explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

User talk:CRLF

2022-06-01T00:05:00Z

CRLF:

== You should be an admin ==

You deserve to be an admin after all your decrappification work, especially that script. It's too bad that the crapper abused it, but that doesn't lessen the importance of your work at all. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.128|172.70.131.128]] 02:11, 29 May 2022 (UTC)
:Meh, I don't think that makes sense; adminship isn't an "achievement" or something that's deserved for good work, more something that's necessitated. And I don't see the need for my gaining the tools right now. [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 00:05, 1 June 2022 (UTC)

User talk:CRLF

2022-05-26T19:34:33Z

CRLF: Undo revision 282492 by Donald Trump (talk)

User talk:Natg19

2022-05-26T18:09:02Z

CRLF: /* Thank you */ new section

==[[2185: Cumulonimbus]]==
Hi Natg19.<br> I removed the categories you added. <br>Science, because I do not think naming of clouds to be science. <br>But the other one, Weather, I removed because that category does not exist. <br>But I'm not against creating such a category. But then you should put in the work, finding a list of other comics (and other categories) that would go into this category, and also create the category page with the usual minor details that is in such a page. <br>See for instance [[:Category:Tornadoes]]. That would go into a weather category. But should it just be called Weather? Or should it be Weather phenomenon or something else? If you are interested I'm willing to help with the details of the category page, if you are willing to find at least 10 other weather comics, that are not already in a category like Tornadoes or [[:Category:Hurricanes]] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:19, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
:Weather (or meteorology?) could be a usefull category, with the subcategories of e.g. Hurricanes/Tornadoes. Other canidates for comics include obviously [[1324: Weather]] and [[2185: Cumulonimbus]] but also [[831: Weather Radar]], [[1245: 10-Day Forecast]], [[1434: Where Do Birds Go]], [[260: The Glass Necklace]], [[1321: Cold]], [[1119: Undoing]]. There should either be a direct connection to [[:Category:Climate change]] or it should be somehow merged to a category for climate. my 2 cents. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:56, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
::I like the idea of a category called meteorology. Which could include anything with weather with subcategories for storms of any kind... Complicated with climate change category. Weather is not climate change. That is one of the problems with climate change deniers, that they look at the weather not the climate! (PS added a ":" before the category in the climate change link, else it will not be a link but will add this page to the category! ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:43, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
::: I would also add [[511: Sleet]], [[748: Worst-Case Scenario]], [[1026: Compare and Contrast]], [[1304: Glass Trolling]], [[1606: Five-Day Forecast]], [[2026: Heat Index]] to this meteorology category. I agree that the Hurricanes and Tornadoes page could be subcategories of this category. [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 17:23, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
:::I'm unable to create the details of the category, I do not have permissions to create the page. [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 17:24, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
::::I think we should make such a category. I will do it if we can find a good name. I think Weather is maybe a bit too weak a name. But maybe Meteorology is too much? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:47, 8 August 2019 (UTC)
:::::[https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/weather The saurus] doesn't give other good ideas on this one. I'd vote for weather, as with meteorology typos will be common, and also it will always be discussed, wether or not the comic tackles the topic scientific enough. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:04, 8 August 2019 (UTC)
::::::I tend to agree. I will create the [[:Category:Weather]] then, and add a few. I hope you two will add those you have suggested. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:11, 9 August 2019 (UTC)
::::::PS Should Climate change be a part of this, or is this precisely not Weather? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:24, 9 August 2019 (UTC)
:::::::I can see Lupo added his comics to the category. I added also those not yet on the list from Natg19. Except the one about worst-case scenarios, that one I added to the hurricane category. comics belonging to a sub category should only be listed under the other if other particular weather phenomenon is also part of that comic. I have also added a paragraph under both the Weather and Climate change categories, stating that they are not related. Weather is what you see outside right now, Climate is what happens over years. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:39, 9 August 2019 (UTC)

== Thank you ==

for cleaning up my misfires.. seems I somehow reverted some twice. [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 18:09, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

2572: Alien Observers

2022-05-26T18:08:20Z

CRLF: Undo revision 280600 by CRLF (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2572
| date = January 24, 2022
| title = Alien Observers
| image = alien_observers.png
| titletext = ALERT: Human 910-25J-1Q38 has created a Youtube channel. Increase erratic jerkiness of flying by 30% until safely out of range.
}}
*This was the seventh comic to come out after the [[Countdown in header text]] started.

==Explanation==
This strip depicts a group of aliens observing earth, and discussing their "restricted flight zone", which they appear to change each time a human acquires a more powerful camera.

This comic was followed directly by [[2573: Alien Mission]], where aliens use similar looking flying-saucer type spacecrafts to observe Earth. It is not specifically stated that these two form a series, but the next comic could be seen as a direct follow up to the this one, indicating that the aliens are the same in the two comics. Just 7 comics later [[2579: Tractor Beam]] also used similar spacecraft.

Both strips are based on {{w|UFO conspiracy theories}}, which are common in the US and a number of other countries. It is often claimed that {{w|Unidentified Flying Objects}} seen in the sky are, in fact, extraterrestrial space craft, visiting earth for various reasons. Reports of such sightings have existed for a long time, and ever since cameras became widely available, photographs (and later videos) have been produced which are claimed to show such flying vessels. Almost invariably, these images are sufficiently distant, blurry, or otherwise obscured as to make any kind of detailed identification impossible - they could not be ''Unidentified'' Flying Objects if it were possible to identify them!

This strip lampoons such ideas by positing that aliens are real, but deliberately maintain a distance such that no clear photographs can be taken. While this concept might seem initially plausible, it doesn't stand up to examination. Over the past several decades, cameras have become far more common, with most of the population of many countries [[1235:_Settled|carrying cameras every waking moment]] (and even sleeping with those same cameras within reach). At the same time, cameras available to the average consumer have dramatically increased in resolution and zooming capabilities. The same shot that resulted in blurry and vague photographs in early digital photography could result in much more detailed images today, and also overcome many of the pitfalls associated with 'analogue' photography without sufficient skill and/or bulky equipment. What's more, the cameras owned by individual consumers have a wide range of resolutions and other capabilities, meaning that an image that would show little detail from one person's camera could result in highly detailed photograph if someone else took a picture. The fact that improving camera technology has not resulted in improved images of these supposed vessels is an impossibly weak point in these conspiracy theories.

The humorous premise of the strip is that these aliens are real, and are monitoring earth, but are taking deliberate actions to keep evidence of their presence ambiguous. To do this, they would need to not only monitor what camera technology exists on earth, but the exact type of camera each individual owns, and maintain their flights right at the outer visual limit of those cameras. Such information would need to be implausibly detailed, and constantly updated, because technology is constantly improving and people are constantly getting new phones with new cameras. Part of the joke is that the aliens would have to know the visual range of our cameras, but instead of remaining safely outside of it (so that no pictures of their vessels could be taken at all), they stay close enough to be seen, but never close enough for detailed images.

In a broader sense, this strip addresses the same issue as previous strips, such as [[718: The Flake Equation]] and [[1235: Settled]], in which the phenomenon of UFO sightings/reports is still left not resolved (either way) despite what modern technology should suggest is possible. The suggestion is that this trend either means that {{tvtropes|SufficientlyAdvancedAlien|sufficiently advanced aliens}} are deliberately leaving ambiguous evidence of their presence, or that no such alien visitors are here, and the purported evidence is either faked, or misinterpretations of other phenomena. It's pretty clear which explanation [[Randall]] favors.

In the title text, the aliens note that one particular human now has a YouTube account, meaning they are likely to record video instead of attempting to capture still images. This means that the alien craft used to create the sighting must behave as erratically as possible, in order to avoid being identified. This relates to the often wildly oscillating (as well as blurry) films and videos of 'UFOs' that have been taken by the impromptu human observer beyond the limit of their ability to hold their fully-zoomed camera steady. Here it is explained as the flying saucers ''actually'' moving in an improbably jerky manner to prevent detailed recording of their craft. Further briefings of the sort depicted would doubtless accompany upgrades in optical/digital-stability features or the purchase of a camera tripod.

The identifier for the one buying the phone begins with "Human 38XT11". This seems likely to be a reference to {{w|THX 1138}} as this was the title of {{w|George Lucas}}'s first film, which is also {{w|THX_1138#Etymology_and_references|referenced}} in the original {{w|Star Wars (film)|Star Wars}} film. The name contains the number in reverse, as well as the letters, if "human" could be written as H.

==Transcript==
:[Three aliens are looking at a screen. They each have six tentacles, of which four are used as legs, and the other two can be used as arms. They also have a small mouth and two eye stalks with a large eye at the end of each. The eyes has large eyelashes all the way around. One of the aliens is standing to the left of the screen, pointing to it by raising one of its tentacles. The other two aliens stand to the right of the screen looking at the picture. The screen's image depicts a cross-sectional diagram showing two humans in a rough landscape. There is a shaded area above each of the humans and the terrain. The shaded area's boundary consists of arcs of differing sizes centered upon each human. To the left of the first human there is also a small straight area over the ground. To the left of this towards the edge of the screen, what appears to be an arc with a very large radius that begins and rises high up compared to the other two arcs, around a point beyond the on-screen image's edge. The rightmost human's zone has a dashed region between concentric radii of different sizes indicating that this zone has been revised further out than before. Four flying-saucer like spaceships are shown in the air close to, but above, the shaded areas. One high near the left curve, one over the flat area, one near the intersection between the two small arcs and one over the middle of the right arc.]
:Left Alien: Human 38XT11-B-C54  just bought a new phone with a 10x zoom, so we have to expand our restricted flight zone by 1,800 meters to keep our ship blurry.
:Right Alien 2: Seriously? Didn't they '''''just''''' upgrade?
:Left Alien: I know, I know...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The hardest part of being an alien observing Earth is keeping track of what cameras everyone has.

==Trivia==
* The aliens depicted here appear to be the same lifeforms as seen in the bottom row of [[2359: Evidence of Alien Life]].
* They also have similarities to the illustration in the [[what if]] ''{{what if|20|Diamond}}''.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]

1371: Brightness

2022-05-26T18:07:45Z

CRLF: Undo revision 280622 by CRLF (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1371
| date = May 21, 2014
| title = Brightness
| image = brightness.png
| titletext = Recently, some exoplanet astronomers have managed to use careful analysis of reflected light to discover Earth during the day.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Exoplanets}} are planets outside of our solar system, and exoplanet astronomers are astronomers who attempt to discover and study such planets.

[[Megan]] is using a common exoplanet {{w|Exoplanet#Indirect_methods|discovery technique}} to discover a planet around a nearby star. When a planet passes between an observing astronomer and a star, the planet will block some tiny part of the light coming from that star, causing it to appear dimmer for some amount of time. The {{w|Kepler (spacecraft)|Kepler telescope}} used this technique to find evidence for exoplanets.

But here Megan is standing on the surface of the Earth at night, looking at the ground, and therefore presumably looking in the direction of the sun. By observing that it is completely occluded at night, she correctly concludes that the Sun is orbited by at least one planet: the Earth. This is obviously an absurd usage of that method. Reasons include the fact that exoplanets are not big enough to block out all of their stars' light when seen from Earth{{Citation needed}}, making what Megan says a massive understatement, and that the period of the brightness oscillations would correspond to the length of a day, not a year as it would for exoplanets.

The title text alludes to using more complicated techniques to observe light reflected by small planets like the Earth, for example by detecting {{w|Methods of detecting exoplanets#Polarimetry|polarized light}} reflected from the planet's atmosphere. In some sense, observing the light that reflects off of the Earth during the day is in fact how we see everything around us. It also implies that astronomers, who because of their career choice are more likely to work at night, might be completely unaware of Earth's existence in the daytime and thus surprised to "discover" it from their nighttime work.

==Transcript==
:[A black panel with white text and a white Megan who is standing staring at the ground.]
:Megan: Based on this decrease in the star's brightness, I believe it is orbited by at least one planet.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Exoplanet astronomers at night

==Trivia==
*The title text may also be a reference to [[1231: Habitable Zone]] where an astronomer is messed up by someone who puts a mirror in front of the telescope.
*More details at: {{w|Methods of detecting exoplanets}}.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Exoplanets]]

1524: Dimensions

2022-05-26T18:07:37Z

CRLF: Undo revision 280591 by CRLF (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1524
| date = May 13, 2015
| title = Dimensions
| image = dimensions.png
| titletext = I would say time is definitely one of my top three favorite dimensions.
}}

==Explanation==
This cartoon is a romantic musing about time, and how even though we may not always realize it the progression of time is one of the better things in life.

To accurately describe the world requires at minimum three spatial dimensions and the fourth dimension, time. The spatial dimensions don't necessarily have to be the familiar Cartesian system (Forward/backward, Right/Left, Up/Down), but can be described in many ways (like the spherical or cylindrical system). In spite of the fact that we are being pushed around the universe by being on Earth, we can exercise some control over these spatial dimensions by moving, and therefore our trajectory through these dimensions is not inexorable (impossible to stop). As we only can go one direction in time and have no way of changing the speed, we also are figuratively being pushed through time, and this movement is inexorable.

[[Cueball]] sits under a tree un-moving with [[Megan]] simply enjoying the passage of time and says, "Of the four dimensions I could have spent my life being pushed inexorably forward through, I guess "time" isn't the worst." All of this amounts to an unusually erudite way for Cueball to say he feels content with how his life has turned out, despite the natural doubts one has as they get older.

In the title text, Cueball then continues to muse about his favorite dimensions and places time in his top three dimensions. This means that one of the three spatial dimensions must be his least favorite. Though it is impossible to determine how he defines his favorite dimensions, as dimensions can be defined somewhat arbitrarily, they likely are length, height, and time as comics only use these three (time being represented by panels). Since {{what if|64|rising steadily}} and {{what if|135|digging downward}} are both pretty lethal, one could assume that Randall's least favorite dimension is up/down. (See also the ''one of my favorite halves'' comment in [[1556: The Sky]]) This could also be a reference to [[1190: Time]].

Previously Randall has made a comic about a man who was pushed sideways — so he was pushed both through time and fell sideways: [[417: The Man Who Fell Sideways]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting up against a tree, Megan lies with her hands behind her neck in front him under the foliage of the tree.]
:Cueball: Of the four dimensions I could have spent my life being pushed inexorably forward through, I guess "time" isn't the worst.

==Trivia==
Interestingly, [[Randall]] has already, back in the December 2014 issue of Wired magazine, published the [http://www.wired.com/2014/11/xkcd-guide-to-dimensions/ xkcd guide to dimensions] where the main part of this comic was already used in panel 9 out of 20. This issue of Wired magazine was about multiple dimensions, and Randall's section is about imagining higher dimension. The article is a mix of xkcd-style comics and captions explaining them. The panel in question show Cueball saying, "Of '''all the''' dimensions I could have spent my life being pushed inexorably through, I guess "time" isn't the worst." (the only difference being that "all the" has been changed to "the four" in this comic). In panel 15 of the Wired comic series, Randall considers how dimensions can be represented in a two-dimensional comic strip: a character moving within a panel represents movement in space but movement from panel to panel represents movement in time.

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

1519: Venus

2022-05-26T18:07:28Z

CRLF: Undo revision 280445 by Vandalbane (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1519
| date = May 1, 2015
| title = Venus
| image = venus.png
| titletext = The sudden introduction of Venusian flowers led to an explosive growth of unusual Earth pollinators, which became known as the "butterfly effect."
}}

==Explanation==
[[Miss Lenhart]] is [[#Trivia|teaching]] a class on science about the planet {{w|Venus}}.

In the first panel, we see her teaching the history of Venus. Venus may have had water on its surface billions of years ago, but if that's true all hydrogen since then was eventually lost due to dissociation. However, there is no evidence that Venus ever had fields of flowers, or Venusians, or any other form of life.

The {{w|runaway greenhouse effect}} on the second panel is a play on words. While the term normally refers to a rapid rise in temperature caused by greenhouse gases, Miss Lenhart uses the term literally and claims the existence of sentient greenhouses that actually ran away. In reality, the effect caused Venus to develop a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide, which raised its temperature above to approx. 460 °C (860 °F), hotter than daytime on Mercury. This eventually destroyed all evidence of anything that had been on the surface of Venus billions of years ago.

The third panel ties the previous distortion of Miss Lenhart into the very real {{w|Tulip mania|historic reputation}} of the Netherlands as {{w|Netherlands#Agriculture|flower growers}} and as a further fabrication by Miss Lenhart the Dutch flower industry was in fact started by the Venusians.

In the final panel we learn that she is a month away from retirement and doesn't care about relaying accurate information anymore. She just wants to have a laugh at the expense of the naive school children. Although it is clear that [[Science Girl]] in the front row was not fooled.

The title text jokes about the {{w|butterfly effect}}, the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in Japan can cause a Tornado in the U.S.. In this case the {{w|Butterfly|butterflies}} would just help pollinate the flowers. The butterfly effect is a term coined by {{w|Edward Norton Lorenz}} who had the comic [[1350: Lorenz]] named after him due to its chaotic nature.

Although Miss Lenhart was supposed to retire a month after this comic she seems to return a year later for a math course at university level, in [[1724: Proofs]], where she continues the trend from this class. It is probable that she retired from a primary or secondary school teaching position, likely to collect a pension, before taking a side job at a university/college level.

==Transcript==
:[Miss Lenhart is standing in front of an image depicting a section of a temperate Venus' surface, with greenhouses, grass, flowers and a river flowing into a sea.]
:Miss Lenhart: Venus was once temperate. It had seas and rivers, and Venusians cultivated vast fields of beautiful flowers.

:[The image now shows the entirety of Venus, with continents and oceans. The greenhouses appear to be fleeing from Venus.]
:Miss Lenhart: Until their greenhouses fled the planet due to the runaway greenhouse effect.

:[Miss Lenhart is shown to be standing in front of a classroom. Science Girl is sitting in the front row.]
:Miss Lenhart: The Venusians pursued their greenhouses to Earth, settling in the Netherlands and kickstarting the Dutch floral industry. Any questions?

:Off-panel student (presumably Science Girl): Because you're retiring in a month, do you just not care what you say anymore?
:Miss Lenhart: ''What?!'' I '''''ride the skies''''' atop a screaming bird of truth! Also, yes, I do not.

==Trivia==
*It is not directly mentioned that it is Miss Lenhart teaching, but her looks and profession fits this character well enough to make this deduction.
*Similarly, the girl knowing she is being cheated fits the description of [[Science Girl]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Space]]

1580: Travel Ghost

2022-05-26T18:07:20Z

CRLF: Undo revision 280620 by CRLF (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1580
| date = September 21, 2015
| title = Travel Ghost
| image = travel_ghosts.png
| titletext = And a different ghost has replaced me in the bedroom.
}}

==Explanation==
In {{w|Racing video game|racing game}}, a "{{w|Time attack#Video games|ghost}}" is a common term for the recording of a player's best actions. The recording is used to create a virtual racer that another player can compete against. The previous player is shown as ghostly and transparent, because it is only a recording of a previous game and it does not interact in any way with the game currently being played. Certain models of cycling also use this concept to motivate athletes while training.

A mapping app, such as {{w|Google Maps (mobile application)|Google Maps}}, attempts to plot the fastest route from one place to another, but there's no way to tell which route is really the fastest without testing it. So, [[Cueball]] has created an app that will simulate a number of different routes and produce "ghosts" from them. He hopes to use this app to discover the fastest route by competing against his ghosts like a racing game. He brags about this app to his friend [[White Hat]].

However, the comic takes a turn for the absurd when it depicts ''actual'' ghosts competing with him, instead of simulations on his phone. Soon enough, he is fired from work because one of his "ghosts" is more punctual than he is. And even worse his children apparently comes to prefer the more punctual "ghosts" over him as this version of daddy never misses their games. (The girls could be the same as those in the [[1659: Tire Swing]]).

In the title text this is even taken into the bedroom, although it is a different ghost than the one preferred by the children. This is likely a subtle reference to euphemisms for sexual climax, such as "arrival", with delayed ejaculation generally preferred.

It should be noted that this app would not guarantee the minimum travel time. The user doesn't find out which route was fastest until after the first ghost has arrived. But as the current traffic situation will have changed by then, that route will not necessarily still be the fastest.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, holding a smartphone, is talking to White Hat.]
:Cueball: Lots of apps let you plan your trips using real-time bus, train, and traffic data. They try to predict which route will be faster, but aren't always right.

:[Cueball continues to talk off-panel. The text is above a map showing three possible routes with an overlaid Cueball on each; the top and the bottom route and Cueball are faded and the middle is black up until the black Cueball. After that this route is also faded. A black point on the right indicates the destination.]
:Cueball (off-panel): Instead of just '''''planning''''', my new app lets you send "ghost" versions of you along different routes, simulating their travel using the real-time data

:[Cueball, again talking to White Hat, holding the smartphone down.]
:Cueball: That way, you can see which route turned out to be faster in practice,
:Cueball: You can also race your past selves.

:[Cueball is getting out of his car holding his smartphone in one hand and a briefcase in the other; A faded out Cueball bicyclist is in front of him to the right. At the top there is a caption in a frame:
:Soon...
:Cueball: Ugh, lost to the bike ghost ''again.''

:[Cueball with his briefcase is outside a door, holding a key card up to a key reader. On the inside of the door Ponytail is facing the door and points toward the faded version of Cueball also holding a briefcase.]
:Cueball: Hey, my key won't work
:Ponytail: I'm sorry, but we've decided to replace you. This floaty guy is much more punctual.
:Cueball: But...

:[Science Girl and another girl with wavy long hair, is holding faded out Cueball's hands. The real Cueball is standing to the right, next to his briefcase on the ground. He is holding his hands out towards his kids.]
:Science Girl: Our ''new'' dad never misses our games!
:Cueball: ''Nooo!''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

1629: Tools

2022-05-26T18:07:14Z

CRLF: Undo revision 280592 by CRLF (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1629
| date = January 13, 2016
| title = Tools
| image = tools.png
| titletext = I make tools for managing job-hunting sites for people who make tools for managing job-hunting sites for people who make tools for...
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] asks [[Megan]] what she does, and she begins by answering "I make tools that make tools." So far, this is a common expression of the way a sophisticated technology is built on simple building blocks, with one set of tools used to build a more powerful set of tools, and so on.

However, the iterations are carried to comical lengths, with Megan spending twenty minutes reeling off various steps including development of software code and software code debugging and development tools. And she is not even finished when Cueball breaks into her endless list after she once again says ''tools for'' by asking ''what is it for?'' (See also: [[1579: Tech Loops]]).

Megan readily admits that she doesn't even know the goal of these tasks, and guesses that it is probably for porn, referencing the not-entirely-unfounded stereotype that {{tvtropes|TheInternetIsForPorn|the majority of internet traffic is pornographic websites}}. Knowing that many information technologies, from printing to computers, are quickly adopted by porn producers and distributors, this is not a bad guess on Megan's part. Further, many internet related advances have had their way paved by a porn industry that needed secure and secret payments options, and better bandwidth for downloading films, as well as making it more accessible, etc.

In the title text there is a recursion as someone (maybe Cueball) tells what they do. And in this case they make tools for managing job-hunting sites for people who make tools for managing job-hunting sites for people who make tools for ... (ad infinitum). See also other [[:Category:Recursion|comics about Recursion]].

Regarding porn in xkcd see also [[305: Rule 34]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball talks to Megan.]
:Cueball: What do you do?
:Megan: I make tools that make tools

:[Megan continues talking to Cueball in this frameless image.]
:Megan: ...That monitor code that deploys tools that build tools for deploying monitors...

:[Cueball finally stops Megan from talking. At the top there is a small frame with a caption overlaid on the top frame:]
:20 minutes later...
:Megan: ...For monitoring deployment of tools for-
:Cueball: But what's it all '''''for?'''''
:Megan: Honestly, no idea. Porn, probably.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Recursion]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Sex]]

1714: Volcano Types

2022-05-26T18:07:04Z

CRLF: Undo revision 280616 by CRLF (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1714
| date = August 1, 2016
| title = Volcano Types
| image = volcano_types.png
| titletext = It's hard living somewhere with antlions, because every time you find one of their traps, you feel compelled to spend all day constructing a tiny model of Jabba's sail barge next to it.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic presents a table of 12 different types of volcano. Split into 3 rows, the first 4 are authentic types of volcano; while the remaining 8 are parodies, one not even trying to represent a volcano but shows a real animal in its inverted trap cone.

Volcanoes have featured in many xkcd comics, [[media:1608 Entire Volcano plateau zoom out_extra.png|most prominently]] in the left part of the world (the Lord of the Rings section) of [[1608: Hoverboard]]. This comic's volcano looks like it could soon turn into a Somma volcano.

===Real volcanoes===
*{{w|Cinder cone}}: small, steep-sided volcano formed of {{w|scoria}} and ash.
*{{w|Shield volcano}}: wide, rounded volcano formed of solidified lava flow.
*{{w|Stratovolcano}}: large volcano formed of layers (strata) from multiple eruptions.
*{{w|Somma volcano}}: new volcanic cone in the middle of an old collapsed volcanic crater.

===Joke volcanoes===
*Metasomma volcano: nested layers of somma volcanos i.e. a whole set of new volcanoes (three in this situation) formed inside of old ones. "Meta" is a prefix that often denotes recursion. (Although this is a joke volcano, metasomma volcanoes do actually exist in real life, with one example being the {{w|Krakatoa}} group in Indonesia.)
*{{w|Waffle cone}}: type of pastry that ice cream is served in, related to volcano cones only insofar as they are the same shape, but typically the waffle cones are turned the other way up to keep the ice cream inside. If the tip of the waffle cone is not filled with solid chocolate or similar, then the contents may very well melt and run out the bottom like the smoke coming out at the very tip of the Waffle cone volcano.
*Science fair cone: common elementary science experiment that is often used as a project for science fairs. A structure is built to resemble a model volcano and is filled with a mix of baking soda, vinegar, and sometimes food coloring. The reaction between baking soda and vinegar quickly produces a large amount of carbon dioxide, creating a foam that overflows and mimics a volcanic eruption. In this picture, there are people running away from the volcano that are much smaller than it. This is likely a reference to [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar]], either the scale-model people on the first volcano, or real people running from the baking soda supervolcano (in this case two [[Cueball]]-like guys and [[Megan]]).
*Doot cone: This may likely be a reference to the meme of the [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/skull-trumpet skull-trumpet] where the trumpet playing skull [https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/39xnk2/what_is_this_doot_thing_with_the_skeletons/cs7jdsa produces the sound Doot] as a large part of the meme. Doot is also a fart sound; a doot cone could be just ejecting farts instead of lava.
**There has been some discussion about if this is likely, with someone referencing the [https://www.amazon.com/Florida-DOT-Approved-Traffic-Cone/dp/B009RUTKZA DOT cones], traffic cones approved by DOT or the {{w|Department of transportation}} in the US.
**Also there have been mention of ''{{w|Dot-com}}'' coming close to ''Doot cone''. The {{w|Dot-com bubble}} could be said to burst, just like this volcano bursts/erupts.
*{{w|Antlion}}: An antlion is the larva of an insect known as the lacewing, and is commonly called a doodlebug. These insects dig pits in the sand to use as traps; when a bug comes along and falls in, the sand collapses and falls on the bug, making it very difficult to escape. The antlion then eats the unsuspecting prey. Maybe a reference to {{w|Formica Leo}}, a small volcanic crater in the Reunion island named after the antlion. Also, a recurring boss villain in the video game Final Fantasy series, as well as an enemy in the Half Life series. Also appears in the {{w|List_of_Moomin_(1990)_episodes|Moomin (1990) TV series}} as a literal black lion.
*Inverse Volcano: as the name implies, a regular volcano but reversed. A real volcano consists of solid rock on the outside, magma on the inside and spewing lava from the top. This one is made of lava with rocks erupting out of it.
*Ghost Vent: cone with ghosts coming out of it.
*Pedant's Bane: the joke is that people sometimes confuse magma and lava, which are different names for the same heated liquid rock. Magma becomes lava when it emerges from a volcano. The Pedant's Bane volcano is therefore impossible by definition, but if it were possible, then a {{w|pedant}} would have met his [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bane#Etymology_1 bane] (i.e. his downfall), because when he corrected someone's description of this volcano, the pedant would actually be wrong. Alternatively, the illustration itself could be Pedant's Bane because a pedant would be lured into pointing out how wrong it is. This is a direct reference to the pedant in [[1405: Meteor]].

The title text refers to a famous scene in ''{{w|Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi}}'' where {{w|Jabba the Hutt}} intends to feed {{w|Luke Skywalker}} to the {{w|Sarlacc|sarlacc}}, an underground creature that builds a huge funnel trap similar to that of an antlion. [[wikia:c:starwars:Khetanna|Jabba's distinctive sail barge]] features prominently in that scene, and when Randall comes upon an antlion he can't help himself starting to build a scale model next to the antlion's inverted cone. Given how small antlions are, this will be very difficult to do, see for instance [[878: Model Rail]].

==Transcript==
:[Twelve drawings in four rows of different "volcano" types, the first four real, and some not even volcanoes of any sort, real or fake. Below each panel is a caption with the name of the drawn volcano. Some of the volcanoes have labels or sound written inside the panel. Each of the volcanoes has a baseline for the ground going straight a short distance over the bottom of each panel. All 11 volcanoes lie on top of this line, but some show the inside of the volcano going further into the ground.]

:[Standard cone shaped volcano, with straight sides sloping up to a triangular shape, but with the tip of the cone cut off to form the central jagged edged crater. White smoke rises straight up and then drifts to the left forming three separate clouds.]
:Cinder Cone

:[Flat rounded shaped volcano, as a part of a circle. There is not a real crater visible but from the center a thin plume of smoke rises up, drift drifts to the left and forms a small white cloud.]
:Shield Volcano

:[This is the largest volcano. The tip of this volcano is similar to the first volcano, but with more uneven slopes and a bit smaller. The tip is clearly separated from the bottom section by a thin jagged line, and below the sides of the volcano decreases their slope, so they are less steep than the tip. Black smoke rises straight up from the crater and then drifts to the left in four thin lines.]
:Stratovolcano

:[A wide volcano spans the entire panel, with a large central crater, with a bottom baseline far above the ground level. Just left of the middle of this crater is a standard smaller volcano cone, very similar to the shape of the tip in the previous panel. Even the smoke from this cones small crater is similar to the previous panels.]
:Somma Volcano

:[The central part of this volcano is the same shape as the previous panel. This could be a zoom out, revealing that the large crater, is at the center on an even larger crater, which again is at the center of a crater that spans the panel. A plume of black smoke rises from the centeral cones crater, and drifts left as five white clouds.]
:Metasomma Volcano

:[A perfect cone-shape, triangular and steep, with checkered ice cone waffle texture, even with a line indicating where the waffle has been a folded. It looks like a road up the volcano. Black smoke drift up from the sharp tip, no crater, and drifts left forming a small cloud separated from the rest of the smoke lines.]
:Waffle Cone

:[Standard cone as in the first, but zoomed in so it fills the panel from left to right. The volcano's top has been cut much further down leaving a wide crater from which lava is pouring down the sides in large rivers of different width and length. To the left one long river has almost reached the ground. Cueball is running down the left side, and Megan is running after another Cueball with his arms up on the right side. There is a label with an arrow pointing to the lava:]
:Label: Baking soda and vinegar
:Science Fair Cone

:[Standard cone like the previous, but with more jagged sloped and crater. This volcano erupts with a large explosion with fire and smoke coming out in all directions above the crater. A large sound is written above the explosion:]
:Sound. <big>'''Doooooot'''</big>
:Doot Cone

:[This is not a volcano, but the inverse, a cone down into the ground, the ground level no above the center of the panel. The slope down into this cone hole is straight, the ground above is more jagged. At the bottom of the hole sits a small animal with six legs and an open mouth piece sticking up out of the hole. Its fat body is hidden under the ground along with its legs.]
:Antlion

:[Standard volcano cone like the previous volcano. It erupts and the central part shows how the erupting material comes up from below ground level (below the line at the bottom in which the cone it self stands). The erupting material is white rocks on black background. At the top several rocks is blown out of the crater top. The sides of the volcano is filled with blobs small and large, and stones rolling down the sides. There are two labels, each with two arrows. The first labels arrows points to the side of the volcano, the second labels arrows points to the erupting material inside and outside the volcano:]
:First label: Lava
:Second label: Solid rocks
:Inverse Volcano

:[Standard cone like the doot cone, with a crater that bends down in the middle. From this crater eight white ghosts with two black eyes are rising, like the smoke, drifting left. The highest ghost is just reaching the edge at the top left of the panel. The lowest ghost is still inside the crater with its wavy lower parts.]
:Ghost Vent

:[A standard cone like the doot cone. At the top there is lave over the outer edges, some of it running down the side. The inside of the volcano has been drawn like in the inverse volcano, so it is clear that the magma inside the volcano comes up from below ground level (below the line at the bottom in which the cone it self stands). There are two labels that contradicts the description above. The top label outside the volcano points to the lava with an arrow, and the bottom label inside the volcano points to the magma:]
:Top label: Magma
:Bottom label: Lava
:Pedant's Bane

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Volcanoes]]
[[Category:Food]] 
[[Category:Animals]] 
[[Category:Star Wars]]

[[Category:Pedantic]]

125: Marketing Interview

2022-05-26T18:06:18Z

CRLF: Undo revision 280446 by Vandalbane (talk)

{{comic
| number = 125
| date = July 7, 2006
| title = Marketing Interview
| image = marketing_interview.png
| titletext = There are a lot of books on marketing out there. I wonder if you're safest just buying the most popular one.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] is trying to get a job running a marketing program. [[Cueball]] conducts the interview and says that although he has heard that Black Hat is the best in the business, his portfolio does not show that he has run any major marketing campaigns. Black Hat asks where he heard that rumor and Cueball begins to respond. Then he realizes that Black Hat has used his perfect marketing campaign tactics to get into the business. Then, Black Hat tries to skip ahead of the interview process and coyly asks, before being offered the job, when he can start working.

A book that becomes the most popular in its field is the one with the best marketing, not necessarily the one with the best content. The title text suggests that in this case, where the subject matter is marketing, the most popular book would in fact be written by those with the best marketing skills, and would therefore contain the best content. However, this fails to realize that the publishers of the book would only be good at marketing themselves, but not necessarily at teaching marketing.

[[:Category:Job interviews|Job interviews]] are a recurring topic on xkcd.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat, standing in front of Cueball, who is sitting behind a executive desk, looking at some papers.]
:Cueball: I've heard you're one of the best in the marketing business, but I've got your portfolio here and looks like you've never run a major campaign. Why should I hire you to head our new initiative?

:[Same scene.]
:Black Hat: If you don't mind asking, what gave you the idea I was one of the best in the business?
:Cueball: Hm? I don't remember. Just word of mouth or someth-- ...oh, you're good.
:Black Hat: Thank you. When can I start?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Job interviews]]

315: Braille

2022-05-26T18:05:34Z

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{{comic
| number = 315
| date = September 12, 2007
| title = Braille
| image = braille.png
| titletext = The only big difference I've seen is in colors. Where the regular text reads 'press red button', the braille reads 'press two-inch button'.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Braille}} is a writing system for the blind and {{w|Visual impairment|visually impaired}} using bumps on a paper, slate, etc. However, since most sighted people have no need for braille, and because braille messages may need to convey purely-visual information to blind people, the braille message may be adjusted from the original message. In this case, however, it acts as a jab toward people who are not blind, saying that "sighted people suck," which is obviously not something you would typically see (no pun intended){{Citation needed}} on informational signs.<sup><nowiki>[</nowiki>[[285:_Wikipedian_Protester|SIGHTation needed]]<nowiki>]</nowiki></sup> Similar "translations" can be found when one deciphers the alien translations on nearly all signs in Futurama.

The title text shows a practical (and more realistic) example of where regular text and braille text may differ. As the visually impaired cannot see color, the label would need to identify some other defining feature of the button in question, such as the given measurement.

==Transcript==
:I learned to read braille a while back, and I've noticed that the messages on signs don't always match the regular text.
:[A sign reads "Third Floor Office" with braille print underneath. Cueball is reading the braille.]
:Cueball (thinking): s-i-g-h-t-e-d-p-e-o-p-l-e-s-u-c-k ... Hey!

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

468: Fetishes

2022-05-26T18:05:34Z

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{{comic
| number = 468
| date = August 27, 2008
| title = Fetishes
| image = fetishes.png
| titletext = They eventually resolved this self-reference, but Cantor's 'everything-in-the-fetish-book-twice' parties finally sunk the idea.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Bertrand Russell}} and {{w|Alfred North Whitehead}} co-wrote the ''{{w|Principia Mathematica}}'', with the intention of cataloging all of mathematics and ridding it of contradiction and self-reference. {{w|Kurt Gödel}} later showed that such a system is impossible, and that {{w|Gödel's incompleteness theorems|any system of axioms (complex enough to represent arithmetic) is incomplete}}.

This comic, however, presents an alternate universe scenario: here, Russell and Whitehead are pursuing the more salacious (but no less comprehensive) task of compiling a list of all sexual fetishes. This seems to be going fine until they ask Gödel for his fetishes; Gödel says that he is turned on by "anything not on your list." This creates a paradox - Russell and Whitehead now have no way to complete their list, because Gödel's fetishes cannot be included without putting them on the list, which would immediately invalidate them. In fact, this is precisely {{w|Russell's Paradox}}, discovered by Bertrand Russell himself.

The title text references {{w|Georg Cantor}}, the inventor of {{w|set theory}}, and adds a second, similar paradox: if you have a fetish for doing everything in the book twice, then that belongs in the book - but then, you must also have a fetish for doing ''that'' twice, so you have to put that in the book too; this process will keep adding fetishes to the book ''ad infinitum'', again making the task impossible to complete.

There is a [http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/project_details.cfm?id=319&index=319&domain= fetish roadmap] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20070630175441/http://www.deviantdesires.com/map/mappics/map06sm.jpg archive.org]) by Katharine Gates, author of Deviant Desires and DeviantDesires.com.

An earlier comic also refers to Kurt Gödel: [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:Author Katharine Gates recently attempted to make a chart of all sexual fetishes.
:Little did she know that Russell and Whitehead had already failed at this same task.

:[Russell, with long hair, and Whitehead are standing with Gödel (the last two are both Cueball-like), Russell holding a clipboard and smoking a pipe.
:Gödel is holding his chin with his right hand as he ponders the question.]

:Russell: Hey, Gödel — we're compiling a comprehensive list of fetishes. What turns you on?
:Gödel: Anything not on your list.
:Russell: Uh…hm.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Recursion]]

59: Graduation

2022-05-26T18:05:34Z

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{{comic
| number = 59
| date = February 3, 2006
| title = Graduation
| image = graduation.jpg
| titletext = Opening dialogue by Scott
}}

==Explanation==
[[Megan]] and a young [[Blondie]] (in her first appearance) discuss their plans for life after college.

Megan has taken the increasingly unusual choice of pursuing a career as a {{w|Lighthouse keeper|lighthouse operator}}, a path that has become increasingly less traveled, as lighthouses have become ever more automated and supplanted by other solutions. Before GPS technology, {{w|Lighthouse|lighthouses}} were invaluable markers of where dangers to marine navigation, such as shallow reefs or coastal headlands, were located. Megan likes the idea of subverting the [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GirlInTheTower trope of the helpless maid in the tower] who needs saving, by helping to save seafarers by operating a lighthouse that helps them to find their way safely back home.

When it comes to her turn to answer her own question, Blondie answers that she plans to pursue {{w|Postgraduate education|postgraduate education}}, but admits that she has no purpose for doing so. After obtaining an {{w|undergraduate education|undergraduate}}/{{w|Bachelor's degree|bachelor's}} degree, {{w|Graduate school|graduate school}} is the next level of education, where students pursue a {{w|Master's degree|master's}} or {{w|Doctorate|doctoral}} {{w|Academic degree|degree}}. Augmenting one's education with post-graduate studies is a conventional career path, and would imply that the student has a definite plan for their career, yet some people may attend grad school only ''because'' it is conventional, without having any definite plan for their career. This appears to be the case for Blondie, contrasted with Megan's choice of a seemingly {{w|Blue-collar worker|blue collar}}/{{w|Skilled worker|unskilled}} career — one might expect such a career to indicate someone who has no specific career plan, yet Megan seems to know her exact purpose, unlike Blondie. The fact that Blondie then accepts an invitation to spend her breaks at Megan's lighthouse suggests that she finds this a more attractive prospect than her more conventional path.

Other comics with a similar theme about finding or taking unexplored paths, instead of fitting into the mold, include [[137: Dreams]] and [[267: Choices: Part 4]].

[[Scott]] appears to be a friend of [[Randall Munroe]]. Comics 57 through 59 all have the title text ''[[:Category:Opening dialogue by Scott|Opening dialogue by Scott]]'', forming a sort of informal mini-series inspired by him. They are:
*[[57: Wait For Me]]
*[[58: Why Do You Love Me?]]
*[[59: Graduation]]
As there already was a comic released on Monday that week, the first of these three was released on Tuesday, then Wednesday and Friday. This may be related to the fact that this was the first week where the comics were not also released on [[LiveJournal]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Blondie are talking.]
:Blondie: What do you want to do when you graduate?

:[Same scene as before.]
:Megan: I want to become a lighthouse operator.
:Blondie: Oh?
:Megan: Yeah.

:[Cut to scene of lighthouse with text overlaid.]
:Megan: Lighthouses are built on interesting pieces of coast, so I'll have an interesting place to walk and swim, and great views of all kinds of weather. I'd feel good about myself and my work every single day.

:[Cut back to Megan and Blondie. Megan has her arms up.]
:Megan: I'd get to be the girl in the tower, only <u>I'd</u> be the one rescuing people.

:[Megan now has her arms down.]
:Megan: Why, what do you want to do?
:Blondie: I'm going to grad school. I don't really know why.

:[Same scene as before.]
:Megan: Wanna come hang in my lighthouse over breaks?
:Blondie: ...yeah.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Scott]]
[[Category:Opening dialogue by Scott]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

1947: Night Sky

2022-05-26T18:05:34Z

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{{comic
| number = 1947
| date = January 26, 2018
| title = Night Sky
| image = night_sky.png
| titletext = There's a mountain lion nearby, but it didn't notice you because it's reading Facebook.
}}

==Explanation==
With the increasing ubiquity of connected devices in people's lives have come concerns about the social and mental effects this is having. A common trend in lifestyle advice is the idea of "{{w|Digital detox|unplugging}}" and getting away from technology, with the idea that this can improve one's sense of wellbeing, and allow a focus on the important things in life, such as asking the {{w|Meaning of life|"big" existential questions}}.

[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are taking one such activity: a nighttime walk without their phones. However, rather than being grandiose, the questions they ask are increasingly immediate to their current situation. Far from finding the experience liberating, they find it first frustrating, as they no longer have access to useful features of their phones, such as mapping with GPS, which would help them find their way, and a flashlight, which would let them see where they were going, and then unsettling, as without their devices to distract them they begin to imagine dangers, such as {{w|cougar|mountain lions}}, lurking in the darkness.

The fact that Megan enthusiastically affirms that those really ''are'' the "big questions" of life reveals that they are sarcastically teasing each other about their regrettable decision.

The reference to mountain lions might be related to the declaration that eastern cougars were [http://www.courier-tribune.com/news/20180126/once-common-in-nc-eastern-cougar-declared-extinct-last-sighting-80-years-ago officially declared extinct] the day before this comic was published.

The title text claims that technology is so omnipresent that even the threatening mountain lion has a phone and is reading Facebook (and, therefore, is not so threatening, since it now can not notice them). Alternatively, either Cueball or Megan might be teasing the other.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are walking under the night sky.]
:Megan: The internet is so overwhelming for me these days. It feels like everyone I know is yelling all the time.

:[Frame is zoomed out. Stars are visible in the sky.]
:Megan: That's why it's so nice to unplug. Leave the phones at home, go for a walk, and look up at the stars.
:Megan: It helps you focus on what really matters.

:[Frame is zoomed in again.]
:Cueball: Like "Where the hell are we?"
:Megan: And "Why did I leave my phone at home? It has my map and flashlight."
:Cueball: "Are there mountain lions around here? Did you hear a twig break?"
:Megan: Yeah, the big questions!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]

909: Worst-Case Shopping

2022-05-26T18:05:34Z

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{{comic
| number = 909
| date = June 8, 2011
| title = Worst-Case Shopping
| image = worst case shopping.png
| titletext = Wait a minute. If I'm escaping from a submarine at 50 meters, then I'll *definitely* need a flashlight to find air pockets for gradual decompression on the way up. Time to start shopping professional dive lights.
}}

==Explanation==
For most people, under most circumstances, a flashlight's water-resistance is a completely moot point, as most flashlight use occurs on dry land. But, [[208|as Randall has shown before]], there is a tendency for people to imagine elaborate scenarios in which an extra edge would be useful.

In the dream sequence over the first 2 and a half frames, [[Cueball]] appears to be diving to find a key underwater, which he spots using his flashlight when he is at 8 meters. His flashlight goes out at 10 meters because he bought the "Hi-Brite" model. The dream sequence also references a "radio shed", which were only really used in the past for {{w|amateur radio}}s or some other military style bases/compounds—which would align with his "warn the President" line. He thus suggests the more water-resistant flashlight. However, this is seen as ridiculous from his friend, since the more durable model costs over $25 more in return. He replies that "you never know" what situation you'll be in.

The title text takes Cueball's thought process to the next level. If he is getting a flashlight that works to 40 meters (worst-case), he should probably be prepared for even deeper waters as well (even worse-case).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is diving in very deep, dark blue water. He shines a flashlight at the sea floor.]
:Cueball (thinks): Eight meters. There's the wreckage... Yes! I see the key!

:[As he swims further toward it, his flashlight starts to cut out.]
:Cueball (thinks): Gotta grab it, surface, get in to the radio shed, and warn the President! Just a few more...
:Flashlight: BZZT FIZZ

:[This panel has no border like the others, and is divided in half diagonally by a thought bubble.]
:[The left half of it is a dark blue thought bubble with the diver inside it. On the right hand side are packaged flashlights hanging on a shelf. The one called Hi-Brite is $24.95 and is labeled "water resistant to 10 meters." The one called "FenStar G6" is $49.95 and says "water resistant to 40 meters."]
:Cueball (thinks): Oh no.

:[Cueball and a friend stand in front of a flashlight display in a store. Cueball looks down at the packages with his hand on his chin in thought. The thought bubble from the previous panel leads from his head. The friend stands behind him.]
:Cueball: ...maybe I should spring for the deeper water resistance.
:Friend: Why on earth would you care about that?
:Cueball: Look, you never know.

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

1009: Sigh

2022-05-26T18:05:34Z

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{{comic
| number = 1009
| date = January 27, 2012
| title = Sigh
| image = sigh.png
| titletext = If you're annoying enough, you can get them to respond with an involuntary second sigh and get a rhythm going.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is mispronouncing the name of the British TV show, also available in the US, ''{{w|Downton Abbey}}''. Mispronouncing the title as DownTOWN Abbey causes Megan to sigh because it is such a common and stupid mistake to fans of the show. Mispronouncing the title changes the meaning from being about the eponymous {{w|Yorkshire}} {{w|Country Estate}} (pronounced ''doun''-tuhn ''ab''-ee /ˌdaʊntən ˈæbi/) to being about a monastery in the midst of a large city (incorrectly pronounced ''doun-toun ab''-ee /ˈdaʊnˌtaʊn ˈæbi/). In the UK the CBD, the Central Business District (the big middly bit), is simply called the "city centre".

{{w|LMFAO}} is a ubiquitous group in the US on radio, TV and even strange commercials with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zJWA3Vo6TU rodents riding in cars with their song, Party Rock Anthem]. However, this comic is a reference to another one of their songs, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZgIYvFu-FQ "Sexy And I Know It."] The relevant lyrics are:

:''sigh''… girl look at that body
:''sigh''… girl look at that body
:''sigh''… girl look at that body
:ah-ah, I work out!

The title text is referring to the multiple uses of that lyric throughout the song, creating a steady rhythm.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing behind Megan, who's sitting and watching TV.]
:Cueball: Hey, is that ''Downtown Abbey''? What town is it in the downtown of, anyway?
:Megan: *siiiiiiigh*
:Cueball: —''girl look at that body.''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:We should thank ''LMFAO'' for giving us such a great way to respond to exasperated sighs.

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

2096: Mattresses

2022-05-26T18:05:34Z

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{{comic
| number = 2096
| date = January 9, 2019
| title = Mattresses
| image = mattresses.png
| titletext = After reading that "The War To Sell You A Mattress Is An Internet Nightmare" article, I've decided it's safer and less complicated to just sleep on the floor. DISCLOSURE: THE AUTHOR OF THIS MOUSEOVER TEXT RECEIVED FINANCIAL COMPENSATION FROM THE FLOOR INDUSTRY FOR THIS MESSAGE.
}}

==Explanation==

Cueball is talking to Ponytail about his mattress, in what appears to be just a casual conversation. Cueball suddenly offers to take any questions from listeners, as though the conversation were part of a podcast; this confuses Ponytail. The subtitle explains that Randall has heard so many advertisements for certain products on podcasts that he can't discuss them without feeling as though he's in a podcast himself.

{{w|Podcast}}s are typically audio-only programs available online, which frequently generate income through advertisements. Ads are often read by the podcast host. Hosts will often include segues or personal anecdotes to further reduce the "topical whiplash" caused by abruptly switching subjects from that of the podcast to an unrelated brand plug, and back.

In 2018, many podcasts (or at least many podcasts that Randall listens to) contained ads by {{w|Casper Sleep|Casper}} or {{w|Helix Sleep|Helix Sleep}} (both mattress brands), MeUndies or Tommy John (both underwear brands), and {{w|Stamps.com}} (an internet-based mailing/shipping service).

The title text refers to [https://www.fastcompany.com/3065928/sleepopolis-casper-bloggers-lawsuits-underside-of-the-mattress-wars "The War To Sell You A Mattress Is An Internet Nightmare"], about the pressures companies put on reviewers, and the legal battle between a mattress review site that makes money through affiliate sales, and a mattress company, which was unhappy with a review. Since saying anything unfavorable about mattresses might open one to legal action, the title text author opted to avoid them entirely. However, that could be seen as an endorsement of sleeping on the floor, thus requiring a disclaimer. It also references the way that podcast hosts will often note when they intentionally or unintentionally endorse a product sponsor in an attempt to remain transparent about their financial supporters.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball and Ponytail are talking to each other]
:Cueball: ...It's firmer than my old mattress, which I thought I wouldn't like, but it's actually really nice.
:Ponytail: Cool, maybe I should get one.
:Cueball: Now let's take some listener questions!
:Ponytail: What?

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I can't talk about mattresses, underwear, or the Post Office anymore without feeling the urge to segue back into a podcast.

==Trivia==
The image was originally posted as an indexed image with only a 3-color map (white, black, and grey), leading to graphical artifacts in place of a smooth blur between black and white. Most of Randall's comic images are indexed images with over 200 different grayscale colors. The original image can be seen [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/8/84/20190109163710%21mattresses.png here].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

756: Public Opinion

2022-05-26T18:05:33Z

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{{comic
| number = 756
| date = June 21, 2010
| title = Public Opinion
| image = public_opinion.png
| titletext = News networks giving a greater voice to viewers because the social web is so popular are like a chef on the Titanic who, seeing the looming iceberg and fleeing customers, figures ice is the future and starts making snow cones.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] as a [[:Category:News anchor|news anchor]] is reporting a message from a politician, shown behind him.

The comic is mocking the "old media" (television, radio, newspapers) for their move to opinions as an information source. Such change came with development of the internet and "new media" as source of information (websites, blogs, social networks), which pushed "old media" back and diminished their significance. In their attempt to return to relevance, "old media" tried to copy the opinion part of the news, taking what could be considered a bad thing from them. The humor of the comic comes from news anchor cutting to an opinion piece from people on the street, thus proving the politician's point.

The title text illustrates what [[Randall]] sees as the problem with this approach. The new media, for the large part, consists of uninformed opinions from people of [[1386: People are Stupid|average intelligence]] and abilities. However, the sheer volume and immediacy of information is threatening to destroy old media, much as the iceberg destroyed the Titanic. You don't join with the iceberg or try to emulate its methods; the iceberg does not care, it's too big and will destroy you anyway. If possible, then the best way to survive is to steer far away to avoid it and find your own path. (Ironically, the Titanic sank because it steered away just enough for the iceberg to scrape its side, tearing into multiple compartments. If it had steered straight into the iceberg, although the bow would have been severely damaged, the ship might have stayed afloat.) Old media must present us with something better than new media (for example: informed, analytical, intelligent), otherwise we have no need of them.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball as a news anchor reads from a paper. There is a picture on the left side of screen of a man with black hair speaking behind a lectern holding up one hand. In the bottom right-hand corner is the logo for the news.]
:Cueball: A leading politician today charged that the media, rather than informing people, now merely report on public ignorance.
:Cueball: Do our viewers agree? Let's hear from some voices on the street...
:Logo: News<sub>'''24'''</sub>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:News anchor]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

853: Consecutive Vowels

2022-05-26T18:05:33Z

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{{comic
| number = 853
| date = January 28, 2011
| title = Consecutive Vowels
| image = consecutive_vowels.png
| titletext = But the windows! What if there's a voyeur watchi-- wait, now I'm turned on too.
}}

==Explanation==
After running some analysis on a database, [[Cueball]] shows [[Megan]] a chart depicting the relationship between sexual arousal and consecutive vowels, showing that a high amount of consecutive vowels is linked to higher sexual arousal. At first, it could be theorised to be due to drawn out moans or screams during lovemaking and orgasm (Ooooh! Yeeeees!).

Megan says she doesn't get it, but Cueball interrupts her with "queueing", a word with 5 consecutive vowels. This {{tvtropes|CoitusEnsues|immediately arouses Megan, who grabs Cueball and shouts "FUCK ME NOW."}} It turns out that the consecutive vowels themselves appear to cause arousal, rather than arousal causing the use of consecutive vowels.

The title text shows that Cueball is fearful that there may be a voyeur peeking at them, but as "voyeur" has 4 consecutive vowels because "y" is a vowel in this case, Cueball gets turned on as well.

==Transcript==
:[Megan stands at the left while Cueball comes from right holding up a chart.]
:Cueball: I was running a factor analysis on this huge database, and check out what it found:

:[An xy-graph plotting "sexual arousal" against "consecutive vowels." The trendline through the dots is a smooth exponential increasing curve.]

:[Frameless panel:]
:Megan: Huh? This chart makes no sense. What-
:Cueball: "Queueing"

:[Zoom in, Megan grabs Cueball.]
:Megan: ''FUCK ME NOW.''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Sex]]

637: Scribblenauts

2022-05-26T18:05:33Z

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{{comic
| number =637
| date =September 16, 2009
| title =Scribblenauts
| image =scribblenauts.png
| titletext =Let me look away and type 'guy who's just jealous that I beat all his MarioKart times' and turn back, and... yup, there you are again!
}}

==Explanation==
''{{w|Scribblenauts}}'' is a game for the {{w|Nintendo DS}} in which the player controls a character named Maxwell, whose goal is to get a "Starite" in each level. The player has the ability to summon over 22,000 different objects into the game by typing them on the touchscreen using the DS's stylus device. Those items are then ostensibly used to help Maxwell collect the Starite (for example, typing "ladder" to help him reach a Starite that's inside a tree), but the player can decide to forgo the objective and just type in random things for fun.

The {{w|Large Hadron Collider}} is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, and has excited the imagination of writers and journalists in popular culture, some of whom posit the theory that a catastrophic accident at the LHC could destroy the world. One of those ideas concerned the LHC creating a black hole that would proceed to suck in all the surrounding matter. However, in the game, the LHC, when tapped, creates a comically small black hole which only kills Maxwell.

Megan discovers that the LHC can be summoned in ''Scribblenauts,'' and has a fun time creating black holes with it. Cueball's snide comment is an unfortunately rather common reaction among adults towards entertainment geared for children, and the fact that ''Scribblenauts'' is a portable game just gives him another stick to beat it with. Irritated, Megan types in the phrase "pretentious asshole", and then pretends that Cueball has suddenly appeared. It is unclear whether she is reffering to Cueball spawning in-game, or his presence in the real world. Note that, in reality, ''Scribblenauts'' doesn't respond to profanity.

In the title text, she types "guy who's just jealous that I beat all his ''{{w|Mario Kart}}'' times" (this could be a reference to [[423: Finish Line]] and [[290: Fucking Blue Shells]]) and once again, Cueball "appears" right in front of her. ''Mario Kart'' is another video-game series geared towards children, and there's a version of it for the DS, which implies that Cueball's just being snooty about ''Scribblenauts'' because Megan has so thoroughly dominated him in another "DS kids game".

==Transcript==
:[Megan is sitting on bed.]
:[In Scribblenauts word input format.]
:LARGE HADRON COLLIDER
:''Click''
:Megan: Wow, Scribblenauts even lets you summon the LHC.

:[Cueball is sitting at a computer. Megan talks from off-panel.]
:''Fwoosh''
:Megan: And it makes a black hole! This game rules.
:Cueball: I guess it's okay, for a DS kids game.

:[In Scribblenauts word input format.]
:PRETENTIOUS ASSHOLE
:''Click''
:[Megan looks up.]
:Megan: Oh, hi! It worked!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Mario Kart]]

846: Dental Nerve

2022-05-26T18:05:33Z

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{{comic
| number = 846
| date = January 12, 2011
| title = Dental Nerve
| image = dental_nerve.png
| titletext = WAKE up in the MORning and my BREATh ain't PRETty / and noBODY'S gonna KISS me if my MOUTH smells SHItty / so I ALways brush my TEETH before I START on the JACK / sure, my DRINKing's out of HAND, but I'm conTROLLing my PLAQUE.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Ke$ha}} is a pop/rap singer, and this strip refers to her 2009-10 hit single "{{w|Tik Tok (song)|Tik Tok}}." The song begins with the following lyrics, of which the title text is a parody:
:Wake up in the morning feeling like {{w|P. Diddy}}
:Grab my glasses, I'm out the door, I'm gonna hit this city
:Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack
:'Cause when I leave for the night, I ain't coming back.

A "bottle of Jack" refers to the {{w|Jack Daniel's}} brand of whiskey.

The strip depicts Megan warning Ke$ha not to neglect dental hygiene by using whiskey instead of toothpaste to freshen her breath, due to the severe pain that could result if she let the nerves in her teeth become infected. The title text displays dental-hygiene-friendly lyrics, with emphasis on certain syllables (as all-caps) to imitate the rhythm of the original song.

==Transcript==
:Megan: Dear Ke$ha,

:Megan: It's hard to describe the pain of a deeply infected dental nerve.

:[Megan putting her hands in a bowl.]
:Megan: To get an idea, put your hands in a bowl full of ice cubes. Hold them there for 90 seconds.

:Megan: Now imagine that pain in your jaw, every minute of every hour, bright and searing, washing out everything. You can't party all night. You can barely stand up. There's only the pain.

:Megan: So, some friendly advice: When you wake up in the morning, before you brush your teeth with a bottle of Jack,

:Megan: Brush them with actual toothpaste.

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

1058: Old-Timers

2022-05-26T18:05:33Z

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{{comic
| number = 1058
| date = May 21, 2012
| title = Old-Timers
| image = old_timers.png
| titletext = You were on the internet before I was born? Well, so was I.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic the man with the beard thinks he is {{w|Leet}} and tries to show this to his conversations partner by calling her {{w|Newbie|noob}} (see also {{w|Leet#n00b|n00b}}). He claims that he has been on the internet since the BBS days, and thus long before his conversation partner was even born.

A {{w|Bulletin Board System}}, or BBS, is an online service based on microcomputers running appropriate software. They were the precursors to modern day online forums.

However, he is up against [[Science Girl]] who tells him he is wrong. She explains that her parents took samples of their sperm and egg and {{w|Genome#Sequencing_and_mapping|sequenced}} the {{w|DNA}}. The resulting {{w|genome}} was then e-mailed to the {{w|J. Craig Venter Institute|Venter Institute}} where they synthesized the genome and used this to create the egg and sperm that became Science Girl.

The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) is a non-profit genomics research institute founded by {{w|J. Craig Venter}}, Ph.D. in October 2006. Although what Science Girl is describing may be possible this comic must take place in the future as this has not yet been used to create human beings.

Her point though is, that the man is wrong when he says that he has been on the internet. When you are "on-line" you are really just looking on the screen where the results found "on" the internet is displayed. So he has been '''looking''' at the internet. The girl's genome (which is basically the closest you can come to the data a computer would need to create you) has been sent on-line in an e-mail. So in her words, she has actually '''been''' there.

Objectively, the Science Girl is just as bad as her adult conversational partner; simply being the most significant advancement in test tube babies in over two decades doesn't prove anything about your personal knowledge or experience. ''Subjectively'', however, her reputation alone is more than enough to stun and thus "defeat" anyone who actually understands her special heritage, as well as of course her pun and correction regarding being and looking on the internet. It is also worth noting that it was technically her parents' sex cells, not her, which traversed the internet.

The title text is another common retort from "old timers" that they have been doing X since before the younger person was born. In this case, Science Girl accepts that the old timer was "on the Internet" before she was born, but so was she... At least in the form of her genetic information.

==Transcript==
:[A man with black hair and a neck beard types away at his computer screen.]
:Man (typing): Whatever, noob. I've been on the internet since the BBS days.
:Screen (reply from the noob): ''Wrong.''
: ''type type''

:[The noob turns out to be Science Girl, with two hair buns, who kneels on her chair, typing at a laptop on a table in this frame-less panel.]
:Science Girl (typing): Before I was born, a lab took egg and sperm samples from my parents and sequenced the DNA.
:''type type''

:[The man sits at his desk, reading his screen.]
:Screen (Science Girls writing): They emailed the genome to the Venter Institute, where they synthesized the genome and implanted it into sperm and eggs which became me.

:[Science Girl still typing on the laptop.]
:Science Girl (typing): So, no.
:Science Girl (typing): You've '''''looked''''' at the internet.
:Science Girl (typing): I've '''''been''''' there.
:''type type''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Internet]]

1901: Logical

2022-05-26T18:05:33Z

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{{comic
| number = 1901
| date = October 11, 2017
| title = Logical
| image = logical.png
| titletext = It's like I've always said--people just need more common sense. But not the kind of common sense that lets them figure out that they're being condescended to by someone who thinks they're stupid, because then I'll be in trouble.
}}

==Explanation==
[[White Hat]] says that problems in society could be avoided if people relied on logic and science rather than feelings—but when [[Cueball]] presses him to back up his claim, White Hat insists that his claim must be true, because ''it just seems obvious'' (to White Hat), and what the opposition (which he dismissively refers to as "these idiots") believes is crap in his opinion. Since White Hat refers to all people in general and since he falls in the same trap as he complains about, using his feelings for his case instead of logic and science, White Hat's argument is both fallacious and hypocritical.

The title text is White Hat's opinion, where he states that he has always said that people just need more {{w|common sense}}. He then adds, but not the kind of common sense that lets them figure out that he is condescending (i.e. talking down to them) and basically thinks that they are stupid. If they did, they would probably realize that White Hat considers himself smarter than them, and likely feel insulted and take retribution. (At the same time, he may himself lack this form of "common sense," as Cueball's question could be seen as a veiled insult highlighting White Hat's hypocrisy.)

When people talk about "common sense", they often really mean "they should think like I do". Using a term like "common sense" as a proxy for one's personal point of view implies that everyone else should have the same point of view. This discredits the fact that each person has their own point of view, completely valid to their own mind, and any attempts to push someone else's idea of a "common sense" upon them usually feels like "being talked down to" because of the implicit "fact" that that person's point of view is "common" and makes "sense", and therefore they must be smarter than you if you don't agree with their "common sense".

Ironically, there is some inconclusive scientific evidence against White Hat's position. It is possible that effective rational thought depends on feelings and emotions as a preprocessing step. For example, people with damage to the {{w|ventromedial prefrontal cortex}} lose their ability to have gut reactions to decision options. In {{w|Antonio Damasio}}'s research, they were unable to make good decisions in everyday life. This may be because every option seems emotionally as good as any other and the brain is not good at conscious processing of large numbers of alternatives. See ''{{w|Descartes' Error}}'' by Damasio (1994) and ''{{w|The Righteous Mind}}'' by Haidt (2012).

==Transcript==

:[White Hat is spreading his arms and facing Cueball.]
:White Hat: We wouldn't have all these problems if people just learned to be more ''logical'' and ''science-driven'' instead of relying on ''feelings''.
:Cueball: Oh? What study are you basing that on?
:White Hat: It just seems obvious!
:White Hat: I mean, look at the crap these idiots believe!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

1144: Tags

2022-05-26T18:05:33Z

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{{comic
| number = 1144
| date = December 7, 2012
| title = Tags
| image = tags.png
| titletext = <A>: Like </a>this.&nbsp;
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|HTML}} is a markup language used in web development, and is the subject of this comic. The comic employs multiple poor HTML practices while asking the rhetorical question of how best to annoy web developers, effectively answering the question that it poses.

In HTML, all elements (except self-closing elements like <code><img></code>) should consist of an open and close tag of the same type <code><div>Like this</div></code>.

HTML (except in its formulation as an XML language—XHTML) has never been case-sensitive, but the practice of using uppercase tags for readability is long outmoded, and the mixing of cases in this example would definitely annoy a developer.

Another basic idea of HTML is that all elements should be properly nested. That is, any element whose open tag occurs inside a div must be closed before the div is closed.

NB: In practice, web browsers will error-correct nearly all these problems.

{| class="wikitable" |
! Correct
! Incorrect
|-
|
<div>
<ol>
<li>Correctly nested</li>
</ol>
</div>
|
<div>
<ol>
<li>Incorrectly nested</li>
</div>
</ol>
|-
|}
The rules of proper nesting also put restrictions on which tags can be placed where — "block" elements, such as <code><div></code> cannot be placed inside "inline" elements, such as <code><span></code>, and inline elements must be placed inside a block element of some kind. Thus, <code><span><div></code> is forbidden, even if the tags are closed in the proper order.

Further, web developers make a distinction between ''semantic'' and ''structural'' elements. Semantic elements contain a clue in their name as to what kind of an element they are — for example, an <code><article></code> tag contains an article, such as a blog post or news article, while an <code><ol></code> tag contains an '''o'''rdered '''l'''ist. (It's wise to note that this is not an absolute rule; it's ''possible'' to put non-article content in an <code><article></code>, it's just not recommended.) Semantic tags do not, however, indicate how their contents are to be displayed; your browser might display an <code><article></code> in the default font, layout, and placement, while mine, a {{w|screen reader}}, might ignore everything on the page except <code><article></code>s, and read <code><article></code>s in a [[462|soothing voice]].

Structural tags, on the other hand, give no clues as to what they contain; they just indicate how a web page is to be laid out. <code><span></code> and <code><div></code> are structural tags; they can contain anything. Their definitions in HTML simply indicate that <code><div></code> is a block tag (it can affect both what the text looks like and where it is on the page; by default, it is displayed in a separate block from the rest of the text in the page, and has at least one line break before and after its display) and <code><span></code> is an inline tag: it affects what its text looks like, but not where it is on the page. Without additional attributes, it's impossible for a browser to tell what's supposed to be inside a <code><div></code> or a <code><span></code>, which means that my screen reader can't just pluck out the blog posts and read those.

Currently, the standard of usage is shifting toward using semantic tags over structural tags, since they provide more information to browsers and people reading the source code of web pages. HTML5, the most recent version of the standard web development markup language, is introducing many semantically meaningful tags that can be styled using {{w|Cascading Style Sheets|CSS}} to follow the same behavior as a div or span, but that are easier to understand when reading the markup or parsing it with a non-standard browser. For example, <span style="background: #eeeeee;">this is in a span</span> and <div style="background: #eeeeee;">this is in a div.</div>

The title text makes reference to <code>&nbsp;</code>, which is the {{w|HTML#Character and entity references|HTML escape code}} for {{w|non-breaking space}} which is a type of space that will keep two words together, and will not allow word wrapping to separate them. If the words come at the end of a displayed line, how this is handled depends on the browser and on the element's styling; some browsers and styles will force the connected words onto a new line, while others will "overflow" the edge of the container to accommodate the linked words. This is useful, for example, for keeping units with a number so it is easy to spot 100 km instead of needing to hunt for 100<br/>km. Using a non-breaking space at the end of a line, without another word on its trailing end, is only useful in extremely rare and limited circumstances, and does not generally have a purpose.

The title text also uses an <code><A></code> tag, seemingly to indicate an answer. In fact, <code><A></code> is an anchor tag, which creates {{w|hyperlink}}s. It is not an answer tag. This tag is generally used with either the <code>href=</code> (which creates a link to another URL) or <code>name=</code> (which creates a named anchor on the page that can be linked to with <code>href=#</code>) attribute (but not generally both at once). In addition, the placement of <code><A></code> and <code></a></code> (the capitalization here is also irritating to a web developer who values consistency) indicates that ": Like " should be a link or named anchor, but "this." should not. Whether or not to include punctuation in an anchor is a matter of some debate among developers, but including excessive whitespace is generally frowned upon, and the anchor ''should'' include all of the relevant text.

==Transcript==
:<code><div>Q: How do you annoy a web developer?</span></code>

{{comic discussion}}

82: Frame

2022-05-26T18:05:33Z

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{{comic
| number = 82
| date = March 29, 2006
| title = Frame
| image = frame.jpg
| titletext = ...
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is standing in the middle of the first square panel, but then the panel's frame starts warping away from being square and starts to form into tendrils that move toward him, then slowly wrap themselves around him, and finally retract, reforming the frame again, but pulling him apart in the process, in a rather macabre comic.

Typically, the frame on a cartoon is used to separate different periods of the action. Here, this has been subverted by the frame becoming a character, the main protagonist, and sole survivor of the strip.

There is some indication that Cueball is also just part of a drawing, since his upper torso, with parts of each arm, is left hanging in the air without any tendrils touching it. If it was not stuck in the center of the image, it would fall down, but more importantly, even if all tendrils pulled very fast at the same time, it is highly unlikely that they could pull so precisely that the body would split in four pieces around this remaining body cross, and one of the tendrils should have pulled this part along with either an arm, the head, or the lower torso. This could be some comfort for those who think that this is too much. Of course, it could also just be something that [[Randall]] did not think was important in such a {{w|Surrealism|surreal}} comic.

Comics often use artifacts on the frame to add mood to the comic. This comic then makes those artifacts a major feature of the comic, like a {{w|Chekhov's gun}} ("If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off.") The use of creative panel layouts and effects was first made possible in newspaper comics at the insistence of Bill Watterson, author of Calvin and Hobbes (which it is known that Randall has been influenced by), requiring lengthy negotiations due to the printing technology of the time. The creative use of panel layout and effects is thus part of the artistic legacy of Calvin and Hobbes. xkcd, among others, has continued along that path of pushing the boundaries of the medium.

The title text "..." could indicate that Randall wasn't being very serious about this comic. But perhaps it was an idea to creatively use parts of the comic nobody thought about, and it spoke for itself and needed no extra comment. The three dots also indicate that something more will happen soon. The reader may visualize the final result and empty square panel, ready for the next unfortunate person to walk into this trap. Alternatively, it could mean that Randall found the comic so bizarre, even he couldn't comment on it (see [[#Trivia|Trivia section]]).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball stands alone in the center of this almost normally framed panel. But there are four small indentations two both left and right and maybe also one top right.]

:[Tendrils from the frame develop and grow inwards while breaking the outer frame down. The tendrils comes close to Cueball. There are 13, three from three of the four sides and four from the right.]

:[The tendrils have now completely broken the outer frame down and 11 have reached Cueball and these begins to wind themselves around him. There are tendrils around his forehead, neck, cheek, left arm, left wrist, left hand, right wrist, right hand, lower torso, left leg and right leg. Those around his legs spiraling almost up to his crotch. 14 other tendrils have not reached him yet. All those reaching him was among the 13 from the previous panel. Only the two from the bottom right corner did not make contact. The other 12 not reaching him where new.]

:[Finally the 11 tendrils that have reached Cueball retract along with the other 14 tendrils back to the frame, tearing Cueball apart in 9 pieces, leaving one central piece (his upper torso with a part of each arm) floating in the center without tendrils on it. His head has been split in two by three tendrils, that keep the parts close together. The left arm with one tendril has been split from the hand with two tendrils, whereas the two holding the wrist and hand kept their part of the arm in one piece. The two legs have been separated from the lower torso at the crotch, and they as well as the lower torso is all being pulled away by one tendril. The other tendrils have almost reached the frame, three of them are already gone leaving 11 near the frame. The frame has also nearly reformed it self again.]

==Trivia==
*This is one of two comics featured with [[Blue Eyes]]: The Hardest Logic Puzzle in the World, the other being [[37: Hyphen]].
*The concept of a panel frame destroying its characters would be reused in [[240: Dream Girl]]
*The title text "..." has been used twice later also with somewhat surreal comics, both about the black hat of [[Black Hat]]; [[412: Startled]] and [[455: Hats]].
*There is a striking similarity to the opening scene in the movie {{w|Hellraiser}} (1987) (read the {{w|Hellraiser#Plot|plot}} here - Spoiler).
**The way the room resets after killing the person in it also reminds of the opening scene in the movie {{w|Cube (film)|Cube}} (1997). Although it is a very different way of doing it, that person is also divided into small pieces.
**Although the Hellraiser trap also resets, it is not like it is a room that does the damage or resets, so there is reason to compare to both movies.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

110: Clark Gable

2022-05-26T18:05:33Z

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{{comic
| number = 110
| date = June 2, 2006
| title = Clark Gable
| image = clark_gable.jpg
| titletext = Frankly, my dear, I don't give a BITCH ASS SHIT FUCK DAMN
}}

==Explanation==
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" is the signature catchphrase from the 1939 movie ''{{w|Gone With The Wind (film)|Gone With The Wind}}'', which starred {{w|Clark Gable}} and {{w|Vivien Leigh}}. The phrase is spoken by Gable's character {{w|Rhett Butler}} as his last line, in answer to {{w|Scarlett O'Hara}} (Leigh) asking "Where shall I go? What shall I do?" The response indicates that Butler is no longer interested in O'Hara. This lack of interest, and the mention of the word "damn," which was considered profanity at the time of releasing the film, led to the line being voted the #1 movie line of all time in 1995's American Film Institute ranking.

[[Randall Munroe|Randall]] suggests that the line as written was not supposed to contain profanity, but the actor, Gable, inserted it, due to having {{w|Tourette's Syndrome}}, which is a neurological condition that is stereotypically characterized by bouts of random, uncontrollable cursing (and repetition of phrases/words).

The title text contains a more stereotypical Tourette's Syndrome outburst of several profanities in a row shouted mid-sentence.

==Transcript==
:[Famous image of ''Gone with the Wind'' with Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) kissing Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh).]
:The line was actually supposed to be "Frankly, my dear, I couldn't care less." It's just that Clark Gable had Tourette's.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

2150: XKeyboarCD

2022-05-26T18:05:33Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

{{comic
| number = 2150
| date = May 15, 2019
| title = XKeyboarCD
| image = xkeyboarcd.png
| titletext = The key caps use LCD displays for all the vowels, so they can automatically adjust over the years to reflect ongoing vowel shifts while allowing you to keep typing phonetically.
}}

==Explanation==
In the same vein (and with the same humor) as the [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phone series]], the XKeyboarCD seems to be an overly inventive and borderline ludicrous keyboard intended for some unknown audience. It has an assortment of features (some fairly normal, some more exotic) which give it a..."diverse skill set". This may be in reference to {{w|Space-cadet keyboard}}s which were made for programmers and had several keys not present on standard QWERTY keyboards.

XKeyboarCD is a play on xkcd, and keyboard. (XK eyboar CD)

'''54 Configurable Rubik's Keys'''

The tiles on a {{w|Rubik's cube}} (just 'colours' on actually good cubes, such as Valk cubes) resemble computer keys, so this feature makes fun of that by adding a spinnable Rubik's cube above the keyboard. The implication is that the keys would be 'configured' by twisting the sides of the cube until the desired configuration is reached, although parity means that not all configurations could be reached by conventional means by a 3x3 cube. (Parity exists on 4x4 cubes.) There can be a maximum of 53 keys (the bottom center position can't contain a key because it's the mounting position). Additionally, the top key can't be moved around, so the maximum amount of configurable keys is 52. (The four remaining centers can be moved by rotating the entire cube.) The bottom-facing keys would obviously be hard to see/reach.

'''Hardcoded Plastic Keys for the 5 Most Useful Emoji'''

This feature parodies the feature of some laptop-keyboards where it is possible to dynamically assign emojis to a small touchscreen area. There is a disaccord between hard-coded, useful and emoji, especially with the large keys in a central position on the keyboard. Which emojis would be "the most useful" is highly subjective. For example in the comic it shows the quite popular laughing with tears emoji, along with the octopus emoji and others. Notably, the "aerial tramway" was once the least-used emoji, and remains very rarely used.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Emoji
! Name
|-
| 😰
| [https://emojipedia.org/face-with-open-mouth-and-cold-sweat/ Anxious Face With Sweat]
|-
| 😂
| [https://emojipedia.org/face-with-tears-of-joy/ Face With Tears of Joy]
|-
| 🐙
| [https://emojipedia.org/octopus/ Octopus]
|-
| 🏇
| [https://emojipedia.org/horse-racing/ Horse Racing]
|-
| 🚡
| [https://emojipedia.org/aerial-tramway/ Aerial Tramway]
|}

'''Serif Lock'''

{{w|Serifs}} are small lines on the ends of certain characters in fonts such as Times New Roman and Georgia. It is dependent on the font, not on the character; "A" is represented by the same code regardless of its font. Since a given font almost always either has or doesn't have serifs, this key seems challenging to implement. This key could be implemented, however, by simply changing between a pair of fonts when it is pressed, or by using the characters in the {{w|Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols}} block. What's more, the button is placed roughly where left shift is on most keyboards, liable to cause frustration.

'''Unlimited Key Travel'''

Key travel is the distance a key moves between its unpressed and pressed states. In reality, laptop keys only move a few millimeters before bottoming out, and conventional keyboards up to about a centimeter. Increased key travel may make typing more comfortable, up to a point. However, the usefulness of having unlimited key travel is unclear, and the question of how this would be physically possible in the keyboard depicted remains unanswered. The keyboard would have to be infinitely deep to allow unlimited key travel, although pushing it to the near bottom would require infinitely long fingers. At least it is the greatest possible value, trumping any other keyboard.

'''Diagonal Spacebar'''

Instead of a wide key at the bottom that typists can hit easily with either thumb, we now have a tall, narrow key that requires being pressed with the right pinkie. This would not be a good change since most peoples' pinkies are their weakest finger. Some ergonomic keyboards have a slightly curved spacebar or a separated spacebar for each thumb.

'''Arrow Key (Rotate to Adjust Direction)'''

This is essentially a {{w|Jog dial|jog dial}}, or similar {{w|Rotary encoder|rotary encoder}}. These are sometimes used with keyboards: as controls for volume, video editing, or drawing.
Many computer keyboards have four {{w|arrow keys}}: up, left, right, and down. However, the XKeyboarCD just has one that can be rotated. This has the added bonus of allowing the arrow keys to point more than four different directions. In a keyboard, it would be awkward to operate as going from horizontally left to horizontally right, for example, would require the user to rotate the key first and then press it, which wastes precious time when playing a video game like [http://explainxkcd.com/1608 the hoverboard comic], where you have to rapidly press arrow keys to move around. It would not let one press multiple arrow keys at once. Trackpoint devices provide similar joystick-like direction function, but are easier to control with a finger.

'''15 Puzzle-Style Numberpad'''

A {{w|15 puzzle}} is a square containing fifteen smaller squares and one blank spot, which allows the squares to be moved around. The squares are shuffled and then reassembled as a game or pastime, and are usually labelled 1-15 (as is the case here) or, when assembled properly, create a picture. A {{w|Numeric keypad|numberpad}} in this style would be frustrating to use for typing numbers, as they could shift (or be shifted) around, but could provide a fun feature to use as a game. Alternatively the keys could be rearranged as with the Rubik`s keys. How this would be used to generate numeric input is unclear, but the presence of 16 positions suggests {{w|hexadecimal}} input is possible. Keyboard keypads do have around 17 keys, but only 0-9 usually have numbers whereas the XKCD keypad has numbers 1-15 in the middle of the numberpad probably also surrounded by the more conventional arithmetic operators, enter, and decimal point.

'''Ergonomic Design'''

The cylindrical portion of the keyboard is advertised as being an ergonomic design. Most ergonomic keyboards are both curved into a convex shape and split in the middle, with the blocks of keys on either side rotated around the vertical axis. This is done to follow natural arm and finger movements more closely, that is, avoid forcing the user to rotate their arms and hands to match the flat and rectangular key arrangement of a non-ergonomic keyboard. Some ergonomic keyboards come in unconventional form factors, such as vertical keyboards, to allow the user's hands to rest in more neutral positions or to change positions throughout the day, but the cylinder shape presented here is a ''concave'' shape which requires the user to lift and twist his arms to reach certain keys (or roll the cylinder from side to side), which would be an even more strenuous motion than typing on a standard keyboard. The slogan of the keyboard — "for power users and their powerful fingers" — fits this difficulty, but makes no sense as a feature.

====Title Text====

The title text references sound changes in languages. Every language (and indeed, every dialect) routinely undergoes changes in its sounds and phonemes, in a mostly regular and systematic, but not totally predictable way (otherways the dialects would sound the same and also the century, when a shift occurs, and the rate of change are not predictable). While not only vowels are affected, in languages with many vowels such as English, they're particularly likely to shift around and/or merge. While having dynamic keycaps that change can actually come in handy, the feature of only having vowels change in response to sound shifts is a bit less so. One normally enters the spelling and not the pronunciation of words (except with some Asian input systems). The spelling and pronunciation do not change at the same time.

Firstly, while changes in how we pronounce words are always ongoing, the way we write words down tends to stay relatively static, and thahs wiy wuhd faynd thaet werds biykahm ihnkaammpriyhehnsihbuhl duew tuow nhw laager biyigg sphld es thy wor bifffrr. Second, English only uses five glyphs (aeiou) and a variety of methods to represent four times as many vowel sounds, so the software would need to have a way to handling that (in some dialects "bird" and "turn" for example, have the same vowel but are represented by "ir" and "ur", as it also ''can'' be by the "er" in the bird called the "{{w|tern}}" - or not). Third, vowel shifts are not ubiquitous: the {{w|Caught-cot merger}}, for example, is a phenomenon happening across some parts (but not all) of the US and UK. Therefore, while some people would say "caught" and "cot" have the same vowel it should be spelled the same by the keyboard, but others would say they're two different vowels and should not be spelled identically. Fourth, sound shifts tend to occur over a relatively long period of time (in terms of human lifetimes), so a user would probably find the keycaps only change once or twice. All in all, this is not a very useful feature.

An alternative explanation is that the keys actually map to the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}} and converts what you type into English words (and the vowel changes). The IPA is an alphabet used in linguistics and language teaching, designed to represent every phoneme present in languages of the world unambiguously, with optional modifiers to indicate more subtle nuances in pronunciation, intonation and speech pathology. This alphabet consists of 107 letters and 56 modifiers (with some letters shared with the Latin and Greek alphabets), which would explain the large number of keys. In that case, the feature remains questionable since it only handles vowel shifts and not consonants, and anybody who'd use an IPA-keyboard would probably need to type out the phonology of other languages and appreciate not having to find a key has moved because English has undergone a vowel shift.

==Trivia==
This is the second time that the "xkcd" has been used around a middle word, which uses some of the xkcd letters to form this word. The first was [[1506: xkcloud]] - XKC lou D, to spell ClouD with the C and D from XKCD, in that comic the letters were all lowercase. In this comic the Keyboard, has an X before the word and a C before the D with the xkcd letters capitalized.

==Transcript==
:[Headings above a drawing of a very special keyboard:]
:Introducing the
:<big>XKeyboarCD</big>
:A keyboard for powerful users and their powerful fingers®

:[The keyboard has many more keys than a usual Keyboard. Usual keyboards for stationary computers typically have a few of the rows with 21 keys, and then some with fewer. This Keyboard has 28 keys on the top row. The other rows have special keys that make it difficult to compare, but there is basically also room for 28 in the bottom row, except one spot where there is one key in a space for 2x2 keys. Begining from the bottom and coutning keys there are 27. Skipping those that take up space in two or more rows, when going to the next row from the bottom there are 23, then 24, then 18, then 27 and finally 28 keys in the top row, for a total of 147 keys (vs 105 on a regular keyboard). Then there are 54 extra keys above the keyboard to the left (27 shown) and 156 in 6 rows of 26 to the right for a total of 357 keys 330 shown. All six rows have keys all the way over with no empty space in between, as there are on regular keyboards. Also there are no space between the top row (with F1 button etc) and those below. At each side of the keyboard the keys do no align at the edges, which is normally the case. The keyboard has several special features, most of which are labeled. The only special features that is not labeled is a small square with 2x2 keys that are elevated a bit above all other keys. It is in the region above the normal position of the four arrows. All eight other special features have an arrow pointing to them from their labels. Here below is a description of the labeled items as well as a transcript of their labels. They are listed in the order of their labels first above and then below the keyboard going from left to right.]

:[Five keys close to the QWERTY keys positions have colorful emoji on them. They each take up the space of 2x2 normal keys, although it is not clear if all the "normal" keys have the same size:]
:Hardcoded plastic keys for the 5 most useful emoji
:😰 😂 🐙 🏇 🚡

:[A cube with 3x3 keys on each side hangs above the keyboard to the left supported by a small rod. Three sides are fully visible, 27 keys:]
:54 configurable Rubik's keys

:[Just right of the middle above the main keyboard is a cylinder with keys inside in 6 rows of 26 keys (126 in all). It either decreases in diameter into it making it look almost like a tunnel, or is drawn as if it almost disappear in the far distance, being much deeper than it should be.]
:Ergonomic design

:[In the region where the normal numberpad would be there are 15 numbers from 1 to 15 in a 4x4 grid leaving space for an empty key hole. There is a row of keys both above and below this grid. The numbers do not come in order from 1 to 15, but rather in a jumble. Also the empty hole is not a full key spot. Instead it is in the second row of numbers, with a bit more space to the left than to the right of the middle of the three keys.]
:
:{| class="wikitable"
|+15 puzzle-style numberpad
|-
|1
|8
|4
|12
|-
|7
|Empty area
|11
|3
|-
|15
|6
|10
|9
|-
|2
|5
|13
|14
|}

:[To the left in the second row (below the Caps Lock position) the outer key is twice as wide as the other normal keys.]
:Serif Lock

:[An arrow points to the eight key in the bottom row, but is probably just referring to all the keys in general:]
:Unlimited key travel

:[There is a segment of the keyboard that seems to be empty of keys, but still white like the rest of the keys, not black as where keys are actually missing. It is where on a regular keyboard, the normal keys are separated from the special function keys. But it turns out it is indeed a long key going vertically:]
:Diagonal spacebar

:[Where the four arrow keys are on a regular keyboard there is a 2x2 key segment that only has one key in the middle with black background around it. It has an arrow head on it pointing right. That is if the key had not been turned about 45 degree counter clockwise, so the arrow points up to the right.]
:Arrow key (rotate to adjust direction)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Emoji]]

221: Random Number

2022-05-26T18:05:32Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

{{comic
| number = 221
| date = February 9, 2007
| title = Random Number
| image = random_number.png
| titletext = <nowiki>RFC 1149.5</nowiki> specifies 4 as the standard IEEE-vetted random number.
}}
==Explanation==
The comic specifies a function (in a {{w|C (programming language)|C}} similar syntax), which judging by its name should be designed to return a random number. Most functions of this form are random number ''generators'', meaning that on subsequent calls they return ''different'' random numbers. But the programmer has instead implemented a function that just returns the ''same'' random number each time, which, while it could indeed have been truly randomly chosen by rolling a die as the [[156: Commented|comment]] documented, is essentially worthless were it ever to be called more than once (with the expectation of different, i.e., random, results). In other words, the results over time would not be random at all, but completely predictable and deterministic.

The {{w|IEEE}} is the organization responsible for maintaining a number of computer standards. An RFC, or {{w|Request for Comments}}, is a formal document put out to computing experts by {{w|IETF}} in the hopes of becoming a future standard. However, RFC 1149 was an {{w|April Fools' Day Request for Comments|April Fools' joke}}, defining how carrier pigeons can be used to transmit Internet packets. "<nowiki>RFC 1149.5</nowiki>," meanwhile, simply does not exist.

==Transcript==
[A computer program.]
int getRandomNumber()
{
return 4; // chosen by fair dice roll.
// guaranteed to be random.
}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

2358: Gravitational Wave Pulsars

2022-05-26T18:05:32Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

{{comic
| number = 2358
| date = September 11, 2020
| title = Gravitational Wave Pulsars
| image = gravitational_wave_pulsars.png
| titletext = The most important attributes of a vector in 3-space are {Location, Location, Location}
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Pulsars}} are rotating neutron stars, which have a very precise period of rotation. Pulsars are highly magnetized, causing a them to emit a beam of electromagnetic radiation that rotates across their sky. {{w|Radio astronomy|Radio astronomers}} can detect these beams if and when they point towards Earth, where they appear as pulses of radiation with highly stable periods. They use the pulsars' periodic beams to try to detect {{w|gravitational waves}} by tracking the rotation period of an ensemble of pulsars extremely precisely over long periods of time. Disturbances in the pulsars' rotation period will be measurable at Earth. A disturbance from a passing gravitational wave will have a particular signature across the ensemble of pulsars, and will be thus detected. The process is called {{w|Gravitational_wave#Using_pulsar_timing_arrays|"pulsar timing"}}, or just "timing" for short.

[[Ponytail]] presents this to [[Cueball]] as a joke - specifically, a joke about comedy. One of the most important aspects of comedy is revealing the punchline with correct timing. Ponytail sets Cueball up for a joke like, "Ask me what the secret of comedy is." / "What's the secret of--" / "Timing!" In this format, the punchline ("Timing!") deliberately comes too soon, which makes it funny because the timing is bad. Ponytail also replaces the secret to comedy with the secret to detecting gravitational waves with pulsars, to set up the joke about the word "timing".

The title text is a play on a well-known real estate saying that the three most important parts of a real estate deal are "location, location, location." In 3D {{w|Euclidean space}}, the three {{w|Cartesian coordinates}} {X, Y, Z} all refer to locations along the three axes.

==Transcript==

:[Single panel with Ponytail and Cueball standing facing each other]
:Ponytail: Ask me what the secret to detecting gravitational waves using pulsars is.

:Cueball: What's the secret to detecting grav—

:Ponytail: '''''Timing!'''''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Astronomy]]

1996: Morning News

2022-05-26T18:05:32Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

<noinclude>:''"1996", this comic's number, redirects here. For the comic named "1996", see [[768: 1996]].''</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 1996
| date = May 21, 2018
| title = Morning News
| image = morning_news.png
| titletext = Support your local paper, unless it's just been bought by some sinister hedge fund or something, which it probably has.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Megan]] is complaining to [[Hairbun]] about her easy access to infuriating national news stories and bad opinions (editorial articles and commentary) and worries that it may be having a negative effect on her, perhaps by promoting misinformation, by distraction, or by prompting adverse emotional reaction to content; she muses that, in some way or another, this habit is probably doing some sort of damage to her brain's wiring, training it to think in ways that are not necessarily good. While the capacity of the brain to change and adapt to a person's daily habits is, like most neurological phenomena, as yet not very well understood, it's clear that something of the sort exists--scientists refer to this capacity as "[https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=40362 neuroplasticity]."

Hairbun sarcastically tells Megan that things were different in her time, implicitly stating that access to infuriating stories via newspapers took only a tiny bit more time and effort during a morning routine compared to accessing them via the Internet.

Megan counters this idea and says that while it is true that newspapers provided the sort of national news she is being provoked by, they also had much more ''local'' news mixed in (which may be of a lighter nature, sometimes referred to in a derogatory sense as "fluff" news pieces), to which Hairbun agrees.

Megan also raises the point that bad opinions were not granted wide distribution. Hairbun is rather less quick to agree to this, and suggests that Megan not check that, revealing that Megan’s assertion isn’t entirely true. Indeed, before the Internet, newspapers were a common medium for expressing opinions, either by local columnists or average citizens via letters to the editor, and they, as with any body of opinions throughout history, were frequently noxious or ill-informed.

This comic has a similar tone to [[1348: Before the Internet]] in that it makes fun of the idea that life and society were better "in the good old days".

The title text takes another jab at newspapers as a supposedly superior source of news. Supporting your local paper is generally considered a positive action, as it is often the best or only source for local news (national media can't focus on smaller areas, and radio/television often lacks print media's focus on investigative journalism). However, in recent years, many seemingly independent local newspapers in major cities have been bought up by financial groups rather than traditional publishing companies, and their effect on the industry as a whole has been controversial. Most notably, hedge fund groups often attempt to make newspapers profitable by [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-22/the-hard-truth-at-newspapers-across-america-hedge-funds-are-in-charge cutting costs and downsizing], at the expense of quality reporting; critics call such hedge fund groups [https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/as-a-secretive-hedge-fund-guts-its-newspapers-journalists-are-fighting-back/2018/04/12/8926a45c-3c10-11e8-974f-aacd97698cef_story.html?utm_term=.d4e6ff7d3058 "vulture capitalists"] who are throttling newspapers for short-term profit, without any thought of long-term viability or public service. The owners of the fund may also be unethical or controversial for other reasons. Thus, the standard well-meaning suggestion of supporting your local paper may no longer be good advice.

==Transcript==
:[Megan, looking on a smartphone in her hand, and Hairbun are standing together and talk.]
:Megan: Every morning, before my eyes even focus all the way, I read a bunch of infuriating national news stories and bad opinions. I wonder what this is doing to my brain.
:Megan: It's probably not great.

:[Zoom in to the head of Hairbun.]
:Hairbun: Back in my day, we had to pay people to '''''print out''''' infuriating news stories and bring them to our door. And we waited until we had stumbled out to the '''''kitchen''''' to read them.
:Hairbun: '''''Totally''''' different.

:[Frameless panel, zoom out on both while Megan has lowered her hand holding the phone.]
:Megan: OK, fair. But newspapers at least had more local news mixed in, right?
:Hairbun: Yeah, true.

:[Same as last panel, except it has a border.]
:Megan: I bet they weren't full of bad opinions.
:Hairbun: Yyyyyes.
:Hairbun: All our opinions were good. It was a remarkable time.
:Hairbun: <span style="font-size:90%">Please don't go check.</span>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]

308: Interesting Life

2022-05-26T18:05:32Z

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{{comic
| number = 308
| date = August 27, 2007
| title = Interesting Life
| image = interesting_life.png
| titletext = Quick, fashion a climbing harness out of a cat-6 cable and follow me down.
}}

==Explanation==
'{{w|May you live in interesting times}}' (or, in this comic, 'may you have an interesting life') is supposedly a Chinese saying, except that a few people (usually the worst-case-scenario kind) believe it to actually be a curse, even though it is usually meant in a good way when said. The quote also provides the title of the {{w|Terry Pratchett}} novel {{w|Interesting Times}}, which takes place in a fictional counterpart of China.

[[Cueball]] is shown here as an office worker, a job that, to most people, is the opposite of interesting. This is contrasted with [[Megan]], who is rappelling down the outside of his office building, for no apparent reason other than because she can, and inviting him on an adventure. Things are bound to get at least one kind of "interesting" very fast.

The title text refers to a {{w|Category 6 cable|Cat6}} cable, which is more commonly known as Ethernet cable. It would be easily found in an office building, since it is used to connect computers to a network. Its usefulness as a {{w|climbing harness}} is indeterminate.{{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==
:[On the left hand side of the panel is a cutaway of several floors of an office, in gray. On the right side, a blue sky with clouds, and green hills below. Hanging from a cable is Megan, clearly having rappelled down the side of the building, next to a Cueball at his desk, who is looking at Megan.]
:Megan: You know how some people consider "May you have an interesting life" to be a curse?
:Cueball: Yeah...
:Megan: Fuck those people. Wanna have an adventure?

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

1533: Antique Factory

2022-05-26T18:05:32Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

{{comic
| number = 1533
| date = June 3, 2015
| title = Antique Factory
| image = antique_factory.png
| titletext = WARNING: This item was aged by the same inexorable passage of time that also processes nuts.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Beret Guy]] has a new job with a paradoxical premise. When asked where he works, he says "{{w|Antique}} factory!" which is an {{Wiktionary|oxymoron}} since one cannot build an antique object directly in a factory: Only when the item is old enough to be worth more than its original price (and will often have to have been in use during this time period), can it be called an antique.

At the "factory", Beret Guy walks up to a chair, a table, and a small cabinet, then simply sits down in the chair and does nothing else. Of course, one does not simply make or manufacture antiques - instead, one must wait. Beret Guy appears to be doing exactly this. The implication is that the "antique factory" is simply a place where furniture is stored until it becomes old enough to be considered "antique", and that Beret Guy doesn't perform any useful function (except perhaps using the items to make them look old and worn, or keeping an eye on the inventory so it won't be stolen).

The title text refers to allergy warning labels saying ''May contain nuts''. More specifically, they may say "Manufactured in a facility which also processes nuts", "Manufactured on equipment that also processes nuts", or similar. These warnings indicate that bits of powder and oil from nuts may have been mixed into the product, creating a hazard to people with nut allergies. Sometimes these warnings are used for allergens besides nuts, but nuts are likely the most common.

The joke here is that of course the time that has passed for a specific item to become an antique will be the same time that has also passed while elsewhere nuts have grown. Thus the time that has {{Wiktionary|inexorable#Adjective|inexorably}} passed to make a specific item antique will also have processed nuts.

Beret Guy has previously "traveled" into the future in [[209: Kayak]]. He has also previously waited for a long amount of time in [[1088: Five Years]].

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy is leaving with a briefcase in hand.]
:Beret Guy: Gotta go - I'm late for work.
:Off-screen voice: Oh, where are you working now?
:Beret Guy: Antique factory!

:[Beret Guy arrives in a room with a chair, a table, and a small cabinet. He pulls out the chair.]

:[Beret Guy sits in the chair. He has placed the briefcase behind the chair.]

:[Beat panel.]

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

1605: DNA

2022-05-26T18:05:32Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

{{comic
| number = 1605
| date = November 18, 2015
| title = DNA
| image = dna.png
| titletext = Researchers just found the gene responsible for mistakenly thinking we've found the gene for specific things. It's the region between the start and the end of every chromosome, plus a few segments in our mitochondria.
}}

==Explanation==
Because we have pretty much {{w|Human Genome Project|mapped the entire human genome}}, it's tempting to think we now know what makes our bodies tick and can start changing things. But just knowing what the individual pieces are, doesn't mean we know how they interact and behave in a complex system like our bodies.

In the comic, [[White Hat]] thinks that mapping the human genome is the same as knowing the {{w|source code}} for a {{w|computer program}}. By studying the source code for a program, a person can often understand why it does what it does, and make effective and fundamental changes to the program's operation. This may be a reference to the hyperbolic [http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/08/17/ray-kurzweil-does-not-understa/ claims of Raymond Kurzweil,] author of {{w|The Singularity is Near}}, that {{w|DNA}} is closely analogous to a computer program. Kurzweil believes that since we have sequenced DNA, we will soon be able to reverse engineer the brain and program a computer to completely simulate all its functions.

[[Megan]] points out that even a complete knowledge of DNA would only provide a partial understanding of our body's workings. Complete knowledge would require an understanding of feedbacks and external processing (such as the interactions of the proteins created by DNA). In addition the comparison is not valid because the human body is so many orders of magnitude more complicated than the computers we have running programs. White Hat is not persuaded, even though Megan points out that DNA has been developed in the most aggressive optimization process in the universe (natural evolution), running for billions of years. White Hat's thought process may be similar to the physicist in [[793: Physicists]] who assumes that any other field is simple because it appears to be similar to something he's seen before.

Finally Megan {{w|Hacker koan|enlightens}} White Hat by making him look at the source code for {{w|Google}}'s front page. In a web browser, the page looks simple; a very plain white page with a search box in the middle plus a few text links and icons, and indeed back in the 1990s Google's {{w|HTML}} code for the page was quite simple. But in less than 20 years, Google developers have vastly expanded it, with over 300 kilobytes of {{w|Minification (programming)|minified}} Javascript and CSS. Looking at some obfuscated source code may make it clearer how misleading even simple looking code can be, and how unreadable correct and well working code can be. This analogy causes White Hat to consider how much more complexity could evolve over billions of years through the relentless forces of nature.

What makes this even worse with DNA is that although it can be thought of as 'source code' it isn't for a language we fully understand, and this code was generated through various natural mechanisms such as {{w|natural selection}}, feedback loops like {{w|homeostasis}}, etc.; possibly even including processes that are not currently known to science. Further, program maintainability is not an issue, so there is no reason for the code to be easy to understand. Additionally, there are many other non-genetic factors such as {{w|epigenetics}}, {{w|maternal effect}} and {{w|environment (biophysical)|environment}}, which change how the genetic code is used. This means that not all parts make sense and that there may be all kinds of side effects and things that have several purposes.

The title text reference to finding the gene that is responsible "for mistakenly thinking we've found the gene for specific things" is a reference to the tendency of news organizations to run headlines making similar claims, often by oversimplifying or misrepresenting the actual study. These claims are based off the common belief that since DNA is a 'source code' for our body it should be possible to pin point the effect of individual genes in much the same way that we could describe the effect each line of code has in a very simple program; leading to people expecting one gene to be associated with each observable human trait. In reality even small traits are the results of hundreds of genes, sometime spread across multiple chromosomes, interacting through complex mechanisms; making it rare that a single gene, or gene sequence, can be definitively stated to be the sole, or primary, cause of a given trait.

The joke of the title text is that the responsible gene is located in ''the region between the start and the end of every {{w|chromosome}}'' meaning that the whole genome, not any one gene or DNA segment, must be considered responsible for the referenced trait, since the interconnected nature of DNA and environment during development means that every gene is at least partially responsible in generating any complex traits. [[Randall]] even includes the {{w|mitochondria}}, recognizing that the short DNA sequences present in these organelles, which are located outside the cell-nucleus, also contribute to development. The organismal chromosome or chromosomes are located in the nucleus, but mitochondria have their own tiny independent genome, reflecting their distant ancestry as separate but symbiotic organisms. This means that the DNA segments coding for any given human trait are not even necessarily all found on the main chromosomes in the nucleus.

Technically a gene is "a locus (or region) of DNA that encodes a functional RNA or protein product", which means that it is a single discrete unit of DNA, with human DNA containing over 20,000 genes. Thus the theoretical gene could not include the entire ''region between the start and the end of every chromosome'' since that region contains thousands of genes, any more than it's possible to say that the ace of clubs is the card everywhere from the top of the full deck of cards to the bottom of it.

Of course if such a gene actually did exist, then we would never be able to correctly identify where it was since we would make a mistake every time we thought we found a gene for something specific. So the whole title text is either a {{w|contradiction}} (they could never find this gene if it was there) and/or it is a {{w|Tautology (logic)|tautology}} since if the gene did exist, then of course it has to be part of our entire DNA. (If it is a tautology it is the second title text using this in just two weeks, the last being [[1602: Linguistics Club]].)

Google's home page for the date this cartoon appeared can be seen at the internet archive: [https://web.archive.org/web/20151118000129/http://www.google.com/ www.google.com homepage (18 Nov 2015)].

Similar discussions between White Hat and Megan can be found in [[1255: Columbus]] and [[1731: Wrong]].

==Transcript==
:[White Hat, holding a laptop, is talking to Megan who looks at her smart phone.]
:White Hat: Biology is largely solved. DNA is the source code for our bodies. Now that gene sequencing is easy, we just have to read it.
:Megan: It's not just "source code". There's a ton of feedback and external processing.

:[White Hat, opening his laptop, walks toward a desk and chair past Megan who holds her arms out.]
:Megan: But even if it were, DNA is the result of the most aggressive optimization process in the universe, running in parallel at every level, in every living thing, for four billion years.
:White Hat: It's still just code.

:[White Hat sits down at the desk with his opens laptop, while Megan looks over his shoulder.]
:Megan: OK, try opening google.com and clicking "View Source."
:White Hat: OK,I-...Oh my god.
:Megan: That's just a few years of optimization by Google devs. DNA is thousands of times longer and way, way worse.
:White Hat: Wow, biology is ''impossible''.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Science]]

1159: Countdown

2022-05-26T18:05:32Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

<noinclude>:''For the header text countdown, see [[Countdown in header text]].''</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 1159
| date = January 11, 2013
| title = Countdown
| image = countdown.png
| titletext = For all we know, the odds are in our favor.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic shows a {{w|seven segment display}} (aka [http://www.ece.mtu.edu/labs/EElabs/EE2304/pages/bcd_to_seven_segment_TAversion.html calculator-style numbers]) with a countdown. [[Black Hat]] explains that it is a countdown, maybe to a {{w|supervolcano}} eruption. However, an unfortunately placed picture blocks view of the full display. Due to the form of a seven-segment display, the first digit could be 0, 6, or 8, and five digits are completely blocked by the picture. [[Cueball]] is worried and asks him to move the picture, but Black Hat lazily or teasingly refuses to move it.

He has already teased that he doesn't know what the countdown is for. His reply can either be understood as if he does not know which one of the ({{w|Supervolcano#VEI_8|seven potential}}) supervolcanos it is counting down to, or to which other {{w|Global catastrophic risk|cataclysmic event}} it is a countdown for (such as a {{w|Impact event|meteor strike}} or global {{w|Nuclear warfare|nuclear war}} for instance - it could also just be a general {{w|Doomsday Clock}}). Since it seems to be Black Hat's countdown, it is safe to assume that he knows both what it counts down to and when it stops, but he just likes to mess with peoples' minds.

The fully visible part starts at 2409, and based on the pace of the scene, it seems to be in seconds. Thus, it is unclear when the eruption might occur. If the obscured digits are all 0s, it could be as soon as 40 minutes. On the other hand, if the obscured digits are '899 999', there's another 2.85 million years to go; if they are '000 001', we have a little more than 3 years.

The choice of the picture is probably also interesting. The image is distorted enough that you can imagine it as being two very different images.
#It could depict a setting sun either reflecting in an ocean or with a river (possible also a lake) running out of the picture. But if it is a sun it is not very circular, although there do appear lines to indicate it is shining. This could maybe be explained with atmospheric interference.
#Alternatively it depicts an exploding volcano, a mountain with lines away from it to indicate the explosion or the eruption, and lava flowing away from it or collecting in lakes.
In either case, it could make sense. If it is a volcano, the supervolcano clock makes sense. On the other hand, we are talking about the possible end of the world as we know it, so the sun setting upon humanity could be a great metaphor.

The title text: "For all we know, the odds are in our favor" could imply the assumption that since we can't see the digits behind the picture, we can treat them as random. If so, chances are only 1 in 300 000 they are all zeros. However, because of statistical principles such as {{w|Benford's law}}, the digits are not entirely random, and the {{w|odds}} are higher than 1/299 999 for all the digits to be zero since the middle 4 digits are zero.

In an alternative view, the strip is not about pondering at distributions of digits on an oracle countdown. It's more of a grim view of our natural disaster prediction capabilities. As they say – the question is not if it will happen but when it will happen. "Move the picture" would mean investing in research and warning systems - that would correspond to shifting the picture to the left. If we disregard the 40 minutes, but instead think of it as an arbitrary interval of interests, minuscule as we folks have them, say - one's lifetime; or grimmer yet - some {{w|term of office}}. Because, hey, year after year passes and no apocalypse has been observed - the empirical odds are low indeed. An interesting question is what we would use the knowledge of the timing of our impending doom, if it is an event we can do nothing about, such as stopping a supervolcanic eruption or a large asteroid with a direct impact course on Earth. Would we not have lives more happily for our remaining years, how few that might be, while not knowing... On the other hand, if the event is something we might prevent given enough time to plan (and the funding resources such knowledge would ensure), then it may have saved us if we moved the picture just in time!

Using a countdown theme for comic #1159 could be a subtle joke, as 11:59/23:59 is one minute to midnight (on the Doomsday clock!).

Supervolcanos were also referenced in the title text of [[1053: Ten Thousand]] and it is the subject of in [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar]].

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is sitting with his laptop on a desk when Cueball, standing behind him, looks up on the wall and asks him about the large digital countdown timer with red numbers which is hanging high up on the wall. It has a white frame around the black display with the red numbers. Most of the left part of the counter is covered by a framed picture that hangs on a string attached to a nail above the counter. The picture depicts either a setting sun reflecting in an ocean or an exploding volcano with lava flowing away from it. The picture does not block the left-most part of the frame around the counter, and it is also possible to see the two left-most lines of the first digit on the countdown, so they are both turned on. This proves that the numbers go all the way to the left end. The next five digits are covered by the picture. Then one digit is only partly covered, as only the two most left lines are not visible. From the visible lines, it is though clear that this digit shows a 0. The next seven digits are fully visible, giving eight discernible digits.]
:
:<font color="red">'''00002409'''</font>
:
:Cueball: What's that?
:Black Hat: Countdown.
:[Same picture, but Cueball is looking at Black Hat. The counter counts down.]
:
:<font color="red">'''00002400'''</font>
:
:Cueball: To what?
:Black Hat: Supervolcano, I think. I forget which one.
:[Cueball looks up again for about 18s (between 2nd and fourth image) - beat panel.]
:
:<font color="red">'''00002396'''</font>
:
:[Cueball looks at Black Hat again.]
:
:<font color="red">'''00002382'''</font>
:
:Cueball: Maybe we should move that picture?
:Black Hat: Too hard to reach. It's probably fine.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Volcanoes]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Time]]

2471: Hippo Attacks

2022-05-26T18:05:32Z

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{{comic
| number = 2471
| date = June 2, 2021
| title = Hippo Attacks
| image = hippo_attacks.png
| titletext = It's cool how, when there's a number lots of people are curious about, but which isn't easy to measure, some random guess will get cited everywhere and become the universally quoted value. Unrelatedly, did you know there are 850 trillion waves in the ocean?
}}

==Explanation==

The first part of this comic deals with unreliable sources on the internet. Neither "viral posts" nor "random [[wikipedia:Listicle|listicles]]" are usually very reliable sources of information. They rarely cite their sources,{{Citation needed}} and they are often published without much fact-checking, as published volume and impressive-sounding numbers are far more important for ad-revenue than actual facts.

The viral post appears to be [https://www.facebook.com/clickhole/photos/a.1461385317435063/2945077732399140/?type=3 this Facebook post.] The relevant source is unknown (and may very well be made up, since the source is ClickHole, a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ClickHole satirical website formerly owned by The Onion]). There are a number of listicles Cueball may be referring to, but they all appear to be citing [https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Most-Lethal-Animal-Mosquito-Week the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation], however, even they do not seem to provide source for the number of fatalities caused by hippopotamus.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ({{w|HIPAA}}, pronounced ''HIP-uh'') is an American healthcare law enacted in 1996. One of the most commonly cited provisions from HIPAA is the HIPAA Privacy Rule, which regulates the use and disclosure of protected health information.

In this comic, Cueball and Megan are discussing the number of {{w|hippopotamus}} attacks, which is unverified. Megan proposes an alternative explanation as to why this particular number is hard to come by: it would be violating the patients' privacy to create statistics of a very specific and unusual cause of death. The punchline comes with the pun on "hippo violation" ("HIPAA violation").

The title text amplifies the criticism of listicles. They sometimes provide factoids with regards to ill-defined, hard-to-measure numbers, and these factoids might end up in common circulation between such articles. One extreme example would be the number of waves in the ocean. Some problems with this definition would be:

* In which ocean/oceans?
* What is the smallest ripple that counts as a wave?
* When does one count two interacting waves as separate, and when does one count them as one?
* Are counted waves limited to water waves, or can EM waves be considered?
* Should sub-surface waves be evaluated, too?
* How deep is the ocean, how high is the sky?

With different replies to these questions, wildly different answers could be reached. But, counting every body of water on the planet, 850 trillion waves works out as around 2.354 (unique) waves per square meter.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting in an office chair at his desk. He has lifted both arms with palm up towards the screen of his laptop in front of him. Megan stands behind him to the right, looking over his shoulder at the screen.]
:Cueball: I hate unsourced statistics.
:Cueball: ''This'' viral post says hippos kill 2,900 people a year, but ''this'' random listicle says 500.
:Megan: Makes sense.
:Megan: Publishing the real number would be a HIPPO violation.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Puns]]

842: Mark

2022-05-26T18:05:32Z

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{{comic
| number = 842
| date = January 3, 2011
| title = Mark
| image = mark.png
| titletext = I'm a solipsistic conspiracy theorist. I'm sure I must be up to something, and I will not stop until I find out what.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Science Girl]] asks [[Cueball]] about a mark on his arm. He apparently believes he is part of a secret society, so secret that he doesn't know anything about the society. His belief in the existence of the society, and that he is a part of it, stem from one contact with an 'agent'. Most people would immediately dismiss the idea of such a secret society, especially with no evidence of its existence, and no knowledge of the goals or even whether it is inherently good or evil.

Six years after being 'chosen', Cueball finds the scrap of paper with an address on it, and the can of {{w|kerosene}}. Both of these events are not unlikely, and easily explained as simple coincidences, but Cueball somehow sees this as a command that he must burn down the house. Cueball shows that he is willing to put other people's lives at risk, destroy property and possessions, and face the possibility of prison, all because of one event six years prior.

Cueball's belief in the society, his delusional linking of the address and kerosene, and his actions in burning down the house, show how badly he wants to be part of something bigger, and to find meaning in the "Chaos of Life".

The punchline refers to an old grade school/middle school prank (Urban Dictionary: [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pen15+club pen 15 club], [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pen15 Pen 15].) You'd typically walk up to an unsuspecting schoolmate and ask them if he wants to join the Pen Fifteen Club. You'd tell them that to join, you merely have to write the club name on them. You'd then write "PEN15" on their hand or arm, and everyone would laugh at them because it looks like "PENIS". (In a common variant, it is simply called the Pen Club, 15 is the victim's "member number", and the pranksters write "PEN13" and "PEN14" on themselves.) In this case, [[Cueball]] fell victim to this prank as a child without ever figuring out the joke, and the ink somehow never got washed off by showers or baths or removed by shedding skin. In reality, it would be unlikely for such a mark to last for so long. While methods of making someone's skin more permanently do exist, it is hard to imagine someone tattooing or branding "PEN15" on their friend's arm as a prank.

As for the title text, {{w|solipsism}} is the philosophical idea that only your own mind is sure to exist while other minds can't be really known and so those other minds are not proved to be real. In this context it might mean that the only one who can conspire would be you, hiding the truth from yourself.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Science Girl are talking.]
:Science Girl: What's that on your arm?
:Cueball: The mark of a secret society.

:Science Girl: If it's secret, why tell me-
:Cueball: Because I know nothing. I can't betray them because I don't know who they are. I was chosen by an agent 20 years ago. That was my first and last direct contact.
:Cueball: It's safer that way.

:Six years later I found a piece of paper in the street with an address on it. The next day I found a can of kerosene in my garage that I'm sure I never bought.
:[The panel represents these actions by highlighting the mentioned objects in a world of gray.]

:I didn't know whose house it was. I just knew that I'd been given my orders. And I carried them out.
:[A dark figure holding the kerosene is silhouetted against a flame.]

:Cueball: I don't know who or what we're fighting.
:Cueball: Maybe we're the bad guys.
:Cueball: It doesn't matter to me.

:Cueball: It's enough to know that there are forces working beneath the chaos of life, and I'm a ''part'' of them.

:Cueball: That whatever this "Pen Fifteen" club is,
:Cueball: I'm ''in'' it.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Penis]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]

1618: Cold Medicine

2022-05-26T18:05:32Z

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{{comic
| number = 1618
| date = December 18, 2015
| title = Cold Medicine
| image = cold_medicine.png
| titletext = Seriously considering buying some illegal drugs to try to turn them back into cold medicine.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Cueball]] is probably representing [[Randall]] who seems to have been suffering from a long lasting {{w|Common cold|cold}} that he just can't get rid of. Two weeks before this comic Randall posted another comic about how a cold works: [[1612: Colds]]. This is also supported by the way the title text is phrased to make it sound like something Randall writes, disconnected with the action in the comic (see below).

In the comic Cueball is evidently suffering from a cold and he is searching the shelves labeled cold and {{w|Influenza|Flu}} at a {{w|pharmacy}} for any kind of '''cold medicine''' (hence the title), to alleviate his symptoms. Note that this is all he can hope for, as there are still {{w|Common_cold#Management|no cure}} that really helps getting rid of the cold any faster. All medication can do is help relieving the symptoms until the body's own {{w|immune system}} takes care of the relatively harmless cold virus.

After looking at several different options Cueball is clearly unsatisfied with what he finds. Either he doesn't feel that any of the unmonitored drugs available on the serve-yourself-shelf is useful, or he is actually too sick to properly ascertain which medicine he needs. In the end he approaches the counter and asks the {{w|pharmacist}} ([[Ponytail]]) to give him one of every kind of cold medicine which requires an ID to purchase. Two years later Randall finds a solution for Cueball's problem with a new cold medicine with only active ingredients, including among other all the active ingredients from all the cold medicines on the market, see [[1896: Active Ingredients Only]].

<div style="background-color: #ff7d66;">'''Warning:''' Taking lots of different medicines together in real life could harm, or even kill you, because certain combinations of medications interact in ways that make them dangerous or even lethal.</div>

Back in the comic, Ponytail tries to warn Cueball of another danger, that by simply ''purchasing'' so much cold medicine he would end up on a law enforcement watchlist, presumably one of the government agencies ({{w|DEA}}, {{w|FBI}}, {{w|CIA}} etc.) But she never gets to finish her sentence because Cueball is beyond caring and tells her this.

In the USA, cold medicines containing {{w|pseudoephedrine}} are kept behind the counter and IDs purchasing them are monitored, because pseudoephedrine can be used to make the {{w|List of Schedule I drugs (US)|scheduled}} drug {{w|methamphetamine}} or meth (a more hydrophobic - and thus potent - version of {{w|amphetamine}}). However, it is also an extremely effective {{w|decongestant}} (a pharmaceutical drug that is used to relieve {{w|nasal congestion}}/plugged nose), much more so than the common substitutes such as {{w|phenylephrine}} and {{w|oxymetazoline}} which have no clinically proven decongestant effect.

This could be one reason why Cueball just requests all kinds of cold medicines of amongst other this type; he does not appear to care what exactly he is purchasing, believing that his one criterion will provide him medicine powerful enough for his illness. It may also be that he is just too sick to care or realize that this will arouse suspicion of him being a drug dealer, or to recognize the need to select only one medication of these type.

This could be a reference to the medicine with the brand name {{w|Sudafed}}, sold as an over the counter decongestants with pseudoephedrine as the active ingredient. Now the manufacturer also sells a different type of medicine with the same brand name without pseudoephedrine, but with phenylephrine, which seems to be much less effective. If you buy this off the shelf (where it can be sold because it does not contain methamphetamine precursors) then you could easily get home with the once effective Sudafed, only to realize later that it does not alleviate any symptoms. This could offer another explanation for Cueball's request and outburst in the final panel.

The title text seems to be Randall's own comment on how badly he is affected by his cold. He thus, humorously, suggests that he is now ready to purchase illegal drugs (this would then be ''meth'') in order to turn it back into a cold medicine (i.e. pseudoephedrine). This would not be safe to do, but may be a reference to this spoof paper: ''[http://heterodoxy.cc/ A Simple and Convenient Synthesis of Pseudoephedrine From N-Methylamphetamine''], a take on the long-going joke about the recent difficulty in obtaining pseudoephedrine, i.e. it is now easier to get your hands on the illegal drug made from it.

It is a humorous exaggeration of how far Randall is willing to go to get the best cold medicine, and the potency of the drugs needed to treat his apparently debilitating illness. There are many illegal drugs that when first synthesized were planned to be used as a medical drug, but then later abused by drug addicts, but given the subject of the comic, the title text obviously refers to meth.

Randall continued in the medical world with the next comic: [[1619: Watson Medical Algorithm]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing in a drug store, with a drug in his hand he has taken from the shelf he is standing next to. The shelf is labeled.]
:Cueball: *Sniffle*
:Label: Cold & Flu

:[Cueball is standing alone, examining some medicine he is holding up, while having some other medicine in the other hand.]
:Cueball: *Cough*
:Cueball: *Sniff*

:[Cueball continues examining more medicine. Looking down on one in his hand, having another in the other hand and there are also three packages at his feet.]
:Cueball: Ughhh...

:[Cueball is at the labeled counter in the drug store with computer etc. Ponytail is behind the counter.]
:Counter label: Sale
:Cueball: Just gimme one of every kind of cold medicine you need ID to buy.
:Ponytail: You'll go on the watchlist for—
:Cueball: Don't care.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

1820: Security Advice

2022-05-26T18:05:31Z

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{{comic
| number = 1820
| date = April 5, 2017
| title = Security Advice
| image = security_advice.png
| titletext = Never give your password or bank account number to anyone who doesn't have a blue check mark next to their name.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic depicts a conversation between [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]], discussing the fact that giving people security advice in the past has failed to improve their internet security, and in some cases even made things worse. One such example is telling people to create complicated passwords containing numbers and symbols, which not only made the passwords harder to remember (leading people to create huge security risks by [https://arstechnica.com/security/2015/04/hacked-french-network-exposed-its-own-passwords-during-tv-interview/ leaving post-it notes with their passwords on their computer monitor]), but did not actually make those passwords harder to crack (see [[936: Password Strength]]).

As a result, Cueball suggests using {{w|reverse psychology}} and give out bad advice instead, in hopes of achieving a positive effect. The last panel contains a list with 13 security tips, which are parodies of actual security tips. The title text is just one more tip. See [[#Security tips|table]] below for explanations for all 14 tips.

This comic is yet another [[:Category:Tips|tips comic]].

===Security tips===
{| class="wikitable"
!Security Tip
!Explanation
|- id="tip0"
|Print out this list and keep it in your bank safe deposit box (header)
|This is a standard recommendation for documents that must be kept secure because they are irreplaceable and/or contain sensitive information. However this list itself is easily replaceable and the contents will be well-known, so storing it in a safe place is totally unnecessary. Putting it in a {{w|safe deposit box}} would even be counterproductive since the list can only serve its purpose as a ready reminder if it's easily accessible to everyone. So when people fail to follow this tip, they may end of keeping it in a place where they have easy access to the tips so they may also fail to follow all the others.
|- id="tip1"
|Don't click links to websites
|The usual tip is "Don't click on ''suspicious'' website links" or "Don't click any links in suspicious emails". The comic's variation instead tells users not to click on any links to any websites, which essentially stops them from using the World Wide Web altogether. So this tip is not really helping, as the opposite of this would be to click on all links. [https://www.sketchywebsite.net This is an example website that showcases an extreme example of what ''could'' (probably wouldn't (this is not advice)) happen if you clicked on a suspicious link.]
|- id="tip2"
|Use prime numbers in your password
|It is usually recommended that one uses numbers in one's password, to increase its entropy, making it harder to find with a {{w|Brute-force attack|brute force}} attack. In contrast the comic suggests using {{w|prime numbers}} in one's password. Large prime numbers are an essential part of modern cryptography and security systems, when used in algorithms that are computed by machines. They don't have any effect when used by humans in passwords, except for maybe making it harder to remember. In addition, if people were to regularly use prime numbers in their passwords, it would actually make passwords ''easier'' to guess, as it would substantially reduce the number of possible passwords people may choose from.
|- id="tip3"
|Change your password manager monthly
|It is often recommended to change passwords on a regular basis and to use a {{w|password manager}}. Password managers are programs which can help users create, store, and change their passwords easily and securely. Changing password managers monthly would involve copying all stored passwords from one manager to another, which would be quite impractical and has no security benefit.
|- id="tip4"
|Hold your breath while crossing the border
|At some border crossings, government agents may search computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices. The usual advice for such situations ranges from asserting your rights to resetting all devices and deleting all data prior to crossing a border. Holding one's breath can potentially prevent inhaling germs or poisons in some situations, though useless in the context of computer security. These two topics mixed in the same advice won't achieve anything, but if you hold your breath for too long you could pass out when crossing, or look stressed/suspicious and invite even more scrutiny. This could also be a reference to the superstition of holding one's breath when passing a graveyard, or similarly to the movie ''{{w|Spirited Away}}'', where the main character is instructed to hold her breath while crossing the bridge that acts as the border between the human and spirit world. In any case, holding one's breath while browsing the Internet would have no useful effect, supernatural or otherwise.
|- id="tip5"
|Install a secure font
|A real tip might be "Install a secure browser" especially when many people used {{w|Internet Explorer 6}}. Secure fonts do exist and are designed to make checks difficult to alter, but using one on a computer would not help one's internet security. May also refer to Google Chrome [https://www.proofpoint.com/us/threat-insight/post/EITest-Nabbing-Chrome-Users-Chrome-Font-Social-Engineering-Scheme "Install missing font"] malware.
|- id="tip6"
|Use a 2-factor smoke detector
|{{w|Multi-factor authentication|Two factor authentication}} describes the practice of using two different identification factors (such as a password and a code from a secure token) to authenticate the user. A two factor smoke detector presumably uses two or more factors to identify ''smoke'' (such as {{w|Smoke_detector#Ionization|ionization}} and {{w|Smoke_detector#Photoelectric|photoelectric}}). Such devices [https://alarmspecs.com actually exist], but, while improving the user's general safety, they do nothing to improve their internet security.


A month before this comic the newest [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phone]], [[1809: xkcd Phone 5]], was released with a 28-factor authentication.
|- id="tip7"
|Change your maiden name regularly
|A {{w|maiden name}} is the family name that a woman has at birth. (The gender-neutral term is "birth name" or "birth surname"; it is unclear whether this "advice" is meant to apply only to women.) Security experts frequently criticize the concept of security questions like "what is your mother's maiden name?", on the basis that they can often be deduced from publicly available information. In the sense that it refers to a historical fact, a maiden name cannot be changed retroactively, although in the sense that it refers to the last name on one's birth certificate, in some narrow cases this ''can'' be amended. For instance, when someone is {{w|adoption|adopted}} and takes their adoptive parent's last name, in many jurisdictions a {{w|legal fiction}} holds that they have had that last name since birth, and governments will issue new birth certificates to that effect. However, it is unlikely for anyone to be able to amend the surname on their birth certificate more than once, and impossible to do so "regularly".

A real tip for dealing with security questions is to enter false data.
|- id="tip8"
|Put strange USB drives in a bag of rice overnight
|The usual security tip is "Don't plug strange {{w|USB flash drive|USB drives}} into your computer," because sometimes attackers leave USB devices with malicious programs lying around, hoping that people will plug them into target computers out of curiosity. This tip states that you should "put USB drives in a bag of rice overnight" which is a common technique for drying out water-damaged devices, due to rice's absorbent qualities. This would not clean the drive of viruses, and unless the drive was wet (perhaps because you found it outside due to it being called "strange") it would not do anything. In [[1598: Salvage]], another attempt is made to salvage something unconventional with rice, and here it is shown that Randall considers the rice drying of a wet mobile is a myth, so this is yet another jab at the idea.
|- id="tip9"
|Use special characters like & and %
|You can use special characters to increase the entropy/strength of your password, though as described in [[936: Password Strength]], that often leads to passwords that are hard to remember but not particularly strong. The password context is missing here, and in everyday situations the characters & and % are not special. These two characters are often disallowed in passwords because of their relevance to {{w|SQL}} (a common database query language). If these characters were used in a password, a badly written security system using SQL could have severe bugs (and security vulnerabilities) similar to the security flaw in [[327: Exploits of a Mom]].
|- id="tip10"
|Only read content published through Tor.com
|{{w|tor (anonymity network)|Tor}} is a software solution to provide anonymity on the web for its users. The website [https://tor.com Tor.com] is the website of fantasy and sci-fi book publisher {{w|Tor Books}}, which has no relation to the Tor-network.
|- id="tip11"
|Use a burner's phone
|A play on using a {{w|Prepay mobile phone|burner phone}} (a cheap/disposable cell phone like those purchased at 7-11, often used for drug deals or other activity one might not want traced), and using the cell phone of a burner, i.e. a person who habitually uses marijuana (or, less likely, a person who goes to the {{w|Burning Man|Burning Man festival}}).
|- id="tip12"
|Get an SSL certificate and store it in a safe place
|{{w|Transport Layer Security|SSL/TLS}} is a protocol for securing connections on the internet. To check if someone is who they claim to be, you can check the individual's {{w|Public key certificate|certificate}}. Such a certificate has to be public; storing it in a safe place makes the certificate useless. You have to store the private key that matches the certificate in a safe place, else someone could steal the identity.
|- id="tip13"
|If a border guard asks to examine your laptop, you have a legal right to challenge them to a chess game for your soul.
|This tip is a reference to the common trope {{tvtropes|ChessWithDeath|Chess with Death}}, in which a mortal challenges a god to a game or challenge, often for their life. This version of the trope traces back to {{w|Ingmar Bergman|Ingmar Bergman's}} film {{w|The Seventh Seal}}, in which the protagonist {{w|The Seventh Seal#Synopsis|challenges Death}} to a game of chess. But instead of avoiding death, this tip suggests you have the right to do the same to get out of handing your devices over to a border guard. (This trope is also featured in [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/393 393: Ultimate Game]).
Under President {{w|Donald Trump}} (inaugurated two and a half months prior to this comic), border patrol and customs agents have become notorious for profiling non-Caucasian travelers and immigrants. Stories abound of agents coercing and threatening travelers to hand over their smartphones -- they do not have legal right to just take your devices under the Fourth Amendment, but have many not-entirely-idle threats they can level at you until you do as they wish.

This is the second tip referring to crossing a border. Randall has made several comics lately that could be seen as being related to issues concerning the election of Donald Trump as president - see more [[Sad comics|here]].
|- id="tip14"
|'''Title Text''': Never give your password or bank account number to anyone who doesn't have a blue check mark next to their name.
|The usual security tip here is ''"only trust Twitter accounts claiming to be legitimate if they have a blue check mark next to their name"'', which means that the account is verified as legitimate. This tip suggests only giving your ''password'' to verified accounts, although you shouldn't give your password to ''any'' account. Twitter Verification would be revisited in [[1914: Twitter Verification]].

It also refers to problems especially visible in the US banking system, where there is very little security for direct account drafts, and because of that it is advised there to keep the account number as secret as possible. In contrast, in Europe giving your account number to someone is one of the most common ways to get paid.

A related tip might be "Never give your password or bank details to a website that doesn't have a padlock icon next to the URL". In some browsers, if you access a secure website, there will be a padlock icon in the browser indicating you've connected to a secure website using the secure https protocol. It doesn't provide that it is not malicious site, and that is secure to enter. So this tip treats the verified account icon the same way you might treat a secure website icon.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is listening to Ponytail who holds her hands out in front of her.]
:Ponytail: We've been trying for decades to give people good security advice.
:Ponytail: But in retrospect, lots of the tips actually made things worse.

:[Cueball takes his hand to his chin as Ponytail takes her arms down.]
:Cueball: Maybe we should try to give ''bad'' advice?
:Ponytail: I guess it's worth a shot.

:[Below these two panel is one large and long panel with a long list with 13 tips. The underlined heading and the bracket below it are centered above the bullet list below.]
:<big><u>Security tips</u></big>
:(Print out this list and keep it in your bank safe deposit box.)
* Don't click links to websites
* Use prime numbers in your password
* Change your password manager monthly
* Hold your breath while crossing the border
* Install a secure font
* Use a 2-factor smoke detector
* Change your maiden name regularly
* Put strange USB drives in a bag of rice overnight
* Use special characters like & and %
* Only read content published through tor.com
* Use a burner's phone
* Get an SSL certificate and store it in a safe place
* If a border guard asks to examine your laptop, you have a legal right to challenge them to a chess game for your soul.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Chess]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Tips]]

2154: Motivation

2022-05-26T18:05:31Z

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{{comic
| number = 2154
| date = May 24, 2019
| title = Motivation
| image = motivation.png
| titletext = What's even worse is, a month ago they transferred me to work on the game I was already playing, and suddenly I found myself procrastinating by playing the one I'd been assigned before. It's possible they're onto me and this is all part of the plan.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Motivation}} is an important part of human {{w|psychology}}. It arouses a person to act towards a desired goal. It is a driving force which promotes action. As [[Ponytail]] is feeling unmotivated to do her job, she decides to procrastinate by playing a video game on her laptop instead, with the hope that she will eventually be more motivated to do her assigned task. [[Cueball]] seems to understand her sentiment, and admits to being in the same situation in the past, seemingly assuming she's referring to games that feel like work.

Games are [https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4x38aq/why-do-we-play-video-games-that-simulate-work sometimes criticized] for feeling like work. This is usually aimed at games that simulate an actual or historical job which can frequently cause the player to have to check each individual plant as if he were an actual gardener, or work out a cost-benefit analysis as if he were an actual manager. This is more generally applied to any video game {{w|Grinding (gaming)|grinding}}, also known as farming. This is why when Cueball asks Ponytail what she's doing, she replies that she's playing a game that involves exactly as much planning, problem-solving and boring drudgework as the actual job she's avoiding. Cueball then laughs and says that he has definitely been there before, before asking Ponytail what her job is.

The punch line for this comic comes when Ponytail admits that her actual job is a {{w|Game testing|video game playtester}}, someone whose job is to test and play video games. So it seems that Ponytail is avoiding doing her task to test video game X by playing video game Y. As a result, her original statement can be interpreted in a completely different way: Instead of comparing the game she's playing to a regular job, implying that grinding is as difficult and boring as an actual job, playing games '''is''' her actual job, and she's simply comparing two games she's playing. Though being a game tester can be seen as glamorous and fun to people who enjoy playing video games ("I get to play video games all day at work"), it is [https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/03/29/the-tough-life-of-a-games-tester less rewarding] [https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-be-a-video-game-tester-2015-6 than it may seem], as game testers often aren't ''playing'' the game but are ''testing it'' by constantly doing mundane tasks and running through a game that they may not like to identify bugs and problems, which is far less enjoyable than playing a game one likes for fun, even if it requires a grind.

The title text continues Ponytail's admission, adding that she had originally been assigned to play video game Y in the first place, and was previously procrastinating by playing video game X. Her company may have caught on to her procrastination, as they then changed her assignment to work on video game X that she was already playing to procrastinate. To further procrastinate herself, Ponytail changed to play video game Y, the original video game that she was assigned. However, this would not serve to have her work on her original task to test video game Y. Testing a video game is very different from playing a video game while procrastinating. For example, video game testers must intentionally make "mistakes" to verify that the game responds correctly and, more importantly, report on what worked or didn't work. Playing normally, while attempting to win, would not yield the data obtained from proper testing.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball and Ponytail sitting at a desk, working on their laptops.]
:Cueball: What are you working on?
:Ponytail: Playing a game that involves exactly as much planning, problem-solving and boring drudgework as the actual job I'm avoiding.

:[Zoom in on Cueball, leaning back with one arm on the back of his chair.]
:Cueball: Haha, yeah, I've definitely been there.

:[Zoom back out to Cueball and Ponytail sitting at a desk, working on their laptops.]
:Cueball: What's your job these days, anyway?
:Ponytail: Video game playtester.
:Cueball: ...
:Ponytail: Look, motivation is weird, ok?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Video games]]

1337: Hack

2022-05-26T18:05:31Z

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<noinclude>:''"1337", this comic's number, redirects here. For the 2007 storyline of the same name, starting with [[341: 1337: Part 1|comic 341]], see [[:Category:1337]].''</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 1337
| date = March 3, 2014
| title = Hack
| image = hack.png
| titletext = HACK THE STARS
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is an imagined project to re-position the {{w|International Cometary Explorer|ISEE-3/ICE}} probe, and a parody of the 1995 movie ''{{w|Hackers (film)|Hackers}}''. The first row (four panels) explain the history of the probe, and the true story about how the probe was coming back into signal range and seemed capable of being controlled. NASA declined to attempt to regain control of the probe, but a group of enthusiasts assembles the equipment and attempts to re-purpose the probe.

The following two rows (eight panels) set up a fictional scenario: the enthusiasts have been locked out of the system, the probe is being controlled by someone else, and the message "Mess with the best, die like the rest" is communicated from the probe. This is a catch phrase of the protagonist, Crash, from ''Hackers''.

The final row is a reference to the ending of the movie, where Crash romances Burn, his romantic interest, in a rooftop pool. In the movie, while Crash and Burn swim in a rooftop pool, several buildings light up with the words "CRASH AND BURN". This was at the end of a contest and is Crash's latest hack and romantic gesture which he indicates by saying 'Beat that!'. In the comic the transmitter being used to communicate with ISEE-3 was hacked by Burn to make the probe burn up over Crash and Burn swimming in the pool providing a "shooting star" for romantic effect.

The comic number is 1337, which stands for "leet", short for "elite hacker" and "leetspeek" in {{w|leetspeak}}. Leetspeak is a form of symbolic writing that substitutes various numbers and {{w|ASCII}} symbols for letters. It originates from the hacker subculture, where words were converted to leetspeek e.g. to avoid filters and triggers on chat rooms. "1337" for "leet" can most likely be explained as {{w|calculator spelling}}.

The title text "Hack the stars" is also an allusion to ''Hackers'', where the phrase "Hack the planet!" is used on multiple occasions.

This project since [http://spacecollege.org/isee3/ became reality], as [[Randall]] noted in a [http://blog.xkcd.com/2014/05/30/isee-3/ blag post]. See [[#Background for ISEE-3/ICE|details below]].

==Transcript==
:[A black image shows an image of the ISEE-3/ICE spacecraft in white. Text is written in white above it]
:The ISEE-3/ICE probe was launched in 1978.
:Its mission ended in 1997 and it was sent a shutdown signal.

:[The text continues, black on white, without a frame around it, between the first frame and the next.]
:In 2008, we learned-to our surprise-that the probe didn't shut down.
:It's still running and it has plenty of fuel.
:...and in 2014, its orbit brings it near earth.

:[Megan holding up one hand and Ponytail are talking to each other.]
:Megan: We could send it on a new mission...
:Megan: Except we no longer have the equipment to send commands to it.
:Ponytail: Can't we—

:[Zoom in on Megan's head and torso as she looks towards Ponytail off-panel to the right.]
:Megan: NASA won't rebuild it. "Too Expensive"
:Ponytail (off-panel): ''Seriously?''
:Megan: I know, right?
:Megan: So the internet found the specs
:Megan: And we went to work.

:[Megan and Ponytail are walking towards right, between Hairbun facing left and Cueball (with head phones) facing right. They are sitting at desks working on their laptops. Megan speaks, as indicated both by the story line and by her hand which is lifted up, but there is not speech line from her to the text.]
:Megan: We've convinced them to give us time on the Madrid DSN transmitter and hacked the maser to support the uplink.
:Megan: And today's the big day.

:[Zoom in on Cueball's head and torso, he holds a hand up to his speaker on his head phones and watches his lit screen (as indicated by lines emanating from it).]
:Cueball: Transmitting...
:Cueball: We have a signal!
:Cueball: We have control!

:[Zoom in on Megan's head and torso. She has turned away from Cueball to the right towards Hairbun.]
:Megan: OK, transmit the new comet rendezvous maneuver sequen—
:Cueball (off panel): What ''the hell?''
:Megan: What?

:[Same setting as when Megan and Ponytail entered the control-room, but Ponytail just stands there and Megan puts a hand out towards Cueball.]
:Cueball: My console went dead!
:Hairbun: ''Mine too!''
:Megan: What's happening?!

:[Another zoom in on Cueball's head and torso and glowing screen. He has both hands down.]
:Cueball: There's a new signal going out over the transmitter!
:Megan (off panel): A bug?
:Cueball: ''Someone else is in the system!''

:[Zoom in on Hairbun's head and torso. She is also working on her laptop, with the glowing screen visible.]
:Hairbun: Kill the connection!
:Cueball (off panel): ''I can't find it!''
:Hairbun: ''They're firing the probe's engines!''
:Cueball (off panel): ''No!!''

:[Back to a zoom in on Cueball. He points at his screen.]
:Megan (off panel): ''Who's '''doing''' this??'' Stop them!
:Hairbun (off panel): ''I'm trying!''
:Cueball: ''Look! My screen!''

:[Same setting as when Megan and Ponytail entered the control-room, but Ponytail has a hand to her mouth and she and Megan stand close to Cueball who has taken his hands off the keyboard. The text on Cueball's laptop screen is shown above the setting, indicated with zigzag lines:]
:<font color="red">M-E-S-S-W-I-T-H-</font>
:<font color="red">T-H-E-B-E-S-T</font>

:<font color="red">D-I-E-L-I-K-E-</font>
:<font color="red">T-H-E-R-E-S-T</font>

:[The last four panels is outside night scenes with a black sky above. In the first of these a woman (Burn) with long hair (Megan like) and a hairy man (Crash) is seen in a swimming pool with blue water.]

:[A zoom out reveals that the pool is on top of a skyscraper in a vertically developed, downtown setting with lots of light in all the skyscrapers, one of which is even taller than the one with the pool. From the top of the central skyscraper speech lines come which indicate that the two from the pool is up there speaking, and we get their names from this panel.]
:Burn: Crash?
:Crash: Yeah, Burn?

:[Same setting but only one speech line.]
:Burn: Make a wish.

:[The last panel shows the same setting, but with the spacecraft streaking across the sky as it enters the Earths atmosphere and burns up in a way that is indistinguishable from a meteoroid.]

==Trivia==

===Background for ISEE-3/ICE===
The {{w|International Cometary Explorer|ISEE-3/ICE}} probe was launched in August 12, 1978 and tasked to study Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind. Before completing its original mission the probe was repurposed on June 10, 1982 to study the interaction between the solar wind and a cometary atmosphere. By flying through the comet {{w|21P/Giacobini–Zinner|Giacobini-Zinner}}'s tail, it became the first probe to do so. This put ISEE-3 in a {{w|heliocentric orbit}}. Its trajectory will bring it close to Earth on August 2014.

The Deep Space Network (DSN) detected the probe again in 2008 because NASA mistakenly left its transmitters on. However, the probe was only transmitting the carrier signal at that time. A status check of the spacecraft has revealed that many of its instruments are still working and that it contains plenty of fuel.[http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2014/02070836-isee-3.html]

It was reported that the hardware to communicate with ISEE-3/ICE had been decommissioned. The Madrid DSS complex still has the special filter required to communicate with the ICE satellite, but because of frequency conflicts S-band uplink is not supported.[http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsndocs/810-005/101/101E.pdf]

On March 1 and 2, 2014 radio amateurs were able to detect the beacon signal from the retired NASA deep space probe ICE (International Cometary Explorer) using the 20 m radio telescope at the Bochum Observatory (Germany).[http://amsat-uk.org/2014/03/09/radio-amateurs-receive-nasa-isee-3ice-spacecraft/]

===Updates for ISEE-3/ICE===
After this comic was published, it was established that an 18-meter satellite dish at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory does still have the right hardware.
*April 4, 2014: Volunteers started a crowdfunding project on RocketHub to contact the probe and put it back into a {{w|halo orbit}} orbit around {{w|Lagrangian point}} L1.[http://www.rockethub.com/42228 "ISEE-3 reboot"]
*May 23, 2014: First contact to the probe was established.
*May 29, 2014: NASA gave them approval to try to achieve contact.
*May 30, 2014: The project, led by [http://www.rockethub.com/profiles/68340-dennis-wingo Dennis Wingo] and {{w|Keith Cowing}}, had taken control of the spacecraft.
*July 2, 2014: The reboot project successfully fired the thrusters for the first time since 1987. The engines on ISEE-3 performed a successful spin-up burn. The spin rate was changed to 19.76 rpm which is inside of the original mission specifications at 19.75 +/- 0.2 rpm.
**Further attempts to change the trajectory into an earth bound orbit did fail. Despite the effort from experts and amateurs via the internet [http://spacecollege.org/isee3/we-are-borg-crowdsourced-isee-3-engineering-and-the-collective-mind-of-the-internet.html] it was determined that the spacecraft had run out of nitrogen pressurant.
*Since the device was still communicating, and many of the instruments were still working, the ISEE-3 was intended to be used for the first citizen science, crowd funded, crowd sourced, interplanetary space science mission.[http://spacecollege.org/isee3/announcing-the-isee-3-interplanetary-citizen-science-mission.html]
*{{w|International_Cometary_Explorer#Contact_lost|Contact was finally lost}} on 2014-09-16.

See [http://spacecollege.org/isee3/ Space College: ISEE-3 Reboot Project Archives] for the coverage of this amazing project.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Space probes]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Computers]]

1983: Clutter

2022-05-26T18:05:31Z

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{{comic
| number = 1983
| date = April 20, 2018
| title = Clutter
| image = clutter.png
| titletext = I found a copy of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, but the idea of reading it didn't spark joy, so I gave it away.
}}

==Explanation==

As the graph shows, the amount of junk sitting around [[Randall]]'s house is on an ever-increasing trend. Thus, it will continue to pile up and cause problems.

Randall cleans up sometimes, thinking that he is returning to the same baseline amount of stuff each time, but it is not actually effective enough to keep up with the cluttering trend, and hence his worry.

The four places on the graph where the amount of stuff decreases reference common times when people clean up and get rid of junk or excess stuff. This includes:

* The satisfaction many people feel from getting rid of things and making the remaining items look neat.
* Moving, a time when most people will get rid of items they no longer need and use, rather than packing them up and moving them to a new home where they will once again cause clutter.
* Spring cleaning. In many areas with a harsh winter, it is common to clean in the spring when it is warm enough to open windows for dusting, after months of building up smoke or soot from fires to keep the house warm. In other cultures where the year starts in the spring (a time of rebirth) there are traditions of cleaning up before the start of the new year. This may also mean that this graph takes place over the course of a single year, a disturbing fact if the graph continues this way.

Although not mentioned in the quotes, it is also common in the United States to clean up and donate items (for instance to Goodwill) on December 31st, right before the New Year, to gain the charitable donation benefit on their taxes for that year.

The title text refers to the book ''The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing'' by {{w|Marie Kondo}}. The main concept of the book is that one should gather all belongings and only retain items that "spark joy". Ironically, the thought of reading the book didn't spark joy for Randall so he decided to donate it. Thus, one of the few things that he did get rid of was something that if he had kept and put into practice could have helped him actually reduce his clutter.

==Transcript==
:[There is a panel containing a line graph. The x- and y-axes are labeled "time" and "amount of stuff in my house" respectively.]
:[The y-value generally increases straight-line as x increases. There are a few labeled exceptions where the y-value decreases slightly but instantly increases again. From left to right:]
:"I need to clean up."
:"I've really let junk build up. Feels good to clear it out."
:"I hate moving, but at least it's a chance to finally get rid of all this excess stuff."
:"Ah, spring cleaning!"

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I'm starting to worry about my strategy for dealing with clutter.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]

675: Revolutionary

2022-05-26T18:05:31Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

{{comic
| number = 675
| date = December 14, 2009
| title = Revolutionary
| image = revolutionary.png
| titletext = I mean, what's more likely -- that I have uncovered fundamental flaws in this field that no one in it has ever thought about, or that I need to read a little more? Hint: it's the one that involves less work.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic contrasts brilliant revolutionary scientific thought with the simplistic arrogance of assuming one understands the current scientific theory enough to correct it (see the {{w|Dunning Kruger effect}}). The character with the goatee has a degree in {{w|philosophy}}, and perhaps has certain ideas of his own about how the world should fundamentally be described by physics. He has studied Einstein's {{w|theory of special relativity}} for less than an hour and thinks he has found a flaw. When confronted about this, he considers the objection as based in {{w|dogma}}, and remains so confident that he wants to email the "president of physics". His ignorance of the field is emphasized by thinking that the entire field of physics has a president - although certain important organizations such as the {{w|American Physical Society}} do have presidents.

[[Cueball]] concedes that it is possible for such a revolutionary idea to come from a relative outsider. One example is {{w|Albert Einstein}}'s own formulation of {{w|special relativity}}, which came while he was working at a patent office in Switzerland, although he did already have a Ph.D in physics. A {{w|thought experiment}} considers some hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences.

The "racecar on a train" idea alludes to thought experiments involving {{w|Frame_of_reference#Simple_example|frames of reference}}, which are important in relativity. Special relativity was famously established using some thought experiments about moving objects. However, some searchers elaborated more complicated thought experiments and claimed they had proven relativity was self-contradictory. Examples include {{w|twin paradox}} (both of the twins are younger than the other, until you stop assuming acceleration phases can be neglected) or {{w|ladder paradox}} (ladder is both smaller and larger than the garage, until you consider seriously the problems with defining simultaneity for remote locations in relativity). Apparently the philosopher complicated Einstein's train thought experiment by adding a racecar, and found contradictions which prove special relativity is inconsistent. However, most likely scenario is that the "racecar on a train" is too complicated for goatee man to find correct conclusions.

A too complex case may be impossible to prove consistent with relativity using intuition alone: complete solving involves calculation using Lorentz transformations.

The title text is posing a question about the likelihood of two scenarios (possibly to the person with the philosophy degree):
*That decades of work by numerous physicists is fundamentally incorrect, and I found the flaw immediately
*That I need to read a little more

This might be a self-referential title text as this question could be considered a simple thought experiment. The philosopher should be able to overturn his theory using this simple thought experiment which reflects the second panel. While his theory is not widely believed the joke is that the philosopher could overturn his first thought experiment (racecar on train) with this thought experiment.

[[Randall]] hints that believing you have found fundamental flaws in a theory is much easier than doing more research on it. This is possibly a statement about using Occam's Razor in arguments, which says the simpler answer is the more likely one, which is commonly brought up in {{w|Philosophy|philosophy}}. Usually, when someone with little understanding of the subject thinks that they have found a flaw, it takes only a little bit more reading to discover that the flaw is in fact completely explained already.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Yes, science is an open process in which a good idea can come from anybody.

:Cueball: Yes, widely-believed theories are ''on occasion'' overturned by simple thought experiments.

:Cueball: And yes, your philosophy degree equips you to ask interesting questions sometimes.

:[Cueball is talking to a philosopher with a goatee, who is sitting at a computer.]
:Cueball: But you did not just overturn special relativity, a subject you learned about an hour ago, with your "racecar on a train" idea.
:Philosopher: You just don't like that I'm turning a rational eye to your dogma. Hey, what's the email for the president of physics?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Physics]]

872: Fairy Tales

2022-05-26T18:05:31Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

{{comic
| number = 872
| date = March 14, 2011
| title = Fairy Tales
| image = fairy tales.png
| titletext = Goldilocks' discovery of Newton's method for approximation required surprisingly few changes.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Eigenvalues and eigenvectors|Eigenvectors}} are a mathematical concepts that can be applied to a {{w|Matrix (mathematics)|matrix}}. A matrix is mostly displayed as an rectangular array of elements used to describe the state of objects in physics. In pure mathematics they can be much more complex. The most important issue to the understanding of the comic is that a matrix can be transformed through various processes. These transformations can include rotation, movement and scaling of the object described by the matrix. An eigenvector refers to elements of the vector space of the matrix which remain unchanged (except possibly being scaled to be longer or shorter) after the transformation is applied. The prefix 'eigen-' applied to the term is adopted from the German word ''eigen'' for "self-" or "unique to", "peculiar to", or "belonging to." As the eigenvector remains unchanged through the transformation of the matrix it can be used to describe something unique about that matrix.

The concept of an eigenvector has nothing to do with the fairy tale {{w|Cinderella}}; therefore [[Megan]] confuses [[Cueball]] when she asks whether it occurred in the story of Cinderella.

The story of Cinderella includes Cinderella going to a ball in disguise, dancing with a prince and then leaving early and quickly, so that she accidentally leaves a glass slipper behind. The prince then uses the shoe to find Cinderella. Megan says that the way she learned it, the prince used an eigenvector and corresponding eigenvalue to match the shoe to its owner. This is a somewhat logical mathematical connection to make as eigenvectors, unchanged properties of mathematical matrices that may allow for mathematical identification of the changed matrix, correspond to the unchangeable property of the shoe (size) that allowed the prince to correctly identify the owner of the shoe even after the shoe was misplaced. Eigenvectors are sometimes used in facial-recognition software to match 2 faces.

Megan explains that her mother, a math professor (drawn as [[Hairbun]] with glasses) would continue to talk when she fell asleep in the midst of reading bed time stories, and then would ramble on mixing the adventures with the math from her work. The middle panel refers to the story of {{w|The Ant and the Grasshopper}} with the addition of what is likely a reference to the {{w|Poincaré conjecture}}, a (now-misnamed) theorem in mathematics.

Megan explains that even today she is not sure which versions are the real ones. Cueball cannot understand how she would not have noticed the drastic subject changes (which seems obvious to adults, but maybe not to small children).

Megan then mentions two other story changes, the first ''Inductive White and the (''n''−1) Dwarfs'' was better than the original. The story is a combination of {{w|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs}} with the {{w|Mathematical induction|principle of induction}}. But ''The lim<sub>x→∞</sub>(x) Little Pigs'' was a little weird toward the end. That story combines the {{w|Three Little Pigs}} with {{w|Limit (mathematics)|mathematical limits}}. The reason it got weird toward the end was because the number of pigs tends to infinity as the story progresses.

Each of the stories has a varied degree of similarity to the mathematical concepts that were mixed in as though her mom began to talk about a mathematical principle that may have been brought to mind while reading the story or already on her mind.

In the title text Megan mentions another adventure: ''Goldilocks' discovery of Newton's method for approximation''. {{w|Newton's method}} for approximation is a method for finding successively better approximations to the zeroes (or roots) of a real-valued function. In {{w|The Story of the Three Bears|Goldilocks}}, the protagonist finds successively better porridge and comfier chairs in a house where three bears lived. In the same way, in the Mom's version of the fairy tale, she would find successively better approximations to zeroes instead of successively better bowls of porridge, and Megan notes that it was surprising how few changes that story needed compared to the original adventure.

==Transcript==
:[Megan sits in an armchair, reading a book looking over her shoulder at Cueball as he walks in.]
:Megan: Are there eigenvectors in ''Cinderella?''
:Cueball: ...No?
:Megan: The prince didn't use them to match the shoe to its owner?
:Cueball: What are you ''talking'' about?
:Megan: Dammit.

:[In this frame-less panel Megan is shown in a flashback as a little girl lying in bed, head on pillow and hands held on the edge of the blanket at her throat. Hairbun with glasses, as her mom, is sitting on the edge of the bed reading, while her head is hanging down. Above and below there are two frames with Megan's narration. Hairbun's reading text is smaller than the other text in this comic.]
:Megan (narrating): My mom is one of those people who falls asleep while reading, but keeps talking. She's a math professor, so she'd start rambling about her work.
:Mom: <small>But while the ant gathered food ...</small>
:Mom: <small>...zzzz...</small>
:Mom: <small>...the grasshopper contracted to a point on a manifold that was ''not'' a 3-sphere...</small>
:Megan (narrating): I'm still not sure which versions are real.

:[Cueball now stands in front of the arm chair. Megan has put the book away, and is leaning her head on her left arm which rests on the armrest of the chair.]
:Cueball: You didn't notice the drastic subject changes?
:Megan: Well, sometimes her versions were better. We loved ''Inductive White and the (n−1) Dwarfs''.
:Megan: I guess ''The lim<sub>x→∞</sub>(x) Little Pigs'' did get a bit weird toward the end...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Math]]

1037: Umwelt

2022-05-26T18:05:31Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

{{comic
| number = 1037
| date = April 1, 2012
| title = Umwelt
| image = umwelt_the_void.jpg
| titletext = Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit--from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your web browser.
}}
{{TOC}}
==Explanation==
This was the third [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous fools comic was
[[880: Headache]] from Friday April 1st 2011. The next was [[1193: Externalities]] released on Monday April 1st 2013.

This comic was released on April 1 even though that was [[:Category:Sunday comics|a Sunday]] (only the third comic to be released on a Sunday). But it was only due to the April Fool joke, as it did replace the comic that would have been scheduled for Monday, April 2nd. The next comic, [[1038: Fountain]], was first released on Wednesday, April 4th. This was the first that could be different for different readers.

An {{w|Umwelt}}, as the title text explains, is the idea that one's entire way of thinking is dependent on their surroundings. Thus, this {{w|April Fools}} comic changes based on the browser, location, or referrer. Thus, what the viewer is viewing the comic on, where they live, or where they came from determines which comic they actually see. As a result, there are actually multiple comics that went up on April Fools' Day, although only one is seen.
(The term 'Umwelt,' as mentioned in the comic, refers to the semiotic theories of Jakob von Uexküll and Thomas A. Sebeok)

Information about how the wide variety of data was collected and credit for the viewers who contributed can be found [http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/rnst4/april_fools_xkcd_changing_comic/ here].

===The Void===
[[File:umwelt the void.jpg]]

If the device or browser you are using does not support Javascript, you will simply see a static image of a white swirl on a dark background.

Possible reference to The Ring (http://imgur.com/wlGmm), as though to suggest that using an alternative browser is dismal and horrific.

Davean (xkcd's sysadmin): "[This] comic isn't available everywhere and it can come up i[n] some situation[s] only for recognized browsers."

Browser: Alternative Browser

===Aurora===
[[File:umwelt aurora.png]]

One could interpret that since Megan didn't go out and therefore missed seeing the {{w|Aurora}} (northern lights), Cueball in his [[1350:_Lorenz#Knit_Cap_Girl|knit cap]] lied about it. That way, she wouldn't have felt sad that she missed out. Another interpretation could be that he decides that since she did not even bother to go outside to see such a spectacular sight he will not tell her about it. And yet another could be that he did not think it was interesting.

Cueball could possibly also be red-green colorblind, seeing the green aurorae as grey "clouds". This would serve as an example for the theme of the comic, as a non-colorblind person and a colorblind person seeing the same color would perceive it differently, one seeing it as its true color, and the other seeing it without the shade of color they cannot see. If this is the case, then it would be a reference to umwelt, as Cueball would be living in a world where the auroras do not reach his location.

In real life, [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-northern-lights-dont-look-anything-like-they-do-in-photos_n_5500a4d9e4b0e62d0dd4f9bb aurorae are usually seen as grey/white clouds] to the naked eye, as our eyes cannot perceive the "greener" colors as well in the dark.

This image changed based on the size of the browser window including different panels at different sizes.

Locations: Canada, Boston, Maine, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Minnesota, Norway, Denmark, France, Rhode Island (not sure if mobile only or not.) (also in Virginia, but using Ohio in the first panel) (also in Maryland, but using Canada in the first panel)

In [[1302: Year in Review]] a possibly different Megan has a completely different approach to the chance of seeing northern lights, as that was the only event she was looking forward to in 2013, and it failed. If this is the same Megan, perhaps she learned that there actually were northern lights in her area from another source, and so desperately wanted to have another chance to see them.

===Snake===
[[File:umwelt snake composite 1024.png]]
[[:File:umwelt snake composite.png|Full size]]

The joke here is the extreme length of snakes. The world's longest snake is the python, the longest ever being 33 feet or approx. 10 meters. The blue and orange circles refer to the hit game {{w|Portal}}.
There is also a reference to the book "The Little Prince" in the second panel, where there is a large bulge in the snake that looks like an elephant. The Little Prince starts out by mentioning a drawing that the author made when he was six that showed an elephant inside a snake.

Also, the number and content of the panels changes depending on the size of your browser window.

This image changed based on the size of the browser window including different panels at different sizes.

Specific AltText for this image: Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit -from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your browser window size.

Location: Texas (on Chrome Version 33.0.1750.154 m), New Jersey, California (on Chrome Version 39.0.2171.95), Maryland, Massachusetts (Safari for iOS, Chrome version 49.0.2623.112), Connecticut (Safari for iOS, Chrome Version 73.0.3683.103, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge), Virginia (on Chrome), Michigan (Firefox v46.0.1), Penang (Chrome Version 65.0.3325.162).

===Black Hat===
[[File:umwelt tortoise 1024.png]]
[[:File:umwelt tortoise.png|Full size]]

Cueball as an analyst attempts to psychoanalyze [[Black Hat|Black Hat's]] [[72: Classhole|classhole]] tendencies. Cueball's quote and the whole setup is a direct reference to the movie {{w|Blade Runner}} (1982) and Black Hat is taking the Voight-Kampff test which is used to identify replicants from real humans.

Black Hat's reason for not helping the tortoise is that ''it '''knows''' what it did'' and thus in Black Hat's world view it deserves being turned over. The final part of the joke is that when zooming out it turns out that there is a tortoise behind Black Hat and he has actually already turned it over for what it did.

Location: Seems to appear mostly in "other countries" — those without location-specific comics.

===Too Quiet===
[[File:umwelt too quiet 1024.png]]
[[:File:umwelt too quiet.png|Full size]]

A reference to {{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}} which has been [[87: Velociraptors|constantly]] [[135: Substitute|referred]] [[1110: Click and Drag|to]] [[155: Search History|before]] [[758: Raptor Fences|in]] this comic.

Also referencing the film {{w|2 Fast 2 Furious|2 Fast 2 Furious}}, an entertaining, yet intellectually unprovoking sequel in a popular film franchise, which is aimed at teenagers and young adults, prompting the blunt response from the stickman. The fact that Steve would use such a cliché {{w|2000s (decade)|noughties}} movie term in such an intense moment, and the subsequent curse, is the joke in this comic.

Location: short version — iPhone 5c Safari browser in Texas, iPhone 5 Chrome Browser in Minnesota, long version - Google Chrome browser in Indiana, Windows 8 Laptop

===Pond===
[[File:umwelt pond mobile.png]][[File:umwelt pond wide.png]]

Two different versions showed, the narrower version for mobile devices.

Location: The Netherlands and various other countries.

===Galaxies===
[[File:umwelt galaxies 1024.jpg]]
[[:File:umwelt galaxies.jpg|Full size]]

Megan is distracted from her conversation with [[Cueball]] by realizing that the space behind his head, from her vantage point, contains millions of galaxies. This is similar to an [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/astro/hst_deep_field.jpg incredible photograph] taken by the Hubble Telescope, in which a tiny dark area of space in fact contained numerous galaxies.

The title text is an imaginative leap from this scenario: that the galaxies would be up to no good once Cueball is turned away from them. This is presumably a reference to [http://www.mariowiki.com/boo Boo], an enemy from certain Mario games who moves toward Mario only when Mario is facing away from Boo.

This comic was only reported once... the intended environmental context is a mystery.

Location: unknown

===xkcd Gold===
[[File:umwelt xkcd gold.png]]

This is probably a reference to the 4chan Gold Account, an implementation on 4chan that does not actually exist, and is usually used to trick newcomers into revealing their credit card numbers. The joke is that "Gold Account" users can supposedly block other users from viewing images they have posted. The fifth panel is probably a reference to Beecock, a notorious set of shocker images. 4chan's moderators have been known to give out "beecock bans" or "/z/ bans" to particularly annoying users, which redirect the user to a page containing beecock and the text "OH NO THE BOARD IS GONE".

Referrer: 4chan

===Yo Mama===
[[File:umwelt dog ballast.png]]

Possible reference to Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s "{{w|Harrison Bergeron}}."

The joke is that people's different experiences shape how they perceive the world in that the people who live in this world would perceive the joke as funny, while people in our world would not get it. This is the idea of umwelt mentioned at the top of the context where different individuals perceive the world differently.

Refer: Facebook

===Reddit===
[[File:umwelt reddit.png]]

Reference to referencing, because Reddit, as a referring site, likes references to its referencing in its references.

This comic also features recursive imagery similar to [[688: Self-Description|Self Description]] where the third panel embeds the entire comic within itself.

One of the browser tabs visible in the center panel is {{w|Elk}} on Wikipedia.

Referrer: Reddit

===Buns and Hot dogs===
[[File:umwelt somethingawful.jpg]]

This is a reference to the question "Why do hot dogs come in packages of 6 while buns come in packages of 8?"

Another, more sexual reference to this question can be found in [[1641: Hot Dogs]].

Referrer: SomethingAwful, Questionable Content, & MetaFilter

===Twitter===
[[File:umwelt twitter.jpg]]

A summary of the "content" typically found on Twitter.

In the tweet feed, there are three tweets about some podcast on the top, followed by the tweet containing link they clicked on to get to the comic, tweets about Rob Delaney, unspecified passive-aggressive tweets, and a tweet from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_ebooks Horse Ebooks] retweeted by one of the users the reader follows.

On the left, the topmost dialog, with profile information, shows that the user has posted 1,302 tweets, but only follows 171 people and has even fewer followers, at a measly 48. This is marked with a sad face, implying that the user wants more followers.

Below that is the "who to follow" dialog, which is written up as consisting of "assholes".

Below that is the "trending tags" dialog for the United States. It is full of tags about word games, tags about misogyny, and tags about Justin Bieber.

Below that is an unidentified dialog full of "stuff your eyes automatically ignore". And finally, on the bottom is the background colour, which is "a really pleasant blue".

Referrer: Twitter

===Wikipedia===
[[File:umwelt wikipedia wide.jpg]]
[[File:umwelt wikipedia mobile.png]]

The term {{w|Mile High Club}} (or MHC) is a slang term applied collectively to individuals who have had sexual intercourse while on board an aircraft. Randall says that reading the news articles on it has distracted him from making that comic.

Two different versions shown, the narrower version (the single panel with all the text) for mobile devices.

Referrer: Wikipedia

===Google Chrome===
[[File:umwelt chrome1.jpg]]

{{w|Sergey Brin}} (born August 21, 1973) is an American computer scientist and Internet entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google, one of the most profitable Internet companies. As of 2013, his personal wealth was estimated to be $24.4 billion. Randall makes the joke that as the founder of Google, Brin's permission would be needed to use Google Chrome. Because there are millions of people who use Google, it is likely that at least some of the time Brin would be asleep, thus he would need to be woken.

Browser: Chrome

===Chrome/Firefox===
[[File:umwelt chrome2.png]]

Mozilla {{w|Firefox}} is a free and open-source web browser developed for Windows, OS X, and Linux, with a mobile version for Android and iOS, by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. Cueball is complaining about {{w|Google Chrome}}, to which [[Ponytail]] replies that there is an {{w|add-on}} that fixes what he is complaining about. When questioned, she replies that the add-on is Firefox, which isn't an add-on at all and is instead a different browser.

Browser: Chrome

===Google Chrome-2===
[[File:umwelt chrome3.png]]

This panel references Google Chrome's error screen, which shows a puzzle piece. The comic humorously implies that Chrome is looking for that piece. When completing jigsaw puzzles, a common strategy is to figure out where the pieces must be from their geometry rather than from the picture they create. In this case, the text suggests that Chrome believes the puzzle piece connects to the pieces which form one of the corners of the puzzle, which may seem impossible because any piece that links up to a corner would usually have at least one flat edge, which this piece has none. However, more complicated puzzles have complex shapes and are not always simply approximate squares with tabs and blanks.

Browser: Chrome or silk on desktop view

===Mozilla Firefox Private Browsing===
[[File:umwelt firefox incognito.png]]

Another reference to crashing web browsers.
Firefox shows the history when it crashes.
Browser: Firefox (Incognito only?)

===Internet Explorer===
[[File:umwelt ie.png]]

Yet another reference to crashing web browsers

Browser: Internet Explorer

===Maxthon===
[[File:umwelt maxthon.png]]

Browser: Maxthon

===Netscape Navigator===
[[File:umwelt netscape womanoctopus.png]]

[[File:umwelt netscape man.png]]

{{w|Netscape Navigator}} was a web browser popular in the 1990s.

Browser: Netscape

===Rockmelt===
[[File:umwelt rockmelt.png]]

{{w|Rockmelt}} is a social-media-based browser.

Reference to the gospel song {{w|Longing for Old Virginia: Their Complete Victor Recordings (1934)|"There's no hiding place down here" by The Carter Family}}, later covered by Stephen Stills.

:I run to the rock just to hide my face
:And the rocks cried out, no hiding place
:There's no hiding place down here

It may additionally be a reference to the ''Babylon 5'' episode "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place," which featured the song.

Browser: Rockmelt

===Plugin Disabled===
[[File:umwelt plugin disabled.png]]

When the Google Chrome web browser does not have the required software (called a plug-in) to display a web page's content, it displays a puzzle piece icon and an error message. In this case, Chrome informs the user that the content is impossible to display.

Browser: Plugin (?) Disabled, Safari Desktop

===Corporate Networks===
[[File:umwelt corporate general.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate amazon chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate amazon firefox.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate amazon other.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate google chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate microsoft chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate microsoft firefox.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate microsoft other.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate nytimes chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate nytimes other.png]]

These error messages appear if the user is on a network owned by one of the corporations noted. The error message includes a warning against speaking on the company's behalf.

ISP: Corporate networks of Amazon, Google, Microsoft, NY Times

===Military===
[[File:umwelt military.png]]

[[Cueball]] assumes that anyone using a military network has an important job like watching for incoming missiles. He includes a thank-you to the user for their military service.

ISP: Military networks

===T-Mobile===
[[File:umwelt tmobile.png]]

Reference to T-Mobile's distinguishing feature (at the time it was written) of weaker coverage, in relation to other major providers.

ISP: T-Mobile

===Verizon and AT&T===
[[File:umwelt verizon.png]]

[[File:umwelt att.png]]

Reference to Verizon and AT&T's scandals/controversy regarding implementation of bandwidth caps.

ISP: Verizon and AT&T

===France===
[[File:umwelt france.jpg]]

A common joke about France is that the nation does not win wars. This originated from France's annexation by Germany during World War II, and America's late entry into the war, which is sometimes portrayed humorously as a case of America 'saving' Europe, in this joke particularly France (the role of the French resistance is usually not mentioned), leading to a common American joke at the expense of France's military prowess [http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/victories.html][http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blpic-frenchmilitaryvictories.htm][http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/jokes/bljokefrenchmilitaryhistory.htm]. When France did not form part of the coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003, aligning with the many countries that condemned U.S. action, the joke was revived.

A Google search of "French Military Victories" + 'I'm feeling lucky' used to direct to "did you mean: french military defeats" (due to a {{w|Google bomb}}). Cueball is trying to show this to his friend, who is French. However, his joke backfires, as his friend immediately points out that the stereotype of France not having military victories is undercut by the fact that one of the most innovative military commanders in history, Napoleon, was French by citizenship (though Italian/Corsican by culture, as the French annexed Corsica a few months before his birth to an Italian noble family), and in fact conquered much of Europe.

Following the theme of umwelt, the comic highlights the two characters' differing perspectives: The American thinks that France is a military failure, while the Frenchman thinks of Napoleon.

The last line of the comic further implies that Cueball is not as smart as he thinks he is in regards to anything French, as he mispronounces the French loan word "{{w|Touché (fencing)|touché}}".

Locations: France & Quebec

===Germany===
[[File:umwelt germany.png]]

This comic references the {{w|Berlin airlift#The start of the Berlin Airlift|Berlin Airlift}}, a relief measure for citizens in West Berlin (surrounded by East Germany) instituted by the Western Allies after World War II. In reality, the Western Allies flew a grand total of 500,000 tons of food over the Soviet blockade in planes. Randall puts a twist on this event by making it more fun: dropping supplies from a grand chairlift. The play on words is that "chairlift" rhymes with "airlift" and thus makes an easy substitution. The chair force is also a name that other service branches use to make fun of the air force.

Location: Germany

===Israel===
[[File:umwelt israel.png]]

Translation: Mom, I met a great guy! But he's not Jewish. ...Wait, what do you mean "neither are we"? I'm completely confused.

A reference to the multiple use of the word Jewish to denote both a {{w|Judaism|religious group}} and a {{w|Jews|nationality/ethnicity}}, as well as the stereotype of Jews holding low opinions of interfaith marriage.

A side note: Randall accidentally drew an apostrophe instead of the similar-looking Hebrew letter י everywhere that letter should appear.

Location: Israel

===Carnot Cycle===
[[File:umwelt japan.png]]

A pun on "cycle"; a "{{w|Carnot cycle}}" is a thermodynamic cycle (e.g. refrigeration). Its efficiency depends on the temperature of the hot and cold 'reservoirs' in which it is operating. The icon on the side of the motorcycle resembles a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carnot_cycle_p-V_diagram.svg graph of the Carnot cycle.]

Location: Japan

===UK===
[[File:umwelt uk.jpg]]

He worded this as though to imply that the UK is a state of the U.S., and an unimportant one at that, which pokes fun at the UK, creating a paradox (sort of).

Location: UK

===Blizzard===
[[File:umwelt disasters blizzard.png]]

This comic is aimed at the debate over whether earthquakes or blizzards are harsher conditions to live under. In keeping with the theme of umwelt, the comic demonstrates that the two people perceive the world in two different ways due to their different experiences: The Californian perceives a mild earthquake and a severe blizzard, while the Northeasterner perceives a severe earthquake and a mild blizzard.

For each location this displayed in, the state name was substituted in the third panel.

Locations: Alabama, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Georgia, Halifax, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, the Northeast, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ottawa, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Texas, Toronto, Tennessee, New York, Wisconsin

===Tornado===
[[File:umwelt disasters tornado.png]]

This comic is aimed at the debate over whether earthquakes or tornadoes are harsher conditions to live under. In keeping with the theme of umwelt, the comic demonstrates that the two people perceive the world in two different ways due to their different experiences: The California perceives a mild earthquake and a severe tornado, while the Midwesterner perceives a severe earthquake and a mild tornado.

For each location this displayed in the state name was substituted in the third panel.

Locations: Alabama, Dallas, Illinois, Georgia, The Midwest, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ottawa, Tennessee, Texas (and Virginia, but it used Ohio in the third panel)

Tornadoes are a [[:Category:Tornadoes|recurring subject]] on xkcd. The picture used in [[1754: Tornado Safety Tips]] very reminiscent of the one from this version of Umwelt. [[Category:Tornadoes]]

===Hurricane===
[[File:umwelt disasters hurricane.png]]

This comic is aimed at the debate over whether earthquakes or hurricanes are harsher conditions to live under. In keeping with the theme of umwelt, the comic demonstrates that the two people perceive the world in two different ways due to their different experiences: The Californian perceives a mild earthquake and a severe hurricane, while the Easterner perceives a severe earthquake and a mild hurricane.

For each location this displayed in the state name was substituted in the third panel.

Locations: D.C, Florida, Georgia, Houston, Miami, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia

===Lake Diver Killer===
[[File:umwelt lake diver.png]]

This comic shows a news reporter standing in front of a lake. She is reporting on a serial killer who targets divers. As more divers are sent in to investigate and/or search for bodies, more divers go missing, the implication being that they were also murdered. The more likely reason is the lake itself is dangerous for diving, and the divers probably drowned from natural hazards (undercurrents, entanglement, running out of oxygen in tanks, etc.) instead of a malicious assailant. Also, this is a sort of loop, where each time a diver gets killed, the investigative team goes and investigates, causing more divers to get killed, causing more deaths, and so on.

Location: Bay Areas, Metro Detroit, Vermont showed an image specifically referencing Lake Champlain

===Lincoln Memorial===
[[File:umwelt lincoln memorial.png]]

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States of America, was not an entity composed wholly of nanobots that attempted to consume the entire nation to then be imprisoned within the Lincoln Memorial.{{Citation needed}}

Locations: Illinois & Washington, D.C.

===Helicopter Hunting===
[[File:umwelt helicoptor.png]]

In Alaska, governments and individuals have {{w|Wolf hunting#North America 2|shot wolves en masse from helicopters}} in an attempt to artificially inflate populations of game, such as moose and caribou, to make hunting them easier. This is opposed by many, as the game populations are not endangered (thus, this threatens ecological balance); wolves are a small threat to livestock in North America; most of the wolf body —including meat and bones— goes wasted as they are sought mainly for their pelts.

Location: Alaska

===Newspaper===
[[File:umwelt life scientists.png]][[File:umwelt life rit.png]][[File:umwelt life umass.png]]

Creating new life has long been a well understood process, in a lab or otherwise.

This comic is likely a reference to the title text of [[983: Privacy]]

Location: Various

Specific versions appeared for RIT and UMass Amherst

===Robot Paul Revere===
[[File:umwelt paul revere.png]]

Combination of the legend of {{w|Paul Revere#"Midnight Ride"|Paul Revere}} and a computer bit that differentiates between two situations by indicating a zero or a one.

Location: Boston

===Counting Cards===

All four colleges in this series are in Massachusetts and, being similar, in pairs, rival each other to some extent (Harvard-MIT, and Smith-Wellesley). The comic contains a reference to the {{w|MIT Blackjack Team}}, which entered popular culture via the {{w|21 (2008 film)|film 21}}, and a possible reference to Orwell's book '1984' and/or {{w|Chain of Command (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|popular homage to it via Star Trek}}: "There are four lights."[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChYIm6MW39k]

Bonus: The thought-gears in panel 3 are spinning against each other.

Location: Harvard

[[File:umwelt counting cards harvard.png]]

Location: MIT

[[File:umwelt counting cards mit.png]]

"Course 15s" at MIT are the business major students, often mocked for taking a less-rigorous program. The different interpretation for why the MIT students could not count cards compared to Harvard may be a reference to the theme of umwelt.

Location: Smith

[[File:umwelt counting cards smith.png]]

Location: Wellesley

[[File:umwelt counting cards wellesley.png]]

Both Wellesley and Smith are all-women colleges in Massachusetts.

===Giant Box Trap===
[[File:umwelt box trap.png]]

Randall got his undergrad in Physics at the {{w|Christopher Newport University}}, and was scheduled to return shortly to give a talk. The "Trible" figure on the right is Paul Trible, the then-president of CNU. This comic depicts a classic trap, where an upside-down box is propped up with a stick. When the stick is removed, by pulling a string, the box falls and traps whatever is underneath it. Aside from the joke of the obvious trap, there's also the fact that the president would not be responsible for revoking unearned diplomas.

Location: Christopher Newport University

===Chemo Support===
[[File:umwelt chemo.jpg]]

[[Cueball]] has shaved his head in support of people going through {{w|chemotherapy}} but, as he is always depicted as a stick figure with no hair, no one can tell.

Randall's now-wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, and apparently DFCI is where they've been spending much of their time.

Location: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

===Reviews===
[[File:reviews.png]]

The previous strip appears twice when using [[wikipedia:Tor (anonymity network)|Tor]].

Browser: Any using Tor, xkcd API (JSON, RSS, Atom), w3m, and reports of seeing it on a Kindle Fire HD; also happens if visiting with a browser that does not support JavaScript (such as Firefox with NoScript)

===Nothing===

[[File:Umwelt blank.jpg]]

The comic doesn't appear in iPad browsers. The top buttons and the bottom buttons are side by side, and you can only see the title in the top.

On April 28 and 29, 2019, a visit from San Francisco on macOS 10.14.4 using Chrome 74, Safari 12.1, or Firefox 66.0.3, all with JavaScript enabled, produced no comic, just two adjacent rows of navigation buttons.

On April 29, 2019, a visit from Utah using a T-mobile Samsung device running Android pie, yielded the same results

Since this comic's release, all devices viewing it have returned two rows of navigation buttons if near IP address 69.114.249.104.

It also doesn't work in Pennsylvania on the Chrome operating system.

There is a discussion about this in the ''Talk'' page.

==Transcript==
:[Note to courageous readers- The transcript has been reordered in the order in which the comics appear in the picture and appropriate names have been given.]

:'''The Void'''
:[An epic void with a bright light shining right on you.]

:'''Aurora'''
:[Cueball heading out past Megan comfortably sitting in front of a desk.]
:Cueball: Apparently there's a solar flare that's causing some Great Aurorae. CBC says they may even be visible here! Wanna drive out to see?
:Megan: Hockey's on.
:Cueball: Ok. Later.

:[An expansive, marvelous image of emerald green northern lights, floating down through the sky.]

:Megan: See anything?
:Cueball: No, just clouds.
:Megan: Not surprised.

:'''Aurora-US'''
:[Cueball heading out past Megan comfortably sitting in front of a desk.]
:Cueball: Apparently there's a solar storm causing northern lights over Canada. CNN say they might even be visible {Options: "As Far South As Us", "Here in Boston", "Maine", "Ohio", "Oregon", "New York"}! Wanna drive out to see?
:Megan: It's cold out.
:Cueball: Ok. Later.

:[An expansive, marvelous image of emerald green northern lights, floating down through the sky.]

:Megan: See anything?
:Cueball: No, just clouds.
:Megan: Not surprised.

:'''Snake'''
:[Two people standing next to each other. Megan is holding the head end of a snake. Depending on the width of your browser, the snake is: three frames, the third of which has a little bit of a bump; the first frame has a human-size bump, the second has a third person looking at the snake, and the third has the snake going though two Portals; a squirrel and the human-size bump in the first frame, a ring next to the third person in the second frame, and Beret Guy riding the snake in front of the portal; or The squirrel, a fourth person within the snake being coiled, and the human bump in the first frame, the ring, a fifth person in love, and the third person in the second frame, Beret Guy and the portal in the third frame, and the same two people in the fourth frame.]

:Megan: I found a snake, but then I forgot to stop.

:'''Black hat'''
:[Two people sitting at a desk. One is Black Hat. The other is an analyst. Black Hat has a number of terminals attached to his head.]
:Analyst: You come across a tortoise in the desert. You flip it over. It struggles to right itself. You watch. You're not helping. Why is that?

:Black Hat: It '''knows''' what it did.

:[View of the entire scene, with said turtle off in the distance on its back and trying to right itself.]

:'''Too quiet'''
:[A group of four scale down a wall into a field in the middle of the night. They walk off single-file.]
:Person 1: It's quiet.

:Person 3: Yeah - *Too* quiet.

:[A Velociraptor is off in the distance, following the group.]
:Person 4: Yeah - too *too* quiet.

:Person 2: Yeah - 2quiet2furious.
:Person 1: Fuck off, Steve.

:'''Pond'''
:[A landscape showing a pond, some reeds, and a set of mountains off in the distance.]

:'''Galaxies'''
:[A trio of galaxies.]
:Galaxy 1: He's not looking!
:Galaxy 3: Let's get him!
:[Lines draw in illustrating the eye-line of one of a pair of people.]
:Cueball: So he said he didn't get the text, but c'mon, he *never* misses texts. Right? ..hello?
:Megan: I'm just staring at your head freaked out by the fact that there are millions of galaxies *directly behind it*.

:'''xkcd Gold'''
:[Cueball holding bat.]

:Cueball: Sorry, but this comic

:[Cueball starts to wind up.]

:Cueball: requires

:[Cueball prepares to strike with bat.]

:Cueball: XKCD

:[Cueball swings at a beehive.]
:GOLD

:[Penis Bees fly out of the beehive.]

:'''Yo mamma'''
:[Cueball yells at a friend.]
:Cueball: Oh yeah? Well you mama's so ''cynical'', her only dog ballast is a ''leash''!
:(This comic takes place in a dystopian future where the government is afraid dogs can hover, so it requires them to wear weights at all times, and some people privately doubt the government, but not enough to stop buying dog weights.)

:'''Reddit'''
:Five seconds ago:
:[You sitting in front of a desk, reading a reddit thread.]
:You: Oh, hey, reddit has a link to some XKCD april fools comic.

:Now: [An image of the xkcd comic page.]
:Five seconds from now:

:You: ..hey

:30 seconds from now:
:[DANCE PARTY!]

:'''Buns and Hot dogs'''
:Cueball: What I wanna know is why do hot dogs come in packages of six while buns come in these huge sacks of ash and blood from which "Ave Maria" is faintly audible?
:[Chanting sacks of gore in the background.]

:'''Twitter'''
:[A Twitter account page with the following: Many tweets, fewer following, even fewer followers, A bunch of assholes in the suggested follow box, trending topics partitioned into: Word Games, Misogyny, and Bieber, stuff your eyes automatically ignore, A really pleasant blue. and the timeline: Something about a podcast, Someone confused because the description doesn't match the link, The link you clicked on to get to this comic, Rob Delaney, Passive Aggression, and horse ebooks.]

:'''Wikipedia'''
:[There's no comic here because instead of drawing one, I spent the last hour reading every news story cited in the Wikipedia article on The Mile High Club.]

:'''Google Chrome'''
:[A Chrome plugin error page.]
:Chrome: This plugin requires Sergey Brin's permission to run. Please wait while he is woken.

:'''Chrome/Firefox'''
:[Two people; Cueball is sitting at a desk in front of a laptop.]
:Cueball: Man, chrome's hardware acceleration really sucks.
:Ponytail: Oh - Theres' a great add-on that fixes it.
:Cueball: Oh? What's it called?
:Ponytail: "Firefox".

:'''Google Chrome-2'''
:[A Chrome plugin error page with the characteristic jigsaw piece.]
:Chrome: Chrome is looking for this piece. Have you seen it? Chrome thinks it links up with a corner.

:'''Mozilla Firefox Private Browsing'''
:[Firefox error page.]
:Firefox: Well, this is embarrassing. You know how I'm not supposed to peek at your browsing in private mode? Firefox.. is sorry. Firefox will not blame you if you
:[Button with text.]
:Click here to report this incident.

:'''Internet Explorer'''
:[IE error page.]
:IE: Error: Internet Explorer has given up.

:'''Maxthon'''
:Cueball: Maxthon? Hey, 2005 called. Didn't say anything. All I could hear was sobbing. This is getting harder. Anyway, yeah, Maxthon's still cool! Didn't know it was still around!

:'''Netscape Navigator'''
:[Two different versions exist: one with Cueball talking and one with Megan with tentacle arms talking.]
:Person: Netscape Navigator? Hey, the nineties called - drunk as usual. I hung up without saying anything. This is getting harder. Anyway - it's cool that you'e got netscape running.

:'''Rockmelt'''
:[Cueball running to laptop.]
:I ran to Rockmelt to hide my face

:[Cueball sitting at laptop.]
:But Rockmelt cried out -

:[Laptop shouting.]
:NO HIDING PLACE

:[zoom out.]
:NO HIDING PLACE DOWN HERE

:'''Google Chrome-3'''
:[A chrome plugin error page.]
:Chrome: There does not exist --nor could there '''ever''' exist-- a plugin capable of displaying this content.

:'''Microsoft/Amazon/The Times/Google - Chrome'''
:[Chrome error page.]
:Chrome: This plugin requires clearance from the corporate press office in order to run. Remember, Microsoft/Amazon/The Times/Google is a team; individual employees should ''never'' speak for the company without authorization.

:'''Microsoft/Amazon - Firefox'''
:[Firefox error page.]
:Error: This plugin requires clearance from the corporate press office in order to run. Remember, Microsoft/Amazon is a team; individual employees should ''never'' speak for the company without authorization.

:'''Microsoft/The Times'''
:[Error page.]
:Error: This plugin requires clearance from the corporate press office in order to run. Remember, Microsoft/The Times is a team; individual employees should ''never'' speak for the company without authorization.

:'''Corporate - Generic'''
:[Error page.]
:Error: This plugin requires clearance from the corporate press office in order to run. Remember, we work as a team; individual employees should ''never'' speak for the company without authorization.

:'''Military'''
:[Person looking at two browser windows.]
:Cueball: I know y'all know what you're doing. But if you're on a military machine and you're supposed to be watching for missiles or something, I hope you're keeping an eye on that in the background while you're reading comics. Also: Thanks.

:'''T-Mobile'''
:[Error page.]
:Data Error: T-Mobile was unable to establish a connection

:'''Verizon'''
:[Error page]
:Error: You have exceeded your Verizon monthly bandwidth cap. Mobile web browsing has been disabled.

:'''France'''
:[Two people; one of which is browsing using a laptop.]
:Cueball: Hey, you're French, right? Ever see what happens when you type "French Military Victories" into Google?
:French person: Does it take you to an article on Napoleon?

:French person: ..no? Strange, given how he kicked everyone's asses up and down Europe for over a decade.

:[Beat frame.]

:Cueball: Touche.
:French person: You know, that'd sound smarter if you didn't pronounce it like it rhymes with "douche".

:'''Germany'''
:[Cueball dropping food from an unorthodox high perch.]
:June 1948: In response to the Soviet blockade of East Germany, the western allies construct the Berlin Chairlift.
:Cueball on chairlift: Food!

:'''Israel'''
:[Person on phone.]
:Person (Translation from Hebrew): Mom, I met a great guy! But he's not Jewish. ...Wait, what do you mean "neither are we"? I'm completely confused.

:'''Carnot Cycle'''
:[Ponytail on a motorcycle with a heat-entropy graph on the side.]
:Ponytail: Check out my new Carnot Cycle!
:Cueball: Neat - how fast does it go?
:Ponytail: Depends how cold it is outside.

:'''Great Britain'''
:[Illustration of the Atlantic ocean.]
:American person: Sorry I don't have a comic poking fun at the UK here. I only had time to get to the most ''important'' US states.
:British person: Hey - At least we have free health care and real ale.

:'''Earthquake-Blizzard'''
:[Two people sitting at a desk, facing each other. The desk rattles.]
:Cueball: Stop jiggling your leg.
:Danish: I'm not ji-.. oh!
:Cueball: What!
:Danish: You'll get it..

:[EVERYTHING RUMBLES.]
:Cueball: ..HOLY CRAP IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!
:Danish: Just a little one. Happens all the time back in San Francisco.

:Cueball: But this is {Options: "Alabama", "Boston", "Chicago", "Dallas", "Georgia", "Halifax", "Illinois", "Michigan", "Minnesota", "Missouri", "the Northeast", "Ohio", "Oklahoma", "Ottawa", 'Pennsylvania", "Philadelphia", "Texas", "Toronto", "Tennessee", "New York", "Wisconsin"}! That was huge!
:Danish: Seriously? That's the worst this place can do? Wow. I guess we grow up tougher in California.
:Cueball: Oh ''really''...

:Six Months Later..
:[Both people are trudging through a massive blizzard.]
:Danish: In pictures, snow always looked so nice and sof - ''AAAA! MY NECK! How do people live here?!''
:Cueball: Come on - it's only three more miles.

:'''Earthquake-Tornado'''
:[Two people sitting at a desk, facing each other. The desk rattles.]
:Cueball: Stop jiggling your leg.
:Danish: I'm not ji-.. oh!
:Cueball: What!
:Danish: You'll get it..

:[EVERYTHING RUMBLES.]
:Cueball: ..HOLY CRAP IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!
:Danish: Just a little one. Happens all the time back in San Francisco.

:Cueball: But this is {Options: "Alabama", "Dallas", "Illinois", "The Midwest", "Missouri", "Ohio", "Oklahoma", "Ottawa", "Tennessee", "Texas"}!
:Cueball: That was huge!
:Danish: Seriously? That's the worst this place can do? Wow. I guess we grow up tougher in California.
:Cueball: Oh ''really''...

:Six Months Later..
:[Both people are in a shelter in a prairie with a rapidly-approaching tornado.]
:Danish: AAAA CLOSE THE SHELTER DOOR!
:Cueball: Say the magic words...
:Danish: THIS PLACE IS THE WORST!
:Cueball: Thank you.

:'''Earthquake-Hurricane'''
:[Two people sitting at a desk, facing each other. The desk rattles.]
:Cueball: Stop jiggling your leg.
:Danish: I'm not ji-.. oh!
:Cueball: What!
:Danish: You'll get it..

:[EVERYTHING RUMBLES.]
:Cueball: ..HOLY CRAP IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!
:Danish: Just a little one. Happens all the time back in San Francisco.

:Cueball: But this is {Options: "D.C", "Florida", "Houston", "Miami", "New Jersey", "North Carolina", "South Carolina", "Virgina"}! That was huge!
:Cueball: That was huge!
:Danish: Seriously? That's the worst this place can do? Wow. I guess we grow up tougher in California.
:Cueball: Oh ''really''...

:Six Months Later..

:[Both are in the middle of a hurricane. Danish is grabbing onto a signpost to avoid being swept away.]
:Danish: AAAAA WHAT THE SHIIIIT!
:Cueball: Calm down - this is barely a category 2.

:'''Lake Diver Killer'''
:[TV Field Reporter in front of a cordoned-off lake.]
:Reporter: Police divers searching the bay say they have recovered the body of another victim of the "Lake Diver Killer."
:Reporter: During the search, three more divers were reported missing.

:'''Washington'''
:[The statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial.]
:In this Marble Prison As in the nightmares of the nation they tried to devour
:The nanobots that constituted Abraham Lincoln
:Are entombed forever.

:'''Alaska'''
:[A person with a gun chasing a helicopter on the back of a wolf in a snowy Alaskan field.]
:Some people hunt wolves from helicopters. I hunt helicopters from a wolf.

:'''Life in lab'''
:[Newspaper headline.]
:Scientists/UMass Amherst students/RIT students create life in lab
:[Caption under picture of scientists.]
:"The trick was fuckin'"

:'''American Revolution'''
:Robot Paul Revere: Remember: Zero if by land, One if by sea.

:'''MIT'''
:[Two people in front of a group of students.]
:Cueball: I've hired a team of MIT students to count cards for us.
:Hairy: We'll be rich!

:[Hairy deals some cards while the students watch.]

:[The gears turn..]

:Student: Five. There are five cards.
:Cueball: I see their admission standards have been slipping.
:Hairy: Yeah - there are actually four.

:'''MIT Course 15c'''
:[Two people in front of a group of students.]
:Cueball: I've hired a team of MIT students to count cards for us.
:Hairy: We'll be rich!

:[Hairy deals some cards while the students watch.]

:[The gears turn..]

:Student: Five. There are five cards.
:Cueball: I *knew* we shouldn't have picked course 15s.
:Hairy: Yeah - there are actually four.

:'''Smith/Wellesley'''
:[Two people in front of a group of students.]
:Cueball: I've hired a team of Smith/Wellesley students to count cards for us.
:Hairy: We'll be rich!

:[Hairy deals some cards while the students watch.]

:[The gears turn..]

:Student: Five. There are five cards.
:Cueball: We should've gone with Wellesley/Smith.
:Hairy: Yeah - there are actually four.

:'''CNU'''
:[Person unsuspectingly strolls under a giant box trap controlled by a Trible.]
:I worry that CNU only invited me back as a ruse because they realized I never turned in my final paper and want my diploma back. But if it turns out it's for real, I'll see you Wednesday at the Ferguson!

:'''Dana Farber'''
:[Cueball, pointing towards head.]
:Cueball: Check it out - In support of people going through chemo, I shaved my head.
:Lots of love to everyone reading this at Dana Farber. Cancer sucks. If you are new to DFCI, there's a great little garden on the third floor of the yawkey if you need somewhere quiet to just sit for a little bit and breathe.

:'''Reviews'''
:Shopping before online reviews:
:[Cueball and Megan stand in a store. Cueball points at a lamp on the table in front of him. There is another lamp on the table behind them.]
:Cueball: This lamp is pretty.
:Megan: And affordable.
:Cueball: Let's get it.
:Megan Ok!

:Shopping now:
:[Cueball points at a lamp on the table in front of him. Megan looks at her phone.]
:Cueball: This lamp is pretty.
:Megan: It's got 1 1/2 stars on Amazon. Reviews all say to avoid that brand.

:[Cueball and Megan are now both looking at their phones.]
:Cueball: This one has good reviews.
:Megan: Wait, one guy says when he plugged it in, he got a metallic taste in his mouth and his cats went deaf.
:Cueball: Eek. What about- ...no, review points out it resembles a uterus.

:[Cueball is still looking at his phone, Megan has hers at her side.]
:Cueball: Ok, I found a Swiss lampmaker with perfect reviews. Her lamps start at 1,300 Francs and she's only reachable by ski lift.
:Megan: You know, our room looks fine in the dark.

==Trivia==
*Reddit user [http://www.reddit.com/user/SomePostMan SomePostMan] created a [http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/t6wmh/all_umwelt_1037_comics_in_two_imgur_albums/ post] that collected all of the Umwelt comics and added explanations. Much of his information is now included in this wiki.

*The transcript section for this comic also included a note alluding to its extreme length:
: <nowiki>[[Two people...]]</nowiki> ((..wait.. <scrolls through a listing of everything> oh goddammit Randall. Thanks a bunch, dude. I better get a raise for typing out all this))
: [[Two people standing next to each other. One is holding the head end of a snake...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:April fools' comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Penis]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Velociraptors]]
[[Category:Your Mom]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]

967: Prairie

2022-05-26T18:05:31Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

{{comic
| number = 967
| date = October 21, 2011
| title = Prairie
| image = prairie.png
| titletext = Colorado is working to develop coherent amber waves, which would allow them to finally destroy Kansas and Nebraska with a devastating but majestic grain laser.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic refers to the song ''{{w|America the Beautiful}}'', which contains the line "amber waves of grain," which refers to the plentiful wheat fields in the Midwestern US. The ''waves,'' in this context, are being likened to the waves in the ocean, as the wind can make the wheat move in such a way as to resemble waves.

In {{w|quantum mechanics}} the wave-particle duality explains that particles can act like both particles and waves, depending on the context. Using a comedic adaptation of quantum theory, [[Megan]] states that the waves of grain become particles of grain when observed, which, in a way, is true. However, this is not a perfect analogy because each grain is a separate entity while an external force, the wind, is what produces the wave motion.

The title text builds on the quantum mechanics principle that a laser is a {{w|Coherent states|coherent wave}}. This leads of the absurd notion that one could harness waves in grain fields for use as a laser weapon, which would be used by one state to destroy two neighbors. There is a long running joke in the Rocky Mountain West of completely obliterating nearby states, and in particular Nebraska. The use of the word "majestic" to describe the laser is a reference to another line in "America the Beautiful" — "for purple mountain majesties" — which does in fact allude to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball stand in a field of wheat, facing away from the panel. The figures are drawn in the typical black and white stick figure style, but the field is immensely detailed, with the grain coloured a rich amber and stroked such that individual stalks can be picked out, with a few dark bands providing contrast. In the distance a low mountain range is visible and in the sky a few scattered fluffy white clouds float low over the horizon.]
:Megan: Well, when we observe them, they become amber ''particles'' of grain.

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

2477: Alien Visitors

2022-05-26T18:05:31Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

{{comic
| number = 2477
| date = June 16, 2021
| title = Alien Visitors
| image = alien_visitors.png
| titletext = Stay right there, we'll be back in a minute. We've just gotta brainstorm some new wonders. Have you all figured out gears yet? Yes? Crap.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the first comic in a [[:Category:Alien Visitors|new series]], followed in the next comic by [[2478: Alien Visitors 2]].

This strip satirizes the {{w|ancient astronauts}} hypothesis: that {{w|Extraterrestrial life|aliens}} were involved in building the {{w|pyramids}} and {{w|Stonehenge}}. This concept, popular in some circles, is based on the assumption that earlier civilizations lacked the technology to build such large structures. There are also geometric or other scientific properties to these structures, which some people assume that humans of that era would have been incapable of creating. {{w|Erich von Däniken}}, a Swiss author, is one of the foremost proponents of "ancient astronauts." Some say that such pseudoscience is inherently racist, as it assumes, without any proof, that other civilizations were unable to build their monuments without foreign help. Although others disagree since most races and nationalities have one or another of these monuments with similar claims.

In the comic, aliens arrive with the intention of building such monuments with their highly advanced technology, including some sort of tractor beam to lift the heavy stones and another beam that can depict a pyramid. They are shocked to hear from [[Cueball]] that humans accomplished the same thing thousands of years earlier with such simple tools as ramps, and even in more than one location on Earth (Pyramids in {{w|Egyptian pyramids|Egypt}} and {{w|Mesoamerican pyramids|Mexico}}). Thus they proceed to suggest a stone circle to predict the solstice, but before they can finish this sentence [[Megan]] says this is like Stonehenge.

The joke of the strip is that, if aliens were interested in building such structures on earth, they'd be just as likely to show up today as thousands of years ago. And if they offered to build pyramids today, humans would be very unimpressed, as we've had the technology to do so for quite some time. The notion that an advanced, spacefaring species would come all the way to Earth (or whatever other planets they visit) to build relatively simple stone structures seems dubious, when put that way.

Alternately, the aliens may have visited Earth before in the past and impressed the humans of the time with their advanced technology of pyramids and stone circles, leading them to expect the same technology to impress the humans again in the present day. This is somewhat plausible: Stonehenge is estimated to have been built around 3100BC, while the pyramids were built 500-1000 years later. Assuming both structures were indeed built by aliens in the past, the visitors would have returned to the Earth to find agricultural civilizations almost identical to the ones they encountered centuries prior. The aliens could have then been led to believe that human technology, if almost entirely unchanged in the 500 years since they last visited, would not have advanced significantly in a few thousand years. Indeed, the aliens were mostly correct in this assessment: technological advancement progressed at a crawl until the scientific revolution marked the emergence of modern science only a relatively short 600 years ago. From this perspective, the aliens would seem to be correct in their assumption that human technology would not significantly improve such that they could not impress humanity with their technological wonders. Unfortunately, the aliens have been caught off-guard by the exponential nature of technological advancement, in that advanced civilizations have the resources to advance even more rapidly.

The aliens' reaction is frustration as they cannot teach us anything new; evidently, it does not occur to them to share their technologies for {{w|antigravity}} and {{w|interstellar travel}} (which, having come to Earth in floating spaceships, they clearly possess).

In the title text they have regrouped and would now present another wonder - {{w|gears}}. This is very likely a reference to the {{w|Antikythera mechanism}}, an artifact dating from the 2nd century BC which used a complex, geared calculating system to predict the movement of stars and planets. As with the aforementioned structures, some fringe groups theorize that such mechanisms were beyond human technology at the time, and therefore must have been given by aliens. Once again, such technology is not impressive to humans at this point, as complex, geared mechanisms are now commonplace in most human societies. Indeed, quite a bit of intricate mechanical gearing and timing has been obsoleted by electronics.

==Transcript==
:[A flying saucer is hovering high above Cueball and Megan, drawn very small standing on the ground beneath it. The aliens inside speak to them from inside their saucer, indicated with zigzag lines between it and the text.]
:Aliens: Greetings, humans!
:Megan: Whoa, aliens!
:Aliens: We bring you technological wonders!

:[Zoom in on the flying saucer which has two beams below it, the left showing an outline of a pyramid and the right is shown lifting a large stone. Cueball replies off-panel.]
:Aliens: We will help you lift great stones and build towering monuments.
:Cueball (off-panel): Oh, pyramids?

:[Zoom in on Cueball and Megan looking up, the Aliens reply from above the panel.]
:Aliens (off-panel): ...Yes.
:Cueball: Yeah, we have those. In Egypt.
:Megan: And Mexico.
:Cueball: I think they used ramps?

:[Zoom back out, as in first panel]
:Aliens: Then we shall build a ring of stones aligned with the stars, so at the solstice-
:Megan: Oh, like Stonehenge?
:Aliens: ''Dammit, humans.''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Alien Visitors]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Alien Visitors 1]]

1297: Oort Cloud

2022-05-26T18:05:27Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

{{comic
| number = 1297
| date = November 29, 2013
| title = Oort Cloud
| image = oort_cloud.png
| titletext = ...I wanna try. Hang on, be right back.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Oort cloud}} is a hypothesized sphere containing many {{w|small Solar System bodies}}, reaching out to roughly 50,000 {{w|Astronomical unit|AU (astronomical units)}} or nearly one {{w|light-year}} from the sun. Gravitational forces from passing stars or collisions with other objects sometimes perturb one of these bodies enough to let it fall into the inner solar system. When it gets closer to the Sun, which is just a bright dot at that far distance, it warms up and some of its mass is lost as gas and dust, making it more visible as an object commonly referred to as a comet. This is what has happened to a comet called {{w|C/2013 UQ4}}, AKA Comet Catalina. And although this is not what will happen to Catalina, comets that get close enough to the sun may break up entirely.

There seems to be no definitive astronomical definition of the word "comet", and definitions can be challenging and problematic [http://suitti.livejournal.com/56460.html?nojs=1], but in general terms a comet is a celestial object consisting of a nucleus containing a huge amount of ices and dust which, when near the sun, has an atmosphere (called {{w|Comet#Coma and tail|coma}}) and perhaps a 'tail' of ionized gas and dust particles pointing away from the sun.

The comet pictured here upon its return strangely resembles the unusual asteroid {{w|P/2013 P5}}. That object sported six comet-like tails, but it's not a comet. Rather, the six comet-like tails were suspected to be caused by rapid spinning of that object.

Randal has drawn the hapless Oort Cloud object with its tails generally left of frame, i.e. away from the sun. Comet tails point away from the sun regardless of their direction of movement, as they are blown out by the solar wind which moves much faster than the comet. As neither of the other two objects have tails, this lends the picture a comical cartoon-like quality, as when Yosemite Sam is blasted by his own gun and it leaves his moustache tails statically pointing away from the direction of the blast.

{{w|C/2012 S1|Comet ISON}} presumably came from the Oort cloud and reached its closest approach to the sun ({{w|Apsis|perihelion}}) on the day before this comic was published. The comet passed very close to the sun, at a distance of 1,860,000 kilometers or 1,150,000 miles from the centre of the sun. It was thus within one sun-diameter of the surface of the sun itself (diameter of sun = 1,391,000 km). At that distance the temperature, at approx. 2,700 degrees Celsius, vaporizes rock as well as ice and can break the comet apart entirely.

The broken-up object here is presumed to be ISON, and is labeled as such in the transcript, even though Randall hasn't unambiguously identified it. Note that it's not realistic that ISON still would have a tail so far away from the sun.

On December 2, 2013 NASA released a statement that ISON did not survive its close perihelion with the sun. The Comet ISON Observing Campaign posted a delightful biographical sketch (In Memoriam Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) Born 4.5 Billion BC, Fragmented Nov 28, 2013, age 4.5-billion yrs old) which touches on its early years, retreat to the Oort Cloud, career as a Sungrazer, "dynamic and unpredictable life, alternating between periods of quiet reflection and violent outburst", delicate inner working, and its tragic demise.

The closest approach of ISON to the earth was predicted for December 27, 2013 at a distance at approx. 60 million kilometers or 37 million miles, 170 hundred times more than the moon. The {{w| Hubble Space Telescope}} [http://www.universetoday.com/107407/hubble-looks-but-finds-no-trace-of-comet-ison/ looked for it on December 18] but saw nothing.

This video shows an animation of the encounter at the sun: [http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/browse/2013/11/28/ahead_20131128_cor2_rdiff_512.mpg ISON 28.11.2013].

===Perspective===
Some more information about comets will help put the comic in perspective:
*The surface of cometary nuclei reflects less sunlight than asphalt. Telescopes can't identify or find them until they have a coma.
*An object at a distance of one light-year would only have an orbital speed about 100 meters per second; the speed of the Earth is about 30 kilometers per second.
*One revolution at that distance would last approximately 20 million years.

==Transcript==
:[Three asteroids float in space.]
:ISON: Have you noticed that bright dot in the distance?
:Asteroid: Yeah. What's the deal with it?

:ISON: Dunno. I'm gonna go check it out.

:[Pause while ISON checks it out off screen.]

:ISON (broken up, with multiple tails): Wow. Do NOT go over there.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Astronomy]]

1808: Hacking

2022-05-26T18:05:27Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

{{comic
| number = 1808
| date = March 8, 2017
| title = Hacking
| image = hacking.png
| titletext = The dump also contains a list of millions of prime factors, a 0-day Tamagotchi exploit, and a technique for getting gcc and bash to execute arbitrary code.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic is referencing an incident on the day before this comic was released, March 7, 2017, in which {{w|WikiLeaks}} exposed thousands of hacking exploits (thus the title) and programs from the {{w|CIA}} (see for instance this article: [https://www.wired.com/2017/03/wikileaks-cia-hacks-dump/ WikiLeaks Just Dumped a Mega-Trove of CIA Hacking Secrets]). Many of the tools that were in the leak were similar to publicly available tools, or not entirely unexpected, with several coming from sites such as {{w|StackOverflow}} and {{w|Reddit}}.

The main joke in this comic refers to the common practice of adding spaces between parts of an email address when publishing them on websites. For example, "john.doe@example.org" may be written as "john dot doe at example dot org". The purported goal of doing this is to thwart page scraping bots from {{w|Email address harvesting|harvesting the correct email addresses}} and prevent them from becoming the target of spam or being sold as address lists for email marketers.

In this comic, [[Ponytail]] tells [[Cueball]] that the CIA has a tool which can delete such spaces. Such a tool can fix the space and most likely convert the words "dot" and "at" into their respective symbols. This will overcome the problems faced by harvesting tools, and make these email addresses more prone to receive spam.

Cueball appears shocked to hear this news, but given the caption below, stating that this was one of the ''less dramatic revelations'' from the CIA hacking dump, this is likely sarcasm by Cueball (and [[Randall]]). In fact, it is quite simple to devise a program which detects and converts/removes such spaces; it's naive to believe that one can prevent e-mail addresses from being harvested just by writing the addresses with space or omitting @ etc. Some people might not realize that he's being sarcastic, though, and that misunderstanding might be part of the joke.

The title text lists three other undramatic (fictitious) hacking exploits which sound more interesting, but are still more or less useless, and certainly not dramatic news. They are:
#Millions of {{w|prime factors}}: The security of the {{w|RSA (cryptosystem)|RSA cipher}} relies on the difficulty of finding prime factors for a large number. But just having those numbers without any other context means you only have millions of {{w|Prime number|prime numbers}}. This is useless like having a list of millions of passwords without any further information.
#A {{w|0-day exploit}} for {{w|Tamagotchi}}: A 0-day exploit is an exploit of which the manufacturer is not (yet) aware. 0-days are very valuable to hackers since defenses against them have not yet been developed. However, an exploit for a Tamagotchi is likely useless because they are very low-end entertainment devices that do not contain microphones or cameras, and usually don't have access to any networks. This may also be a play on words, as Tamagotchi are notoriously difficult to keep alive for more than zero days.
#A way to get {{w|GNU_Compiler_Collection|gcc}} and {{w|Bash_(Unix_shell)|bash}} to execute arbitrary code: ''Unintentional'' execution of arbitrary code is serious vulnerability that allows attackers to do whatever they choose on a victim's computer. However the examples given here merely describe the ''intended'' purpose of the tools: gcc is a {{w|compiler}}, so preparing arbitrary code is its main purpose, and bash is a {{w|Shell script|Unix shell}}, so executing arbitrary code is also one of its primary functions.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is writing on her laptop at her desk while Cueball looks over her shoulder.]
:Ponytail: You know how sometimes people put a space in their email address to make it harder to harvest?
:Cueball: Yeah?
:Ponytail: ''They have a tool that can delete the space!''
:Cueball: Oh my god.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Less-dramatic revelations from the CIA hacking dump

==Trivia==
*This is the second comic in a row (after [[1807: Listening]]) about how computers can be misused and also the second in a row where Cueball is with Ponytail rather than [[Megan]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Cryptography]]

1702: Home Itch Remedies

2022-05-26T18:05:27Z

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

{{comic
| number = 1702
| date = July 4, 2016
| title = Home Itch Remedies
| image = home_itch_remedies.png
| titletext = In my experience, mosquitos and poison ivy are bad, but the very worst itch comes from bites from chiggers (Trombicula alfreddugesi). They're found across the American south and great plains, so the best home remedy is to move to Iceland.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Bug bites}}, such as mosquito bites, are itchy. Home remedies are often ineffective, and in some cases very complicated - think of the number of suggestions on how to cure hiccups. In this case [[Cueball]]'s suggestion starts out plausible but rapidly gets increasingly and insanely complicated, involving finding rare French orchids. [[Megan]] is not actually interested in trying out a complex home remedy, she really just wants sympathy.

The suggested remedy is a mix of many popular home remedies such as:
*Taking a hot shower: supposed to stimulate nerve endings, it can also destroy some toxins.
*Applying {{w|vinegar}}: supposedly effective on mosquito bites.
*Applying ice: numbs the pain, more commonly used on bruises.
*Using {{w|aspirin}}: as an anti-inflammatory drug aspirin may have an effect on itches, although it may cause more itches than provide relief.
*Tea and a "rare French orchid": {{w|orchids}}, like many other plants, are commonly used in traditional medicine to cure various ailments, and tea is a common route of administration.

Megan's answer is a {{w|sarcastic}} comment stating that her own family home remedy is to keep scratching until the skin falls off -- which is a natural tendency, although not until the skin literally falls off; hence it is not really a home remedy, just a natural reaction.

The title text refers to {{w|chigger|chiggers}} or {{w|Trombicula alfreddugesi}} as the worst source for itches; in fact only in the larval stages are these mites parasitic. ''Chigger'' can also refer to the chigoe flea or "jigger", {{w|Tunga penetrans}}, a parasitic flea which also causes bad itching, but [[Randall]] explicitly mentions the mite ''Trombicula alfreddugesi''. A move to a more northerly region of the world like Iceland might seem to be a perfect cure, because those parasites are only found in warmer southern regions (similarly, since mosquitoes lay their eggs in water, moving to a dry place with no water usable by mosquitoes would be a "cure" for mosquito bites). Unusually, [http://icelandreview.com/news/2013/06/27/no-mosquitoes-iceland-puzzles-scientists Iceland does not support native mosquitoes, despite similarities to other northern regions which do.] One might fallaciously assume it does not support parasites in general — but it [https://books.google.com/books?id=I4pD5t_y05YC ''does''] support parasitic insects in other genera, and it has other species of mites. Thus, "move to Iceland" is a weird home remedy that will work if the person wants to prevent chiggers, however it won't work if the person wants to stay away from all parasites.

This comic could be seen as a continuation of the title text from [[1693: Oxidation]], where that is interpreted as Ponytail ineffectively reassuring Megan that her bug bites should not be a concern.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball stand together while Megan loudly scratches her itches and Cueball holds a hand up.]
:Megan: Argh, bug bites are the ''worst''. I shouldn't scratch, but... so itchy.
:Cueball: Oh, you know what's great for that?
:''Scratch scratch''

:[Zoom-in to Megan's head.]
:Megan: No, don't tell me. Everyone always has weird home remedies that never work. I just want sympathy.
:Cueball (off-panel): No, this one isn't weird, I promise. It really helps!

:[A frame less panel with a zoom-out back to Megan and Cueball. Megan is still scratching loudly and Cueball still holds his hand up.]
:Cueball: First, take a hot shower. Then dip some ice cubes in vinegar and use them to crush one baby aspirin. Then make some tea, and...
:''Scratch scratch''

:[Megan walks past Cueball and away from him while Cueball turns and looks after her.]
:Cueball: ...then, you need a rare French orchid-
:Megan: I'm going to try a different home remedy where I complain a lot and scratch until my skin comes off.
:Cueball: Sounds effective.
:Megan: It's an old family trick.

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