explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1719: Superzoom

2016-08-12T19:56:11Z

173.245.54.44:

Camera guy is an asshole. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.76}}

Didn't realise donkeys could fit in a guy!

Anyhow, does anyone know if those cameras are really that good?{{unsigned ip|108.162.219.69}}

Alternatively, its possible he's borrowing this camera from beret guy. Too bad he didn't check to see if it dispenses soup; now we'll never know.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.81|172.68.35.81]] 15:08, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

I don't think the comic mentioned anything about the price of the camera. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.116|108.162.215.116]] 16:12, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

Yes, he does; see the first panel. But I had to look twice after reading your comment. :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.207|108.162.215.207]] 16:59, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

I think this comic might be inspired by this video I recently saw [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PbUjTxiyNQ] --[[User:Eluvatar|Eluvatar]] ([[User talk:Eluvatar|talk]]) 17:48, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

Here's a video of the Nikon P900 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-0X3xJf-kg which has 166x optical zoom {{unsigned ip|108.162.246.111}}

This feels like something Buttercup Festival would think up of. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.44|173.245.54.44]] 19:56, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

1719: Superzoom

2016-08-12T15:32:45Z

173.245.54.44:

{{comic
| number = 1719
| date = August 12, 2016
| title = Superzoom
| image = superzoom.png
| titletext = *click* Let him know he's got a stain on his shirt, though.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic Cueball is showing off his new Super zoom camera to White hat. These are cameras with large zoom lenses, often up to 25x or higher magnification. He is very excited and takes an ridiculous number of photos. He starts by exclaiming how they can take detailed photos of the moon, and (on better models) relatively large photos of Jupiter. He then shows it use for bird watching, which is a popular use for these cameras. He also is able to photograph an airplane, and make out the airline, both possible on these cameras, though it is unlikely he would be able to make out the registration number. Finally, White hat decides to buy one of these, and cueball tells his a shop in town that sells them. This is where it takes a turn for the impossible, as cueball points the camera in the direction of this store, and it able to make out the worker inside, and (in the title text) the stain on his shirt. Even with the ability of these cameras, it would be impossible to make out something that detailed from far away.
It could also be implied by him knowing the cashier in the store, as well as him mentioning the price, that he is in fact advertising for this store, and his over enthusiasm is an attempt to convince white hat to buy a camera. This tactic is reminiscent of many commercials and advertisements on television, but is not common in real life.

==Transcript==
[White Hat and Cueball are walking. Cueball is playing with a camera]

Cueball: I love these superzoom cameras. For a few hundred dollars you can take pictures of moon craters and Jupiter's clouds.

Cueball: And birds! See that speck up there?

[Camera clicking]

Cueball: Peregrine falcon!

[*click*]

Cueball: It's banded, too. Want the number?

Cueball: And see that plane?

[*click*]

Cueball: 787 Dreamliner

[*click*]

Cueball: Japan Airlines.

[*click*]

Cueball: Registration is-

White Hat: Ok, I'm sold- I want one.

[*click*]

Cueball: They're in stock at the place on Union Road.

[*click*]

Cueball: Hey, Kevin's working today! He's great.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1673: Timeline of Bicycle Design

2016-04-27T21:54:48Z

173.245.54.44:

I have deleted the entire paragraph with the Alternatively, explanation that this could be an analogue to the process of meiosis and pregnancy... It seems extremely far fetched to me... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:01, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

Seconded. This is a bizarre comic, and there will be a bizarre explanation, but that is clearly not it. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.181|141.101.70.181]] 13:04, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

That 1860 bike looks like the {{w|American Star Bicycle}}, but the year doesn't match. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.79.49|141.101.79.49]] 13:10, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

(Moved here from explanation:) The randomness of the designs reminds me of the strange designs produced by the genetic evolution AI in the game BoxCar2D.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.78|141.101.80.78]] 15:05, 27 April 2016‎

This comic strongly remind me of http://boxcar2d.com/ [[User:Dorus|Dorus]] ([[User talk:Dorus|talk]]) 14:24, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

I third the above comments. It could also help explain the title text, as the 1955 panel shows a broken and failed cycle, which can happen when a detrimental mutation (like weak wheel linkages) is selected by the AI to be passed on.

Would have seconded it, only looks like I'm fourthing it, instead. Also I adjusted 1925's transcript description as the numbers were wrong. (I also suspect it's related to the stabilisation applied to the [https://postalheritage.wordpress.com/tag/pentacycle/ Pentacycle], only without visible in/out-of-page stability. (Because the third dimension doesn't exist? Well apart from 1900 that looks to be a bicycle version of the [http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/cycling.html Rudge], with a solid insert to the spoked wheel ('poor man's disc-wheel' kit?) obscuring all but the spurious over-wheel drive-chain and the rider's head.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.137|141.101.98.137]] 15:09, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

Can you include the 'Alternatively,' explanation down here so I (and presumably others) don't have to wade through the page's history? We could list all sorts of far-fetched explanations, it has definitely happened on other comics.

I have a feeling that this is related to the idea that nobody can draw a bicycle. For example, [https://www.behance.net/gallery/35437979/Velocipedia this artist created 3D renderings of bicycles drawn by strangers]. [[User:Rael|Rael]] ([[User talk:Rael|talk]]) 14:51, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

Does anyone else think the 1980 bike resembles a horse-drawn carriage minus the horses? Specifically, the two long parts Megan is holding look like reins. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.122|108.162.246.122]] 16:06, 27 April 2016 (UTC)
: This one rather makes me think of a chopper, only without the engine. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.49|108.162.229.49]] 16:49, 27 April 2016 (UTC)
:: Indeed, there is a movement for both chopper and lowrider bicycles. I have seen both and the 1980's bicycle looks almost like a lowrider bike I saw in Arvada CO probably in 2014. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.89|162.158.255.89]] 17:29, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

I came here thinking I did not get the joke. After reading the description I see I am not the only one. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 16:23, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

: Same here. I think the joke is just Randall exaggerating actual bicycle designs. Either that or it's "The Evolution of the Bicycle" in an alternate reality. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.62|173.245.52.62]] 17:30, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

Is the point of the timeseries that while most things in biology evolve gradually over time (think all of those Evolution of Man t-shirts), undergoing great changes in form, we basically hit all the possible bicycle designs in the first 20 years and it has gone along essentially unchanged ever since? There are specialty bikes made possible by new frame materials, but they are all "Safety Bicycles". The takeaway of the comic could be either about the simplicity of the solution to the bicycle "problem", or about the difference between engineered design and the natural selection. [[User:Peregrinus|Peregrinus]] ([[User talk:Peregrinus|talk]]) 17:27, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

The 1955 design reminds me of the movie "Rubber". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1612774/ Is that too tenuous of a connection?
[[User:ChrisPwildcat|ChrisPwildcat]] ([[User talk:ChrisPwildcat|talk]]) 19:11, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

This reminds me of certain videos I watched about evolution, in sequence, the picutres could be describe various models (some of them apparently unfit, thus discontinued) of bicycles as if they were derived from the laws that govern evolution (random mutation and natural selection). [[Special:Contributions/198.41.243.242|198.41.243.242]] 21:42, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

Could the 1955 design be backwards cheese rolling? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.44|173.245.54.44]] 21:54, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1665: City Talk Pages

2016-04-10T14:06:53Z

173.245.54.44:

I redid the numbering in the transcript to be consistent with the comic. Unfortunately that added blank lines around the indented section, which looks a little awkward. Perhaps someone with better markup skills than me can fix it.[[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 16:51, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
:You didn't need to say font color blue over and over. Just once for the whole list was enough. [[User:Numbermaniac|Numbermaniac]] ([[User talk:Numbermaniac|talk]]) 00:32, 9 April 2016 (UTC)
::That wasn't me [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 02:40, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

So now does Wikipedia have to lock down every talk page to prevent xkcd-inspired vandalism edits? [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 17:14, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Aren't all of these points based on actual wikipedia talk pages? I came by to find the links to them. Maybe this is a big Whooosh for me, but i'd bet i'll not be the last person to think this. [[User:Harodotus|Harodotus]] ([[User talk:Harodotus|talk]]) 17:23, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
: Not ACTUALLY, directly based, no. I believe that Randall is engaging in what Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory declared as being called "reductio-ad-absurdum", taking an idea to an extreme in order to then make fun of it. It's definitely an xkcd staple, we see it often. In this case, Randall has seen ridiculous talk pages, and has come up with even more ridiculous "suggestions" if you will (for example, I doubt there's any city with such a huge murder problem that nobody can find a nice picture without a murder happening in the background). People here could find ridiculous city talk pages and link them here as examples, but it's unlikely any/many will have these exact entries, so linking them would be more of an opinion ("Here's one I personally find ridiculous"), which makes it less than ideal for linking to in what should be a fact-based environment. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.154|108.162.218.154]] 18:07, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
:: "What sheldon on the Big Bang Theory called" *facepalms hard* Reductio ad absurdem was a logical fallacy and rhetorical tactic long before that godawful show. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.64|173.245.54.64]] 21:37, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
::: Well, of COURSE I know they didn't invent it, I'm just pointing out a more accessible place where people may have heard the concept. And I didn't say he called it that, I said that he DECLARED that it's called that. I never suggested I thought he named it. That's one thing I love about the show, that it brings intelligence out to the masses. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.154|108.162.218.154]] 10:58, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Andrew Lloyd Webber has two "b"s.
[[User:Shakhteremeslo|Shakhteremeslo]] ([[User talk:Shakhteremeslo|talk]]) 17:41, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
:Wonder if it is a mistake or to make it look real. Talk pages are probably often filled with spelling errors and mistakes that do not get fixed. So maybe it was intentional. Else it might get fixed in an update later. Mentioned this in the explanation now. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:27, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Is the "it's apparently not a mistake" line a possible reference to citogenesis? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.47|173.245.54.47]] 17:43, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
: Probably, that seems to be the only logical explanation for how it's possible for that NOT to be a mistake, LOL! - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.154|108.162.218.154]] 18:10, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

I assume the reference to the 1982 secession is referring to Key West, FL, which "seceded" from the United States and formed the Conch Republic in April 1982, to protest Border Patrol roadblocks in the Keys. It makes sense to me -- If you have to deal with the Border Patrol, you must be leaving the country. They still celebrate Independence Day every April 23. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 21:57, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

;"Mining disasters" section too long

Why is this comic so bad at mining? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.134|108.162.242.134]] 17:46, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

I just *couldn't resist* coming to the talk page of this particular comic to say "hello world". LOL -JP {{unsigned ip|108.162.218.41}}

:I think that's why we're all here. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.44|173.245.54.44]] 14:06, 10 April 2016 (UTC)

I tried clicking on [HIDE] but it didn't. {{unsigned ip|162.158.72.197}}

;Too blue (DISCOSS!)

The article has too many hyperlinks. Can we make them green instead of blue? [[User:Mikemk|Mike]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 22:38, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

;I think the murderer is here now
He's also reverting my edits? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.239|108.162.218.239]] 00:15, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

;Random examples

Wikipedia has a {{w|Special:RandomInCategory|special page for random pages in a category}}. {{w|Special:RandomInCategory/City|This link}} finds random pages related to cities, which might help in finding amusing talk pages. [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 00:20, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

I just had to go check out the talk page on my hometown. Oh my goodness, I didn't realize... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.65|108.162.221.65]] 02:03, 9 April 2016 (UTC) sam

;Notability

Notability is not really a criterion for including material in articles. It is a criterion for whether to create an article based on a particular topic. Big difference there. There is plenty of information that will never meet notability thresholds that is perfectly fine to include in an article. Complicating this problem is the fact that many Wikipedians do not understand this distinction. It is therefore an entirely plausible situation that some Wikilawyer would try to suppress useful information by denying its notability. This would not be an actually tenable position, though, and therefore the above "explanation" of it is incorrect and incomplete. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.139|162.158.142.139]] 02:42, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

:Out of curiosity, what is the wikipedia rule then that prevents facts like "On 12 August, 1989, Famous Person X had a Turkey on Rye sandwich, featuring mustard and pickles" or "City Z has many fire hydrants. Here are the GPS coordinates of each fire hydrant: ..."? Although, that fire hydrant edit would be interesting.... [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 06:48, 9 April 2016 (UTC)
::While the common-sense is most time enough, there is a rule that you can only include things for which you have a source (and not every source is ok, blogs for example may be problematic). There are also rules about the {{w|Wikipedia:Out of scope|scope}} of an article, {{w|Wikipedia:Notability|which}} kind of articles are ok (that topic differs MUCH between the several Wikipedias) and for what Wikipedia {{w|Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not|is not}} in general. --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 12:17, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

== Possible Link to XKCD 463? ==

While it isn't particularly likely, is it possible that this comic references [[Voting Machines]]? The article taking a position on correct condom use is odd, but it is possible there is some metaphor (such as the one in Voting Machines) that involves condom usage that is in the article but isn't visible to us. On a related note, I would love to see this hypothetical Wikipedia article.

1654: Universal Install Script

2016-03-11T08:39:12Z

173.245.54.44: /* Trivia */ Nvidia drivers switched to a self-extracting ".run" archive, which is still a stupid way to do it.

{{comic
| number = 1654
| date = March 11, 2016
| title = Universal Install Script
| image = universal_install_script.png
| titletext = The failures usually don't hurt anything, and if it installs several versions, it increases the chance that one of them is right. (Note: The 'yes' command and '2>/dev/null' are recommended additions.)
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This is an initial summary. Please check the facts about the repositories, I am not 100% familiar with them. Maybe a note should be made of Steam's odd presence and the reason for "apt-get & sudo apt-get"? Something like "many standard popular repository programs (and Steam, a game platform, which usually is not used for most programs)"? I'm not sure how to word it. There need to be wiki links, and the list currently in the [[#Trviia]] section should be incorporated in the main explanation (with wiki links). The commands in the note in the title test is not explained yet. Is there a joke on the name of the program which could be read like 'Installish''}}

Most users of computers today are used to simple, easy installation of programs. You just download a .exe or a .dmg, double click it, and do what it says. Sometimes you don't even have to install anything at all, and it runs by itself, no problems.

However, when things are more "homebrew", for example downloading source code, things are more complicated. You have to work with "build environments" and "makefiles", and command line interfaces. To make this process simpler, there exist repositories of programs which host packages of source code and the things needed to build it. When you download the package, it automatically does most of the work of building the code into something executable. However, there are many such repositories, such as "pip" and "brew", among others listed in the comic. If you only know the name of a program, you may not know on which repository(ies) it resides.

The script provided in the comic attempts to fix this problem, by giving a "universal install script". It accepts the name of a program when you run it, and stores it in "$1". This value is then referenced for a large number of commands. Everywhere the script says "$1", it puts in the name of the program you gave it. The end result is the name being tried against a large number of software repositories, and hopefully, at least one of them will match and the program will be successfully installed. At the end, it even tries changing into the directory that is assumed to hold the newly installed package, and then runs several commands which build the program.

All in all, this script would probably work; it runs many standard popular repository programs, and runs the nearly-universal commands to build the program.

One of the more subtle jokes in the comic is the inclusion of <code>apt-get</code> and <code>sudo apt-get</code> in the same script. In most cases this would be redundant as the <code>sudo</code> command is just to add admin permissions. This could be a reference to a joke in the Linux community about forgetting to include the sudo command. An example of this joke being used elsewhere was a [https://twitter.com/liamosaur/status/506975850596536320 viral tweet] that showed a workaround for the issue. Sudo has also been used both by [[Randall]] in [[149: Sandwich]] and by Bill Amend to force Randall to let him appear on xkcd with [[824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)]].

The tool <code>curl</code> downloads files from the internet or network. Used like <code>curl http://xkcd.com/</code> it downloads the XKCD main page and prints it on the screen. The pipe <code>|</code> attaches the output of the command before the pipe to the input of the command after the pipe. Both commands are executed at the same time. <code>bash</code> is a popular terminal for unix OS. The line <code>curl "$1" | bash</code> tries to download a file from the internet and executes it directly. Although this is a common practice for conveniently installing software, it is considered extremely insecure and should never be done.

The title text mentions the possibility that the same program may be on multiple repositories, so in this case, the script will download and install several versions, or it may fail on a number of repositories, in which case usually nothing bad happens. It mentions that adding a way of automatically saying "yes" to questions asked during the different repository-fetching programs' running could simplify things further. <code>2>/dev/null</code> redirects the second output stream (the "error stream") to the pseudo-file <code>/dev/null</code> which discards all writes to it.

The use of & at the end of each line causes the terminal or shell interpreter to execute the commands in parallel instead of sequential. Even if single commands fail, the rest of them will be executed. Note this is even the case for the final commands that attempt to change to the installed package, probably the only reason why this may not work completely for packages that do need compiling after being downloaded. (However, just running this script again would probably do the trick.)

==Transcript==
:[In the panel is a shell script which, unusual for xkcd, uses only lower case. At the top the title of the program is inlaid in the frame, which has been broken here.]
:<big>Install.sh</big>

:<nowiki>#!/bin/bash</nowiki>

:pip install "$1" &
:easy_install "$1" &
:brew install "$1" &
:npm install "$1" &
:yum install "$1" & dnf install "$1" &
:docker run "$1" &
:pkg install "$1" &
:apt-get install "$1" &
:sudo apt-get install "$1" &
:steamcmd +app_update "$1" validate &
:git clone <nowiki>https://github.com/</nowiki>"$1"/"$1" &
:cd "$1";./configure;make;make install &
:curl "$1" | bash &

==Trivia==
*pip and easy install are package managers for Python
*brew is the successor/replacement for MacPorts and a package manager for OS X
*npm is the node package manager that maintains node.js packages
*yum is the package management tool for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and some derivatives.
*dnf is the package management tool for Fedora since version 22.
*pgk is the package management tool on BSD systems
*apt-get is the package management tool of choice on debian and derivatives (eg Ubuntu)
*steamcmd refers to Steam the computer game company and its client
*git is the revision control software used for eg. the linux kernel and gained a lot of traction through the github plattform
*configure/make/make install refers to the default way of compiling software from source (on Linux/Unix)
*curl is a tool for loading data via http:// (eg from a website), this data is then pushed to the shell interpreter (in order to install).
**Note: While this is a security nightmare, the Nvidia drivers for Linux were (but no longer are) installed like that

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Programming]]

Talk:937: TornadoGuard

2015-08-31T17:57:33Z

173.245.54.44: I made a comment

The image text is also a reference to another comic: http://xkcd.com/583/
In this comic, the bug was that the speech recognition fails on a young child's voice. So the team attempts to reproduce a child in order to fix the bug and get the test subject. The bug report is closed as cannot fixed with the reason being 'could not reproduce'. {{unsigned ip|128.237.217.152| 19:40, 22 August 2012‎ (UTC)}}

And it's happened. See https://twitter.com/andymangold/status/341327603451441152/photo/1. Four-star rated "Tornado by American Red Cross" app, current top review reads "I did not find this app useful at all. There was a tornado watch for eight hours in my town, a tornado warning for 30 minutes, and there were no warnings or alerts visible on this app." [[Special:Contributions/192.91.191.162|192.91.191.162]] 16:58, 3 June 2013 (UTC)
:ROFL ;) If this picture is real it should be added to this explain. Check the Customer Review here: [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tornado-by-american-red-cross/id602724318?mt=8 itunes], I am sure it's just a reaction on this comic.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:06, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

According to [[1098]], it's still an OK app. 22:57, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

'could not reproduce'

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sci.geo.earthquakes/kTDkMMbC_mw

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 13:19, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

This is why looking at both the positive and negative reviews is good practice. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.44|173.245.54.44]] 17:57, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1346: Career

2014-06-09T03:06:45Z

173.245.54.44:

Come on ... those tasks can't be random ... someone find out what is Randal referring to ... isn't {{w|Luke Skywalker}} doing something wiht dryer traps at start of fourth movie? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:10, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

:The answer to your question may depend upon which movie you think is the "fourth movie" (4th episode? 4th movie produced? If it's 4th movie produced, do you count the Holiday Special? Also, should anyone, anywhere, for any reason ever count the Holiday Special?) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:25, 24 March 2014 (UTC)
:: Im sure he is refering to {{w|The Phantom Menace}}, and the comic could describe Anakin, however im not sure what "lump of slight soft wax" would refer to. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 14:49, 24 March 2014 (UTC)
:::I believe Hkmaly is referring to Episode IV. However, I think he's reading too much into this, and the tasks really are random. You simply can't connect them in a way that makes sense. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 16:38, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

::::Yes, I was refering to Episode IV. Hint: I mentioned Luke Skywalker next. What Holiday Special? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:11, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

:::::If you don't know about the Holiday Special...consider yourself lucky.--[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 15:14, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

I wouldn't say "it's impossible that anyone would pay someone for peeling lint from dryer traps" as someone in the commercial laundry mats has to do it at some point...[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.8|108.162.216.8]]
:Sure, but that's surely not the worker's ''only'' task. No one will pay someone just to peel lint. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 16:38, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

If you had enough lint to remove you may need to hire more than one person to do it. If I needed lint peeled I would pay a reasonable wage for someone to do it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 18:46, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

Do you think Randall would draw some cartoon just to mess with the people here at explainxkcd? I know I would! [[User:Bigfatbernie|Bigfatbernie]] ([[User talk:Bigfatbernie|talk]]) 19:01, 24 March 2014 (UTC) ([[User talk:bigfatbernie|talk]])

biting into soft wax could also be stated as 'leaving an impression' {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.44}}

:I can see why peeling lint is fun (at least for 5 minutes) as it's soft and it feels good and you can play around with it and its a rather relaxing task. The light saber stuff obviously is fun, too. But I really don't see why anyone would want to bite into a lump of slightly soft wax. Does anyone do that in real life? Sounds pretty disgusting to me. -- [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.137|173.245.53.137]] 19:53, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

I don't think it's random at all... work my up from the bottom, to cutting edge science, resulting in amazing breathroughs, then come back to leave a lasting impression[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.28|108.162.221.28]] 19:54, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

The prior comic was about sleeping. Is this one actually about dreaming? The "dream" job tasks sound like the random events one might encounter in a dream. Pondy

Biting into wax is actually pretty stimulating to the teeth, and is quite entertaining. Try biting that soft wax they put around cheese.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.73|173.245.55.73]] 23:39, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

:I think this should be mentioned in the explanation. "Dream" cam mean ''an aspiration or goal'' or ''something of unreal excellence'' to HR people and to Cueball it means ''a succession of images passing through the mind during sleep''. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.84|173.245.50.84]] 22:18, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

Lightsaber handles certainly do exist right now (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Icons-Darth-Vader-lightsaber-James-Earl-Jones-Signature-Edition-265-of-1000-/191106490913?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c7ed5a221), and you can put lightsaber handles up to any and all kinds of objects. You can even switch them on, or at least flick a switch ... it's the next part that sadly doesn't exist -- the actual lightsaber. Putting a lightsaber handle up to objects and flicking a switch would get pretty boring pretty fast though since the crucial lightsaber part is missing...[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.33|108.162.219.33]] 20:14, 25 March 2014 (UTC)larK

I think that he is talking literally about jobs that you dream about. Because dreams can be random and make no sense or have any logical timeline, he is describing what cueball is dreaming about. --[[User:Sirkha|Sirkha]] ([[User talk:Sirkha|talk]]) 04:40, 26 March 2014 (UTC)----

:That make sense, but doesn't match the text below (I'm never sure how realistic to be). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:13, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

It does match that text. He is too realistic in describing his dream job, because he tries to decribe a job as it could actually happen when he is dreaming during sleep. {{unsigned ip|173.245.49.76}}

I think he is referring to the question asked in interviews: Can you describe your "dream job"? The interviewer expects a realistic answer after specifically requesting for a ''dream'' job. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.53}}

;Let's start to improve this explain
What is an "HR interview question"? As an non US citizen I just do not understand. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:55, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

:HR probably means "Human Resources". It's the name of the department in a company than manages employees, does job interviews and so on. However I'm not a native english speaker either.-- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.97.205|141.101.97.205]] 12:21, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

I updated title text explanation[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.44|173.245.54.44]] 03:06, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

1346: Career

2014-06-09T03:06:15Z

173.245.54.44: /* Explanation */ updated title text explanation

{{comic
| number = 1346
| date = March 24, 2014
| title = Career
| image = career.png
| titletext = They'd convince me to come out of retirement for one last job: biting into a giant lump of slightly soft wax a couple of times.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|There is a probability of some nontrivial connection between those three tasks,The 'explanation' does not properly explain the comic. Furthermore the title text isn't covered as well.}}
[[Cueball]] is presumably asked to answer the typical HR interview question: What is your dream job? Rather than going with the more common answers that are designed to increase the chances of landing that particular job, Cueball talks about unrealistic jobs that are fun, whimsical, and so well compensated that a little over one hour on the clock would provide enough wealth for a luxurious retirement; of course, you can have such a job only in your dreams. Some people think peeling lint off dryer traps is quite fun, but it gets boring soon, so Cueball wants to do that only for 5 minutes, followed by pressing a lightsaber handle up to things (this does not exist yet, sadly) for an hour. Then Cueball would like to retire to a life of luxury, and the only way to bring him out of it is to offer him to do another fun task till he gets bored again.

A possible nontrivial connection between these tasks is the importance of properly disposing of dryer lint before pressing a lightsaber handle against things and turning it on. Dryer lint is extremely combustible. If he does not do things in the correct order, pressing the lightsaber handle against things and turning it on might ignite the dryer lint and cause a major fire.

The lightsaber part could be a reference to the beginning of Star Wars Episode I, where Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn does exactly this.

The title text is poking fun at Hollywood films, particularly stories about hitmen, detective or spies where the trope is that they are retired and swore to never to that job again, but some unforseen circumstance has forced them out of retirement to do "one last job." Usually in these films, the jobs are overtly, improbably dangerous, often with the suggestion that they may lose their lives doing it while saving the world. However, in this comic the joke is that his "one last job" is also something fun and enjoyable.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball stands facing a desk, behind which another person is sitting in a desk chair.]
:Cueball: It would start with five minutes of peeling lint from dryer traps, followed by an hour of pressing a lightsaber handle against things and switching it on. Then I'd retire to a life of luxury.

:When people ask me to describe my dream job, I'm never sure how realistic to be.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

357: Flies

2014-06-07T04:04:02Z

173.245.54.44: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 357
| date = December 14, 2007
| title = Flies
| image = flies.png
| titletext = I don't know about houseflies, but we definitely caught a lot of fruit flies with our vinegar bowl. Hooray science!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Language: The "house" in front of flies issue isn't explained. What is it?}}
The saying "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar" means that people are more likely to be won over with politeness than hostility.

When [[Cueball]]'s friend tells him this after he replies to a "{{W|noob}}" using swear words, he then says that the saying is literally false by saying that {{w|balsamic vinegar}} attracts more flies than honey. He then tells his friend to try it with his own fruit flies.

When Cueball's statement is found true, balsamic vinegar smells like sweet, and decomposing fruit to the fruit flies, his friend complains to his mother that she lied to him. He then says that another saying, "a watched pot never boils", is also literally false. That saying means that an event that is monitored with impatient attention will seem to take longer.

In the title text it seems that [[Randall]] explains why he wrote this comic — his vinegar bowl attracted a lot of fruit flies. However, he has not done the experiment with house flies! Still he hails science — so someone should do some more science to test if the saying would be correct if you insert a ''house'' in front of flies...

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is typing on a computer, and his friend is lying on the floor.]
:Cueball: *$@#!
:Friend: Hey, ease up on the noobs. Like my mom always said, you catch more flies with honey then with vinegar.

:[Cueball has turned his chair around.]
:Cueball: No, you don't.
:Friend: You don't?
:Cueball: Nope, set out a bowl of balsamic and a bowl of honey. The vinegar gets more.

:[Cueball's friend is now sitting on the floor.]
:Friend: ...Seriously?
:Cueball: You have fruit flies. Try it yourself.

:Later:
:[Cueball's friend is standing in front of a table, talking into a phone, and on the table, there are two bowls, and the bowl on the left seems to be surrounded by flies.]
:Friend: Mother! You ''lied'' to me! And it gets worse. I was watching a pot yesterday, and guess what it did? It ''boiled,'' mother.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Science]]

Talk:418: Stove Ownership

2014-06-07T01:53:42Z

173.245.54.44: explained why his health decreases

The title text doesn't "imply" that Randall went through a frosting phase in college similar to his present-day bacon obsession; it flat-out states it. The reader need not infer anything. Also, the usage of parens to define both a "phase" and "frosting" struck me as a little bit pedantic. I suspect most, if not all, readers of both xkcd and this explainer site are well enough versed with these nuances. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.21|108.162.219.21]] 08:29, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

On 5/30/14, I rewrote the description. It's still marked as inaccurate or incomplete, but the revision hasn't been reviewed yet ~J. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.44}}

Is it really necessary to describe why eating copious amounts of bacon will have adverse affects on ones health? Should we also describe the metabolic effects of eating fat on the digestive and circulatory system? I don't mean to sound so smug and cynical, but some of Randall's comics are rather self-explanatory. I believe we've satisfactorily cleaned up this explanation. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.44}}

Okay, I explained, hopefully to the satisfaction of the editors, why eating a ton of bacon would make somebody unhealthy. Can we close this one out? Thanks[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.44|173.245.54.44]] 01:53, 7 June 2014 (UTC)

418: Stove Ownership

2014-06-07T01:52:37Z

173.245.54.44: /* Explanation */ explained why bacon is unhealthy on a very simple level

{{comic
| number =418
| date =May 2, 2008
| title =Stove Ownership
| image =stove_ownership.png
| titletext =Although maybe it's just a phase, like freshman year of college when I realized I could just buy frosting in a can.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Why his health decreases?}}
This comic is a subtle statement on the epiphany many have when they reach adulthood and are on their own for the first time: No one will tell you what to do! Nobody will, however, stop you from making those poor decisions you were refrained from prior to that independence. Eating bacon whenever one wants is among them.

This line graph depicts [[Randall|Randall's]] health as a function of time after he gets to own a {{w|Kitchen stove|stove}} (or oven). The joke is that his health goes into an immediate deterioration the moment he realized that he could just cook bacon on his stove whenever he wants. When he says "he could have bacon", he means he has both the will AND means, since the stove is now his own. Before the bacon revelation his health was actually improving - this may be explained because he was now cooking his own, healthy, food rather than getting pizza delivered or having other pre-made foods/junk food.

{{w|Icing_(food)|Frosting}} (or icing) is something you use to decorate cakes. Many children enjoys this so much that they eat it of the cake and leaves the rest behind. Frosting in a can, as mentioned in a title text is convenient because it is instant and not necessary to make from scratch. When Randall came to college he still had a very sweet tooth so when he discovered frosting in a can his health curve at the time also went into decline. However, that turned out to be a phase - he got over it - and he hopes it will be the same with cooking bacon.

There is now also similarly instant, pre-made bacon that can be eaten right out of the box, eliminating the need to put in any effort to prepare it. The sudden drop in health, obviously, is due to the fact that bacon is pork belly fat and, while high in protein, it's irresistible flavor cannot compare to it's high fat and cholesterol content. It is one of the unhealthiest things a person can binge on.

==Transcript==
:[A hand-drawn graph is shown.]
:[On the y-axis:]
:My overall health
:[On the x-axis:]
:Time
:[The graph is generally steady rising through 3/4 of the x-axis, where it begins a steady decline. A stapled line marks the start of this decline. Below where the line crosses the x axis this decline is labeled:]
:The day I realized I could cook bacon ''whenever I wanted''.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:418: Stove Ownership

2014-06-04T03:54:12Z

173.245.54.44:

The title text doesn't "imply" that Randall went through a frosting phase in college similar to his present-day bacon obsession; it flat-out states it. The reader need not infer anything. Also, the usage of parens to define both a "phase" and "frosting" struck me as a little bit pedantic. I suspect most, if not all, readers of both xkcd and this explainer site are well enough versed with these nuances. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.21|108.162.219.21]] 08:29, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Is it really necessary to describe why eating copious amounts of bacon will have adverse affects on ones health? Should we also describe the metabolic effects of eating fat on the digestive and circulatory system? Bacon contains nitrates and has carcinogenic properties as well. Are we going to deconstruct the various ways his body might try to accept or reject his comically obscene bacon intake? I don't mean to sound so smug and cynical, but some of Randall's comics are rather self-explanatory. I believe we've satisfactorily cleaned up this explanation.

Talk:418: Stove Ownership

2014-06-04T00:44:18Z

173.245.54.44: ~~~~

The title text doesn't "imply" that Randall went through a frosting phase in college similar to his present-day bacon obsession; it flat-out states it. The reader need not infer anything. Also, the usage of parens to define both a "phase" and "frosting" struck me as a little bit pedantic. I suspect most, if not all, readers of both xkcd and this explainer site are well enough versed with these nuances. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.21|108.162.219.21]] 08:29, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Is it really necessary to describe why eating copious amounts of bacon will have adverse affects on ones health? Should we also describe the metabolic effects of eating fat on the digestive and circulatory system? Bacon contains nitrates and have carcinogenic properties as well. Are we going to deconstruct the various ways his body might try to accept or reject his comically obscene bacon intake? I don't mean to sound so smug and cynical, but some of Randall's comics are rather self-explanatory. I believe we've satisfactorily cleaned up this explanation.

Talk:418: Stove Ownership

2014-06-04T00:42:47Z

173.245.54.44: ~~~~

The title text doesn't "imply" that Randall went through a frosting phase in college similar to his present-day bacon obsession; it flat-out states it. The reader need not infer anything. Also, the usage of parens to define both a "phase" and "frosting" struck me as a little bit pedantic. I suspect most, if not all, readers of both xkcd and this explainer site are well enough versed with these nuances. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.21|108.162.219.21]] 08:29, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

On 5/30/14, I rewrote the description. It's still marked as inaccurate or incomplete, but the revision hasn't been reviewed yet ~J. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.44}}

Is it really necessary to describe why eating copious amounts of bacon will have adverse affects on ones health? Should we also describe the metabolic effects of eating fat on the digestive and circulatory system? Bacon contains nitrates and have carcinogenic properties as well. Are we going to deconstruct the various ways his body might try to accept or reject his comically obscene bacon intake? I don't mean to sound so smug and cynical, but some of Randall's comics are rather self-explanatory. I believe we've satisfactorily cleaned up this explanation.

Talk:418: Stove Ownership

2014-06-04T00:40:17Z

173.245.54.44: ~~~~

Talk:408: Overqualified

2014-06-03T03:51:53Z

173.245.54.44: Created page with "Added new description of title text ~~~~"

Added new description of title text [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.44|173.245.54.44]] 03:51, 3 June 2014 (UTC)

408: Overqualified

2014-06-03T03:51:25Z

173.245.54.44: /* Explanation */ fixed explanation of title text

{{comic
| number = 408
| date = April 9, 2008
| title = Overqualified
| image = overqualified.png
| titletext = To anyone I've taken on a terrible date, this is retroactively my cover story.
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|The title text is not well explained - what does retroactively mean in this sentence?}}
[[Megan]]'s sister has a crush on [[Cueball]], but Cueball doesn't feel the same way about her sister. To alleviate the situation without hurting Megan's sister's feelings, Megan wants Cueball to deliberately take her sister out on a bad date to convince her that Cueball is not worth dating, so that her sister can move on without rejection. Cueball becomes extremely excited at the thought of deliberately having a bad date, especially because he has had some awkward dates in high school. The joke is that people often want their dates to go as well as possible, and this is a rare opportunity to do the exact opposite.

The title text implies that in retrospect, Randal is reflecting on previous bad dates. When they occurred he had either no excuse or a poor excuse for why he was so awkward, but now this comic is going to be used as an explanation as to why. It is similar to thinking of a good comeback to an insult after the fact; this is his retort to ships that sailed long ago.

==Transcript==
:[Megan on the phone.]
:Megan: I know you're not that into my sister, but she's really crushing on you.
:Cueball: Yeah, it's awkward.

:Megan: She's in a rough spot. It's a lot to ask, but could you take her out and... Dissuade her, without rejecting her?

:Cueball: Wait a second. Are you asking me to show her a mediocre time?
:Megan: I know it's a weird—

:[Cueball raising index finger.]
:Cueball: No, no! This is the mission I was ''born'' for.
:Megan: I figured you could handle it.
:Cueball: One of my classic high-school dates coming up!
:Megan: Oh God. Don't overdo it.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Romance]]

Talk:1360: Old Files

2014-05-31T03:08:38Z

173.245.54.44:

I notice backup and recovery files. I once had a folder on my father's computer that housed everything I did. When the drive crashed, I managed to recover it and store it to a CD-ROM (this was before thumb drives). I copied everything onto my first computer within my main folder (I don't use My Documents), and I continue to move my main folder into a new main folder each time I migrate between computers. I have so many nested memories. I, too, have incomplete fan-fiction and instant message logs. Oh, and a dream.txt. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.218|108.162.237.218]] 04:47, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

I don't have as much of a problem with the "old files room", because I keep nearly all of my files on my laptop, but my hard drive is almost full. Another hard drive replace the CD drive, but this computer won't last much longer (bye cd drive workaround). I'll have to build an "old files room" sooner or later. [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 05:07, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

Back in the... early '90s, I think it was... I recall there being someone like a buddhist monk (or someone ''claiming'' to be someone like a buddhist monk, and the religion could have been something else) who set up an internet site (not necessarily a website) as a temple for "all lost data". The files you had accidentally deleted, the floppies that got damaged or otherwise corrupted, forgotten formats on old drives that you'd lost the wherewithall to access them. Between this and the "hoarder" behaviour exhibitted in the above XKCD folder we encompass ''all'' long-term computer users. At the same time. I know I regret the dead USB sticks (with irreplacable content) and yet I stare in hopelessness at the folders "GStick" and "FStick" within My Documents, that really need looking at again. (No, they don't contain the lost material. Datestamped at 2009.) But they're two of fifty-three separate subfolders (and a helluva lot of loose files) in that level. "WebRedo"? I remember that. That site hasn't even been ''active'' for about a decade. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.224|141.101.89.224]] 06:50, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

;Explanation
I think the point of the comic doesn't come across in the explanation. It's not just that he's sifting through files, but that he's finding files nested deeply in his folder structure that just came to pass because he always copied contents of an old computer to some folder on the next computer and then ignored its contents.

I.e. in his "Documents" folder, there is the "Old Desktop" folder from a previous computer, which contains the "Recovered from drive crash" folder from another previous system, which has another "Mu Documents" folder within, ... etc. The nesting aspect should somehow be integrated into the explanation.
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.57|108.162.229.57]] 09:59, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

The shape of the panel is vaguely reminiscent of a hard drive, this may be intentional, being emphasized by the increasing size of the individual layers. In which case there might be some metaphor construed by the placement of the two characters based on their location in the structure of the hard-drive perhaps involving the catalog index. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.35}}

It should be pointed out that the AYB folder is directly referencing https://xkcd.com/286/ {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.211}}

I have done this before on my hard drive(s) and I always find my old qbasic programs. Anyone knows of an emulator for qbasic so I could see my old programs running again? [[User:Bigfatbernie|Bigfatbernie]] ([[User talk:Bigfatbernie|talk]]) 13:56, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

:DOSBox will run QBasic programs if you grab the QBasic 1.1 interpreter from either an old copy of Windows 98 that still has it in its dos utilities folder, or just download it from here: http://www.qbasic.net/en/qbasic-downloads/compiler/qbasic-interpreter.htm [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.42|108.162.219.42]] 17:01, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

:Also, there's this: http://www.qb64.net/ [[User:Runefurb|Runefurb]] ([[User talk:Runefurb|talk]]) 06:14, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

Qbasic was "hardwired" in IBM PC's and/or PC/AT's. If the PC did not find some bootable device,
it would start Qbasic from a chip. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.55}}

Anybody know what Citadel is? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.42|108.162.219.42]] 16:58, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
Citadel is historically a BBS package. Today it is an open source groupware system, but some people are still using it as a BBS. Google "Uncensored! BBS" to find a well known one. [[User:IGnatius T Foobar|IGnatius T Foobar]] ([[User talk:IGnatius T Foobar|talk]]) 03:19, 26 April 2014 (UTC)

;Can we get some instructions on how to edit the page?

It makes no sense to me whatsoever, and it's unlike every other page on the wiki. I can find the list we use in the transcript, but I can't figure out how to add the explainations [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.204|199.27.130.204]] 18:19, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

:I did remove that templates from this page, the explain is still very bad — but now you should be able to post your adds. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:23, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
: I am the person who added the templates. I figured that on a xkcd wiki of all wikis one should feel free to use some more advanced Mediawiki features, to keep from redundancy (here, repetition of data between the explanation and the transcript)... Oh well. Apparently the definition of "to make sense" is "to make sense to others". Also, semicolons are used for definition lists, not for headers. {{unsigned ip|141.101.89.217}}
:: By the way, the current transcript is wrong. The items listed under "No header" headers belong to the "named" headers on the parallel side. There is no dichotomy like that. If you insist on reflecting the visual layout of the comic in the transcript, I suggest something like this (uncapitalised, unsorted, and unformatted, because it is just a quick illustration):

<table class='wikitable'>
<tr>
<td>
 
<th>
documents <hr>
Megan: "You OK down there?"
<td>
 

<tr>
<td>
* misc.txt
<th>
old desktop
<td>
* video projects

<tr>
<td>
* facebook pics
<th>
recovered from drive flash
<td>
* pics from other camera
* temp
* misc pdfs
* mp3

<tr>
<td>
* temp
<th>
my documents
<td>
* work misc
* audiobooks

<tr>
<td>
* downloads
* ayb
* ev override
* angband
* kazaa shared
* gigs
<th>
high school zip disk
<td>
* fight club.wmv
* aim direct connect files
* elasto mania
* 4chan
* icq logs

<tr>
<td>
* lovenote.txt
* gorilla.bas
* aol
** citadel
* nyet
* jokes.txt
<th>
aaafiles
<td>
* korn midi
* photos3
** prom
* dream.txt
* james.txt
* qbasic

<tr>
<td>
 
<th>
txt <hr>
Cueball: "Oh my God. I wrote poetry."
<td>
 
</table>
:{{unsigned ip|141.101.89.217}}
:Done '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:07, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
:: Thank you! In fact, I just noticed that rows didn't reflect one filesystem level! They should be moved one level up. I will fix that (and capitalise and sort the labels.) {{unsigned ip|‎141.101.89.212}}
::: Done. {{unsigned ip|‎141.101.89.212, too--I really don't like this insistence on signing}}
::::The unsigned template contains instructions on how to properly sign your posts. If you are against signing for privacy reasons, at least use five tildes (<nowiki>~~~~~</nowiki>) to mark off each of your messages as distinct comments. Your IP is logged anyways by Mediawiki, but casual observers will not see your IP. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:41, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
::::Uh, little question. I just read the source, and the html for your table contains no closing tags. Do you have something against them or something? Also, I removed the bullet points when I added the table to the transcript because strictly speaking, the comic doesn't actually contain any bullet points, so we're adding punctuation that isn't present in the comic. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:54, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

;Unsigned IP's producing a great chaos here. No READER does UNDERSTAND. Please keep it simple as possible, NO new template for a single comic. I will bring back some edits I've done, respecting edits have done later. But right now I can't see there is any proper attempt to do an explain other could understand.
:Please focus FIRST on the readers here, then focus on possible editors (don't understand), and then tell a new IP how to behave here. It's not my invention, but please try to keep this page at a basis on some standards. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:22, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

Actually, the "AIM Direct Connect" is in reference to the file sharing system that the AOL Instant Messenger used to use. A quick Google would have found that. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.32|108.162.221.32]] 22:20, 26 April 2014 (UTC)Slacker

:First thanks for your hint, but please add comments at the bottom here. I did update many items and I'm not perfect. I will enhance this after this post. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:34, 26 April 2014 (UTC)
::I can't figure it out, maybe you have a better hint. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:42, 26 April 2014 (UTC)
:::Whup, sorry about that! I'll remember that in the future. For better reference on AIM Direct Connect: https://adium.im/help/pgs/AdvancedFeatures-AIM-DirectConnect.html I'll see if I can add a better explanation to that above! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.32|108.162.221.32]] 00:05, 27 April 2014 (UTC)Slacker

Gorilla.bas is a qbasic game distributed with DOS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorillas_(video_game)
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.129|173.245.53.129]] 22:29, 26 April 2014 (UTC)

:Thanks for your hint, why do you not add this by yourself? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:34, 26 April 2014 (UTC)
::Done. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:42, 26 April 2014 (UTC)

I would like to know more as to why it would be awkward to find ANIMORPHS-NOVEL.txt, and why you would delete that from the archives... I was not alive during that time so i dont have a clue as to what it is... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.212|108.162.250.212]] 12:55, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

Last night I added the comments about geological rock strata & how files are buried in the way sedimentary layers are. It was my first contribution to explain xkcd so I wasn't sure what the protocol was but adding a comment here. - J. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.44|173.245.54.44]] 03:08, 31 May 2014 (UTC)

418: Stove Ownership

2014-05-30T14:30:23Z

173.245.54.44: /* Explanation */

Talk:418: Stove Ownership

2014-05-30T14:28:57Z

173.245.54.44:

418: Stove Ownership

2014-05-30T12:22:21Z

173.245.54.44: /* Explanation */ Complete explanation rewrite.

1360: Old Files

2014-05-30T03:58:13Z

173.245.54.44: /* Explanation */ Updated the description with geological strata explanation

{{comic
| number = 1360
| date = April 25, 2014
| title = Old Files
| image = old_files.png
| titletext = Wow, ANIMORPHS-NOVEL.RTF? Just gonna, uh, go through and delete that from all my archives real quick.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The file explains are better now, but still need work. The concentric layers need a much better explain.}}
Cueball is digging through a pile of old files, which the comic represents as literally digging into the depths of his filesystem. The files are in concentric layers because each directory contains files moved over from an older system, so his "Documents" folder contains an "Old Desktop" folder from an older computer, the "Old Desktop" contains files recovered from the drive crash of the system before that, which had its own "My Documents" folder, which contained files saved from a {{w|Zip Disk}} in high school. The result is that files from all the way back in high school have survived to his present-day machine. He discovers several files he is embarrassed about, including a poetry file that surprises him, since he does not remember writing poetry, and an "{{w|Animorphs}} Novel" mentioned in the title text, most likely a fan fiction of the Animorphs series, although possibly a copy of one of the original books. These layers are arranged much like geological rock formations where older strata is deeper down than younger layers. The subtly of this joke is that old files, formats and systems are analogous to the fossils and artifacts found in lower, older rock layers. Notice how filesizes get larger the newer they are. Older systems and smaller files are found in lower layers, as they are hadn't been developed yet; AOL, NYET, Kazaa are older than Facebook, and MP3s. In the days of AOL, 94 MB was reasonable disk space whereas current computers require larger file storage, hence 47 GB. In other words, digital artifacts have the same structural hierarchy as physical, geological ones.

This comic came out the day after [http://news.sky.com/story/1248397/andy-warhol-originals-found-on-floppy-disk Sky News published the story] of original {{w|Andy Warhol}} artwork, created in 1985 on an {{w|Amiga 1000}}, was recovered from recently found floppy disks.

The folders and files in detail:
*'''Documents''' (47 GB) - A large folder containing many of [[Cueball]]'s personal files.
**''misc.txt'' - A miscellaneous {{w|text file}} of unknown size. Quite likely, no one except Cueball will know what's in it.
**''Video projects'' - Video files can take up a lot of space, and likely make up a significant chunk of that 47 GB.
*'''Old desktop''' (12 GB) - A backup from a former computer.
**''Facebook pics'' - Because {{w|Facebook}} started in 2004, his old computer must have been functional by that time.
**''Pics from other camera'' - No mention about the content, only the creator will remember.
**''Temp'' - Old temporary files. Quite likely, even Cueball won't know what's in here.
**''Misc PDFs'' - {{w|Portable Document Format|PDF files}} are often used for documentation on programs, but this could be also a collection of digitized books or other scanned documents.
**''MP3'' - Probably mostly music. {{w|MP3}} is a widely-used format for digital audio files.
*'''Recovered from drive crash''' (4 GB) - When a {{w|Hard disk drive|hard drive crashes}}, sometimes part of that content can be recovered.
**''Temp'' - More old temporary files.
**''Work misc'' - Only the creator knows what's inside of this folder.
**''Audio books'' - {{w|Audiobook|Audio books}} are recordings of a text being read.
*'''My Documents''' (570 MB) - This is a typical folder created by {{w|Windows XP}} for your documents.
**''Downloads'' - A common default location for downloaded files. Its content can be anything.
**''Kazaa shared'' - {{w|Kazaa}} was a peer-to-peer file sharing program, defunct in August 2012. The "shared" folder was open to other people on the internet for downloading.
**''AYB'' - {{w|All your base are belong to us|All Your Base}} is an internet meme based on a famously bad translation of the video game ''{{w|Zero Wing}}''. Probably a reference to [[286: All Your Base]].
**''EV Override'' - {{w|Escape Velocity Override}} is an {{w|Apple Macintosh}} video game, released in 1998.
**''Angband'' - [http://rephial.org/ Angband] is a game named after a fictional stronghold created by {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}}.
**''GIFs'' - {{w|GIF}} is an old image format widely used for small, often animated images.
**''FIGHT CLUB.wmv'' - ''{{w|Fight Club}}'' is a movie from 1999. Nobody knows if this download was legal. As feature movies are typically compressed to 700 megabyte or more when shared over the Internet, it seems Cueball's file is either compressed in some obscure, irregular format; uses a small screen size; or is not the Brad Pitt movie - either way strongly in keeping with the original movie's themes of subversion.
**''Elasto Mania'' - {{w|Elasto Mania}} is a physics-simulation game released in 2000. It claims to show real physics on this game, but there is still a dispute on this.
**''AIM Direct Connect files'' - This may have to do with files transferred via {{w|AOL Instant Messenger}}.
**''4chan'' - {{w|4chan}} is an imageboard where users can upload pictures anonymously; we know from [[512: Alternate Currency|a previous comic]] that Randall impulsively saves pictures from there.
**''ICQ logs'' - {{w|ICQ}} is an instant messaging program introduced in 1996. It is no longer used much in North America.
*'''High school Zip disk''' (94 MB) - This refers to the {{w|Zip drive}}, the most popular form of {{w|superfloppy}}, introduced in 1994 with a capacity of 100 MB. These have long since given way to writable CDs/DVDs and {{w|USB flash drive}}s. These files are from when [[Cueball]] was in {{w|high school}} (i.e., a teenager) or earlier.
**''Korn MIDI'' - {{w|Korn}} is an American {{w|nu metal}} band formed in 1993. {{w|MIDI}} is a protocol for communication with electronic musical instruments. By using that protocol, only the music information (notes, tempo, pitch, etc.) is transmitted. .mid files are files that contain music stored using that protocol. Since the MIDI format does not store the actual sound of the instruments, the file is really small (a song can take only a couple of kilobytes). However, since the interpreter is up with the task of converting each note to the sound of each instrument, unless the user has, either quality music hardware to interpret it, or a software-based converter that uses high-quality soundfonts (samples of instruments of each note), the result of interpretation tends to be sounds of low quality. That was most of the time the case in the 90s when, for saving storage space, it was used on computers with cheap sound cards, which resulted in low quality sound. It was very common to use that format for music in old computer games.
**''Photos3'' - This is a folder of old photos from when Cueball was in high school.
***''Prom'' - A {{w|prom}} is a kind of semi-formal dance held every year by students at most US high schools. These photos were presumably taken at one.
**''lovenote.txt'' - An old text file of a {{w|love letter}}, probably to a classmate in high school.
**''Gorilla.bas'' - {{w|Gorillas (video game)|Gorillas}} is a video game first distributed with MS-DOS 5 and published in 1991 by IBM. The suffix "bas" indicates a {{w|BASIC}} program; the game was included with copies of QBasic (see below).
**''Dream.txt'' - Some private dreams.
**''James.txt'' - Who is James? Is our user addicted to him? Perhaps [[James]] is a friend of Randall, and the same as the one who came up with [[107|xkcd #107]]?
**''AOL'' - {{w|AOL}} is an early online and internet service, founded in 1985 and popular in the 1990s.
***''Citadel'' - {{w|Citadel (software)|Citadel}} was a {{w|BBS}} and email platform that was widely used in the 1980s and early '90s.
**''QBasic'' - {{w|QBasic}} is an old MS-DOS program (an {{w|Integrated development environment|IDE}}), released by {{w|Microsoft}} in 1991, which was used to write and run computer programs in the BASIC language.
**''NYET'' - ''NYET'' was a {{w|Tetris}}-like game for MS-DOS, released in 1988.
**''Jokes.txt'' - An old text file of jokes.
*'''AAAFILES''' (9.4 MB) - some of [[Cueball]]'s oldest documents, likely prefixed with "AAA" to put the folder at the top of an alphabetically-sorted list.
*'''TXT''' (850 K) - old text files, which include the poetry he didn't remember writing.

The {{w|Animorphs}} at the title text refers to a fiction series released between 1996 and 2001. This is also content more than ten years old.

==Transcript==

:Megan (on top of stack of files): ''You OK down there?''

:'''Documents''' (47 GB)
::misc.txt
::Video projects
:'''Old desktop''' (12 GB)
::Facebook pics
::Pics from other camera
::Temp
::Misc PDFs
::MP3
:'''Recovered from drive crash''' (4 GB)
::Temp
::Work misc
::Audio books
:'''My Documents''' (570 MB)
::Downloads
::Kazaa shared
::AYB
::EV Override
::Angband
::GIFs
::FIGHT CLUB.wmv
::Elasto Mania
::AIM Direct Connect files
::4chan
::ICQ logs
:'''High school Zip disk''' (94 MB)
::Korn MIDI
::Photos3 (Prom)
::lovenote.txt
::Gorilla.bas
::Dream.txt
::James.txt
::AOL (Citadel)
::QBasic
::NYET
::Jokes.txt
:'''AAAFILES''' (9.4 MB)
:'''TXT''' (850 K)
:Cueball (deep inside the AAAFILES section looking at his txt files): ''Oh my god. I wrote '''poetry'''.''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]