explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:994: Advent Calendar

2014-06-19T15:59:22Z

173.245.55.73: diabetes accusation idiocy

To me this is a lesson in moderation, too much chocolate is not only a problem on x-mas, but also on Halloween. If we don't learn moderation, we will wake up on 25th with huge belly and type-1 diabetes. Enjoy responsibly (which is true for every good thing and state altering drugs). - e-inspired [[Special:Contributions/98.211.199.84|98.211.199.84]] 15:42, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

I'll have you know that type 1 diabetes has nothing to do with sugar overdose, since it's mostly an autoimmune disease. Type 2 diabetes is the fatty's version, whose only connection to type 1 is the symptoms (and sometimes the treatment)
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.212|141.101.98.212]] 05:42, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

I'm glad that isn't what this is for me. [[Special:Contributions/81.135.136.159|81.135.136.159]] 10:42, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

I think the humor is too about the way most people find difficult to wait for the next day before eating the chocolate...--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.203|141.101.89.203]] 14:49, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Advent then is the opposite of lent, when one gives up, say, chocolate {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.167}}

AAAHH!! Stop being an idiot! Type 1 diabetes... what they said. I have type 1!! Stop accusing me of making myself diabetic!!!

668: Pandora

2014-04-22T19:00:01Z

173.245.55.73: Added "a" before "website" in the first sentence.

{{comic
| number = 668
| date = November 27, 2009
| title = Pandora
| image = pandora.png
| titletext = What? Oh, no, the 'Enchanted' soundtrack was just playing because Pandora's algorithms are terrible. [silence] ... (quietly) That's how you knooooooow...
}}

==Explanation==
Pandora (also known as {{w|Pandora Radio|Pandora Internet Radio}}) is a website which automatically plays songs of a certain genre based upon the user's previous musical selections. Unlike normal radio, it adapts itself to each individual user's preferences. While possible to skip a song in Pandora, it is not possible to choose songs. While Pandora will nearly always play music that one likes, it does not know when to play certain song over others. This results in embarrassing songs being played with equal frequency to songs which one would be comfortable listening to with others in the room. However, it feels like these embarrassing songs are played only when another person is in the room.

==Transcript==
:[There is a venn diagram of two circles. The left circle is labeled "Music You Like." The right circle is labeled "Deeply Embarrassing Music." The segment on the left is labeled "What Pandora Plays," and the intersection is labeled "What Pandora Plays If Anyone Is Around."]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Music]]

Talk:148: Mispronouncing

2014-04-19T05:31:01Z

173.245.55.73:

The "airpart" could be referencing a Saint Louis accent, rather than intentional mispronunciation. [[Special:Contributions/130.160.145.185|130.160.145.185]] 19:48, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that Emad is supposed to refer to Ahmed, and is some sort of joke about Muslim terrorists.[[User:GallantChaos|GallantChaos]] ([[User talk:GallantChaos|talk]]) 18:08, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes, and it's written Emad because he's deliberately mispronouncing it. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.203|173.245.52.203]] 02:23, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

No, Emad is the online name of one of Randall's friends, look it up at http://wiki.xkcd.com/
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.73|173.245.55.73]] 05:31, 19 April 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1353: Heartbleed

2014-04-09T06:08:30Z

173.245.55.73: Comment.

I added a transcript, if I messed up on anything, I'm sorry! [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.73|173.245.55.73]] 06:08, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

1353: Heartbleed

2014-04-09T06:07:04Z

173.245.55.73: Added a transcript. For real this time.

{{comic
| number = 1353
| date = April 9, 2014
| title = Heartbleed
| image = heartbleed.png
| titletext = I looked at some of the data dumps from vulnerable sites, and it was ... bad. I saw emails, passwords, password hints. SSL keys and session cookies. Important servers brimming with visitor IPs. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, c-beams glittering in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. I should probably patch OpenSSL.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}

==Transcript==
:Megan: Heartbleed must be the worst web security lapse ever.
:Cueball: Worst so far. Give us time.
:Megan: I mean, this bug isn't just broken encryption.
:Megan: It lets website visitors make a server dispense random memory contents.
:Megan: It's not just keys. It's traffic data. Emails. Passwords. Erotic faniction.
:Cueball: Is '''everything''' compromised?
:Megan: Well, the attack is limited to data stored in computer memory.
:Cueball: So paper is safe. And clay tablets.
:Megan: Our imaginations too.
:Cueball: See, we'll be fine.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1353: Heartbleed

2014-04-09T05:57:19Z

173.245.55.73: That was a really dumb post.

1353: Heartbleed

2014-04-09T05:56:35Z

173.245.55.73: Undo revision 64931 by 173.245.55.73 (talk) I fucked up.

1353: Heartbleed

2014-04-09T05:54:46Z

173.245.55.73: Added a transcript.

{{comic
| number = 1353
| date = April 9, 2014
| title = Heartbleed
| image = heartbleed.png
| titletext = I looked at some of the data dumps from vulnerable sites, and it was ... bad. I saw emails, passwords, password hints. SSL keys and session cookies. Important servers brimming with visitor IPs. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, c-beams glittering in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. I should probably patch OpenSSL.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}

==Transcript==
Megan: Heartbleed must be the worst security lapse ever.
Cueball: Worst so far. Give us time.
Megan: I mean, this bug isn't just broken encryption.
Megan: It lets website visitors make a server dispense random memory contents.
Megan: It's not just keys. It's traffic data. Emails. Passwords. Erotic fanfiction.
Cueball: Is '''everything''' compromised?
Megan: Well, the attack is limited to data stored in computer memory.
Cueball: So paper is safe. And clay tablets.
Megan: Our imaginations too.
Cueball: See, we'll be fine.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1353: Heartbleed

2014-04-09T05:47:44Z

173.245.55.73: Th

This may seem really immature, but,
Yay, I'm the first to see this page!
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.73|173.245.55.73]] 05:47, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

Talk:526: Converting to Metric

2014-04-09T05:39:05Z

173.245.55.73: xkcd, not XKCD.

This sentence in the 'Mass' section has a [small] error: 'This is a common theme in XKCD.'-- it should be 'xkcd', not 'XKCD'. See the website for Randall's personal opinion on this. Anyways, it's small, but kinda stands out if your a reeallyy hardcore fan. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.73|173.245.55.73]] 05:39, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

Why is 3L a two-liter bottle?[[Special:Contributions/75.69.96.225|75.69.96.225]] 21:16, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

:Because this is America and we supersize our sodas! {{unsigned ip|72.68.9.56}}

:It is the volume of the bottle itself. I have added this explanation. [[User:Sten|Sten]] ([[User talk:Sten|talk]]) 22:39, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

:A 2L bottle doesn't take 3L of space, not even close. I also think it's a reference to overly large drinks in the US. But even if it isn't, the current explanation is wrong. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.34|108.162.229.34]] 22:28, 12 December 2013 (UTC)

: I suspect he's just messing with us, because the approximate volume of a two-liter bottle should be obvious. Many beverages sold in the US are already labeled in metric. Soda is routinely sold in one and two liter bottles, with three-liter bottles common in some markets. Bottled water is often sold in liters and half-liters. Liquor and wine are sold in 375 and 750 mL bottles. Also, since 1 quart = 946 mL, an approximate (+/- 5%) mental conversion from quarts to liters is already quite easy. [[User:Fryhole|Fryhole]] ([[User talk:Fryhole|talk]]) 01:35, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

My names River, that is all --[[Special:Contributions/139.216.242.254|139.216.242.254]] 02:52, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

:Tick tock, goes the clock, 'till River kills the Doctor

Earth's hottest is 70,7 °C... [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.29|199.27.128.29]] 03:06, 24 February 2014 (UTC)

:The world record as per wikipedia (and Guiness) is "only" 56.7. See corrected explanation above. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:03, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

There was an incomplete asking for checking all measures and also for making sure that the references to serenity and velociraptors was mentioned. I did this, the last two by assigning the categories (firefly), and then also creating a new [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Your_Mom category:Your Mom]. I now consider this explanation complete. Although if someone will speculate two whom the remaining two from the Serenity crew tower then please do so ;-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:03, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

The speed of rapors given here is very different from [[135: Substitute]]. [[User:B jonas|B jonas]] ([[User talk:B jonas|talk]]) 14:58, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

Talk:404: Not Found

2014-04-02T22:58:51Z

173.245.55.73:

Maybe it was skipped because he had to. In some, if not all websites, there's the 404.html file that is displayed when there's a 404 error (example: /var/www/404.html/), so it would have shown the '404' page that existed the whole time, because xkcd.com/404 would have shown 404.html.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.73|173.245.55.73]] 22:58, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

April 1st, 2008 was a Tuesday, so no xkcd comic would have normally come out then. For that week, [[403|xkcd 403]] was Monday, March 31st, 2008, [[405|xkcd 405]] was Wednesday, April 2nd, and [[406|xkcd 406]] was Friday, April 4th. 404 was just skipped. It is also skipped in the "previous comic"/"next comic" links on his site. I don't think it was an April Fools gag. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 19:03, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

:Well, I'd say that it certainy might be. In any case, it's an interesting observation! [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 11:22, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

:Then again, his skipping from 403 to 405 (making 404 come up "404: Not Found") may have been his April Fool joke that year. The timing may have been coincidental, but I don't blame him for taking advantage of it. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 23:16, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

::No, because there was already another April's Fool joke in 2008: xkcd, Questionable Content and Dinosaur Comics rotated their content ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_Comics#April_Fool.27s_jokes]). However the timing does seem quite suspicious. -- [[User:Xorg|Xorg]] ([[User talk:Xorg|talk]]) 21:52, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

This entry isn't on the list of all comics 1-500, and I made the mistake of adding this comic to the list. I was about to add an explanation, with a link to a webcomic about it, when I found this page. I think that this page should be liked in the all comics 1-500 list so that others don't make the same mistake and so that curious people can easily get to it. [[User:Rylon|Rylon]] ([[User talk:Rylon|talk]]) 18:10, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
:The link is changed.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:55, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

;The hidden link
Nobody did find that hidden link? A shame. Just a simple test on this [http://www.xkcd.com/test/ http://www.xkcd.com/test/] gives me a link to this comic: [[1335: Now]]. And this page still appears like it was on the original release date on February 26 this year. I'm pretty sure there is still a link, some avant-garde, and Randall still giggles about that nobody did find this within six years. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:12, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

Talk:404: Not Found

2014-04-02T22:58:14Z

173.245.55.73:

Maybe it was skipped because he had to. In some, if not all websites, there's the 404.html file that is displayed when there's a 404 error (example: /var/www/404.html/), so it would have shown the '404' page that existed the whole time, because xkcd.com/404 would have shown 404.html.

April 1st, 2008 was a Tuesday, so no xkcd comic would have normally come out then. For that week, [[403|xkcd 403]] was Monday, March 31st, 2008, [[405|xkcd 405]] was Wednesday, April 2nd, and [[406|xkcd 406]] was Friday, April 4th. 404 was just skipped. It is also skipped in the "previous comic"/"next comic" links on his site. I don't think it was an April Fools gag. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 19:03, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

:Well, I'd say that it certainy might be. In any case, it's an interesting observation! [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 11:22, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

:Then again, his skipping from 403 to 405 (making 404 come up "404: Not Found") may have been his April Fool joke that year. The timing may have been coincidental, but I don't blame him for taking advantage of it. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 23:16, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

::No, because there was already another April's Fool joke in 2008: xkcd, Questionable Content and Dinosaur Comics rotated their content ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_Comics#April_Fool.27s_jokes]). However the timing does seem quite suspicious. -- [[User:Xorg|Xorg]] ([[User talk:Xorg|talk]]) 21:52, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

This entry isn't on the list of all comics 1-500, and I made the mistake of adding this comic to the list. I was about to add an explanation, with a link to a webcomic about it, when I found this page. I think that this page should be liked in the all comics 1-500 list so that others don't make the same mistake and so that curious people can easily get to it. [[User:Rylon|Rylon]] ([[User talk:Rylon|talk]]) 18:10, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
:The link is changed.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:55, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

;The hidden link
Nobody did find that hidden link? A shame. Just a simple test on this [http://www.xkcd.com/test/ http://www.xkcd.com/test/] gives me a link to this comic: [[1335: Now]]. And this page still appears like it was on the original release date on February 26 this year. I'm pretty sure there is still a link, some avant-garde, and Randall still giggles about that nobody did find this within six years. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:12, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1350: Lorenz

2014-04-02T20:08:40Z

173.245.55.73:

I found a Dinosaur Comics reference, permalink: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:3d243960-b9b6-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd
Has this been found before?
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.73|173.245.55.73]] 20:08, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
'''Bold text'''I've had the story loop back to the first frame, so it wouldn't surprise me if this could go on infinitely if it had the available dialogue options.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is this a screenshot of? It's zoomed out so far. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:5b5bd04e-b9d6-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd [[User:Haithere|Haithere]] ([[User talk:Haithere|talk]]) 20:39, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
: you mean this : http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a1-2014/Rl92nFEWd9huvXABNkHKHg.png ? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:20, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: It appears to be a screen shot from a flight simulator program of some sort, however im not able to tell which, and since it is most likely an 'in-game' screen short we will never find out unless somebody else is playing this precises flight simulator program [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:37, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: I am not certain, but I strongly suspect that is Kerbal Space Program {{unsigned ip|108.162.242.111}}
::: it really is Kerbal Space Program, or KSP for short {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.65}}
:::: found this image from KSP http://i.imgur.com/UofvQ.png [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 09:07, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

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

It seems it is possible to have the same option appear twice in the first panel. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:be7a3304-b685-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.48|173.245.54.48]] 10:27, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
: They are not the same options -- the text differes where one option has "I'll" with a captal I and the other option is 'i'll' with a lowercase I -- I guess some prankster submitted a very similar text and somehow that got included. The branching also differs for the two options. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 17:12, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Is it still supposed to work or was it turned off? All I see is Monday comics ... and no errors in firebug console. Oh, wait, there is javascript error:
Timestamp: 04/02/14 12:56:21
Error: TypeError: this.$lastPanel is null
Source File: http://xkcd.com/1350/bernardo.min.js
Line: 2 -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:03, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
: It still works for me -- try to clear your cookies or use an anonymous window or go to xkcd.com (no www no https) or some of the other helpful suggestions on this page to overcome some of the buggy nature of this page. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 17:12, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

tl;dr, but I applaud Randall's creativity. Added to the Colossal time sinks category. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:15, 2 April 2014 (UTC)''

Has it restarted? It used to work just fine on my browser but now only the first panel is available, after clicking an option it said my suggestion has been submitted. Great when it works though, thanks Randal. Jet_proppeled_elephant[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.35|108.162.219.35]] 14:53, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

It feels like there are a bunch of "dead-end panels", that we never really get past. One example the "bright background" strip, in which we only see the shadows of the two characters. Nobody seems to care what happens after those. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.8|108.162.245.8]] 18:59, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

293: RTFM

2014-04-01T03:09:31Z

173.245.55.73: "dies"

{{comic
| number = 293
| date = July 23, 2007
| title = RTFM
| image = rtfm.png
| titletext = Life is too short for man pages, and occasionally much too short without them.
}}

==Explanation==
The title RTFM is an acronym for "{{w|RTFM|read the fucking manual}}", which frustrated software users tell users when confronted with a simple question (most likely answered in the manual).

However, [[Cueball]] encounters a similar situation with a {{w|911}} call, in which the first question the 911 dispatcher asks Cueball if has he read the toaster's {{w|man page}} (man pages are the 'manual' for unix systems, but only describe commands and library functions, not hardware). Even if a man page existed, it is unreasonable to require the user of a toaster to read the manual just to avoid being stabbed in the face. The 911 dispatcher decides that as he has not read the man page, Cueball is not entitled to medical assistance, and hangs up. Perhaps [[Black Hat]] got a job as a 911 dispatcher.

The title text refers to the popular phrase "Life's too short", which asserts that because we only have a fixed amount of time on Earth, and that time can pass by quickly, we should make the most of it. That could mean, for example, don't spend time reading the documentation unless you actually experience a problem. The second part alludes to the fact that some people actually die because they didn't RTFM!

==Transcript==
:[Cueball with a knife sticking out of his heavily bleeding face stands in front of a toaster, which has an arm extending from the top of it. He is holding a telephone to his ear.]
:Cueball: Hello, 911? I just tried to toast some bread, and the toaster grew an arm and stabbed me in the face!
:911: Did you read the toaster's man page first?
:Cueball: Well, no, but all I wanted was--
:911: ''click''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:1346: Career

2014-03-24T23:39:44Z

173.245.55.73:

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)

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'

: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)

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)

Talk:949: File Transfer

2014-03-01T02:46:10Z

173.245.55.73: Added a comment about Dropbox.

Years ago the usb drive was a floppy disc and the transfer was called "sneaker net".
This "solution" is much, much older than the web.
Also, why would TBL shed a tear? What's an HTML server got to do with file sharing? Do you think Randall meant Tommy Flowers?{{unsigned|‎188.29.119.251}}
:You are right. I deleted the sentence about Tim Berners-Lee, because the comic shows a perfectly legitimate use of the internet: transferring a 25 Mb file, which is much complicated than it should be. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 21:00, 10 October 2013 (UTC)
:He wasn't really right, and the title text should still be explained. I have done so. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 20:35, 21 January 2014 (UTC)
Just split the file into two pieces and send them in two emails. [[Special:Contributions/123.24.93.198|123.24.93.198]] 10:29, 3 August 2013 (UTC)
:With a chisel? Not everybody has a chisel around the house, these days. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 20:35, 21 January 2014 (UTC)
Actually Dropbox has [https://www.dropbox.com/home a web interface], you don't need to download any program. Still, both need to have Dropbox account. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 15:41, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
:Yes. Yes, you do. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 20:35, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Guys, dropbox supports link-sharing, for users without an account. Although, that feature probably wasn't around at the time this comic
was written. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.73|173.245.55.73]] 02:46, 1 March 2014 (UTC)

Talk:329: Turing Test

2014-03-01T02:37:34Z

173.245.55.73: Oh, nevermind, I was thinking of 632: Suspicion.

Talk:329: Turing Test

2014-03-01T02:36:03Z

173.245.55.73: Rob, not Cueball.

I think this is also a pretty obvious joke about Cleverbot, which constantly insists that ''you'' are a robot and ''it'' is a human. (See also [[948: AI]]) [[Special:Contributions/24.41.66.114|24.41.66.114]] 02:33, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

That's not Cueball, it's Rob. Should the transcript be revised? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.73|173.245.55.73]] 02:36, 1 March 2014 (UTC)

Talk:597: Addiction

2014-01-02T03:47:28Z

173.245.55.73:

Or was it just the monitor Megan switches off? That's my take on it, thus leaving the Skype (or similar) connection active for continued two-way audio at the very least... [[Special:Contributions/178.105.100.250|178.105.100.250]] 18:38, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

I think that the hum is actually Tinnitus, as people that use computers a lot tend to get exposed a lot to loud sounds (when playing games or listening to music, or both) or use headphones a lot. I know I have it.