explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2377: xkcd Phone 12

2020-10-27T04:33:50Z

173.245.54.136:

Is there any way to install the Vengaboys feature on my own phone? It's pure genius

If it's coated for easy swallowing, perhaps it's actually a tablet... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.54|162.158.155.54]] 22:50, 26 October 2020 (UTC)

Perhaps by taking data from infrared sensors and microphones, an app could automatically start the song? Might have some interesting copyright issues, tho idk how those things work … [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.124|162.158.63.124]] 23:57, 26 October 2020 (UTC)

Disabling the screen is a real feature (though it's called screen curtain on iOS https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201443). {{unsigned|108.162.241.70}}

The 600LB magnet doesn't weigh 600 pounds, it's strong enough to hold 600 pounds. And if you used the interlocking feature, and it doesn't explode, you'd never be able to pull the phones apart. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 01:42, 27 October 2020 (UTC)

I would actually buy something with Game Boy Printer compatibility. [[User:Unpopular Opinions|Goodbye, world!]] ([[User talk:Unpopular Opinions|talk]]) 03:49, 27 October 2020 (UTC)

John MacAfee fled Belize (and the Belize police) when he was wanted for questioning as a “person of interest” in the murder of Gregory Viant Faull. I suspect that that is part of why Randal posits an attack from John MacAfee (and defense from Peter Norton, who (unlike John) hasn’t completely lost his mind). I think he is also on the run from Spanish authorities for tax evasion.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.136|173.245.54.136]] 04:33, 27 October 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2369: All-in-One

2020-10-08T13:02:36Z

173.245.54.136:

Is the title text a reference the Librareome project in Rainbow's End (Vernor Vinge)?

See, e.g., [http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=1856]

--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.124|162.158.79.124]] 18:06, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

I wonder if Randall took inspiration from [this Dilbert](https://dilbert.com/strip/1994-04-25). [[User:Moosenonny10|Moosenonny10]] ([[User talk:Moosenonny10|talk]]) 18:52, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

I don't think "eat" and "corrugate" are intended as malfunctions. People sometimes eat paper -- it's a common trope in spy parodies where someone will eat a document to prevent someone from getting access to it. And corrugate just sounds like it's making corrugated cardboard from the input paper. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:22, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
:I changed it. What do you think? ''welp, i'' [[User:Donthaveusername|Donthaveusername]] ([[User talk:Donthaveusername|talk]]) 19:37, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

Seems like plagiarize would be somehow related to scan and copy.
: I imagine the internal sub-functions would be: Scan (or read from prepocessed page data from an original document 'sent to printer'), OCR (as necessary - implied in Translate but not mentioned as a function, despite being an actually popular 'one touch' function with appropriate desktop software involved), Comprehend (natural-language processing), De-Source (remove references that indicate the true source, including headers, watermarks, logos), Re-Arrange (optional shuffling/re-wording in places, maybe even synonyms), Re-Source (personalise back up again, for the plagiarist's benefit), then Print (if scan-for-copy/printed) or Save (if scan-for-storage, maybe even 'print'-to-storage via the device). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.52|141.101.98.52]] 00:21, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

shred and scan (or scanf) are also unix and C functions. Shred overwrites a file on disk, deleting it and preventing any subsequent recovery of the lost data. scan reads input according to a format string. Should one take a standard file and scan a string per the format '%s', the program will read in the variable until an end-of-line character is encountered. If the file were shredded first, resulting in a random set of bits, this end of line character might never be read. This seems to be more of a memory problem than a CPU problem, thus might not be the full explanation of the alt-text. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.126|162.158.126.126]] 21:10, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

The incomplete template mentions that there might be a reason for Randall making this topic, but I don't think there is other than just making a funny joke. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.146|172.69.34.146]] 22:42, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

What, it can fold but not spindle or mutilate? :( [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.114|162.158.75.114]] 23:14, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

Is staple removal a real printer feature? [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:17, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
:Doubt it. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.243|172.68.132.243]] 23:39, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
::Staple-detection is (fairly) trivial, but consistently extracting them 'nicely' while preserving the paper as much as possible might be beyond a device (it's tricky enough for a person, sometimes). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.211|141.101.99.211]] 23:51, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
:::It's not beyond a staple remover. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.59|172.69.35.59]] 00:52, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
::::Even for a staple remover, it's sometimes not a trivial task, sometimes requiring some "intelligence". I don't think this feature is available in off-the-shelf tech. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 01:25, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

I'm disappointed there's no "jam for no particular reason in the most difficult place to access" option. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.184|108.162.216.184]] 23:18, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
: I thought there should be Paper Cranes in the right-hand column... But your suggestion is also an obvious omission. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.211|141.101.99.211]] 23:51, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

Regarding the "possibility that this printer is a complex computer": most printers are. Any printer which can process postscript OR is connected to network obviously contains computer more powerful than first {{w|IBM Personal Computer|IBM PCs}}, not speaking about the computer used in {{w|Apollo Guidance Computer|Apollo}}. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:35, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
:Well, it's ''more'' complex now. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.59|172.69.35.59]] 00:53, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

Is it just me or is this printer not as absurd as the normal XKCD devices (like the phone)? I mean, this printer has no _really_ absurd features... You could say that this printer is almost sane. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:48, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

== Multi-function machines in pairs ==

I used to work for a temporary services company. At a tech-company, I noticed several instances where there were two multi-function machines close to each other. I asked about that. I was told company security policy forbade having a copier connected to a communications line. So, one machine was used only for copying. The other machine was used as a fax machine. The security police came about because, in the past, some people trying to copy company confidential pages sometimes mistakenly faxed them. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.194|162.158.75.194]] 01:00, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

== Accessibility adjustment ==

I added "(selected)" to all items that are highlighted in green, for the benefit of readers who can't see the green highlight. While one may argue that such readers could refer to the transcript, which has the text "(lit green)," there is no reason to force readers to scroll back and forth between the explanation and transcript sections to discover this, and it would be onerous for those using a screen reader to listen to the page multiple times. [[User:Thisisnotatest|Thisisnotatest]] ([[User talk:Thisisnotatest|talk]]) 08:29, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
:I like that. It was neither green nor annotated when I was last here and I think both elements are nice touches, I'd like you and the greening editor to each know. (I changed "lighted" to "lit" in the transcript version, and it seems nobody has reverted that yet, which was always possible. I'd considered "illuminated", but "selected" is a good one if there remain any future objections.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.225|162.158.158.225]] 09:15, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
Does "fold paper airplane" really need 2 links to the same thing? I think the first link should be removed <shruggie>--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.136|173.245.54.136]] 13:02, 8 October 2020 (UTC)Bumpf

91: Pwned

2015-09-24T21:10:53Z

173.245.54.136: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 91
| date = April 19, 2006
| title = Pwned
| image = Pwned.png
| titletext = I'm sure a discussion of the reason for the disappearance of adventure games in favor of RPGs would be fascinating.
}}

==Explanation==
First off, three references have to be explained:
*"Counterstrike" is a reference to the {{w|Command and Conquer}} franchise expansion pack {{w|Command_%26_Conquer:_Red_Alert#Expansion_packs|Red Alert: Counterstrike}} (or possibly the {{w|Half-Life (series)|Half-Life}} franchise expansion {{w|Counter-Strike}}). In C&C, players start off the game on a map with limited visibility of their surroundings. Players must move units into "dark" areas of the map (called "{{w|Fog_of_war#Simulations_and_games|Fog of war}}") to have visibility there. Different units have different ranges of visibility.
*"[[Wiktionary:pwned|Pwned]]" is a typical online gaming term meaning beaten, killed or trapped/tricked.
*The "grue" is a predator in the game franchise {{w|Zork}}. Grues fear light, but love to devour adventurers entering the dark. Therefore, you cannot win the game without owning some light source.

Zork is a typical text-adventure, in which you play turn-based (like chess). The computer spits out some textual context, you enter a command (GO <direction>, TAKE <object>, KILL <person>, LOOK AT <object> etc.), and the computer responds by giving the outcome of your command. This scarce context arose from the fact that games in the 1970s and 1980s needed to run on limited memory and microprocessor capacity. During the last 20 years, these barriers were broken down, and games in graphical context, and running in real-time were made possible.

Randall returns Counterstrike to the text-context of Zork, stating thereby that no player used to the real-time, graphical atmosphere of the former would have any appeal to the turn and text-based dynamics of the latter. And yes, that indeed is an initiation to the discussion mentioned in the image text.

The title text mentions {{w|Adventure game|adventure games}} from the early days of personal computers like the IBM-XT, Atari, or C64. That games were based on an interactive story and the player had to solve a puzzle on this by only communicating to the application using a keyboard or later even a mouse. The more modern way of playing games is the genre of {{w|Role-playing video game|Role Playing Games (RPG)}} where the player controls a character who changes in ability and often involve a combat component.

==Transcript==
:Welcome to text-only Counterstrike.
:You are in a dark, outdoor map.
:> GO NORTH
:You have been pwned by a grue.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Video games]]