explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3206: Installation

2026-02-12T02:47:57Z

Explainyourself:

This is what hiking trails should BE! [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 02:47, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3206: Installation

2026-02-12T02:47:10Z

Explainyourself: F1rst p0st!!

This is what hiking trails should BE![[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 02:47, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

2005: Attention Span

2026-02-11T22:37:57Z

Explainyourself: Added unlocked version for Thomas article

{{comic
| number = 2005
| date = June 11, 2018
| title = Attention Span
| image = attention_span.png
| titletext = I didn't even realize they MADE a novelization of "Surf Ninjas." How did you-- Oh my god, it's signed by the author?!
}}

==Explanation==
People often groan about their shrinking attention span, attributing it to an increased illiteracy. This allows for fond nostalgia about the times when they were supposedly more intelligent and focused. For instance, Nicholas Carr wrote [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/ this article] to compile both anecdotes (which are more abundant) and research (which is more useful) to describe this phenomenon.

[[Cueball]] does the same here, but [[Megan]] retorts that he spent six hours reading over a pointless (if disturbingly plausible) theory about a banal show based off a series of bedtime stories made to entertain small children. ''{{w|Thomas & Friends|Thomas The Tank Engine}}'' is a British children's series based off a series of books written by Wilbert Awdry. It follows the adventures of anthropomorphized train locomotives and other vehicles.

Cueball qualifies his statement: he has no attention span for anything good anymore. Megan, in reply, examines Cueball’s bookshelf, finding a book that cements Cueball’s status as a nerd who reads {{w|High fantasy|high fantasy}}. Cueball protests that the book is a classic, but Megan dismisses the fact.

To be fair to Cueball, many great fantasies have covers such as those in the comic (e.g. ''{{w|A Song of Ice and Fire}}'', ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}'', Randall's personal favorite ''{{w|Discworld}}''). To be fair to Megan, this book is apparently not one of them, being thicker than it is wide (like ''The Complete {{w|Miss Marple}}'' by {{w|Agatha Christie}}), a telltale sign of needless bombast and turgid prose.

Other possibilities for the dragon book are ''{{w|His Majesty's Dragon}}'' from the ''{{w|Temeraire (series)|Temeraire}}'' series or ''{{w|Dragonsbane}}'' from the Winterlands series.

If there was any doubt about Cueball’s dubious literary tastes before, Megan dispels them in the title text, referring to a novelization of the excoriated movie ''{{w|Surf Ninjas}}'', a movie that is {{tvtropes|ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin|exactly what it sounds like}}. Despite the hyperbole, the ''Surf Ninjas'' novelization is [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/9792011 very much real], written by {{w|Peter Lerangis}} (under the pseudonym A. L. Singer); Lerangis would later move on from writing licensed works to his own original children's books and is now considered an accomplished author.

The comic contains a hyperlink to an article with the same unfortunate content Cueball has apparently finished reading prior to this comic: [https://write.as/o6w0noyqq52b5.md The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends” (unlocked version)]. This article, the articles linked from it, further linked articles from those, links found by googling the topic, and other related [https://www.techopedia.com/definition/5199/surfing-world-wide-web web surfing] on the topic could easily add up to six hours or more of reading.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are standing together.]
:Cueball: I haven't read any books in forever. I have no attention span anymore.

:[Zoom in on the faces of Cueball and Megan.]
:Megan: Didn't you literally '''''just''''' spend six hours obsessively reading about the theory that ''Thomas the Tank Engine'' is authoritarian propaganda depicting a post-apocalyptic fascist dystopia?

:[Cueball still standing there. Megan begins pacing away.]
:Cueball: OK
:Cueball: I mean I have no attention span for anything '''''good''''' anymore.
:Megan: Let's check out your bookshelf, shall we?

:[Cueball alone.]
:Cueball: What are you-
:Off-panel: I see a dragon holding a sword in its teeth on the cover of a book that's thicker than it is wide.
:Cueball: And? That's a '''''classic!'''''
:Off-panel: Just saying, I don't think this is a new development.

==Trivia==
2005 (the comic number) is also the year of the first xkcd comic.

The dragon described is very loosely similar to the legendary Pokémon {{w|Zacian}}, whose game had been teased at the release of this comic.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:2: Petit Trees (sketch)

2026-02-11T03:06:18Z

Explainyourself: S3c0nd p0st!!

Randall says that he only thought of the reference to Le Petit Prince while he was drawing this picture. I think that it is likely that Randall was originally thinking of "pedigrees" and the '''tree''' structure of a genealogical chart. Since royalty is often descended from earlier royal ancestors, it would not be surprising that while drawing what was originally a pun, Randall thought of the book "Le Petit Prince." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.79|162.158.123.79]] 16:55, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
S3c0nd p0st!! [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 03:06, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3195: International Station

2026-01-18T03:45:43Z

Explainyourself: Added comment

Holy refresh pull exclamation mark! tilde tilde tilde tilde --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]''''' 14:55, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

Should the "not-earth" "space" be changed to something like "the void between astronomical bodies"? I'm not sure if, say, the surface of the Moon or Mars or {{w|A Taste of Armageddon|Eminiar VII}} count as being "in space". [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:27, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

I initially interpreted the cartoon as showing the people and objects floating within something gloopy, and the wrench as a bone, and that the joke was about an "internal space station". Here we are, inside a gelatinous cube, or possibly a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immunity_Syndrome_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series) gigantic space amoeba]... [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:43, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

'''New Category: Weightless''' There are a few strips that take place demonstrating micro-gravity, right? Is that worthy of a category? The 'space' tag could be used for comics ''about'' space or comics ''in'' space (or, I guess, comics on planets?). [[Special:Contributions/191.101.157.82|191.101.157.82]] 17:08, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

I think the ISS was originally called start quote Alpha end quote period tilde tilde tilde tilde [[Special:Contributions/134.173.108.120|134.173.108.120]] 18:23, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

I'm early! [[Special:Contributions/2603:7083:8700:E02:FE51:837E:B6F:327|2603:7083:8700:E02:FE51:837E:B6F:327]] 18:24, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

It took me a moment to get it, but when I did this xkcd made me capitals LOL which doesn't happen often [[Special:Contributions/2401:D005:D402:7A00:7FE1:F042:B839:91B8|2401:D005:D402:7A00:7FE1:F042:B839:91B8]] 21:23, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
:You forgot tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]''''' 21:31, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

At least it's not the International Ampersand En Bee Ess Pee Semicolon Station ellipsis tilde tilde tilde tilde [[Special:Contributions/174.142.148.226|174.142.148.226]] 21:42, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
::Speaking of Ampersand Aa Em Pee Semicolon, that's a real life example of this effect actually happening. It was at the end of the alphabet where they would say "X, Y, Z, and, per sé, 'and'". Tilde tilde tilde tilde. Not sure if that is relevant enough to the comic though. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 02:26, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

Dear Bot, don't get this Irishperson started on apostrophes. [[Special:Contributions/205.175.118.102|205.175.118.102]] 22:57, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

From John Littlewood's "A Mathematician's Miscellany": A minute I wrote (about 1917) for the Ballistic Office ended with the sentence 'Thus a should be made as small as possible'. This did not appear in the printed minute. But P. J. Grigg said, 'what is that?' A speck in a blank space at the end proved to be the tiniest a I have ever seen (the printers must have scoured London for it).[[User:Lordpishky|Lord Pishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 03:59, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

International Space Space Space Station? [[User:Inexplicable|Inexplicable]] ([[User talk:Inexplicable|talk]]) 07:17, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

These comments make me want to see if you could have "tildetildetildetilde"(the actual characters) as your account name. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 02:18, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

This one reminds me of 3143 a bit too much. [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 03:45, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Talk:1289: Simple Answers

2026-01-17T05:03:59Z

Explainyourself: Added comment

The title text question is not answered, but I would guess "no", mainly because I don't believe wars would stop even if we understand each other completely. On the other hand, it talks about "make war undesirable" ... isn't "making war undesirable" what nuclear weapons did? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:26, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
Can't think of a time was really was desired. Isn't war and mass death already usually undesired?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.117|108.162.241.117]] 21:41, 4 March 2014 (UTC)
::This is just further info on the next-to-last question, and Randall's answer is thus "no". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.157|108.162.254.157]] 12:16, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
::If nuclear weapons made war undesirable, then what is the US army doing in the middle east? If anything, I think nuclear weapons just caused us to change the mechanics of war, as many weapon advancements have done in the past. And sadly, I suspect that better understanding won't make war any less desirable (as others have said already). =( --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.28|108.162.216.28]] 14:13, 12 November 2013 (UTC)
:: You are trying too hard. Nuclear weapons doesn't fit in "new communication medium" referenced in title text. That could be telegraph, television, phones, e-mails, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc... I think the question is not answered to make everyone think in what really cause a war. Although a better communication can make we understand reasons and have better dialogs, they do not eliminate the roots of war like selfishness, no compassion, greed, etc... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.230|108.162.212.230]] 21:59, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
One could argue that technology only helps us understand about each other. Technology cannot help us to understand each other in the sense of appreciate each other. And to go further, understanding about each other can increase the likelihood of war. [[User:Grahame|Grahame]] ([[User talk:Grahame|talk]]) 00:39, 12 November 2013 (UTC)Grahame
:::It's not a reference in the strict sense, but it does remind me of the Babelfish from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in that perfect communication between different people had caused untold war and bloodshed. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 06:08, 23 June 2015 (UTC)

rule 34 applies everywhere.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.210|141.101.96.210]] 14:20, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

Most people find war undesirable already, yet it persists.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.16|108.162.221.16]] 19:59, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

I've had conversations about AI-generated art where this comic would have come in handy. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.104|141.101.76.104]] 08:58, 10 November 2022 (UTC)
::I'd agree. [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 05:03, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

This comic is especially relevant right now. [[Special:Contributions/197.234.242.28|197.234.242.28]] 16:16, 3 May 2023 (UTC)

Talk:3184: Funny Numbers

2025-12-23T20:14:55Z

Explainyourself: Added comment

It should be"The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". {{unsigned ip|2001:5a8:60da:3300:c94a:564:dc6d:d811|05:24, 23 December 2025 (UTC)}}
: In response to above unsigned post: fixed! You could've edited it too :) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 05:33, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
:: In response to your response: post marked as unsigned! You could've done that too ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 11:19, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

this is crazy [[User:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|Qwertyuiopfromdefly]] ([[User talk:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|talk]]) 06:08, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
:67 in Numberphile... now in xkcd... very sad (maybe they are related? on YouTube, Numberphile released 12 hours ago, which may be too close, but I don't know if they do Patreon or something) [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 09:09, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
::Ya all are way too sad about something this inconsequential. As xkcd rightly notices the so-called brainrot is just rebranding of equally dumb memes of yesteryear with the main difference being that you grew up with one and not the other. Decently funny strip overall. [[Special:Contributions/206.245.134.17|206.245.134.17]] 11:42, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
::For one: it is the 19th prime, and 19 is the 8th prime. Also, its digit sum is 13, which is the 6th prime. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C08:BC00:41F9:90A:BF7A:1727|2001:4C4E:1C08:BC00:41F9:90A:BF7A:1727]] 16:27, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
Bad comic, Randall. Put it back. [[Special:Contributions/47.141.37.161|47.141.37.161]] 06:43, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
:It's called depublishing. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C08:BC00:41F9:90A:BF7A:1727|2001:4C4E:1C08:BC00:41F9:90A:BF7A:1727]] 16:27, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
"If you have to ask, you're not old enough yet," is there like, some kind of comprehensive guide to sex and sexuality I was supposed to receive on my 18th birthday or something? All I got was 18 $1 scratch tickets. [[Special:Contributions/69.5.140.194|69.5.140.194]] 08:32, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
:For that matter, maybe your sense of humor is finally old enough to not amount to "haha sex funny". Incidentally appropriate IP, by the way. [[Special:Contributions/206.245.134.17|206.245.134.17]] 09:02, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
:I admit I was trying to be cute, I fully expected someone to "correct" it. It was reminiscent of the analogous question in the Baker House Purity Test (which I'll also admit I didn't get at the time). https://www.mit.edu/~iggy/Amusements/Purity_andnerd_tests/pure.baker.male [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:52, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

I observe that the explanation leaves [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6-7_meme 67] off the list of numbers... (it has no real meaning, just a fun thing the kids do to each other and enjoy the adults being confused about) (And now I feel stoopid for not noticing the big link at the very top — but still think it should be in the list.) [[User:Dúthomhas|Dúthomhas]] ([[User talk:Dúthomhas|talk]]) 08:54, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
:=-1. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C08:BC00:41F9:90A:BF7A:1727|2001:4C4E:1C08:BC00:41F9:90A:BF7A:1727]] 16:30, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
I daresay no Robert Anton Wilson clone will immortalize "6 7" in 100 years on. Todays memes have a half-life measured in milliseconds. I say that without assessment. Only observing. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:307A:46A3:7D5E:A7C0|2A02:2455:1960:4000:307A:46A3:7D5E:A7C0]] 10:15, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

<blockquote>69 -- if you have to ask, you're not old enough.</blockquote>
Information technology archeologist in the 31st century, sobbing: "I am 374 years old. How much longer?"[[Special:Contributions/109.43.49.174|109.43.49.174]] 11:45, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
:Apparently, that meme is old enough not to have the several milliseconds of half-life (or if it does, it's dilated well to years, for I sometimes do see things with the "69 is funny" appearing). Unless "not old enough" refers to "born [chronologically] too late (i. e. too far from the Big Bang)". [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C08:BC00:41F9:90A:BF7A:1727|2001:4C4E:1C08:BC00:41F9:90A:BF7A:1727]] 16:30, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
While I do accredit the audacity to keep the humor in the explanation of 67, the act feels a little unprofessional. It feels like laziness or lack of knowledge, rather than a play on the popularity of the meme across the youth (I have no idea what the meaning behind six-seven is, and have always considered it pure absurd). [[User:Benzaldehyde|Benzaldehyde]] ([[User talk:Benzaldehyde|talk]] 14:23, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

Could someone reorganize the order of the number descriptions? I initially read it as left column down, then right column down, which I think is also chronological. [[User:CreatorOfWorlds|CreatorOfWorlds]] ([[User talk:CreatorOfWorlds|talk]]) 14:45, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
:I'm sure we could ascribe creation-estimates to them all (first being 23, etc, last being 6 7), but I don't see any obvious chronological layout, either row-by-row or column-by-column. 69 ''after'' 42? (Unless we accept the Lewis Carol origin, in which case it should even be before 23.) Calculators (suitable types by at the latest 1957) not until after the necessary hacker/BBS culture (early Internet and/or FIDONet era, with maybe the earliest possible date of 19''67<funny-hand-movements>'')? [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.136|82.132.237.136]] 15:14, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
:On further looking, though I ''suppose'' the list (up until the latest addition, being just now tacked on at the end for simplicity) is definitely ''numerically''-sorted by column-first reading order... Depending upon the sorting algorithm, it'd be interesting to see where 6<space>7 gets shuffled to (and, moreover, how it shuffles anything that now comes after it) in a subsequent year's "list of numbers historically adopted by young people". Could be first, or between 42 and 69. ''Could'' still be last, but tricky to explain that against 23 (with non-numerical parts) being first this time round. Unless typesetting needs trump alphanumeric ordering, too. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.136|82.132.237.136]] 15:31, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
:''...Anyway...'' I sortably-tabularised it! To the best of my ability. Maybe the date column should be "Discovered?" or something else, but too many unknowns, even after researching. .e.g. the act of 69ing is... well, I bet it's prehistoric (I'm sure bonobos do it... and all kinds of variations!), while the French 'popularisation' of the term is attested to more than 200 years ago, but I'm not going to even hazard a guess when it became a "teens" thing that the mathematicians subsequently decided was new. Brought 58008 into the '70s only because wikipedia suggested that (decadal-displays are older, even seven-segment displays themselves might be {{w|Seven-segment display#History|1903ish}}, but hey!). And defined decade-ranges as their midpoint year, for sorting reasons. You can see where and how to change things, if you disagree and have other/better dates. Or wish to add a further 'fad date' column to differentiate from origin-date. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.136|82.132.237.136]] 17:34, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

Oh my a completed transcript already i literally just found out about this comic --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 15:07, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

... You know what's funnier than 24? [[Special:Contributions/2600:4041:5E13:8400:AC92:4546:AC77:BF90|2600:4041:5E13:8400:AC92:4546:AC77:BF90]] 17:10, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

Shouldn't the year for "42" be 1978? The Hitchhiker's Guide first broadcast "42" in Fit the Fourth, 29 March 1978. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_Primary_and_Secondary_Phases#Fit_the_Fourth {{unsigned ip|62.63.216.178|17:22, 23 December 2025}}
:You're right. I was juggling dates and must have caught a different one. (Book publication date..? Not sure, without checking, what I may have mixed it up with.) If not already fixed by you/others, will do so myself. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.136|82.132.237.136]] 17:46, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

This is conclusive proof that Randall watches YouTube Shorts. [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 20:14, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

1729: Migrating Geese

2025-11-26T19:31:59Z

Explainyourself: Added things for "Head Goose"

{{comic
| number = 1729
| date = September 5, 2016
| title = Migrating Geese
| image = migrating_geese.png
| titletext = "Hey guys! I have a great idea for a migration!" "Dammit, Kevin."
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Bird migration|Migrating}} refers to the changing of a habitat, which happens every year with birds like {{w|geese}} that travel long distances to avoid cold seasons and get back to the food in the summer time. When geese fly to their new habitat, they tend to fly in a very clear {{w|V formation}}. The V formation improves the efficiency of flying birds, particularly over long migratory routes. All the birds except the first fly in the upwash from one of the wingtip vortices of the bird ahead. The upwash assists each bird except for the "leading" one in supporting its own weight in flight, saving them up to 20% of the energy needed.

It should be noted that geese do have family structures with adult geese in "alpha" positions, but not a strict ranking order. An individual's position in formation flights is coincidental and constantly changing, so that the goose at the point of the formation can pull back and rest in the V wings while others "lead" the skein. Popular earlier beliefs about an "alpha goose" heading a formation for the entire flight is a myth, easily disproved by watching geese formations in flight.

This comic shows such a formation with 20 geese, with several geese and areas in the V formation labeled, giving different roles to the geese and assigning these areas a new meaning. See the [[#Table of labels|table below]].

Apart from a "twin engine" goose in the bottom right arm of the V the only part of the formation that would not normally be seen is Kevin, who flies off at a 45-degree angle. In that direction there is no aerodynamic help from the other birds, and in the title text the rest of the geese also exclaim, "Dammit, Kevin" when he (again?) tells them that he has a great new idea for a migration (maybe referring to the new direction). This is either a reference to the fact that migrating birds manage to consistently arrive in the same general area every year, or to the way that vacations are sometimes suggested (by humans): "I thought of an idea for a vacation..." This was only the second time the name Kevin was used in xkcd for a fictive person, see more in [[1795:_All_You_Can_Eat#Kevin|this trivia]].

===Table of labels===
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Explanation
|-
|Head Goose
(4th in line to the British throne)
|Supposedly, this goose is in line to become the newest monarch of the United Kingdom after the deaths of the three (humans) who were ahead of it at the time of the comic’s publication ({{w|Charles III|Charles, Prince of Wales}}; {{w|William, Prince of Wales|William, Duke of Cambridge}}; {{w|Prince George of Wales|Prince George of Cambridge}}[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succession_to_the_British_throne]). In actuality the fourth in line to the British throne was then {{w|Princess Charlotte of Wales|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge}}. As of the death of {{w|Elizabeth II|the Queen}}, in 2022, she gained one place and the new fourth in line became {{w|Prince Louis of Wales}} (her younger brother).
In North America, the best-known goose migration is that of {{w|Canada goose|Canada geese}} to the US east coast. Canada used to be part of the {{w|British Empire}} and remains a member of the {{w|Commonwealth of Nations}}, so a "Canadian" goose would be well situated to stand within the succession (excepting, of course, for the fact that it's a goose). As the main rules of {{w|succession to the British throne}} are being Protestant and directly related to {{w|Sophia of Hanover}}, who died in 1714, the line of succession is long. [http://www.wargs.com/essays/succession/2011.html Very long.] Though there probably aren't any geese in that list (even Catholic ones), the head goose being deemed the fourth in line (or the fourth in line being deemed a head goose) may be mocking the concept of the line of succession and/or any perception of the arbitrary nature of its membership. It could also be that, in this comic, geese have their own politics, and so the head goose is actually 4th in line to be the king of specifically geese in Britain.
|-
|Quarterback
|A {{w|quarterback}} is a position in {{w|American football}}, usually placed in the second row of an American football formation, just like the associated goose. On nearly every non-kicking play, the quarterback is the player who stands behind the center and receives the ball to start the play. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually considered the leader of the team, and is often responsible for calling the play.
|-
|Comptroller
|A {{w|comptroller}} is a position in many corporations and some governments. An officer of this title is responsible for the oversight of financial operations and ensuring that accounting is conducted accurately.
|-
|Migration abort goose
|This might be a reference to launch abort capsules used in rockets to safely land astronauts in the case of a critical stage failure. Or it could be operated like an abort button aborting the entire migration for all geese.
|-
|Twin-Engine Model
|This goose has two tails offset on each side of the center of the goose, instead of one tail in the middle like the rest. The "tails" also extend beyond the wings, which makes it look like a Twin-Engine aircraft, which has two engine nacelles: one on each wing instead of one incorporated into the single fuselage. Randall later made eight other plane/bird combinations like this in [[1824: Identification Chart]].
|-
|CIA Informant
|A person, usually a criminal, that surreptitiously provides information to the {{w|Central Intelligence Agency}} (CIA), a foreign intelligence agency of the United States federal government. If these geese are from Canada, the CIA might have inserted an informant to be kept up to date on their activities. However, it is unlikely that the CIA would have great interest in the migratory patterns of geese.{{Citation needed}} This is also potentially a reference to the {{w|Birds aren't Real}} satirical conspiracy theory.
|-
|Backups
|These are geese that are not used in the formation so they can replace other geese in their positions in case they have problems performing their task. This may also be a pun/joke about technology/data "migrations" where backups should be taken liberally due to risk of data loss.
|-
|Shock Front
| A shock front is the front boundary of a {{w|shock wave}} created by either a {{w|sonic boom}} or another explosion in a fluid/gas. It can also refer to the shock wave itself. A V-shaped shock-wave called a '{{w|Bow shock (aerodynamics)|bow shock}}', similar in appearance to the V-shaped goose formation, is generated by a supersonic object. Since geese fly subsonically in normal circumstances {{Citation needed}}, they do not generate a shock wave. But of course, this set of geese may be somewhat different considering the involvement of CIA and stealth technology.
|-
|Missing Valence Geese
|In Chemistry, {{w|Valence (chemistry)|valence}} electrons are the electrons in the outermost "layer" which change places when chemical reactions happen. As there is an optimal number of electrons in a layer, if there are missing valence electrons, atoms which can fill in these gaps tend to react with the atoms having the missing electrons. In case of "electron sharing" (aka covalent bond) molecules result from such an encounter. The comic suggests a second geese formation that has proper "valence geese" in the appropriate position could bond (=merge) with this one into a larger formation. A normal geese V formation like the one in the comic has one side longer than the other and this is possibly Randall's explanation for the phenomenon.
In reality, geese do form V-shaped flocks, since the rear geese can profit aerodynamically from the vortices created by the front geese, and that way the overall flock requires less energy. So there is actually some evolutionary sense for additional geese to fill the "valence holes". It is thus a little weird that there are two backup geese close to these valence vacancies, as they should then have filled them up...
|-
|Stealth cargo being escorted
|The formation is forming a protective surrounding around an empty space in the middle which in a military formation could contain protected cargo. As there is no cargo visible in the geese formation, it is titled "{{w|Stealth technology|stealth}}". This would be a nice [[:Category:Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theory]] to spread.
|-
|Kevin
|An obnoxious blowhard who insists on trying new, poorly thought-out ideas, completely ignorant no one else in the group wants to try it out with him. "Kevin" is an internet meme (especially in Europe) where it's the stereotypical name of the village idiot. Kevin is usually urged to stop talking, ironically congratulated, etc. It’s due to the fact that this name was given [https://www.quora.com/Why-does-the-name-Kevin-have-so-many-negative-connotations-in-modern-Germany-Is-it-really-because-of-Kevin-Costner mainly in low socioeconomic class] (so Kevins will probably have poor education) and possibly because it was [https://translate.google.fr/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fprenoms.doctissimo.fr%2Ftop-prenoms-annee-1991.html&edit-text=&act=url way too common around the ’90s].

Around the time of this comic's release Kevin was a "go-to name" for [[Randall]], seen in [[1719: Superzoom]] as well as What-If #83 as a placeholder name for the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

The name may also be a reference to the intelligent and playful bird [http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin Kevin], from the Disney/Pixar movie {{w|Up (movie)|Up}}, or [https://youtu.be/OyqdoxTEmdg Kevin] from {{w|South Park}}. “Dammit, Kevin” may be a reference to the meme [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/moon-moon Moon Moon], a mentally-challenged wolf whose pack (along with other animals) responds to his strange actions with “God dammit, Moon Moon”.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:Understanding Migration of Geese

:[20 geese are shown flying in a typical migratory V-formation. As they are shown in silhouette it is not possible to determine if they are seen from above or from below. They are flying toward the top of the image with the first goose close to the top in the middle of the image. There is one head goose, and then there are 7 geese in the left arms and 9 geese in the right arm. Behind the left arm there are two stragglers that are not in line with the others, but closer to the middle than those above and not as close to each other as the rest but still flying in the same direction. Finally there is one goose at the bottom right corner flying at a 45 degree angle away from the other to the right. The first goose is flapping its wing, which is also the case with six other geese, no. 4 and 6 in the left and 3, 5 and 6 in the right arm as well as the middle of the two in the rear towards the middle. The rest are soaring with straight wings and all of these look the same except no. 7 in the right arm which has two tails, which both goes ahead of the wings, making it look like a plane with two engines. The head goose and 5 of the 9 geese in the right arm as well as the one bottom right are labelled with and arrow pointing to them from the label. The front goose has the label in front to the left, the other have it in front to the right, except the second last in the arm which has the label inside the V and one flying away which has the label right above it. The two behind and right of the left arm have one label behind them with two arrows from the label pointing at both geese. There is a thick curvy line in front of geese no. 3 to 5 in the left arm. In front of that line is a thinner broken line. In front of this is a label written with the same curvature. There are two areas surrounded by dotted lines. The first one is behind the last of the left arms geese, extending in the same direction for a distance of about two geese. It has a label above and left with and arrow pointing to it. The other area is in the middle of the V forming a loose triangular structure with a label inside.]
:Head goose: Head goose (4th in line to the British throne)
:Right no. 1: Quarterback
:Right no. 3: Comptroller
:Right no. 5: Migration abort goose
:Right no. 7: Twin-engine model
:Right no. 8: CIA informant
:Bottom right corner: Kevin
:Behind center: Backups
:In front of left no. 3-5: Shock front
:Empty area behind left arm: Missing valence geese
:Empty area in center: Stealth cargo being escorted

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:American football]]
[[Category:Aviation]]

Talk:3159: Continents

2025-11-18T00:50:58Z

Explainyourself:

FIRST (ignore the timestamps) --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 13:59, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:More first. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:26, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
::Firstest (don't ignore the timestamps) [[Special:Contributions/164.90.218.225|164.90.218.225 (via pigeon mail)]] 10:35, 23 June 1508 (UTC)
:::Firstester! [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|Christopher Columbus]] ([[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 23:45, 19 April 1492 (UTC)
::::Firestarter! [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:35, 18 March 1996 (UTC)
:::::Twisted firestarter! [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 19:35, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

hi - [[Special:Contributions/97.64.61.191|97.64.61.191]] 13:40, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

I added a transcription. [[User:Artem|Artem]] ([[User_talk:Artem|talk]]) 14:00, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Related: [https://youtube.com/watch?v=T1-cES1Ekto Continental Drift: Alfred Wegener Song by The Amoeba People] [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 15:55, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:Related: [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3159:_Continents&diff=prev&oldid=389482 comment drift]. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 18:31, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Is this referencing any particular actual statements by Armstrong or other astronauts? [[Special:Contributions/130.44.139.195|130.44.139.195]] 23:12, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:Probably not. [[User:Redacted II|Redacted II]] ([[User talk:Redacted II|talk]]) 23:29, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:Nothing I've seen (genuinely) attributed to Armstrong seems to match this, from past passing over it or a quick search now.
:He was a self-avowed deist, perhaps simplifiably as being in a "fire and forget" Creator who let things be as they turned out to be, so possibly ''before'' he could have been convinced about plate techtonics he ''might'' have indeed considered the apparently unchanging fundement of Earth to be just as unchanging as it he had assumed. Upon hearing good arguments for continental drift having happened (and perhaps getting an eyeful of [[3132: Coastline Similarity|at least the smoke from the smoking gun]], directly), I don't think he'd have stuck dogmatically to that view. He did later thank the politicians for letting him see what the Creator had made, but that was post-Apollo 11 and so probably into the era of accepting there were moving-continents (and at that time being stood firmly on the ground).
:Generally, even the other astronauts seemed to avoid anything particularly religiously conservative, even if they were religious, though notably Apollo 8 (after this) broadcast an extended reading of Genesis and attracted some First Amendment objections. Buzz Aldrin had a toned-down 'holy communion' whilst at Tranquility Base, probably to balance against that backlash.
:I think it's a good enough joke without a real-world 'original comment' being riffed upon (or even correctly quoted) as the inspiration behind it. The humour is in the Timeghosty way in which the chronology of certain events is in a rather unexpected juxtaposition. But if someone can find some NASA transcripts to say otherwise, I'm sure it'd be worth a link or two adding in above... [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 23:53, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Gagarin's flight was in 1961. I was still at school at the time and had recently become a space enthusiast. I came down to breakfast one morning and my mother told me the news.
Incidentally, I took an O-level exam in geology in 1969 and continental drift was not on the syllabus.--[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23CC:D248:8901:B565:548B:1709:B532|2A00:23CC:D248:8901:B565:548B:1709:B532]] 08:36, 25 October 2025 (UTC)
:I was 12 days old. I had better things to be concerned with at the time, but I did eventually become a space enthusiast as well. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:07, 25 October 2025 (UTC)
::I was -49 years old during Gagarin’s flight. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 17:08, 25 October 2025 (UTC)

Erm, actually, Russia got to space before the US, so the proper terminology would be: Kоролев, вид потрясающий. Мы видим континенты, где они были с момента образования Земли.
[[Special:Contributions/70.95.65.159|70.95.65.159]] 19:19, 26 October 2025 (UTC)
:Good point. Apart from a certain degree of forced-secularism/state-atheism from the soviet system. Though uttering Korolev's name over an insecure (or potentially so) radio circuit would have probably have breached the secrecy behind his identity.
:(Of course, it is speculated that this was more a 'decoy' secret so that the West would waste their resources trying to work out ''who'' the lead director of the soviet space programme was, rather than all on actually 'important' details. Whereas others think that it might have been genuinely a foreward-looking protection against the opposition working out where the more secret/less-public parts of the whole rocket-regime might end up going. Yet others just think that they didn't want a famous 'figurehead' who might have been acclaimed ahead of the political/governing leaderships themselves. Any which way, though, probably still not to be casually talked to, directly. More likely to address "Байконур", or similar.) [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 20:50, 26 October 2025 (UTC)
:How is who got to space first in any way relevant? The point is that this flight is taking place before plate tectonics were understood, and there were many flights for which that was true.[[Special:Contributions/2602:FF4D:128:D56:F921:27CF:8247:EA3F|2602:FF4D:128:D56:F921:27CF:8247:EA3F]] 18:12, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

In 1969 America was still segregated and Randall is worried about the lack of progress in Geology.

My Father was taught about continental drift at Imperial in the late 1950s. I studied Geology in the 1980s, and my professor Dan McKenzie did a lot of the hard maths.

No black man was selected until the space shuttle programme - as described in "Once upon a time in Space". It ended well fo Col Bluford but less well for Ronald McNair. {{unsigned ip|178.17.254.16|23:46, 30 October 2025 (UTC)}}

Humanity figured out it takes light 8 minutes to get from the sun to the earth 250 years before it figured out that galaxies outside ours exist. [[Special:Contributions/57.140.32.59|57.140.32.59]] 19:11, 6 November 2025 (UTC)

Showed this one to my science teacher [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 00:50, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

1636: XKCD Stack

2025-11-08T02:00:29Z

Explainyourself: Added stuff for archive.org

{{comic
| number = 1636
| date = January 29, 2016
| title = XKCD Stack
| image = xkcd_stack.png
| titletext = This site requires Sun Java 6.0.0.1 (32-bit) or higher. You have Macromedia Java 7.3.8.1¾ (48-bit). Click here [link to java.com main page] to download an installer which will run fine but not really change anything.
}}

==Explanation==
In software engineering, a {{w|Solution stack|tech stack}} is the set of technology platforms and tools that a company or app uses. A common tech stack is {{w|LAMP (software bundle)|GLAMP}}, composed of a {{w|Linux|GNU/Linux}} {{w|Operating system|operating system}}, an {{w|Apache HTTP Server|Apache}} {{w|Web server}}, a {{w|MySQL}} {{w|Database}}, and the {{w|PHP}} programming language. In this comic, the XKCD stack is introduced. The technologies it comprises are either non-existent, unreliable, outdated, or entirely irrelevant.

Another example of a tech stack is featured in [[2166: Stack]].

===Layers===
;EBNF/CSS
:BNF or {{w|Backus–Naur Form}} is a syntax used for describing {{w|context-free grammars}}. {{w|Extended Backus–Naur Form|EBNF}} is "Extended BNF", it is the same thing as BNF with a few more syntactic constructs intended to ease its use in the most common cases. [[1343: Manuals]] mentioned EBNF.
:CSS or {{w|Cascading Style Sheets}} is a language used to describe what a web page should look like. Web pages are usually written in {{w|HTML}}, which describes the ''structure'' of the page (i.e. divides the document into paragraphs, lists, etc.) complemented with CSS which describes the ''look and feel'' of the page (colors, fonts, margins, etc.). EBNF/CSS would suggest CSS with strange syntax.
;Broken Java Applet
:In recent years it has become more difficult to run {{w|Java applet|Java applets}} in several browsers. {{w|Google Chrome|Chrome}} 45 stopped supporting {{w|NPAPI}}, {{w|Mozilla Firefox|Firefox}} dropped support in version 52, and {{w|Microsoft Edge|Edge}} does not support NPAPI plugins at all. Furthermore, two days before this comic was published {{w|Oracle Corporation|Oracle}} (the developer of Java) [https://blogs.oracle.com/java-platform-group/entry/moving_to_a_plugin_free announced] plans to officially end support of Java applets in an upcoming version.
;Archive.org Mirror
:{{w|Internet Archive|Archive.org}} is a website which archives websites, and created the {{w|Wayback Machine}}. It's ambiguous whether the "Archive.org mirror" would be a copy of the xkcd server or of Archive.org itself. If it was a copy of Archive.org, then it would be enormous, as Archive.org holds virtually the entire internet.
;Hypercard.js
:{{w|HyperCard}} can be considered as a kind of predecessor for PowerPoint developed at {{w|Apple Inc.|Apple}}. The file extension .js indicates that is was rewritten in {{w|JavaScript}}. A similar reference to JavaScript is found in [[1508: Operating Systems]].
;QBasic on Rails
:A mix between {{w|QBasic}} and {{w|Ruby on Rails}}. {{w|BASIC}} is a programming language that was very widespread during the 80s. QBasic is an implementation of BASIC created by Microsoft in early 90s, that, among other things, added support for {{w|structured programming}}. QBasic, lacking several of the features present on modern computer languages, is known for its spaghetti code. {{w|Ruby (programming language)|Ruby}} is a rather modern language, often used with Ruby on Rails web application {{w|Software framework |framework}}. QBasic on Rails would likely mean a port of Ruby on Rails, replacing Ruby with QBasic. QBasic no longer runs on modern computers, but there are a couple of {free implementations of QBasic, one being [https://www.qb64.net/ QB64] and the other [https://www.freebasic.net/ FreeBASIC], which are available for Windows, GNU/Linux, macOS, and Android. There also exists a webserver on BASIC called [https://www.runbasic.com/ RunBasic].
;[Blocked by AdBlocker]
:{{w|Ad blocking}} software are extensions to browsers that try to remove ads from web pages, so the user is not distracted by them. [[624: Branding]] shows what "browsing without adblock" looks like. The joke is that AdBlocker is preventing us from seeing what makes up this portion of the stack. This could be because:
:*Someone inserted an ad in the stack description. Some sites do insert ads in the middle of tables and lists, a typical case being between posts in forums.
:*An ad is actually an integral part of the stack. Some sites make ads an integral part of the site content, so that users with ad blocking software will be forced to disable ad blocking to be able to properly interact with the site. Usually, in real life, this is not really a case of ads being part of the site, only that the site artificially refuses to work until it has some confirmation that ads have been properly loaded in the client side (by means of some script within the ads which sends the confirmation to the server).
:*Ad blocking software has misidentified that portion of the stack as an ad, when in fact it is not (i.e. a false positive). This happens in real life, and it is a common source of great pain for the owner of the site which is being misidentified as an ad.
;MongoDB/Excel
:{{w|MongoDB}} is a modern {{w|NoSQL}} {{w|Database|database}} system, {{w|Microsoft Excel}} is a {{w|Spreadsheet|spreadsheet}} program from Microsoft, which is sometimes used as a database system (rarely a good choice).
;Some piece that works so nobody asks any questions
:Writing any non-trivial piece of software always requires a phase of {{w|debugging}}, which consists in finding and fixing {{w|Software bug|bugs}}. With complex software, this is a long and tiring process, so when the product is finally finished no one dares to modify it any further for fear that it will fail in unexpected ways. After some time passes, it is even worse because nobody really remembers how the software was ''supposed'' to work, so the product becomes some kind of godlike treasure that must be treated with the utmost respect and reverence because, you know, if it stops working we're all doomed ([[1421: Future Self]]). After completion, {{w|Refactoring}} is the process of rewriting code for greater efficiency or reliability. However, if the performance is not 'too bad' (i.e. not unusably terrible in normal use) there is a great temptation to avoid this, in favor of the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' methodology. This could lead, for example, to a trained monkey and an abacus being used to crunch numbers. It works, but could be done far better. However, nobody wishes to change it, for fear of breaking a presently functional, if inefficient, system.
;Triply-Nested Docker
:{{w|Docker (software)|Docker}} is a {{w|Operating-system-level virtualization|software container}}, which is a way that allows a complete operating system to run under a different operating system (OS) (as long they share the same kernel, among other things). Triply-nested docker would mean OS A running under OS B running under OS C running under OS D (running under OS E?). That would likely be a performance and management nightmare.
;Paravirtual Boy®
:This is a reference to the {{w|Virtual Boy}}, a failed portable console created by {{w|Nintendo}}. It was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKKK6FH1vGw promoted as being a highly immersive, incredible experience], but the poor technology that it used caused it to be [https://youtu.be/OyVAp0tOk5A?t=56s very criticized] for its high price and causing eyestrain after prolonged usage. {{w|Paravirtualization}} is a way of virtualization that requires the cooperation of the guest operating system, contrary to {{w|full virtualization}}, on which the guest operating system is not required to do anything special and the host handles everything.
;A dev typing real fast
:A dev is a {{w|Software developer|software developer}}. This is possibly a reference to [[341: 1337: Part 1]], where [[Mrs. Roberts]] edits the {{w|Transmission Control Protocol|TCP}} stream live while wearing oven mitts and baking cookies. It looks like the XKCD Webserver is not a computer after all -- we have a person manually replying to HTTP protocol queries. Such a feat would indeed require really fast typing. If this is the case, then it's possible that almost none of the other layers of the stack actually do anything.
;Older version of our software
:People are often reluctant to switch to newer versions of software because, even though newer versions are supposed to have more features and fewer bugs, they end up confusing users. Users of older versions are used to doing everything with less features and circumventing old bugs. They don't know how to use the new features, which of course come with new bugs they haven't learned how to circumvent yet. It is also often the case that newer versions remove weird unused old features, breaking the workflow of users who actually did use such features and are left without a suitable replacement ([[1172: Workflow]]). Alternately, since higher parts of a stack are dependent on lower parts, this could also be a reference to how the consumer versions of Microsoft Windows (3.x, 95, 98, and ME) ran on the "older version" software Microsoft DOS until Windows NT. Paired with the previous layer, it could instead mean that the human is merely retyping the output of the older version.
;Mystery Networking Horror
:Randall suggests here that the whole networking stuff behind the XKCD service is both mysterious (no one actually knows the details) and horrific (technically questionable architecture and implementation, or somehow tentacled and eldritch in nature).
;Microsoft Bob Server®
:{{w|Microsoft Bob}} was a short-lived, failed attempt by Microsoft, around 1995, to provide a user-friendly interface for the {{w|Microsoft Windows|Windows}} 3.1x, Windows 95 and Windows NT operating systems. It consisted of a virtual "house" and "rooms", and clicking on objects in the room would open applications, for instance clicking on a pen would open the word processor. It was heavily criticized and was soon discontinued. Randall seems to be making the suggestion that Bob has continued to be developed and now there's a Bob Server, similarly to Windows server.
;A giant {{w|Central processing unit|CPU}} someone built in Minecraft
:{{w|Minecraft}} is a popular sandbox game where you place blocks to build things. Since the introduction of [https://minecraft.wiki/w/Redstone redstone] objects (materials used to create basic electric circuits within the game) people have made many machines within Minecraft, including calculators and clocks. The most complex of these machines simulate simple computers, capable of storing several lines of code and performing basic mathematical operations such as division, which requires thousands of blocks and extremely complex designs. A Minecraft CPU capable of hosting a website would be ridiculously huge and nearly impossible to work with: the input/output would be needlessly unwieldy, and by the time the data is parsed any other computer could have finished the job already; and Redstone circuits in Minecraft work much slower than in real life, quite literally trillions of times slower.

=== Title text ===

The title text contains several jokes about the Java programming language:

*First, it refers to Java both as {{w|Sun Microsystems|Sun}} Java and {{w|Macromedia}} Java. This is a pun on the fact that older documents refer to "Sun Java" where newer documents refer to "{{w|Oracle Corporation|Oracle}} Java", as if there were two different languages. The fact is that Java was designed originally by Sun and then bought by Oracle, so it "changed name" even though the language is the same. Macromedia was the company that developed Flash before it was bought by Adobe. Both Flash and Java were popular in the early WWW to have interactive web pages, but both are being deprecated in favor of JavaScript.

*Second, the version numbers: older software products used to have two version numbers: major and minor (e.g. in {{w|MS-DOS}} 6.22 the major number is 6 and the minor is 22). Newer products tend to have hundreds of minor revisions, all of them numbered, so a typical user may well find themselves updating version 6.0.0.1 to 7.3.8.1 without knowing at all the differences between both versions or which other versions are in between. The ¾ in the Macromedia Java version is a joke on complex version numbers, which (so far) have never included fractions.

*Third, the 32-bit or 48-bit version: The {{w|Intel 80386}} processor used an architecture known as {{w|IA-32}}, which implies the {{w|Address bus|address bus}} is 32-bit wide and thus able to handle up to 4{{w|Gibibyte|GiB}} of {{w|Random-access memory|RAM}} memory. This was plenty for the early 1990s, when a typical home PC would have about 8MiB (this is 512 times less than 4GiB). However, about 10 years after that, a typical home PC could well use more than 4GiB of RAM, so several {{w|64-bit computing|64-bit architectures}} were created. These architectures are not compatible (32-bit software may run on 64-bit hardware of the same family, but software compiled as 64-bit doesn't work on a 32-bit system), so programs (including the Java Runtime Environment, or JRE) often have 32-bit and 64-bit versions to allow the most appropriate version to be installed. Furthermore, the JRE is heavily used by many web browsers, and for this to work the JRE and browser need to be the same "number of bits". This means that most people have installed both versions of the JRE to be able to use it with both 32-bit and 64-bit browsers. There's no 48-bit architecture (though some 64-bit processors including the {{w|x86-64|most common ones}} don't actually use all 64 bits everywhere, ignoring some bits so actual virtual or physical memory is smaller (in the case of the most common ones, 48bits virtual and 40bits physical), they simulate a full 64-bit environment to allow adding more bits later, so there are no specific 48-bit applications).

*Fourth, the text would suggest that the user has a high enough version to run the software (Java major version 7 is certainly higher than Java major version 6), and yet it informs the user that it must update to a new version. It's possible that the website actually ''broke'' as new Java updates have been released, and the user must downgrade to an older version. The cause of the issue is impossible to guess.

*Fifth, an application trying to let the user install a new version of the JRE should direct the user to the download page in the [https://java.com/ java.com site], not to the main page which deals with lots of issues with java and is not particularly helpful when trying to update the JRE. It may be a common frustration of users to be directed or redirected to the Java frontpage by accident.

*Sixth, and continuing with the joke of users updating from 7.3.8.1¾ to 6.0.0.1 and not knowing why they should, the new version is said to "run fine but not really change anything". This is the usual behavior for Java updates: they run fine (possibly in opposition to [[1197: All Adobe Updates]], where updating must be done several times and the user is never sure they have installed all the newest updates), but after finished updating the user can't see any difference with the previous behavior, and/or may still be told that an update is required. Considering that 7.3.8.1¾ is bigger number than 6.0.0.1, it can also refer to the fact that the test for upgrading is incorrect and 7.3.8.1¾ is actually newer version or that a downgrade is required for the applet to work properly, because no one fixed it to work with the newer version. It may also refer to the fact installing new Java versions often requires editing environment variables to force the OS to default to the new JRE, which standard users of an application don’t know to do, leading their computer to use the old JRE anyway.

==Transcript==
:[A simple table with only one column and fifteen rows is shown. Text above:]
:Introducing
:'''The XKCD Stack'''

:[The list of cells:]
:EBNF/CSS
:Broken Java Applet
:Archive.org Mirror
:Hypercard.js
:QBasic on Rails
:[Blocked by AdBlocker]
:MongoDB/Excel
:Some piece that works so nobody asks any questions
:Triply-Nested Docker
:Paravirtual Boy®
:A dev typing real fast
:Older version of our software
:Mystery Networking Horror
:Microsoft Bob Server®
:A giant CPU someone built in Minecraft

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Minecraft]]

Talk:2466: In Your Classroom

2025-11-05T04:41:14Z

Explainyourself: Theology

yay! another one where a table is useful for an explanation! also first ALPHALUL [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.59|162.158.79.59]] 01:01, 22 May 2021 (UTC)Bumpf

Exobiology should not be in the Good area. I've seen those movies, I know what happens next. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 02:18, 22 May 2021 (UTC)

I'm sort of sad that the the hover text, or perhaps the origin, wasn't simply "Tautology" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.74|108.162.237.74]] 21:01, 22 May 2021 (UTC)

I think that the scales would be better shown as +/- from a (0,0) point than %'s from the top left. At least for the Good/Bad axis It's really weird to say that "Education" has 10% ''danger'' because it's not quite as good as having an atmosphere. Is it just me? --[[User:Bobson|Bobson]] ([[User talk:Bobson|talk]]) 01:51, 23 May 2021 (UTC)
:Many students consider education - especially tests - dangerous. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:26, 23 May 2021 (UTC)
:No, I agree as well. Would it be out of line if I changed it? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.18|162.158.75.18]] 17:26, 25 May 2021 (UTC)

Not sure how big is smallest quasar, but I suspect one appearing in class would be bad even for Sun and rest of solar system. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:29, 23 May 2021 (UTC)
:I agree. This should be sooooo far below the bad axis (or Volcanoes) that it should only have been mentioned in the title text. Of course Quasars do not exist in this age... But if one suddenly began in your class room it would be the end of the local spiral arm of the galaxy, and would devour most of what was there forming a new black hole center of the galaxy (a double black hole center). It would of course end all of Earth history as well as the solar system and the local cluster of stars. So putting it right under volcanoes, which would only destroy the local city (it was not given it was a super volcano), compared to ending Earths existence is not really serious. And as explained in the explanation he has previously also mentioned off chart points in the title text, as he does also for less interesting subjects in this one as well. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:06, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

Is vertical axis how dangerous? I read it as either being positive utility (Societal good and bad) or how much Randall likes it? [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 10:19, 23 May 2021 (UTC)

Shouldn't it be vulcanology?[[User:Joem5636|Joem5636]] ([[User talk:Joem5636|talk]]) 12:33, 24 May 2021 (UTC)
:I thought that, but it appears that vulcanology/volcanology are both possibly equally valid (though the 'vulc' definitions point to 'volc' ones almost always in online dictionaries, with the reverse mostly only as 'alternative', and 'vulcanologist' seems less acknowledged than 'volcanologist' in related-words linking). In many ways, that annoys me, but that might be the classicist in me rather than the geographer/geologist who appreciates that "vulcanology" might be a rather more limited field that would require no more travel to extensively study than can be afforded by a handy Sicilian fishing boat or light aircraft. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.19|141.101.99.19]] 14:48, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

Would an alternate Geography = weird be due to an invading nation-state? We already have volcanology and other similar "The earth came into the classroom" things in the graph. [[User:OhFFS|OhFFS]] ([[User talk:OhFFS|talk]]) 21:42, 24 May 2021 (UTC)
:That would be bad, but still less weird than the actual Earth. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.48|172.70.114.48]] 18:09, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

TL;DR: Too many "citation needed" tags! It's not funny if you use it too much.

Several parts of this explanation seem to have been written in such a way as to include statements against which nobody in their right mind would argue and, in any other context at least, would not require any supporting citation, and are hence appropriate places for the humourous use of "citation needed" often seen on this site.{{citation needed}} I very much appreciate the hitherto typical Explain-XKCD-style sparse (about once per article) use of "citation needed" but I feel that it loses much of it's comedic effect when used frequently (six times in this article as I write!) in text that appears to be composed with the purpose of including the tag several times. I appreciate that some of us enjoy reading explanations peppered with the tags, so I haven't removed any of them, but my feeling is that the 'too much of a good thing' concept applies here. In future articles I personally hope to see normally written explanations (or as normally written as we can reasonably expect given the subject matter) with "citation needed" tags used only sparingly.

Missed opportunity: "...and Quantum Mechanics is both way off to the left and way off to the right." --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.102|172.69.35.102]] 22:25, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

I tried to edit the table to have the weirdness and badness from -10 to 10, but the table broke. Can someone fix it please? [[User:Cal3000000|Cal3000000]] ([[User talk:Cal3000000|talk]]) 12:12, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
:Fixed it [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2466:_In_Your_Classroom&diff=334172&oldid=334170 here] (before I read your call for help). I mention in the summary the ''reason'' it broke, and was just about to let you know anyway (you don't have a Talk page yet, so came here to give the link and then find the above plea).
:(I had to squash the reason down, to fit, however. Table-data lines get the "|-" symbol at the start of a line (text after that doesn't appear as regular cell data). Table cell-data starts as "|" on a line-start (or "||" where adding more cells on a single line of markup) and when the cell ("|") starts with a "-" (e.g. "-5") then it clearly looks like a row-break ("|-[...]") unless you do something about it. In this case, I put a space between the cell-pipe and the value-negative (and also could have added one, or two, before the unsigned values ...just for markup neatness). Other solutions might have been to use a different dash (”–” instead of "-", visually not too different, but might have annoyed other people doing text-searches [edit: and caused more fuss in supporting table-sorting functionality, of course!]), moved the new-line cells into being "||" followups to the respective prior line or used something like a <code><nowiki><nowiki/></nowiki></code> "breaking-nonspace" interjection (i.e. technically the opposite of an <code>&nbsp;</code>, though that would have worked also for several reasons). I'm sure there are other ways of doing it, as well, but I only tried the first, with the others in mind in case I'd got the right sort of diagnosis in mind but hadn't immediately identified a working cure.)
:The only suggestion I have, for future, is to use the Preview button more. As I ought to, sometimes. But it lets you play around to see if you can identify (and solve!) any problems, especially with notoriously miseditable table markup. You can also entirely back out of changes easier, while you try to learn what went wrong or seek help from others. It's always good to learn, of course! And I also learnt from this, and it's probably only circumstantial that I had never made the same inadvertent error in the past... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.80|172.69.194.80]] 13:57, 4 February 2024 (UTC)

Thanks to whoever added to my clarification on top of the table [[User:Moderator|Moderator]] ([[User talk:Moderator|talk]]) 01:50, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

;hey, uh, i think a joke in here needs an explain-explain-xkcd page.

the thing in robotics' row about sarah connor from terminator. self-explanatory. {{unsigned|Willlbrwillbr|01:31, 13 February 2024}}
:I'll put a wikilink in, then. Perhaps her Character Page, if she has one and it relates to her (justified) robophobia. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.230|172.69.195.230]] 02:08, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

He should've added theology. [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 04:41, 5 November 2025 (UTC)

Talk:1810: Chat Systems

2025-11-05T02:40:23Z

Explainyourself:

"Wall (bathroom)" might be a reference to the Spaceballs movie. President Skroob is using the bathroom when he gets a video call from one of his officers. "Ahh! I told you never to call me on this wall! This is an unlisted wall!" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.112|172.68.54.112]] 16:31, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
:Or "Wall (bathroom)" is just a pun on "Wall (Unix)". That would explain why only these two have disambiguation, and not "Telegram" or "Peach". See also how both Walls are next to each other. Shirluban [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.106|141.101.88.106]] 11:54, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:I Believe "Wall (Bathroom)" is a reference to [https://explainxkcd.com/229 XKCD 229 - Graffiti]. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.234|173.245.50.234]] 20:57, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
::I agree adding this in --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:49, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
::Having communicated with nocturnal housemates by the method "leave a note where they will see it", it could also be a way of communicating with someone uncommunicative in your own house, alternative locations at our house being the bathroom mirror, the wall of the toilet room, and the kitchen fridge. It's possible it's not a public bathroom wall that he's referring to. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.53|108.162.250.53]] 22:05, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

From the explain section (User: Cosmogoblin): See [https://www.dropbox.com/s/8xpd3iggd47x51q/1810.ods this spreadsheet on Dropbox] for a list of each person in the diagram, as a basis for more complex analysis.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:48, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Man, IRC is not old. I remember using it at college in 1996... Oh, wait.{{unsigned ip|172.68.26.65}}

I'm pretty sure that says '''Wall (Unix)''', not '''Wall (Linux)'''. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.131|162.158.79.131]] 17:16, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

He left off the chat tab on wikipedia :o){{unsigned ip|172.68.86.100}}

He also left off [https://discordapp.com/ Discord]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.160|108.162.241.160]] 23:22, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
:He also also left off explain xkcd talkpages. [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]
::Just curious - has Randall ever directly referenced explainxkcd? I know that he relies on us in minor ways, and I'm sure he reads explain, but I can't recall any actual references. And I'm having great difficulty thinking of a good Google search term to check! [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 17:09, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:::Randall has no connection to this wiki but he has mentioned it in some former hidden transcripts. Look at bottom of my [[:User_talk:Dgbrt#Keep_it_compact|talk page]].--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:45, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Euler_and_Venn_diagrams.svg Humorous diagram comparing Euler and Venn diagrams]--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:06, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

To whom are the individuals unique to some sets talking to? eg those in Apache Request logs, and wall (unix) and wall (bathroom)? I suppose there is no reason to assume anyone is receiving their messages.......[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.160|108.162.241.160]] 18:37, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
:I'd assume that the diagram is the ways Randall communicates with people. So the person in the Apache Logs circle would be the only person he is able to reach using this method. Likely meaning that for the really big circles (like email), a person outside the circle doesn't necessarily mean they don't use email; just that Randall doesn't have their address. --(bah, I can't remember my username on here. Old laptop was left logged in) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.109|162.158.154.109]] 20:37, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

This seems related to #1254, and maybe #1789 as well. Randall really has a problem with his friends' bizarre methods of communicating.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.5|172.68.132.5]] 18:44, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Is the Instagram/Unix-'talk' gateway a real thing? Can't find any other mention of it. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 03:36, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

;Related comics
I've created this new section at the bottom of the explain section. Those references don't explain much but moving it to a trivia section would move this out of sight for the reader. Since many writers like to find such references this chapter groups them all together. Any suggestions? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:04, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
:Related: #1305 [[User:BMB|BMB]] ([[User talk:BMB|talk]]) 08:01, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
::I like this and have also found [[1305: Undocumented Feature]] and the one where Randall made such a feature. Someone else included those mentioned above. I have moved them above the table so people interested in similar comics, which many coming here are can see that we have supplied them. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:49, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:::I've created this new section at the bottom of the explain section. But when this is not accepted it must be moved to trivia!!!--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:06, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
::::Well I disagree about that. This has not been the standard of this explanatin xkcd for making references to other comics. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:20, 19 March 2017 (UTC)

;Transcript
I'm thinking it may be best to do the transcript by listing each person and the circles in which they are present, possibly condensing people in identical circles with the number in parentheses. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.246.82|162.158.246.82]] 22:23, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
:I'm also thinking about this. But the persons are some sticky figures like Cueball and so on; the character itself is unimportant... Important are all the "Chat Systems" and their connections together. That's not easy to transcribe.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:31, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
:: I think the easiest way is to use the "mathematical approach": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(mathematics) [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:14, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:::I've done a "text approach". What's about the sticky figures, do the numbers represent anything?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:38, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
::::I like the list of intersections, but that is part of the explanations. Have for the moment created a new section below the table. Instead text written in the transcript should only be mentioned once. I have used the order already given. Believe the transcript to be fine now, but I'm sure others will disagree... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:49, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:::::Explanation is why or how the intersections work. The plain list is transcript! I totally disagree on this recent massive edits.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:04, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
::::::Only text in the comic should be written outside square brackets in transcript and only once! It must now also be very complicated for those using the transcript to "read the comc" to find all different chat systems as most of them are now mentioned many times. It will have to be changed back to only having text in the transcript and no explanations! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:20, 19 March 2017 (UTC)

A possible method to transcribe the Euler diagram might be like this. Each intersection is a column, where the systems that intersect are marked with "X". The intersections that don't exist are left out.
{| class="wikitable"
!System
! colspan=99 | Intersections
|-
| {{w|SMS}}
| X || - || X || X || X || rowspan=3 | ...
|-
| {{w|Email}}
| - || X || X || - || X
|-
| {{w|Hangouts}}
| - || - || - || X || X
|-
| colspan=99 | ...
|-
!Number of people in group
| 3 || 3 || 5 || 1 || 3 || ...
|}
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.100|162.158.222.100]] 15:58, 17 March 2017 (UTC)
:Nice idea but hard to read (especially for impaired people). A transcript should be raw text. And the sticky figures are random, or for what do the two figures in WhatsApp stand for?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 04:18, 18 March 2017 (UTC)

;XMPP
He forgot Jabber!{{unsigned ip|198.41.242.7}}

I explained the title text and how a Euler diagram works. Please add onto my explanation. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 13:29, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:Maybe for Dummies: "...a Venn diagram for n component sets must contain all 2n hypothetically possible zones that correspond to some combination of inclusion or exclusion in each of the component sets." (Wikipedia). This here would be 224 or 16,8 million zones -- hard to paint.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:38, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
::Thanks for that info. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:59, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:::[https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:a18f84a6-bbd5-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd Lorenz Venn Diagram] :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:30, 19 March 2017 (UTC)

When people use bold text to make sections, then it becomes difficult to see where new discussions begins. This is not something we have used to do for a long time. Maybe it is better left out for smaller discussions like the one above here. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:54, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

;Massive changes by user Kynde (OR NOT? With reply now from Kynde)
While many users worked over more than 30 hours here together user [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) needed just one hour to change everything in the explanation and the transcript. See here (everything in RED on left or right is a change):[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1810%3A_Chat_Systems&diff=137248&oldid=137211 1810: Chat Systems changes by Kynde except one other]. I'm a little bit frustrated because all my work, investigations, and edits are misused and changed. Do we need those major reworks on every comic?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:31, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:I've brought back some former agreed parts. Look at my edits here: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1810%3A_Chat_Systems&diff=137286&oldid=137277]. It's mainly trivia and transcript, and it's still incomplete because all the intersections have to be explained. Randall uses the Euler diagram NOT for the sticky figures, the intersections are important.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:39, 15 March 2017 (UTC)
::But when a third party (I) put a table together explaining the intersections, you took it out again, with the comments "Please avoid useless tables and describe the intersections" and "Do not count the sticky figures. Randall has more than 35 email contacts. The figures are only a filler!"
::I think this is a misunderstanding of the comic. The figures are not a filler at all; they are exactly what is important here. They represent people whom Randall can contact by various means. There is no other meaning to the intersections.
::The point about Randall's having more than 35 email contacts is well taken. Perhaps the individual figures represent quantity groupings. One figure means a small number of friends, two a medium number, three a large number, and five a very large number. Or perhaps this is a sample of 57 of his friends. Or perhaps this is really all the people he regularly communicates with for social reasons. But whatever the explanation, I think it's meaningful that there are more figures within the iMessage set than within the Skype set.
::I will admit to being mystified, though, by the empty intersections: iMessage with Signal, FB Messenger with non-SMS, and Twitter DM with email but not SMS. Those don't really fit my theory.
::[[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 02:42, 17 March 2017 (UTC)
:::Your ''perhaps''' doesn't explain anything. And one more: Only two in WhatsApp? Really? Is email so much larger than WhatsApp? Believe me, an Euler diagram is used for showing ''relevant intersections''. And these intersections are possibly Randall specific because for example Skype is a little bit odd. SMS is a feature in Skype but that's not shown in the diagram. You may count the numbers but they are irrelevant.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:58, 17 March 2017 (UTC)
:I really do not know why I keep trying to reach Dgbrt because he seems to have decided to be against anything I do. But after taking a few days off from him and explain xkcd I went back to look at my "massive edits" and found almost none. For the [[Talk:1805: Unpublished Discoveries|second time]] Dgbrt looks only on the red part in his link to my edits, not at the text or the actual changes. And for the second time the red appears because one or more paragraphs is moved or inserted. Then the existing paragraphs do not match and all becomes red. I went through all paragraphs and explained what I had done and what was changed. And it turned out that the only think I actually deleted was the incomplete reason and the first paragraph. But because I moved the incomplete reason into the explain section everything below moved down and became red. Here below is my findings to revert Dgbrts fall claims that I changed everything. And I really believe the transcript is all wrong as it is now!
#I moved the incomplete reason below the explanation section. And tried to do exactly what is said originally while mentioning what now needed updating. This made a lot of the rest red without I had changed much. This was the same the previous time you complained about red all over after my edits!
#I changed the first paragraph which was really poorly written. Also there was really no connection to Venn diagrams but it seems there had been some confusion. So instead of explaining Venn diagram in the comic I made a ref to the category and made a general example there to be used in other situations. I think this is a great idea, which probably is another point we disagree, but that is not the point here. But it made the start of the explanation easier to read without removing the possibility to understand Venn vs Euler.
#The second paragraph is mainly red because of the extra paragraph from moving incomplete: I only added this: “and [[:Category:Social networking|social networking]]”
#As I put the chat system table into a new section (which is the usually way, also making it possible to edit the table and the main explanation simultaneously) then I put in a paragraph linking to it. Here I explained shortly a few things without changing anyone’s contributions.
#The title text was only briefly mentioned, but I did not delete anything. It was the extra paragraphs again that made it red. I added the explanation from the table. Tables is often used for the main comic, and the title text is explained in the main explanation. So I did not add or change, just move two title text explanations together into one.
#Then there was the “Related comics” below the table, which is not the place for these. So I moved them up above the table, someone added a third comic and I added two more. Again I did not delete anything.
#In the table I only fixed one link and mentioned that the WC wall is the only “joke” in the main comic. And then moved the title text out of table.
#As I think you have mentioned explanations and very long descriptions should not go into the transcript. So I moved the intersection description out. I think it is important, but should maybe even down in a trivia? But definitely not be in the transcript.
#I did thus not delete anything from the transcript, but kept only the text actually written in the comic. OK I added more to the explanation in brackets, maybe too much for your taste, but again that is not a debate about my “aggressive” edit here. We also disagree on that.
#Finally I added the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/ef/1810_Chat_System_numbered.PNG image with character numbers] and the number of characters in the trivia. Of course you have deleted that as well? It added a way to discuss different characters and also made it clear that there where 57!
:So as you can see from this I did not really delete anything except the first paragraph. Which I mainly just rewrote. I cannot understand the idea that you should not edit a wiki because it might hurt other editors. What is the point then. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:20, 19 March 2017 (UTC)

Where is TOX? He forgot about that!{{unsigned ip|172.68.62.58}}

I'm amused to note that I'm a great example of how this is Euler, not Venn: The best way to contact me is FB Message, with SMS a close second. I almost never get real emails anymore, so I don't check it much. But as the entire FB group is inside the Email group, I couldn't go in there. :) As for the current Incomplete explanation, I would say it's fairly self explanatory. For example, said FB Messenger group. We have a Ponytail, who is also in the iMessage, SMS, and Email groups, meaning that Randall can talk to her using FB messenger, iMessage, SMS, or by Email. Meanwhile the Cueball in this group is in the same groups except for iMessage, meaning Randall can talk to him using FB messenger, SMS, or by Email, in other words in the same ways as (this) Ponytail except iMessage. Going into detail listing every combination represented and what they mean seems like it would be too long and tedious (and would beg for identifying the combinations which aren't represented, which would be worse).

BTW, there used to be a Facebook App called Bathroom Wall (later changed for a short time to Bathroom Stall, because Facebook decided to forbid anything called Wall), which was an anonymous message board. Not a chat system per se, but it WAS an online communication tool. Messages were anonymous by default, but you could identify yourself through an optional nickname (much like I do here). Within a thread you could faithfully keep using the same nickname in order to maintain a conversation. I had understood THIS was what Randall meant (since it IS actually a way to communicate, unlike actual bathrooms, and is electronic, unlike actual walls). However, this app was closed years ago because it attracted fighting. People wouldn't stop, Facebook pushed the creators to do something about it, they eventually felt forced to close it. They put it into read-only mode for a while so people could salvage whatever was meaningful to them, then it was gone. The fact that it no longer exists would seem to be a vote against it being what Randall meant, except for the other clearly outdated methods on here (I miss ICQ). - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.76|162.158.126.76]] 03:47, 22 March 2017 (UTC) I finally signed up! This comment is mine. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:38, 13 June 2017 (UTC)
:Since it appears as if my comment has gone unnoticed, I added my Bathroom Wall tidbit. It DOES seem extremely relevant. :) - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.16|108.162.219.16]] 13:33, 31 May 2017 (UTC) So's this! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:38, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

"had its beginnings in the 1980s and has since represented the most common form of data transmission for most people." Wait, are SMSs really used that much? I have never met a single person who uses SMSs as their primary chat system. --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.231.215|198.41.231.215]] 22:47, 10 March 2020 (UTC)
:Well at least not in the past few couple of years, since everyone has a smartphone and internet flatrate, so they use free and more flexible services (such as WhatsApp) instead. But in the 2000s it was that way for many who didn't use computers much (so no/limited access to IRC, ICQ, etc.)--[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:26, 11 March 2020 (UTC)

I used to use the google doc method. [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 02:40, 5 November 2025 (UTC)

Talk:122: Quirky Girls

2025-10-31T03:29:14Z

Explainyourself: Guy

I'll just leave this link to ManicPixieDreamGirl here:
[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ManicPixieDreamGirl][[Special:Contributions/198.41.243.5|198.41.243.5]] 12:47, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

One of the few tropes that have a Wikipedia article. [[User:Nafedalbi|Nafedalbi]] ([[User talk:Nafedalbi|talk]]) 14:32, 25 April 2022 (UTC)Nafedalbi
: What article is that? — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 18:41, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

Does anyone know who "Guy" is? [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 03:29, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

2288: Collector's Edition

2025-10-29T20:31:36Z

Explainyourself: Added description for "Compiling..."

{{comic
| number = 2288
| date = April 3, 2020
| title = Collector's Edition
| image = collectors_edition.png
| titletext = I'm sure you can find some suitable worldbuilding material if you scavenge through the archives.
}}
{{series
| series = April
| number = 11
| date = April 3, 2020
| days_late = 2
| day_category = Friday
| prev_title = 1975: Right Click
| prev_date = April 1, 2019
| next_title = 2445: Checkbox
| next_date = April 1, 2021
| extra_text = [[#Trivia|Learn why this comic was released late]].
}}
{{TOC}}To experience the interactivity of the game, visit the {{xkcd|2288|original comic}}!

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Need to finish uploading the few files of loot missing (UPDATE: Only a few are missing!!!) and loot descriptions.}}
This comic is a large draggable image that acted as a shared virtual sandbox for users to interact. Chests are "Items" (small and often humorous images) which could be collected from other comics, and then placed in this image by viewers, but today they are no longer dropped. The collection then updated for all viewers in real-time. Multiples of the same item are often seen. There is a "backpack" at the bottom, similar to backpacks in video games containing items collected by the player. As hinted by the title text, items could be found by visiting different xkcd comics/pages. Randomly, some pages would have a treasure chest which contained the sticker related to the page. The hint would refer to the page which currently had a chest.

The comic contains 32993 separate images. The sticker images can be seen at xkcd.com/2288/collectors/static/loot/loot_'''XXX'''.png, where XXX is a number from 001 to 253. Additionally, some images can be found at custom URLs, for example the periodic elements can be found at <nowiki>h</nowiki>ttps://xkcd.com/2288/collectors/static/loot/element-'''XX'''.png, where XX is the element, and text loot at xkcd.com/2288/collectors/static/loot/loot-words-'''X'''.png, where X is the sentence. The [https://github.com/xkcd/maple source code] for the comic was released on GitHub.

Placement is limited to 10,000 horizontal units and 5,000 vertical units from the origin. Users received no messages if they try placing something outside the boundary, with a silent fail and the object not being placed. The coordinates are relative to the bottom left corner of the canvas. As the default coordinates are (-370,-277) and the origin is in the center, the displayed portion of the canvas can be found to be twice this in magnitude, 740 x 544 units. The most common image is loot-30.png, which appears 2576 times.

[[File:2288_full.png|100000px|thumb|left|The full image]]{{clear}}

=== Hints ===
For a more minimal list of the stickers found in the comic, see [[2288: Collector's Edition/Stickers]].
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Sticker
!Hint
!Comic
!Item unlocked
!Notes
|-
|[[File:2288_loot_019.png|50px]]
|Doctors in a row
|[[239: Blagofaire]]
|Cory Doctorow
|These comics all have the same hint, but only one will have the chest
|-
|[[File:2288_loot_246.png|75px]]
|Get out the (US) vote
|Chapter 5 of What If? (New York Style Time Machine)
|Statue of liberty
|
|-
|[[File:2288_loot_126.png|75px]]
|Find a box of nice stuff on a picture with words like these
|[[ 1375: Astronaut Vandalism]]
|Signpost
|
|-
|[[File:2288_loot_228.png|50px]] or [[File:Miniloot-words-dispenser.png|75px]] (maybe incomplete)
|Plug in or find another power source
|[[1373: Screenshot]]
|
|
|-
|[[File:2288_loot_090.png|75px]]
|Sweet dreams, kitty
|[[729: Laser Pointer]] (maybe incomplete)
|Cat licking laser point
|
|-
|[[File:2288_loot_185.png|75px]]
|What is this hint pointing to? Hell if I know.
|[[1052: Every Major's Terrible]]
|2 + lightbulb = boat
|
|-
|[[File:loot 197.png|75px]]
|Somebody set up us the bomb
|[[286: All Your Base]]
|Exploding rock/planet crypton
|
|-
|[[File:loot 175.png|75px]]
|Cowabunga
|[[1412: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] (maybe incomplete)
|Women Science Fiction Authors
|[[197: Ninja Turtles]] also works
|-
|[[File:loot 210.png|75px]]
|I want to believe
|[[2156: Ufo]]
|Ufo
|
|-
|[[File:loot 044.png|75px]]
|Bleeped
|[[290]], [[398]], [[430]], [[447]], [[533]], [[549]], [[677]], [[724]] or [[1671]]
|*$@#!
|Comics that involve swearing
|-
|[[File:loot 159.png|75px]]
|why waste time say few word when lot word do trick
|[[7]], [[111]], [[139]], [[143]], [[179]], [[217]], [[445]], [[470]], [[822]], [[823]], [[1022]], [[1247]], [[1491]], [[1921]], [[1991]], [[2182]] or [[2231]]
|First Annual Award for Excellence in Being Very Smart
|
|-
|[[File:loot 006.png|75px]]
|Cooler than electric scooters
|[[139]], [[409]], [[577]], [[578]], [[579]], [[580]] or [[581]]
|An electric skateboard
|
|-
|[[File:loot 095.png|75px]]
|Take it from the top
|[[1: Barrel - Part 1]] (maybe incomplete)
|I am a turtle from [[889: Turtles]]
|
|-
|[[File:loot 031.png|75px]]
|I accept the yucca gnocchi, this meal is a success!
|[[1713: 50 ccs]] (maybe incomplete)
|Man carrying parentheses from [[297: Lisp Cycles]]
|
|-
|
|Catch up on the news
|[[1699: Local News]] (maybe incomplete)
|
|
|-
|[[File:loot 096.png|75px]]
|Participation trophy
|[[2288: Collector's Edition]] (maybe incomplete)
|Server rack
|
|-
|[[File:loot 161.png|75px]]
|Find an opportunity for a sojourn
|[[665]], [[681]], [[695]], [[1091]], [[1504]], [[1613]], [[1663]] or [[2111]]
|Opportunity Mars rover from [[2111: Opportunity Rover]]
|
|-
|[[File:loot 159.png|75px]]
|Tastier than tau day
|[[179: e to the pi times i]] (maybe incomplete)
|First annual award for excellence in being very smart
|Need to find out the difference between this, and the entry below!
|-
|[[File:loot 056.png|75px]]
|Tastier than tau day
|[[235]], [[396]], [[872]], [[1029]], [[1342]], [[1655]] or [[1967]]
|Pie sign
|Published on Pi day
|-
|[[File:loot 216.png|75px]]
|418 I'm a teapot
|[[1866: Russell's Teapot]] (maybe incomplete)
|S.S. NASA: Space is Hard
|
|-
|[[File:loot 205.png|75px]]
|26th September, 1983
|[[2052: Stanislav Petrov Day]]
|White dove
|Might also be written "September 26th, 1983". Locale dependent?
|-
|[[File:loot 151.png|75px]]
|There are 4241 as of Apr 1, 2020
|[[1071: Exoplanets]] (maybe incomplete)
|Little girl from [[2264: Satellite]]
|
|-
|[[File:loot 079.png|75px]]
|asableiK
|[[645: RPS]]
|A reverse Polish hotdog
|"Kielbasa" backwards, which is "sausage" in Polish
|-
|[[File:loot 203.png|75px]]
|Critical mass elements
|[[235: Kite]] or [[239: Blagofaire]]
|
|
|-
|[[File:loot 036.png|150x150px]]
|Some Februarys are more equal than others
|[[390: Nightmares]]? (maybe incomplete)
|Cueball wheelie from [[272: Linux User at Best Buy]]
|Comic-hint connection largely conjectural; 390 was the first comic published on a leap day.
|-
|[[File:loot 022.png|150x150px]]
|Five spice
|[[1511: Spice Girl]] or [[1554: Spice Girls]]
|Rock guitarist
|
|-
|[[File:loot 058.png|75px]]
|Call the plumber
|[[423: Finish Line]]
|Luigi in a green Kart
|
|-
|[[File:loot 103.png|150x150px]]
|Was it a rat I saw?
|[[968: Everything]]
|Cueball with a large sack, pulling a wagon
|or [[1503: Squirrel Plan]] for Cueball holding a balloon caught in a ceiling fan.
|-
|[[File:loot 045.png|75px]]
|Churchill's gonna have to seriously rehydrate
|[[346: Diet Coke+Mentos]]
|Bottle of soda
|
|-
|
|Keep coming back
|
|
|
|-
|[[File:loot 235.png|75px]]
|A new model released each year
|Triggered by visiting all xkcd phone comics in order
|Phone screaming "Noooo"
|
|-
|[[File:loot 232.png|75px]]
|Tea Time
|Maybe [[581: The Race: Part 5]]? Need confirmation.
|All our tea
|
|-
|[[File:loot 092.png|75px]]
|Try pattern-matching! Look for comic 'bout alphabet?
|[[1045: Constraints]]
|Two Tetris blocks
|
|-
|[[File:loot 021.png|75px]]
|Where's Hilbert?
|[[195: Map of the Internet]] (maybe incomplete)
|Hilbert Curve
|
|-
|[[File:loot 202.png|75px]]
|Science fiction fetish
|[[1585: Similarities]]
|
|
|-
|[[File:loot 250.png|75px]] / [[File:loot 067.png|75px]]
|The first one was funnier
|[[11: Barrel - Part 2]] (maybe incomplete)
|Falling feather / Sign "The uncomfortable truths well"
|
|-
|[[File:loot 127.png|75px]]
|It's up to over 260 million cycles!
|[[1941: Dying Gift]]
|Megan on a tire swing
|
|-
|[[File:loot 163.png|75px]]
|Sleeping Beauty is the same everywhere though
|[[2233: Aurora Meaning]] (maybe incomplete)
|Sleeping Cat
|
|-
|[[File:loot 191.png|75px]]
|On the internet, nobody knows you're an arachnid
|[[1530: Keyboard Mash]] (maybe incomplete)
|Cobwebbed frame from [[1135: Arachnoneurology]]
|
|-
|[[File:loot 152.png|75px]]
|Did James Cameron pay for the rice cooker too?
|[[1598: Salvage]] (maybe incomplete)
|Rice bowl
|
|-
|[[File:loot 010.png|75px]]
|Never going to give you up
|[[351]], [[389]], [[396]], [[524]], [[573]], [[609]], [[802]], [[1212]], [[1757]] or [[1981]]
|Cueball in car listening to music
|
|-
|[[File:loot 247.png|75px]]
|If red touches yellow, that's 24 ohms
|[[1604: Snakes]], [[227: Color Codes]]? (maybe incomplete)
|Yoda with an mp3 player from What If
|
|-
|[[File:loot 115.png|75px]]
|An enthusiastic but questionable business opportunity
|[[1021]], [[1032]], [[1117]], [[1293]], [[1493]], [[1533]], [[1772]], [[1812]], [[1871]], [[1903]], [[1997]], [[2140]], [[2209]] or [[2277]]
|Beret guy with a goat on leash
|
|-
|Multiple: loot_106.png, miniloot-words-hair.png, miniloot-words-ominous.png, miniloot-words-eruption.png, miniloot-words-flying.png or miniloot-words-ghost.png (maybe incomplete)
|Read the fine manual
|[[293]], [[434]], [[456]], [[912]], [[1343]] or [[1692]]
|
|
|-
|[[File:loot 209.png|75px]]
|That thing's undecimodal!
|[[1347: t Distribution]] (maybe incomplete)
|Floating tentacled alien
|
|-
|[[File:loot 253.png|75px]]
|Actually, it's Myanmar-Shave now
|[[491: Twitter]] (maybe incomplete)
|Expensive bottle
|
|-
|[[File:loot 002.png|75px]]
|You don't have to find all 99
|[[121: Balloon]] (maybe incomplete)
|Balloon copter
|Or [[51: Malaria]] ?
|-
|[[File:loot 098.png|75px]]
|Going in circles
|[[378: Real Programmers]] (maybe incomplete)
|Cueball spinning in desk chair
|
|-
|[[File:loot 158.png|75px]]
|Couldn't you try knitting, or maybe stamp collecting?
|[[37]], [[53]], [[60]], [[75]], [[79]], [[148]], [[168]], [[174]], [[236]], [[259]], [[287]], [[296]], [[326]], [[331]], [[389]], [[437]], [[451]], [[559]], [[590]], [[605]], [[687]], [[719]], [[733]], [[790]], [[845]], [[966]], [[1004]], [[1119]], [[1145]], [[1169]], [[1208]], [[1278]], [[1304]], [[1329]], [[1340]], [[1355]], [[1405]], [[1480]], [[1546]], [[1598]], [[1677]], [[1697]], [[1705]], [[1788]], [[1795]], [[1960]], [[1995]], [[2032]], [[2123]], [[2208]] or [[2252]]
|Phishing License sign
|Mostly comics that include "My hobby:"
|-
|[[File:loot 069.png|75px]]
|It's the ciiiiircle of HONK
|[[537: Ducklings]] or [[1729: Migrating Geese]]
|DUCKLOOP'D?
|
|-
|[[File:loot 033.png|75px]]
|Fool me twice
|Maybe [[880: Headache]]? Need confirmation.
|Raptor Attack
|The second April Fools' Day comic
|-
|
|oOOOoooo
|Maybe [[316: Loud Sex]]? Need confirmation.
|Sleeping cat
|
|-
|[[File:loot 004.png|75px]]
|Maybe we can ask for new wishes
|[[879: Lamp]]
|Genie and his bottle
|If you place the genie last, you get another genie (indefinitely) - Needs verification, this may also just be a bug!
|-
|[[File:loot 130.png|75px]]
|HACK THE PLANET
|[[1337: Hack]] (maybe incomplete)
|Crash and Burn in the pool from the end of ''Hackers''
|
|-
|[[File:loot 162.png]]
|Monetization haute couteur
|[[20]], [[23]], [[55]], [[123]], [[149]], [[150]], [[162]], [[208]], [[231]], [[242]], [[256]], [[273]], [[285]], [[303]], [[327]], [[377]], [[386]], [[420]], [[435]], [[442]], [[482]], [[505]], [[552]], [[556]], [[585]], [[614]], [[627]], [[657]], [[681]], [[688]], [[705]], [[710]], [[802]], [[821]], [[980]], [[1033]], [[1040]], [[1079]], [[1127]], [[1133]], [[1196]], [[1298]] or [[1428]] (maybe false positives)
|Two bags of money
|
|-
|[[File:miniloot-words-eater.png|75px]](maybe incomplete)
|Maybe writing a script would help
|[[1319: Automation]]
|
|
|-
|[[File:loot 245.png|75px]]
|Go big to go small
|[[1365: Inflation]]
|
|
|-
|[[File:loot 237.png|75px]]
|Are you projecting
|[[850]], [[977]], [[1500]], [[1784]], [[1799]], [[2242]] or [[2256]]
|Squirrel on a gun
|
|-
|loot_007.png
|Do spiders really have six legs
|[[8]], [[43]], [[126]], [[427]], [[442]] or [[1110]]
|
|
|-
|loot_071.png
|Istanbul or Constantinople or St. Trimble's Island?
|[[1688: Map Age Guide]]
|Cephalopod
|
|-
|loot_037.png
|Another rulebook?
|[[393: Ultimate Game]]
|Merlin in a chair from [[270: Merlin]]
|
|-
|[[File:loot 192.png|75px]]
|Moooooon
|[[482]], [[681]], [[1276]], [[1291]], [[1300]], [[1389]], [[1458]], [[1515]], [[1633]], [[1738]], [[1878]] or [[2258]]
|MOOOOOON
|
|-
|loot_049.png
|Take a flight from LOL to FFS
|[[1937: IATA Airport Abbreviations]]
|
|
|-
|
|Everyone deserves a second chnace
|All comics searched, no matches
|
|The misspelling is intentional. [[745: Dyslexics]] would have been a good fit
|-
|[[File:loot 035.png|75px]]
|Community contribution
|[[822]], [[823]], [[824]], [[825]], [[826]]
|[Citation Needed] protester from [[285: Wikipedian Protester]]
|
|-
|[[File:loot 154.png|75px]]
|On the other side of the wardrobe
|[[665: Prudence]], [[969: Delta-P]] or [[2218: Wardrobe]] (maybe incomplete)
|Authentic Reindeer pulling sled from [[1776: Reindeer]]
|
|-
|[[File:loot 105.png|75px]]
|Today's your lucky day
|[[1053: Ten Thousand]] (maybe incomplete)
|Ms. Frizzle
|
|-
|[[File:loot 038.png|75px]]
|[This hint has been redacted due to a copyright claim]
|[[1005: SOPA]]
|The tape
|
|-
|loot_times.png or loot_div.png (maybe incomplete)
|Try a different approach
|[[55: Useless]] (maybe incomplete)
|Equals sign
|
|-
|[[File:loot 144.png|75px]]
|The cake is a lie!
|[[606: Cutting Edge]]
|Cake
|
|-
|[[File:loot 026.png|75px]]
|Joanna, fire.
|[[322: Pix Plz]]
|Joanna with EMP cannon
|
|-
|
|Everything changes from time to time when the fire nation attacks
|[[965: Elements]]
|Symposium
|
|-
|loot_041.png
|90KG x 300M
|[[382: Trebuchet]]
|Trebuchet
|
|-
|loot_046.png
|Copyright Enforcement Brigade
|[[344: 1337: Part 4]]
|
|
|-
|[[File:loot 128.png|75px]]
|Where Cape Town meets Chukotka
|[[1500: Upside-Down Map]]
|Crater
|
|-
|[[File:loot 005.png|75px]]
|Take a ride in a barrel
|View all five barrel comics in reverse order ([[31]], [[25]], [[22]], [[11]], [[1]])
|Cueball at the door to the playpen-ball-filled apartment from [[150: Grownups]]
|
|-
|[[File:loot 030.png|75px]]
|Compiling...
|[[303: Compiling]]
|Two Cueballs fighting with swords while on chairs
|
|-
|[[File:loot 109.png|75px]]
|
|[[2288: Collector's Edition]]
|Sheeple eye from [[1013: Wake Up Sheeple]]
|
|-
|[[File:loot 167.png|75px]]
|
|[[2288: Collector's Edition]]
|Time machine from [[1747: Spider Paleontology]]
|
|}

==Transcript==

:[Cueball stands to the left of a vibrating box.]
:[The words "Collector's Edition" are written above him and boxed.]

==Trivia==
This comic is the 2020 April Fools' Day comic and was supposed to be released on Wednesday, April 1st. However, it did not go live until Friday, April 3. Meanwhile, Friday's comic, [[2289: Scenario 4]], was published a day later for a [[2289: Scenario 4#Trivia|very rare Saturday release]]. The message below was displayed on the [[Header text|header text]] of the site from Wednesday until the comic finally went live:
<blockquote>
Note: For technical reasons Wednesday's comic will be posted Thursday instead. Apologies for the delay!
</blockquote>
This is one of the few comics released four days after the previous one. The last time this occurred was [[2224: Software Updates]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Giraffes]]
[[Category:Comics with cursed items]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Turtles]]

Footnote

2025-10-29T14:33:24Z

Explainyourself: Some stuff added in the caps lock section.

<noinclude>{{xkcd.com}}[[File:xkcd_bottom.png|thumb|right|250px|The [[Design of xkcd.com#Bottom section|Bottom section]] is one of the [[Design of xkcd.com|four main sections]] of the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] website.]]{{TOC}}
:''This article is about the text at the bottom of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. For comics featuring footnotes, see [[:Category:Footnotes]].''

The '''footnote''' on [[xkcd]] is displayed beneath [[Randall]]'s list of "[[Design of xkcd.com#Comics I enjoy|Comics I enjoy]]". It's intentionally set to a very tiny font size, which makes it hard to read without zooming in. It states:

</noinclude><div style="width: 70%; font-size: 6px; font-style: italic; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 800; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-align: -webkit-center; display: block; Unicode-bidi: isolate;" class="plainlinks">
:xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS
:at a screen resolution of 1024x1. Please enable your ad blockers, disable high-heat drying, and remove your device
:from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode. For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing.</div><noinclude>

Here is a zoomed-in version:
<div style="width: 70%; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 800; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-align: -webkit-center; display: block; Unicode-bidi: isolate;" class="plainlinks">
:xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS
:at a screen resolution of 1024x1. Please enable your ad blockers, disable high-heat drying, and remove your device
:from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode. For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing.</div>

The text gives questionable advice on how to view [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. Using a discontinued browser on an Apple computer released in 1986 with a screen resolution one pixel tall would be impossible.{{Citation needed}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Footnote
!Explanation
|-
!xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below
|It is normal to specify browser and minimum version, as all later versions typically retain needed features from previous versions. Instead, the footnote claims that older versions are better (perhaps due to [[1172: Workflow|reliance on a bug]] fixed after version 4.0). No version of Netscape Navigator is maintained and the site [https://i.imgur.com/CKnd2sV.png can't be opened] because of a missing security protocol. However, with a modified version of the browser, the instructions given could be plausible, due to [https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-principle-of-least-power Atwood's law].
|-
!on a Pentium 3±1
|{{w|Pentium}} was a brand of processors made by Intel. Instead of specifying a minimum processor generation (as in software system requirements), both a minimum and maximum are given. This notation is often used for specifying tolerances, usually of a physical property (e.g. electrical resistance) - a tolerance range of "Pentium 3, plus or minus one" indicates anything older than Pentium 2 or newer than Pentium 4 is sub-optimal. It may also refer to the more mathematical usage of plus or minus, which would indicate it's best viewed on a Pentium 2, or a Pentium 4, but nothing else.
|-
!emulated in Javascript
|JavaScript is a programming language used on web pages. While it may be possible to write a Pentium emulator in Javascript, this would be a very strange choice.
|-
!on an Apple IIGS
|The Apple IIGS was a computer made in the 1980's. Even the slowest Pentium computers are hundreds of times faster than the Apple IIGS. Combined with the inefficiencies of processor emulation, this would result in a painfully slow experience, if it worked at all. It was made before Internet connections were common, and there was probably no web JavaScript-compatible browser for it, if any browser at all. There are now Ethernet cards available for the IIGS.
|-
!at a screen resolution of 1024x1.
|If the dimensions given are in pixels, as they usually are, then the recommended display setting would only show one horizontal line. 1024 pixels is wider than the maximum supported display width of the Apple IIGS.
|-
!Please enable your ad blockers,
|Many sites ask users to disable ad blockers, either so the owner can get ad revenue, or because blockers sometimes inadvertently block other parts of the page. But here it is recommended to enable the blockers, even though there would be nothing to block since xkcd does not have advertisements.
|-
!disable high-heat drying,
|This appears to be referring to clothes dryer heat settings, which are irrelevant to websites. Some clothing is damaged if dried with high heat.
|-
!and remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode.
|Many portable devices, especially cell phones and tablets, have an "Airplane Mode," which disables all radio-frequency transmissions (wifi, mobile/cellphone connectivity, etc) to avoid potential interference with an aircraft's own electronics while flying. And also to prevent your phone trying to connect to cell towers at high power because they are being constantly disconnected, the result of this is all the people's phone sending high power signals and jamming other phones. "Boat Mode" is fictional.
|-
!For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing.
|Having caps lock on would not improve security. It may reduce your security if it prevents you from using lower-case letters in passwords. It may also be just to annoy the user later, after browsing the webcomic, so that they would be mildly annoyed by discovering they had caps lock on.
|}

==History==
There have been two major footnotes displayed over the course of the site's history, with a gap of 22 days without any footnotes after the removal of the original footnote.

===Original footnote===
The original footnote was added between [https://web.archive.org/web/20070406183323/http://xkcd.com/ April 6th, 2007] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20070503171452/http://xkcd.com/ May 3rd, 2007]. According to this [https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/04/19/billboards Blag post], it was as reference to [https://web.archive.org/web/20070601192105/http://valleywag.com/tech/mystery-billboards/asks-advertising-campaign-249274.php random billboards] appearing in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. They were a viral marketing campaign by the Ask Jeeves search engine to drive publicity around their new search algorithm. Randall thought the sort of people who would be curious enough to go to Google and type them in are probably the sort of people who would like xkcd, so he added the footnote to his website to attract more fans.

{{Quote|It’s clearly a viral marketing campaign and seems to be by Ask.com. I like puzzles like this, but at the moment it doesn’t seem to go anywhere — if you Google it, you just get blogs talking about the odd billboards. That’s not really very much fun. 
''It occurs to me that the sort of people who would be curious enough to go to Google and type them in are probably the sort of people who would like xkcd, so maybe we should create a twist in the puzzle. For those of you who have blogs or other sites, feel free to create links to xkcd.com with those billboard lines as the link text. I put the phrases at the bottom of xkcd.com so it won’t be filtered out as a Googlebomb.|[https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/04/19/billboards/ Source]|[[Randall Munroe]]}}


:We did not invent the algorithm. The algorithm consistently finds Jesus. The algorithm killed Jeeves.
:The algorithm is banned in China. The algorithm is from Jersey. The algorithm constantly finds Jesus.
:This is not the algorithm. This is close.


<gallery widths=240px heights=160px mode="nolines">
File:The algorithm constantly finds Jesus.jpeg|The algorithm constantly finds Jesus.
File:The algorithm killed Jeeves.jpeg|The algorithm killed Jeeves.
File:The algorithm is banned in China.jpeg|The algorithm is banned in China.
File:The algorithm is from Jersey.jpeg|The algorithm is from Jersey.
</gallery>

===Bitcoin addresses===
:''Main article: [[Bitcoin address]]''

Randall added a [[Bitcoin address]] (a string of alphanumeric characters) to the original footnote between [https://web.archive.org/web/20130218163441/http://xkcd.com/ February 18th, 2013] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20130224073827/http://xkcd.com/ February 24, 2013] and changed it many times over time. Randall also had a page at [https://xkcd.com/bitcoin xkcd.com/bitcoin], which listed other Bitcoin addresses. The following footnote only mentions the first address used, but you can view a list of all addresses [[Bitcoin address|here]].


:BTC 14FHqYSgAi39CEJksUJJsK8JzJzyqFpLVk
:We did not invent the algorithm. The algorithm consistently finds Jesus. The algorithm killed Jeeves.
:The algorithm is banned in China. The algorithm is from Jersey. The algorithm constantly finds Jesus.
:This is not the algorithm. This is close.


===Footnote removed===
The old footnote was removed entirely, along with the [[Warning|warning]] above it, on [https://web.archive.org/web/20160912204204/http://xkcd.com/ September 12th, 2016], when [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]] was the frontpage comic. It was probably removed to not scare potential new fans away, given the [[1732#Popularity of comic|popularity of the comic]]. For 22 days, from September 12th, 2016 until [https://web.archive.org/web/20161004055648/http://xkcd.com/ October 4th, 2016], there was no footnote on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com].

===Current footnote===
The [[#top|most recent footnote]] was added either on [https://web.archive.org/web/20161004143542/http://xkcd.com/ October 4th, 2016] or on [https://web.archive.org/web/20161005090723/http://xkcd.com/ October 5th, 2016] and has remained on the site ever since. It states:

{{:Footnote}}

[[Category:Design of xkcd.com]]{{xkcdmeta}}

3153: Hot Water Balloon

2025-10-29T02:43:16Z

Explainyourself: Removed the citation needed, and its notice.

{{comic
| number = 3153
| date = October 10, 2025
| title = Hot Water Balloon
| image = hot_water_balloon_2x.png
| imagesize = 484x232px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Despite a reputation for safety, the temperatures and surprisingly high pressures make them even more dangerous than the air kind, but the NTSB refuses to investigate accidents because they insist there is no 'transportation' involved.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Hot air balloon}}s are an [[2940|inconvenient and dangerous]] form of transport in which riders float into the sky in a basket suspended from a large balloon filled with hot air. Considering that the majority of passenger-carrying balloons use hot air, the specificity of the term “air balloon” could be taken to imply that there is another variant that uses something hot other than air. ("Hot air" should rather be considered as a compound term, in contrast to, for example, hydrogen or helium-filled balloons.) {{w|Water balloons}} are typically relatively small, sealed (unlike hot air balloons, which are open at the base), full of cold water, and intended to be thrown in a water balloon fight, a common way to have fun and cool down during hot weather. This comic combines the hot air balloon and the water balloon to create a “vehicle” consisting of a basket attached to a large balloon of heated water.

Such a balloon would float in cooler water, but not in air, unless its contents were heated so strongly that the balloon was filled with steam (i.e. water in gaseous form). A balloon filled with superheated steam could work, in principle, and, in fact could theoretically produce more air lift than a hot air balloon, as steam is less dense than air at the same temperature and pressure, but there are many practical reasons why such a balloon would be difficult to build and operate, and multiple safety concerns involve when working with steam.{{Actual citation needed}}

The title text clarifies that the hot water balloon is not just useless, but actually dangerous, as it has a large container full of hot, pressurized water, naturally leading to accidents. However, the {{w|National Transportation Safety Board}} (NTSB) doesn’t consider the stationary hot water balloon to be a form of {{w|transportation}}, since it doesn't move, and thus they claim any hot water balloon accidents should not fall under their purview. Considering that it is probably a business, hot water accidents would be usually reported to {{w|Occupational Safety and Health Administration}} (OSHA) instead, under criteria for [https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2016-106/pdfs/2016-106.pdf Occupational Exposure to Heat and Hot Environments]. This title text is similar to that of [[3131|3131: Cesium]] which also expressed a goal of causing an agency to investigate outside their usual purview.

This comic could have been inspired by the {{w|Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta}}, which was being held in New Mexico during the time of posting.

==Transcript==
:[A large water balloon is sitting on the ground, with cords connected to a basket nearby with Cueball and Megan inside. The water balloon's color patterns are like a hot air balloon's. Ponytail is poking the balloon with a finger, and a squirrel is on the ground looking at the basket.]
:[There are squiggly heat lines ({{w|The_Lexicon_of_Comicana#Examples|indotherms}}) emanating from the balloon, as well as movement lines ({{w|The_Lexicon_of_Comicana#Examples|agitrons}}) above the balloon. Above them it says:]
:bloop bloop

:[Caption below panel:]
:Hot water balloon rides turn out to be significantly less romantic than the air kind.
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

unixkcd

2025-10-29T02:30:43Z

Explainyourself: Fixed explanation for "fuck", and added explanation for "sudo rm -rf /".

{{comic
| date = April 1, 2010
| title = unixkcd
| image = unixkcd.png
| titletext =
| lappend =
| ldomain = uni
| imagesize = 900px
| noexpand = true
| extra = yes
}}
{{series
| series = April
| number = 3
| date = April 1, 2010
| days_late =
| day_category = Thursday
| prev_title = 404: Not Found
| prev_date = April 1, 2008
| next_title = 880: Headache
| next_date = April 1, 2011
| extra_text = In fact, [[April Fools' Day comics|2009 and 2017 are the only years]] in which Randall hasn't marked this day with a comic.
}}

{{TOC}}
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|
*Explain the jokes and references in the [[#Undocumented commands]] section and the sections below it.
*Describe the website interface a bit, such as the links at the bottom.}}
On April 1, 2010, [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] altered the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] website to mimic a {{w|Unix}} {{w|command-line interface}}. This interface is still available on [https://uni.xkcd.com uni.xkcd.com] and the source code is [https://github.com/chromakode/xkcdfools available on GitHub]. The comic [[721: Flatland]], released on March 31, 2010, was still up on April 1, 2010, but was unrelated to the Unix interface. The terminal only lists a few available commands, but most commands are undocumented.

===Documented commands===
{| class="sortable wikitable"
! Command
! Response
! Explanation
|-
|<code>'''next'''</code>
|(''shows the next comic'')
|If the latest comic number is given, shows the error <code>Time travel mode not enabled</code>. See <code>'''[[#Undocumented commands|enable time travel]]'''</code> below.
|-
|<code>'''prev'''</code>
|(''shows the previous comic'')
|
|-
|<code>'''first'''</code>
|(''shows the first comic'')
|
|-
|<code>'''last'''</code>
|(''shows the last comic'')
|
|-
|<code>'''display [number]'''</code>
|(''shows the comic with the specified number'')
|Trying to display comic [[404: Not Found]] will result in an endless loading attempt.
|-
|<code>'''random'''</code>
|(''shows a random comic'')
|
|-
|<code>'''ls'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |(''shows the content of the current directory'')
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|<code>'''dir'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''cat [filename]'''</code>
|(''shows the content of the file'')
|See also <code>'''[[#Undocumented commands|cat]]'''</code> below.
|-
|<code>'''cd [directory]'''</code>
|(''changes to the specified directory'')
|
|}

===Undocumented commands===
{| class="sortable wikitable"
! Command
! Response
! Explanation
|-
|<code>'''<nowiki>:(){:|:&};:</nowiki>'''</code>
|<code>[...]</code> (''repeats indefinitely'')
|This command, otherwise known as a [https://askubuntu.com/questions/159491/why-did-the-command-make-my-system-lag-so-badly-i-had-to-reboot shell fork bomb] will make the terminal display the <code>[...]</code> loading dots indefinitely, as though it crashed.
|-
|rowspan="9" |<code>'''a/s/l'''</code> ''or'' <code>'''asl'''</code>
|
|{{w|Age/sex/location|A/S/L}} is not a Unix command, but an acronym of Age/Sex/Location in this case. The following replies are possible:
|-
|<code>2/AMD64/Server Rack</code>
|Answered as if the server replied. sex refered as {{w|AMD}}
|-
|<code>328/M/Transylvania</code>
|Answered by {{w|Dracula}}.
|-
|<code>6/M/Battle School</code>
|Answered by {{w|Ender Wiggin}} or another boy from battle school.
|-
|<code>48/M/The White House</code>
|Answered by {{w|Barack Obama}} or another male of the same age in the White House.
|-
|<code>7/F/Rapture</code>
|Answered by a {{w|Little Sister (BioShock)|Little Sister}} from {{w|BioShock}}.
|-
|<code>Exactly your age/A gender you're attracted to/Far far away.</code>
|Requests for A/S/L are often not answered truthfully, but crafted to suit the one asking the question.
|-
|<code>7,831/F/Lothlórien</code>
|Answered by {{w</code>Galadriel}} or another elf. Lothlorien is the region of middle
|-
|<code>42/M/FBI Field Office</code>
|Answered by an FBI agent, referencing the old [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet trope] that all girls on the internet are FBI agents impersonating them.
|-
|<code>'''apt-get'''</code>
|<code>This APT has Super Cow Powers.'''</code>
|The <code>'''apt-get'''</code> command is part of the Debian package manager {{w|Advanced_Packaging_Tool|APT}}. This reply is one of the built-in Easter eggs.
|-
|<code>'''apt-get moo'''</code>
|
(__)
(oo)
/------\/
/ | ||
* /\---/\
~~ ~~

...."Have you mooed today?"...
|Displays an ASCII drawing of a cow.
|-
|<code>'''bash'''</code>
|<code>You bash your head against the wall. It's not very effective.</code>
|{{w|Bash}} is a shell for POSIX-based systems. This also references early text-based adventure games where you need to type the action needed to proceed, which could result in unintended consequences. For example, if you typed in something like "ax in chest", the game may stab the axe into your character's torso instead of opening a crate. The line 'it's not very effective' may be a reference to Pokemon, where an attack can deal differing amounts of damage depending on effectiveness.
|-
|<code>'''cat [number]/alt.txt'''</code>
|(''displays the title text of the specified comic'')
|
|-
|<code>'''cat'''</code>

(''without a filename or with an invalid filename'')
|<code>You're a kitty!</code>
|A reference to [[231: Cat Proximity]].
|-
|<code>'''cheat'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |(''opens the [[Store|xkcd Store]]'')
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|<code>'''buy stuff'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''clear'''</code>
|(''clears the screen'')
|
|-
|<code>'''curl'''</code>
|(''creates an iframe to the URL specified'')
|
|-
|<code>'''date'''</code>
|<code>March 32nd</code>
|Instead of April 1st, which is not a real date.{{Citation needed}}
|-
|<code>'''display title text'''</code>
|<code>display: unable to open image "title": No such file or directory.</code>
|Displayed in red text.
|-
|<code>'''echo'''</code>
|<code>Echo ... echo ... echo ...</code>
|<code>'''{{w|Echo (command)|echo}}'''</code> is a command used to print text to the terminal.
|-
|<code>'''ed'''</code>
|<code>You are not a diety</code>
|{{w|Ed (software)|ed}} is a very simple text editor. It is usually not considered very user-friendly. See also <code>'''vi'''</code> and <code>'''emacs'''</code>.
|-
|<code>'''emacs'''</code>
|<code>You should use Vim.</code>
|A reference to [[378: Real Programmers]].
|-
|<code>'''enable time travel'''</code>
|<code>TARDIS error: Time Lord missing</code>
|A {{w|Doctor Who}} reference. See also the <code>'''next'''</code> command.
|-
|<code>'''exit'''</code>
| rowspan="3" |(''ends the terminal session'')
| rowspan="3" |
|-
|<code>'''quit'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''logout'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''find kitten'''</code>
|(''showed the {{w|robotfindskitten}} game'')
|The link to the Flash version no longer works, but an HTML version is available [http://robotfindskitten.org/play/robotfindskitten/ here].
|-
|<code>'''find'''</code>
|<code>What do you want to find? Kitten would be nice.</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''finger'''</code>
|<code>Mmmmmm...</code>
|<code>'''finger USER'''</code> is used on UNIX-like systems to get information about another USER. Here, Randall is taking advantage of its suggestive name, with 'finger' referring to an action where one sticks their finger in another's anus, usually for sexual pleasure.
|-
|<code>'''fuck'''</code>
|<code>I have a headache.</code>
|Simply an expression of annoyance one might say when they have a headache.
|-
|<code>'''goto [any]'''</code>
|(''shows comic [[292: goto]] and asks if you meant <code>'''display'''</code> instead.'')
|
|-
|<code>'''go back'''</code>
|<code>You cannot go back.</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''go down'''</code>
|<code>On our first date?</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''Hello Joshua'''</code>
|<code>How about a nice game of Global Thermonuclear War?</code>
|A reference to the {{w|WarGames}} movie.
|-
|<code>'''hello'''</code>
|<code>Hello.</code>
|A second reply <code>Why hello there!</code> is coded, but it is never used.
|-
|<code>'''help'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |<code>That would be cheating!</code>
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|<code>'''halp'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''hi'''</code>
|<code>Hi.</code>
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |<code>'''hint'''</code>
|<code>We offer some nice polos.</code>
| rowspan="4" |Randomly replies with one of four options.
|-
|<code>This terminal will remain available at '''[https://xkcd.com/unixkcd/ xkcd.com/unixkcd/]'''</code>
|-
|<code>Use the source, Luke!</code>
|-
|<code>There are cheat codes.</code>
|-
|<code>'''i read the source code'''</code>
|<code><3</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''irc [nick]'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |(''starts an {{w|IRC}} session on the xkcd channel on irc.foonetic.net'')
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|<code>'''write [nick]'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''kill'''</code>
|<code>Terminator deployed to 1984.</code>
|A reference to the {{w|The_Terminator|Terminator}} movie. In Bash, <code>'''kill'''</code> is used to end a process.
|-
|<code>'''latest'''</code>
|(''displays the latest comic'')
|
|-
|<code>'''locate [filename]'''</code>
|
|is normally used to locate a file in a directory. It will give humorous results when searching for <code>'''ninja'''</code>, <code>'''keys'''</code>, <code>'''joke'''</code>, <code>'''problem'''</code> and <code>'''raptor'''</code>.
|-
|<code>'''lpr'''</code>
|<code>PC LOAD LETTER</code>
|{{w|Line Printer Daemon protocol|<code>'''lpr'''</code>}} is a command to print documents. {{w|PC_LOAD_LETTER}} is a printer error.
|-
|<code>'''make love'''</code>
|<code>I put on my robe and wizard hat.</code>
|A reference to this [http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/bloodninja roleplay chat transcript] (NSFW), which was also mentioned in [[442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel]]. <code>'''make love'''</code> is a standard Unix joke, because the reply is <code>make: don't know how to make love</code>.
|-
|<code>'''make me a sandwich'''</code>
|<code>What? Make it yourself.</code>
|A reference to [[149: Sandwich]].
|-
|<code>'''man [command]'''</code>
|(''shows unhelpful information about the command'')
|Only <code>'''last'''</code>, <code>'''help'''</code>, <code>'''next'''</code>, <code>'''cat'''</code> have unique responses, all others show a generic "Oh, I\'m sure you can figure it out."
|-
|<code>'''moo'''</code>
|<code>moo</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''more'''</code>
|<code>Oh, yes! More! More!</code>
|The {{w|More (command)|more}} command is used to paginate output.
|-
|<code>'''nano'''</code>
|<code>Seriously? Why don't you just use Notepad.exe? Or MS Paint?</code>
|{{w|GNU nano|Nano}} is another text editor for Unix systems (see <code>'''vi'''</code> and <code>'''emacs'''</code>).
|-
|<code>'''ping'''</code>
|<code>There is another submarine three miles ahead, bearing 225, forty fathoms down.</code>
|The {{w|Ping (networking utility)|ping}} command is used to measure round trip times to a destination. The name of the command comes from sonar technology. A submarine using sonar may 'ping' to illuminate nearby submarines on radar.
|-
|<code>'''pwd'''</code>
|<code>You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.</code>
|The {{w|pwd}} command prints the current working directory (see <code>'''look'''</code>). The output is a reference to {{w|Colossal Cave Adventure}}.
|-
|<code>'''reddit [number]'''</code>
|(''shows the [https://www.reddit.com/ Reddit] voting bar for the specified comic'')
|If no number is specified, shows xkcd.
|-
|<code>'''rm [filename]'''</code>
|(''removes a file'')
|
|-
|<code>'''rm -r'''</code>
|(''removes a directory'')
|
|-
|<code>'''serenity'''</code>
|<code>You can't take the sky from me.</code>
|This is a line from the Balad of Serenity from the {{w|Firefly_(TV_series)|Firefly}} TV series. Serenity is also the name of an Operating System (that Randall probably wasn't thinking of): [https://www.serenityos.org/ SerenityOS].
|-
|<code>'''shutdown'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |<code>Must be root.</code>
| rowspan="2" |See also <code>'''sudo poweroff'''</code>.
|-
|<code>'''poweroff'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''ssh'''</code>
|<code>ssh, this is a library.</code>
|{{w|Secure Shell|ssh}} is the command to start a secure shell, but it also resembles the "{{w|Shh}}" sound.
|-
|<code>'''su'''</code>
|<code>God mode activated. Remember, with great power comes great ... aw, screw it, go have fun.</code>
|{{w|Su (Unix)|<code>'''su'''</code>}} is a command for logging as an upper user, which gives you full and potentially dangerous access to the system. On some systems, "{{w|With great power comes great responsibility|with great power comes great responsibility}}" is also part of a message that is printed the first time <code>'''sudo'''</code> is used.
|-
|<code>'''sudo [command]'''</code>
|(''executes the command with {{w|Superuser|root}} privileges'')
|
|-
|<code>'''sudo apt-get dist-upgrade'''</code>
|<code>You are already running [OS].</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''sudo apt-get moo'''</code>
|<code>Have you mooed today?</code>
|(apt-get Easter egg).
|-
|<code>'''sudo apt-get update'''</code>
|<code>Reading package lists... Done</code>
|Refreshes the package list so the system knows which updates are available.
|-
|<code>'''sudo apt-get upgrade'''</code>
|(''shows a link to [http://abetterbrowser.org/ A Better Browser] on Internet Explorer and Firefox (< v3). On all other browsers, it doesn't complain.
|
|-
|<code>'''sudo make me a sandwich'''</code>
|<code>Okay</code>
|Behaves like [[149: Sandwich]].
|-
|<code>'''sudo !!'''</code>
|(''will sudo the last command'')
|
|-
|<code>'''sudo poweroff'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |(''shuts down the system'')
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|<code>'''sudo shutdown'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''sudo reboot'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |(''restarts the system'')
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|<code>'''sudo restart'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''sudo rm -rf /'''</code>
|(''breaks all commands until the page is reloaded'')
|If this command is run in Linux, then it will simply delete everything in the distro it is run on.
|-
|<code>'''sudo sudo'''</code>
|<code>An internal error occurred: RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded</code>
|in red text.
|-
|<code>'''time travel'''</code>
|(''shows [[630: Time Travel]]'')
|
|-
|<code>'''top'''</code>
|<code>It's up there --^</code>
|The {{w|Top_(software)|<code>'''top'''</code>}} command shows a table of processes. Here it is taken literally.
|-
|<code>'''uname'''</code>
|<code>Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator</code>
|<code>'''uname'''</code> on Unix lists system information. The Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator is an explosive device created by Marvin the Martian in the {{w|Looney Tunes}} series.
|-
|<code>'''unixkcd'''</code>
|(''opens a new terminal window'')
|
|-
|<code>'''use the force luke'''</code>
|<code>I believe you mean source.</code>
|A reference to {{w|The Force (Star Wars)|the Force}} in the {{w|Star Wars}} franchise.
|-
|<code>'''use the source luke'''</code>
|<code>I'm not luke, you're luke!</code>
|An old programmers' joke.
|-
|<code>'''vi'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |<code>You should use emacs.</code>
| rowspan="2" |A reference to [[378: Real Programmers]].
|-
|<code>'''vim'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''wget [URL]'''</code>
|(''shows the content of the specified URL'')
|<code>'''{{w|wget}}'''</code> is a command on Unix to download the content and not show it.
|-
|<code>'''who'''</code>
|<code>Doctor Who?</code>
|Another {{w|Doctor Who}} reference. The <code>'''who'''</code> command on Unix lists the logged-in users.
|-
|<code>'''Whoami'''</code>
|<code>You are Richard Stallman.</code>
|The {{w|whoami}} command lists the name of the current user. [[Richard Stallman]] is the creator of the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation.
|-

|<code>'''xkcd'''</code>
|<code>Yes?</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''xyzzy'''</code>
|<code>Nothing happens.</code>
|{{w|Xyzzy_(computing)|xyzzy}} is a magic word, originally used in the game {{w|Colossal Cave Adventure}}.
|-
|<code>'''your gay'''</code>
|<code>Keep your hands off it!</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''!!'''</code>
|(''reruns the previous command after stating the command'')
|
|}

====Game commands====
There are also some other commands borrowed from a {{w|Zork}} like {{w|Text-based game|text-based adventure game}}.
{| class="sortable wikitable"
! Command
! Response
! Explanation
|-
|<code>'''look'''</code>
|(''describes your current surroundings'')
|
|-
|<code>'''go [direction]'''</code>
|(''moves you in the specified direction'')
|Going West repeatedly will list the refrain from the song {{w|Go West (song)|Go West}}.
|-
|<code>'''light lamp'''</code>
|(''lights your lamp'')
|You will be killed by a {{w|Grue (monster)|grue}} if you don't light your lamp when going south.
|-
|<code>'''sleep [seconds]'''</code>
|(''sleeps for the specified time'')
|Without specifying, the nap is 5 seconds.
|}

====Konami code====
[[File:Konami code.png|300px|thumb|The image used as the background after using the Konami code five times.]]The terminal also responds to the {{w|Konami code}} Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A. Entering this code repeatedly will, in order:
# Transform all characters to uppercase
# Add a grey text shadow
# Add an orange text-shadow
# Shake the screen
# Add a background image of [[Richard Stallman]] from [[345: 1337: Part 5]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Describe the initial interface fully.}}
:[The screen is black.]
:[The text is white, monospaced, and in the top left, similar to that of a computer terminal.]
:[The terminal automatically runs the command:]
:display
:[The most recent XKCD comic appears below the current line.]
:[The terminal runs the command:]
:cat welcome.txt
:Terminal: Welcome to the unixkcd console.
:Terminal: To navigate the comics, enter "next", "prev", "first", "last", "display", or "random".
:Terminal: Use "ls", "cat", and "cd" to navigate the filesystem.
:[A blinking text cursor appears on the next line, and you can type in commands to make the terminal do stuff.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:April Fools' Day comics|0800]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics with animation]]
[[Category:No title text]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Programming]]

2591: Qua

2025-10-11T19:51:28Z

Explainyourself: Added "police police police police".

{{comic
| number = 2591
| date = March 9, 2022
| title = Qua
| image = qua.png
| titletext = Qua qua qua is the sine qua non of sine qua non qua sine qua non.
}}

==Explanation==
[[wikt:qua|Qua]] is a relatively rare, formal word, from Latin, roughly meaning "in the capacity of". For instance "In essence, military regimes are autocracies in which the military qua organization performs many of the functions performed by the ruling party in single-party regimes".

Saying something is "X qua X" (e.g. "entertainment qua entertainment") means when X is being viewed in its most typical capacity (eg, entertainment as something that entertains, rather than as a business, a form of propaganda, or whatever).


For example, "A copy, qua copy, can never be the equal of the exemplar, and it may be much its inferior." [https://www.yourdictionary.com/qua]

[[Cueball]] claims that people only use ''qua'' to "sound pretentious" without properly understanding its meaning. Thus, people do not use "qua ''qua'' qua", or "qua for the sake of qua". However, [[Megan]] one-ups this with a series of seven ''qua''s: she compliments Cueball's successful use of "qua qua qua ''qua'' qua qua qua", or "the phrase 'qua qua qua' for its correct meaning".

The joke is that, for the reader, the conversation has likely dissolved into gibberish because of unfamiliar terminology and {{w|semantic satiation}}. This is similar to other complex sentences such as {{w|Buffalo buffalo|"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo"}}, "was was was before is", "police police police police", {{w|That that is is that that is not is not is that it it is|"That that is is that that is not is not is that it it is"}}, and {{w|Had had had|"James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher"}}. Following this trend, you can create a grammatically correct sentence that includes 'qua' a consecutive number of times equal to (2n-1), where n is a natural number.

The title text goes further with this, using a Latin phrase {{w|sine qua non}} (meaning literally "without which not"), commonly rendered as "that which is absolutely necessary" or "essential". Thus, the title text says that "the word 'qua' in its real meaning is essential to the phrase 'sine qua non' used correctly".

However, the "qua" in "sine qua non" is a demonstrative pronoun ("which"), unlike the other "qua" which is an adverb, so the similarity is only coincidental.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are speaking to each other.]
:Cueball: People mostly use "qua" to sound pretentious. You rarely hear qua ''qua'' qua.
:Megan: Nice use of qua qua qua ''qua'' qua qua qua.

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

826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)

2025-10-10T22:32:05Z

Explainyourself: it also

{{comic
| number = 826
| date = November 26, 2010
| title = Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)
| image = guest week zach weiner smbc.png
| titletext = Guest comic by Zach Weiner of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. When I was stressed out, Zach gave me a talk that was really encouraging and somehow involved nanobots.
}}
{{TOC}}To experience the interactivity of this comic, visit the {{xkcd|826|original comic}}.

==Explanation==
This comic is drawn by a guest webcomic artist, Zach Weiner (now Weinersmith), following the theme of "Guest Week". Zach is the author of the webcomic [http://www.smbc-comics.com/ Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]. The [http://www.xkcd.com/826/ original comic] is interactive. It will show images of the exhibits (see below) by clicking on them.

The entire comic is a hypothetical "{{w|Smithsonian Museum}} of Dad-Trolling, an entire building dedicated to deceiving children for amusement." It is a common occurrence that curious children will ask simple questions about science to their parents, such as, "Daddy, why is the sky blue?" and a parent could respond, "Well Susie, the sky is blue to match your dress."

''Guest Week'' was a series of five comics written by five other comic authors. They were released over five consecutive days (Monday-Friday); not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule. 
The five comics are:
*[[822: Guest Week: Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content)]]
*[[823: Guest Week: David Troupes (Buttercup Festival)]]
*[[824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)]]
*[[825: Guest Week: Jeffrey Rowland (Overcompensating)]]
*[[826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)]]

===Hall of Misunderstood Science===
Each exhibit is a display set up to reinforce the false, sarcastic, or exaggerated answers to typical questions that children may ask their parents about scientific topics. The answers given involve just enough information that the child may be satisfied with the answer and repeat it to others while maintaining the irony for adults that the answers are obviously misleading or false. These explanations may be given because the parent does not know how to explain the topic.

<gallery widths=432px heights=285px>
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_27.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that basilisks exist, and that they live under your bed. The {{w|basilisk}} is a mythological reptilian monster that was described as having the ability to kill other living things with its gaze. This story might be believed by children because children often imagine that a monster or a dangerous creature is hiding under the bed at night, and verifying that the basilisk is under the bed and might kill the child would likely terrify the child.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_26.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that "In my day" molecules did not exist, and everything was just atoms. Molecules are chains of atoms, and therefore more complex than atoms. This story might be believed by children because old people often tell unbelievable and questionably credible "In my day" stories about how different, or in this case less complicated, things when they where younger. This story may sound no less credible than these stories to a child. Like most "In my day" stories there is at least a grain of truth. The word atom has changed its meaning over time; at one time all discovered molecules were called {{w|atomism|atoms}}, as when they were modified their properties change. Also, according to the {{w|Big Bang}} theory, there was a period billions of years ago when the universe contained no molecules, yet still contained atoms.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_25.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that magnets are only attracted to each other when they are teenagers. This is an inside joke that the child is not in on about how there is a loss of sexual desire in adults. This story might be believed because magnets are seen as mysterious and possibly magical by children.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_24.png|In this exhibit the plaque on the statue of Jesus claims that {{w|snow}} is composed of Jesus' {{w|dandruff}}. This story might be believed because some children take the expression that {{w|rain}} is "God's tears", and this would be a logical extension.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_20.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that the reason that there are only four components of {{w|DNA}} is because there where only four letters back then. The following letters describe the {{w|nucleotides}} that make up DNA chains: "G" {{w|guanine}}, "A" {{w|adenine}}, "T" {{w|thymine}}, and "C" {{w|cytosine}}. This story might be believed by children as DNA can be thought as an instruction set to build life. Instructions contain words, and therefore the letters G, A, T, and C can be thought of as the letters that the words in the instructions are made from.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_23.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that you are more vulnerable to the {{w|Bogeyman|boogie man}} when you are sleeping. "The Boogie Man" is a common legend used to scare young kids; he typically hides in closets and underneath beds, and attacks sleeping children. This story might be believed by children as some believe in the boogie man.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_22.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that water increases its size to frighten {{w|predator|predators}}. {{w|Ice}} is less dense than liquid {{w|water}}. This is an unusual property as most materials are more dense in solid form. This might be believed by a child because many animals appear to increase their size to frighten away other threatening animals. A {{w|rhinoceros}}, although not traditionally a predator, would be a predator of water.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_21.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that {{w|antimatter|anti-matter}} is composed of half {{w|ant}} and half matter. The prefix ''{{Wiktionary|anti-}}'' means "the opposite of", but also can sound like ''ant-y''. The suffix ''{{Wiktionary|-y}}'' would make ''anty'' a neologism meaning "having the quality of or involving ants". Children might believe that matter involving ants could in fact be composed of both ants and matter. Antimatter is also referenced in [[683: Science Montage]], [[1621: Fixion]] and [[1731: Wrong]] as well as being the subject of the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' ''{{what if|114|Antimatter}}''. It was also mentioned in another ''what if?'': ''{{what if|79|Lake Tea}}''.
</gallery>

===Regrettable Pranks: An Interactive Experience===
This section holds falsehoods that a dad might use to frighten his children. Fear is often used to discourage children from disobeying their parents. It is an interactive experience, so visitors can try something for themselves, then learn the frightening fact it indicates.

<gallery widths=432px heights=285px>
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_19.png|In this exhibit the sign claims that helium makes your voice higher because you are about to explode. Helium makes your voice high-pitched, because sound travels faster in helium than in air (79% nitrogen and 21% oxygen), and it does not explode because it is a noble gas; although it could rupture containers in accordance with the {{w|combined gas law}}, which governs the relationship between pressure, temperature and volume: i.e. if a balloon is over-inflated or exposed to heat, it will burst. This story might be used by parents to discourage children from inhaling helium. This story might regrettably convince a child that they are dying after they inhale helium. On the other hand, it can be dangerous to inhale helium from a gas container if the pressure is too high. So maybe better scared than dead.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_18.png|In this exhibit the sign claims that if your middle finger is longer than all the others, you are an alien half-breed. For almost all people the middle finger is longer than all the others. This story might be used by parents to tease their children. This story might regrettably convince a child that one of their parents is an alien, and therefore not to be trusted. Another possibility is that everyone is an alien half-breed, and therefore, their progeny are also alien half-breeds.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_16.png|In this exhibit the sign claims that one of the cups of {{w|Jell-O|Jello}} had a rabbit brain instead of a cherry. Cherries are a common ingredient in gelatin based deserts. One cup is missing and in the hands of the child, possibly eaten. This story might be used by parents to tease their children, or discourage them from eating more dessert. This story might regrettably convince a child that they ate the brain of a small cute fluffy animal.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_17.png|In this exhibit the sign claims that monsters will eat you if you do not make your bed. In some stories monsters specifically prey on children. This story might be used by parents to encourage children to make their beds. It also might regrettably convince a child that there are monsters under their beds and frighten them so they can not sleep.
</gallery>

===Concessions===
This area holds concession stands, which sell food. There are misleading names on each stand. The pop-outs in this section are based on jokes parents tell their children to frighten them about food.

<gallery widths=432px heights=285px>
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_15.png|In this exhibit the marquee announces the name of the concession stand as KFP. The parent claims that the "P" stands for phoenix, and the operator adds "also ponies". KFP is a parody of Kentucky Fried Chicken ({{w|KFC}}), a popular fast food chain which specializes in fried chicken. A phoenix is a mythical bird that throws it self into a fire and later rises from the ashes. This story might be believed by children because phoenixes are birds and a fried one may look similar to a chicken.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_14.png|In this exhibit the marquee announces that the concession stand sells {{w|ground beef}} and further explains that ground beef is beef that is found on the ground. The word "ground" here refers to the floor or dirt, but can also be the past tense of the word "grind". This story might be believed by children because the words are spelled and pronounced the same.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_13.png|In this exhibit the marquee announces that the concession stand sells {{w|ice cream}} and claims that ice cream is really spelled eyes cream, and always composed of eyeballs. This story might be believed by children because the words "eyes cream" sounds similar to "ice cream".
</gallery>

===Conservatory of Poorly Remembered History===
Each exhibit is a display set up to reinforce the false, sarcastic, or exaggerated answers to typical questions that children may ask their parents about history. The answers given involve just enough information that the child may be satisfied with the answer and repeat it to others while maintaining the irony for adults that the answers are obviously misleading or false. These explanations may be given because the parent does not know how to explain the topic.

<gallery widths=432px heights=285px>
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_11.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that {{w|Genghis Khan}} achieved his victories by using dragons. Genghis Khan was a Mongolian conqueror who conquered almost all of Asia and much of Europe founding the {{w|Mongol Empire}}, and creating the largest continuous land empire in history. This story might be believed by children because some children associate magical and other fantastic elements with the past instead of fantasy.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_12.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that the {{w|Crimean War}} was a war on crime. The Crimean War is an often forgotten Eastern European conflict between Russia and a European coalition (including France, which the comic also pretends doesn't exist) with aims to stop Russia's expansion. This story might be believed by children because adding an "a" to a people group sometimes is used to create a country name, making Crimea sounds similar to a nation of criminals. Also worth noting is that the criminal depicted in the mural appears to be the {{w|Hamburglar}}, a McDonald's mascot.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_10.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that wizards were in control during {{w|The Renaissance}}. The Renaissance is a cultural movement in Europe that took place after the Dark Ages. This story might be believed by children because some children associate magical and other fantastic elements with the past instead of fantasy.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_3.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that {{w|Star Wars}} is actual history. Star Wars is a fantastical science fiction movie. This story might be believed by children because the movie begins "a long time ago in a galaxy far away", and some children associate magical and other fantastic elements with the past instead of fantasy. The "veteran" presented here appears to be wearing a fake beard as part of his costume.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_9.png|In this exhibit the poster claims that {{w|France}} does not exist. The adult in the comic continues to attempt to convince the children that France does not exist. This is supposed to be funny because the knowledge of France as a country is common. This may be parodying the global warming debate, a common theme in both XKCD and SMBC. It may also be a reference to the {{w|Bielefeld Conspiracy}}.
</gallery>

===Rotunda of Uncomfortable Topics===
Each exhibit is a display set up to explain uncomfortable topics that children may ask their parents about. The answers given so that the children do not ask further questions.

<gallery widths=432px heights=285px>
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_8.png|In this exhibit the sign on the box covering up a couple in bed claims that naked wrestling is perfectly normal, but kids should never engage in it. "Naked wrestling" is a euphemism for sex. A parent may give this explanation if a child walks in on their parents having sex and they have to come up with an explanation on the spot, or they feel that the children are too young to know about sex.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_7.png|In this exhibit the sign over the stand claims your parents drink alcohol to prevent you from drinking it as alcohol is a poison. This is technically true, as alcohol is a toxin. A parent may give this explanation to a child who asks their parents why they drink alcohol if it is bad for you, and did not want to explain the pleasurable experience of alcohol because it might encourage children to drink.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_5.png|In this exhibit the banner claims that mommies have big tummies because storks like chubby girls. According to some childhood stories storks deliver babies. Also, there are men who prefer heavy women; these men are often called chubby chasers. A parent may give this explanation to a child who asks why, if a stork delivers babies, their mother is changing while she is pregnant, and the parent continues to try to avoid the topic of sex.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_6.png|In this exhibit the sign claims that grandma did not die, but is going back to Saturn. The choice of Saturn as grandma's destination is appropriate because the god Saturn was associated with aging, as in "Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age" from ''{{w|The Planets}}''. Some parents tell their children that their loved ones have gone away instead of telling them the truth, that their loved ones are dead. Going to Saturn "for revenge" is added for comic value. A parent may give this explanation to avoid causing their child pain.
</gallery>

===Miscellaneous===
<gallery widths=432px heights=285px>
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_4.png|In this exhibit the marquee claims that {{w|dinosaur|dinosaurs}} are made of bones only. The fossil record includes the imprints of the other tissues of dinosaurs including skin, nails, teeth, and feathers. This story might be believed by children because the majority of all displays of dinosaurs in museums only include bones.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_2.png|The restrooms have 3 doors. Clicking reveals that there the two standard gendered restrooms found in the majority of public buildings, and another one for "Korgmen & Spangs" which does not correspond to any known human trait. This could be a reference to the Marvel alien species {{w|Korg_(comics)|the Korg}}.

File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_1.png|In this exhibit the sign (which the children can not see) explains that the "{{w|Magic Eye}} poster" contains no hidden images. Magic Eye is a company that sells {{w|autostereogram}}s in books. Autostereograms contain a "hidden" three-dimensional image that can only be seen by converging one's eyes towards a point other than upon the poster itself. This takes time and many people find it difficult or impossible to do.
</gallery>

==Transcript==
:In the spirit of xkcd I present a proposal for a new Smithsonian museum:
:The Smithsonian Museum Of Dad-Trolling
:An entire building dedicated to deceiving children for amusement

:(Click to view exhibits!)

:The top left room is 'The Hall of Misunderstood Science'. It contains six exhibits.

:Exhibit: A giant basilisk looms over children.
:Exhibit label: BASILISKS: Real, deadly, under your bed.

:Exhibit: Four magnets hang from a square arch. A child is touching two of them together.
:Text on the arch: Magnets only leap at each other when they're teenagers. Later, they lose interest.

:Exhibit: A child on his dad's shoulders looks up at a looming statue of Jesus behind a lectern. There are flakes falling from Jesus onto them both.
:Exhibit label: Snow is Jesus' dandruff. His scalp gets dry when it's cold.

:Exhibit: A child lies asleep, while hands and a scary face reach up around the bed toward him.
:Exhibit label: Sleep: Now you're vulnerable to the boogie man!

:Exhibit: An ice block sits on a stand in front of pictures of a wolf and rhinoceros looking frightened.
:Exhibit label: Freezing water: Expands to frighten predators.

:Exhibit: An insect on a stick is orbited by a small sphere.
:Exhibit label: Anti-matter: Matter that is more than 50% ants.

:Exhibit: A DNA strand with the letters T, A, C, and G hanging around it.
:Exhibit label: DNA only has four letters because the alphabet was smaller back then.
:Dad, to child: Told you so.

:Exhibit: A bunch of molecules hang from the ceiling.
:Exhibit label: Molecules? In my day, we only had atoms!

:The top right room is 'Regrettable Pranks: An Interactive Experience'. There are four exhibits.

:Exhibit: Five balloons float tethered to a table. A child is holding a sixth balloon. The Dad looks alarmed.
:Sign on exhibit: If this helium makes your voice go higher, it's because you're ten seconds from exploding.

:Exhibit: An alien face is shown above an outline of several hands next to a ruler. A child holds his hand up to it.
:Sign on exhibit: Measure your middle finger. If it's longer than the others, you're an alien halfbreed.

:Exhibit: Three cups are on a table. A child is walking away with a fourth cup, the dad's arm around the child's shoulder.
:Exhibit label: Has anyone seen my rabbit brain? It looks like a cherry, and I dropped it in a Jello cup.

:Exhibit: A monstrous set of jaws open upward around a bed.
:Sign on exhibit: Make your bed or monsters will know a kid lives there.

:The center right room is 'Concessions'. There are three booths.

:Booth: A concession stand is labeled 'KFP', and displays a KFC-style bucket. A dad and child are eating.
:Dad: The "P" is for "phoenix".

:Booth: A concession stand.
:Sign on stand: Ground beef: Beef we found on the ground.
:Dad, to child: Told you.

:Booth: A stand shaped like a giant eye.
:Booth label: EYES CREAM
:Subtitle: How did you think it was spelled?
:Sign on booth: Now with more of the goo in your eyes. Same as every other creamery.

:The lower left room is 'Conservatory of Poorly Remembered History'. There are five exhibits.

:Exhibit: A man is riding a dragon.
:Exhibit label: Genghis Khan: victory through dragons.

:Exhibit: A criminal in front of some windows.
:Exhibit label: The Crimean War: The first war against crime.

:Exhibit: A castle with flags hanging on it.
:Exhibit label: The Renaissance
:Subtitle: Long story short, the wizards were in control.

:Exhibit:A man in Jedi-style robes with a fake beard.
:Exhibit label: Star Wars is a documentary. No, seriously.
:Dad, to children: Kids, this man is a veteran.

:The lower right room is 'Rotunda of Uncomfortable Topics'. There are five exhibits.

:Exhibit: A wrestling ring, with a man and woman mostly obscured by the exhibit label.
:Exhibit label: Naked wrestling: perfectly normal. NEVER DO IT.

:Exhibit: a figure sits at a booth in front of a bowl of food. The dad is holding a bottle.
:Exhibit label: Alcohol is poison. I drink to save you from it.
:Dad: You're welcome.

:Exhibit: A large bird.
:Exhibit label: Mommies get big tummies before babies come because the stork likes chubby girls.

:Exhibit: A rocket ship.
:Sign on exhibit: Grandma's not dead. She just returned to Saturn. For REVENGE.

:In the areas outside the rooms, there are two more exhibits and restrooms, all clickable.

:Exhibit: A dinosaur skeleton.
:Exhibit label: That's right. Dinosaurs were made entirely of BONES.
:Dad, to kid: If you think about it, it makes sense.

:Exhibit: A large image hangs on the wall. It is a dense squiggly jumble of lines.
:Dad, to kids: You gotta squint juuust right.
:Sign on exhibit: Magic eye trick that doesn't actually work.

:Restrooms: There are three doors, each with a sign.
:First door (male logo): Men & Boys
:Second door (female logo): Women & Girls
:Third door (unrecognizable logo): Korgmen & Spangs

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Ferrets]]
[[Category:Guest Week]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics featuring children]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]

2367: Masks

2025-10-10T22:06:03Z

Explainyourself: Made first 3 percentages clearer.

{{comic
| number = 2367
| date = October 2, 2020
| title = Masks
| image = masks.png
| titletext = Haunted Halloween masks from a mysterious costume shop that turn you evil and grow into your skin score a surprisingly high 80% filtration efficiency in R. L. Stine-sponsored NIOSH tests.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is another in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}.

This comic is a line from top to bottom explaining how good different types of masks are at preventing respiratory virus transmission. This comic may have been inspired from [https://www.polygon.com/entertainment/2020/5/15/21259215/how-to-wear-masks-superhero-costumes-coronavirus-effectiveness a Polygon article published on May 15th].

===Types of masks===
*'''{{w|Zorro}}'''/'''{{w|Lone Ranger}}''': A strip of cloth around the eye-level. Since it does not cover the mouth and nose, the main ways the virus leaves the body to infect others, or the mouth, nose and eyes, the main ways it enters the body, it is ineffective and no better than wearing no mask at all.
*'''{{w|Batman}}''': Batman's iconic headgear has gone through many revisions, and consists either of a simple cloth cowl or a helmet and visor. Does not cover the mouth, but may cover the nose. However, the mask only covers the top part of the face, i.e., not the mouth or nostrils. This mask might be slightly more effective than the Lone Ranger style mask due to the intimidation effect keeping other people back, and depending on its length, it might help direct air that the wearer breathes out down instead of towards others' faces, which would reduce the risk of spreading any respiratory diseases that the wearer may be infected with.
*'''Theater masks''' ({{w|Sock and buskin}}): Traditionally used as a symbol of performance theater since ancient Greece. The eye and mouth holes are often open, thus exposing the wearer.
*'''Skincare''' ({{w|facial mask}}): A layer of mud or moisturizer. By nature, it does not cover the mouth or nostrils, but it may keep the wearer from touching their face and is usually worn by someone sitting in a chair or lying back on a bed, not out getting in other people's personal space.
*'''Scarecrow''': A burlap sack. While it provides some cover to the mouth and nose, it is heavily porous. This could also refer to the {{w|Scarecrow (DC Comics)|Scarecrow}}, a DC Comics villain. If so, the mask would probably be much more effective than an ordinary burlap sack, as that character uses airborne drugs as weapons, and would have to have very good filter ability to protect himself.
*'''{{w|Guy Fawkes mask}}''': A plastic mask that is a stylized depiction of {{w|Guy Fawkes}} (designed by David Lloyd for the comic book ''{{w|V for Vendetta}}'' and made popular by {{w|V for Vendetta (film)|its movie adaptation}} and subsequent adoption by the {{w|Anonymous (group)|Anonymous}} movement). Most Guy Fawkes masks provide small holes in the front for comfort, thus facilitating spread of the virus.
*'''{{w|Cloth face mask|Cloth}}''': A cloth mask that blocks most large particles, like virus-laden saliva. To be most effective, it must cover nose as well as the mouth. These are much cheaper than N95 masks, and can be reused by washing. Not all cloth masks are created equal, some designs and materials are more effective than others at holding back contagious particles, but Randall lists them under "Effective" on the whole. They are relatively effective at preventing the wearer from infecting others, but are less effective at protecting the wearer from being infected by others, because droplets leaving the body are large enough to block, but small enough to get through cloth after evaporation. The felt-like nonwoven fabric of surgical masks blocks more droplets and aerosols than the same thickness of knit or woven fabric.
*'''{{w|Spider-Man|Spiderman}}'''''[sic]'': A full face covering of spandex-like material (Spider-Man comics rarely if ever specify what material Spider-Man makes his costume from). Would block most virus particles. (The correct spelling is "Spider-Man", with a hyphen, and "Man" capitalized.)
*'''{{w|N95 mask|N95}}''': A standard air filtration mask, commonly used in industry but also used in healthcare. The name "N95" signals that it is not resistant to oil, but successfully filters 95% of airborne particles. It has proven to be one of the more successful masks during the 2020 pandemic. N95 masks usually include non-woven filtration material, which is more similar to the felt-like fabric of surgical masks than to woven cloth. N95 masks can [https://youtu.be/eAdanPfQdCA filter particles much smaller] than the gaps between layers and strands in the fabric.
*'''{{w|scuba set|SCUBA}}''': A '''S'''elf-'''C'''ontained '''U'''nderwater '''B'''reathing '''A'''pparatus. Most SCUBA equipment used an open-circuit design allowing exhaled air to vent to the atmosphere. Underwater, this would not be a threat to other divers who would also be breathing air from their tanks. However, on land a typical SCUBA regulator would expose others to virus particles. Closed-circuit SCUBA equipment recirculates the user’s gas supply but they still contain a means of venting extra gas into the atmosphere. Neither system contains expiratory HEPA filters making both ineffective at preventing virus transmission. That all said, SCUBA equipment still covers the face and nose, rather than directly exposing others to unshielded breathing and coughing.
*'''{{w|Darth Vader|Vader}}''': Reference to one of the main antagonists in {{w|''Star Wars''}}, in which he wears a suit of armor with a built-in rebreather. Similar to SCUBA gear, it circulates air back to the user, in order to defend against the spread of the virus to the wearer. The question of whether Vader's mask would protect against COVID was implicitly referenced again in [[2441: IMDb Vaccines]].
*'''{{w|Mysterio}}''': Reference to one of the antagonists in ''{{w|Marvel Comics}}''’ {{w|Spider-Man}} as part of the {{w|Sinister Six}}. He wears a glass helmet. In the comics Mysterio often uses mind-altering chemicals, and his suit is designed to shield himself from his own weapons. By the same design, it would shield himself and others from the spread of viral infection. He might also not even be in your presence if, especially as in the film version, the Mysterio you see is himself currently an illusion.
*'''Haunted Halloween Masks''': The title text is a reference to ''{{w|The Haunted Mask}}'' by {{w|R. L. Stine}}, a book in the {{w|Goosebumps (original series)|''Goosebumps'' series}}. The mask transforms the wearer into a monster, with an open (uncovered) nose and mouth. The test results claim that the wearer is still somehow substantially protected against inhaling virus particles, but this may be a fraudulent test result due to pressure from the sponsor of the test, R. L. Stine, to get more people to wear such masks; it is also possible that the supernatural effects somehow include blocking virus particles, as parasites generally benefit from keeping their hosts alive and healthy, at least in the short term; it is further possible that, due to wearers having a stronger immunity in monster-form, they simply defeat the virus even before suffering its symptoms. NIOSH refers to the ''{{w|National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health}}''.

==Position on chart==
*[With 0% at the top position of the top arrow and 100% effective at the position of the bottom arrow the masks effectiveness would be approximately as follows:]
:[2%] Zorro/Lone Ranger
:[3%] Batman
:[7%] Theater
:[10%] Skincare
:[15%] Scarecrow
:[18%] Guy Fawkes
:[48%] Cloth
:[52%] Spider-Man
:[68%] N95
:[71%] Scuba
:[80%] Vader
:[90%] Mysterio

==Transcript==
:[A chart is shown with a title and explanation at the top:]
:<big>'''Masks'''</big>
:By effectiveness at preventing respiratory virus transmission

:[The chart consist of a vertical line going top to bottom with arrows at both ends. There are labels at the top, around the middle and at the bottom:]
:Not effective.
:Effective
:Extremely Effective

:[Along the line there are 12 bullets. From each bullet there goes a line (often with one or two turns) to a depiction of a type of mask. Each mask type is labeled. The first six masks are all close to the top, the last only halfway down to the middle of the line. The next two are right around the middle, then two are halfway towards the bottom from there and the final two are close to the bottom, with the last very close to the botom. From top to bottom:]
:Zorro/Lone Ranger
:Batman
:Theater
:Skincare
:Scarecrow
:Guy Fawkes
:Cloth
:SpiderMan
:N95
:Scuba
:Vader
:Mysterio

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring face masks]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Rankings]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

Talk:1954: Impostor Syndrome

2025-08-09T23:09:01Z

Explainyourself: :(

I mean, what's to explain here? Read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect and then re-read the comic, if you didn't get it on the first try... I guess these two phenomenons also bar me from actually creating the wiki page :D [[Special:Contributions/172.68.215.103|172.68.215.103]] 14:30, 12 February 2018 (UTC)

One could easily assume that virtually everyone who edits this page would be suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect; after all, how many experts in psychological diagnosis could there be in this community. (UNLESS they're feeling too insecure about their accomplishments to muster the confidence needed to post their thoughts ...?)[[User:Mr. I|Mr. I]] ([[User talk:Mr. I|talk]]) 15:20, 12 February 2018 (UTC)
: I think this assumption would be wrong - or at least very inaccurate. I would assume that most part (if not all) of this community is very able to see that they are no experts on psychology (except, of course, of those who actually are). That said, I'd think Randall isn't, either. However this would not stop neither him from making jokes about the concepts nor "us" from trying to explain it - if only by copying the text from wikipedia and/or building upon the explanation given there. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 15:33, 12 February 2018 (UTC)

I think the current text misunderstands the role of general intelligence and domain-specific skills in the D-K effect. Nothing I've read suggests that intellectual capacity has much to do with one's ability to accurately estimate performance levels; instead, it seems to be largely based on unfamiliarity with what good and bad performance looks like in whatever domain is being measured. In other words, it's not stupid people who think they're better drivers than they actually are; it's people who are actually bad drivers. The D-K effect is EXACTLY that non-experts will claim high-level expertise, while genuine experts will disclaim it. (See figures 1-4 of the original paper: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.363.1120&rep=rep1&type=pdf) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.131|162.158.79.131]] 20:56, 12 February 2018 (UTC)
:That sounds correct to me. I'm no expert, but aren't psychologists generally very careful to speak only in terms of domain-specific "specialized" intelligence? The current explanation of the Title-Text sounds wrong. I think the key phrase above, which should probably be used in the explanation is "unfamiliarity with what good & bad performance looks like in whatever domain is being measured". Overall lack of meta-cognitive ability is definitely ''not'' a prerequisite for overestimating your ability in a specialized field; More often, quite intelligent people may appear to overestimate their understanding of a related, but comparatively unfamiliar field. And as the old adage goes (something like) "the wise man knows he is a fool". [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:38, 13 February 2018 (UTC)

So who is the world expert of Imposter Syndrome? Pauline R. Clance or Suzanne A. Imes? [[User:Capncanuck|Capncanuck]] ([[User talk:Capncanuck|talk]]) 01:09, 13 February 2018 (UTC)

Can I just say this is the biggest "me" comic I've ever seen? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.70|162.158.75.70]] 14:00, 13 February 2018 (UTC)

It is refreshing to see that we have a avoided a nasty edit/flame war, considering the current political climate. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 17:34, 20 February 2018 (UTC)

When the social psychologist is sus!😳 [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.171|172.69.35.171]] 16:19, 16 February 2021 (UTC)
: :( [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 23:09, 9 August 2025 (UTC)
Does the title text actually make sense? As far as I understand, highly skilled people still tend to rate themselves fairly high, even if that rating tends to be slightly lower than their actual scores. Given this, it shouldn't be a problem getting highly skilled people to agree to present, as long as you can filter out the masses of random undergrads. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.73|172.70.230.73]] 11:03, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

2145: Heists And Escapes

2025-08-07T15:44:46Z

Explainyourself: Added unlocked version of Kevin article

{{comic
| number = 2145
| date = May 3, 2019
| title = Heists And Escapes
| image = heists_and_escapes.png
| titletext = The interactive experience is built on a single theological framework that unites Dante, George R. R. Martin, every major heist movie, and Erin Gloria Ryan's "Kevin is dead" Home Alone theory.
}}

==Explanation==
The top six panels show a stylized version of various options where people try to get into or out of rooms. There are always two xkcd figures trying to get into or out of a room. One is always rattling, possibly at a locked door. While no door is drawn, the position of their hands indicates this. The second figure always has their hands at head height, possibly looking for weaknesses in the structure. The characters in each panel vary and there seems to be no specific pattern to them.

The six top panels show these scenarios:

* {{w|Escape Room|Escape Rooms}}: An escape room is a type of puzzle/adventure game where people are locked in a room, or set of rooms, (discounting emergency exits) and have a certain amount of time to solve the puzzles and leave.
* {{w|Heist film|Heist movies}}: In heist movies, the thieves are trying to get in to a room, usually to steal what's inside.
* ''{{w|Home Alone}}'' (1990): This refers to the first movie in a franchise, where the home that the burglars tried to rob was protected by someone from the inside, Kevin McCallister (also mentioned in the title text).
* The Battle of Winterfell: This refers to the {{w|The Long Night (Game of Thrones episode)|3rd episode}} of the 8th season of ''{{w|Game of Thrones}}'', aired five days before the publication of this comic. Here the army of the dead tried to enter the castle of Winterfell (the outer room in the picture). At the same time the dead who are in the crypt (the inner room in the picture) tried to get out. The living people in the castle were trapped between them.
* ''{{w|Inception}}'' (2010): In the movie ''Inception'' the protagonists could enter the dream world of others, and while in those dreams they could enter the dreams of someone inside the dream. ''Inception'' can be categorized as a "heist" movie, as the main characters are thieves who steal information from their victim's subconscious or plant ideas into it.
* ''{{w|Divine Comedy|The Divine Comedy}}'' (1320): This refers to {{w|Dante Alighieri|Dante}}'s work - in particular its first part ''{{w|Inferno (Dante)|Inferno}}'', which depicts Hell as nine concentric circles. {{w|Purgatorio|Purgatory}} and {{w|Paradiso (Dante)|paradise}} are similarly concentric, but they are not likely to need to be escaped. Humor is provided by the style of the work's description, likening The Divine Comedy to a movie, though there were no movies in 1320.{{Citation needed}}

At the end, Randall proposes a combination of all of these things, and also combining it with others, to form the "greatest escape room game of all time":

The escape room begins in a small room, shown with Cueball and Megan standing inside, who likely represent the participants of the escape room. An arrow leads out from that room into a larger bank, where some more characters labeled The Dead, referencing The Battle of Winterfell, are standing. An arrow leaves from them that merges into Cueball and Megan’s, implying they join them as they escape the room.

The arrows continue outside the bank, into a larger room labeled ''{{w|The Truman Show|Truman Show}}'', inspired by the film where the protagonist was living in a constructed reality show, although he did not know it. The path branches upwards around or into Kevin McCallister’s house, with the arrows inside spitting yet again, either exiting the house again or entering Kevin McCallister’s subconscious, a reference to the movie ''Inception''. The arrows once again split and continue either downwards or to the right, both exiting McCallister’s house.

The path to the right splits, the top path crossing {{w|Styx}}, a river in Greek mythology that forms the boundary between Earth and the Underworld, represented by Dante’s Inferno, taken from ''The Divine Comedy'', and the other returning to the line that leads downwards. The line that leads to Dante’s Inferno is met by the line that leads around Kevin McCallister’s house. It can be assumed that this is not a breaking into the underworld as portrayed in some movies, but due to the simplicity of the paths (note that unlike for the escape the line just crosses Styx) it is the possibility of failing prior puzzles and dying. In that case the escape room puzzle would continue with escaping from the underworld to rejoin the puzzles.

Both paths lead downwards back across Styx, rejoining the other lines below McCallister’s house. The lines continue to the bank and spit to either re-enter the bank or exit the escape room entirely. The line that re-enters the bank either returns to The Dead or into the bank’s vault, which the line also exits the escape room.

The title text refers to [https://write.as/8beg1y7e73vn7.md this article (unlocked version)], which claims that Kevin McCallister is dead, and is actually a ghost.

==Transcript==
:[Seven different room scenarios are shown with characters attempting to get inside or outside, each with a label below them.]

:[Cueball and Ponytail trying to exit a room.]
:Escape rooms

:[Cueball and Megan trying to enter a room.]
:Heist movies

:[A small version of Cueball stands in the middle of a room while a Hairy on the left and Cueball on the right are trying to enter.]
:''Home Alone'' (1990)

:[A room is shown inside a larger room. Two characters try to enter from outside and two others try to exit from the inner room while Megan and Cueball are standing between them.]
:The Battle of Winterfell

:[Four rooms are shown inside of each other. Two characters try to enter from outside while three Cueballs in each room are standing while asleep.]
:''Inception'' (2010)

:[Smaller rooms are recursively shown inside of larger ones, with two characters trying to escape from each.]
:''The Divine Comedy'' (1320)

:[At the bottom a more complicated combination of various rooms shown in gray, with arrows labeled with question marks showing escape routes for two characters in black. On the left is a large room labelled Truman Show, and on the right is the nine-level Dante's Inferno. Between them is the river Styx. Inside the Truman Show are the Bank, which contains a Room with the two people in it, a Vault with a money bag in it, and The Dead; and Kevin McCallister's House and Subconscious.]

:[Label in the bottom in black:]
:My plan for the greatest escape room game of all time

==Trivia==
Judging by the depicted scene, the Battle of Winterfell referenced in the comic seems to refer to the battle taking place in the 3rd episode of the 8th season of the TV show Game of Thrones. While there is no official naming of all battles in the show, this is in line with the naming on most blogs and other discussions published around the premiere of that episode. However several wikis and other more long term reviews of the show refer to this battle as the "Battle of Ice and Fire". On these sites the "Battle of Winterfell" refers to the battle in the 10th episode of the 5th season between Stannis Baratheon and the Boltons.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Game of Thrones]]

693: Children's Fantasy

2025-08-07T15:28:18Z

Explainyourself: Removed "a bit"

{{comic
| number = 693
| date = January 25, 2010
| title = Children's Fantasy
| image = childrens_fantasy.png
| titletext = I was going to be a scientist, but that seems silly now. Magical worlds exist. I've learned a huge truth about our place in the universe. I'm supposed to care about college? I mean, FUCK.
}}

==Explanation==
Children's fantasy stories such as {{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}} and {{w|The Phantom Tollbooth}} involve a kid who is magically transported out of their time to some fantastic realm, goes through trials and becomes a hero, and then is returned to their own mundane world at about the same time they left with no one else realizing or believing what happened to them. The growth of the protagonist often involves learning self-confidence.

The comic illustrates this type of story and considers what the rest of the child's life would really be like as they reach adulthood. If they tell their friends, spouse, and family what happened to them, no one will believe them and these loved ones will think them crazy. If they don't tell anyone, they are pretending that the episode never happened. Either way, it seems this would not be an enjoyable experience to live with for their entire adult life.

The title text continues the thought by pointing out the impossibility of contributing anything to the scientific world after visiting a magical world, as the child would know many scientific baselines, and, indeed, most regularly practiced scientific theory to be false, but would be unable to say anything or convince anyone of what they knew.

==Transcript==
:[Kid is sitting on the ground with his chin in his hand.]
:Kid: I'm such a loser-
:''POP''
:[Princess sticks her head through a portal.]
:Princess: Come quickly, young one!
:Kid: Holy crap, a portal!
:Princess: My kingdom needs you!

:[He falls through.]
:Kid: AAAAAA

:[We see him on horseback, helmeted wielding a sword. There's a castle on the horizon and two moons in the sky. There are a few other riders as well.]

:[Kid, with helmet and sword, stands before King, Princess, and another warrior. Princess is holding out a ring.]
:King: You've saved our kingdom and found your self-confidence. Now it's time to return home. Goodbye, young hero!
:Princess: Take this ring to remember us!

:[Kid stands alone, holding the ring.]
:Kid: Well, I guess I spend the rest of my life pretending that didn't happen or knowing that everyone I love suspects I'm crazy.
:Kid: This'll be a fun 70 years.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Comics featuring children]]

unixkcd

2025-07-30T12:16:31Z

Explainyourself: changed the explanation for bash

{{comic
| date = April 1, 2010
| title = unixkcd
| image = unixkcd.png
| titletext =
| lappend =
| ldomain = uni
| imagesize = 900px
| noexpand = true
| extra = yes
}}
{{series
| series = April
| number = 3
| date = April 1, 2010
| days_late =
| day_category = Thursday
| prev_title = 404: Not Found
| prev_date = April 1, 2008
| next_title = 880: Headache
| next_date = April 1, 2011
| extra_text = In fact, [[April Fools' Day comics|2009 and 2017 are the only minutes]] in which Randall hasn't marked this day with a comic.
}}

{{TOC}}
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|
*Explain the jokes and references in the [[#Undocumented commands]] section and the sections below it.
*Add this comic to more categories.
*Describe the website interface a bit, such as the links at the bottom.}}
On April 1, 2010, [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] altered the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] website to mimic a {{w|Unix}} {{w|command-line interface}}. This interface is still available on [https://uni.xkcd.com uni.xkcd.com] and the source code is [https://github.com/chromakode/xkcdfools available on GitHub]. The comic [[721: Flatland]], released on March 31, 2010, was still up on April 1, 2010, but was unrelated to the Unix interface. The terminal only lists a few available commands, but most commands are undocumented.

===Documented commands===
{| class="sortable wikitable"
! Command
! Response
! Explanation
|-
|<code>'''next'''</code>
|(''shows the next comic'')
|If the final comic number is given, shows the error <code>Time travel mode not enabled</code>. See <code>'''[[#Undocumented commands|enable time travel]]'''</code> below.
|-
|<code>'''prev'''</code>
|(''shows the previous comic'')
|
|-
|<code>'''first'''</code>
|(''shows the first comic'')
|
|-
|<code>'''last'''</code>
|(''shows the last comic'')
|
|-
|<code>'''display [number]'''</code>
|(''shows the comic with the specified number'')
|Trying to display comic [[404: Not Found]] will result in an endless loading attempt.
|-
|<code>'''random'''</code>
|(''shows a random comic'')
|
|-
|<code>'''ls'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |(''shows the content of the current directory'')
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|<code>'''dir'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''cat [filename]'''</code>
|(''shows the content of the file'')
|See also <code>'''[[#Undocumented commands|cat]]'''</code> below.
|-
|<code>'''cd [directory]'''</code>
|(''changes to the specified directory'')
|
|}

===Undocumented commands===
{| class="sortable wikitable"
! Command
! Response
! Explanation
|-
|<code>'''<nowiki>:(){:|:&};:</nowiki>'''</code>
|<code>[...]</code> (''repeats indefinitely'')
|This command, otherwise known as a [https://askubuntu.com/questions/159491/why-did-the-command-make-my-system-lag-so-badly-i-had-to-reboot shell fork bomb] will make the terminal display the <code>[...]</code> loading dots indefinitely, as though it crashed.
|-
|rowspan="9" |<code>'''a/s/l'''</code> ''or'' <code>'''asl'''</code>
|
|{{w|Age/sex/location|A/S/L}} is not a Unix command, but an acronym of Age/Sex/Location in this case. The following replies are possible:
|-
|<code>2/AMD64/Server Rack</code>
|Answered as if the server replied. sex refered as {{w|AMD}}
|-
|<code>328/M/Transylvania</code>
|Answered by {{w|Dracula}}.
|-
|<code>6/M/Battle School</code>
|Answered by {{w|Ender Wiggin}} or another boy from battle school.
|-
|<code>48/M/The White House</code>
|Answered by {{w|Barack Obama}} or another male of the same age in the White House.
|-
|<code>7/F/Rapture</code>
|Answered by a {{w|Little Sister (BioShock)|Little Sister}} from {{w|BioShock}}.
|-
|<code>Exactly your age/A gender you're attracted to/Far far away.</code>
|Requests for A/S/L are often not answered truthfully, but crafted to suit the one asking the question.
|-
|<code>7,831/F/Lothlórien</code>
|Answered by {{w</code>Galadriel}} or another elf. Lothlorien is the region of middle
|-
|<code>42/M/FBI Field Office</code>
|Answered by an FBI agent, referencing the old [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet trope] that all girls on the internet are FBI agents impersonating them.
|-
|<code>'''apt-get'''</code>
|<code>This APT has Super Cow Powers.'''</code>
|The <code>'''apt-get'''</code> command is part of the Debian package manager {{w|Advanced_Packaging_Tool|APT}}. This reply is one of the built-in Easter eggs.
|-
|<code>'''apt-get moo'''</code>
|
(__)
(oo)
/------\/
/ | ||
* /\---/\
~~ ~~

...."Have you mooed today?"...
|Displays an ASCII drawing of a cow.
|-
|<code>'''bash'''</code>
|<code>You bash your head against the wall. It's not very effective.</code>
|{{w|Bash}} is a shell for POSIX-based systems. This also references early text-based adventure games where you need to type the action needed to proceed, which would sometimes result in unintended consequences. For example, if you typed in something like 'ax in chest', the game would stab the axe into your character's torso. The line 'it's not very effective' may be a reference to Pokemon, where an attack can deal differing amounts of damage depending on effectiveness.
|-
|<code>'''cat [number]/alt.txt'''</code>
|(''displays the title text of the specified comic'')
|
|-
|<code>'''cat'''</code>

(''without a filename or with an invalid filename'')
|<code>You're a kitty!</code>
|A reference to [[231: Cat Proximity]].
|-
|<code>'''cheat'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |(''opens the [[Store|xkcd Store]]'')
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|<code>'''buy stuff'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''clear'''</code>
|(''clears the screen'')
|
|-
|<code>'''curl'''</code>
|(''creates an iframe to the URL specified'')
|
|-
|<code>'''date'''</code>
|<code>March 32nd</code>
|Instead of April 1st, which is not a real date.{{Citation needed}}
|-
|<code>'''display title text'''</code>
|<code>display: unable to open image "title": No such file or directory.</code>
|Displayed in red text.
|-
|<code>'''echo'''</code>
|<code>Echo ... echo ... echo ...</code>
|<code>'''{{w|Echo (command)|echo}}'''</code> is a command used to print text to the terminal.
|-
|<code>'''ed'''</code>
|<code>You are not a diety</code>
|{{w|Ed (software)|ed}} is a very simple text editor. It is usually not considered very user-friendly. See also <code>'''vi'''</code> and <code>'''emacs'''</code>.
|-
|<code>'''emacs'''</code>
|<code>You should use Vim.</code>
|A reference to [[378: Real Programmers]].
|-
|<code>'''enable time travel'''</code>
|<code>TARDIS error: Time Lord missing</code>
|A {{w|The Big Bang Theory}} reference. See also the <code>'''next'''</code> command.
|-
|<code>'''exit'''</code>
| rowspan="3" |(''ends the terminal session'')
| rowspan="3" |
|-
|<code>'''quit'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''logout'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''find kitten'''</code>
|(''showed the {{w|robotfindskitten}} game'')
|The link to the Flash version no longer works, but an HTML version is available [http://robotfindskitten.org/play/robotfindskitten/ here].
|-
|<code>'''find'''</code>
|<code>What do you want to find? Kitten would be nice.</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''finger'''</code>
|<code>Mmmmmm...</code>
|<code>'''finger USER'''</code> is used on UNIX-like systems to get information about another USER. Here, Randall is taking advantage of its suggestive name, with 'finger' referring to an action where one sticks their finger in another's anus, usually for sexual pleasure.
|-
|<code>'''fuck'''</code>
|<code>I have a headache.</code>
|fuck is swear word
|-
|<code>'''goto [any]'''</code>
|(''shows comic [[292: goto]] and asks if you meant <code>'''display'''</code> instead.'')
|
|-
|<code>'''go back'''</code>
|<code>You cannot go back.</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''go down'''</code>
|<code>On our first date?</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''Hello Joshua'''</code>
|<code>How about a nice game of Spherical Thermonuclear War?</code>
|A reference to the {{w|WarGames}} movie.
|-
|<code>'''hello'''</code>
|<code>Hello.</code>
|A second reply <code>Why hello there!</code> is coded, but it is never used.
|-
|<code>'''help'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |<code>That would be cheating!</code>
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|<code>'''halp'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''hi'''</code>
|<code>Hi.</code>
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |<code>'''hint'''</code>
|<code>We offer some nice polos.</code>
| rowspan="4" |Randomly replies with one of four options.
|-
|<code>This terminal will remain available at '''[https://xkcd.com/unixkcd/ xkcd.com/unixkcd/]'''</code>
|-
|<code>Use the source, Luke!</code>
|-
|<code>There are cheat codes.</code>
|-
|<code>'''i read the source code'''</code>
|<code><3</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''irc [nick]'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |(''starts an {{w|IRC}} session on the xkcd channel on irc.foonetic.net'')
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|<code>'''write [nick]'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''kill'''</code>
|<code>Terminator deployed to 1984.</code>
|A reference to the {{w|The_Terminator|Terminator}} movie. In Bash, <code>'''kill'''</code> is used to end a process.
|-
|<code>'''final'''</code>
|(''displays the final comic'')
|
|-
|<code>'''locate [filename]'''</code>
|
|is normally used to locate a file in a directory. It will give humorous results when searching for <code>'''ninja'''</code>, <code>'''keys'''</code>, <code>'''joke'''</code>, <code>'''problem'''</code> and <code>'''raptor'''</code>.
|-
|<code>'''lpr'''</code>
|<code>PC LOAD LETTER</code>
|{{w|Line Printer Daemon protocol|<code>'''lpr'''</code>}} is a command to print documents. {{w|PC_LOAD_LETTER}} is a printer error.
|-
|<code>'''make love'''</code>
|<code>I put on my robe and wizard hat.</code>
|A reference to this [http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/bloodninja roleplay chat transcript] (NSFW), which was also mentioned in [[442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel]]. <code>'''make love'''</code> is a standard Unix joke, because the reply is <code>make: don't know how to make love</code>.
|-
|<code>'''make me a sandwich'''</code>
|<code>What? Make it yourself.</code>
|A reference to [[149: Sandwich]].
|-
|<code>'''man [command]'''</code>
|(''shows unhelpful information about the command'')
|Only <code>'''last'''</code>, <code>'''help'''</code>, <code>'''next'''</code>, <code>'''cat'''</code> have unique responses, all others show a generic "Oh, I\'m sure you can figure it out."
|-
|<code>'''moo'''</code>
|<code>moo</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''more'''</code>
|<code>Oh, yes! More! More!</code>
|The {{w|More (command)|more}} command is used to paginate output.
|-
|<code>'''nano'''</code>
|<code>Seriously? Why don't you just use Notepad.exe? Or MS Paint?</code>
|{{w|GNU nano|Nano}} is another text editor for Unix systems (see <code>'''vi'''</code> and <code>'''emacs'''</code>).
|-
|<code>'''ping'''</code>
|<code>There is another submarine three miles ahead, bearing 225, forty fathoms down.</code>
|The {{w|Ping (networking utility)|ping}} command is used to measure round trip times to a destination. The name of the command comes from sonar technology. A submarine using sonar may 'ping' to illuminate nearby submarines on radar.
|-
|<code>'''pwd'''</code>
|<code>You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.</code>
|The {{w|pwd}} command prints the current working directory (see <code>'''look'''</code>). The output is a reference to {{w|Colossal Cave Adventure}}.
|-
|<code>'''reddit [number]'''</code>
|(''shows the [https://www.reddit.com/ Reddit] voting bar for the specified comic'')
|If no number is specified, shows xkcd.
|-
|<code>'''rm [filename]'''</code>
|(''removes a file'')
|
|-
|<code>'''rm -r'''</code>
|(''removes a directory'')
|
|-
|<code>'''serenity'''</code>
|<code>You can't take the sky from me.</code>
|This is a line from the Balad of Serenity from the {{w|Firefly_(TV_series)|Firefly}} TV series. Serenity is also the name of an Operating System (that Randall probably wasn't thinking of): [https://www.serenityos.org/ SerenityOS].
|-
|<code>'''shutdown'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |<code>Must be root.</code>
| rowspan="2" |See also <code>'''sudo poweroff'''</code>.
|-
|<code>'''poweroff'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''ssh'''</code>
|<code>ssh, this is a library.</code>
|{{w|Secure Shell|ssh}} is the command to start a secure shell, but it also resembles the "{{w|Shh}}" sound.
|-
|<code>'''su'''</code>
|<code>God mode activated. Remember, with great power comes great ... aw, screw it, go have fun.</code>
|{{w|Su (Unix)|<code>'''su'''</code>}} is a command for logging as an upper user, which gives you full and potentially dangerous access to the system. On some systems, "{{w|With great power comes great responsibility|with great power comes great responsibility}}" is also part of a message that is printed the first time <code>'''sudo'''</code> is used.
|-
|<code>'''sudo [command]'''</code>
|(''executes the command with {{w|Superuser|root}} privileges'')
|
|-
|<code>'''sudo apt-get dist-upgrade'''</code>
|<code>You are already running [OS].</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''sudo apt-get moo'''</code>
|<code>Have you mooed today?</code>
|(apt-get Easter egg).
|-
|<code>'''sudo apt-get update'''</code>
|<code>Reading package lists... Done</code>
|Refreshes the package list so the system knows which updates are available.
|-
|<code>'''sudo apt-get upgrade'''</code>
|(''shows a link to [http://abetterbrowser.org/ A Better Browser] on Internet Explorer and Firefox (< v3). On all other browsers, it doesn't complain.
|
|-
|<code>'''sudo make me a sandwich'''</code>
|<code>Okay</code>
|Behaves like [[149: Sandwich]].
|-
|<code>'''sudo !!'''</code>
|(''will sudo the last command'')
|
|-
|<code>'''sudo poweroff'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |(''shuts down the system'')
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|<code>'''sudo shutdown'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''sudo reboot'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |(''restarts the system'')
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|<code>'''sudo restart'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''sudo rm -rf /'''</code>
|(''breaks all commands until the page is reloaded'')
|
|-
|<code>'''sudo sudo'''</code>
|<code>An internal error occurred: RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded</code>
|in red text.
|-
|<code>'''time travel'''</code>
|(''shows [[630: Time Travel]]'')
|
|-
|<code>'''top'''</code>
|<code>It's up there --^</code>
|The {{w|Top_(software)|<code>'''top'''</code>}} command shows a table of processes. Here it is taken literally.
|-
|<code>'''uname'''</code>
|<code>Illudium Q-36 Explosive Spaaace Modulator</code>
|<code>'''uname'''</code> on Unix lists system information. The Illudium Q-36 Explosive Spaaace Modulator is an explosive device created by Marvin the Martian in the {{w|Looney Tunes}} series.
|-
|<code>'''unixkcd'''</code>
|(''opens a new terminal window'')
|
|-
|<code>'''use the horse luke'''</code>
|<code>I believe you mean source.</code>
|A reference to {{w|The Horse (Star Wars)|the Horse}} in the {{w|Star Wars}} franchise.
|-
|<code>'''use the source luke'''</code>
|<code>I'm not luke, you're luke!</code>
|An old programmers' joke.
|-
|<code>'''vi'''</code>
| rowspan="2" |<code>You should use emacs.</code>
| rowspan="2" |A reference to [[378: Real Programmers]].
|-
|<code>'''vim'''</code>
|-
|<code>'''wget [URL]'''</code>
|(''shows the content of the specified URL'')
|<code>'''{{w|wget}}'''</code> is a command on Unix to download the content and not show it.
|-
|<code>'''who'''</code>
|<code>The Big Bang Theory?</code>
|Another {{w|The Big Bang Theory}} reference. The <code>'''who'''</code> command on Unix lists the logged-in users.
|-
|<code>'''Whoami'''</code>
|<code>You are Richard Stallman.</code>
|The {{w|whoami}} command lists the name of the current user. [[Richard Stallman]] is the creator of the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation.
|-

|<code>'''xkcd'''</code>
|<code>Yes?</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''xyzzy'''</code>
|<code>Nothing happens.</code>
|{{w|Xyzzy_(computing)|xyzzy}} is a magic word, originally used in the game {{w|Colossal Cave Adventure}}.
|-
|<code>'''your gay'''</code>
|<code>Keep your hands off it!</code>
|
|-
|<code>'''!!'''</code>
|(''reruns the previous command after stating the command'')
|
|}

====Game commands====
There are also some other commands borrowed from a {{w|Zork}} like {{w|Text-based game|text-based adventure game}}.
{| class="sortable wikitable"
! Command
! Response
! Explanation
|-
|<code>'''look'''</code>
|(''describes your current surroundings'')
|
|-
|<code>'''go [direction]'''</code>
|(''moves you in the specified direction'')
|Going West repeatedly will list the refrain from the song {{w|Go West (song)|Go West}}.
|-
|<code>'''light lamp'''</code>
|(''lights your lamp'')
|You will be killed by a {{w|Grue (monster)|grue}} if you don't light your lamp when going south.
|-
|<code>'''sleep [seconds]'''</code>
|(''sleeps for the specified time'')
|Without specifying, the nap is 5 seconds.
|}

====Konami code====
[[File:Konami code.png|300px|thumb|The image used as the background after using the Konami code five times.]]The terminal also responds to the {{w|Konami code}} Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A. Entering this code repeatedly will, in order:
# Transform all characters to uppercase
# Add a grey text shadow
# Add an orange text-shadow
# Shake the screen
# Add a background image of [[Richard Stallman]] from [[345: 1337: Part 5]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Describe the initial interface fully.}}
:[The screen is black.]
:[The text is white, monospaaaced, and in the top left, similar to that of a computer terminal.]
:[The terminal automatically runs the command:]
:display
:[The most recent XKCD comic appears below the current line.]
:[The terminal runs the command:]
:cat welcome.txt
:Terminal: Welcome to the unixkcd console.
:Terminal: To navigate the comics, enter "next", "prev", "first", "last", "display", or "random".
:Terminal: Use "ls", "cat", and "cd" to navigate the filesystem.
:[A blinking text cursor appears on the next line, and you can type in commands to make the terminal do stuff.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:April Fools' Day comics|0800]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics with animation]]
[[Category:No title text]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Programming]]

Talk:541: TED Talk

2025-07-18T22:16:12Z

Explainyourself: added comment

It's not the first time Randall gets banned from conventions, see [[153: Cryptography]].
[[User:Xylon|Xylon]] ([[User talk:Xylon|talk]]) 13:10, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

: There are enough of these that it should probably be a category. (Anon) 12 August 2013 {{unsigned ip|24.142.134.100}}

How about "Linux(or BSD (: )"? Actually, that looks just as weird. Oh well. [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 05:10, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

What about "Linux (or BSD :D)"? That looks great! 05:54, 1 December 2013 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.120}}

Or "(Linux (or BSD ( :) )))"...nope! [[User:Squirreltape|Squirreltape]] ([[User talk:Squirreltape|talk]]) 18:19, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Suggestion: Linux (or BSD (: ) [[User talk:Quillathe Siannodel|{)|(}]][[User:Quillathe_Siannodel|Quill]][[User talk:Quillathe Siannodel|{)|(}]] 14:59, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

"Every talk has a length of 18 minutes and is supposed to be as captivating as possible." this is just wrong(first part of the statement). someone should edit it out. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.24}}

Use an asian smiley. So you'd write Linux (or BSD ^_^) instead. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.101|108.162.216.101]] 04:25, 2 November 2014 (UTC)

... LINUX (OR BSD 😀 ) WOULD ... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.187|162.158.255.187]] 19:16, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

LInux (: or BSD :) would...? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.179|108.162.217.179]] 22:51, 27 March 2016 (UTC)
I got it! Linux [ or bsd :) ]

... Linux (or BSD ͜ ¨ ) would ... [[User:KangaroOS|Kangaro]][[User talk:KangaroOS|OS]] 16:15, 10 September 2016
Linux (or BSD ☺) would ....[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.190|162.158.75.190]] 22:59, 7 October 2018 (UTC)

Smileys in parentheses look wrong, :)) looks mismatched and wrong, and :) ) is just weird. WHAT SHALL WE DO?! --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 12:03, 5 January 2017 (UTC)
:I have found a solution! As it turns out, There are people who make Unicode emojis that you can use in web browsers. Go figure. 😄 --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 12:11, 5 January 2017 (UTC)
::Emojis are not emoticons though [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.58|162.158.214.58]] 19:38, 27 July 2017 (UTC)
:::Except they are, and they're better than emoticons --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 10:20, 8 October 2018 (UTC)

How about using square brackets? Linux [or BSD :)] would... --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.241|172.68.245.241]] 23:20, 20 July 2019 (UTC)
:Alternatively: Linux (or BSD :]) would... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:59, 18 October 2019 (UTC)
::Yes. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] ([[User talk:Beanie|talk]]) 13:41, 31 March 2021 (UTC)
:::Linux (or BSD (:)? [[User talk:Quillathe Siannodel|{)|(}]][[User:Quillathe_Siannodel|Quill]][[Special:Contributions/Quillathe_Siannodel|{)|(}]] 20:35, 31 May 2021 (UTC)
Linux (or BSD :) ) would... Just put a space. [[User:The Cat Lady|-- The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 12:43, 16 August 2021 (UTC)
linux [ or bsd : ) ] is awesome[and the best way : ) ]

: Would a U with diaresis (ü) work? -- {{User:PoolloverNathan/Signature}} 15:49, 26 April 2023 (UTC)

uppercase works better in my opinion (Ü) --an user who has no account yet {{unsigned ip|172.64.236.54|14:22, 2 September 2023}}

just realized, you can put a c like this:

linux (or bsd c:)

just don't make the c uppercase near a bunch of windows users xd

also this works better if the font is monospace [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 16:49, 5 September 2023 (UTC)

linux (or bsd :) ) Wahlah! [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 22:16, 18 July 2025 (UTC)