explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1173: Steroids

2013-02-15T10:25:30Z

76.122.5.96:

Does anyone know what that 'something' is? That's what I came here to find out... :/ --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 11:57, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

:I had a lot of ideas, but I don't know. It might be a molecule, some sort of portal transmitting sound, a star, a future life form.
:--[[User:Jaap-Jan|Jaap-Jan]] ([[User talk:Jaap-Jan|talk]]) 12:13, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

::My first instinct was that Megan was talking to the asterisk that gets put next to world records held by athletes who have been suspected of using steroids.
::[[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 17:08, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

:::It looks to me like the God from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. Though that God would know all about the steroid scandal, presumably. [[Special:Contributions/98.234.113.134|98.234.113.134]] 00:19, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

::::It's the crystalline life-form from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Home Soil". When not killing red shirts, it keeps taunting humans that they're "ugly bags of mostly water".[[User:Columbus Admission|Columbus Admission]] ([[User talk:Columbus Admission|talk]]) 00:28, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

I think the "artificial boundary" isn't so artificial. There is a clear difference between food chemicals, which are healthy for us, vs steroid chemicals, which cause all sorts of health problems. Of course, then Megan would have to explain that we have limited lifespans and we greatly value our quality of life, and these steroids would decrease our quality of life. [[Special:Contributions/70.31.159.230|70.31.159.230]] 13:41, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
:So on the one side of this "clear boundary" you'd have something like Big Macs (food, good for us) and on the other you'd have vitamin supplements (non-food chemicals, bad)?
::I think the theory is that things that improve athletic performance but hurt the body should not be allowed. That way, athletes who are willing to sacrifice their health in order to win do not have an advantage over those who are not willing to make such a sacrifice. If people want to eat Big Mac's they are welcome to because it doesn't give them any advantage. Basically, you can put bad stuff into yourself all you want, but not if it gives you a competitive advantage. [[Special:Contributions/74.92.219.153|74.92.219.153]] 17:36, 14 February 2013 (UTC)
:::Which is good theory except that we have hardly any idea what are long-term effect of most chemicals, not speaking about fact that any chemical which is beneficial in reasonable amount (which we often don't know and it may depend on individual or other condition) is dangerous if you take it too much. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_C L-ascorbic acid] is particularly interresting example, as the official recomendation is 90mg per day, but depending on doctor and on situation (like illness or stress level) even 10,000mg may be considered healthy. Another good example is already mentioned [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone testosterone], which IS actually steroid. Oh yes, and then there is the problem of DETECTING that the athlets are getting those "unnatural" chemicals. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:46, 15 February 2013 (UTC)
:Like trying to line up all the people in the world and draw a clear line to divide blacks from whites, it's too much of a gradual spectrum to be anything other than arbitrary. [[Special:Contributions/67.51.59.66|67.51.59.66]] 17:27, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
::I explained my point very poorly. "Good" performance enhancing chemicals (like healthy foods) tend to also make us more healthy while "bad" performance enhancing chemicals (like steroids) cause all sorts of health problems. Athletes are generally encouraged to take the "good" stuff while avoiding the "bad" stuff. Of course there's a huge grey area in between (including non-performance-enhancing Big Macs), but I think steroids clearly fall outside this grey area. [[Special:Contributions/70.31.159.230|70.31.159.230]] 19:58, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
:::|Um, you do realize that the human body itself creates "Steroids"? Which are also in found within the plants and animals that we eat. (Especially soybeans.) Testosterone is supposedly one of these "bad" steroids, which cause many problems for humans. [[Special:Contributions/69.181.140.191|69.181.140.191]] 12:28, 14 February 2013 (UTC)
::::I suppose my point requires further explanation; devil's advocates will never be satisfied. Testosterone isn't intrinsically "bad" for us (as you mentioned, it is an integral part of our chemistry), but taking significant amounts of it from external sources has been shown to damage our bodies' ability to produce it and/or regulate its levels, among other effects. Hence, taking steroids is bad for us. Compare that with healthy food, which is generally accepted to "increase" our athletic performance (compared with unhealthy food, or no food) without any serious avoidable side effects.
::::However, you do bring up the point of testosterone being present in some things we consider to count as "food". I guess there is a certain amount of testosterone you are allowed to ingest (for these contests) that cause a negligible effect. [[Special:Contributions/70.31.159.230|70.31.159.230]] 13:21, 14 February 2013 (UTC)
:::::So it should be permitted to take non-dangerous levels of steroids? Either way, blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream, seems like a difficult argument to make for that to be bad (unless you have too many, but until that point). [[Special:Contributions/67.87.171.116|67.87.171.116]] 07:11, 15 February 2013 (UTC)
Blood doping is not the same as steroid use. {{unsigned|‎98.204.81.157}}
== Douglas Adams ==

Does anyone else feel that the title text has a strong Douglas Adams flavour?
And if so, can we make that hard with a quote from one of his books?

:It's a biblical reference, Genesis 3:19, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return", King James version.[[User:Jasqm|Jasqm]] ([[User talk:Jasqm|talk]]) 14:03, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

:D.N.A. has been known to reference the bible:
:-"In the beginning, the universe was created. This made a lot of people unhappy and has been widely regarded as a bad move."
:-"And then one day, nearly two thousand years after one man was nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be if people were nice to each other for a change..."
:[[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 17:08, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

:You're probably thinking of his quotes that reference digital watches and what a big mistake it was to leave the oceans (combined with the scene from the show where the guy walks back into the ocean).[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 21:30, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

Ive said that Douglas Adams write for XKCD for years now...Notice if you change all the letters to their corresponding number (A=1, B=2, etc) and add them, you get 42 ;) [[Special:Contributions/90.205.199.80|90.205.199.80]] 12:49, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
:Yeah, I'm pretty sure we all know that was a coincidence; Randall said so.
:I wrote a quick program to check for four-letter combinations and add their value. I'm assuming (hoping) that I coded correctly and got accurate results (I was using a library that I am unfamiliar with). Of the 26^4 possible letter combinations, 8840 (roughly 2%) will result in a total of 42 (order matters). This comes to 449 different sets of letters (in whatever order) that total 42. The numbers change if we assume Randall would only choose a letter once to be in the title. I'd rewrite the program to count up all combinations that total 4 to 104 for comparison (with and without repetition), but it's after 5am now. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 10:25, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

Not just a Biblical reference, the comic is published on (western christian) Ash Wednesday... [[User:Patmiller|Patmiller]] ([[User talk:Patmiller|talk]]) 14:58, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1167: Star Trek into Darkness

2013-02-01T04:19:20Z

76.122.5.96:

There has been a considerable amount of debate as to whether the title of this movie should have a colon in it, which would have appeared as "Star Trek: Into Darkness." They eventually decided against the colon, and I wonder if this comic is poking fun at that debate.[[Special:Contributions/169.234.40.187|169.234.40.187]] 00:49, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I suspect an allusion to movie title spellings that can be seen on moviez sites, torrent sites etc. -- [[Special:Contributions/193.174.118.70|193.174.118.70]] 08:20, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

The Associated Press style manual says to capitalize all prepositions that are four letters or more in titles, e.g. Into, Through, etc. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 09:54, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

This could also have to do with WP's MOS of capitalizing "The first word in a compound preposition (e.g. "Time Out of Mind", "Get Off of My Cloud")".

However, you cannot simply change the title of a page on WP. This requires actually moving the whole page. [[Special:Contributions/84.208.51.23|84.208.51.23]] 14:02, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I think there is a capitalization error in the comic. The second to last 's' should be capitalized in order to match the rest of the pattern in "xX_StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNess_Xx". Unless the author is trying to subtly troll us into arguing about that capitalization... [[User:Sayno2quat|Sayno2quat]] ([[User talk:Sayno2quat|talk]]) 14:31, 30 January 2013 (UTC)
:Non-sense, double consonants should never be capitalized! Unless of course you want to use them for structural purposes, like spacing or framing, obviously.--[[User:Pnariyoshi|Pnariyoshi]] ([[User talk:Pnariyoshi|talk]]) 15:05, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I believe Cueball's comment, "I have a new favorite edit war," is refering to the title text in this comic http://xkcd.com/878 about the great debate of HO vs. H0. [[Special:Contributions/206.39.12.245|206.39.12.245]] 15:23, 30 January 2013 (UTC)Pat

"Magnificient"?

The actual [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Star_Trek_into_Darkness#xkcd_Mention Talk Page] of the Wikipedia article in question has an item about this comic. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 16:32, 30 January 2013 (UTC)
:Oh sweet mother of god. Between that and the spam on this wiki, I think I'll take the spam. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:33, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I spent a good portion of last night reading through Wikipedia's talk pages for that. Worth a good laugh. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 16:56, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Well it obviously should be capitalized. --[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 17:43, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

:I tried to make a point on wikipedia that Wikipedia itself went out of its way to create a "lowercase first letter" template so that iPod and things of that nature could be capitalized the way the producer styled it, but there's really nowhere to point it as all discussions have closed and been ground to a halt. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:50, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

But is it really an edit war? Have they been moving the page bach and forth? --[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 00:18, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I still feel the most retarded of discussions on Wikipedia is for the Hentai article, where a disturbing majority demand pornography. --[[Special:Contributions/59.167.191.93|59.167.191.93]] 08:05, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Just a minor matter of correctness... but shouldn't this page be entitled "1167: Star Trek Into Darkness", with a capital I, you know, since that's the way the movie studio is writing it, even though it doesn't follow MOS? I think someone needs to fix it RIGHT NOW! --boB
:Hey boB, you should fix your username! :P I'm kidding. I think the wiki just follows what is on the xkcd website, which has the lower case "i".--[[User:Pnariyoshi|Pnariyoshi]] ([[User talk:Pnariyoshi|talk]]) 22:45, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I wish the Super Bowl Halftime Show could be that talk page being presented in a dramatic on stage performance. wow. Do you think Ian McKellen is available?--[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 19:29, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

It looks like it's been moved to the capital I. I'd say that it's definitely because xkcd mentioned it. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]]

Talk:1167: Star Trek into Darkness

2013-01-30T16:56:54Z

76.122.5.96:

I suspect an allusion to movie title spellings that can be seen on moviez sites, torrent sites etc. -- [[Special:Contributions/193.174.118.70|193.174.118.70]] 08:20, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

The Associated Press style manual says to capitalize all prepositions that are four letters or more in titles, e.g. Into, Through, etc. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 09:54, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

This could also have to do with WP's MOS of capitalizing "The first word in a compound preposition (e.g. "Time Out of Mind", "Get Off of My Cloud")".

However, you cannot simply change the title of a page on WP. This requires actually moving the whole page. [[Special:Contributions/84.208.51.23|84.208.51.23]] 14:02, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I think there is a capitalization error in the comic. The second to last 's' should be capitalized in order to match the rest of the pattern in "xX_StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNess_Xx". Unless the author is trying to subtly troll us into arguing about that capitalization... [[User:Sayno2quat|Sayno2quat]] ([[User talk:Sayno2quat|talk]]) 14:31, 30 January 2013 (UTC)
:Non-sense, double consonants should never be capitalized! Unless of course you want to use them for structural purposes, like spacing or framing, obviously.--[[User:Pnariyoshi|Pnariyoshi]] ([[User talk:Pnariyoshi|talk]]) 15:05, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I believe Cueball's comment, "I have a new favorite edit war," is refering to the title text in this comic http://xkcd.com/878 about the great debate of HO vs. H0. [[Special:Contributions/206.39.12.245|206.39.12.245]] 15:23, 30 January 2013 (UTC)Pat

"Magnificient"?

The actual [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Star_Trek_into_Darkness#xkcd_Mention Talk Page] of the Wikipedia article in question has an item about this comic. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 16:32, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I spent a good portion of last night reading through Wikipedia's talk pages for that. Worth a good laugh. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 16:56, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1166: Argument

2013-01-28T07:39:48Z

76.122.5.96: Created page with "Anyone know if there really is a thread for this? I Googled the title as shown in quotes and it didn't give me any results. Without quotes gave me the xkcd forums as well as..."

Anyone know if there really is a thread for this? I Googled the title as shown in quotes and it didn't give me any results. Without quotes gave me the xkcd forums as well as some Creationist stuff. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 07:39, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1164: Home Alone

2013-01-23T10:17:58Z

76.122.5.96:

This made me laugh more than it should have. [[Special:Contributions/2.120.136.128|2.120.136.128]] 08:17, 23 January 2013 (UTC)
:I know. I saw the panel and thought "Okay, that's interesting," and then moused over. Very nice. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 10:17, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1149: Broomstick

2012-12-22T05:36:28Z

76.122.5.96:

Anyone have any thoughts on the title text? Is that intended to suggest that Toto was an annoyance that Dorothy was happy to be rid of? I'm not really sure why (if) it's supposed to be funny... [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 15:50, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

:I figured it was a kind of loophole closing. With a lot of movies, you have viewers that go "well if the protagonist had just done 'this', then they could have saved a lot of trouble." But in this "easier" scenario, what reason would the witch have to trust Dorothy? Collateral is often used to ensure that one party will keep up their end of a deal, so it helped to seal this one. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 16:11, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

:I agree that the intention was to close a loophole, but I also was unable to fathom that Dorothy would leave Toto behind. It would be ''way'' out of character for her. If Dorothy had been a more self-centered character, then the title text would be a lot funnier. [[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 11:38, 19 December 2012 (EST)

:Definitely to close a loophole. Dorothy has something the Witch wants that Dorothy doesn't need except the crazy witch wants to hurt her for them. The Wizard seems to have what she needs but won't give it except for what the witch wants. A trade seems much easier. But of course, who would trust the witch (and why would the untrusting witch start trusting)? All things considered, if you're in a strange land with freaky creatures and frighteningly perverse singalongs, you might consider a Scottish terrier a small price to pay to return to a Kansas farm which, while dull, is far superior to that crazy place. :) [[User:Chriss|Chriss]] ([[User talk:Chriss|talk]]) 16:49, 19 December 2012 (UTC)Chriss

:Cairn Terrier, original to the books and continued in the movie. Smaller and less feisty than a Scottie.A loyal breed, he probably escaped from the WWW after the trade, and is flying home with Dorothy and the Professor, unseen down in the bottom of the balloon basket.[[Special:Contributions/24.79.11.46|24.79.11.46]] 21:52, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

:Megan never struck me as much of a dog person. [[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 17:19, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

:Just wondering if Wizzard wants to see the broom, why not to show that to him, even let him touch that, than return it to the Witch, collect the pupy from her and merry on my way ? Kind of complicating the quest again, but retaining the all-for-friend appearance. [[User:prom|prom]] 1:13, 20.12.2012 (CET)

Since the book had {{w|Silver Shoes}} and the movie had {{w|Ruby Slippers}}, I think it's probably best to avoid discussion of the book... I've removed the reference to the Nome King - who doesn't appear in the movie or even that first Oz book. – ''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 18:02, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Anyone else notice Black Hat Guy in the balloon? How do you add the tag for "Comics with Black Hat Guy"?

:I dont think that is Black Hat Guy.. This guy's hat is taller. It also wouldn't fit into Black Hat Guy's character, as Megan is essentially tricking him into thinking she's killed the witch.

Due to the absence of lyrics, I assumed it was humming or whistling, not singing. --BigMal27 // [[Special:Contributions/192.136.15.178|192.136.15.178]] 12:31, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

The irony here is her ruby slippers have the power to take her home, but she's trading them away for a broom, in the hopes that the wizard will take her home. She says "that was easy" although it was far more effort than just clicking her heels and repeating "there's no place like home".
[[User:Twifosp|Twifosp]] ([[User talk:Twifosp|talk]]) 02:22, 21 December 2012 (UTC)twifosp

I'm still confused by this one - or maybe I just don't remember the movie well enough. She has the ruby slippers which would let her fly home by clicking them - so what has she gained by exchanging them indirectly for a flight home in a balloon? Has she traded her three companions and dog for the wizard's company? I feel I'm missing something. Also, to the person above saying it would be "out of character" for Dorothy to trade in this way, isn't that the point? That a sociopath version of Dorothy would resolve the problem completely differently? [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 23:48, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

Dorothy didn't know till near the end of the movie that the ruby slippers could get her home. I also want to point out that the Wizard never actually demanded the destruction of the witch. He just asked for her broomstick. The Tin Man suggested "But if we do that, we'd have to kill her to get it". The Wizard neither confirmed nor denied this, merely restating "Bring me her broomstick, and I'll grant your requests". So Dorothy trading for it without killing the witch is perfectly acceptable according to the terms outlined. {{unsigned|24.72.12.221}}
:Furthermore, the good witch was (likely) not going to tell her how to get home until she had learned some valuable lesson. This bypasses the whole ordeal. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 05:36, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1149: Broomstick

2012-12-19T16:11:27Z

76.122.5.96:

:Anyone have any thoughts on the title text? Is that intended to suggest that Toto was an annoyance that Dorothy was happy to be rid of? I'm not really sure why (if) it's supposed to be funny... [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 15:50, 19 December 2012 (UTC)
::I figured it was a kind of loophole closing. With a lot of movies, you have viewers that go "well if the protagonist had just done 'this', then they could have saved a lot of trouble." But in this "easier" scenario, what reason would the witch have to trust Dorothy? Collateral is often used to ensure that one party will keep up their end of a deal, so it helped to seal this one. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 16:11, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1148: Nothing to Offer

2012-12-17T06:36:03Z

76.122.5.96: Created page with "As I was reading the comic today, I saw the joke, but didn't really find it funny. Then I burst out laughing when I finally got to the word "gin". ~~~~"

As I was reading the comic today, I saw the joke, but didn't really find it funny. Then I burst out laughing when I finally got to the word "gin". [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 06:36, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1146: Honest

2012-12-12T12:21:37Z

76.122.5.96:

Ya can't explain this one![[Special:Contributions/176.61.46.230|176.61.46.230]] 11:06, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
:No, other work is getting in the way. Someone else'll do it. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:15, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
:The honesty of this comic makes it pretty self-explanatory. I like it. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 12:21, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1145: Sky Color

2012-12-12T12:15:19Z

76.122.5.96:

Of course with '''''vertical''''' mirror vertical axis is selected: perceived switching of left and right (really close with far to mirror surface). When '''standing on''' '''''horizontal''''' mirror we will perceive switching bottom from top. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 09:09, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

You're certainly correct, but I think that the original question is not really asking about text (or other things) which are perpendicular to the mirror, but rather text which is parallel to it (and thus the close vs. far doesn't come into it). For example, when reading signs in your rear view mirror or holding a book in front of your chest while looking in a mirror. I've added a little bit to the explanation to attempt to help clarify what's happening in that situation. I'm not sure if it really helps or not. [[User:KeithyIrwin|KeithyIrwin]] ([[User talk:KeithyIrwin|talk]]) 10:00, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

Easier way to describe it: Imagine you hold a piece of glas. Write on the glass and hold it in front of the mirror, so that you can see both the original text and the mirrored text. Both versions of the text will look identical. So the mirror doesn't change anything. [[Special:Contributions/62.220.2.194|62.220.2.194]] 11:10, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

Another way: draw a line between the real object and its reflection. Things are reflected around that line. If that line is going up & down (relative to your eyes), then things are reflected left/right (relative to your eyes). If that line is horizontal (again relative to your eyes), then things are reflected top/bottom. So it's not so much whether the mirror is horizontal or vertical, but rather what direction you are looking into the mirror (although that can be influenced a lot by the mirror's orientation).[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 04:17, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

I always wonder: Since the sky goes from red to blue to red and the optical spectrum goes from red to green to blue. How come the sky is never green?
: Because of human color perception. You only perceive green in polychromatic light when said light is stronger in the middle wavelengths than the low or high wavelengths; in other words, you would need a process in the sky that removed ''both'' the high and low wavelengths from white light. As the sun sets, only the lower wavelengths are removed, so you perceive yellows and reds -- this perception of color is "one-sided", i.e. it is not interfered with by even longer wavelengths. By the way, sometimes you do see green briefly in the sky, it's called a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_flash Green Flash]. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 16:41, 10 December 2012 (UTC)
::I used to go outside after a rain storm during the day, and sometimes the sky would seem very green. The effect could last for hours. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 12:15, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

This sentence doesn't make sense: "(from "his" right to left instead of from "his" left to right)" [[User:Trek7553|Trek7553]] ([[User talk:Trek7553|talk]]) 15:15, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

Repeat Character Watch: The girl has appeared previously in [[842: Mark]], [[892: Null Hypothesis]], [[1058: Old-Timers]], and [[1104: Feathers]] (A similar looking character also appears in [[635: Locke and Demosthenes]] but this is actually the character Valentine from the book Ender's Game). The mother is seen in comics [[806: Tech Support]] and [[813: One-Liners]]. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:12, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

About [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1145:_Sky_Color&diff=22416&oldid=22414 this edition]: 1/(x^4) does not look like a root to me. IMHO the forth root of x would be more like x^(1/4) but it's not the formula from the comic. (I'm too lazy to try to type lambda). [[User:Lmpk|Lmpk]] ([[User talk:Lmpk|talk]]) 19:00, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

:You are correct. It's been fixed. The editor that made that edit was probably confusing 1/x4 with x1/4, the latter of which would indeed be the fourth root. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 19:53, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

[http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/BlueSky/blue_sky.html This page], linked from the explanation says that "the most strongly scattered indigo and violet wavelengths stimulate the red cones slightly as well as the blue, which is why these colours appear blue with an added red tinge." -- this seems rather strange. Assuming the cones are simulated based on frequency/wavelength, ultra-blue colors shouldn't stimulate the red cones because the electromagnetic spectrum is linear, not circular, despite the appearance of similarity between violet and red. Or am I missing something? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:14, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
: If you look at the response curve (middle of cited page) you'll see that red receptors have two peaks, one in the red wavelengths, and another (very tiny one) in the violet. That's why purple (which is red + blue) looks so similar to violet, and why the "color wheel" works. [[Special:Contributions/207.225.239.130|207.225.239.130]] 21:59, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
:: PS: "first years" is an idiom. Wouldn't that be "first year students" to be proper English? [[Special:Contributions/207.225.239.130|207.225.239.130]] 22:05, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1140: Calendar of Meaningful Dates

2012-11-28T14:22:41Z

76.122.5.96:

Seeing how the (northern hemisphere) summer months are bolder than the winter ones, I remember that someone said that "historical things" like wars and battles used to occur during the good weather months. Same for e.g. romance novels - people date and love on those dates. {{unsigned|‎81.34.231.6}}

If the search included Spanish dates in English texts, May 5th would be larger. {{unsigned|214.4.253.121}}

I wonder if he took into account the month/day swap between the US and UK dating system (among other countries). [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 14:22, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1137: RTL

2012-11-21T11:40:43Z

76.122.5.96:

There's a typo in the comic - hte should be eht for "the" spelled backwards -jars99

:Unless you consider "th" a single character, which by the way makes a lot of sense as it is derived from old-english "eth". {{unsigned|62.245.198.190}}
::Unless you further consider that "they" doesn't share that in the comic, making it internally inconsistent. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 11:40, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

Acutally, unicode 202e doesn't "flip proceeding text back-to-front", it overrides the direction, setting it to "right-to-left" for the following text. It's back-to-front for most of us like "left-to-right" is to other writing systems. I know it's nitpicking, but xkcd readers should appreciate the symmetry. [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 07:23, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

I don't see the reversed title. My window manager is not UTF-8 compatible, so when a window title is set to string containing UTF-8 characters, it doesn't change. This brings the question if it really is a browser problem or if the browsers behave as expected and the window manager is at fault. -- [[Special:Contributions/89.177.52.2|89.177.52.2]] 09:17, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

:It's not a ''problem'' per sec. Browsers that get the reversed title are processing the UTF symbol correctly, there's no bug there. And the window manager has no bearing on the title text except for maybe font. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 09:32, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

::Well its the window manager that renders the window title, but it is composed by the Browser. I think that the browser should insert an appropriate number of U+202c characters, in this case it should be "xkcd: [U+202e]LTR[U+202c] - Mozilla Firefox". That would render as xkcd: RTL - Mozilla Firefox". By the way, the tab caption in Firefox is "xkcd: LTR". In Chromium and Opera it is shown correctly as "xkcd: RTL". [[User:Joha.ma|Joha.ma]] ([[User talk:Joha.ma|talk]]) 09:47, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1135: Arachnoneurology

2012-11-16T13:46:25Z

76.122.5.96:

Somehow, I don't believe that ANY object would make the spiders to weave something so thick as a usable shirt. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:26, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
:Maybe he arranged the fork thing so that broken and falling spiderwebs would fall in just the right way to form a shirt. It's possible. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 09:38, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
:It's beret guy. The same guy with endless wings. What do you expect? [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 13:46, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

However, something similar is used by Canadian artist Aganetha Dyck to persuade bees to create art on forms. An example here: http://inspiration-of-the-nation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Aganetha-Dyck-bee-art.jpg Noni Mausa

Talk:1131: Math

2012-11-08T00:57:51Z

76.122.5.96:

Sorry, I don't know how to upload the correct image. - Artod

:Picture downloaded from xkcd, uploaded to the wiki with the correct license and "xkcd" added to the filename as a prefix, then filename changed in page source to correct image. Hope this helps in the future! - [[User:Coombeseh|Coombeseh]] ([[User talk:Coombeseh|talk]]) 10:36, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
:Can somebody please explain further? I guess the joke is about the forecast? thank you --[[Special:Contributions/89.144.192.97|89.144.192.97]] 14:17, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

Randall's on the nose again. This is why I just turned off all media yesterday, especially toward the end of the evening. Unless you're up for contrived suspense, it's really just tediousness lived through: barely five minutes of "news" per hour, the remaining "empty" time filled with the drone of talking heads waxing obnoxious about irrelevancies. This morning, the results are in, and I'm no worse for not having endured the conjectural drivel... -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 15:25, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

:As a note, the title text is referring to the consensus polls, including those at fivethirtyeight.com, which were referred to in the previous episode. Another interpretation of the "numbers" comment is that the predictions based on polling numbers and proper statistical analyses of those, rather than mere punditry and opinion, were always the best predictors of what was going to happen in this election. So not only could numbers retroactively tell us who won (based on actual votes) but numbers when used as individual data points with variance and sample sizes, and combined into an aggregate, were far more effective in telling us prospectively who was going to win. [[Special:Contributions/128.104.149.65|128.104.149.65]] 18:11, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

== Grammar fail! ==

Numbers continue <ins>to be best</ins> system for determining?
:Yes and no. In news stories (see newspaper headlines for an example), this is a typical format. You didn't notice the "To surprise of pundits" part that came first? [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 00:57, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

Talk:453: Upcoming Hurricanes

2012-10-28T05:14:32Z

76.122.5.96:

I wonder, is there a reason why Randall chose cos(x) over sin(x)? Is there a y-axis somewhere on the map? Not that it matters; just curious... [[User:Bobidou23|Bobidou23]] ([[User talk:Bobidou23|talk]]) 23:24, 22 September 2012 (UTC)
:''cos(x)'', ''sin(x)'', they're the same thing, plus or minus pi/4... -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 02:57, 23 September 2012 (UTC)
Something seems off about this explanation. Like reading a blog. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 05:14, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

Talk:84: National Language

2012-10-24T08:37:27Z

76.122.5.96: Created page with "Any idea what she's saying? ~~~~"

Any idea what she's saying? [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 08:37, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1124: Law of Drama

2012-10-23T19:41:40Z

76.122.5.96:

Regarding the transcript: I don't think you have enough data to characterize this short curve as exponential. What does "slightly exponential" mean, anyway? In any case, it looks like it becomes linear as the x values increase. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 11:21, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

::It could be a shallow power function curve . . .--[[User:Joehammer79|Joehammer79]] ([[User talk:Joehammer79|talk]]) 13:57, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

::Increasing, concave up. That's really the way to describe it. "Exponential" is a word used too widely by people who don't understand what it means. [[User:MGK|MGK]] ([[User talk:MGK|talk]]) 20:47, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

:I took 26 data points, assumed the axes defined a (0-1,0-1) window, and tried an extrapolation (using Microsoft Excel; someone with a different tool can surely do better). An exponential model fits fairly well: y = 0.0782 * e^(2.7035*x) with R^2 = 0.9928. However, I agree about the linear end section -- the exponential trendline clearly starts to pull high. --BigMal27 // [[Special:Contributions/192.136.15.149|192.136.15.149]] 13:57, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

I think Randall thought about the shape of this curve. You see how it becomes linear as both drama and anti-drama declaration increase? At low values, there is a residual amount of drama even when there is little anti-drama declaration, but the marginal increase eventually becomes constant. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 11:28, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

:I think that may be it. Care to add it to the page? [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 11:31, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

:I think that the upper limit for drama statements does indeed have an end-point, beyond which those declarations can't increase. At that point, I suppose, the drama-ridden person experiences a split state-change, either dropping to the original non-drama state by disavowing all the causers-of-drama in their lives, or by becoming a causer-of-drama.--[[User:Noni Mausa|Noni Mausa]] ([[User talk:Noni Mausa|talk]]) 13:11, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

:: At this point in the discourse, I'm reminded of a real-scientist friend who admonished me once for reading too much into some data, and it seems applicable here, too. To wit: the axes are not labeled with units -- no tick marks to be seen anywhere -- nor is it clear what sort of axes are in use: log, {{w|logit}}, {{w|probit}}? Randall, not being the naïve sort, likely understands this, and merely shows us a graph that suggest a slightly accelerating direct relationship between the two axes. If the axes are linear, the curve has the characteristic upward swing of an exponential, but we don't ''know'' that, and any conjecture beyond observable facts is inappropriate. To leap to application of, say {{w|Levenberg-Marquardt}}, seems folly. (As an aside, I'm reminded of the old Benny Hill skit, where he's a movie director being interviewed on some talking-heads show; says the interviewer: "I particularly enjoyed the poignancy of suddenly switching to black and white film right as..." Benny Hill: "Rubbish, we just ran out of film, and black and white was all we had left.") -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:23, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

I was trying to figure out how the title text could make sense grammatically, but now I think it was just written in the form of a vague, 'dramatic', facebook post. Is it just me? [[User:Alanthecowboy|Alanthecowboy]] ([[User talk:Alanthecowboy|talk]]) 13:32, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

As someone that has been through several drama classes, as well as a high school club, I've always found the phrases "causing drama" and "too much drama" to be really irritating. You can never have too much drama! (You can have too much comedy, though.) [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 19:41, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1123: The Universal Label

2012-10-19T15:15:56Z

76.122.5.96:

I suspect that without Helium and a little Lithium we wouldn't even be here discussing this. These were both formed independently of Hydrogen shortly after the BB and without them the first stars would have been huge and short-lived...[[Special:Contributions/62.255.252.76|62.255.252.76]] 14:34, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
----
But you can make matter using energy, therefore, you only need energy and time! Ray
----
The label's missing energy. Just saying. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 04:34, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
:But isn't it somehow contained in the hydrogen? I don't know squat about quantum physics, so I'm probably wrong. [[Special:Contributions/108.233.253.211|108.233.253.211]] 04:49, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

::Actually, the amount of energy in any grocery or non-grocery (even in explosives) is significally lower that the amount of energy in hydrogen used for their creation. Sure, you need energy to grow crops, but where does that energy come from? Hydrogen fusion in Sun - which is first step of creating the carbon the crop is from (not the same crop, of course). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:12, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
----
So when [http://xkcd.com/282/ Mussolini made the trains run on thyme] he was really making them run on hydrogen '''and''' time?--[[User:Pmakholm|Pmakholm]] ([[User talk:Pmakholm|talk]]) 08:18, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
----
I think this is the smallest xkcd comic ever. :-)
--[[Special:Contributions/85.159.196.21|85.159.196.21]] 09:43, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

It's also the first in a long time to make me laugh out loud! Steve B.
----
I suspect Randall was influenced by this quote: "Given enough time, hydrogen starts to wonder where it came from, and where it is going", attributed to Edward R. Harrison. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 10:58, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
----
Actually, I'm not sure you can make antimatter with just regular hydrogen.

--[[Special:Contributions/85.159.196.21|85.159.196.21]] 11:24, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

:Why would food contain antimatter? --[[User:Kronf|Kronf]] ([[User talk:Kronf|talk]]) 12:21, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
----
I think I've spotted my first Randall mistake. Using this ingredient list, The amount of time must exceed the amount of hydrogen (unless the product is hydrogen) thus Time should be listed first on the label. — Comment by [[User:14:09, 19 October 2012|14:09, 19 October 2012]] ([[User talk:14:09, 19 October 2012|talk]]) Anthingy ''(please sign your comments)''
----
Yes, that may be a mistake, but the FDA website mentions "predominance by weight." I'm not sure how time would compare to hydrogen in that respect. Also I translated thyme = H+time = tHime. --[[Special:Contributions/207.170.250.186|207.170.250.186]] 14:25, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
:Also, it's not Randall's first mistake, he made some in the last comic. [[User:???|?]][[User talk:???|?]][[Special:Contributions/???|?]] 14:31, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
::Implying the above commentor is Randall. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 15:15, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1122: Electoral Precedent

2012-10-17T23:56:32Z

76.122.5.96:

My research tells me that Jefferson won 1800. Error on Randall's part? [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 08:52, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

I'm a bit confused by 1792 vs. 1804: The latter is "No incumbent has beaten a challenger", but didn't Washington face any challenger when he was re-elected in 1792? [[User:Jolindbe|Jolindbe]] ([[User talk:Jolindbe|talk]]) 14:19, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
: {{w|United_States_presidential_election,_1792|He ran unopposed}} --[[User:Buggz|Buggz]] ([[User talk:Buggz|talk]]) 14:33, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
:: As far as I understand it, he had four opponents, but got all the votes. Then, the electoral college voted on whom to be the vice president among the remaining candidates. But it seems unlikely to get 100% of the popular votes, do I misinterpret the wiki page? [[User:Jolindbe|Jolindbe]] ([[User talk:Jolindbe|talk]]) 17:45, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
:::Well, back then, the electoral college didn't take their votes from the people. They just decided, so they decided to give Washington the presidency. [[Special:Contributions/140.247.0.79|140.247.0.79]] 18:55, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

----
"1904: No one under 45 has become president. ... Roosevelt did."

Sort of. {{w|Theodore Roosevelt}} (Oct 1858–1919) was under 45 when he ''became'' president, in 1901. But by the time of the ''1904'' election he was 46.
 [[Special:Contributions/75.36.234.236|75.36.234.236]] 18:48, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
:Correct. Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest President to date, but Kennedy was the youngest yet ''elected''. [[Special:Contributions/67.51.59.66|67.51.59.66]] 20:09, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

The image needs to be updated. I'm not sure how to do that myself. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 23:56, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1121: Identity

2012-10-15T18:33:01Z

76.122.5.96:

He could also be bothered by her willingness to give away the password so easily. Anyone who has spent a sufficient amount of time with the character would have an idea of the things he's interested in. The image text supports it a little by saying how anyone he knows would be aware that he acts like that. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 08:57, 15 October 2012 (UTC)

They could also be using a version of Google Wave or some such IM... It was possible to view realtime what the others were typing on the window. Then Megan would be able to interrupt Cueball easily.

Notably, although the characters appear to be communicating by way of text (whether SMS, or some instant messaging protocol), Megan should not be able to interrupt Cueball. Text-based messages do not typically stream in realtime as they are typed. She wouldn't be able to read his message until he completed it and sent it. {{unsigned|TheHYPO}}

:Unless they are using something like the unix talk command, which does stream characters as they are typed. This might make sense since they are conversing about a server password, but talk might also perform proper authentication, although it could likely be spoofed as most early unix programs were not very secure. The characters are not streamed in real time, by the way, because there is no deadline for transmission of the characters. Sending something "as soon as possible" is pretty much the opposite of "real-time" and I think this wiki should make great efforts to be extra geeky about the use of the phrase "real-time" treating it like "real-time operating system" rather than "I use the web so I think the word 'real-time' means that time itself is not fake." Has Randall written a comic about the misuse of the phrase "real-time"? He should. {{unsigned|Jsbqvb}}

:Moved here from the explanation. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:56, 15 October 2012 (UTC)

It's possible that he was sending each sentence separately, and she's responding to one of the ones he already completed. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 18:33, 15 October 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1121: Identity

2012-10-15T08:57:33Z

76.122.5.96: Created page with "He could also be bothered by her willingness to give away the password so easily. Anyone who has spent a sufficient amount of time with the character would have an idea of th..."

Talk:1117: My Sky

2012-10-06T02:17:00Z

76.122.5.96:

I wonder if the "It's not the same color as anything" line is a reference to Microsoft's cloud service which is named "Azure". "Azure" in conventional speech, is a color. Properly, is a shade of Sky Blue. However, the HTML color Azure is incorrect (propagated from an error in the Linux source code), and is set to a shade of Off-White, coincidentally making it the color of clouds. [[User:jamescurran|James Curran]]

Why was the comment taken out about how "WOW" upside down is "MOM"? I thought it was incredibly clever. http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1117:_My_Sky&oldid=13991 [[User:Jillysky|Jillysky]] ([[User talk:Jillysky|talk]]) 19:06, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

Jeff suggested that I post it again down here, to see if anyone knew why it was removed.

An alternate explanation for the Title Text is that, if he was hanging upside-down from the earth, then Randall's actual first word would have been "Mom!".

--[[User:Carlneely|Carlneely]] ([[User talk:Carlneely|talk]]) 20:41, 5 October 2012 (UTC)
*Well you'd have to flip over the exclamation mark, too (all or nothing). "iMom". [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 02:16, 6 October 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1117: My Sky

2012-10-06T02:16:21Z

76.122.5.96:

I wonder if the "It's not the same color as anything" line is a reference to Microsoft's cloud service which is named "Azure". "Azure" in conventional speech, is a color. Properly, is a shade of Sky Blue. However, the HTML color Azure is incorrect (propagated from an error in the Linux source code), and is set to a shade of Off-White, coincidentally making it the color of clouds. [[User:jamescurran|James Curran]]

Why was the comment taken out about how "WOW" upside down is "MOM"? I thought it was incredibly clever. http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1117:_My_Sky&oldid=13991 [[User:Jillysky|Jillysky]] ([[User talk:Jillysky|talk]]) 19:06, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

Jeff suggested that I post it again down here, to see if anyone knew why it was removed.

An alternate explanation for the Title Text is that, if he was hanging upside-down from the earth, then Randall's actual first word would have been "Mom!".

--[[User:Carlneely|Carlneely]] ([[User talk:Carlneely|talk]]) 20:41, 5 October 2012 (UTC)
*Well you'd have to flip over the exclamation mark, too (all or nothing). "Momi". [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 02:16, 6 October 2012 (UTC)

Talk:356: Nerd Sniping

2012-09-20T20:42:38Z

76.122.5.96: Created page with "Just because the problem contains an infinite series (or parallel) doesn't mean that it's unsolvable. It's tricky, certainly, and getting the "true" answer involves some rath..."

Just because the problem contains an infinite series (or parallel) doesn't mean that it's unsolvable. It's tricky, certainly, and getting the "true" answer involves some rather heavy math, but it's not impossible. Indeed, Google shows that it's already been answered. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 20:42, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1110: Click and Drag

2012-09-19T09:39:49Z

76.122.5.96:

I swear, it's like he found out about us, and is now saying "Oh, yeah? Well how about this?" Other than the gripes of how hard it's going to be to get this thing explained, this one is pretty epic. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 08:08, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

I'm moving this here so that it doesn't get lost in the shuffle, and because it isn't really an explanation:

:For those who get impatient scrolling around (and are a little savvy): download the .html file for the comic ([http://xkcd.com/1110/index.html index.html]), and also the file [http://imgs.xkcd.com/clickdrag/1110.js 1110.js]. Edit the .html file to use your 1110.js instead of the one from xkcd.com. Then edit 1110.js:
* remove the line "overflow: 'hidden',"
* change the "1"s into "4"s in "for(var y=-1;y<=+1;y++)" and in "for(var x=-1;x<=+1;x++){"
* optionally, remove the line "$remove.remove();" (warning: this will make it take up a lot of memory eventually!)

:Then open the local copy in your web browser. Zooming out, scrolling, and zooming back in helps find the easter eggs.
:{{unsigned|75.111.63.192}}

[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 08:43, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

*This Page's instructions say to zoom in and out when browsing the modified local file. My browser skills are rusty. I have Firefox, and when I zoom in and out, it zooms the whole page, rather than just the interesting bit. However, seeing as how there are 16000+ panels, I don't think I want to zoom it out quite so very far anyway. Firefox is notoriously bad when there are lots of images on a page (and yes, it cratered while I was exploring the original page). In any case, can someone clarify the use of zoom? [[Special:Contributions/24.57.210.141|24.57.210.141]] 08:40, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

I started to comment some easter eggs. Come on, we can make it :-). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:00, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

All is revealed here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4542367

I found the left hand boundary of the page reasonably quickly. Once you cross the sea you get their pretty fast. I also found an X-Wing coming out of the ground quoting a line from just after the death star trench run.

For the pack rats, [http://www.mediafire.com/?u7dac458418phyn here] is a .tar.gz of all the pngs. You can use these to reference where in the comic you are. Files are named <tt><number><north/south><number><east/west>.png</tt>. So 1n8w.png is 1 north, 8 west. Let's get this thing done. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 09:12, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

== ZIP upload ==

Hi,

I’ve locally downloaded all the tiles (there is 225 PNG files) and made a ZIP file of them, but when trying to upload it here the [[Special:Upload]] page says: “Permitted file types: png, gif, jpg, jpeg.”
Do I have to upload each tile one by one or is there a way to exceptionally bypass this restriction?
Thanks. — [[User:Ethaniel|Ethaniel]] ([[User talk:Ethaniel|talk]]) 09:13, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
: Mh, seems I’m hours too late… — [[User:Ethaniel|Ethaniel]] ([[User talk:Ethaniel|talk]]) 09:14, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

:I'm not sure we should upload each individual frame for this one. Though, we do need to have a discussion about how we're going to handle/archive/explain this one, because it's going to be big and tedius. Maybe some adventurous and hardy soul can stitch together grids of this so that we don't have the problem of having too much image (a single terapixel image will kill anyone's PC if they try to load it) and having so little (while the grids Randall's created are nice and bite-sized, it's hard to see the whole thing). [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 09:20, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

It doesn't seem to be a terapixel. There are 225 images of 2048x2048 pixels. The full range is 81x32 tiles, resulting in a 165888x65536 images, at approximately 10 gigapixels. The naming conventions is numberlatitudenumberlongitude.png, where lat can be either n or s, and long can be either e or w. E.g. 1n1e.png, which is the starting image, and they are located at http://imgs.xkcd.com/clickdrag/.

I found two raptors. I couldn't even begin to tell you where they are. Follow the left side. Past the oceans and in some grass...somewhere. This is a lot to draw...I wonder how he did it. The shear size of each image, combined with the fact that they seamlessly transition together...when did he start? How much time did he put in? He should have waited one more to get comic 1111, I think. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 09:29, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
:The far right also quotes the very first xkcd comic ever. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 09:39, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1110: Click and Drag

2012-09-19T09:29:47Z

76.122.5.96:

I swear, it's like he found out about us, and is now saying "Oh, yeah? Well how about this?" Other than the gripes of how hard it's going to be to get this thing explained, this one is pretty epic. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 08:08, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

I'm moving this here so that it doesn't get lost in the shuffle, and because it isn't really an explanation:

:For those who get impatient scrolling around (and are a little savvy): download the .html file for the comic ([http://xkcd.com/1110/index.html index.html]), and also the file [http://imgs.xkcd.com/clickdrag/1110.js 1110.js]. Edit the .html file to use your 1110.js instead of the one from xkcd.com. Then edit 1110.js:
* remove the line "overflow: 'hidden',"
* change the "1"s into "4"s in "for(var y=-1;y<=+1;y++)" and in "for(var x=-1;x<=+1;x++){"
* optionally, remove the line "$remove.remove();" (warning: this will make it take up a lot of memory eventually!)

:Then open the local copy in your web browser. Zooming out, scrolling, and zooming back in helps find the easter eggs.
:{{unsigned|75.111.63.192}}

[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 08:43, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

*This Page's instructions say to zoom in and out when browsing the modified local file. My browser skills are rusty. I have Firefox, and when I zoom in and out, it zooms the whole page, rather than just the interesting bit. However, seeing as how there are 16000+ panels, I don't think I want to zoom it out quite so very far anyway. Firefox is notoriously bad when there are lots of images on a page (and yes, it cratered while I was exploring the original page). In any case, can someone clarify the use of zoom? [[Special:Contributions/24.57.210.141|24.57.210.141]] 08:40, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

I started to comment some easter eggs. Come on, we can make it :-). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:00, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

All is revealed here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4542367

I found the left hand boundary of the page reasonably quickly. Once you cross the sea you get their pretty fast. I also found an X-Wing coming out of the ground quoting a line from just after the death star trench run.

For the pack rats, [http://www.mediafire.com/?u7dac458418phyn here] is a .tar.gz of all the pngs. You can use these to reference where in the comic you are. Files are named <tt><number><north/south><number><east/west>.png</tt>. So 1n8w.png is 1 north, 8 west. Let's get this thing done. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 09:12, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

== ZIP upload ==

Hi,

I’ve locally downloaded all the tiles (there is 225 PNG files) and made a ZIP file of them, but when trying to upload it here the [[Special:Upload]] page says: “Permitted file types: png, gif, jpg, jpeg.”
Do I have to upload each tile one by one or is there a way to exceptionally bypass this restriction?
Thanks. — [[User:Ethaniel|Ethaniel]] ([[User talk:Ethaniel|talk]]) 09:13, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
: Mh, seems I’m hours too late… — [[User:Ethaniel|Ethaniel]] ([[User talk:Ethaniel|talk]]) 09:14, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

:I'm not sure we should upload each individual frame for this one. Though, we do need to have a discussion about how we're going to handle/archive/explain this one, because it's going to be big and tedius. Maybe some adventurous and hardy soul can stitch together grids of this so that we don't have the problem of having too much image (a single terapixel image will kill anyone's PC if they try to load it) and having so little (while the grids Randall's created are nice and bite-sized, it's hard to see the whole thing). [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 09:20, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

:It doesn't seem to be a terapixel. There are 225 images of 2048x2048 pixels. The full range is 81x32 tiles, resulting in a 165888x65536 images, at approximately 10 gigapixels.

:I found two raptors. I couldn't even begin to tell you where they are. Follow the left side. Past the oceans and in some grass...somewhere. This is a lot to draw...I wonder how he did it. The shear size of each image, combined with the fact that they seamlessly transition together...when did he start? How much time did he put in? He should have waited one more to get comic 1111, I think. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 09:29, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1107: Sports Cheat Sheet

2012-09-12T20:55:47Z

76.122.5.96:

Thanks to whoever added the hockey mention ("no love" in the comic, for sure). Maybe the comic needs another column for Canada, where hockey can be argued about year-round. (Yes, it's an exaggeration for comic effect.) As for the rest of the world, or at least ex-Commonwealth and neighboring countries (e.g. Australia, India, New Zealand), what about rugby and cricket? --'''BigMal27''' (no account) / [[Special:Contributions/192.136.15.177|192.136.15.177]] 15:29, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
:Forgot to mention that these sports don't have to be professional in nature. I know of plenty US collegiate arguments in both football (e.g. Michigan vs. Notre Dame or Michigan State or Ohio State) and basketball (everyone vs. everyone during the NCAA tournament a.k.a. "March Madness" (TM)). --'''BigMal27''' / [[Special:Contributions/192.136.15.177|192.136.15.177]] 17:33, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

The problem with the suggestion in the mouse over text is that everyone would have the same opinion on the same day! A better idea would be to have an App which selects from two or more oposing opinions and feed you a random one each day. (Personally being 'European' I'd prefer it to be more like the US! Sooo fed up with football discussions.) Steve B
:Then you run into the problem of two people who rely in that app falling into a sports discussion with each other rather than something else. If I were to find someone expressing the same canned opinion that I have from the twitter feed, at least I can say "who cares about sports, let's talk about something important: vi or emacs?". The twitter feed is best for someone who wants to fake sports knowledge to fit in. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 16:12, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
:The idea behind the twitter feed is to give people who really isn't interested in sport (aka. nerds) the opportunity to interact with so called normal people. It is just a variation on the http://bluffball.co.uk/ site refered to by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKHyqjHqQLU#t=32s an The IT Crowd episode]. Two users of the twitter feed would have more important subjects to discuss (like for example vi vs. emacs) [[User:Pmakholm|Pmakholm]] ([[User talk:Pmakholm|talk]]) 18:12, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

What is with the sports bent that Randall is on? Two sports comics in three weeks? Has this happened before? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 15:36, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Would that opinion even fit into a Twitter post? [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 20:55, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1099: Tuesdays

2012-08-29T23:46:22Z

76.122.5.96:

Presumably you could stay afloat if it was the drink itself that was bottomless. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 23:46, 29 August 2012 (UTC)