explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2288: Collector's Edition

2020-04-03T14:38:38Z

173.245.54.183: /* Hints */

{{comic
| number = 2288
| date = April 3, 2020
| title = Collectors Edition
| image = collectors_edition.png
| titletext = I'm sure you can find some suitable worldbuilding material if you scavenge through the archives.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is an April 1st comic. It is a large image, of which only part is visible, but it can be dragged around. The space acts as a virtual common sandbox where viewers can interact. "Items" (small, often humorous images) can be 'collected' from other comics and then placed in this image by viewers. The collection then updates for all viewers in real time. Multiples of the same item are often seen.

There is a "backpack" at the bottom, similar to "backpacks" in video games containing items collected by the player. Items can be found by visiting different XKCD comics/pages. Randomly, some pages will have a treasure chest which will contain the sticker related to the page. It is believed that the hint represents what page currently has a chest.

The sticker images can be seen at https://xkcd.com/2288/collectors/static/loot/loot_XXX.png, where XXX is a number from 001-253. Additionally, some images can be found at custom urls, for example the periodic elements can be found at https://xkcd.com/2288/collectors/static/loot/element-XX.png, where XX is the element, and text loot at https://xkcd.com/2288/collectors/static/loot/loot-words-X.png, where X is the sentence.

===Hints===

{| class="wikitable"
!Hint
!Comic
!Unlocked item
!Item image
!Notes
|-
|Doctors in a row||[[1529: Bracket]] ||Cory Doctorow || ||
|-
|Get out the (US) vote|| || || ||
|-
|Find a box of nice stuff on a picture with words like these|| [[1133: Up Goer Five]] || Signpost || ||
|-
|Plug in or find another power source||[[1373: Screenshot]] || || loot_228.png ||
|-
|Sweet dreams, kitty||[[729: Laser Pointer]] || || ||
|-
|What is this hint pointing to? Hell if I know.||[[28: Elefino]] || || ||
|-
|Somebody set up us the bomb||[[286: All Your Base]] ||Exploding rock || ||
|-
|Cowabunga||[[1412: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] ||Women Science Fiction Authors || loot_175.png || [[197: Ninja Turtles]] also works
|-
|Take a ride in a barrel|| || || ||
|-
|I want to believe||[[2156: Ufo]] ||Ufo || ||
|-
|Bleeped|| || || ||
|-
|why waste time say few word when lot word do trick||[[1022: So It Has Come To This]] || First Annual Award for Excellence in Being Very Smart || ||
|-
|Cooler than electric scooters||[[2195: Dockless Roombas]]||An electric scooter|| || ||
|-
|Take it from the top||[[1: Barrel - Part 1]] ||I am a turtle || || ||
|-
|I accept the yucca gnocchi, this meal is a success!||[[1713: 50 ccs]] || || ||
|-
|Catch up on the news|| [[1699: Local News]] || || ||
|-
|Participation trophy|| [[2288: Collectors Edition]] || Server rack || ||
|-
|Find an opportunity for a sojourn||[[1504: Opportunity]] ||Opportunity Mars rover || ||
|-
|Tastier than tau day||[[179: e to the pi times i]] ||First annual award for excellence in being very smart || ||
|-
|418 I'm a teapot||[[1866: Russell's Teapot]] ||S.S. NASA: Space is Hard || ||
|-
|26th September, 1983||[[2052: Stanislav Petrov Day]] ||White dove || ||
|-
|Take it from the top|| || || ||
|-
|There are 4241 as of Apr 1, 2020|| || || ||
|-
|asableiK|| [[645: RPS]] || A reverse Polish hotdog || || "Kielbasa" backwards, which is "sausage" in Polish
|-
|Critical mass elements|| || || ||
|-
|Some Februarys are more equal than others|| [[390: Nightmares]]? || Cueball wheelie from [[272: Linux User at Best Buy]] || || Comic-hint connection largely conjectural; 390 was the first comic published on a leap day.
|-
|Five spice||[[1554: Spice Girls]]|| Rock guitarist || ||
|-
|Call the plumber|| || || ||
|-
|Was it a rat I saw?|| [[1632: Palindrome]] || Cueball with a large sack, pulling a wagon || ||
|-
|Churchill's gonna have to seriously rehydrate||[[1148: Nothing to Offer]]|| Bottle of soda || ||
|-
|Keep coming back|| || || ||
|-
|A new model released each year|| || || ||
|-
|Tea Time||[[579: The Race: Part 3]] ||Floor tea || ||
|-
|Try pattern-matching! Look for comic 'bout alphabet?||[[1045: Constraints]] || || ||
|-
|Where's Hilbert?||[[195: Map of the Internet]] ||maze || ||
|-
|Science fiction fetish|| || || ||
|-
|The first one was funnier||[[11: Barrel - Part 2]]||No chest - hint disappears || ||
|-
|It's up to over 260 million cycles!|| || || ||
|-
|Sleeping Beauty is the same everywhere though|| || ||
|-
|On the internet, nobody knows you're an arachnid|| [[1530: Keyboard Mash]] || Cobwebbed frame || ||
|-
|Did James Cameron pay for the rice cooker too?||[[1598: Salvage]] ||Rice bowl || ||
|-
|Never going to give you up||[[351: Trolling]] || || ||
|-
|If red touches yellow, that's 24 ohms||[[1604: Snakes]]|| Yoda with an mp3 player from What If || ||
|-
|An enthusiastic but questionable business opportunity||[[1533: Antique Factory]]|| || ||
|-
|Read the fine manual|| [[1343: Manuals]] || || ||
|-
|That thing's undecimodal!||[[1347: t Distribution]] || || ||
|-
|Actually, it's Myanmar-Shave now||[[491: Twitter]]||Expensive bottle || ||
|-
|You don't have to find all 99|| || || ||
|-
|Going in circles|| || || ||
|-
|Couldn't you try knitting, or maybe stamp collecting?||[[2123: Meta Collecting]]||Phishing License sign|| ||
|-
|It's the ciiiiircle of HONK||[[537: Ducklings]] ||DUCKLOOP'D? || ||
|-
|Fool me twice||[[880: Headache]] ||Raptor Attack || ||
|-
|oOOOoooo|| || || || https://xkcd.com/316/ ?
|-
|Maybe we can ask for new wishes||[[879: Lamp]] ||Genie and his bottle || ||
|-
|HACK THE PLANET||[[1337: Hack]] || || ||
|-
|Monetization haute couteur|| || || ||
|-
|Maybe writing a script would help||[[1319: Automation]]|| || ||
|-
|Go big to go small|| || || ||
|-
|Are you projecting||[[977: Map Projections]]| |Squirrel on a gun| || ||
|-
|Do spiders really have six legs||[[8: Red spiders]] || || ||
|-
|Istanbul or Constantinople or St. Trimble's Island?||[[1688: Map Age Guide]] ||Cephalopod || ||
|-
|Another rulebook?||[[393: Ultimate Game]]||Wizard in a chair || ||
|-
|Moooooon|| [[1300: Galilean Moons]] || MOOOOOON || ||
|-
|Take a flight from LOL to FFS|| [[1937: IATA Airport Abbreviations]] || || ||
|-
|Everyone deserves a second chnace|| || || ||
|-
|Community contribution|| || || ||
|-
|On the other side of the wardrobe|| [[969: Delta-P]] ||Authentic Reindeer pulling sled || ||
|-
|Today's your lucky day|| || || ||
|-
|[This hint has been redacted due to a copyright claim]|| [[1005: SOPA]] || || ||
|-
|Try a different approach|| || || ||
|-
|The cake is a lie!|| [[606: Cutting Edge]] || Cake || ||
|-
|Joanna, fire.||[[322: Pix Plz]] || || loot_026.png ||
|-
|Everything changes from time to time when the fire nation attacks||[[965: Elements]] ||Symposium || ||
|-
|90KG x 300M|| [[382: Trebuchet]] || Trebuchet || ||
|-
|Copyright Enforcement Brigade|| || || ||
|}

==Trivia==
* This comic is the 2020 April Fools comic, and was supposed to be released April 1st. However, the below message was displayed on the top of the page until early Friday (April 3rd) morning, when the comic finally went live. It remains to be seen if Friday's intended comic will be published later.
<blockquote>
Note: For technical reasons Wednesday's comic will be posted Thursday instead. Apologies for the delay!
</blockquote>

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball stands to the left of a vibrating box.]
:[The words "Collector's Edition" are written above him and boxed.]

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2279: Symptoms

2020-03-14T00:45:07Z

173.245.54.183:

Coronavirus or Covid-19 should be tags. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 17:39, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
:Agreed. Depending on how you count [[2278]], this series has been running continuously since [[2275]]. So this is the 4th or 5th NCOV-2019 comic. The only problem is what should we name the tag? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.211.34|172.68.211.34]] 18:37, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
::"COVID-19" I'd say, for scientific accuracy.--[[User:GoldNinja|GoldNinja]] ([[User talk:GoldNinja|talk]]) 18:59, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
:::I just added a [[:Category:SARS-CoV-2]] since {{W|Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2}} indicates that's the current official name. BTW, reCAPTCHA got very aggressive after I tagged the second page. I don't suppose there's a proper place to complain? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.89|172.69.33.89]] 19:10, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
::::I would use [[:Category:COVID-19]] instead. If I'm reading the Wikipedia articles correctly, SARS-CoV-2 is the ''virus'', while COVID-19 is the ''disease''. And "COVID-19" is actually in fairly common use in the media compared to SARS-CoV-2. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.56|172.68.38.56]] 19:51, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
:::::That makes sense. But I'm not going thru that many reCAPTCHAs again. (I'm also not likely to make an account at this time, or to respond to further messages here. Sorry.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.179|172.68.46.179]] 20:24, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
::::::You not creating account really doesn't make sense. Done. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:20, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
:::::::I think Category:Corona virus would have been better. Since that is what everyone calls it and what it will be remembered as later. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:27, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
::::::::There are now many references to COVID-19 instead of Coronavirus. It seems to be replacing the former, socially speaking. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.227|108.162.246.227]] 14:39, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
::::::::I would label it COVID-19, as that's the most common usage that's specific to this pandemic. Coronavirus is literally ''every'' cold, & SARS-CoV-2 (while accurate & more descriptive) is not a widely used term at this time.
::::::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 13:17, 13 March 2020 (UTC)
:::::::::Not every cold. Coronaviruses cause about 30% of colds. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.183|173.245.54.183]] 00:45, 14 March 2020 (UTC)

Re. the title text, my reaction would be, "The medicine must not be working. I'd better take more." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.120|172.68.38.120]] 18:38, 11 March 2020 (UTC)Pat

Again? I get that this pandemic is a big deal, but I was really hoping Randall would be a little more creative and come up with some other topics to talk about. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 14:35, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
:I have no clue if he's just jumping on the bandwagon to stay relevant or if he's legitimately extremely panicked over it. --[[User:Youforgotthisthing|Youforgotthisthing]] ([[User talk:Youforgotthisthing|talk]]) 19:49, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
::@Youforgotthisthing: keep in mind that Randall's wife is a cancer survivor and most likely immunocompromised. I wouldn't blame him for being worried. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 11:13, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

::Or for that matter if he, like most intelligent people, is dealing with what little danger there is by making fun of the people who are legitimately extremely panicked over it.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.128|172.68.174.128]] 20:01, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

Hey, a hummingbird is only 80fps? That's nothing, people are now buying gaming monitors with 260 fps just because they claim they can see frame tear. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 17:40, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
: Some tests (admittedly run by the companies which make hardware to enable gaming at 240+ fps) have shown benefits of high-refresh monitors in terms of snap reactions to sudden movement, but not the ability to perceive high-frequency cyclical phenomena. --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 21:14, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
:Older cathode ray tube monitors running at 60Hz only appeared flicker-free because the phosphor-lit pixels faded gradually between frames. With the near instant on\off switching of LCD & LED monitors, 60Hz frame tearing can become quite noticeable (& 24fps looks downright "cinematic" in its flickering). For LCD, LED, & DLP displays, 75Hz is near the minimum for flicker-free perception, with many people still experiencing discomfort, eyestrain, headaches or nausea all the way up to 100Hz. Comparatively little content is produced at 100Hz, while traditional 29.97Hz & 60Hz content display relatively smoothly at 120Hz; in addition, most home 3D display systems rely upon alternating left-eye\right-eye opacity switching, so 240Hz has become a common standard display frequency (capable of displaying most common framerates without necessitating intensive frame-smoothing effects). For viewers with acute motion sensitivity, 240Hz displays & 120fps or higher content is a major benefit. Personally as a long-time video technician, I believe most low framerate video exhibiting noticeable frame-tearing is a result of sloppy mastering, as horizontal panning is notoriously well known to exacerbate this effect: Horizontal panning should either have frame-smoothing effects applied, or be rendered at >100Hz; anything else looks shoddy, or at best "retro".
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:08, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Am I the only one reading Megan's reaction instead as being sarcastic about fitting that description most of the time, even when (relatively) well? I think it's not the first comic by Randall exploring being behind on the fitness/health curve relative to general population, so it felt like continuation of the theme. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.131|162.158.91.131]] 12:10, 13 March 2020 (UTC)
:I was reading Megan's reaction as slyly trying to hit on Cueball. Especially with an expression like "wet cough." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.64|172.68.90.64]] 14:21, 13 March 2020 (UTC)
::Whatever floats your goat man, but I doubt that any of her symptoms are considered sexy or otherwise desirable by most people. Especially since she seems to emphasise her '''incredibly''' wet cough. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 15:35, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2279: Symptoms

2020-03-14T00:44:45Z

173.245.54.183:

Coronavirus or Covid-19 should be tags. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 17:39, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
:Agreed. Depending on how you count [[2278]], this series has been running continuously since [[2275]]. So this is the 4th or 5th NCOV-2019 comic. The only problem is what should we name the tag? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.211.34|172.68.211.34]] 18:37, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
::"COVID-19" I'd say, for scientific accuracy.--[[User:GoldNinja|GoldNinja]] ([[User talk:GoldNinja|talk]]) 18:59, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
:::I just added a [[:Category:SARS-CoV-2]] since {{W|Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2}} indicates that's the current official name. BTW, reCAPTCHA got very aggressive after I tagged the second page. I don't suppose there's a proper place to complain? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.89|172.69.33.89]] 19:10, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
::::I would use [[:Category:COVID-19]] instead. If I'm reading the Wikipedia articles correctly, SARS-CoV-2 is the ''virus'', while COVID-19 is the ''disease''. And "COVID-19" is actually in fairly common use in the media compared to SARS-CoV-2. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.56|172.68.38.56]] 19:51, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
:::::That makes sense. But I'm not going thru that many reCAPTCHAs again. (I'm also not likely to make an account at this time, or to respond to further messages here. Sorry.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.179|172.68.46.179]] 20:24, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
::::::You not creating account really doesn't make sense. Done. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:20, 11 March 2020 (UTC)
:::::::I think Category:Corona virus would have been better. Since that is what everyone calls it and what it will be remembered as later. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:27, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
::::::::There are now many references to COVID-19 instead of Coronavirus. It seems to be replacing the former, socially speaking. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.227|108.162.246.227]] 14:39, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
::::::::I would label it COVID-19, as that's the most common usage that's specific to this pandemic. Coronavirus is literally ''every'' cold, & SARS-CoV-2 (while accurate & more descriptive) is not a widely used term at this time.
::::::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 13:17, 13 March 2020 (UTC)
:::::::::Not every cold. Coronaviruses cause about 30% of colds.

Re. the title text, my reaction would be, "The medicine must not be working. I'd better take more." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.120|172.68.38.120]] 18:38, 11 March 2020 (UTC)Pat

Again? I get that this pandemic is a big deal, but I was really hoping Randall would be a little more creative and come up with some other topics to talk about. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 14:35, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
:I have no clue if he's just jumping on the bandwagon to stay relevant or if he's legitimately extremely panicked over it. --[[User:Youforgotthisthing|Youforgotthisthing]] ([[User talk:Youforgotthisthing|talk]]) 19:49, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
::@Youforgotthisthing: keep in mind that Randall's wife is a cancer survivor and most likely immunocompromised. I wouldn't blame him for being worried. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 11:13, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

::Or for that matter if he, like most intelligent people, is dealing with what little danger there is by making fun of the people who are legitimately extremely panicked over it.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.128|172.68.174.128]] 20:01, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

Hey, a hummingbird is only 80fps? That's nothing, people are now buying gaming monitors with 260 fps just because they claim they can see frame tear. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 17:40, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
: Some tests (admittedly run by the companies which make hardware to enable gaming at 240+ fps) have shown benefits of high-refresh monitors in terms of snap reactions to sudden movement, but not the ability to perceive high-frequency cyclical phenomena. --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 21:14, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
:Older cathode ray tube monitors running at 60Hz only appeared flicker-free because the phosphor-lit pixels faded gradually between frames. With the near instant on\off switching of LCD & LED monitors, 60Hz frame tearing can become quite noticeable (& 24fps looks downright "cinematic" in its flickering). For LCD, LED, & DLP displays, 75Hz is near the minimum for flicker-free perception, with many people still experiencing discomfort, eyestrain, headaches or nausea all the way up to 100Hz. Comparatively little content is produced at 100Hz, while traditional 29.97Hz & 60Hz content display relatively smoothly at 120Hz; in addition, most home 3D display systems rely upon alternating left-eye\right-eye opacity switching, so 240Hz has become a common standard display frequency (capable of displaying most common framerates without necessitating intensive frame-smoothing effects). For viewers with acute motion sensitivity, 240Hz displays & 120fps or higher content is a major benefit. Personally as a long-time video technician, I believe most low framerate video exhibiting noticeable frame-tearing is a result of sloppy mastering, as horizontal panning is notoriously well known to exacerbate this effect: Horizontal panning should either have frame-smoothing effects applied, or be rendered at >100Hz; anything else looks shoddy, or at best "retro".
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:08, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Am I the only one reading Megan's reaction instead as being sarcastic about fitting that description most of the time, even when (relatively) well? I think it's not the first comic by Randall exploring being behind on the fitness/health curve relative to general population, so it felt like continuation of the theme. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.131|162.158.91.131]] 12:10, 13 March 2020 (UTC)
:I was reading Megan's reaction as slyly trying to hit on Cueball. Especially with an expression like "wet cough." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.64|172.68.90.64]] 14:21, 13 March 2020 (UTC)
::Whatever floats your goat man, but I doubt that any of her symptoms are considered sexy or otherwise desirable by most people. Especially since she seems to emphasise her '''incredibly''' wet cough. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 15:35, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

1493: Meeting

2015-03-13T15:14:17Z

173.245.54.183: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1493
| date = March 2, 2015
| title = Meeting
| image = meeting.png
| titletext = Here at CompanyName.website, our three main strengths are our web-facing chairs, our huge collection of white papers, and the fact that we physically cannot die.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Beret Guy]]'s business, as previously seen in [[1032: Networking]] and [[1293: Job Interview]], is going well, although it is unclear why. The common theme in these three comics is that Beret Guy misuses common business cliches. The following are examples and phrases that [[Randall]] is likely making a joke about:

*"If you're reading this, the webserver was installed correctly." When a web server is installed automatically (like apache using apt-get), it typically comes with a minimal configuration meant to deliver a single page saying all is working fine. Usually, a company will then configure the web server to provide actual meaningful content. It appears that in this case Beret Guy's company kept the page as is, but also trademarked the sentence as the company's motto, and proudly displays it under the company logo.

*"CompanyName.website": Companies are usually given descriptive or evocative names; Beret Guy's company, meanwhile, has been given a generic placeholder name that explains nothing about the company or website except that it is a company with a website.

*"Welcome to a meeting!" The usual way to start a meeting is to welcome the participants by telling them in which meeting they are (e.g. "Welcome to the meeting on ..."). Here, the complete lack of specifics in this sentence is an indication that the meeting has, in fact, no purpose at all, except to be just "A meeting". It could also mean that Beret Guy does not know the proper way to welcome people to a meeting.

*"I'm almost out of words so I'll keep this short." A common theme in the busy world of business is lack of time, so "I'm almost out of time" would be a valid reason for keeping a meeting short, rather than a finite quantity of words. Aside from the fictional movie {{w|A Thousand Words (film)|A Thousand Words}} or people taking a {{w|Vow of Silence}}, people usually don't have a particular quota on the number of words they have or can use.

*"Just wanna touch bases." Often business professions will contact a customer to "touch base," meaning to check in for a status update. The use of the plural "bases" suggests Beret Guy does not know what this means. This could also be a word play on the expression "Cover some bases".

*"Self-driving car project" Google has been working on self-driving cars, which usually shouldn't be lost track of and found by the police. The fact that it was launched "by accident" is concerning. It could mean the car was turned on by mistake and then left unattended, or perhaps that a driver of one of their cars fell asleep or otherwise stopped controlling the vehicle, but it is not clear because the accidental launch may refer to the project itself rather than the car. The involvement of the police implies that the car crashed or otherwise obstructed traffic. What's especially ironic is the implication that the employees were carpooling (sharing a single vehicle for their commute, for reasons of efficiency/economy) in the self-driving car, and yet this carpool activity ended with the car setting off with nobody in it at all. This is considered to be a good result because the whole project is an accident, and 90 miles before crash is a good result for a self-driving car when you didn't even know you built a self-driving car.

*"Sales, any luck figuring out who our customers are?" In the real world, when companies want to find out "who [their] customers are", they are talking about learning more about their existing customers in order to more closely match these customers' needs, and to discover ways to attract more of them. Here, Beret Guy and [[Ponytail]] apparently use the phrase literally - they have no records of making any sales. In a normal enterprise money doesn't usually appear from nowhere, and most businesses would be very unsettled if their cash flow was from an unknown source. Additionally, the company would not be able to comply with government regulations that require it to report information regarding its income for tax purposes. In addition to being fined for failure to properly report its income, the company would be investigated as a suspected money laundering enterprise.

*"Cool red beetle in the hallway" Beret Guy might be referring to seeing an insect. But given his continually surreal world, he might have instead seen a red Volkswagen Beetle, meaning there is an actual car in the hallway. This also matches with the "self-driving car project", potentially explaining why the car is inside the building. Randall's all-caps lettering hides the "beetle" versus "Beetle" distinction.

*"Bug tracker" usually refers to systems for tracking discovery, analysis, and fixing of software bugs (errors and problems), not the location of physical objects (be they insects or Volkswagen Beetles which are nicknamed "bugs").

*"Web-facing" (title text) usually refers to software or a server that is connected to the internet using a web interface. However, in this case the term is applied to chairs placed in front of a computer with internet browsing capability.

*"White papers" (title text) are usually policy recommendations, but here Beret Guy is likely talking about actual (near-worthless) blank white pieces of paper.

*"Main strengths" (title text) typically refer to one's skills, but "we physically cannot die" refers to the fact that incorporated companies are in a sense anthropomorphised—they're legally treated as "persons", with the ability to sue and be sued in civil courts. Or that Beret Guy is literally immortal, in which case that would indeed be a great asset which could be used in a variety of ways, from things like making a one man army (though he could still be captured or incapacitated) to investing for a long long time. On that note, if Beret Guy IS immortal, perhaps many (many) years ago (before his mind got wonky?) he might have invested a lot of money and is finally noticing the large amount of interest that has accrued. This would partly explain why there is lots of money coming in without any customers.

There is an alternative explanation for the company portrayed: it is run by computers. This explains the misinterpretations of language, the empty chair, the non-traceable money (perhaps from other computers) and the self-driving car project.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy is shown in silhouette. Above Beret Guy there is a black sign with white (and grey) text. Above this is his address to those in the meeting:]
:Beret Guy: Welcome to a meeting! I'm almost out of words, so I'll keep this short. Just wanna touch bases.
:[White text in the black sign (''.website'' in grey):]
:CompanyName.website
:''If you're reading this, the web''
:''server was installed correctly.™''

:[Beret Guy stands in front of an office chair and a table talking.]
:Beret Guy: First, a few updates. We've learned from the state police that the self-driving car project we launched by accident during this morning's carpool has come to an end about 90 miles outside of town. Very exciting!

:[Pony tail sits at the table.]
:Beret Guy [off-panel]: Profits are up. Sales, any luck figuring out who our customers are?
:Ponytail: Nope. Money keeps appearing, but we have no idea how or why.
:Beret Guy [off-panel]: Great!

:[Back to the situation from frame two.]
:Beret Guy: Oh, and one last thing— I saw a cool red beetle in the hall. Can someone add it to the bug tracker?
:[person off-panel]: Just did!
:Beret Guy: Thanks!

==Trivia==
"CompanyName.website" is actually a domain name that was registered on 2014-11-20 and [http://companyname.website which redirects to xkcd.com]. Presumably, it is owned by Randall, for the same reason as in [[305]].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-08-13T08:45:50Z

173.245.54.183: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|We should probably finish that list.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coast line into regions based on the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes from before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) simply being listed by their year.

A partial list of all the unnamed hurricanes:
*The {{w|1915 Galveston hurricane}}, which hit hardest along the Texas coastline near Galveston.
*The {{w|1915 New Orleans hurricane}}, which hit hardest in the areas near New Orleans.
*The {{w|1916 Texas hurricane}}, which hit hardest along the west side of Texas's coastline. The other "1916" is from another 1916 hurricane that caused severe floods in an area of North Carolina.
*The {{w|1918_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_One|1918 Louisiana hurricane}} ("1918 I"), which hit hardest in western Louisiana.
*The {{w|1921 Tampa Bay hurricane}}, which hit hardest exactly where the name implies.
*The {{w|1926 Nassau hurricane}} ("1926 I"), which hit hardest in a small area of northeastern Florida.
*The {{w|1926 Louisiana hurricane}} ("1926 II"), which hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle.
*The {{w|1926 Miami hurricane}} ("1926 III"), which obviously hit the Miami area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
*The {{w|1933 Chesapeake-Potomac hurricane}}, which hit hardest along the western side of Chesapeake Bay.
*The {{w|1935 Labor Day hurricane}}, which hit hardest along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
*The {{w|1938 New England hurricane}}, which hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the 'worst hurricane in living memory', and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: 'If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year olf resident who agrees!'

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics [[453: Upcoming Hurricanes]], [[944: Hurricane Names]] and [[1126: Epsilon and Zeta]].

==Transcript==
:What's The
:;Worst Hurricane
:Anyone In Your Town Remembers?
:Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals
:1914-2014
:[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1390: Research Ethics

2014-07-04T13:31:29Z

173.245.54.183:

I was expecting something else for a comic on July 4th. [[User:MrGameZone|0100011101100001011011010110010101011010011011110110111001100101]] ([[User talk:MrGameZone|talk page]]) 05:16, 4 July 2014 (UTC)
:Not every xkcd fan is from the US, Randall has to keep the comics global.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.242|108.162.210.242]] 06:04, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

''"Randall writes "what" twice, which is a classic optical illusion."'' So - did it he do this on purpose (I fail to see the connection with the subject), or is it just the explanation of why he missed the typo he made? [[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] ([[User talk:Jkrstrt|talk]]) 07:03, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

It's very deliberate. The illusion demonstrates what the brain chooses not to see. Facebook is making some content not visible to us as an experiment. There really is far less subtext to this than you think there is. There isn't some deep meaning. It was an experiment to see if we would see it. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.152|173.245.56.152]] 07:09, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

My version of the comic does not have the repeating what. Either it was a typo that has been fixed or there are 2 versions of the comic and Randall is performing his own experiment to judge our reactions to the different comics (I didnt sign any agreements.)[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.183|173.245.54.183]] 13:31, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

"Similarly, what the text is saying is we have no right to peer into the algorithms that do that snooping because it belongs to Facebook and it wouldn't be fair to them for us to see it." I think the title text is actually saying the opposite. "it's not like we could just demand to see the code that's governing our lives". It looks like it's being sarcastic, since anything that runs our lives should be our business by default. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 08:05, 4 July 2014 (UTC)
:Then again, it's not really supposed to be governing our lives, is it? Any impact it has your life is because you gave it the permissions and information to do so, which was voluntary (by sharing your selfies and rants under their terms) and not mandated by an overreaching government. I agree that the text is sarcastic, but in a different way than you mentioned. [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.239|103.22.201.239]] 10:05, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

I was reading the title text to be a reference to open source code and the more zealous belief that ALL code should be open source. Not necessarily making a comment on it, so much as trying to raise the point (almost as a troll) to compare privacy concerns with access to source code.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.91|108.162.216.91]] 08:10, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

I read it and couldn't understand what what she was saying. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.50|108.162.222.50]] 08:37, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

I read the title text as bitter sarcasm. And it plays in to the message in another comic, I don't know which, about someone being warned not to place his private information in the custody of another without strict limits on the power of that other. (I'm playing the world's tiniest violin" was the punch line on that one. Also used by The Kids In the Hall!)
The impact by those who manage and manipulate information is seldom clear and both it's motivation and it's impact on our decisions remains not only largely unnoticed in daily life but also unknowable. Just because we give control of information to another doesn't mean we agree to be either a lab rat or open to manipulation by them whether we recognize it or not. Whether it's someone trying to achieve power (government) or someone trying to earn a profit (business), the burden-of-proof should be on them that the effect is benign. I know this sounds a bit Ayn Randian, a person whose politics I deeply distrust, but even scary people can get things right some of the time.[[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 11:51, 4 July 2014 (UTC)ExternalMonolog

The title text is an oblique reference to the implications of recent SCOTUS ruling on corporations having similar rights as people (albeit to do with religion, as opposed to privacy), no? {{unsigned ip|108.162.228.41}}

The SCOTUS ruling follows a US Supreme Court decision in the late 19th century that "A corporation is a person". Ironically, the justification for this ruling was based on a law clerk's note in the margin of a previous decision stating that the said previous decision could create the situation where a corporation has the same rights as a person. The decision at hand was to decide the validity of a presidential election and the the Supreme Court took the notes made by the clerk as law. it's clear the court knew what it's ruling meant, but it's not clear what the courts motivation was for accepting the clerks notes as if it had been an already rendered decision![[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 11:51, 4 July 2014 (UTC)ExternalMonolog

This comic has some relationship to http://xkcd.com/1150/. {{unsigned ip|141.101.103.215}}

The comic I mentioned in an above comment is Infrastructures http://xkcd.com/743/ [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 12:28, 4 July 2014 (UTC)ExternalMonolog