3232: Countdown Standard

2026-04-14T00:28:59Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ pre-posting edit-remnant.

3232: Countdown Standard

2026-04-14T00:27:34Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */

649: Static

2026-04-12T18:00:37Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 649
| date = October 14, 2009
| title = Static
| image = static.png
| titletext = I firmly believe that nothing can go wrong on a project if you're wearing one of those wrist things.
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete|...but the person who put this here didn't bother to say what was missing...}}

{{w|Antistatic wrist straps}} are important safety tools for {{w|electronics}} work such as handling computer parts. The wrist strap provides a conduction path directly from one's skin to an {{w|electrical ground}}, preventing the buildup of {{w|static electricity}} which, if accidentally discharged upon touching part of a circuit, can damage sensitive electronic components.

{{w|Condoms}}, on the other hand, are an important safety tool for sex, as {{w|birth control}} and protection from {{w|Sexually transmitted infection|STIs}}.

The last panel implies that in his confusion, Cueball put on a condom in order to replace the {{w|RAM}} in his computer the previous week. {{w|Geek Squad}} is the computer service department of the {{w|Best Buy}} chain of American electronics superstores. So Cueball implies that he put on a condom while working in Best Buy, for performing computer repair, and was fired for indecency.

The title text conveys the irrational{{cn}} belief that nothing can go wrong on a project while wearing an antistatic wrist band. In reality, the wrist band will only protect your electronics from {{w|electrostatic discharge}}, and there are plenty of other things that could go wrong on an electronics project, such as bad soldering, installing the wrong component, mechanical damage through excessive force (e.g. {{w|Blunt trauma|blunt force trauma}}) or even electric shock from an exposed live voltage. Or the text could be referring to even non-electronics projects, in which case the wrist band would really be pointless.

==Transcript==
:[It's pitch black. Only Cueball and Megan's dialogue can be seen.]

:Megan: Hang on, I can't see—did you put on a condom?
:Cueball: It's okay. I've got a wrist thing on.

:Megan: A what? Let me see that.
:''fumble''
:Megan: This is an anti-static strap.

:Cueball: You mean it doesn't...
:Megan: No. Why would you even THINK that?
:Cueball: I guess I was mixed up.

:Cueball: Wait, so when I was replacing that RAM last week...
:Megan: Yeah, I THOUGHT that was weird.
:Cueball: Oh, but it explains why the Geek Squad fired me.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]

Talk:286: All Your Base

2026-04-11T23:17:24Z

81.179.199.253:

Meghan Trainor may have turned up the clock on this meme's recursion with her lastest hit. {{unsigned ip|‎173.245.54.194}}

I'm not sure why this counts as an internet meme. Zero Wing was during the pre-WWW era, even the console port with the Engrish intro sequence. Not the Pre-Internet era, but in A.D.1991, when internet was beginning.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.70|141.101.104.70]] 11:06, 4 December 2014 (UTC)
:It's a meme because the thing was circulated on the internet, modified and recirculated in various forms. Michael Jackson eating popcorn is still a meme, even though the still frame of him eating the popcorn was filmed in the pre-WWW era. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.155|108.162.249.155]] 02:03, 10 March 2016 (UTC)
Irrelevant, and you probably won't even see this after two years, but I find it funny that you felt the need to specify "A.D." {{unsigned ip|172.68.46.41}}

I think it's notable that he made a /ayb folder directly under root. Futher proof of a special place the meme holds in his heart -- such blasphemy unto FHS is not something one does lightly! At least, I wouldn't. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.246.50|172.68.246.50]] 23:40, 8 June 2018 (UTC)

It's the year 2020, Randall publishes [[2255]], just in time to commence bringing All Your Base back? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.216|141.101.105.216]] 23:07, 15 January 2020 (UTC)

Well, it's 2021. Any news on its return? [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 21:29, 15 January 2021 (UTC)
:Nope! and that .swf file is now useless. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.79|162.158.187.79]] 02:13, 18 January 2021 (UTC)
:Welll, may have spoken too soon! It's suddenly getting a resurgence in the media for hitting 20 years. [[User:Darkphibre]] 19:11, 02 February 2021 (UTC)
:It's almost the end of 2021 now, and it didn't return. Maybe in 2022. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.151|162.158.75.151]] 02:07, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

Why is this ayb folder in root? As far as I know, you can't mkdir in /, and a more better location would be ~/ayb. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.98|172.70.126.98]] 21:27, 9 June 2024 (UTC)
:''All'' your storage are belong to us... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.165|162.158.33.165]] 22:04, 9 June 2024 (UTC)
:You can sudo or su mkdir / It shows how dedicated and *important* this really is. {{unsigned ip|37.187.104.40|21:20, 11 April 2026}}

3231: Lightning

2026-04-11T19:21:44Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ tweak

{{comic
| number = 3231
| date = April 10, 2026
| title = Lightning
| image = lightning_2x.png
| imagesize = 328x364px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Maybe you should wear one too? I guess I'm taller than you, so as long as I have one we're fine.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a GROUNDED BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

An {{w|anti-static wrist strap}} is a device worn by people working with sensitive electronic devices. The strap is connected to a "ground", so that if there's any static charge built up it will discharge there rather than being transmitted to the device, which may otherwise damage it. Plenty of other objects are known to have such grounds to protect from electricity, such as certain types of charging cords.

{{w|Lightning}} is a release of static electricity that occurs when there's a large charge difference between a cloud and the Earth or between two clouds. In the comic, [[Cueball]] has [[649|once again]] confused how anti-static devices work — rather than protecting a device from static in the person, he thinks it will protect the person from static in the lightning. In fact, wearing a strap that conducts electricity will make it ''more'' likely that he will be struck by lightning, and the strap is far too small to protect him from the electricity in the lightning strike.

He may think that the anti-static device works like a {{w|lightning rod}}, attracting the lightning and diverting it away from his body. The reason they work is because lightning takes the easiest path. This is corroborated by the title text, in which he thinks that [[Ponytail]] should be safe because he's taller than she is (plus also higher up in the hill in the comic — although she could at some time easily move further up the hill than him, so relative tallness is only part of the issue), and lightning tends to be attracted to the most prominent conductor in its vicinity (e.g., lightning rods that extend above the roof of the building they're protecting). While this is true, it ignores the fact that he's made himself more likely to be struck, and potentially severely hurt or killed, by a lightning strike. (Obviously, there are better ways to be protected during a thunderstorm; see the What If on {{What If|16|lightning}}.)

Additionally, merely ''wearing'' such a device has no effect at all if it isn't connected to a handy grounding point, which is unlikely to be the case if you're actively moving around, such as with the two characters here who seem to be hiking during the storm. You'd possibly even need a couple of grounding-wires, always one secured to some suitable 'earthing point' even while the other is being unclipped from where you've just been and reclipped to slightly ahead of where you're going. Close examination of the 'protected' individual shows that there is a loop of some danling wire going from their wrist to their body. If that's all it does, then it's practically useless. There is some vague possibility, however, that the wire goes down the torso (ideally in an insulated manner, to avoid both electrical and thermal transference in the event of a lightning strike passing through it) and splits to connect down each leg and towards a grounding-plate/spike on the sole of each foot. ''This'' would technically create a dynamic 'always active' form of lightning-rod protection (ignoring the discrepancy between the height of the figures hand and the possibility that the higher crown of the head might be struck by lightning more in the first instance) where the act of walking will always create a protective connection to the ground - so long as Cueball does not attempt to run or (even momentarily) make any jumping movements. And it still relies upon an effective lightning-conductor connection that is rated sufficient to carry a strike's charge properly, without creating additional surface effects to the skin/clothing it passes down along. This is one of the rare situations in which wearing a {{w|tin foil hat}} might actually be of some benefit, assuming that it was connected to ground via a conductor, all sufficiently heavy-duty to carry the current.

[[Randall]] also shows [[Cueball]]'s incorrect views on lightning in [[795|another comic]], in that case confusing statistics.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Lightning overhead. Cueball and Ponytail (the latter holding a walking stick) are standing on a hill at night with various shrubbery on it, watching the lightning.]

:[In the sky, by the lightning:]
:BOOOOM

:Cueball: Don't worry, I'm wearing an anti-static wrist strap

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]

3231: Lightning

2026-04-11T00:42:36Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3231
| date = April 10, 2026
| title = Lightning
| image = lightning_2x.png
| imagesize = 328x364px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Maybe you should wear one too? I guess I'm taller than you, so as long as I have one we're fine.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a GROUNDED BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

An {{w|anti-static wrist strap}} is a device worn by people working with sensitive electronic devices. The strap is connected to a "ground", so that if there's any static charge built up it will discharge there rather than being transmitted to the device, which may otherwise damage it. Plenty of other objects are known to have such grounds to protect from electricity, such as certain types of charging cords.

{{w|Lightning}} is a release of static electricity that occurs when there's a large charge difference between a cloud and the Earth or between two clouds. In the comic, [[Cueball]] has [[649|once again]] confused how anti-static devices work -- rather than protecting a device from static in the person, he thinks it will protect the person from static in the lightning. In fact, wearing a strap that conducts electricity will make it ''more'' likely that he will be struck by lightning, and the strap is far too small to protect him from the electricity in the lightning strike.

He may think that the anti-static device works like a {{w|lightning rod}}, attracting the lighting and diverting it away from his body. The reason they work is because lightning takes the easiest path. This is corroborated by the title text, in which he thinks that [[Ponytail]] should be safe because he's taller than she is, and lightning tends to be attracted to the highest conductor in its vicinity (e.g., lightning rods that are above the roof of the building they're protecting). While this is true, it ignores the fact that he's made himself more likely to be struck, and potentially severely hurt or killed, by a lightning strike. (Obviously, there are better ways to be protected during a thunderstorm. (See the What If on {{What If|16|lightning}}.)

Additionally, merely ''wearing'' such a device has no effect at all if it isn't connected to a handy grounding point, which is unlikely to be the case if you're actively moving around, such as with the two characters here who seem to be hiking during the storm. You'd possibly even need a couple of grounding-wires, always one secured to some suitable 'earthing point' even while the other is being unclipped from where you've just been and reclipped to slightly ahead of where you're going. Close examination of the 'protected' individual shows that there is a loop of some danling wire going from their wrist to their body. If that's all it does, then it's practically useless. There is some vague possibility, however, that the wire goes down the torso (ideally in an insulated manner, to avoid both electrical and thermal transference in the event of a lightning strike passing through it) and splits to connect down each leg and towards a grounding-plate/spike on the sole of each foot. ''This'' would technically create a dynamic 'always active' form of lightning-rod protection (ignoring the discrepancy between the height of the figures hand and the possibility that the higher crown of the head might be struck by lightning more in the first instance) where the act of walking will always create a protective connection to the ground - so long as Cueball does not attempt to run or (even momentarily) make any jumping movements. And it still relies upon an effective lightning-conductor connection that is rated sufficient to carry a strike's charge properly, without creating additional surface effects to the skin/clothing it passes down along.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Lightning overhead. Cueball and Ponytail are standing on a hill at night.]

:[In the sky, by the lightning:]
:BOOOOM

:Cueball: Don't worry, I'm wearing an anti-static wrist strap

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]

3230: Overton

2026-04-09T01:23:08Z

81.179.199.253:

{{comic
| number = 3230
| date = April 8, 2026
| title = Overton
| image = overton_2x.png
| imagesize = 242x268px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I think I accidentally installed an Overton window in my bedroom. A few months ago, the sun wasn't in my face in the morning, but now it is.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by JOSEPH PAUL OVERTON, BACK FROM THE DEAD. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{w|Joseph Paul Overton}} was a political scientist who created the concept of the {{w|Overton Window}}, which is the range of subjects that are politically appropriate to raise during a period of time. The first set of dates, 1960 and 2003, are the years that Joseph Paul Overton was born and died.

It is common for political commentators to state that the Overton window has "moved," meaning that the standard for which political positions are "moderate" or "extreme" changes, and in either direction. In the comic, the "Overton window" instead refers to the time span in which Joseph Paul Overton was alive. In the drawing Overton's gravestone has the dates repeatedly crossed out as the Overton window moves. This creates the ridiculous implication that Overton had multiple lives (4 in the comic), which is impossible.{{cn}}

The title text refers to the seasonal movement of the Sun in the sky, where its apparent path across the sky moves further north or south throughout the year. This shift, caused by Earth's tilt, moves between the summer solstice (highest arc) and winter solstice (lowest arc.) However, the character in the text believes that the sunlight that is now being let in by an actual window is because the window is an Overton window, and has therefore moved in some manner, rather than the path of the Sun moving. It also can have been perceived to have changed suddenly due to the beginning or end of Daylight Saving Time, as occurred in a number of US states and other countries shortly before this comic was published. This is an issue that Randall has covered [[:Category:Daylight saving time|multiple times]], although apparently ''not'' (unless this is a subtle reference) this year.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[A gravestone is shown on some grass. On the inscription, all of the years except the last one are crossed out in red, and all except the first pair of years have the years themselves in red. The inscription is as follows:]
:Joseph Paul Overton
:<s>1960</s> - <s>2003</s>
:<s>1965</s> - <s>2011</s>
:<s>1973</s> - <s>2018</s>
:1982 -

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics with red annotations]]

3230: Overton

2026-04-09T00:25:02Z

81.179.199.253: Non-capitalisation in the title text, aside, more properly has the standard capitalised proper name, in such cases following the grammatical article.

1860: Communicating

2026-04-09T00:21:05Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1860
| date = July 7, 2017
| title = Communicating
| image = communicating.png
| titletext = You're saying that the responsibility for avoiding miscommunication lies entirely with the listener, not the speaker, which explains why you haven't been able to convince anyone to help you down from that wall.
}}

==Explanation==
{{quote|There's glory for you.|{{w|Humpty Dumpty}}|{{w|Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There}}}}

In Lewis Carroll's ''{{w|Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There}}'', {{w|Alice_(Alice's_Adventures_in_Wonderland)|Alice}} meets {{w|Humpty Dumpty}} (the egg-shaped character from the children's verse). Humpty Dumpty is a Looking Glass creature, and the Looking Glass creatures all feature some form of inversion. For Humpty Dumpty the inversion is in meanings. When they first meet, Humpty Dumpty berates Alice for having a name that doesn't mean anything (contrasted with his name which means his shape).

But later, Humpty declares to Alice "There's glory for you". Alice doesn't understand what Humpty means by "glory". Humpty explains that he can make words mean whatever he chooses to mean. By "glory" he meant "a nice knock-down argument". And he adds: "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean. Neither more nor less." ([https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Through_the_Looking-Glass,_and_What_Alice_Found_There/Chapter_VI#124])

In the comic Humpty is explaining to "Alice" (portrayed by [[Jill]]) that he can choose meanings for his words. Alice points out the obvious problem by pretending to wonder what meaning should be given to that utterance, and decides it means something adjacent to "Please take all my belongings". Humpty realizes he has been caught in a trap, but now Alice is choosing meanings, and even his protests are taken to mean something adjacent to "take my car along with my belongings".

While it seems that Alice chooses these specific meanings of words to educate Humpty Dumpty about the mistake in his way of thinking, she could as well inform him about planned theft with random, meaningless words or not at all. After all, she got "permission". Also, even though Humpty Dumpty decides about the meanings of words by himself, he "accidentally" chooses the normal meanings of all of Alice's words, because otherwise he wouldn't be informed about the planned theft and wouldn't be able to react to this with "What!? No!".

Humpty Dumpty is known from the nursery rhyme or riddle:
:''Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall,
:''Humpy Dumpty had a great fall.
:''All the King's horses and all the King's men,
:''Couldn't put Humpty together again.''

(Notice how the verse never explicitly says that Humpty Dumpty is an egg. The true purpose of the rhyme, and identity of the subject, is perhaps {{w|Humpty Dumpty#Meaning|lost in the mists of time}}, though almost always envisaged/portrayed as an egg (or some kind of person with an extremely egglike body) in any relatively modern retelling of it.)

Carroll's Humpty Dumpty is a parody of people who use technical language without defining their terms and expect others to understand. The title text continues this. By Humpty insisting that he is not responsible for others understanding him he is unable to get help getting down from the wall, which will lead to his inevitable demise. This two-sided nature of communication is also shown in the title text of [[1028: Communication]], as well as in later comics like [[1984: Misinterpretation]] (with a list of other comics about communication).

==Transcript==
:[Egg-shaped character Humpty Dumpty, drawn with an angry face, is sitting on a brick wall, and facing Alice, depicted as Jill.]
:Humpty Dumpty: When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean. Neither more nor less.
:Alice: I wonder what all those words you just said meant. Maybe you're telling me I can have all your stuff!
:Humpty Dumpty: What!? No!
:Alice: Your car, too? Gosh, thanks!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

713: GeoIP

2026-04-09T00:11:52Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ Expanding basement 'desirability' a bit. Basements aren't really a thing, where I am (we may have cellars, a quote different vibe), but I understand it as compromise that allows "separate living, under same roof" lifestyle.

{{comic
| number = 713
| date = March 12, 2010
| title = GeoIP
| image = geoip.png
| titletext = 'Meet hot young singles in your mom's basement today'? Man, screw you, GeoIP.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Geolocation|GeoIP}} is a service that converts IP addresses to their respective location on the Earth. This is done by looking up the IP address in a database maintained by various internet service providers. Advertisers often take advantage of the {{w|Keeping up with the Joneses|Jones effect}} by creating localized ads which misleadingly appear to be specific to your location, but are often generic advertisements featuring stock photographs with the name of a nearby settlement inserted into the text.

The comic satirizes this phenomenon. The {{w|International Space Station}} (ISS) has a high speed data downlink, but no direct connection to the internet. But here, [[Cueball]] trolls the advertisers from on board the ISS, by inserting his actual location on {{w|low Earth orbit}} into the database under that IP address. He proudly presents his result to [[Ponytail]] where the advertisements claim that there are "local girls" (one of whom vaguely resembles [[Danish]]) in low Earth orbit; a distance of roughly 420 kilometers above the Earth surface, and thus at least that far away from all other girls in the world if they are not on the space station (or a nearby spacecraft, such as one bringing supplies to the space station). The fact that the phrase "Low Earth Orbit" is slightly grayed out serves to illustrate that that location has been inserted into the generic advertisement.

The title text shows GeoIP has become so accurate that it can now pinpoint the user's location to his Mom's basement. In North American culture, young men who still live in their childhood homes are considered to be immature or excessively babied, since it means that they are either yet to enter the workforce (usually by personal choice, rather than a lack of employment in the area) or are employed at menial jobs that do not allow them to support themselves (especially if they spend whatever money they do earn frivolously, such as on comic books, video games & geek collectibles, instead of saving up to rent a place of their own). The ads are typically of the form -- "Meet hot young singles in <user's location>" where the <user's location> part is filled in from GeoIP. In this case, the GeoIP is either so accurate with its GPS or psychological profile of the ad's target that it not just announces the user is in his parents' house, but it also pinpoints his location as the basement (which is generally considered to be a short step down from still living in one's childhood bedroom, but at least a progression into a space perhaps larger than their childhood bedroom, and deliberately further away from the rest of the family rooms so that an 'adult' life can be approximated), embarrassing or peeving him either because he realized the ad was mocking him or because he seriously expected there to be a 'hot single' in the room who, according to his stereotypically-limited understanding of women, would be willing to have sex with him, to which his grade-school response proves his immaturity.

==Transcript==
:[External view of the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting the blue Earth below, shown with white clouds as stripes below and black sky above. Dialog, written in white on the black sky, comes from within the ISS.]
:Cueball (inside the ISS): ''Yes!''
:Ponytail (inside the ISS): What?
:Cueball (inside the ISS): I got our downlink into a GeoIP database.

:[Internal view of the satellite, Cueball and Ponytail are floating weightlessly around, Cueball is at a laptop style computer mounted to the wall. They are in a white room, with black around, but due to being weightless in space, the room is turned on edge as to not give any semblance of a given up/down direction.]
:Ponytail: Why?
:Cueball: To mess with advertisers. Check it out.

:[A zoom in on the computer screen is shown, it shows an ad on a pink background. The ad has a heading and then shows two photos of long haired girls in sexy poses each with captions below and a labeled button at the bottom. The location (as messed up by Cueball) is written in gray, the rest of the text is in black, to indicate that this part of the text has been inserted in the ad based on the location.]
:Meet local girls in
:Low Earth Orbit
:tonight!
:Tanya, 18
:Amber, 19
:Chat live

{{Comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Your Mom]]

Talk:3230: Overton

2026-04-08T23:00:15Z

81.179.199.253: /* Significance of the Dates */

4 January 1960 – 30 June 2003 {{unsigned ip|77.87.241.9|18:34, 8 April 2026}}

Someday this cartoon will be politically inappropriate. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 19:16, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

^ Absolutely. [[Special:Contributions/66.154.219.123|66.154.219.123]] 21:16, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

randall posting a politics-related comic? which could be construed as discontent with the current political landscape? inb4 somebody <s>bashes</s> complains at kynde again - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 22:15, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

;Significance of the Dates

Many of the dates in listed correspond to major geopolitical events concerning US military and diplomatic policy. They may also correspond to milestone events in US domestic politics. This is an attempt to compile some of the key events that the comic may be referencing.

*1965:
**The beginning of Operation Rolling Thunder, the US ground invasion of Vietnam.
**President LBJ signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965
*- 2011:
**US special forces kill Osama Bin Laden
**The United States and NATO forces intervene in the Libyan Civil War leading to the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi.
**More widely, protests spread accross the Middle East and North Africa, dubbed the Arab Spring
**The last of the US combat forces stationed in Iraq are withdrawn.
**The Occuppy Wall Street movement begins.
*1973:
**The United States signs the Paris Peace Accords, withdrawing from the Vietnam conflict and claiming the war was over
**The United States Congress overrides a presidential veto to pass the War Powers Resolution, limiting the ability of future presidents to wage war without Congressional approval
**The Watergate Scandal breaks.
**Roe v Wade.
*- 2018:
**President Donald Trump unilaterally withdraws the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aka the Iran Nuclear Deal.
**Congress reverses many of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act's reporting and compliance requirements for all but the largest US banks.
*1982:
**Israel violates a 1981 U.S. Brokered ceasefire agreement and invades Lebanon. In response the United States spearheads the establishment of a peacekeeping force to protect Beirut, the Multinational Force in Lebanon.
{{unsigned|In-Sanity|22:16, 8 April 2026}}
:Unfortunately, I suspect that you could easily find such events for absolutely ''every'' year across that range... Unless you narrow down the choices to just something current (i.e. specifically the ones related to current Middle East events, I suppose), which are going to be less frequent but perhaps specifically in Randall's mind.
:(Oh, and I slightly re-reformatted your amended contribution, presuming that you meant it to look a bit more like it is now.)
:I was wondering if there was a mathematical pattern to the numbers, myself. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 23:00, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

3230: Overton

2026-04-08T22:36:46Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3230
| date = April 8, 2026
| title = Overton
| image = overton_2x.png
| imagesize = 242x268px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I think I accidentally installed an Overton window in my bedroom. A few months ago, the sun wasn't in my face in the morning, but now it is.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by JOSEPH PAUL OVERTON, BACK FROM THE DEAD. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{w|Joseph Paul Overton}} was a political scientist who created the concept of the {{w|Overton Window}}, which is the range of subjects that are politically appropriate to raise during a period of time. The first set of dates, 1960 and 2003, are the years that Joseph Paul Overton was born and died.

It is common for political commentators to state that the Overton window has "moved," meaning that the standard for which political positions are "moderate" or "extreme" changes, and in either direction. In the comic, the "Overton window" instead refers to the time span in which Joseph Paul Overton was alive. In the drawing Overton's gravestone has the dates repeatedly crossed out as the Overton window moves. This creates the ridiculous implication that Overton had multiple lives (4 in the comic), which is impossible.{{cn}}

The title text refers to the seasonal movement of sunlight, where the sun's path rises and sets further north or south over months, known as seasonal sun path changes. This shift, caused by Earth's tilt, moves between the summer solstice (highest/northernmost arc) and winter solstice (lowest/southernmost arc.) However, the character in the text believes that rather than being a natural phenomenon, the sunlight is now being let in by a literal window, which, since it is an Overton window, is capable of gradual movement. It also can have been perceived to have changed suddenly as of the starting (or, later in the year, the ending) of Daylight Saving Time, as happened just a few weeks before this comic. This is an issue that Randall has covered [[:Category:Daylight saving time|multiple times]], although apparently ''not'' (unless this is a subtle reference) this year.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[A gravestone is shown on some grass. On the inscription, all of the years except the last one are crossed out in red, and all except the first pair of years have the years themselves in red. The inscription is as follows:]
:Joseph Paul Overton
:<s>1960</s> - <s>2003</s>
:<s>1965</s> - <s>2011</s>
:<s>1973</s> - <s>2018</s>
:1982 -

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Politics]]

Talk:1039: RuBisCO

2026-04-08T21:18:05Z

81.179.199.253:

I'd laugh if a sex product called rubisco was made shortly after this comic was released. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:37, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

<pre>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

PLEASE STOP!!!
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)

iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJSFaN3AAoJEO1Ft1MdkRYu9oIH/1Ro2R42bjzz1gEkJiDsTAjl
6R+/iWGr9Jg+PESJnWATgz3EuONIqfeJx3DMZRkcUHP/hCNnXbZmRPEDxJmxclxL
YoOVXrEfZ+9xJEKbUuU+N33bSGrt+uX5GrGg6tWMJN50Ymuv8rRjE885Xop88W8s
5frOFdxaS2WmIkp+wnujGPtdyWeVyveN+DqtN7Tkds7R1NW5lnn3R6yzM+1WJmrg
ai1CYcq0O884PGS13THxm9SL4J3VHGCShY5p6wRsRBxyCaybmjNepPrWwNePTkS2
TGUXPqBf42mNeWjmsenRrZKW+Nl5rs9gPSe4r5bsCdfujmwByHdZt1ziFA3LarQ=
=qr0R
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
</pre>
{{unsigned ip|184.66.160.91}}

I didn't sign my post because it was PGP signed. ;) [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 18:52, 24 August 2013 (UTC)
:Do I miss the joke or just the PGP key to understand???--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:08, 24 August 2013 (UTC)
:[[1181:_PGP]] This explains it. [[User:Mulan15262|Mulan15262]] ([[User talk:Mulan15262|talk]]) 14:15, 1 June 2014 (UTC) Mulan15262
::that's your safeword? --[[User:Bb777|hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 02:53, 24 March 2025 (UTC)
I'm planning on having really rough kinky BDSM sex tomorrow, as the sub. Told my partner "no means yes, rubisco means no." Need to tell him "rubisco" means slow down and "ribulosebiphosphatecarboxyloxygenase" means stop. I have waited two years to do this. When I first saw this, my first thought was "That's gonna be my safe word." XD [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 08:36, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

my neighbor, a chemist, literally used "ribulosebiphosphatecarboxyloxygenase" as a safeword. i heard him through the wall xd [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 16:40, 10 September 2023 (UTC)

I was today years old when I realized "safe word" actually does not refer to a word used in place of cussing, and now I'm worried what those around me think I do with my time. [[Special:Contributions/98.146.183.226|98.146.183.226]] 20:40, 8 April 2026 (UTC)
:Perhaps what you mean (or meant) is a {{w|minced oath}}... Although nothing's stopping you from using a minced oath as a safe word (or maybe vice-versa, in the right circumstances). [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:18, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3230: Overton

2026-04-08T19:11:02Z

81.179.199.253: grrr

4 January 1960 – 30 June 2003 {{unsigned ip|77.87.241.9|18:34, 8 April 2026}}

Talk:3230: Overton

2026-04-08T19:10:42Z

81.179.199.253: ...for whatever reason that was written there, without further comment...

4 January 1960 – 30 June 2003 {{usigned ip|77.87.241.9|18:34, 8 April 2026}}

3230: Overton

2026-04-08T19:07:06Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */

3175: Website Task Flowchart

2026-04-08T00:13:28Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ It's entirely possible for http://www.example.com to be technically different from http://example.com. Or indeed the only truly working web-server host. But do we need to discuss this in detail? Added just a bit of a caveat, however.

{{comic
| number = 3175
| date = December 1, 2025
| title = Website Task Flowchart
| image = website_task_flowchart_2x.png
| imagesize = 333x683px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Tired of waiting on hold? Use our website to chat with one of our live agents, who are available to produce words at you 24/7!
}}

==Explanation==
This is a flowchart comic. It ostensibly shows how to accomplish a task on a generic website. With the improvements to web infrastructure, {{w|accessibility}}, and {{w|user experience}} research over the decades, one might think that this would be simple. And sometimes, indeed, everything just works as expected. However, the flowchart indicates that this system often fails to handle error states gracefully and can {{wiktionary|a chain is only as strong as its weakest link|completely shut down}} when the smallest [[2347: Dependency|dependency]] breaks.

The first step is to try to access the website. This includes {{w|Loading (computing)|pulling it up}}, and possibly {{w|Login|signing into an account}}. Websites may have legitimate or [[792: Password Reuse|nefarious]] reasons to profile their users. Either way, it is often another step in the way of the user's goals.

The very start of the process can already fail if the website doesn't load, you enter an incorrect username or password, or the website's {{w|authentication}} service is having problems and rejecting legitimate credentials, for example. Issues at this stage are often out of the user's control, and can kneecap your productivity if you rely on that website, as was recently discussed in [[3170: Service Outage]]. The flowchart provides no specific {{w|troubleshooting}} guidance, as the exact steps will vary greatly depending on the specific problem, and readers may have their own troubleshooting process similar to [[627: Tech Support Cheat Sheet]]. It could involve visiting another website like "[https://www.isitdownrightnow.com Is It Down Right Now?]" to see if others are having the same issue, double-checking your login information, or looking up any specific error messages the site gives. You may simply have to wait until the broken service is restored.

If you can enter the website, the next part of the flowchart asks if you finished your task successfully. If you have managed to both log in and do your work (perhaps eventually), it simply congratulates you for finishing your task. Failure here could be because of other issues with the website, such as {{w|Software bug|bugs}}, or [[3170: Service Outage|service outages]] in the middle of your work, or simply because the site doesn't have the tools to accomplish your specific task. You may have to use tools that ''are'' available in alternative or creative ways to accomplish what you need to. This might not be an option if your data or workflow relies on a specific site, or if alternatives are sketchy or paywalled.

As the flowchart suggests, troubleshooting a website can be a major deviation from your goals, and can involve following many false leads for hours on end. There's a chance that the issue resolves, putting you back on track. But in the meantime, you're trying to find a solution on your own. According to the chart, talking to tech support is a last resort.

If your troubleshooting fails at either stage, the chart guides you to call the website's {{w|customer service}} line, which is framed as admitting defeat. The flowchart reckons that an {{w|Automated attendant|automated}} phone system will put you {{w|Hold (telephone)|on hold}} and a {{w|On hold messaging|prerecorded message}} will then suggest trying to use the website ''instead'' of calling directly. While this would be helpful for someone calling the support line ''before'' trying the website, it assumes that the site is working properly and that the task can actually be accomplished there. It's like kicking you when you're already down to hear that "advice" after spending hours trying to use a website that simply would not work like you need it to. (Additionally, the voice reading out the website's URL is reading out the "www." before the URL, which is usually unnecessary in the modern day (depening upon how the web-server, host/domain entries and/or browser are set up), possibly implying that the voice on the other end belongs to someone who's slightly technologically inept.)

From there, the flowchart predicts that you will be so frustrated, you'll throw away both your computer and your phone into the sea before even listening to the rest of the on-hold message. This would be a drastic and non-trivial way of responding to the situation, as it would destroy those devices. (It would, at least, formally end your attempt to use the website.) The flowchart presents this as an inevitability as a form of {{w|hyperbole}}.

The title text is another part of the presumed hold message, perhaps for anyone who had not followed the flowchart as faithfully. It encourages the caller to visit the website's {{w|live chat}} function, a fairly recent development that combines the best and worst aspects of both online and phone-line support. It can be ambiguous whether the "live agent" is zero, one, or many people. You may reach a qualified staff member with all the answers to your questions; or, the conversation may be passed around between various less-than-knowledgeable staff who are merely following a ''script'' with a flowchart process (hopefully more useful than this one) to let them give more expert advice than they might be capable of; or, increasingly, you may connect to a {{w|chatbot}} that processes your queries, follows a similar script, and may be more difficult to reason with or escalate the issue. It may {{wiktionary|triage}} your initial responses before 'bothering' a real human who can help you with your request, if it is able to transfer you to a human at all.

The claim that the agent can "produce words at you" (rather than "talk", "speak", or "communicate") implies that their responses won't convey any information, or perhaps even basic understanding of the problem. If the live chat is open 24/7, you may reach a human agent elsewhere in the world who {{w|English as a second or foreign language|doesn't speak English natively}} and struggles to understand you. This could also be a blatantly honest admission that you will converse with a potentially inexhaustible {{w|large language model}} AI, where the words you receive might demonstrate {{w|Markov chain|even less understanding}} of your problem, as merely being able to send even [[1068: Swiftkey|vaguely logical sequences of words]] might be worse than useless. Additionally, giving random vague sequences of words would add to the user's frustration, strengthening their urge to throw their laptop into the ocean.

==Transcript==
[Caption above the panel:]
Doing a task using a company or organization's website:

[Below this is a flowchart, starting with "Go to website, try to log in"]

[Box 1 (start):] Go to website, try to log in (go to to box 2)

[Box 2:] Did it work? (Yes/No)
*Yes: Go to box 3
*No: Go to box 6

[Box 3:] Try to do your task (go to box 4)

[Box 4:] Did it work? (Yes/No)
*Yes: Go to box 5
*No: Go to box 8

[Box 5 (end):] Nice! Done!

[Box 6:] Spend hours troubleshooting account/login (go to box 7)

[Box 7:] Did it work? (Yes/No)
*Yes: Go to box 3
*No: Go to box 10

[Box 8:] Spend hours troubleshooting website (go to box 9)

[Box 9:] Did it work? (Yes/No)
*Yes: Go to box 5
*No: Go to box 10

[Box 10:] Give up and call customer service (go to box 11)

[Box 11:] Hold message: "Did you know you could do all of this more quickly and easily on our website? Just go to W-W-W dot..." (go to box 12)

[Box 12 (end):] Throw phone and laptop into the sea
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Flowcharts]]
[[Category:Internet]]

Talk:3228: Day Counter

2026-04-07T22:49:11Z

81.179.199.253:

Someone has to be first [[Special:Contributions/2401:D005:D402:7A00:780:9D40:A38A:98A0|2401:D005:D402:7A00:780:9D40:A38A:98A0]] 13:14, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
:No, but someone has to be the ''0.99999999999999956th''... [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:58, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

In response to the comment added by @[[User:GSLikesCats307|GSLikesCats307]], "When the comic was first published the number was −0.00000000000000017 days": Perhaps Randall was just trying to make things a bit more realistic. I've shown a realistic example that could generate −0.00000000000000044. My experiments didn't find any simple example that could generate −0.00000000000000017. (Which is not to say there isn't one.) —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 15:15, 3 April 2026 (UTC), edited 15:39, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

The day counter is now showing −0.00000000000000044 on my Windows 11 system using Chrome. Maybe the result differs based on computer/browser combination? [[Special:Contributions/72.218.191.213|72.218.191.213]] 16:16, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

The April Fools dark mode thing was kept! Lets go! [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 16:25, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

This comic was published during NASA's Artemis II moon mission. Could Cueball seeming to be floating above his chair be a reference to null gravity? [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 17:12, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
:I don't think it's significant that Cueball appears to be floating. Randall sometimes draws people in chairs that way. See, for example, [[2949]], [[3015]], and [[3052]]. —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 23:25, 5 April 2026 (UTC)
::Some of the examples are also seen in What If? and What If? 2. (Yup) [[User:Cream Starlight|Cream Starlight]] ([[User talk:Cream Starlight|talk]]) 04:42, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

My guess is that irrational numbers have "infinite digits" in any base, but my math education is not good enough even to know how to start to prove it, an informal confirmation would be appreciated. [[Special:Contributions/5.91.22.162|5.91.22.162]] 22:14, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
:As a decimal in a certain base is just a fraction (with a denominator of a power of the base), numbers with finite decimal expansions must be rational (assuming the base is rational) [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 23:31, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
::Let's all work in base π so we can have irrational discussions that make sense. What's e in base π?[[Special:Contributions/98.22.184.160|98.22.184.160]] 12:49, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:::I want to meditate on all the transcendental numbers. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 19:32, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Plot twist: This is accurate, just too precise and able to predict the future. Someone is about to cause one. [[Special:Contributions/47.141.37.161|47.141.37.161]] 05:24, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:Doesn't have to be predicting the future to be accurate. Maybe it means that the last error occurred 38 picoseconds ago. [[User:Gorcq|Gorcq]] ([[User talk:Gorcq|talk]]) 14:26, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Surprised that there hasn't been an Artemis II comic yet. --[[User:Funstuff4fun|Funstuff4fun]] ([[User talk:Funstuff4fun|talk]]) 06:12, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Sorry, new to posting; sorry if I am misunderstanding. The text describes −0.00000000000000044 as a very small negative number. Is this saying that it is close to zero? If so, would that be better expressed as large, rather than small? [[User:Flickerwit|Flickerwit]] ([[User talk:Flickerwit|talk]]) 15:54, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:The value is very small. The representation of the number is large (or ''fairly'' large, by some certain limited measure). But you wouldn't call 0.9 "smaller", or 'closer to zero'/"0", than "0.8888888888..." under most usages. Even though that might be correct in a string-handling context. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 19:32, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:"Greater" and "lesser" work like that (with -1 being greater than -2), but "larger" and "smaller" are more ambiguous, and often refer to the absolute value. [[Special:Contributions/192.112.253.21|192.112.253.21]] 02:58, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
::One generally would not describe −0.00000000000000044 as "large" (rather than "larger", in direct comparison), except maybe in the implicit context of numbers that routinely are orders of magnitude less (in absolute terms) ''or'' are consistently more negative (e.g. zero is an ''upper'' limit and one or other of -0.5, -5 or -5,000,000 could be more typical value).
::In the context of natural numbers, it is "small" in the grand scheme of things (or 'extremely middling', on a signum-observing basis, given how close to zero it is), especially given the implied floating precision which might suggest that 44,000,000,000,000,000 (or something not too disimilar to it — same {{w|significand}}, as above, but the most positive version of the base-exponent, not the nost negative) is another possible stored value that can be represented. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.70|82.132.239.70]] 12:58, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Considering how close to April Fools this comic is, it could be a remnant of such a prank that they haven't bothered to clean up yet. [[Special:Contributions/2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:A420:F4F:966C:167E|2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:A420:F4F:966C:167E]] 16:32, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

If anyone's wondering, it appears that they made it roughly 5,879 millennia, six centuries, and one decade without an integer overflow error. [[User:DL Draco Rex|DL Draco Rex]] ([[User talk:DL Draco Rex|talk]]) 19:34, 5 April 2026 (UTC)
:...I rather think it means that it will be that long until they ''aren't'' having one. ;) [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:08, 5 April 2026 (UTC)

I agree with [[User:DL Draco Rex|DL Draco Rex]]: they started a 32 bit signed integer counter on -5877585-09-23 of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proleptic_Gregorian_calendar# proleptic Gregorian calendar], so that the counter goes

{| class="wikitable"
|+ days since our last integer overflow.
|-
! counter !! date
|-
| 0 || -5877585-09-23
|-
| 1 || -5877585-09-24
|-
| 2 || -5877585-09-25
|-
| ... || ...
|-
| 2146743572 || -001-12-30
|-
| 2146743573 || -001-12-31
|-
| 2146743574 || 0000-01-01
|-
| 2146743575 || 0000-01-02
|-
| ... || ...
|-
| 2147483646 || 2026-04-01
|-
| 2147483647 || 2026-04-02
|-
| -2147483648 || 2026-04-03
|}

[[User:Qprz|Qprz]] ([[User talk:Qprz|talk]]) 12:59, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
:...I think year 0 technically ''does not exist''?? [[User:Cream Starlight|Cream Starlight]] ([[User talk:Cream Starlight|talk]]) 10:34, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
:: Year 0 exists in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_year_numbering Astronomical Year Numbering]]. Astronomer count years -1, 0, 1, 2 while historian 2BC, 1BC, 1CE, 2CE (BC is Before Christ, CE is Common Era). [[User:Qprz|Qprz]] ([[User talk:Qprz|talk]]) 20:35, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
:::If you're using "Common Era", you're probably also using "Before the Common Era", too, you know. If you're still using "Anno Domini", ''then'' it's "Before Christ". (With an alternative CE/BCE notation talking of (Before) the ''Christian'' Era, recognising the non-secular basis but with still maintaining a more secular/unaffiliated approach. They're all the same, in the long-run, but you might as well be consistant. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 22:49, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

<Skeletor Voice>Remember! When a company celebrates 365 days since an incident, they are celebrating the anniversary of said incident. ...Until we meet again!</Skeletor Voice> [[Special:Contributions/57.140.28.54|57.140.28.54]] 13:57, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

BTW there is an off-by-one error in the sentence

:2,147,483,647 days from the comic's date of publication (April 3rd, 2026) is approximately October 12th of the year 5,881,636.

According to numpy datetime64 we have

<pre>
>>> np.datetime64('2026-04-03', 'D') + 2147483647
np.datetime64('5881636-10-11')
</pre>

so I would rather say "2,147,483,647 days from the comic's date of publication (April 3rd, 2026) is October ''11th'' of the year 5,881,636 of the Gregorian calendar".

The computation above is exact with respect of the Gregorian calendar rules, not approximate.
Concerns about changes in the length of day (LOD) due to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_acceleration tidal braking]] are not relevant here, since the Gregorian Calendar counts days, irrespective of their measured length in SI seconds. What matters is the discrepancy between the mean Gregorian year with respect to mean tropical year, which is also slowly changing. This discrepancy will require a calendar reform if the vernal equinox is to be kept close to the current date (March 21), in about 1200 years, see [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_year#Calendar_year Calendar Year]]. But the Gregorian Calendar is strictly algoritmical, not observational, so its extrapolation in a distant future is legitimate. [[User:Qprz|Qprz]] ([[User talk:Qprz|talk]]) 14:20, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

What is the source of the claim that the original version of the comic has -0.0[...]017? If anyone has a copy of that version, it belongs in a "Trivia" section. Until then, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence... [[User:Eunakria|Eunakria]] ([[User talk:Eunakria|talk]]) 22:39, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

1031: s/keyboard/leopard/

2026-04-07T22:30:55Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ ...additionally, only s/old/new/g would string-substitute *any and all* examples, in something like Perl. Without the closing 'g' (or equivalent flag), it'd only replace the first found match, leaving any others untouched.

{{comic
| number = 1031
| date = March 19, 2012
| title = s/keyboard/leopard/
| image = s keyboard leopard.png
| titletext = Problem Exists Between Leopard And Chair
}}
Clicking on the image takes you to [http://wiki.xkcd.com/irc/Leopard this link] (now defunct, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190810230906/http://wiki.xkcd.com:80/irc/Leopard archive]).

==Explanation==
Extensions are small programs that install into your {{w|Internet browser}} and change the Web pages as you view them. Some make pages easier to read, some remove ads (the third extension is [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom AdBlock]) and so on. [[Randall]]'s browser looks like {{w|Google Chrome}} as viewed on a {{w|Mac (computer)|Mac}}, and he has installed at least four extensions on it, which explains the little symbols to the right of the address bar.

For the joke in this comic, an extension accidentally replaces the word "{{w|Computer keyboard|keyboard}}" with "{{w|leopard}}" in a regex (or {{w|regular expression}}). In computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means to "match" (specify and recognize) patterns in text, such as a sequence of characters or words. This can be helpful for "substituting" such patterns with new sequences, which is colloquially known as a "find and replace" procedure.

A command that (in some common scripting and coding languages) helps denote string substitution is <code>s/old/new/</code>, where an occurrence of <code>old</code> is replaced with <code>new</code>. Originating from the {{w|ed (text editor)|ed text editor}}, this syntax is notably found in shell or scripting utilities for text processing. The title follows this format for changing any occurrence of "keyboard" into "leopard".

It's not clear what the extension Randall installed was actually supposed to do, but most extensions that revolve around text replacement are humorous in nature (such as [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cloud-to-butt-plus/apmlngnhgbnjpajelfkmabhkfapgnoai?hl=en Cloud to Butt], which replaces all instances of "[[908: The Cloud|the cloud]]" with "my butt").

The title text references the common IT phrase "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair" or {{w|PEBKAC}}, which means that the problem is caused by the user, not by any failure of the computer. However, due to the substitution, it is now "Problem Exists Between Leopard And Chair". It could also be a reference to [[A-Minus-Minus]], the comic containing the phrase "Instead of office chair, package contained [[:Category:Bobcats|bobcat]]".

There has been several [[:Category:Substitutions|comics using substitutions]], both before and after this one.

===Sentences===
; Weird, my leopard just switched to Chinese.
: Sometimes, the keyboard settings may switch to Chinese due to a bug, or by unconsciously making the change. It is quite common for users with non-US keyboard layouts to find they have accidentally switched to the 'default', and conceivably this 'feature' could work the other way. Especially on systems with significant historic Chinese involvement in its [[2166: Stack|development]].
: Leopards are not known to speak at all, let alone Chinese. Alternately, it refers to a change in diet of {{w|Man-eater|one form}} or {{w|Chinese restaurant|another}}.

; I work with one leopard on my desk and another in the leopard tray.
: Keyboards often take up desk space, and one solution is to have a [https://www.bpfonline.co.uk/search.asp?catid=2737 keyboard tray] that slides from under the desk, or out of the computer cabinet, when needed. This person apparently has two ''separate'' keyboards attached to their system(s), one taking up desk space and the other on the tray. This is probably more convenient than having two keyboards side by side (or on top of each other) on the desktop or two separate 'trays' (or two keyboards somehow jammed into the same tray), and often a person with such a requirement will have a computer for typical use (with the most accessible keyboard) and a second one only occasional use (with the second keyboard). They could also use a {{w|KVM switch}} for some of the peripherals, but it may not be quite as convenient or as easy to set up as to double up on the keyboards.
: Leopards are traditionally solitary animals outside of mating season, or when a mother is raising her cub(s), and so however practical it is to have two leopards in close proximity, it might be a somewhat necessary compromise to give them each their own area in a given workspace. However, it is generally uncommon to put a leopard in a ''tray'' specifically.{{Citation needed}}

; Ever cleaned a leopard? They're ''filthy''.
: Most people will use a keyboard for a long time, rarely replacing them unless they are actually broken, and possibly using old ones with new computers (if not integrated within their system, as with laptops). All this time, general detritus, skin, hair and even scraps of food will accumulate upon and beneath the keys unless cleaned thoroughly. Most people don't try to clean a keyboard ''until'' the accumulated grime starts to make typing a problem with less sensitive (or over sensitive!) keys. If you're finding it necessary to clean a keyboard at all, you will probably find quite a lot of filth to clean off/out.
: Leopards, like most cats, are generally adept at keeping themselves clean. However, as a wild animal they're perhaps considered less 'clean' than one would hope a household or workplace appliance might be, and this would depend upon one's attitude to their grooming by licking themselves all over.

; The iPhone virtual leopard is the fastest IMO.
: The response time of a keyboard is one of the factors that determine its quality, and the ability to rapidly enter characters (words, code, commands). A {{w|virtual keyboard}}, often implemented as a touch-screen 'app', has to integrate into the interface and the speaker here apparently rates the default iPhone type more than others of this kind.
: Real leopards are known to run fast. It is possible that a virtual leopard may be made to exemplify this speed. The makers of the iPhone have possibly made a virtual leopard that is faster than all real leopards, or at least they have made ''their'' virtual leopard faster than all other virtual leopards from all other vendors.

; I rarely email from my phone—I'm so slow when I'm not on a leopard.
: A disadvantage with virtual keyboards is often the lack of {{w|Haptic technology|haptic feedback}}, as well as the compressed and compromised layout required to fit the keys within interface. It is often much easier to use a proper full-sized keyboard, whether you hunt-and-peck or are an accomplished touch-typist, although this may depend a lot on practice.
: In the context of leopards, the individual concerned seems to appreciate the advantages of being on an actual leopard when emailing, as it makes them faster. This could mean faster because the leopard itself is wont to run around. Or perhaps it is because sitting on the back of a leopard (not particularly known for being a patient beast of burden) means you ''have'' to do what you are trying to do much faster, before the consequences being on a (possibly annoyed) leopard literally come back to bite you.

; My leopard died when I spilled tea on it :(
: Keyboards are not generally waterproof, and react badly to any liquid spill upon them. If you are lucky, you can quickly drain them, let them dry and they will not suffer too many ill effects in the long run. But, if the less resiliant electronics get directly affected, it can mean having to replace the now unresponsive keyboard.
: Leopards are animals which eventually die. They are not known to be particularly susceptible to tea, as a substance, although the typically very hot water would not be comfortable and might contribute to the mortality of one in certain circumstances. Either way, it seems like an upsetting experience. "My leopard" suggests (as with several of the above) that a leopard is being kept as a pet, working animal or perhaps a personal zoo inhabitant, and the loss certainly seems more than if a random leopard were accidentally splashed with a drink.

== Transcript ==
:[There are two browser windows open on a computer screen.]
:[The first browser window, taking up most of the screen, but partly blocked by the other window at the bottom, has a Wikipedia article open. The title of the page can be seen on the active tab.]
:Computer leopard - Wikip...
:[Next to the address bar are four add-ons and the toolbar icon. One of the add-ons is a letter:]
:R
:[To the left on the page are standard menus, with lots of unreadable text, except these words:]
:Help
:Go Search
:[The page is not at the top of the article, so the text begins mid sentence, the very top of the letters just cut of in the first visible sentence.]
:which range from pocket-sized leopards to large desktop leopards, the leopard remains the most common user input device. In addition to text entry, specialized leopards are used for computer gaming.
:While many computer interfaces rely on mice or touchscreens, UNIX-style command-line interfaces require users to interact with a leopard.
:[Below is the contents list - the text in the brackets can barely be read. And only the very top of the 2.3 line can be seen, and is thus only a qualified guess at what it was supposed to say, although it fits with the real wiki article.]
:Contents [hide]
:1. History
:2. Leopard types
::2.1 Standard
::2.2 Laptop-sized
::2.3 Thumb-sized
:[To the right there is a picture of a keyboard. The picture text written below:]
:IBM Model M Leopard

:[The second browser window overlapping the first, at the level of the 2.3 menu point in the content menu, is a message board. The title of the page can be seen on the active tab:]
:Discuss - Leopard issu...
:[Next to the address bar are four add-ons and the toolbar icon. One of the add-ons is a letter:]
:R
:[In the window there is a list of topics next to icons of those starting the topic. The top post is just inside the frame, the icon cut of at the very top.]
:[Face of Cueball-like guy on white background:]
:Weird, my leopard just switched to Chinese.
::3 days ago
:[Super close-up of the head of a person with dark hair on black background:]
:I work with one leopard on my desk and another in the leopard tray.
::3 days ago
:[Full picture of a Cueball-like guy, with white background in the bottom half and dark in the upper half (which would conceal any hair on the persons head):]
:Ever cleaned a leopard? They're ''filthy''.
::2 days ago
:[Head of a cat on black background:]
:The iPhone virtual leopard is the fastest IMO.
::19 hours ago
:[Head of a girl with long blond hair on white background:]
:I rarely email from my phone—I'm so slow when I'm not on a leopard.
::11 hours ago
:[Head of Cueball-like guy. A line seems to be going our from his head, but it could just be one of the lines used to fill in the background:]
:My leopard died when I spilled tea on it :(
::2 hours ago

:[Below the main panel of the comic is the following caption:]
:The Internet got 100 times better when, thanks to an extension with a typo'd regex, my browser started replacing the word "keyboard" with "leopard".

==Trivia==
When first posted, the title of the comic was <code>s/keyboard/leopard</code>, with the last slash erroneously missing. This would have failed for not following the common syntax and was later fixed.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Substitutions]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Regex]]
[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]
[[Category:Comics with custom header texts]]

1031: s/keyboard/leopard/

2026-04-07T22:19:42Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ Useful to note that it's mot universal. Something like str.replace("old","new") might be the defacto method in other common circumstances, etc

{{comic
| number = 1031
| date = March 19, 2012
| title = s/keyboard/leopard/
| image = s keyboard leopard.png
| titletext = Problem Exists Between Leopard And Chair
}}
Clicking on the image takes you to [http://wiki.xkcd.com/irc/Leopard this link] (now defunct, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190810230906/http://wiki.xkcd.com:80/irc/Leopard archive]).

==Explanation==
Extensions are small programs that install into your {{w|Internet browser}} and change the Web pages as you view them. Some make pages easier to read, some remove ads (the third extension is [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom AdBlock]) and so on. [[Randall]]'s browser looks like {{w|Google Chrome}} as viewed on a {{w|Mac (computer)|Mac}}, and he has installed at least four extensions on it, which explains the little symbols to the right of the address bar.

For the joke in this comic, an extension accidentally replaces the word "{{w|Computer keyboard|keyboard}}" with "{{w|leopard}}" in a regex (or {{w|regular expression}}). In computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means to "match" (specify and recognize) patterns in text, such as a sequence of characters or words. This can be helpful for "substituting" such patterns with new sequences, which is colloquially known as a "find and replace" procedure.

A command that (in some common scripting and coding languages) helps denote string substitution is <code>s/old/new/</code>, where any occurrence of <code>old</code> is replaced with <code>new</code>. Originating from the {{w|ed (text editor)|ed text editor}}, this syntax is notably found in shell or scripting utilities for text processing. The title follows this format for changing any occurrence of "keyboard" into "leopard".

It's not clear what the extension Randall installed was actually supposed to do, but most extensions that revolve around text replacement are humorous in nature (such as [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cloud-to-butt-plus/apmlngnhgbnjpajelfkmabhkfapgnoai?hl=en Cloud to Butt], which replaces all instances of "[[908: The Cloud|the cloud]]" with "my butt").

The title text references the common IT phrase "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair" or {{w|PEBKAC}}, which means that the problem is caused by the user, not by any failure of the computer. However, due to the substitution, it is now "Problem Exists Between Leopard And Chair". It could also be a reference to [[A-Minus-Minus]], the comic containing the phrase "Instead of office chair, package contained [[:Category:Bobcats|bobcat]]".

There has been several [[:Category:Substitutions|comics using substitutions]], both before and after this one.

===Sentences===
; Weird, my leopard just switched to Chinese.
: Sometimes, the keyboard settings may switch to Chinese due to a bug, or by unconsciously making the change. It is quite common for users with non-US keyboard layouts to find they have accidentally switched to the 'default', and conceivably this 'feature' could work the other way. Especially on systems with significant historic Chinese involvement in its [[2166: Stack|development]].
: Leopards are not known to speak at all, let alone Chinese. Alternately, it refers to a change in diet of {{w|Man-eater|one form}} or {{w|Chinese restaurant|another}}.

; I work with one leopard on my desk and another in the leopard tray.
: Keyboards often take up desk space, and one solution is to have a [https://www.bpfonline.co.uk/search.asp?catid=2737 keyboard tray] that slides from under the desk, or out of the computer cabinet, when needed. This person apparently has two ''separate'' keyboards attached to their system(s), one taking up desk space and the other on the tray. This is probably more convenient than having two keyboards side by side (or on top of each other) on the desktop or two separate 'trays' (or two keyboards somehow jammed into the same tray), and often a person with such a requirement will have a computer for typical use (with the most accessible keyboard) and a second one only occasional use (with the second keyboard). They could also use a {{w|KVM switch}} for some of the peripherals, but it may not be quite as convenient or as easy to set up as to double up on the keyboards.
: Leopards are traditionally solitary animals outside of mating season, or when a mother is raising her cub(s), and so however practical it is to have two leopards in close proximity, it might be a somewhat necessary compromise to give them each their own area in a given workspace. However, it is generally uncommon to put a leopard in a ''tray'' specifically.{{Citation needed}}

; Ever cleaned a leopard? They're ''filthy''.
: Most people will use a keyboard for a long time, rarely replacing them unless they are actually broken, and possibly using old ones with new computers (if not integrated within their system, as with laptops). All this time, general detritus, skin, hair and even scraps of food will accumulate upon and beneath the keys unless cleaned thoroughly. Most people don't try to clean a keyboard ''until'' the accumulated grime starts to make typing a problem with less sensitive (or over sensitive!) keys. If you're finding it necessary to clean a keyboard at all, you will probably find quite a lot of filth to clean off/out.
: Leopards, like most cats, are generally adept at keeping themselves clean. However, as a wild animal they're perhaps considered less 'clean' than one would hope a household or workplace appliance might be, and this would depend upon one's attitude to their grooming by licking themselves all over.

; The iPhone virtual leopard is the fastest IMO.
: The response time of a keyboard is one of the factors that determine its quality, and the ability to rapidly enter characters (words, code, commands). A {{w|virtual keyboard}}, often implemented as a touch-screen 'app', has to integrate into the interface and the speaker here apparently rates the default iPhone type more than others of this kind.
: Real leopards are known to run fast. It is possible that a virtual leopard may be made to exemplify this speed. The makers of the iPhone have possibly made a virtual leopard that is faster than all real leopards, or at least they have made ''their'' virtual leopard faster than all other virtual leopards from all other vendors.

; I rarely email from my phone—I'm so slow when I'm not on a leopard.
: A disadvantage with virtual keyboards is often the lack of {{w|Haptic technology|haptic feedback}}, as well as the compressed and compromised layout required to fit the keys within interface. It is often much easier to use a proper full-sized keyboard, whether you hunt-and-peck or are an accomplished touch-typist, although this may depend a lot on practice.
: In the context of leopards, the individual concerned seems to appreciate the advantages of being on an actual leopard when emailing, as it makes them faster. This could mean faster because the leopard itself is wont to run around. Or perhaps it is because sitting on the back of a leopard (not particularly known for being a patient beast of burden) means you ''have'' to do what you are trying to do much faster, before the consequences being on a (possibly annoyed) leopard literally come back to bite you.

; My leopard died when I spilled tea on it :(
: Keyboards are not generally waterproof, and react badly to any liquid spill upon them. If you are lucky, you can quickly drain them, let them dry and they will not suffer too many ill effects in the long run. But, if the less resiliant electronics get directly affected, it can mean having to replace the now unresponsive keyboard.
: Leopards are animals which eventually die. They are not known to be particularly susceptible to tea, as a substance, although the typically very hot water would not be comfortable and might contribute to the mortality of one in certain circumstances. Either way, it seems like an upsetting experience. "My leopard" suggests (as with several of the above) that a leopard is being kept as a pet, working animal or perhaps a personal zoo inhabitant, and the loss certainly seems more than if a random leopard were accidentally splashed with a drink.

== Transcript ==
:[There are two browser windows open on a computer screen.]
:[The first browser window, taking up most of the screen, but partly blocked by the other window at the bottom, has a Wikipedia article open. The title of the page can be seen on the active tab.]
:Computer leopard - Wikip...
:[Next to the address bar are four add-ons and the toolbar icon. One of the add-ons is a letter:]
:R
:[To the left on the page are standard menus, with lots of unreadable text, except these words:]
:Help
:Go Search
:[The page is not at the top of the article, so the text begins mid sentence, the very top of the letters just cut of in the first visible sentence.]
:which range from pocket-sized leopards to large desktop leopards, the leopard remains the most common user input device. In addition to text entry, specialized leopards are used for computer gaming.
:While many computer interfaces rely on mice or touchscreens, UNIX-style command-line interfaces require users to interact with a leopard.
:[Below is the contents list - the text in the brackets can barely be read. And only the very top of the 2.3 line can be seen, and is thus only a qualified guess at what it was supposed to say, although it fits with the real wiki article.]
:Contents [hide]
:1. History
:2. Leopard types
::2.1 Standard
::2.2 Laptop-sized
::2.3 Thumb-sized
:[To the right there is a picture of a keyboard. The picture text written below:]
:IBM Model M Leopard

:[The second browser window overlapping the first, at the level of the 2.3 menu point in the content menu, is a message board. The title of the page can be seen on the active tab:]
:Discuss - Leopard issu...
:[Next to the address bar are four add-ons and the toolbar icon. One of the add-ons is a letter:]
:R
:[In the window there is a list of topics next to icons of those starting the topic. The top post is just inside the frame, the icon cut of at the very top.]
:[Face of Cueball-like guy on white background:]
:Weird, my leopard just switched to Chinese.
::3 days ago
:[Super close-up of the head of a person with dark hair on black background:]
:I work with one leopard on my desk and another in the leopard tray.
::3 days ago
:[Full picture of a Cueball-like guy, with white background in the bottom half and dark in the upper half (which would conceal any hair on the persons head):]
:Ever cleaned a leopard? They're ''filthy''.
::2 days ago
:[Head of a cat on black background:]
:The iPhone virtual leopard is the fastest IMO.
::19 hours ago
:[Head of a girl with long blond hair on white background:]
:I rarely email from my phone—I'm so slow when I'm not on a leopard.
::11 hours ago
:[Head of Cueball-like guy. A line seems to be going our from his head, but it could just be one of the lines used to fill in the background:]
:My leopard died when I spilled tea on it :(
::2 hours ago

:[Below the main panel of the comic is the following caption:]
:The Internet got 100 times better when, thanks to an extension with a typo'd regex, my browser started replacing the word "keyboard" with "leopard".

==Trivia==
When first posted, the title of the comic was <code>s/keyboard/leopard</code>, with the last slash erroneously missing. This would have failed for not following the common syntax and was later fixed.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Substitutions]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Regex]]
[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]
[[Category:Comics with custom header texts]]

3228: Day Counter

2026-04-07T22:06:08Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ Overflow error may be caught by a hard-failure, or at least a signal, rather than travel the continuum between top-value an bottom-value (or vice-versa).

{{comic
| number = 3228
| date = April 3, 2026
| title = Day Counter
| image = day_counter_2x.png
| imagesize = 319x287px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It has been −2,147,483,648 days since our last integer overflow.
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete|The calculations by DL Draco Rex et al. in the Talk should be included in the explanation. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

A common feature of an industrial setting is a prominent sign announcing how many days have elapsed since the last workplace accident. The sign is typically updated each day to a number one higher — or back to zero, if there ''has'' been an accident. Such signs are intended to foster a culture of safety among the workers in the facility, since presumably no one wants to suffer the embarrassment of being the one to have caused an accident that resets the number to 0. (However, it may also lead workers to cover up or conceal accidents, for the same reason, which would tend to increase future accidents, because they do not report the need to correct hazardous conditions that are causing accidents.)

Evidently, in the programming facility shown in the comic, a floating-point error has occurred today, and an attempt has been made to update the sign to say "It has been 0 days since...". But the number 0 is displayed incorrectly, as the very small negative value −0.00000000000000044. Perhaps the error that was made today was the very error that occurred in updating the sign! (This would of course violate {{w|causality}}, but in comedy, self-referential humor beats causality every time, and is at least self-consistent, like with [[363: Reset]])

Floating-point errors occur because computers can devote only a finite amount of storage for each {{w|Floating-point arithmetic|floating point number}} or other fraction. However, many {{w|real numbers}} and {{w|rational numbers}} theoretically require an infinite number of digits to represent them. For example, the ordinary fraction ⅓ is represented in decimal as 0.3333333333…, where the 3s repeat forever. When a number is truncated to fit in the finite amount of space, precision is inevitably lost, resulting in a slight rounding error. Unless carefully controlled, these rounding errors can accumulate, significantly degrading the accuracy of floating-point computations. For example, although ⅓ + ⅓ + ⅓ should obviously equal 1, a finite-precision calculation like 0.333 + 0.333 + 0.333 might show a misleading result of 0.999, which might not trigger the code to do what it should do when three thirds have been accumulated (it can be mitigated by allowing a match for a value which is within a suitably very small difference to the test value, but this must be considered carefully to not be over-/under-sensitive). The amount of required space for rational numbers is not universal, it depends on the base used (⅓ in base 3 requires just two digits: 0 as the units and 1 after the {{w|Decimal separator#Radix point|radix (ternary) point}}). Floating point arithmetic standards, like the popular IEEE 754, define how and when an approximation should take place, leading to predictable results, but they don't respect some basic properties of common arithmetic operations, which someone may take for granted, e.g. in floating point arithmetic addition and multiplication are commutative (a+b=b+a; a*b=b*a), but aren't guaranteed to be associative ((a+b)+c≈a+(b+c)); (a*b)*c≈a*(b*c)).

This issue is exacerbated on computers which use binary arithmetic (i.e., virtually all computers today), since in binary, the ordinary fraction 1/10 is represented as the infinitely-repeating base-2 fraction <tt>0.000110011001100110011</tt>…. A classic example is that, depending on circumstances, the calculation 0.1 + 0.2 might [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/588004/is-floating-point-math-broken seem to give an answer of 0.30000000000000004].

Floating point errors are particularly common in programming, especially in languages that implicitly convert decimal numbers to binary floating point, so an approximation is already made at conversion leading to unexpected results. The title text cites another common programming problem, integer overflow. When a value gets bigger than the biggest integer that can be represented in a certain format, it may "wrap around" to the smallest/most negative value (if the system is not instead set to catch this as an overflow error). In case of 32-bit signed integers it may wrap from 231−1 (2,147,483,647) to −231 (−2,147,483,648).

Integer overflow was the topic of [[571: Can't Sleep]], with yet another example of a 'days since' sign being [[3140: Biology Department]] (two examples, in both the comic and its title text).

It should be noted that computers displaying things like "-1 seconds until the next [blank]" is a glitch that actually happens.

==Transcript==
[White Hat, Ponytail, Cueball, and Megan are all below a large sign, which appears to be attached to the wall at its four corners. White Hat and Ponytail appear to be discussing something, while Cueball is sitting at his desk working on a laptop and Megan is walking away. The sign has text on it, as well as a large display presumably meant to show a number.]

:[Sign:] It has been
:[Display:] -0.00000000000000044
:[Sign:] days since our last floating point error

==Trivia==
As an example of how the number −0.00000000000000044 could have arisen when 0 was intended, consider this simple {{w|C (programming language)|C}} program:

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
double d = 19;
for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) d -= 1.9;
printf("%.17f\n", d);
}

The program starts with the number 19, and subtracts 1.9 from it, ten times. Mathematically, we would expect the result to be 0. However, the number 1.9 cannot be represented exactly in binary, nor can the intermediate results 17.1, 15.2, 13.3, etc. The cascading roundoff errors conspire to produce a result of −0.00000000000000044 instead of the expected 0.

In the comic, such an error creates the ridiculous illusion that −0.00000000000000044 days have passed, which implies a 'negative' number of days, which is impossible{{cn}}. It also, even if it were a positive number, would mean that much less than a nanosecond had passed since the last error, which would be an unfeasably short amount of time. Of course, the joke is that in making the sign showing the amount of time since a floating point error was last made, they are creating a floating point error, meaning the sign maintains its own "error state" in a self-referential way. Also, if they tried to reset the sign, they might make the same error again, repeating the cycle over and over, which would not be ideal.

Coincidentally enough, [[Cueball]] is also floating — off his seat in this case. The seat itself looks the same as the chair in [[2144]], possibly meaning making people levitate is one of its numerous settings.

Strangely enough, when the comic was first published the sign number was −0.00000000000000017 days.{{actual citation needed}} It was changed later though, probably so that it would be more realistic, −0.00000000000000017 would correspond to the very last bit of mantissa being incorrect and only for numbers between 1 and 2 (not including 2), and operation (1-1) is unlikely to result in rounding errors, so the smallest difference from integer is usually higher, which would result in −0.00000000000000044 the smallest possible rounding error for values between 2 and 4.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>[[Category:Interactive comics]][[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:3229: Grammar

2026-04-07T00:08:11Z

81.179.199.253:

E3EeE E3eE!! [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 22:26, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

I created a transcript, but used OCR for all the E's because I kept losing count of how many there were. If someone wants to factcheck that, please do. [[Special:Contributions/104.28.215.220|104.28.215.220]] 22:45, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

It looks like the bot picked up the April Fool's "feature" as interactive, should we keep it or remove? [[Special:Contributions/104.28.215.220|104.28.215.220]] 22:46, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Factchecked 19 E's counted in the image and 19 E's counted in the transcript. [[Special:Contributions/12.155.149.34|12.155.149.34]] 23:00, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Side note: I have heard people using both alternate niche methods of language structure, kinda like those people who adopt a losing format even after it's clear it has lost. On character who has on occasion dabbled in both is Homer Simpson, BTW. --[[Special:Contributions/94.73.49.13|94.73.49.13]]
:I still say that Video2000 was the superior home VCR format, in every way...[[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 23:55, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Any "competitors" to grammar would still be grammars since a grammar, by definition, describes how a language is structured. [[Special:Contributions/75.248.235.98|75.248.235.98]] 00:00, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
:Well, the Random Words one ''seems'' to have no particular structure beyond being word-utterances, and the EEEEEEEEEEEEEE one doesn't even have much that ''can'' be structuralised (though I'm half expecting it to actually supposed to be a modem 'yowl', it needn't even be that), so I'm willing to bet that this exempts them from any consistent quality of being grammar. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 00:08, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3229: Grammar

2026-04-06T23:55:41Z

81.179.199.253:

Talk:2306: Common Cold

2026-04-06T23:47:18Z

81.179.199.253:

WHEN COVID19 IS DONE KEEP UP WITH THE HAND WASHING![[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.122|108.162.216.122]] 23:16, 13 May 2020 (UTC)
: Hi, I'm from 2025. And guys, while you think covid is just so incredibly important, rest assured that just 5 years from your time, Covid is almost forgotten. People don't sanitize, they hug, shake hands and - oh yeah, not to forget this one - they worry about world war iii. See you in 2030, hopefully. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:908:D72:3A60:CD52:E02D:75F4:84BE|2A02:908:D72:3A60:CD52:E02D:75F4:84BE]] 21:19, 3 July 2025 (UTC)
::Oh hey! I'm here in 2026, and I'm having a different experience from you. We totally remember COVID-19! While I will say that social contact and the stuff that you said is re-normalized now, we still wear masks when we're sick, we still sanitize, all that stuff. By the way: [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/How_To here in the year 2026, we all worship dogs, fear clouds, and eat nothing but honey on the day of a full moon]. {{unsigned|RadiantRainwing|23:12, 6 April 2026}}

I saw a thing reshared some time last month claiming that after the hand-sanitizer-and-masks outbreak in Japan, some regions were recording record low numbers of influenza hospitalisations for this time of year. Thought that would be nice; but could only find unsourced claims. Would be nice to think there really was that kind of silver lining. [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 23:30, 13 May 2020 (UTC)
:Since people are really staying away from each other, the only way flu and common cold can spread has also been eliminated. So of course the rate has dropped. But yes, would be nice to see some citations. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:13, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
::Found this [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-17/coronavirus-numbers-flu-tracking-data/12134082 Coronavirus isolation measures are reducing all flu-like diseases, not just COVID-19].--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:15, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
::And this is more up to date: [https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/coronavirus-doctors-see-huge-drop-in-flu-common-cold-diarrhoea-and-conjunctivitis Coronavirus: Doctors see huge drop in flu, common cold, diarrhoea and conjunctivitis cases since circuit breaker measures]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:16, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
:::While this SEEMS good news, I have wondered for a while now if, by eliminating harmless cold viruses that our immune systems are more or less accustomed to as "collateral damage", we might not accidentally open up new ecological niches, which then get occupied by MORE new pathogens that our immune systems are NOT accustomed to. So, it may actually a good idea to consider that deal.... --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.122|162.158.159.122]] 13:50, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
::::I don't think cold viruses are thought to be part of healthy gut flora (or [[1471: Gut Fauna|gut fauna]]), but the "{{w|hygiene hypothesis}}" posits that failure to properly seed the microbiome in early childhood (i.e. not enough dirt in life) may lead to increased prevalence of allergies and other autoimmune disorders, because (perhaps) the immune system is under-exercised and so some of its regulatory mechanisms are under-developed. --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 15:02, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
::::: Stepping up the speculativeness up a notch, an immune systeme permanently on the alert by flu might be good against cancer. That said, maybe the poor virii should just try to look more cute? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.90|162.158.159.90]] 08:09, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

::::By social distancing, we are not harming cold viruses more than anything else ; what we are doing is basically shrinking the ecological niche containing it. So, no ... unless we will be so good in it we really eliminate cold viruses and when we do, we will then stop social distancing and grow the ecological niche again. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:16, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

You guys are engaging in uneducated speculation. PLEASE STOP! Viruses are nothing at all like bacteria (which make up the gut biome). The mere fact that we need new influenza vaccines every year should make it clear that exposure to flu virus does nothing to generate "multi-capable antibodies" . Yes, playing in dirt may build up the immune system's ability to handle bacterial loads, but no it has nothing to do with viruses. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 11:08, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

According to Taiwan National Infectious Disease Statistics System, the [https://nidss.cdc.gov.tw/en/SingleDisease.aspx?dc=1&dt=4&disease=487a&position=1 number of severe influenza cases in Taiwan] was 109 on week 1 of 2020, then drop to zero since March. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.58|172.69.34.58]] 04:54, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

Based on the railroad's Twitter feed which announces when service is suspended because someone got hit by a train, it seems that deaths from being hit by trains are down where I live. I'd expect some reduction in accidental deaths due to fewer trains per day running. However, the reduction in deaths is greater than the reduction in train service, so that's not the full explanation, especially since most of the deaths were suicides.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.250|108.162.215.250]] 05:27, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
: Has the general rate of suicide changed? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:35, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
:: In Finland the sucide rate has been up [https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11351803 15% this spring].

Was this comic posted a day late? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.130.10|172.69.130.10]] 11:36, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
:No. But the DGBRt bot that uploads the comic is in the wrong time zone and there it was May 14th. But in the archive on xkcd it is listed as a May 13 release. I have corrected the wrong date. This has happened with two comics now over the last few releases. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:11, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

Current transcript indicates he is shouting the "no" in the last frame. I read this significantly more as an extremely forceful spoken word, not so much "THIS IS SPARTA!" [[User:OhFFS|OhFFS]] ([[User talk:OhFFS|talk]]) 16:04, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
:Agree. Fixed. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:21, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

I AM THE DREAD FAUCET ROBERTS. THERE WILL BE ''NO SURVIVORS''! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.67|108.162.250.67]] 00:45, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

In the end, the only way to eliminate it *finally,* for good, is either almost everyone has immunity, or social distancing, contact tracing and similar measures. No matter how difficult. If immunity doesn't last long, then you've got a permanent problem unless social distancing can be maintained INDEFINITELY. And I want to point out that the problem becomes not just permanent but gains the potential to kill faster than people can breed. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.251|108.162.246.251]] 10:26, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

Now it seems there are correlations between antibodies to common colds and to C-19

https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0092-8674%2820%2930610-3&utm_medium=email&utm_source=CampaignMonitor_Editorial&utm_campaign=LNCH%20%2020200515%20%20Facebook%20%20SM+CID_262b5ad3cf7ba8cf30318d3392774724

What the fuck. Respirational viruses are NOT spread via contact/smear infections. It is theoretically possible, if you finger sth that a sick person freshly coughed on, and directly dig your nose afterwards. You certainly get measels this way, where twenty or thirty virus particles are enough to give you a 50% chance to catch an infection, BUT NOT coronaviruses, where you need to breathe in ten thousands of particles for the same effect.

Dear Mr. Monroe, it is disgusting to now read this fakenews from your comic. Handwashing is good against all sorts of gastrointestinal maladies. Which is why hospitals are so strict on it. One day of diarrhoea and fluid loss is a deadly threat to anyone with a weakened body. But this has nothing to do with the flu or covid-19. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.33|162.158.93.33]] 18:16, 15 May 2020 (UTC)
:He (probably) doesn't read this, and nothing he put here as entertainment is "fake news" in any practical way. It's artistic licence without claiming authority. Viruses also aren't macroscopic, sentient and capable of conversation to the level of being able to ask for a boon. (Also, IME, those who shout most about fake news are believers or even instigators of actual fake news being touted as 'truth', so perhaps find a better term to argue with than that particularly devalued one. Just my general advice, which won't change very many people's minds, I know.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.222|141.101.98.222]] 14:21, 17 May 2020 (UTC)

I don't think it much matters whether the handwashing helps against coronavirus. The fact is: more people are washing their hands and doing it properly than ever before. And the point he is trying to make is that (regardless of it's effect on coronavirus) it is likely helping to fight things like the common cold.

:No it doesn´t. Coronaviruses ARE one cause for the common cold, only that the current one has the side effect of making pneumonia more often than it´s brothers which are circulating the world every year. You don´t get it via smear infection, because that hardly gives you a dose high enough for an infection, period. And that is the same for all other pathogens wich cause the common colds, of which there are a number.
:But thank you for proving my point. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.11|162.158.91.11]] 11:32, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

Where's the joke [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.8|108.162.219.8]] 00:46, 22 September 2020 (UTC)

Talk:1063: Kill Hitler

2026-04-06T19:10:59Z

81.179.199.253: Wrong level of indent.

Actually, I think the joke here is that Black Hat actually did end Hitler's atrocities, but that history is not actually changeable. Hitler's "suicide" was actually Black Hat killing him. This is then layers with the impossibility of changing history. This would imply that anyone that wants to stop Hitler before he rose to power will be circumvented. [[User:UnaSalusVictis|UnaSalusVictis]] ([[User talk:UnaSalusVictis|talk]]) 01:26, 25 November 2012 (UTC)UnaSalusVictis

:According to all reasonable time travel theories, this makes sense. You cannot go into the past to change things, because the future that exists is a future where you were in the past - you just didn't know it yet because it was in your future. This also applies to the future. Your knowledge of the future cannot possibly change it because your foreknowledge exists in this future. If your foreknowledge made that future not happen, then there would be no need to change it. But the future and the past account for the fact that you were there to change things, even before you ever knew you would be. Ergo, any attempt to ''change'' the past will merely result in ''causing'' the past to result exactly as it did before. The catch-22 of time travel stories. You can have a fatal flaw, or a fatally uncompelling story. But, all that said, this is a cartoon and not necessarily reliant on reasonable time travel theory.[[Special:Contributions/76.29.225.28|76.29.225.28]] 07:07, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

:That's exactly my opinion on this topic! Look at this video (Mercedes vs Hitler in the past): [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytVdBLMmRno]] ~~Muessigb {{unsigned ip|173.245.51.86|21:30, 8 December 2014 (UTC}}
::But say you could predict what the future would look like if you did nothing (or did not yet have that knowledge). Then by obtaining that knowledge you could then do something you would not have done otherwise and thus change the potential future. With a powerful enough simulator, you might get a good idea of what would happen if no one knew about it, and then decide if something should be changed based on this information. This is what happens in the book {{w|Lightning (novel)|Lightning}}. I do not believe this can be done, but as the future has not happened yet, I do not see the same problems as with traveling back in time. Of course having a good guess of the future is not the same as traveling to it... If you did that, then changing it after you had been there would be troublesome. See for instance {{w|Back to the Future 2}} and the book mentioned above. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:44, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

True, killing Hitler before he rose to power and committed all his atrocities would cause a Grandfather paradox... Cueball invented the time machine and send Black Hat back because he wanted Hitler dead, but if Hitler died before that, there would be no reason to invent the time machine and send Black Hat back which ergo cause the initial trip to kill Hitler not possible and ergo Hitler couldn't die before he rises to power and committed his atrocities. [[Special:Contributions/175.137.100.81|175.137.100.81]] 01:40, 5 December 2012 (UTC)
:Just for the record, it was Black Hat who invented this time machine! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:51, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

Maybe in the original timeline, Hitler's atrocities extended beyond 1945. When Black Hat went back in time and assassinated Hitler in 1945, a new time-line was created. When Black Hat returned to the current date, he returned to a different timeline than the one he left. In this timeline (ours), Hitler died in 1945, and because this timeline is based on that fact, Cueball thinks that Black Hat has not changed anything, when in fact, Black Hat's actions created the new timeline. -- mwburden [[Special:Contributions/70.91.188.49|70.91.188.49]] 15:00, 7 December 2012 (UTC)
:Except that Hitler would have already been killed in 1945 by Black Hat, only it would have been thought beforehand to be Hitler killing himself as, until the time machine is invented, you wouldn't think that people from the future would be coming from the future to assassinate the opponent. People would assume that Hitler killed himself as that is more plausible than an assassin killing him and then vanishing without a trace. {{unsigned|Mulan15262}}
::Also Cueball would not know that anything had happened if anything had been changed, as his an everyone else life would have changed, and most people born say a few years after the start of the way, would probably not have been born, because everyone else would have done something different if World War II had never happened, and many more people would have lived back then, to make the chance that your parents meet and fall in love much less. And even if they still did, they might have had their children at a different time in their lives! And just a few seconds can matter in which cell will enter the egg...--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:51, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

:The only flaw in that logic is that there's really no way Hitler would have survived the Russian invasion. He was in a bunker, killing himself, because his whole nation and army were crushed. He would have been put on trial and no doubt executed, if not shot by the first soldier who saw him. -HavokTheorem [[Special:Contributions/121.73.107.90|121.73.107.90]] 04:30, 9 October 2013 (UTC)
::Thank you for this answer. My faith in explainxkcd contributors was declining rapidly until I reached your comment. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 20:20, 30 January 2014 (UTC)
::Actually you only think that because Black Hat prevented [http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/wolfenstein/images/d/d7/Hitler2forms.gif/revision/latest?cb=20090918003616 Mecha Hitler]. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.80|162.158.255.80]] 17:54, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

Was the explanation always as bad as it appears now?? It's awful. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 01:34, 1 February 2014 (UTC)

First off, in a previous time line he could have escaped to a Moon Base to rebuild his army and destroy the world and Cueball just does not remember that history, just the one where Hitler dies in the bunker. Second, there are many forms of logical time travel. You could jump to a different Now 70 years ago and kill Hitler (assuming he exists) and then come back. Your timeline would not have changed, but the other Now would have a future without Hitler. The good or bad that is achieved is the same, but you get no benefit other then the joy of killing Hitler. And you really should seek professional help for that.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.18|108.162.219.18]] 18:52, 20 May 2014 (UTC)
:In many stories where this idea is used, you actually go to this alternative time yourself, so when you return the world you return to would be the one where Hitler died. Maybe you were never born in this world, but as you are from another dimension where you did get born, then you can exist in this world instead. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:51, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

Did Randall at least partly choose Hitler because of the old rumour that he wasn't actually dead (Because hearing the news of his death may have seemed incredulous, and because his body was removed by the Soviets, who never openly revealed information to the West). Sorry about the wordiness of this comment, I hope you'll be able to comprehend it. {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.223}}

:I recommend this short story on time travel: [http://www.abyssapexzine.com/wikihistory/ Wikihistory]. My favourite quote: "everybody kills Hitler on their first trip". Brilliant, short and nerdy.
:--[[User:Lou Crazy|Lou Crazy]] ([[User talk:Lou Crazy|talk]]) 16:37, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

You are all assuming that the time machine actually works. Why? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.160|162.158.202.160]] 21:50, 9 November 2017 (UTC)

If time travel were possible, you could go back in time, seduce the woman who was to become your mother — you would become your own father! Robert Heinlein wrote a story with that theme, “‘—All You Zombies—’”. Heinlein goes further, introducing a sex-change operation, so mother, father, and child are all the same person.

If I had a time machine I would go back only twenty years and kill Bush and Blair. Think of the millions of lives that would be saved! [[User:The Cat Lady|-- The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 16:39, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

Assuming the time machine actually worked, Black Hat most likely went to explore the time of his choosing, and only told Cueball he killed Hitler right before his suicide to annoy him. I don't think Black Hat would just deprive himself of that big of an opportunity. [[User:MinersHavenM43|MinersHavenM43]] ([[User talk:MinersHavenM43|talk]]) 00:39, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

Semiprotected edit request: change murder-suicide to two suicides and make the statement on Japan's reasons to surrender more balanced. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.0.47|85.76.0.47]] 21:13, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
:Not entirely sure which direction of imbalance you think the current version exhibits. I'd agree that the other issue was probably more a suicide-pact by all available evidence, the big unknown being in which order they underwent their respective methods, but it's fairly neutrally factual in the Japan case. "Persuaded" instead of "driven", perhaps, if that's where your objections lie? [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 22:05, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
::Considering that Japan was already seeking to surrender and that, if they were the sole deciding factor, the nuclear bombings are the one time in history that aerial bombardment has actually caused a surrender - including the destruction of other Japanese cities during the Second World War - it's not really 'neutrally factual' as it is. {{unsigned ip|146.70.123.36|18:37, 6 April 2026}}
:::The timeline of Japan's willingness to surrender is... complicated. They were (prior to the bombs) secretly discussing possible surrender with the Soviet Union - in a way intended to be secret both to their own people and the wider allies (whether or not that was strictly true, but it may not have been seriously considered by those contemplating the forthcoming US attacks).
:::''However'', the nominally neutral (vis-a-vis Soviet-Japenese pacts, which they broke) Soviet Union was planning (following on from discussions about that theatre of war, with the other Allies as Yalta, etc) to attack the outlying territories of Japan ''regardless'' of the possible overtures of surrender. If there had been no nuclear weapons deployed, then it's difficult to say how history would have progressed. There might have been no open ending of the Japan/US-side of the conflict, even as the USSR/Japan side might have been nominally ended (but betrayed), perhaps leading to a kind of 'two-Germanies' situation in Japan, even, and a cold war (if MAD was still a ruling aspect) or even a warmer one (until and unless the US had ''actually'' proven itself to be willing to do more than test nukes).
:::But we can't know for sure how it would have gone. Just that it seems pretty obvious that after one and/or both of the bombs being dropped (soon after the Soviet Union broke its pacts, however much that added to it, the Japanese officially surrendering within the week (in spite of several attempts by some elements of Japanese military and gorvernment to prevent it). One or both of these attacks (bombs + manchuria) then surely drove them to surrender. Certainly making happen what might not have done, so quickly and in that manner, otherwise. If I understand your objection. Certainly not far off as described. How would you put it, instead? [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 19:10, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Talk:1063: Kill Hitler

2026-04-06T19:10:00Z

81.179.199.253:

Actually, I think the joke here is that Black Hat actually did end Hitler's atrocities, but that history is not actually changeable. Hitler's "suicide" was actually Black Hat killing him. This is then layers with the impossibility of changing history. This would imply that anyone that wants to stop Hitler before he rose to power will be circumvented. [[User:UnaSalusVictis|UnaSalusVictis]] ([[User talk:UnaSalusVictis|talk]]) 01:26, 25 November 2012 (UTC)UnaSalusVictis

:According to all reasonable time travel theories, this makes sense. You cannot go into the past to change things, because the future that exists is a future where you were in the past - you just didn't know it yet because it was in your future. This also applies to the future. Your knowledge of the future cannot possibly change it because your foreknowledge exists in this future. If your foreknowledge made that future not happen, then there would be no need to change it. But the future and the past account for the fact that you were there to change things, even before you ever knew you would be. Ergo, any attempt to ''change'' the past will merely result in ''causing'' the past to result exactly as it did before. The catch-22 of time travel stories. You can have a fatal flaw, or a fatally uncompelling story. But, all that said, this is a cartoon and not necessarily reliant on reasonable time travel theory.[[Special:Contributions/76.29.225.28|76.29.225.28]] 07:07, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

:That's exactly my opinion on this topic! Look at this video (Mercedes vs Hitler in the past): [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytVdBLMmRno]] ~~Muessigb {{unsigned ip|173.245.51.86|21:30, 8 December 2014 (UTC}}
::But say you could predict what the future would look like if you did nothing (or did not yet have that knowledge). Then by obtaining that knowledge you could then do something you would not have done otherwise and thus change the potential future. With a powerful enough simulator, you might get a good idea of what would happen if no one knew about it, and then decide if something should be changed based on this information. This is what happens in the book {{w|Lightning (novel)|Lightning}}. I do not believe this can be done, but as the future has not happened yet, I do not see the same problems as with traveling back in time. Of course having a good guess of the future is not the same as traveling to it... If you did that, then changing it after you had been there would be troublesome. See for instance {{w|Back to the Future 2}} and the book mentioned above. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:44, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

True, killing Hitler before he rose to power and committed all his atrocities would cause a Grandfather paradox... Cueball invented the time machine and send Black Hat back because he wanted Hitler dead, but if Hitler died before that, there would be no reason to invent the time machine and send Black Hat back which ergo cause the initial trip to kill Hitler not possible and ergo Hitler couldn't die before he rises to power and committed his atrocities. [[Special:Contributions/175.137.100.81|175.137.100.81]] 01:40, 5 December 2012 (UTC)
:Just for the record, it was Black Hat who invented this time machine! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:51, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

Maybe in the original timeline, Hitler's atrocities extended beyond 1945. When Black Hat went back in time and assassinated Hitler in 1945, a new time-line was created. When Black Hat returned to the current date, he returned to a different timeline than the one he left. In this timeline (ours), Hitler died in 1945, and because this timeline is based on that fact, Cueball thinks that Black Hat has not changed anything, when in fact, Black Hat's actions created the new timeline. -- mwburden [[Special:Contributions/70.91.188.49|70.91.188.49]] 15:00, 7 December 2012 (UTC)
:Except that Hitler would have already been killed in 1945 by Black Hat, only it would have been thought beforehand to be Hitler killing himself as, until the time machine is invented, you wouldn't think that people from the future would be coming from the future to assassinate the opponent. People would assume that Hitler killed himself as that is more plausible than an assassin killing him and then vanishing without a trace. {{unsigned|Mulan15262}}
::Also Cueball would not know that anything had happened if anything had been changed, as his an everyone else life would have changed, and most people born say a few years after the start of the way, would probably not have been born, because everyone else would have done something different if World War II had never happened, and many more people would have lived back then, to make the chance that your parents meet and fall in love much less. And even if they still did, they might have had their children at a different time in their lives! And just a few seconds can matter in which cell will enter the egg...--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:51, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

:The only flaw in that logic is that there's really no way Hitler would have survived the Russian invasion. He was in a bunker, killing himself, because his whole nation and army were crushed. He would have been put on trial and no doubt executed, if not shot by the first soldier who saw him. -HavokTheorem [[Special:Contributions/121.73.107.90|121.73.107.90]] 04:30, 9 October 2013 (UTC)
::Thank you for this answer. My faith in explainxkcd contributors was declining rapidly until I reached your comment. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 20:20, 30 January 2014 (UTC)
::Actually you only think that because Black Hat prevented [http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/wolfenstein/images/d/d7/Hitler2forms.gif/revision/latest?cb=20090918003616 Mecha Hitler]. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.80|162.158.255.80]] 17:54, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

Was the explanation always as bad as it appears now?? It's awful. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 01:34, 1 February 2014 (UTC)

First off, in a previous time line he could have escaped to a Moon Base to rebuild his army and destroy the world and Cueball just does not remember that history, just the one where Hitler dies in the bunker. Second, there are many forms of logical time travel. You could jump to a different Now 70 years ago and kill Hitler (assuming he exists) and then come back. Your timeline would not have changed, but the other Now would have a future without Hitler. The good or bad that is achieved is the same, but you get no benefit other then the joy of killing Hitler. And you really should seek professional help for that.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.18|108.162.219.18]] 18:52, 20 May 2014 (UTC)
:In many stories where this idea is used, you actually go to this alternative time yourself, so when you return the world you return to would be the one where Hitler died. Maybe you were never born in this world, but as you are from another dimension where you did get born, then you can exist in this world instead. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:51, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

Did Randall at least partly choose Hitler because of the old rumour that he wasn't actually dead (Because hearing the news of his death may have seemed incredulous, and because his body was removed by the Soviets, who never openly revealed information to the West). Sorry about the wordiness of this comment, I hope you'll be able to comprehend it. {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.223}}

:I recommend this short story on time travel: [http://www.abyssapexzine.com/wikihistory/ Wikihistory]. My favourite quote: "everybody kills Hitler on their first trip". Brilliant, short and nerdy.
:--[[User:Lou Crazy|Lou Crazy]] ([[User talk:Lou Crazy|talk]]) 16:37, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

You are all assuming that the time machine actually works. Why? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.160|162.158.202.160]] 21:50, 9 November 2017 (UTC)

If time travel were possible, you could go back in time, seduce the woman who was to become your mother — you would become your own father! Robert Heinlein wrote a story with that theme, “‘—All You Zombies—’”. Heinlein goes further, introducing a sex-change operation, so mother, father, and child are all the same person.

If I had a time machine I would go back only twenty years and kill Bush and Blair. Think of the millions of lives that would be saved! [[User:The Cat Lady|-- The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 16:39, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

Assuming the time machine actually worked, Black Hat most likely went to explore the time of his choosing, and only told Cueball he killed Hitler right before his suicide to annoy him. I don't think Black Hat would just deprive himself of that big of an opportunity. [[User:MinersHavenM43|MinersHavenM43]] ([[User talk:MinersHavenM43|talk]]) 00:39, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

Semiprotected edit request: change murder-suicide to two suicides and make the statement on Japan's reasons to surrender more balanced. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.0.47|85.76.0.47]] 21:13, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
:Not entirely sure which direction of imbalance you think the current version exhibits. I'd agree that the other issue was probably more a suicide-pact by all available evidence, the big unknown being in which order they underwent their respective methods, but it's fairly neutrally factual in the Japan case. "Persuaded" instead of "driven", perhaps, if that's where your objections lie? [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 22:05, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
::Considering that Japan was already seeking to surrender and that, if they were the sole deciding factor, the nuclear bombings are the one time in history that aerial bombardment has actually caused a surrender - including the destruction of other Japanese cities during the Second World War - it's not really 'neutrally factual' as it is. {{unsigned ip|146.70.123.36|18:37, 6 April 2026}}
::The timeline of Japan's willingness to surrender is... complicated. They were (prior to the bombs) secretly discussing possible surrender with the Soviet Union - in a way intended to be secret both to their own people and the wider allies (whether or not that was strictly true, but it may not have been seriously considered by those contemplating the forthcoming US attacks).
::''However'', the nominally neutral (vis-a-vis Soviet-Japenese pacts, which they broke) Soviet Union was planning (following on from discussions about that theatre of war, with the other Allies as Yalta, etc) to attack the outlying territories of Japan ''regardless'' of the possible overtures of surrender. If there had been no nuclear weapons deployed, then it's difficult to say how history would have progressed. There might have been no open ending of the Japan/US-side of the conflict, even as the USSR/Japan side might have been nominally ended (but betrayed), perhaps leading to a kind of 'two-Germanies' situation in Japan, even, and a cold war (if MAD was still a ruling aspect) or even a warmer one (until and unless the US had ''actually'' proven itself to be willing to do more than test nukes).
::But we can't know for sure how it would have gone. Just that it seems pretty obvious that after one and/or both of the bombs being dropped (soon after the Soviet Union broke its pacts, however much that added to it, the Japanese officially surrendering within the week (in spite of several attempts by some elements of Japanese military and gorvernment to prevent it). One or both of these attacks (bombs + manchuria) then surely drove them to surrender. Certainly making happen what might not have done, so quickly and in that manner, otherwise. If I understand your objection. Certainly not far off as described. How would you put it, instead? [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 19:10, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

544: Pep Talk

2026-04-06T00:35:54Z

81.179.199.253: Undo revision 409657 by Special:Contributions/(ipv6 adress) (talk) Seems to be Cueball talking. Seems to be him saying, to his own (rather unlikely) team, "they said that you couldn't do very well... and they were riight!"

{{comic
| number =544
| date =February 16, 2009
| title =Pep Talk
| image =pep_talk.png
| titletext =Listen! They said a team of chess players coached by someone with no understanding of basketball would never be competitive in the NBA! Well, it turns out they're pretty perceptive.
}}

==Explanation==
Another comic where [[Randall]] takes a less than serious look at sports.

The halftime {{w|Motivational speaker|pep talk}} of a {{w|basketball}} game is commonly used by coaches to inspire their team to either turn the game around, or to defend the lead, and to make strategic changes that will help them do so. Unfortunately, the basketball coach [[Cueball]] has absolutely no fundamental understanding of the sport, and has pulled his team (of Cueball-like players) into the locker room while the game is still in progress, not during halftime, enabling the other team to score at will.

He could have tried to get a {{w|Time-out (sport)|time-out}}, but still he would not have been allowed to take his team down to the locker room.

The title text parodies a common plot of, especially US, {{w|List_of_sports_films#Basketball|sports movies}} in which {{tvtropes|UnderdogsNeverLose|an inexperienced team (and sometimes coach) still manage to win}} a title after a highly motivational pep talk (see for instance {{w|Hoosiers (film)|Hoosiers}}). These pep talks usually take place during regular pauses of the game, and can lead to a come back from a seemingly insurmountable deficit. In this case the players are not even just poor basketball players but rather {{w|chess}} players and the coach knows nothing of the sport, the opposite of what is usually the case in said movies. And, of course, in this case those pessimistic about their chances were proven right.

==Transcript==
:[Coach-Cueball stands at the end of a double row of benches in the players locker room. He speaks to his team of five Cueball-like players, two are sitting with towels on the left bench, one stands behind them, and two are sitting on the right bench, one of them resting his head on his hands.]
:Coach-Cueball: Okay, team. We're sixteen points down. If we want to come back from this—
:Offscreen: Woo!! Score!!!
:Coach-Cueball: Okay, now we're eighteen points down. ...Listen—I'm starting to think we should only take these breaks at halftime.

==Trivia==
*In [[1392: Dominant Players]] Randall compares basketball with chess.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:Comics with a Spanish translation]]

Talk:3228: Day Counter

2026-04-05T21:08:58Z

81.179.199.253:

Talk:3131: Cesium

2026-04-04T21:15:20Z

81.179.199.253: Removing. Looks to be East-Timorese and reference the Epstein Files, so pretty sure it's not a serious attempt to comment on the comic. Whatever its actual intent.

I think that's called a recipe for disaster. NOTE: I am also 104.225.172.143. [[Special:Contributions/138.43.101.123|138.43.101.123]] 14:36, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: No, ''I'' am 104.225.172.143! [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:09, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:: I'm 104.225.172.143, and so's my wife! [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 20:42, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:::I also chose this guy's wife. [[Special:Contributions/2600:1014:B130:F85B:54C8:CB88:DB33:11D0|2600:1014:B130:F85B:54C8:CB88:DB33:11D0]]
::::I'm also. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 09:45, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

My best recipe comes with a Notice to Mariners [[User:Hcs|Hcs]] ([[User talk:Hcs|talk]]) 14:45, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

I added a transcript. Hopefully it's okay. [[Special:Contributions/104.225.172.143|104.225.172.143]] 14:54, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

A gram of gold runs on the order of ~$100 USD as of writing; a gram of cs-137 looks to be in the millions~billions range. --[[Special:Contributions/158.91.163.9|158.91.163.9]] 14:55, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

: Nope. [https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2024/mcs2024-cesium.pdf It's 99 dollars]. [[Special:Contributions/191.57.16.100|191.57.16.100]] 20:40, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:: I think you're quoting the price for Caesium metal in general, which is probably almost entirely Caesium 133; Caesium 137 is a synthetic isotope which could easily be a million times more expensive than the natural stuff, gram for gram. [[Special:Contributions/80.41.70.128|80.41.70.128]] 22:37, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
::: You're right, my bad. I couldn't find a quote for Cs137, but considering it's produced from uranium, it probably is very expensive. As for the shrimp thing, I doubt anything close to a gram of Cesium ended up in the shipment. It's probably a component from a measuring device. [[Special:Contributions/177.12.48.45|177.12.48.45]] 09:57, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
:Caesium contamination usually is caused by nuclear accidents (or atmospheric nuclear weapon tests) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium-137#Environmental_contamination. It is unlikely that someone acquired pure Cs-137 and then "accidentally" contaminated the shrimp with that. --[[Special:Contributions/134.102.219.31|134.102.219.31]] 15:31, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: Cs137 can be found for approximately 20 USD per µCi, which equals 0.0000000115g. That means 1g would cost 1,739,130,435 USD. The good news is that same gram would be worth 20 USD in another 795.7 years. Although it wouldn't be all Cs-137 anymore, nor exactly a gram. [[Special:Contributions/77.173.137.243|77.173.137.243]] 21:19, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
::So, what you're saying is... not a good investment for the future, with a 99.99999885ish% depreciation (''before'' any effects of monetary inflation), on top of me also having to become somewhere roughly around 8.5 centuries old. I suppose the latter ''might'' be a plus, if you can guarantee it, but it's not exactly a ringing endorsement for your scheme. ;) [[Special:Contributions/84.43.20.118|84.43.20.118]] 22:04, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

Bothering the NSA shouldn't be hard, just write some of their secrets on a cake (with frosting is optional) and post it online. [[Special:Contributions/212.101.26.209|212.101.26.209]] 14:57, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: I feel like the writing on the cake is not part of its recipe. I think a more fitting way to get their attention would be "accidentally" poisoning the president with your cooking. --
[[Special:Contributions/128.31.34.92|128.31.34.92]] 22:09, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:If it gets worse, simply expressing disagreement with a certain person could get the NSA on your case. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 02:10, 24 August 2025 (UTC)

What would IMO do, revoke your math license? [[Special:Contributions/216.73.162.10|216.73.162.10]] 15:22, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: They have numerous penalties at their disposal. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:27, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: I imagined the reason the IMO would get involved would be because the recipe created some interesting mathematical problem that could be used for the next competition. For example, something like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct3lCfgJV_A this video], where a grocery order taken too literally creates a seemingly harmless Diophantine equation whose smallest positive solutions are on the order of 10^80. [[Special:Contributions/137.25.230.78|137.25.230.78]] 15:56, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: A cook on Air Force 1 "accidentally" contaminates Trump's fast food with cesium. The assassination attempt fails and US retaliates by invading Canada/Panama/Greenland (roll 1d3). IMO bans the US team, like they banned Russia in 2022. Thus a single cooking "accident" can get the attention of IAEA, IATA, IMO, and NSA. --[[Special:Contributions/128.31.34.92|128.31.34.92]] 22:21, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

Maybe The IATA could get involved if your ruined recipe caused food poisoning on a commercial airliner that then resulted in an in-air emergency (whole flight deck passed out). {{unsigned ip|170.85.70.249|17:32, 20 August 2025 (UTC)}}
:Or if you create a column of dense toxic fumes that spreads over a wide area (on the level of a volcano eruption). On the other hand, I wonder what could bring the attention of the IMO when Terryology seemingly couldn't.--[[Special:Contributions/94.73.52.245|94.73.52.245]] 18:56, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

The criticality accident in 1999 at the Tokaimura nuclear facility seems like a good example of messing up a recipe in a way that draws considerable attention. {{w|Tokaimura nuclear accidents}} [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:1B|2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:1B]] 19:11, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

1. Randall creates a new way to cook airplane food that is either cheap enough or expensive enough to significantly affect airline ticket pricing. 2. Randall's recipe poisons a Math Olympiad team. 3. The coach of the team turns out to be an undercover spy. [[Special:Contributions/24.53.184.90|24.53.184.90]] 23:47, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

{{w|IATA}} is an international trade association for airlines. It's not particularly involved in air safety, except as a sideline; the {{w|International Civil Aviation Organization}} is much more involved that way. However, IATA used to be directly concerned with recipes. In the 1950s, the IATA airlines agreed on international standards for meals, under which economy class passengers would only be provided with sandwiches. However, airlines such as SAS and Swissair provided their passengers with more and better sandwiches than U.S. airlines such as Pan Am and TWA were willing to provide. Eventually IATA issued a rule that sandwiches were to be cold, simple, unadorned, and inexpensive, feature “a substantial and visible” chunk of bread, and could not include materials normally regarded as expensive or luxurious, such as smoked salmon, oysters, caviar, lobster, game, asparagus, or pate de foie gras. Providing better sandwiches than those IATA allowed could result in a fine. (The rule was later revoked to allow economy class passengers to receive hot meals.) So at one point, it was possible to mess up a sandwich recipe by adding expensive ingredients that would incur the wrath of IATA. --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 00:43, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

The explanation "... if the recipe is used in major airports, and the recipe is contaminated with a drug, the pilots that eat could experience vision loss or other problems, and if this recipe is widely used and normal people won't notice much besides minor side effects, then this could attract the attention of of the IATA" does not make sense. If a recipe caused vision loss when pilots ate the food, it would also cause vision loss for non-pilots. --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 00:49, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

The phrase "messing up a recipe" means whatever Randall intended it to mean. The fact that some people may use the phrase to mean to make something at home does not mean that such a definition was intended by Randall. I don't think I have ever heard "messing up a recipe" mean anything other than ruining the preparation of the food. [[User:Inquirer|Inquirer]] ([[User talk:Inquirer|talk]]) 02:55, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
:Someone who ''creates'' recipes could make a mistake, publish a bad recipe, and cause problems. If a recipe left food unsafe, for example: not cooked enough to kill bacteria, left at room temperature for an unsafe time, etc. Tell people to find wild mushrooms, and that the red mushrooms with white spots are extra tasty. :-) [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:37, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

:If Randall ever made a recipe for lava cake, one of the problems would how you keep it from melting the plate. [[Special:Contributions/107.77.205.64|107.77.205.64]] 18:23, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

Is it possible this comic was inspired by the [https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/fda-advises-public-not-eat-sell-or-serve-certain-imported-frozen-shrimp-indonesian-firm recent FDA recall on certain Indonesian frozen shrimp]? [[Special:Contributions/174.21.93.112|174.21.93.112]] 03:33, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
:That's noted, with that specific link, in the second sentence of the Explanation here. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:41, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
::Ack, apologies. I may be a little stupid. [[Special:Contributions/174.21.93.112|174.21.93.112]]

68 Bq/kg of Cs-137 is about 93 billions Cs-137 atoms in 1 kg of shrimp, that is about 1,5 picomole or 213 picograms. On the other hand one BED (banana equivalent dose) is ~15 Bq per piece, so eating a half pound package of this shrimp will irradiate you in the same amount as eating one banana, in terms of number of decays, but much less in terms of biological dose: potassium-40 in bananas emit beta radiation which is much more harmful when coming from ingested material than beta and gamma, roughly equally emitted by Cs-137. So this recall is on the level of emptying a reservoir after two guys pissed into it. Security theater. -- [[Special:Contributions/2620:1F7:2C04:7C44:0:0:31:3A|2620:1F7:2C04:7C44:0:0:31:3A]] 14:12, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
: Or the Dutch boy at the [deleted] dike. With the assault by Our ([https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2025/08/06/amoebas-lorica-meme-ories-68-introducing-humility/ USNA]) Government on such business-insensitive excesses as food safety, we should be grateful that the FDA is, at least for now, still capable of functioning at this level. [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:160:DB08:5C9D:407E:3E50:C822|2605:59C8:160:DB08:5C9D:407E:3E50:C822]] 15:08, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
:The advisory does say that the danger is very low. I think this is one of those "abundance of caution" things. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:35, 22 August 2025 (UTC)
:: I mean, you can't assume each individual shrimp was mixed with the same amount of cesium. Maybe some of it got a super dose and is actually harmful. Since the general public doesn't carry around geiger counters to restaurants, I say the recall is warranted.
::: Reminds me of the tale of [https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/n3sfi6/til_in_1911_physicist_george_de_hevesy_suspected/ George de Hevesy] who effectively ''did'' take a geiger counter to the (boarding house) dining table... But, then, he was suspecting that something would be found. Different times! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.60|82.132.236.60]] 15:40, 23 August 2025 (UTC)
:: I think the fact that there is any cs137 in the shrimp at all is concerning. Where is it coming from? Did someone dump spent nuclear fuel near a fishery? How much and for how long? [[Special:Contributions/177.12.48.45|177.12.48.45]] 14:45, 23 August 2025 (UTC)
::: Not read the incident report, maybe it says there. But it's quite possible that some stage of processing uses a radiation source to scan the load of shrimp for unwanted debris (pass it under the emitter, if any significant bits of metal/dirt is in the supply, it'll cause a notable fluctuation in the detector beneath), ''or'' perhaps to asses the mass distribution (if the water content is enough to moderate the source-to-detector signal in a relatable manner, it could accurately estimate the quantity of shrimp passing by continuously, where weighing is less practical/accurate given the volume and continuous movement; ''or'' it might even track the average ''size'' of shrimp, for grading purposes). They do use small amounts of isotopes for that kind of thing. Amerecium is famouspy used in smoke-detectors/alarms, and other radionuclides (chosen for their particular mix of alpha/beta/gamma radiation, availability and sufficient half-life to match the product use-span.
::: Now imagine what if, perhaps ironically, the emitter capsule vibrated loose (or was dropped, in the midst of a swap-out of an 'old' one, and for some reason the person wldoing it didn't feel the need to emergency-stop the line) and got into the supply chain, either fragmenting or leaching out (as heat and cold, and perhaps mechanical pressures, further prepared the shrimp-load, now with added debris). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.60|82.132.236.60]] 15:40, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

Mooseberry fudge cake batter could very easily get the attention of the International Air Transport Association and possibly the NSA. As well as the Pottsylvania espionage community. [[User:Lordpishky|Lordpishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 06:27, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

Currently the explanation seems kind of centered on the idea that recipe only means a cooking recipe. "Recipe" used to mean to take, as in a prescription - a physician's instructions to a pharmacist/chemist. (This wiki entry recently said that recipe outside of cookery was a metaphor/extension - it isn't.) Recipe as cookery came later. If you look up recipe in the dictionary, cookery is just a special case.[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recipe Merriam Webster - recipe]

"Recipe - 1580s, "medical prescription, a formula for the composing of a remedy written by a physician," from French récipé (15c.), from Latin recipe "take!" (this or that ingredient), ... It was the word written by physicians at the head of prescriptions. Figurative meaning "a prescribed formula" is from 1640s. Meaning "instructions for preparing a particular food" is recorded by 1716." Rx is a holdover from Recipe.
[https://www.etymonline.com/word/recipe etymonline - recipe]

Cookery is only some of the every-day chemistry we do. Mixing chlorine bleach and various substances (ammonia, acids like vinegar, alcohol) can have nasty results.

Messing up a prescription, a chemical formula or chemical/nuclear ingredients is well within the literal definition of messing up a recipe, and gives more latitude for coming up with things that might draw attention from those organizations. [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:98|2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:98]] 18:10, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

Sqround or tricylinder-shaped cakes or bread can attract the IMO's attention. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C11:B800:34F9:178:1B57:97B3|2001:4C4E:1C11:B800:34F9:178:1B57:97B3]] 08:26, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

3228: Day Counter

2026-04-04T19:53:06Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ Expanded a bit more, because I realised it looked odd not to mention the (not-)decimal point.

{{comic
| number = 3228
| date = April 3, 2026
| title = Day Counter
| image = day_counter_2x.png
| imagesize = 319x287px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It has been −2,147,483,648 days since our last integer overflow.
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete|This page was created -.000000000000000032 days ago. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

A common feature of an industrial setting is a prominent sign announcing how many days have elapsed since the last workplace accident. The sign is typically updated each day to a number one higher — or back to zero, if there ''has'' been an accident. Such signs are intended to foster a culture of safety among the workers in the facility, since presumably no one wants to suffer the embarrassment of being the one to have caused an accident that resets the number to 0.

In this comic, a similar sign highlights the number of days since the last floating-point error. Floating-point errors occur because most computers can devote only a finite amount of storage for each {{w|Floating-point arithmetic|floating point number}} or other fraction. However, many {{w|real numbers}} and {{w|rational numbers}} theoretically require an infinite number of digits to represent them. For example, the ordinary fraction ⅓ is represented in decimal as 0.3333333333…, where the 3s repeat forever. When a number is truncated to fit in the finite amount of space, precision is inevitably lost, resulting in a slight rounding error. Unless carefully controlled, these rounding errors can accumulate, significantly degrading the accuracy of floating-point computations. For example, although ⅓ + ⅓ + ⅓ should obviously equal 1, a finite-precision calculation like 0.333 + 0.333 + 0.333 might show a misleading result of 0.999, which might not trigger the code to do what it should do when three thirds have been accumulated (it can be mitigated by allowing a match for a value which is within a suitably very small difference to the test value, but this must be considered carefully to not be over-/under-sensitive). The amount of required space for rational numbers is not universal, it depends on the base used (⅓ in base 3 requires just two digits: 0 as the units and 1 after the {{w|Decimal separator#Radix point|radix (ternary) point}}). Floating point arithmetic standards, like the popular IEEE 754, define how and when an approximation should take place, leading to predictable results, but they don't respect some basic properties of common arithmetic operations, which someone may take for granted, e.g. in floating point arithmetic addition and multiplication are commutative (a+b=b+a; a*b=b*a), but aren't guaranteed to be associative ((a+b)+c≈a+(b+c)); (a*b)*c≈a*(b*c)).

This issue is exacerbated on computers which use binary arithmetic (i.e., virtually all computers today), since in binary, the ordinary fraction 1/10 is represented as the infinitely-repeating base-2 fraction <tt>0.000110011001100110011</tt>…. A classic example is that, depending on circumstances, the calculation 0.1 + 0.2 might [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/588004/is-floating-point-math-broken seem to give an answer of 0.30000000000000004].

Evidently, in the programming facility shown in the comic, a floating-point error has occurred today, and an attempt has been made to update the sign to say "It has been 0 days since...". But the number 0 is displayed incorrectly, as the very small negative value −0.00000000000000044. Perhaps the error that was made today was the very error that occurred in updating the sign! (This would of course violate {{w|causality}}, but in comedy, self-referential humor beats causality every time, and is at least self-consistent, like with [[363: Reset]])

As an example of how the number −0.00000000000000044 could have arisen when 0 was intended, consider this simple {{w|C (programming language)|C}} program:

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
double d = 19;
for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) d -= 1.9;
printf("%.17f\n", d);
}

The program starts with the number 19, and subtracts 1.9 from it, ten times. Mathematically, we would expect the result to be 0. However, the number 1.9 cannot be represented exactly in binary, nor can the intermediate results 17.1, 15.2, 13.3, etc. The cascading roundoff errors conspire to produce a result of −0.00000000000000044 instead of the expected 0.

In the comic, such an error creates the ridiculous illusion that −0.00000000000000044 days have passed, which implies a 'negative' number of days, which is impossible{{cn}}. It also, even if it were a positive number, would mean that much less than a nanosecond had passed since the last error, which would be an unfeasably short amount of time. Of course, the joke is that in making the sign showing the amount of time since a floating point error was last made, they are creating a floating point error, meaning the sign maintains its own "error state" in a self-referential way. Also, if they tried to reset the sign, they might make the same error again, repeating the cycle over and over, which would not be ideal.

Coincidentally enough, [[Cueball]] is also floating — off his seat in this case. The seat itself looks the same as the chair in [[2144]], possibly meaning making people levitate is one of its numerous settings.

Floating point errors are particularly common in programming, especially in languages that implicitly convert decimal numbers to binary floating point, so an approximation is already made at conversion leading to unexpected results. The title text cites another common programming problem, integer overflow. When a value gets bigger than the biggest integer that can be represented in a certain format, it typically "wraps around" to the smallest value. In case of 32-bit signed integers it may wrap from 231−1 (2,147,483,647) to −231 (−2,147,483,648). 2,147,483,647 days from the comic's date of publication (April 3rd, 2026) is approximately October 12th of the year 5,881,636, assuming no changes in the lengths of the day and year, or in other aspects of time measurement.

Strangely enough, when the comic was first published the sign number was −0.00000000000000017 days. It was changed later though, probably so that it would be more realistic, −0.00000000000000017 would correspond to the very last bit of mantissa being incorrect and only for numbers between 1 and 2 (not including 2), and operation (1-1) is unlikely to result in rounding errors, so the smallest difference from integer is usually higher, which would result in −0.00000000000000044 the smallest possible rounding error for values between 2 and 4.

Integer overflow was the topic of [[571: Can't Sleep]], with yet another example of a 'days since' sign being [[3140: Biology Department]] (two examples, in both the comic and its title text).

==Transcript==
[White Hat, Ponytail, Cueball, and Megan are all below a large sign. White Hat and Ponytail appear to be discussing something, while Cueball is sitting at his desk working on a laptop and Megan is walking away. The sign has text on it, as well as a large display presumably meant to show a number.]

:[Sign:] It has been
:[Display:] -0.00000000000000044
:[Sign:] days since our last floating point error

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>[[Category:Interactive comics]][[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

3228: Day Counter

2026-04-04T19:46:02Z

81.179.199.253: I suspect that was supposed to be a list of "0, 1", not one-tenth in decimal (either 'normal' or 'continental' style). Giving it an "and", to avoid possible confusions. - As long as I'm not confused, myself!

{{comic
| number = 3228
| date = April 3, 2026
| title = Day Counter
| image = day_counter_2x.png
| imagesize = 319x287px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It has been −2,147,483,648 days since our last integer overflow.
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete|This page was created -.000000000000000032 days ago. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

A common feature of an industrial setting is a prominent sign announcing how many days have elapsed since the last workplace accident. The sign is typically updated each day to a number one higher — or back to zero, if there ''has'' been an accident. Such signs are intended to foster a culture of safety among the workers in the facility, since presumably no one wants to suffer the embarrassment of being the one to have caused an accident that resets the number to 0.

In this comic, a similar sign highlights the number of days since the last floating-point error. Floating-point errors occur because most computers can devote only a finite amount of storage for each {{w|Floating-point arithmetic|floating point number}} or other fraction. However, many {{w|real numbers}} and {{w|rational numbers}} theoretically require an infinite number of digits to represent them. For example, the ordinary fraction ⅓ is represented in decimal as 0.3333333333…, where the 3s repeat forever. When a number is truncated to fit in the finite amount of space, precision is inevitably lost, resulting in a slight rounding error. Unless carefully controlled, these rounding errors can accumulate, significantly degrading the accuracy of floating-point computations. For example, although ⅓ + ⅓ + ⅓ should obviously equal 1, a finite-precision calculation like 0.333 + 0.333 + 0.333 might show a misleading result of 0.999, which might not trigger the code to do what it should do when three thirds have been accumulated (it can be mitigated by allowing a match for a value which is within a suitably very small difference to the test value, but this must be considered carefully to not be over-/under-sensitive). The amount of required space for rational numbers is not universal, it depends on the base used (⅓ in base 3 requires just two digits: 0 and 1). Floating point arithmetic standards, like the popular IEEE 754, define how and when an approximation should take place, leading to predictable results, but they don't respect some basic properties of common arithmetic operations, which someone may take for granted, e.g. in floating point arithmetic addition and multiplication are commutative (a+b=b+a; a*b=b*a), but aren't guaranteed to be associative ((a+b)+c≈a+(b+c)); (a*b)*c≈a*(b*c)).

This issue is exacerbated on computers which use binary arithmetic (i.e., virtually all computers today), since in binary, the ordinary fraction 1/10 is represented as the infinitely-repeating base-2 fraction <tt>0.000110011001100110011</tt>…. A classic example is that, depending on circumstances, the calculation 0.1 + 0.2 might [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/588004/is-floating-point-math-broken seem to give an answer of 0.30000000000000004].

Evidently, in the programming facility shown in the comic, a floating-point error has occurred today, and an attempt has been made to update the sign to say "It has been 0 days since...". But the number 0 is displayed incorrectly, as the very small negative value −0.00000000000000044. Perhaps the error that was made today was the very error that occurred in updating the sign! (This would of course violate {{w|causality}}, but in comedy, self-referential humor beats causality every time, and is at least self-consistent, like with [[363: Reset]])

As an example of how the number −0.00000000000000044 could have arisen when 0 was intended, consider this simple {{w|C (programming language)|C}} program:

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
double d = 19;
for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) d -= 1.9;
printf("%.17f\n", d);
}

The program starts with the number 19, and subtracts 1.9 from it, ten times. Mathematically, we would expect the result to be 0. However, the number 1.9 cannot be represented exactly in binary, nor can the intermediate results 17.1, 15.2, 13.3, etc. The cascading roundoff errors conspire to produce a result of −0.00000000000000044 instead of the expected 0.

In the comic, such an error creates the ridiculous illusion that −0.00000000000000044 days have passed, which implies a 'negative' number of days, which is impossible{{cn}}. It also, even if it were a positive number, would mean that much less than a nanosecond had passed since the last error, which would be an unfeasably short amount of time. Of course, the joke is that in making the sign showing the amount of time since a floating point error was last made, they are creating a floating point error, meaning the sign maintains its own "error state" in a self-referential way. Also, if they tried to reset the sign, they might make the same error again, repeating the cycle over and over, which would not be ideal.

Coincidentally enough, [[Cueball]] is also floating — off his seat in this case. The seat itself looks the same as the chair in [[2144]], possibly meaning making people levitate is one of its numerous settings.

Floating point errors are particularly common in programming, especially in languages that implicitly convert decimal numbers to binary floating point, so an approximation is already made at conversion leading to unexpected results. The title text cites another common programming problem, integer overflow. When a value gets bigger than the biggest integer that can be represented in a certain format, it typically "wraps around" to the smallest value. In case of 32-bit signed integers it may wrap from 231−1 (2,147,483,647) to −231 (−2,147,483,648). 2,147,483,647 days from the comic's date of publication (April 3rd, 2026) is approximately October 12th of the year 5,881,636, assuming no changes in the lengths of the day and year, or in other aspects of time measurement.

Strangely enough, when the comic was first published the sign number was −0.00000000000000017 days. It was changed later though, probably so that it would be more realistic, −0.00000000000000017 would correspond to the very last bit of mantissa being incorrect and only for numbers between 1 and 2 (not including 2), and operation (1-1) is unlikely to result in rounding errors, so the smallest difference from integer is usually higher, which would result in −0.00000000000000044 the smallest possible rounding error for values between 2 and 4.

Integer overflow was the topic of [[571: Can't Sleep]], with yet another example of a 'days since' sign being [[3140: Biology Department]] (two examples, in both the comic and its title text).

==Transcript==
[White Hat, Ponytail, Cueball, and Megan are all below a large sign. White Hat and Ponytail appear to be discussing something, while Cueball is sitting at his desk working on a laptop and Megan is walking away. The sign has text on it, as well as a large display presumably meant to show a number.]

:[Sign:] It has been
:[Display:] -0.00000000000000044
:[Sign:] days since our last floating point error

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>[[Category:Interactive comics]][[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

3228: Day Counter

2026-04-04T19:35:31Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ Just to avert the objection recetly given in Talk, making it more unambiguously technically accurate,

{{comic
| number = 3228
| date = April 3, 2026
| title = Day Counter
| image = day_counter_2x.png
| imagesize = 319x287px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It has been −2,147,483,648 days since our last integer overflow.
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete|This page was created -.000000000000000032 days ago. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

A common feature of an industrial setting is a prominent sign announcing how many days have elapsed since the last workplace accident. The sign is typically updated each day to a number one higher — or back to zero, if there ''has'' been an accident. Such signs are intended to foster a culture of safety among the workers in the facility, since presumably no one wants to suffer the embarrassment of being the one to have caused an accident that resets the number to 0.

In this comic, a similar sign highlights the number of days since the last floating-point error. Floating-point errors occur because most computers can devote only a finite amount of storage for each {{w|Floating-point arithmetic|floating point number}} or other fraction. However, many {{w|real numbers}} and {{w|rational numbers}} theoretically require an infinite number of digits to represent them. For example, the ordinary fraction ⅓ is represented in decimal as 0.3333333333…, where the 3s repeat forever. When a number is truncated to fit in the finite amount of space, precision is inevitably lost, resulting in a slight rounding error. Unless carefully controlled, these rounding errors can accumulate, significantly degrading the accuracy of floating-point computations. For example, although ⅓ + ⅓ + ⅓ should obviously equal 1, a finite-precision calculation like 0.333 + 0.333 + 0.333 might show a misleading result of 0.999, which might not trigger the code to do what it should do when three thirds have been accumulated (it can be mitigated by allowing a match for a value which is within a suitably very small difference to the test value, but this must be considered carefully to not be over-/under-sensitive). The amount of required space for rational numbers is not universal, it depends on the base used (⅓ in base 3 requires just two digits: 0.1). Floating point arithmetic standards, like the popular IEEE 754, define how and when an approximation should take place, leading to predictable results, but they don't respect some basic properties of common arithmetic operations, which someone may take for granted, e.g. in floating point arithmetic addition and multiplication are commutative (a+b=b+a; a*b=b*a), but aren't guaranteed to be associative ((a+b)+c≈a+(b+c)); (a*b)*c≈a*(b*c)).

This issue is exacerbated on computers which use binary arithmetic (i.e., virtually all computers today), since in binary, the ordinary fraction 1/10 is represented as the infinitely-repeating base-2 fraction <tt>0.000110011001100110011</tt>…. A classic example is that, depending on circumstances, the calculation 0.1 + 0.2 might [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/588004/is-floating-point-math-broken seem to give an answer of 0.30000000000000004].

Evidently, in the programming facility shown in the comic, a floating-point error has occurred today, and an attempt has been made to update the sign to say "It has been 0 days since...". But the number 0 is displayed incorrectly, as the very small negative value −0.00000000000000044. Perhaps the error that was made today was the very error that occurred in updating the sign! (This would of course violate {{w|causality}}, but in comedy, self-referential humor beats causality every time, and is at least self-consistent, like with [[363: Reset]])

As an example of how the number −0.00000000000000044 could have arisen when 0 was intended, consider this simple {{w|C (programming language)|C}} program:

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
double d = 19;
for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) d -= 1.9;
printf("%.17f\n", d);
}

The program starts with the number 19, and subtracts 1.9 from it, ten times. Mathematically, we would expect the result to be 0. However, the number 1.9 cannot be represented exactly in binary, nor can the intermediate results 17.1, 15.2, 13.3, etc. The cascading roundoff errors conspire to produce a result of −0.00000000000000044 instead of the expected 0.

In the comic, such an error creates the ridiculous illusion that −0.00000000000000044 days have passed, which implies a 'negative' number of days, which is impossible{{cn}}. It also, even if it were a positive number, would mean that much less than a nanosecond had passed since the last error, which would be an unfeasably short amount of time. Of course, the joke is that in making the sign showing the amount of time since a floating point error was last made, they are creating a floating point error, meaning the sign maintains its own "error state" in a self-referential way. Also, if they tried to reset the sign, they might make the same error again, repeating the cycle over and over, which would not be ideal.

Coincidentally enough, [[Cueball]] is also floating — off his seat in this case. The seat itself looks the same as the chair in [[2144]], possibly meaning making people levitate is one of its numerous settings.

Floating point errors are particularly common in programming, especially in languages that implicitly convert decimal numbers to binary floating point, so an approximation is already made at conversion leading to unexpected results. The title text cites another common programming problem, integer overflow. When a value gets bigger than the biggest integer that can be represented in a certain format, it typically "wraps around" to the smallest value. In case of 32-bit signed integers it may wrap from 231−1 (2,147,483,647) to −231 (−2,147,483,648). 2,147,483,647 days from the comic's date of publication (April 3rd, 2026) is approximately October 12th of the year 5,881,636, assuming no changes in the lengths of the day and year, or in other aspects of time measurement.

Strangely enough, when the comic was first published the sign number was −0.00000000000000017 days. It was changed later though, probably so that it would be more realistic, −0.00000000000000017 would correspond to the very last bit of mantissa being incorrect and only for numbers between 1 and 2 (not including 2), and operation (1-1) is unlikely to result in rounding errors, so the smallest difference from integer is usually higher, which would result in −0.00000000000000044 the smallest possible rounding error for values between 2 and 4.

Integer overflow was the topic of [[571: Can't Sleep]], with yet another example of a 'days since' sign being [[3140: Biology Department]] (two examples, in both the comic and its title text).

==Transcript==
[White Hat, Ponytail, Cueball, and Megan are all below a large sign. White Hat and Ponytail appear to be discussing something, while Cueball is sitting at his desk working on a laptop and Megan is walking away. The sign has text on it, as well as a large display presumably meant to show a number.]

:[Sign:] It has been
:[Display:] -0.00000000000000044
:[Sign:] days since our last floating point error

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>[[Category:Interactive comics]][[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:3228: Day Counter

2026-04-04T19:32:49Z

81.179.199.253:

3228: Day Counter

2026-04-04T19:24:05Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ Aoid using ampersands in proper text like this. The word "and" is much better, and there's no reason to resort to such abbreviation.

{{comic
| number = 3228
| date = April 3, 2026
| title = Day Counter
| image = day_counter_2x.png
| imagesize = 319x287px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It has been −2,147,483,648 days since our last integer overflow.
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete|This page was created -.000000000000000032 days ago. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

A common feature of an industrial setting is a prominent sign announcing how many days have elapsed since the last workplace accident. The sign is typically updated each day to a number one higher — or back to zero, if there ''has'' been an accident. Such signs are intended to foster a culture of safety among the workers in the facility, since presumably no one wants to suffer the embarrassment of being the one to have caused an accident that resets the number to 0.

In this comic, a similar sign highlights the number of days since the last floating-point error. Floating-point errors occur because most computers can devote only a finite amount of storage for each {{w|Floating-point arithmetic|floating point number}} or other fraction. However, many {{w|real numbers}} and {{w|rational numbers}} theoretically require an infinite number of digits to represent them. For example, the ordinary fraction ⅓ is represented in decimal as 0.3333333333…, where the 3s repeat forever. When a number is truncated to fit in the finite amount of space, precision is inevitably lost, resulting in a slight rounding error. Unless carefully controlled, these rounding errors can accumulate, significantly degrading the accuracy of floating-point computations. For example, although ⅓ + ⅓ + ⅓ should obviously equal 1, a finite-precision calculation like 0.333 + 0.333 + 0.333 might show a misleading result of 0.999, which might not trigger the code to do what it should do when three thirds have been accumulated (it can be mitigated by allowing a match for a value which is within a suitably very small difference to the test value, but this must be considered carefully to not be over-/under-sensitive). The amount of required space for rational numbers is not universal, it depends on the base used (⅓ in base 3 requires just two digits: 0.1). Floating point arithmetic standards, like the popular IEEE 754, define how and when an approximation should take place, leading to predictable results, but they don't respect some basic properties of common arithmetic operations, which someone may take for granted, e.g. in floating point arithmetic addition and multiplication are commutative (a+b=b+a; a*b=b*a), but aren't guaranteed to be associative ((a+b)+c≈a+(b+c)); (a*b)*c≈a*(b*c)).

This issue is exacerbated on computers which use binary arithmetic (i.e., virtually all computers today), since in binary, the ordinary fraction 1/10 is represented as the infinitely-repeating base-2 fraction <tt>0.000110011001100110011</tt>…. A classic example is that, depending on circumstances, the calculation 0.1 + 0.2 might [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/588004/is-floating-point-math-broken seem to give an answer of 0.30000000000000004].

Evidently, in the programming facility shown in the comic, a floating-point error has occurred today, and an attempt has been made to update the sign to say "It has been 0 days since...". But the number 0 is displayed incorrectly, as the very small negative number −0.00000000000000044. Perhaps the error that was made today was the very error that occurred in updating the sign! (This would of course violate {{w|causality}}, but in comedy, self-referential humor beats causality every time, and is at least self-consistent, like with [[363: Reset]])

As an example of how the number −0.00000000000000044 could have arisen when 0 was intended, consider this simple {{w|C (programming language)|C}} program:

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
double d = 19;
for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) d -= 1.9;
printf("%.17f\n", d);
}

The program starts with the number 19, and subtracts 1.9 from it, ten times. Mathematically, we would expect the result to be 0. However, the number 1.9 cannot be represented exactly in binary, nor can the intermediate results 17.1, 15.2, 13.3, etc. The cascading roundoff errors conspire to produce a result of −0.00000000000000044 instead of the expected 0.

In the comic, such an error creates the ridiculous illusion that −0.00000000000000044 days have passed, which implies a 'negative' number of days, which is impossible{{cn}}. It also, even if it were a positive number, would mean that much less than a nanosecond had passed since the last error, which would be an unfeasably short amount of time. Of course, the joke is that in making the sign showing the amount of time since a floating point error was last made, they are creating a floating point error, meaning the sign maintains its own "error state" in a self-referential way. Also, if they tried to reset the sign, they might make the same error again, repeating the cycle over and over, which would not be ideal.

Coincidentally enough, [[Cueball]] is also floating — off his seat in this case. The seat itself looks the same as the chair in [[2144]], possibly meaning making people levitate is one of its numerous settings.

Floating point errors are particularly common in programming, especially in languages that implicitly convert decimal numbers to binary floating point, so an approximation is already made at conversion leading to unexpected results. The title text cites another common programming problem, integer overflow. When a value gets bigger than the biggest integer that can be represented in a certain format, it typically "wraps around" to the smallest value. In case of 32-bit signed integers it may wrap from 231−1 (2,147,483,647) to −231 (−2,147,483,648). 2,147,483,647 days from the comic's date of publication (April 3rd, 2026) is approximately October 12th of the year 5,881,636, assuming no changes in the lengths of the day and year, or in other aspects of time measurement.

Strangely enough, when the comic was first published the sign number was −0.00000000000000017 days. It was changed later though, probably so that it would be more realistic, −0.00000000000000017 would correspond to the very last bit of mantissa being incorrect and only for numbers between 1 and 2 (not including 2), and operation (1-1) is unlikely to result in rounding errors, so the smallest difference from integer is usually higher, which would result in −0.00000000000000044 the smallest possible rounding error for values between 2 and 4.

Integer overflow was the topic of [[571: Can't Sleep]], with yet another example of a 'days since' sign being [[3140: Biology Department]] (two examples, in both the comic and its title text).

==Transcript==
[White Hat, Ponytail, Cueball, and Megan are all below a large sign. White Hat and Ponytail appear to be discussing something, while Cueball is sitting at his desk working on a laptop and Megan is walking away. The sign has text on it, as well as a large display presumably meant to show a number.]

:[Sign:] It has been
:[Display:] -0.00000000000000044
:[Sign:] days since our last floating point error

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>[[Category:Interactive comics]][[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Category:April Fools' Day comics

2026-04-04T19:17:38Z

81.179.199.253: Only 362(ish) days to go! I'm so excited!

{{by holiday}}[[Category:Comics by holiday]]
:''Main article: [[April Fools' Day comics]]''
{{:April Fools' Day comics}} The comics on this category are displayed in the order they came out and don't necessarily follow the standard xkcd numbering system. [[April Fools' Day comics|Learn more about the xkcd April Fools' Day comics]].

{{#ifeq: April | April |{{{!}} class="wikitable"
{{!}}-
{{!}} style="background-color: #ddeeff;"{{!}} <center>[[Template:series|This box]] is available on all the comics in this category. It allows you to browse the [[April Fools' Day comics]] comics in order and contains detailed information about their release. You can learn more about the April Fools' Day comics [[April Fools' Day comics|here]].
{{!}}-
! style="background-color: #f8f9fa;" {{!}} {{#if:Syndication|[[Syndication||< First]]|                                                            }}                 [[Special:RandomInCategory/April Fools' Day comics|Random April Fools' Day comic]]                 [[3227: Creation|Latest >|]]      </center>
{{!}}}}}

[[Category:Comics from April]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Holidays]]

1253: Exoplanet Names

2026-04-04T19:12:18Z

81.179.199.253: Undo revision 409605 by FaviFake (talk) Have to disagree. Comic *references* the nature of LBT's name, but Bobby himself doesn't feature directly. Coming here from the LBT category would be wrong.

{{comic
| number = 1253
| date = August 19, 2013
| title = Exoplanet Names
| image = exoplanet names.png
| titletext = If you have any ideas, I hear you can send them to <nowiki>iaupublic@iap.fr</nowiki>.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic would later be updated in [[1555: Exoplanet Names 2]]. On the 14th of August, 2013, the {{w|International Astronomical Union}} (IAU) [https://www.iau.org/science/news/179/ issued a document] about public naming of astronomical objects. It stated, "IAU fully supports the involvement of the general public, whether directly or through an independent organized vote, in the naming of planetary satellites, newly discovered planets, and their host stars."

The caption above the comic states the fact above and then notes that the IAU immediately regret this decision. As we can see from [[Cueball|Cueball's]] question, from [[Ponytail]]'s facepalm, and the fact that even [[Megan]] is speechless, the suggestions are appalling. It becomes even worse when [[Hairbun]] tells them that an automatic filter has already been applied to the results, one designed to remove inappropriate entries that don't meet certain criteria. This implies that the list would have been even worse if presented in its unfiltered form (as seen below in the table).

The naming document also contained, amongst other things, guidelines that suggested names should meet. These include stipulations such as "16 characters or less", "preferably one word", being "pronounceable (in as many languages as possible)", "not too similar to an existing name of an astronomical object", avoiding commercial names, and being "respectful of intellectual property". If we go down the list, we can see that many of [[Randall|Randall's]] suggestions do indeed violate the guidelines. Which is part of the joke as it reflects the tendency of internet submissions to ignore such softly suggested guidelines.

The randomness and inappropriateness of the suggested names reflects the commonly expected response from anonymous submitters on the internet. Many forums and contests that call for online response and do not apply strict control over the responses receive similar collections of random, inappropriate and obscure submissions that are often only tangentially related to the original subject. For example, Greenpeace held a naming contest for one of the whales recently tagged in their research and preservation campaign and even after selecting the finalists the online voting resulted in naming the whale "Mr. Splashypants". PepsiCo had even less restrictive controls in their marketing campaign that asked the internet to name a new flavor of Mountain Dew. They had to shut down the contest in order to avoid naming the new beverage "Hitler did nothing wrong" which was the current leader at the time and only marginally the most inappropriate of the top ten voted suggestions. Even more recently is the case of {{w|Boaty McBoatface}}, in which the internet decided to dub a British research vessel "Boaty McBoatface". The boat was given the name {{w|RRS Sir David Attenborough}} in the end, with its Autonomous Underwater Vehicle being called "Boaty McBoatface".

The document also states that naming suggestions may be sent to the email that Randall included in the title text.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Star !! Planet !! Suggested Name !! Explanation
|-
! rowspan=7 | {{w|Gliese 667}}
| {{w|Gliese 667 Cb|b}}
| Space Planet
| A very unoriginal name; every planet is in space.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| {{w|Gliese 667 Cc|c}}
| PILF
| Pun of {{w|MILF pornography|MILF}}, i.e. ''Planet I'd Like to Fuck''. Planet c is a relatively hot planet, within the habitable zone.
|-
| {{w|Gliese 667 Cd|d}}
| A Star
| "A {{w|Star}}" is obviously a bad name for a planet. A* (pronounced "A star") is already used in astronomy, for example the Milky Way's black hole core is {{w|Sagittarius A*}}. "A star" is also the name for the character {{w|asterisk}} and the name of the popular {{w|A* search algorithm}} in computer science. It also suggests that the planet is a star.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| {{w|Gliese 667 Ce|e}}
| e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;--
| A reference to {{w|SQL injection}}, riffing off of [[327: Exploits of a Mom]], which featured a schoolboy named <code>[[Little Bobby Tables|Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--]]</code>. The idea here is that the IAU would enter the name into their system and promptly lose all of their data pertaining to planets. Note that Planet e is located in the habitable zone of the star system.
|-
| {{w|Gliese 667 Cf|f}}
| Blogosphere
| rowspan = 2 | Weird ''{{w|blog}}''-related terms are a recurring theme in xkcd. See, for instance, [[181|comic 181]].
|-
| {{w|Gliese 667 Cg|g}}
| Blogodrome
|-
| [https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_667c_h/ h]
| Earth
| Planet candidate h is about the mass of the Earth, and described as "tantalizing": [https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2013/08/aa21331-13/aa21331-13.html A dynamically-packed planetary system around GJ with three super-Earths in its habitable zone]. See also ([[1231: Habitable Zone]]).
|-
! rowspan=5 | {{w|Tau Ceti}}
| [https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_b/ b]
| Sid Meier's Tau Ceti B
| This refers to the game {{w|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri}}.
|-
| [https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_c/ c]
| Giant Dog Planet
| {{w|VY Canis Majoris}} is one of the largest known stars at our galaxy and belongs to the constellation {{w|Canis Major}}, Latin for "greater dog". The constellation further contains {{w|Sirius}}, the brightest star in the night sky, also called "Dog Star".
|-
| [https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_d/ d]
| Tiny Dog Planet
| cf. {{w|Canis Minor}}, Latin for "lesser dog", another constellation.
|-
| {{w|Tau Ceti e|e}}
| Phil Plainet
| A reference to {{w|Phil Plait}}, a.k.a. The Bad Astronomer.
|-
| {{w|Tau Ceti f|f}}
| Unicode Snowman
| The Unicode character ☃ may be a reference to the planet's estimated surface temperature of -40 °C (-40 °F). However, this name would be pronounced differently (being a symbol, not a word or name) in different languages. Planets in our solar system are assigned to {{w|Astronomical symbols|astronomical symbols}} like ♁ for Earth or ♂ for Mars. (A unicode snowman is also referenced in Randall's book ''What If'', where it is keymapped to a laptop.)
|-
! {{w|Gliese 832}}
| {{w|Gliese 832 b|b}}
| Asshole Jupiter
| This massive planet orbits a {{w|red dwarf}} star at the longest known period of 3416 days at this category.
|-
! rowspan=6 | {{w|Gliese 581}}
| {{w|Gliese 581 b|b}}
| Waist-deep Cats
| Likely a reference to {{w|Lolcat}}s, which are a series of images of cats captioned with poorly-written and/or spelled English.
|-
| {{w|Gliese|c}}
| Planet #14
| About 200th discovered exoplanet (in 2007); reported to be the first potentially Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of its star, though that is in doubt now. The joke might be that like "Space Planet", "Planet #14" is a generic and unoriginal name. Also note that this is the 15th entry in the table so the numbering is {{w|Zero-based_numbering|zero-based}}.
An interesting (?) coincidence is that the 14th and 15th {{w|Definition of planet#Minor planets|Minor planets}} (then called asteroids) were discovered in 1851; see see {{w|List of minor planets: 1–1000}}. If they were to be counted among the planets of the {{w|Solar System}}, as was sometimes done then, the 14th known planetary body would be {{w| 7 Iris|Iris}} (discovered in 1847, a year before {{w|Neptune}}).
|-
| {{w|Gliese 581 d|d}}
| Ballderaan
| A {{w|wikt:balls|crude pun}} on the planet {{w|Alderaan}} from the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' universe.
|-
| {{w|Gliese 581 e|e}}
| Eternia Prime
| {{w|Eternia}} is a fictional planet, venue of the ''{{w|Masters of the Universe}}'' animated series and toy collection.
|-
| {{w|Gliese 581 f|f}}
| Taupe Mars
| {{w|Kim Stanley Robinson}}'s award-winning {{w|Mars trilogy}} (''Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars'' after various stages of {{w|terraformation}}). {{w|Taupe}} is a brownish-grey color.
|-
| {{w|Gliese|g}}
| Jelly-Filled Planet
| Possibly a reference to the conjecture that this tidally locked planet has an isolated habitable zone under the substellar point, akin to the pocket of jelly in a jelly doughnut.
|-
! rowspan=2 | {{w|Epsilon Eridani}}
| {{w|Epsilon Eridani b|b}}
| Skydot
| [https://skydot.lanl.gov SkyDOT] is the Sky Database for Objects in Time-Domain run by {{w|LANL}} for the {{w|U.S. Dept. of Energy}} and includes data for [https://skydot.lanl.gov/nsvs/star.php?num=14831575&mask=32004 Epsilon Eridani] that can be used to constrain the orbital parameters of ε Eri b. It may also refer to how objects in space may appear as bland, bright dots in the night sky.
|-
| {{w|Epsilon Eridani c#Planet_c|c}}
| Laser Noises
| A {{w|Laser}} does not produce {{w|Noise (electronics)|noise}} in the signal sense; it only works at a well-defined frequency. In science fiction films, however, laser weapon discharges are usually accompanied by sound ("pew pew" or the like). Sun-like Epsilon Eridani became a popular setting for science fiction after its publicity as a target of the {{w|Project Ozma}} experiment.
|-
! rowspan=2 | {{w|Gliese 176}}
| {{w|Gliese 176 b|b}}
| Pandora
| The mythological name {{w|Pandora}} fulfills most of IAU's guidelines and has been popular for planets in science fiction; most recently and famously is {{w|Pandora (Avatar)|the venue}} of James Cameron's ''{{w|Avatar (film)|Avatar}}'' (although actually it is not a planet but just a moon of a gas giant in Alfa Centauri A). It is also a hellish planet from {{w|Frank Herbert}}'s {{w|Frank Herbert bibliography#WorShip novels|WorShip}} series of novels, a jungle planet in Brothers Strugatsky's {{w|Noon Universe}} and the planet used in {{w|Borderlands (video game)|Borderlands Games}}.
|-
| [https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_176_c/ c]
| Pantera
| Named for the {{w|Pantera|heavy metal band}}, which itself was named after an Italian sports car, the {{w|De Tomaso Pantera}}.
|-
! Kepler-61
| {{w|Kepler-61b|b}}
| GoldenPalace.com
| A gambling website, known for {{w|GoldenPalace.com|paying to have their name in unusual places}} (like forehead tattoos, species names...).
|-
! colspan=4 | Right column
|-
! rowspan=3 | {{w|Upsilon Andromedae}}
| {{w|Upsilon Andromedae c|c}}
| Stampy
| Most likely a reference to [https://www.youtube.com/user/stampylonghead stampylonghead], although it could be a reference to the elephant from the {{w|Simpsons}} episode {{w|Bart Gets an Elephant}}.
|-
| {{w|Upsilon Andromedae d|d}}
| Moonchild
| The name Bastian gives the Childlike Empress in {{w|The Neverending Story}}.
|-
| {{w|Upsilon Andromedae e|e}}
| Ham Sphere
| [https://www.hamsphere.com HamSphere] is a {{w|Amateur radio|Ham Radio}} simulator program. Ham radio uses designated radio frequencies for non-commercial exchange of messages and more. A pun of Hemisphere.
|-
! rowspan=3 | {{w|. Eridani|HD 20794}}
| [https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_b/ b]
| Cosmic Sands
| style="font-family:'Comic Sans MS', 'Comic Sans'" | A {{w|pun}} on the name of the font {{w|Comic Sans}}. (See also: [[590: Papyrus/Font|590: Papyrus]].)
|-
| [https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_c/ c]
| Legoland
| {{w|Legoland}} is a chain of {{w|theme park}}s owned by the {{w|Lego Group}}.
|-
| [https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_d/ d]
| Planet with Arms
| A reference to the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160119111332/https://www.thecolorsofmysoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-Hitchhikers-Guide-to-the-Galaxy.jpg early covers] of {{w|Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}? Could also be a reference to [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/birds-with-arms "Birds with Arms" meme].
|-
! {{w|HD 85512}}
| {{w|HD 85512 b|b}}
| Lax Morality
| Possibly a parody of science fiction in which certain planets are suggested to be uniformly... lax in morals (i.e. full of sex, drugs, etc.). See https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Planetville and related.
|-
! rowspan=6 | {{w|HD 40307}}
| {{w|HD 40307 b|b}}
| Good Planet
| Similar to the above, except with good planets. May also be yet another non-descriptive name, like "Space Planet" and "Planet #14".
|-
| {{w|HD|c}}
| ProblemLand
| See above.
|-
| {{w|HD 40307 d|d}}
| Slickle
| This is a reference to "[https://archive.today/tL51w The Petals Fall Twice]", which was made as a humorous example of bad fan-fiction. The word itself is a portmanteau of "slowly", "licked", and "tickled". This may also be a reference to the Harry Potter currency, a “Sickle.”
|-
| {{w|HD 40307 e|e}}
| Spare Parts
| This suggests that the planet is "worthless" or "junk". This is false, of course. May be a reference to the fact it is a planet with nothing much different from the other planets.
|-
| {{w|HD 40307 f|f}}
| New Jersey VI
| Refers to the state of {{w|New Jersey}}; may be an insult to either.
|-
| {{w|HD|g}}
| How Do I Join the IAU
| This implies that the user "got lost" on the IAU website and thought that the "planet name suggestion" input was for general queries.
|-
! rowspan=3 | {{w|Gliese 163}}
| [https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_163_b/ b]
| Neil Tyson's Mustache
| {{w|Neil deGrasse Tyson}} is a famous American astrophysicist and science communicator who does maintain a distinguished mustache.
|-
| {{w|Gliese|c}}
| help@gmail.com
| Similar to "How Do I Join the IAU", this implies that the user confused the "planet suggestion" text box for a new email they are trying to send.
|-
| [https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_163_d/ d]
| Hair-Covered Planet
| Refers to the well-known {{w|Hairy ball theorem}} of topology.
|-
! {{w|Pi Mensae}}
| {{w|Pi Mensae b|b}}
| Moon Holder
| {{w|Jupiter}} has more than 60 discovered moons, and still counting... A planet ten times more massive ''must'' also be a Moon Holder.
|-
! {{w|HD 189733}}
| {{w|HD 189733 b|b}}
| Permadeath
| A well-characterized "{{w|Hot Jupiter}}" at a temperature range of 973 ± 33 K to 1,212 ± 11 K. The name refers to the feature of {{w|permanent death}} common in many RPGs and roguelikes. It is later mentioned in [[1276: Angular Size]].
|-
! {{w|Kepler-22}}
| {{w|Kepler-22 b|b}}
| Blue Ivy
| Blue Ivy Carter is the daughter of musicians {{w|Beyoncé}} and {{w|Jay-Z}}.
|-
! Kepler-3284
| b
| Blainsley
| A very small town in the United Kingdom, south of Edinburgh. Possibly chosen due to its insignificance?
|-
! Kepler-3255
| b
| Unicorn Thresher
| As far as we can tell, Kepler-3255b is in the vicinity of the constellation Monoceros, aka the Unicorn. Also a pun on {{w|Threshing machine|corn thresher}}.
|-
! Kepler-2418
| b
| Spherical Discworld
| {{w|The Discworld}} is the fictional setting for British author {{w|Terry Pratchett}}'s {{w|Discworld}} series of humorous fantasy novels; it consists of a large disc supported by four elephants themselves standing on top of a turtle flying through space. "Spherical Disc" would be an oxymoron.
|-
! Kepler-1686
| {{w|KOI-1686.01|b}}
| Emergency Backup Earth
| This candidate planet has an {{w|Earth Similarity Index}} of 0.89, making it one of the most habitable {{w|Kepler object of interest}}. The name suggests that it could be used as a backup in case something happened to our current planet.
|-
! Kepler-3010
| b
| Feeeoooooooop
| Possibly the onomatopoeia for something getting sucked into a black hole.
|-
! Kepler-4742
| b
| Liz
| ...Just a regular name (for a person, not a planet). Maybe a reference to the pet lizard on the Magic School Bus.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Text above the first frame of the comic:]
::August 2013:
:The International Astronomical Union
:decides to start naming exoplanets,
:and—for the first time ever—asks for
:suggestions from the general public.
:::They immediately regret this decision.
:[Ponytail is facepalming while Megan and Cueball are looking at a computer screen on a desk. Hairbun points to the screen.]
:Cueball‏‎: Can't you filter out the worst ones?
:Hairbun: This is '''''after''''' the filter!

:[Below is a table showing the list of planet names as seen on the computer screen with gray background around the edges of the table.]

:[The table is in two separate columns, but there is only headings over the left, so the right column is a direct continuation of the left. In the table it is mentioned when the right column begins. There is a small arrow pointing from the word "Planet" down to the second column of the table. The headings in the comic are not inside the table as they are here below. The text at the bottom of the left list seems to continue on below, at least the last entry is cut below the middle, although it is still easy to read. Similarly the text at the top right list, seems to continue from above, the top entry missing the very top of the text. This is as if the list is much longer and here is just shown part of the list. To further indicate this the first entry in the right list begins at "c" instead of at "b" which is else the case for all other instances.]

:[Left Columns]

:[Star] Gliese 667c
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Space Planet
::[Planet] c [Suggested Name] Pilf
::[Planet] d [Suggested Name] A Star
::[Planet] e [Suggested Name] e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;--
::[Planet] f [Suggested Name] Blogosphere
::[Planet] g [Suggested Name] Blogodrome
::[Planet] h [Suggested Name] Earth
:[Star] Tau Ceti
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Sid Meier's Tau Ceti B
::[Planet] c [Suggested Name] Giant Dog PLanet
::[Planet] d [Suggested Name] Tiny Dog Planet
::[Planet] e [Suggested Name] Phil Plainet
::[Planet] f [Suggested Name] Unicode Snowman
:[Star] Gliese 832
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Asshole Jupiter
:[Star] Gliese 581
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Waist-Deep Cats
::[Planet] c [Suggested Name] Planet #14
::[Planet] d [Suggested Name] Ballderaan
::[Planet] e [Suggested Name] Eternia Prime
::[Planet] f [Suggested Name] Taupe Mars
::[Planet] g [Suggested Name]Jelly-Filled Planet
:[Star] Epsilon Eridani
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Skydot
::[Planet] c [Suggested Name] Laser Noises
:[Star] Gliese 176
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Pandora
::[Planet] c [Suggested Name] Pantera
:[Star] Kepler-61
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Goldenpalace.com

:[End Left Columns]

:[Start Right Columns]

:[Star] Upsilon Andromidae
::[Planet] c [Suggested Name] Stampy
::[Planet] d [Suggested Name] Moonchild
::[Planet] e [Suggested Name] Ham Sphere
:[Star] HD 20794
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Cosmic Sands
::[Planet] c [Suggested Name] LegoLand
::[Planet] d [Suggested Name] Planet with Arms
:[Star] HD 85512
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Lax Morality
:[Star] HD 40307
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Good Planet
::[Planet] c [Suggested Name] Problemland
::[Planet] d [Suggested Name] Slickle
::[Planet] e [Suggested Name] Spare Parts
::[Planet] f [Suggested Name] New Jersey VI
::[Planet] g [Suggested Name] How do I Join the IAU
:[Star] Gliese 163
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Neil Tyson's Mustache
::[Planet] c [Suggested Name] Help@gmail.com
::[Planet] d [Suggested Name] Hair-Covered Planet
:[Star] Pi Mensae
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Moon Holder
:[Star] HD 189733
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Permadeath
:[Star] Kepler-22
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Blue Ivy
:[Star] Kepler-3284
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Blainsley
:[Star] Kepler-3255
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Unicorn Thresher
:[Star] Kepler-2418
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Spherical DiscWorld
:[Star] Kepler-1686
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Emergency Backup Earth
:[Star] Kepler-3010
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Feeeooooooooop
:[Star] Kepler-4742
::[Planet] b [Suggested Name] Liz

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics sharing name|Exoplanet Names 1]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball‏‎]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Exoplanets]]
[[Category:Exoplanet Names]]

3227: Creation

2026-04-04T19:08:40Z

81.179.199.253: /* Table of modes */ If it aint a table any more, retitling. Also, consistent casing for a header. ...mayve "of" could be lowercase, as a small word, but made upper so that "Modes" doesn't look quite so much like a miscapitalisation.

{{comic
| number = 3227
| date = April 1, 2026
| title = Creation
| image = creation_2x.png
| imagesize = 567x198px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This xkcd.com update introduces a variety of new reading modes which can be activated through the menu.
}}
{{series
| series = April
| number = 18
| date = April 1, 2026
| days_late =
| day_category = Wednesday
| prev_title = 3074: Push Notifications
| prev_date = April 9, 2025
| next_title =
| next_date =
}}
To experience the interactivity of the web page, visit the {{xkcd|3227|original comic}}!

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently in ROBOTIC MODE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
In this {{w|April Fool's Day}} comic, several new viewing modes have been added to the xkcd website, accessible through a {{w|drop-down list}} beneath the comic (not visible on Explain xkcd). This allows various different viewing experiences for the entire website, including older comics. Some are "normal" viewing modes, like the typical "light" and "dark" modes, but others take such things further and/or in more esoteric ways. This includes an "airplane mode" (see below) that parodies and subverts the {{w|Airplane mode|normal implementation}}.

The accompanying comic references one of the first lines of the {{w|Bible}} (Genesis 1:3), wherein God creates light. Here, though, before God has a chance to fully appreciate the work, a person on Earth immediately requests an implementation of {{w|dark mode}}. Dark mode is a feature on many websites and devices which displays text in white against a black background instead of the default black text on a white background. In low ambient light this makes for a less intense viewing experience that is easier on the eyes, so many people who spend a lot of time looking at screens prefer dark mode (whereas casual users often find light mode easier to read). On OLED screens, another benefit is that because of the primarily low brightness of the screen, less battery life is consumed, which makes it useful for those who want to be energy-efficient or extend their battery life.

This demand represents a common experience for web and app designers, who spend a lot of time creating something that looks beautiful to them, and in their particular use case, only to find when it is put out into the wild that it doesn't suit the needs of many of their actual users, who don't particularly care about the effort they've put in.

Dark mode is not usually implemented on planets,{{cn}} although one could argue that night-time is effectively Earth's "dark mode", which could have been created by God as a response to the person. (That seems likely, in fact, given that the very next words in Genesis 1:4 are "and he separated the light from the darkness".) The comic deviates somewhat from traditional Judeo-Christian theology, as in Genesis the day/night cycle was created on the first day, but humans were created on the sixth day - thus, the "dark mode" (night-time) would already have been implemented by the time humans existed. Possibly the person is actually requesting a dark mode that can be toggled at will, rather than one which occurs automatically each day.

Unlike most comics, the title text contains no jokes, but rather explains the update and gives basic instructions.

The comic credits the "Excellent Design Team", consisting of Amber, Benjamin Staffin, and Kevin who helped create the modes.

===List Of Modes===
; Light Mode
: The usual site experience. Typically, where sites have light and dark modes, light is the default option, so as to mimic ink on paper (such as printed {{w|newspaper comic strip}}s).

; Lighter Mode
: The entire web page is filtered to look {{w|Exposure (photography)#Overexposure and underexposure|overexposed}}, making colors wash out and reducing the contrast.

; Dark Mode
: A standard "white content on black background" dark mode. Specifically, Dark Mode inverts the colors of the page (which makes a {{w|Negative (photography)|colour-negative}} and then hue-rotates it by 180 degrees (to make hue return to normal, only brightness-reversed. (For example, see comic [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution|556]], with dark mode enabled, to see how the hue is maintaind.) The background of the page, normally light blue, becomes a dark blue; (near-)whites become (near-)blacks, and vice-versa, only mid-tones staying the same. This inversion makes the content of this particular comic, with the original transition from a dark pane to "let there be light" panes and the subsequent request for this very feature, particularly nonsensical, as it seems to start fully bright, then darken as God creates light.

; Darkest Mode
: Everything on the webpage turns completely black (severely 'underexposed', in effect, the opposite to "Lighter mode" but also even more extreme). The exception is the drop down menu widget, which may appear as merely a dark gray — and depending upon the browser itself, the dropped-down menu may be its 'natural' appearance when it becomes fully active — which is of course extremely helpful for navigating back out of this mode or onward onto others.

; Blurry Mode
: {{w|Blur (photographic effect)|Blurs}} the entire webpage. This is not conventionally desirable as it makes it harder to read text and interpret visuals. Whereas light and dark mode support can improve {{w|Web accessibility|accessibility}} for certain vision conditions, this mode makes already poor vision even worse.

; Grayscale Mode
: Applies a standard {{w|grayscale}}/{{w|Colorfulness#Saturation|desaturation}} conversion filter to the entire webpage. Many devices provide a grayscale mode as one of their color filter settings, which can simulate different {{w|color vision deficiencies}}. Grayscale specifically can also help improve focus by preventing colors from catching the eye and making distractions less visually appealing.

; Greyscale Mode
: Operates identically to Grayscale Mode, but also changes the spelling of "math" in the slogan at the top of the page to "maths" (to go along with the respective {{w|American and British English spelling differences|British English}} use of ''{{wiktionary|gray}}/{{wiktionary|grey}}'').

; Dorian Greyscale Mode
: Makes the webpage slowly turn grey, including darkening/fading-to-grey 'white' areas. This refers to ''{{w|The Picture of Dorian Gray}}'', in which the titular character has a portrait that slowly ages and fades out while the character stays young and handsome.

: Of note is that the surname of the titular character is "{{w|Grey (disambiguation)#People|Gray}}" (as is still common, if not dominant, in Britain), but the mode itself is named for the primary British/non-American standard English version of the word for such a hueless shade.

: No relation to the {{w|Dorian mode}}, a musical scale.

; Space Opera Mode
: Turns the entire page into a ''{{w|Star Wars}}''-style opening scroll, which loops round until you change the mode. Scrolling the mouse scrolls up or down through the page content. {{w|Space opera}} is a genre of sci-fi that ''Star Wars'' falls under.

; 3D Mode
: Makes the comic render in {{w|Anaglyph 3D|anaglyphic stereoscopy}}. [[Randall]] has used 3D space before for [[848|another joke comic]].

; Origami Mode
: Rotates and folds various pieces of the webpage, as if it were {{w|origami}}-folded.

; Ink Mode
: Recolors the webpage as if drawn in blue ink, which is often used for the initial roughing-out of a drawing.

; Spring Mode
: Gives the comic a simple physics simulation, making it slightly rotate around an axis when the page is scrolled, and giving it a {{w|springboard}} look, hence the name. The axis around which the page precesses is perpendicular to the axis the user scrolls on. This means that when the page is scrolled vertically (the usual direction), the comic wobbles around a horizontal axis, but when scrolled horizontally (if your screen size or zoom allows it), the comic precesses about the vertical axis.

; Antipodes Mode
: Turns the entire webpage upside down. An {{w|antipodes|antipode}} is the point on the Earth's surface directly opposite of another, but "The Antipodes" is also a term used to refer to {{w|Australia}} and {{w|New Zealand}} by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere. Note: When the comic was first published this was labeled "Southern Hemisphere Mode".

; Hacker Mode
: Recolors the entire webpage in the stereotypical green-on-black coding environment color scheme often used by {{w|hacker}}s on film and TV. This visual shorthand is a holdover from early {{w|monochrome monitor}}s that used P1 phosphor. (Modern terminal software has no such limitations, and many programmers today use {{w|syntax highlighting}} to color-code operators and keywords.)

; Screensaver Mode
: Makes the comic float around on the webpage, bouncing as it hits the edges. A common type of {{w|screensaver}} has some text or other element drifting around the screen in this way. Many people ended up watching such screensavers, waiting for the bouncing graphic to hit the corner of the screen. Like with Hacker Mode, there is an element of nostalgia to this; screensavers are less necessary on modern LCD screens, so fewer setups use them.

; Modem Mode
: Slowly reveals the comic from top to bottom, as if slowly loading (but [[598: Porn|only in approximation]]) the way images often used to have to be progressively rendered from a low-rate stream of image data in the days of more limited dial-up connections and also a lower-performance {{w|Internet backbone}} in general. This is accompanied by audio of the sound of a {{w|modem}} communicating over such a connection. NB - this mode does not appear to function correctly/reliably for some viewers.

; Stained Glass Mode
: Fills each closed area of the comic with a separate color to mimic the look of {{w|stained glass}} imagery. The colors vary each time this mode is selected or the page is reloaded in this mode, which works by flooding a single pseudorandom hue over all areas of near-white, each flood bounded only by any sufficiently dark or saturated drawn line/border.

; Airplane Mode
: Makes the comic fly around on the page, with the {{w|onomatopoeia}} "NYOOM!" written next to it, as if it were an {{w|airplane}}. This is unlike the usual use of {{w|airplane mode}} to refer to disabling the cellphone (or all {{w|radio frequency}}) features of a mobile device, as required on most flights. Of course, the website's "Airplane Mode" does no such thing, and would be pointless to enable on an airplane.{{cn}}

; Boat Mode
: Makes the entire webpage tilt back and forth, emulating the way a boat rolls on the water. While [[165: Turn Signals|extremely unlikely]], this could theoretically counteract the rocking motion of a boat, stabilizing the page content. In practice, it is unlikely to help with {{w|seasickness}}. (As of 2024, some smart devices started offering a "vehicle motion cues" feature that is meant to reduce motion sickness, although it is designed for road vehicles rather than watercraft.)

: This mode is a reference to the longstanding mention of a Boat Mode in the [[footnote]], which says "Remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode".

==Transcript==
:[Black background with white caption boxes.]
:Caption: And God said,
:Caption:"Let there be light,"

:[A bright explosion of light from a star in the center, with a white caption box.]
:Caption: And there was light.

:[The star with bright rays of light is shown against the horizon of a planet.]
:[The same planet horizon is shown with a clear sky above.]
:Caption: God saw that the light was-
:Voice from the planet: Can you add support for dark mode?

<noinclude>{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:April Fools' Day comics]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Comics with custom header texts]]
</noinclude>

587: Crime Scene

2026-04-04T18:58:33Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ Rationalised the wikilink, per site style.

{{comic
| number = 587
| date = May 22, 2009
| title = Crime Scene
| image = crime_scene.png
| titletext = I think I see a Mandelbrot set! No, that's just blood spatters. Golly.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Mathnet}} was a segment on the children's television show ''{{w|Square One Television}}'', where police mathematicians solved crimes and other mysteries by math. It parodies the {{w|Dragnet (1951 TV series)|''Dragnet'' TV show}} (and {{w|Dragnet (radio series)|earlier radio drama}}) about the {{w|Los Angeles Police Department}} (LAPD). This comic plays on that by implying that Mathnet was a real department of the LAPD, and that when the show was cancelled and the department was shut down its mathematicians were forced to become regular detectives.

Here, George Frankly, one of the two lead detectives on the show (a parody of ''Dragnet'' character Frank Smith), observes a murder scene along with another officer. His fellow officer, knowing him, tries to tell him off by saying that it is just '''two''' dead bodies. As a mathematician, George is constantly looking for potential patterns in the data. However, in this instance there are no obvious mathematical patterns, yet George nonetheless tries to look for one and observes that "two" is the third {{w|Fibonacci number}}. Since several small numbers are in the Fibonacci sequence, the fact that the number of bodies is one of these numbers is not the least interesting. This might be a reference to {{w|Strong law of small numbers|the law of small numbers}}. The other officer tries to shut him down, discouraging this unhelpful line of thought.

The title text shows that this may not have helped since George now thinks he can see a {{w|Mandelbrot set}}, but he does quickly realizes that it was just blood splatters. The Mandelbrot set is a formula used to create certain kinds of fractals that you might imagine seeing in the something like blood spatters. The last word ''[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/golly Golly]'' is in response to George realizing he is seeing blood spatters - something he probably never did before on the children show.

The second comic [[586: Mission to Culture|in a row]] (and [[572: Together|third]] in 16 comics) where a man is drawn with hair only on the sides of his head.

==Transcript==
:[A crime scene is surrounded by tape wound around several pins four of which are inside this panel. A large black pool is on the ground, with splashes around it, and a hammer lying in one of these splashes. Two people are standing outside the tape; a police officer with a peaked cap with a white emblem is standing closest and to his left is a man with male pattern baldness, who we learn is called George.]
:Policeman: Looks like a murder-suicide.
:George: Any interesting mathematical patterns?
:Policeman: No, George, just two dead bodies and a lot of blood.
:George: Two... That's the third Fibonacci number!
:Policeman: Not now, George.

:[Caption below the frame:]
:When Mathnet shut down, the officers had trouble reintegrating into the regular L.A.P.D.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]

3228: Day Counter

2026-04-03T22:13:01Z

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3228
| date = April 3, 2026
| title = Day Counter
| image = day_counter_2x.png
| imagesize = 319x287px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It has been −2,147,483,648 days since our last integer overflow.
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete|This page was created -.000000000000000032 days ago. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

A common feature of an industrial setting is a prominent sign announcing how many days have elapsed since the last workplace accident. The sign is typically updated each day to a number one higher — or back to zero, if there ''has'' been an accident. Such signs are intended to foster a culture of safety among the workers in the facility, since presumably no one wants to suffer the embarrassment of being the one to have caused an accident that resets the number to 0.

In this comic, a similar sign highlights the number of days since the last floating-point error. Floating-point errors occur because most computers can devote only a finite amount of storage for each {{w|Floating-point arithmetic|floating point number}} or other fraction. However, many {{w|real numbers}} and {{w|rational numbers}} theoretically require an infinite number of digits to represent them. For example, the ordinary fraction ⅓ is represented in decimal as 0.3333333333…, where the 3's repeat forever. When a number is truncated to fit in the finite amount of space, precision is inevitably lost, resulting in a slight rounding error. Unless carefully controlled, these rounding errors can accumulate, significantly degrading the accuracy of floating-point computations. For example, although ⅓ + ⅓ + ⅓ should obviously equal 1, a finite-precision calculation like 0.333 + 0.333 + 0.333 might show a misleading result of 0.999, which might not trigger the code to do what it should do when three thirds have been accumulated (it can be mitigated by allowing a match for a value which is within a suitably very small difference to the test value, but this must be considered carefully to not be over-/under-sensitive). The amount of required space for rational numbers is not universal, it depends on the base used (⅓ in base 3 requires just two digits: 0.1). Floating point arithmetic standards, like the popular IEEE 754, define how and when an approximation should take place, leading to predictable results, but they don't respect some basic properties of common arithmetic operations, which someone may take for granted, e.g. in floating point arithmetic addition and multiplication are commutative (a+b=b+a; a*b=b*a), but aren't guaranteed to be associative ((a+b)+c≈a+(b+c)); (a*b)*c≈a*(b*c)).

This issue is exacerbated on computers which use binary arithmetic (i.e., virtually all computers today), since in binary, the ordinary fraction 1/10 is represented as the infinitely-repeating base-2 fraction <tt>0.000110011001100110011</tt>…. A classic example is that, depending on circumstances, the calculation 0.1 + 0.2 might [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/588004/is-floating-point-math-broken seem to give an answer of 0.30000001].

Evidently, in the programming facility shown in the comic, a floating-point error has occurred today, and an attempt has been made to update the sign to say "It has been 0 days since...". But the number 0 is displayed incorrectly, as the very small negative number −0.00000000000000044. Perhaps the error that was made today was the very error that occurred in updating the sign! (This would of course violate {{w|causality}}, but in comedy, self-referential humor beats causality every time, and is at least self-consistent, like with [[363: Reset]])

As an example of how the number −0.00000000000000044 could have arisen when 0 was intended, consider this simple {{w|C (programming language)|C}} program:

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
double d = 19;
for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) d -= 1.9;
printf("%.17f\n", d);
}

The program starts with the number 19, and subtracts 1.9 from it, ten times. Mathematically, we would expect the result to be 0. However, the number 1.9 cannot be represented exactly in binary, nor can the intermediate results 17.1, 15.2, 13.3, etc. The cascading roundoff errors conspire to produce a result of −0.00000000000000044 instead of the expected 0.

In the comic, such an error creates the ridiculous illusion that −0.00000000000000044 days have passed, which implies a 'negative' number of days, which is impossible{{cn}}. It also, even if it was a positive number, would mean that much less than a nanosecond had passed since the last error, which would be an unfeasably short amount of time. Of course, the joke is that in making the sign showing the amount of time since a floating point error was last made, they are creating a floating point error, meaning the sign is invalid. Also, if they tried to reset the sign, they might make the same error again, repeating the cycle over & over, which would not be ideal.

Coincidentally enough, [[Cueball]] is also floating — off his seat in this case. The seat itself looks the same as the chair in [[2144]], possibly meaning making people levitate is one of its numerous settings.

Floating point errors are particularly common in programming, especially in languages that implicitly convert decimal numbers to binary floating point, so an approximation is already made at conversion leading to unexpected results. The title text cites another common programming problem, integer overflow. When a value gets bigger than the biggest integer that can be represented in a certain format, it typically "wraps around" to the smallest value. In case of 32-bit signed integers it may wrap from 231−1 (2,147,483,647) to −231 (−2,147,483,648). 2,147,483,647 days from the comic's date of publication (April 3rd, 2026) is approximately October 12th of the year 5,881,636, assuming no changes in the lengths of the day and year, or in other aspects of time measurement.

Strangely enough, when the comic was first published the sign number was −0.00000000000000017 days. It was changed later though, for unknown reasons.

Integer overflow was the topic of [[571: Can't Sleep]], with yet another example of a 'days since' sign being [[3140: Biology Department]] (two examples, in both the comic and its title text).

==Transcript==
[White Hat, Ponytail, Cueball, and Megan are all below a large sign. White Hat and Ponytail appear to be discussing something, while Cueball is sitting at his desk working on a laptop and Megan is walking away. The sign has text on it, as well as a large display presumably meant to show a number.]

:[Sign:] It has been
:[Display:] -0.00000000000000044
:[Sign:] days since our last floating point error

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>[[Category:Interactive comics]][[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:3228: Day Counter

2026-04-03T21:58:33Z

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