced that Randall is making frames in near-real-time, nor am I even convinced he's part of the approval process at all. I suspect it's all automated. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.28|108.162.215.28]] 00:29, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1350: Lorenz

2014-04-02T02:48:39Z

173.245.50.61:

I've had the story loop back to the first frame, so it wouldn't surprise me if this could go on infinitely if it had the available dialogue options.

This is going to be a hell of a thing. Good luck... [[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 15:39, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:I think this is one of those times when the custom field might come in handy. Duplicating Randall's code seems like it might be difficult, and it might just be easier to link to the original page. Probably. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:47, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
::I think it should just show a screenshot of the initial image and options

There's always new story lines, even when you think you've read them all, new ones appear to replace them. I don't think it'll ever be possible to record them all. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.192|108.162.212.192]] 15:55, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:The text changes, but there are recurring themes with the panels. The rocket, the big hole, the little hole, Dinosaurcomics, pokemon, waking up, stranded swimming.........[[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 18:03, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

When I go to XKCD, all I see is the comic from Monday... weird. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:45, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Same here... and a lot of space below it. [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 17:43, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: I think that happens when you have refreshed the page too many time -- kind of an anti spam for user submissions. I simply create an anonymous browser window and I got back to the real page once xkcd was not able to track me as a returning user. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 17:59, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Currently there appears to be a bug. Instead of the evolving, crowd-sourced comic, I just see an off-center copy of the previous comic, 1349: Shouldn't Be Hard. [http://i.imgur.com/pw2OfOL.png Screenshot here].
UPDATE: it appears to be a bug in the XSRF-blocking code. Chrome console shows me the error "XMLHttpRequest cannot load http://c1.xkcd.com/graph/1/. The 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header has a value 'http://xkcd.com' that is not equal to the supplied origin. Origin 'http://www.xkcd.com' is therefore not allowed access."
FURTHER UPDATE: you can work around this bug by going to http://xkcd.com instead of http://www.xkcd.com!
It also doesn't work if you have HTTPS Everywhere enabled.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.38|108.162.216.38]] 16:46, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

** I can confirm this bug in Firefox. Weirdly, the work-around functioned one time for me, but now going to "xkcd.com" rather than "www.xkcd.com" just gives me a copy of 1349 as well. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 17:40, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:The workaround didn't work for me, I still got monday's comic on either URL. (Chromium 36.0.1919.0 (260611), Mac OS 10.9.2) [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 17:45, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Same here. Used IE and Firefox. Removed the "www." and haven't. (Never used https:// at all.) Tried InPrivate (and FF equivalent) browsers. Gone into the code and can't even fudge it manually from ''<nowiki><div id="comic"><img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/shouldnt_be_hard.png" title="Every choice, no matter how small, begins a new story." alt="Lorenz" /> <script type="text/javascript">Bernardo.comic({el: $('#comic')})
</script></div></nowiki>'', and the rest, manually. (Indeed, that shows why I get 1349's "shouldn't be hard" image, by default.) Pity. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.224|141.101.89.224]] 02:25, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

This comic introduced(?) a font of its own of Randalls comic type. I don't know if it has been sitting there for long, but I just noticed it: http://xkcd.com/fonts/xkcd-Regular.eot -- phiarc [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.12|108.162.219.12]] 17:20, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Is it the same as was used in Externalities? [[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 18:00, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Does everyone have these options in some order for the first tile?
*Refresh... No New Email... Refresh .. No New Tweets... Refresh...
*These Stupid Tiles... I'll Just Play One More Game
*Oh. Hey. There's Some Kind Of Politicial Thing Going On.
*Let's See If BSD Is Any Easier to Install Nowadays
--[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:54, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

:If so, we can begin to build a map of at least the first set of options before the crowd-sourced ones. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:56, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
::Yes, though the second-tier options have changed [[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 18:00, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:::The first level options may be constant (Im seeing the same as Jeff), but I suspect that the following options is based on some sort of ckick though statitics / machine learning -- which means that the will continue to change until Randall closes off the 'voting' -- if [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1193:_Externalities 1193: Externalities] is anything to go by that should be within the next 24-48 hours, at which point automating the collection of story lines may be possible. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 18:11, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:::: I'm going to transcript some of what I get at least through the first few levels and then we can start with a list of options for those who don't want to go through them all. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 18:37, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
::::: I have no idea how one would do this, but it would be cool to render the transcript as a tree of some sort; having one vertical list will be hard to follow for more than a few decisions. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 00:14, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Ohh, this comic is buggy and the link here at the top gives just the page from Monday, showing errors on debuggers. But removing the WWW from URL helps. Further more I can't see that the result of the choices is dynamic. So let's prove this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:33, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
: Have a look at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/2b/lorenz_combination1.png and http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/9a/lorenz_combination2.png and you can see the option orders are changing -- this is a typical artifact of A/B testing where randomization of options is needed to avoid selection bias. I have futher observed "your car is on fire" instead of the "dinosaur" option, hence not only the orders are channging but the content as well -- maybe somebody else can capture this. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:08, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

How are new dialogue suggestions approved? Are they random, by popular vote (unlikely, not very many people would suggest the same thing), or is Randall approving them one by one? [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 20:26, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
: They may not need to be explicitly approved at all -- one of the beutiful things about click though measures is that the public '''votes''' for what is good by clicking -- this is also a factor in search ranking by your favorite search engine where statistics are driving the entire show -- in a search engine some input to the statistical process comes from the web pages, but other comes from what people are actually clicking [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:14, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

What is this a screenshot of? It's zoomed out so far. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:5b5bd04e-b9d6-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd [[User:Haithere|Haithere]] ([[User talk:Haithere|talk]]) 20:39, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
: you mean this : http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a1-2014/Rl92nFEWd9huvXABNkHKHg.png ? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:20, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: It appears to be a screen shot from a flight simulator program of some sort, however im not able to tell which, and since it is most likely an 'in-game' screen short we will never find out unless somebody else is playing this precises flight simulator program [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:37, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: I am not certain, but I strongly suspect that is Kerbal Space Program {{unsigned ip|108.162.242.111}}

A transcript is going to be futile. It appears as though the comic may go on indefinitely (I've definitely had some branches continue extending until I've seen frames that were present in other branches). I suspect what's happening here is that... options are "suggested", and those suggestions are displayed at random to people. The ones with the most clickthroughs begin to appear more often, until eventually the top 4 are "locked in" and no more suggestions can be made. Very creative! But I'm not convinced that Randall is making frames in near-real-time, nor am I even convinced he's part of the approval process at all. I suspect it's all automated. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.28|108.162.215.28]] 00:29, 2 April 2014 (UTC)