explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Footnote

2016-10-24T20:16:42Z

Gijobarts: added table of explanations about browser advice

As of October 2016 the footnote/tiny print at the bottom of xkcd.com pages reads:

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.

The text gives questionable advice on how to view xkcd.com. Using a discontinued browser on an Apple computer released in 1986 with a obscure screen resolution there basially just is a horizonal line.

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below
|It is normal to specified 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 reliance on a bug fixed after version 4.0. No version of Netscape Navigator is currently maintained.
|-
|on a Pentium 3±1
|Pentium was a brand of processors made by Intel. Instead of specifying just a minimum or maximum version, both are specified, in a syntax more often used for specifying tolerances, usually of a physical property.
|-
|emulated in Javascript
|Javascript is a programming language used on web pages. While may be possible to write a Pentium emulator in Javascript, this would be an unusual and probably inefficient choice.
|-
|on an Apple IIGS
|The Apple IIGS was a computer made in the 1980's. Even the slower of 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.
The Apple IIGS was made before Internet connections were common, and there was probably no web Javascript-compatible browser for it, if any browser at all. Though there are now Ethernet cards available for the IIGS, and so probably a web browser.
|-
|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.
|-
|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 on 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 the wireless radios to avoid potentially interfering with an aircraft's operation while flying in it. "Boat Mode" is fictional. (Though it might be nice to have a boat mode that turns the phone off if dropped, to reduce water damage.)
|-
|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.
|}

This footnote was added October 4th or 5th, 2016 [https://web.archive.org/web/20161005090723/http://xkcd.com/].

== Old footnote ==

Previously the footnote was:

BTC [https://blockchain.info/address/1FhCLQK2ZXtCUQDtG98p6fVH7S6mxAsEey 1FhCLQK2ZXtCUQDtG98p6fVH7S6mxAsEey]
We did not invent the algorithm.
The algorithm consistently finds Jesus.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisnoessel/455335731/ The algorithm killed Jeeves. ]
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/omargutierrez/444552272/ The algorithm is banned in China.]
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/19873723@N00/451996056/ The algorithm is from Jersey.]
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/thejof/453596732/ The algorithm constantly finds Jesus.]

And the following one added by Randall:
This is not the algorithm. This is close.

It was added by [[Randall]] in April 2007, according to his [http://blog.xkcd.com/2007/04/19/billboards/ Blog] as a response to [http://web.archive.org/web/20070601192105/http://valleywag.com/tech/mystery-billboards/asks-advertising-campaign-249274.php random billboards] appearing in the New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. It turned out these were a viral marketing campaign by the ask(jeeves) search engine to drive publicity around their new search algorithm. The campaign is long over, but Randall kept the text there (apparently) as a self referential advertising campaign. Specifically, people who find the small text will use a search engine to see what it means and the search engine will likely lead them back to [[xkcd]] — where they saw the text initially.

[[BTC]] means {{w|bitcoin}}. The string of alphanumeric characters is his bitcoin address.

It was removed on September 9th, 2016 [https://web.archive.org/web/20160912204204/http://xkcd.com/].

[[Category:Meta]]

User:Gijobarts/sandbox

2016-10-24T20:13:56Z

Gijobarts:

A page with a table:
[[1047: Approximations]]

As of October 2016 the footnote/tiny print at the bottom of xkcd.com pages reads:

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.

The text gives questionable advice on how to view xkcd.com. Using a discontinued browser on an Apple computer released in 1986 with a obscure screen resolution there basially just is a horizonal line.

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below
|It is normal to specified 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 reliance on a bug fixed after version 4.0. No version of Netscape Navigator is currently maintained.
|-
|on a Pentium 3±1
|Pentium was a brand of processors made by Intel. Instead of specifying just a minimum or maximum version, both are specified, in a syntax more often used for specifying tolerances, usually of a physical property.
|-
|emulated in Javascript
|Javascript is a programming language used on web pages. While may be possible to write a Pentium emulator in Javascript, this would be an unusual and probably inefficient choice.
|-
|on an Apple IIGS
|The Apple IIGS was a computer made in the 1980's. Even the slower of 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.
The Apple IIGS was made before Internet connections were common, and there was probably no web Javascript-compatible browser for it, if any browser at all. Though there are now Ethernet cards available for the IIGS, and so probably a web browser.
|-
|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.
|-
|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 on 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 the wireless radios to avoid potentially interfering with an aircraft's operation while flying in it. "Boat Mode" is fictional. (Though it might be nice to have a boat mode that turns the phone off if dropped, to reduce water damage.)
|-
|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.
|}

This footnote was added October 4th or 5th, 2016 [https://web.archive.org/web/20161005090723/http://xkcd.com/].

== Old footnote ==

Previously the footnote was:

BTC [https://blockchain.info/address/1FhCLQK2ZXtCUQDtG98p6fVH7S6mxAsEey 1FhCLQK2ZXtCUQDtG98p6fVH7S6mxAsEey]
We did not invent the algorithm.
The algorithm consistently finds Jesus.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisnoessel/455335731/ The algorithm killed Jeeves. ]
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/omargutierrez/444552272/ The algorithm is banned in China.]
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/19873723@N00/451996056/ The algorithm is from Jersey.]
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/thejof/453596732/ The algorithm constantly finds Jesus.]

And the following one added by Randall:
This is not the algorithm. This is close.

It was added by [[Randall]] in April 2007, according to his [http://blog.xkcd.com/2007/04/19/billboards/ Blog] as a response to [http://web.archive.org/web/20070601192105/http://valleywag.com/tech/mystery-billboards/asks-advertising-campaign-249274.php random billboards] appearing in the New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. It turned out these were a viral marketing campaign by the ask(jeeves) search engine to drive publicity around their new search algorithm. The campaign is long over, but Randall kept the text there (apparently) as a self referential advertising campaign. Specifically, people who find the small text will use a search engine to see what it means and the search engine will likely lead them back to [[xkcd]] — where they saw the text initially.

[[BTC]] means {{w|bitcoin}}. The string of alphanumeric characters is his bitcoin address.

It was removed on September 9th, 2016 [https://web.archive.org/web/20160912204204/http://xkcd.com/].

[[Category:Meta]]

User:Gijobarts/sandbox

2016-10-20T22:23:23Z

Gijobarts:

A page with a table:
[[1047: Approximations]]

As of October 2016 the footnote/tiny print at the bottom of xkcd.com pages reads:

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.

The text gives questionable advice on how to view xkcd.com. Using a discontinued browser on an Apple computer released in 1986 with a obscure screen resolution there basially just is a horizonal line.

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below
|It is normal to specified 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 reliance on a bug fixed after version 4.0. No version of Netscape Navigator is currently maintained.
|-
|on a Pentium 3±1
|Pentium was a brand of processors made by Intel. Instead of specifying just a minimum or maximum version, both are specified, in a syntax more often used for specifying tolerances, usually of a physical property.
|-
|emulated in Javascript
|Javascript is a programming language used on web pages. While may be possible to write a Pentium emulator in Javascript, this would be an unusual and probably inefficient choice.
|-
|on an Apple IIGS
|The Apple IIGS was a computer made in the 1980's. Even slower 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.
The Apple IIGS was made before Internet connections were common, and there was probably no web Javascript-compatible browser for it, if any browser at all.
|-
|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.
|}

This footnote was added October 4th or 5th, 2016 [https://web.archive.org/web/20161005090723/http://xkcd.com/].

== Old footnote ==

Previously the footnote was:

BTC [https://blockchain.info/address/1FhCLQK2ZXtCUQDtG98p6fVH7S6mxAsEey 1FhCLQK2ZXtCUQDtG98p6fVH7S6mxAsEey]
We did not invent the algorithm.
The algorithm consistently finds Jesus.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisnoessel/455335731/ The algorithm killed Jeeves. ]
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/omargutierrez/444552272/ The algorithm is banned in China.]
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/19873723@N00/451996056/ The algorithm is from Jersey.]
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/thejof/453596732/ The algorithm constantly finds Jesus.]

And the following one added by Randall:
This is not the algorithm. This is close.

It was added by [[Randall]] in April 2007, according to his [http://blog.xkcd.com/2007/04/19/billboards/ Blog] as a response to [http://web.archive.org/web/20070601192105/http://valleywag.com/tech/mystery-billboards/asks-advertising-campaign-249274.php random billboards] appearing in the New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. It turned out these were a viral marketing campaign by the ask(jeeves) search engine to drive publicity around their new search algorithm. The campaign is long over, but Randall kept the text there (apparently) as a self referential advertising campaign. Specifically, people who find the small text will use a search engine to see what it means and the search engine will likely lead them back to [[xkcd]] — where they saw the text initially.

[[BTC]] means {{w|bitcoin}}. The string of alphanumeric characters is his bitcoin address.

It was removed on September 9th, 2016 [https://web.archive.org/web/20160912204204/http://xkcd.com/].

[[Category:Meta]]

User:Gijobarts/sandbox

2016-10-19T00:05:23Z

Gijobarts:

User:Gijobarts/sandbox

2016-10-19T00:03:56Z

Gijobarts: Created page with "As of October 2016 the footnote/tiny print at the bottom of xkcd.com pages reads: xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in..."

User:Gijobarts

2016-10-19T00:02:43Z

Gijobarts:

The first explanation I contributed was [[570: New Car]].

[[User:gijobarts:sandbox]]

Footnote

2016-10-18T00:09:30Z

Gijobarts:

Talk:403: Convincing Pickup Line

2016-03-02T03:36:14Z

Gijobarts:

I'm more intrigued by the {{w|Erdős–Bacon number}}, where {{w|Natalie Portman}} and {{w|Carl Sagan}} both have a six (5+1 and 4+2 respectively). [[User:Hogtree Octovish|Hogtree Octovish]] ([[User talk:Hogtree Octovish|talk]]) 06:47, 16 February 2013 (UTC)
:Wikipedia and erdosbaconsabbath.com say that Natalie Portman's EB is 7, not six. (Bacon 2, not 1.) Still awesome. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 03:36, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

599: Apocalypse

2016-03-02T03:24:18Z

Gijobarts: /* Explanation */ add link to 403: Convincing Pickup Line

{{comic
| number = 599
| date = June 19, 2009
| title = Apocalypse
| image = apocalypse.png
| titletext = I wonder if I still have time to go shoot a short film with Kevin Bacon.
}}

== Explanation ==
{{w|Paul Erdős}} (26 March 1913 – 20 September 1996) was a Hungarian mathematician who (according to Wikipedia) published more papers than any other mathematician in history, working with hundreds of collaborators.

There is an in-joke developed among mathematicians called the {{w|Erdős number}} (similar to a Bacon number for film actors, which we'll discuss in a minute). By definition, Erdős has an Erdős number of 0. Everyone who has co-written a mathematical paper with Erdős has an Erdős number of 1. Everyone who collaborated with them (but not Erdős himself) is assigned an Erdős number of 2. In general, if ''k'' is the minimal Erdős number of all the people you've written papers with, your Erdős number is ''k'' + 1. The Erdős number is the length of the shortest "chain" from you to Erdős.

Thanks to collaboration between mathematicians and other researchers, many people in science and medical research now have Erdős numbers. Not everyone has an Erdős number, though; people without any chain linking them to Erdős have an undefined Erdős number. For example, most people who are not mathematicians or scientists do not have an Erdős number.

In this comic, the apocalypse happens. [[Cueball]] quickly writes a math paper and gets everyone from the math department to sign it. Then he gets the resurrected Erdős to sign it. This way everyone from the department has an Erdős number of 1.

Paul Erdős described people who had stopped doing mathematics as "dead."

The title text mentions a similar (and less esoteric) meme called "{{w|Six degrees of Kevin Bacon}}", or simply Bacon numbers. This time, the chain's center is actor {{w|Kevin Bacon}}, and the links are formed by two people appearing in the same movie. Unlike Erdős, Kevin Bacon is not dead, so those of you wishing to get a Bacon number of 1 still have a chance.

One of the mathematical scribbles appearing in panel 5 shows the square root of 163, which may be a reference to {{w|Ramanujan's constant}}.

[[403: Convincing Pickup Line]] has a parody of the Erdős collaboration graph.

==Transcript==
:[Scene of meteors showering the darkened earth.]

:[Beret Guy is running, with his arms raised in the air.]
:Beret Guy: The apocalypse! The skies burn, the seas turn to blood, and the dead walk the earth!

:[Cueball and Beret Guy.]
:Cueball: The dead what?
:Beret Guy: Walk the earth!

:[Cueball running.]
:Cueball: I have to go.

:[Cueball scribbling at a table. Mathematical symbols and equations are above Cueball's head.]
:''Scribble scribble''

:[Cueball running, paper and pencil in hand.]

:[Cueball opening door labelled "Math dept."]
:Cueball: The dead return! Everyone, quick, get your names on here!

:[People lining up.]
:Female Mathematician: At last!
:Male Mathematician: I hope there's still time!

:[Cueball running.]

:[Cueball at a cemetery.]
:Rising dead: ''Hurrghhh''

:[Cueball finds a man rising from his grave.]

:Cueball: Paul Erdős?
:Erdős: Yes?
:Cueball: We need you to sign this.

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Zombies]]

142: Parody Week: Megatokyo

2015-09-06T01:55:17Z

Gijobarts: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 142
| date = August 15, 2006
| title = Parody Week: Megatokyo
| image = megaxkcd.png
| titletext = I just want to give him a hug or something.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Megatokyo}} is a webcomic by {{w|Fred Gallagher (cartoonist)|Fred Gallagher}}. Its art and storylines are heavily influenced by Japanese comics known as {{w|Manga}}.

The opening panel sets up a parody of Megatokyo. The girl is [http://wikitokyo.org/wiki/Ping Ping], a robot character from the comic. The soft greyscale art, hand-drawn "shadowed" panel borders, and vertical panel layout also mimic Megatokyo's design.

The parody is then apparently aborted by [[Cueball]] and [[Black Hat]], who are afraid of hurting artist Fred Gallagher's feelings. This itself is a dig at the sometimes maudlin and emotionally tender tone of Megatokyo, and in particular the self-conscious resemblance of anxious protagonist [http://wikitokyo.org/wiki/Piro Piro] to creator Gallagher, who based the character on a twentysomething version of himself.

The title text reiterates the similarity between the style of the comic and the character of the artist behind it, which has been [http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2004/04/23 noted elsewhere as well]. It also exclaims [[Randall]]s feelings for Fred.

This is one of the few comics where Black Hat is not his usual [[classhole]] self. So even he likes and approves of Fred and his comic! Or it's a trick.

This comic is a part of the Parody Week, just joking about other webcomics.
*[[141: Parody Week: Achewood]]
*[[142: Parody Week: Megatokyo]]
*[[143: Parody Week: TFD and Natalie Dee]]
*[[144: Parody Week: A Softer World]]
*[[145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics]]

==Transcript==
:megaxkcd
:["megaxkcd" is inside Japanese quote characters.]
:[An anime girl with pigtails, long rectangular earrings and a blank expression stands with her arms at her sides.]
:In today's megaxkcd, our protagonist comes to terms with his romantic love for a girl who is a video game console accessory.
:[Cueball and Black Hat talks]
:Cueball: Wait, I'm not sure we should parody megatokyo.
:Black Hat: Fred Gallagher does seem like he might take it kind of hard.
:Cueball: He really does.
:Black Hat: Poor guy. We should try to cheer him up.
:[Cueball and Black Hat stand in front of a profile shot of a house. On the left is a mailbox. Black Hat stands at street level, while Cueball is holding a cake on the top of a two-step staircase to the front door.]
:Black Hat: Fred? Fred, please come out. It's OK. Don't cry, Fred.
:Cueball: We... we baked you a cake.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Parody Week]]

Talk:142: Parody Week: Megatokyo

2015-09-06T01:53:04Z

Gijobarts:

Isn't it quite unusual that Black Hat does not want to harm anyone in this comic? --[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 22:38, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
:There is no indication that Black Hat isn't trying to harm someone. We don't see Fred come out, and we have no idea what Black Hat put in that cake. Black Hat is standing back, not near the cake, which has lit <strike>fuses</strike> candles on it, despite it not being a birthday cake.
:OTOH, this is only #142, from back in 2006. Maybe Black Hat wasn't quite so heartless back then. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 01:53, 6 September 2015 (UTC)

1496: Art Project

2015-03-10T20:32:37Z

Gijobarts: /* Explanation */ fix link

{{comic
| number = 1496
| date = March 9, 2015
| title = Art Project
| image = art project.png
| titletext = It's my most ambitious project yet, judging by the amount of guacamole.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic appears to be satirizing {{w|art}} in two different ways. From one perspective, [[Randall]] is describing various art forms in unusual ways (e.g., a portrait by [[Cueball]], a video for the [[Megan]]-like girl with short hair (see [[#Note on Megan-like girls|note]] below), and perhaps live performance by [[Ponytail]]). From another perspective, Randall might be making fun of {{w|Time-lapse photography|time-lapse photography}} movies. {{w|YouTube}} has a robust collection of videos taken from stitching together pictures or short video clips taken every day or every week; in the {{w|87th Academy Awards|2015 Academy Awards}}, one of the Best Picture nominees, {{w|Boyhood (film)|Boyhood}}, used a similar method, filming short sequences annually over the course of 12 years.

In each case, the art described is simpler than it sounds, and some might not consider it art. A picture of oneself "every hundred years" will only happen once (or maybe twice); a "picture every 1/24th of a second" is the standard {{w|frame rate}} for most small cameras for video, and "watching my face age in real time" is just life...

Then finally the Megan-like girl with long hair (see [[#Note on Megan-like girls|note]] below) pokes fun at all of them by simply watching their attempts at "art" while she eats a {{w|burrito}}. Randall may also be referencing the many perspectives on art by leaving this comic open to several interpretations.

The use of a burrito as a punchline representing someone who is grounded in reality instead of engaging in esoteric pursuits has been seen before in [[1269: Privacy Opinions]].

The title text is just more snark, claiming that it's long haired "Megan's" most ambitious project ever, if the sole criterion for ambition is the amount of {{w|guacamole}} used.

===Note on Megan-like girls===
:''See also: [[Megan]], [[characters]]
There has been some debate as to whether the first or the second girl that looks like Megan is Megan or a new character. 

It is noted that while some ''xkcd'' [[characters]] appear to recur, such as [[Black Hat]] and [[Beret Guy]], there is an ambiguity as to whether certain of the characters in ''xkcd'' comics who look the same across different strips are actually intended to be the same character. For example, whether any non-featured character is always a single character ("Cueball"), or whether every girl with shoulder-length black hair is "Megan" (the name is derived from one strip, [[159: Boombox]], in which such a character was named). "Explain xkcd" has elected to treat all such characters as the same for ease of reference so that a name can be used and understood by the reader.

==Transcript==
:[Four people stand next to each other]
:Cueball [taking a selfie with his smart-phone]: I'm doing an art project where I take a picture of myself every hundred years.
:Girl with short black hair [filming herself with her smart-phone]: I'm doing an art project where I take a picture of myself every 1/24th of a second.
:Ponytail [pointing to her face with both hands]: I'm doing an art project where you can come to my house and watch my actual face age in real time.
:Girl with long black hair [eating a burrito]: I'm doing an art project where you all do those things while I eat a burrito.

{{comic discussion}}

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

730: Circuit Diagram

2015-02-19T21:41:03Z

Gijobarts:

{{comic
| number = 730
| date = April 21, 2010
| title = Circuit Diagram
| image = circuit_diagram.png
| titletext = I just caught myself idly trying to work out what that resistor mass would actually be, and realized I had self-nerd-sniped.
}}

==Explanation==
Another fine example of [[356|nerd sniping]].
There are pieces of circuit diagrams, road maps, chemical diagrams, and other things all mixed in.
Explanations for each below!

{|class="wikitable table-padding left-align"
!Image Fragment
!width="130px" | Image Location
!Description
|-
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=19|Y=25|W=106|H=37|image=circuit_diagram-019-025-106-037-scale.png|text=A map scale. Lists kilometers and miles as equivalent. And makes the diagram many miles wide.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=15|Y=62|W=40|H=85|image=circuit_diagram-015-062-040-085-antenna.png|text=An antenna. Typical of radio receivers or transmitters. Or the Turtle in LOGO programming language}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=53|Y=60|W=41|H=87|image=circuit_diagram-053-060-041-087-inductor.png|text=A coil or inductor. Normal, but unlabeled.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=107|Y=86|W=85|H=93|image=circuit_diagram-107-086-085-093-cloverleaf.png|text=A {{w|cloverleaf interchange}} or junction is a feature of road networks that does not belong in a circuit diagram. Of course, other types of {{w|p–n junction|junction}} are important in electronics.
A cloverleaf junction has previously been used in comic: [[253: Highway Engineer Pranks]]}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=184|Y=12|W=87|H=63|image=circuit_diagram-184-012-087-063-battery.png|text=A battery. The voltage of square root of two is strange, but getting about 1.41412... volts is not unheard of. The marked polarity is also the reverse of what is implied by the symbol (where the larger terminal is positive).}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=187|Y=110|W=94|H=71|image=circuit_diagram-187-110-094-071-resister.png|text=A 120 ohm resistor is normal enough. "Or to taste" is odd for a circuit diagram and more like instructions from a recipe, e.g., "1 tbsp tomato purée, or to taste".}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=283|Y=50|W=90|H=63|image=circuit_diagram-283-050-090-063-switch.png|text=A normal switch, with a notation to glue it open. Reminiscent of the [http://catb.org/esr/jargon/html/magic-story.html MAGIC/MORE MAGIC] switch.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=337|Y=101|W=69|H=64|image=circuit_diagram-337-101-069-064-transisitor.png|text=A bipolar PNP transistor, except that it has two emitters and no collector.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=52|Y=141|W=79|H=107|image=circuit_diagram-052-141-079-107-compass-points.png|text=Compass points. A map feature, not a circuit feature.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=415|Y=18|W=63|H=58|image=circuit_diagram-415-018-063-058-resister.png|text=A normal resistor, labeled with color code. Brown-Blue-Orange would be 16000 ohms. Resistor color codes are for reading the value on the physical device itself. They would not normally be shown on the circuit diagram, where it's much easier to just write the number, e.g. 16K.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=517|Y=14|W=42|H=32|image=circuit_diagram-517-014-042-032-diode.png|text=A normal diode.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=615|Y=55|W=73|H=74|image=circuit_diagram-615-055-073-074-666timer.png|text=A chip. The normal timer is a "{{w|555_timer_IC|555}}". "666" would be the number of the beast in [http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rev&c=13&v=18&t=KJV#18 Rev. 13:18]. The pin connected to "?" is the CTRL pin on a normal 555 timer, which would typically be connected to ground (via a decoupling capacitor) if used at all; the implication here seems to be that it would be connected directly to Hell itself.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=632|Y=138|W=69|H=41|image=circuit_diagram-632-138-069-041-bat.png|text=A Batman logo.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=650|Y=211|W=75|H=71|image=circuit_diagram-650-211-075-071-squirrel.png|text=A squirrel, or a wire bent into the shape of a squirrel. What it does as a circuit element is unclear.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=606|Y=165|W=54|H=53|image=circuit_diagram-606-165-054-053-inductor.png|text=A coil or inductor, or a spring symbol in Physics force diagrams, probably the latter as it is labeled with an 11-kilogram mass.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=538|Y=209|W=99|H=59|image=circuit_diagram-538-209-099-059-generator.png|text=A 240-volt AC generator (or other power source).}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=483|Y=186|W=111|H=103|image=circuit_diagram-483-186-111-103-shorted-generator.png|text=A shorting wire around a generator. The label reads "Omit this if you're a '''wimp.'''" If this wire is included, it will quickly melt - or worse.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=419|Y=78|W=57|H=75|image=circuit_diagram-419-078-057-075-scarab-beetles.png|text=A jar of {{w|Scarabaeidae|scarab beetles}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=482|Y=47|W=28|H=44|image=circuit_diagram-482-047-028-044-variable-resister.png|text=A variable resistor with center tap. Normally, there would be an arrowhead on the center tap.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=507|Y=53|W=22|H=27|image=circuit_diagram-507-053-022-027-capacitor.png|text=A normal capacitor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=577|Y=318|W=96|H=62|image=circuit_diagram-577-318-096-062-magic.png|text="{{w|Magic Smoke}}" is the legendary stuff inside a chip that comes out when it fails.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=669|Y=315|W=51|H=66|image=circuit_diagram-669-315-051-066-frayed-wires.png|text=Some frayed or dangling wires.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=567|Y=392|W=58|H=48|image=circuit_diagram-567-392-058-048-buoy.png|text=An object which is either a float used in fishing, a {{w|Tippe top}}, or perhaps a {{w|Naval mine|mine}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=458|Y=336|W=111|H=86|image=circuit_diagram-458-336-111-086-moral-rectifier.png|text=A {{w|Diode_bridge|bridge rectifier}}, which would normally turn alternating current at the top and bottom into direct current on the left and right. In this case, it is labeled as a "moral rectifier". This is presumably a play on the idea of moral rectitude – it makes your circuit more moral. Why this matters in a circuit is unclear.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=423|Y=259|W=80|H=85|image=circuit_diagram-423-259-080-085-warm-front.png|text=A {{w|warm front}} is a feature on a {{w|Surface weather analysis|synoptic weather map}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=190|Y=199|W=54|H=52|image=circuit_diagram-190-199-054-052-battery.png|text=A normal 50-volt battery.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=173|Y=200|W=89|H=56|image=circuit_diagram-173-200-089-056-shorted-battery.png|text=A battery is grounded on both sides. Something will melt or burn out quickly, unless these are separate "earth ground"s, in which case the ground might get a bit cooked.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=259|Y=198|W=174|H=25|image=circuit_diagram-259-198-174-025-pull-wire.png|text=Text reads "Pull this wire really tight". This kind of physical-property issue may indicate a high-frequency radio device. Or, given the absurdity of the context, it's a silly reference to a "high tension wire."}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=141|Y=211|W=41|H=91|image=circuit_diagram-141-211-041-091-3-8-inch.png|text=A specified 3/8-inch separation. This probably indicates a carefully controlled capacitance issue. Also contradicts the scale of the drawing, by which the distance shown would be about 0.8 miles or 0.8 km.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=173|Y=309|W=92|H=59|image=circuit_diagram-173-309-092-059-eel.png|text=An {{w|electric eel}}. This may be an effective power source in the circuit, capable of producing a shock at up to 600 volts and 1 ampere of current (600 watts), but for less than 2 ms.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=266|Y=307|W=35|H=41|image=circuit_diagram-266-307-035-041-resistor.png|text=A normal resistor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=222|Y=358|W=34|H=29|image=circuit_diagram-222-358-034-029-capacitor.png|text=A normal capacitor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=130|Y=335|W=44|H=40|image=circuit_diagram-130-335-044-040-resistor.png|text=A normal resistor, labeled "ë". This may be a play on {{w|e (mathematical constant)|Euler's Number}}, which doesn't normally have an umlaut. Alternatively instead of being an umlaut it may indicate the second {{w|derivative}} derivative of e with respect to time in {{w|Newton's notation}}, in which case, as e is a constant, the resistance of this element is zero.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=65|Y=249|W=61|H=92|image=circuit_diagram-065-249-061-092-blender.png|text=This appears to be a blender.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=20|Y=342|W=115|H=73|image=circuit_diagram-020-342-115-073-arduino.png|text=An {{w|arduino}}, labeled "Arduino, just for blog cred". May refer to the fact that inexpensive, easy-to-integrate single-board computers like the arduino, which have contributed to the rise of {{w|Maker_culture}}, are used and discussed frequently in that culture, and the use of one might impress readers. The comment implies that an arduino is not otherwise needed in this circuit, although it is necessarily hard to tell, given the other components of the circuit.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=39|Y=423|W=118|H=82|image=circuit_diagram-039-423-118-082-meca.png|text=A chip labeled "Most expensive chip available". The small curve at the top is a part of the packaging designed to show its orientation.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=159|Y=428|W=91|H=50|image=circuit_diagram-159-428-091-050-neck-strap.png|text=Labeled "Neck Strap". Perhaps a piece of torture equipment or indicating that the circuit is part of an {{w|electric chair}}?}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=147|Y=480|W=110|H=88|image=circuit_diagram-147-480-110-088-switch.png|text=A switch labeled "Hire someone to open and close switch real fast." Possibly meant to perform the function of an oscillator in a more hackish manner and the reason for the neck strap. Could also be a reference to {{w|Maxwell's Demon}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=273|Y=498|W=61|H=64|image=circuit_diagram-273-498-061-064-resistor.png|text=A 5 ohm resistor labeled "(decoy)". One end is not attached to anything. Perhaps this indicates wishful thinking that electrons might be tricked into entering this part of the circuit despite the fact that there's nowhere for them to go?}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=307|Y=453|W=103|H=56|image=circuit_diagram-307-453-103-056-tongue.png|text=A pair of contacts, labeled "Touch Tongue Here". Could be referring to the practice of daring someone to touch their tongue to the contacts of a 9V battery.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=301|Y=270|W=45|H=45|image=circuit_diagram-301-270-045-045-frown.png|text=A frowny-face. See the float/mine.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=294|Y=311|W=128|H=124|image=circuit_diagram-294-311-128-124-IC.png|text=A small integrated circuit. The lower gate is an inverter, wired as a free-running oscillator. The upper gate is an XOR wired to act as either a free-running oscillator or a latch. Since the XOR will be slower than the inverter, the overall output of the upper gate is probably very chaotic. Two "input" wires are not connected at all. An additional wire is attached to the top with hot glue. This last wire probably acts to control static electricity and leakage.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=302|Y=235|W=91|H=25|image=circuit_diagram-302-235-091-025-curve.png|text=A caution sign at a curve. Another road feature in the circuit.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=401|Y=455|W=67|H=68|image=circuit_diagram-401-455-067-068-CH3.png|text=A {{w|methyl group}} (chemistry) attached to a corner. If the circuit were an organic chemical, it would be reasonable to find a number of these.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=453|Y=167|W=43|H=93|image=circuit_diagram-453-167-043-093-baloon.png|text=A balloon, possibly blowing in a breeze.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=572|Y=68|W=22|H=43|image=circuit_diagram-572-068-022-043-inductor.png|text=A coil or inductor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=508|Y=96|W=42|H=20|image=circuit_diagram-508-096-042-020-inductor.png|text=A coil or inductor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=534|Y=61|W=22|H=31|image=circuit_diagram-534-061-022-031-ground.png|text=A ground connection.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=472|Y=49|W=134|H=140|image=circuit_diagram-472-049-134-140-solderr-blob.png|text=A solder blob covering a portion of the circuit. Normally, this would not be part of the circuit diagram, but a mistake in building the circuit.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=493|Y=443|W=207|H=158|image=circuit_diagram-493-443-207-158-res-rats-nest.png|text=A rats nest of 1 ohm resistors. It is labeled "Oh, so you think you're such a whiz at EE201?" EE201 is a US course number for a basic level course in electrical engineering (compare {{w|101 (term)|101}}). [http://www.wikihow.com/Calculate-Series-and-Parallel-Resistance Calculating the effective resistance of this] is what the title text refers to. It appears to work out to 0.75800964845 ohms.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=315|Y=533|W=232|H=200|image=circuit_diagram-362-531-151-167-arena.png|text=An arena, with a few bodies in it. Note the direction of movement enforced by the surrounding diodes, {{w|Mad_Max_Beyond_Thunderdome|"two men enter, one man leaves"}} }}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=569|Y=653|W=47|H=51|image=circuit_diagram-569-653-047-051-resistor.png|text=A "pi" ohm resistor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=610|Y=655|W=75|H=70|image=circuit_diagram-610-655-075-070-generator.png|text=A 500-volt AC generator. The wiring to the right shorts out this generator.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=481|Y=682|W=85|H=64|image=circuit_diagram-481-682-085-064-ground.png|text=A ground connection, labeled "Bury deep, but not too deep". This type of ground connection is called an "earth ground" The "too deep" part might be a reference to {{w|Moria (Middle-earth)|Moria}} in Lord of Rings. The dwarves dug too deeply and disturbed a balrog. See also comic [[760]].}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=17|Y=610|W=75|H=73|image=circuit_diagram-017-610-075-073-fishhook.png|text=A ground connection at the end of a curve, looking like a fishhook. Means perhaps "earthed down under", i.e., Australia or the southern hemisphere.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=206|Y=662|W=66|H=45|image=circuit_diagram-206-662-066-045-yarn.png|text=A length of "wire" is labeled "yarn". This probably makes it a terrible conductor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=102|Y=590|W=93|H=88|image=circuit_diagram-102-590-093-088-fluxcapacitor.png|text=The {{w|DeLorean time machine#Flux capacitor|flux capacitor}} from {{w|Back to the Future}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=138|Y=685|W=54|H=24|image=circuit_diagram-138-685-054-024-I95.png|text=A road sign for "I-95". Interstate 95 is the main north-south highway on the east coast of the United States, running from Maine to Florida.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=12|Y=713|W=134|H=36|image=circuit_diagram-012-713-134-036-tothesun.png|text=A connection labeled "To center of Sun". A 93-million-mile circuit is rather large, but...}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=31|Y=753|W=144|H=177|image=circuit_diagram-031-753-144-177-rats-nest.png|text=A rat's nest of wires. Everything winds up being connected.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=22|Y=513|W=97|H=61|image=circuit_diagram-022-513-097-061-esf.png|text=A label reading "Electrons Single File". If this happens, the resistance in this section of wire would be rather high.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=256|Y=619|W=29|H=39|image=circuit_diagram-256-619-029-039-ground.png|text=A ground connection.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=589|Y=600|W=58|H=46|image=circuit_diagram-589-600-058-046-vibrator.png|text=A vibrator, which would be a motor with an off-center weight attached to it.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=532|Y=779|W=74|H=52|image=circuit_diagram-532-779-074-052-motor.png|text=A motor, labeled "To Scale". This indicates that the physical size and shape of the motor must match the size of the parts around it, or is consistent with the specified scale of the drawing. }}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=662|Y=822|W=73|H=109|image=circuit_diagram-662-822-073-109-holy-ground.png|text=A ground connection, in a beaker labeled "{{w|Holy Water}}", possibly creating {{w|Holy ground (religion)|Holy ground}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=197|Y=740|W=48|H=55|image=circuit_diagram-197-740-048-055-speed.png|text=A sign indicating a speed limit of 55 MPH. This is a rather typical road sign, but inappropriate for a circuit diagram.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=238|Y=706|W=100|H=116|image=circuit_diagram-238-706-100-116-flipflop.png|text=A pair of NOR gates wired as a SR (set-reset) {{w|Flip-flop (electronics)|flip-flop}}. The label reads "May use an actual sandal instead", which is a play on the meanings of the term "{{w|Flip-flops|flip-flop}}".}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=322|Y=708|W=70|H=54|image=circuit_diagram-322-708-070-054-holdingpen.png|text=Something that could be the side view of a fence, labeled "Holding Pen".}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=339|Y=777|W=42|H=49|image=circuit_diagram-339-777-042-049-knot.png|text=A simple overhand knot. Also looks like a pretzel, which would have pretty high resistance.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=191|Y=889|W=149|H=33|image=circuit_diagram-191-889-149-033-ecg.png|text=This appears to be an {{w|Electrocardiography|electrocardiograph}} (ECG) trace, but not the sort that would be seen in a healthy person. If this were a real ECG trace, the absence of large, clear {{w|P wave (electrocardiography)|P waves}} might indicate {{w|Atrial Fibrillation|fine atrial fibrillation}}, but in some recording configurations, P waves are sometimes lost in the noise anyway. Additionally, without a time scale to tell us the ventricular heart rate, it is impossible to make a strong educated diagnosis of any hypothetical disease at all. If we assume it is atrial fibrillation, is not clear if Randall intended this, or if he is just not familiar with how a normal ECG should look.}}{{Disputed tag|talk=Discussion}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=223|Y=826|W=82|H=68|image=circuit_diagram-223-826-082-068-photodiode.png|text=A photodiode, labeled "Tear Collector". A photodiode is a light-sensing device.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=373|Y=859|W=49|H=68|image=circuit_diagram-373-859-049-068-lamp.png|text=A lamp. This is not [http://electronicsclub.info/circuitsymbols.htm the symbol used in electrical circuits], but a drawing of a lightbulb.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=450|Y=887|W=65|H=32|image=circuit_diagram-450-887-065-032-inductor.png|text=A coil or inductor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=537|Y=847|W=120|H=72|image=circuit_diagram-537-847-120-072-inductor.png|text=A coil or inductor, labeled "Take off shirt while wiring this part. Ooh, yeah, I like that."}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=504|Y=860|W=34|H=41|image=circuit_diagram-504-860-034-041-resistor.png|text=A resistor labeled "?". Presumably this means the resistance is unknown.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=459|Y=828|W=55|H=38|image=circuit_diagram-459-828-055-038-resistor.png|text=A resistor labeled "YES". Likely another improper unit - a reference to boolean values YES (TRUE) and NO (FALSE). Depending on the limits of a circuit, a resistor would still have a YES boolean value. Possibly indicating that this is a real resistor, as opposed to the one above it in the circuit, labeled "not a resistor."}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=389|Y=774|W=58|H=53|image=circuit_diagram-389-774-058-053-resistor.png|text=A resistor labeled "8 mm".}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=443|Y=747|W=93|H=84|image=circuit_diagram-443-747-093-084-resistor.png|text=A resistor labeled "Not a resistor; wire just does this". This may reflect the fact that any wire has a certain amount of resistance just by being a wire, or it may be that the wire is physically bent into a zig-zag shape.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=415|Y=863|W=82|H=24|image=circuit_diagram-415-863-082-024-unsure.png|text=A symbol for a feedthrough capacitor, labeled "3 Liters". Probable word-play on "capacity/capacitor." Also similar to the symbol for an orifice or flow restriction used on plumbing or hydraulic diagrams, in which case the "3 Liters" might mean 3 liters per minute or per second.}}
|}

==Transcript==
:See table.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Maps]]

Talk:730: Circuit Diagram

2015-02-19T21:38:44Z

Gijobarts:

So, is the arena a new kind of comparator or something? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:28, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

11:13, 10 April 2013 (UTC)11:13, 10 April 2013 (UTC)[[User:Jh6p|Jh6p]] ([[User talk:Jh6p|talk]])
The 3 liter capacitor could also be a ball approximately 6 inches in diameter if the seams on the ball were similar to the seams on a basketball. Perhaps a volleyball?

: "A squirrel. What it does as a circuit element is unsure."
Perhaps an allusion to a {{w|Squirrel-cage rotor|squirrel cage}}?
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 18:51, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

: The shape of the squirrel's tail reminds me of a {{w|hysteresis}} curve, although this is admittedly a bit of a stretch. —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 16:02, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

The 'to scale' motor would be about half a mile wide. Powering the rabbit on Gaia's vibrator (also included)? --[[User:StarChaser Tyger|StarChaser Tyger]] ([[User talk:StarChaser Tyger|talk]]) 08:40, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

I beg to differ on the flux capacitor thing, as cool as it sounds. Since it is right above the I-90 notation, it is more likely a fork in the road (notice the road stripes indicating that you can pass at any point in the fork). [[Special:Contributions/97.87.12.114|97.87.12.114]] 02:15, 24 June 2013 (UTC)
: Oh, I'm pretty sure it's a flux capacitor. Compare some of [http://www.google.com/search?q=flux+capacitor&tbm=isch these images]. Yes, there are several road references in this comic, but an electronic reference (especially to a ''fictional'' electronic component!) makes more sense. Also I've never seen a Y-shaped highway intersection that looked quite like that (and especially not on an interstate). —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 14:52, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

I have wasted 4 hours on the puzzle, and after wasting 9 pages of A5 paper, the resistance of that terrible resistor mess worked out to be exactly 25265/33783 ohm, or about 0.74786135 ohm. --KopaLeo [[Special:Contributions/199.48.226.89|199.48.226.89]] 15:16, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

I think that the "fishing float" might actually be a picture of an ordinary push switch (similar to foot switches used on standard lamps). [[Special:Contributions/87.194.171.29|87.194.171.29]] 16:12, 10 July 2013 (UTC)

Isn't the "YES" resistor a reference to the anecdote of how John Lennon and Yoko Ono met? That's what I thought when I saw it, but then, I kinda like The Beatles a bit. [[Special:Contributions/200.70.22.74|200.70.22.74]] 12:27, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

I think the attempt to explain every single piece of the comic is rather silly. The humor largely draws from the absurdity of the diagram, and that can probably be summarized without going into detail about the possible references of each individual component. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 03:22, 26 November 2013 (UTC)
: I disagree. The joke works on multiple levels, both the absurdity of the circuit, and the smaller parts of which it is comprised. [[User:Hydroksyde|Hydroksyde]] ([[User talk:Hydroksyde|talk]]) 02:40, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

I concur with KopaLeo - I got the same answer for the resistance of the grid of resistors - about 0.748 when rounded. What a problem!
--techdude
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.65|108.162.215.65]] 20:45, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

I feel like I should point out that putting a ground connection in holy water probably creates {{w|Holy Ground}} [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.197|108.162.212.197]] 11:36, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

To center of Sun could possibly be another map reference. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.202|108.162.250.202]] 01:08, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

The 'moral rectifier' seems like it's built of diodes which prevent current flow to the left, which might mean it's making the current 'more right'? with right being a synonym for moral?
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.18|108.162.212.18]] 00:15, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

;3L capacitor

The capacitor reminded me of a time I asked my dad why desktop PCs (the kind we could afford at the time were 200-500 W) couldn't have capacitors to protect them from 1-second or shorter power interruptions without the cost of a UPS. He said such a capacitor would have to be as wide and tall as a 2L pop bottle. (He didn't say how much it would weigh.) [[User:Promethean|Promethean]] ([[User talk:Promethean|talk]]) 04:38, 9 September 2014 (UTC)

Where did the claim that the EKG is atrial fibrillation come from? At best it it hard to tell without a time scale what the ventricular rate is, but there is no evidence of extra P waves between QRS complexes that I see. If the diagnosis is made based on the absence of P & T waves, keep in mind that some recording conditions make those (especially T) hard to see. In an {{w|Einthoven's triangle}} arrangement, they might not show up at all above the noise. If we had a time scale that let us calculate ventricular rate, we might be able to conclude {{w|supraventricular tachycardia}}, but I'm hesitant to make a strong claim that this is abnormal at all given that it's hand drawn and we have no scale.[[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:07, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

Does this really belong in Category:Charts? I'm moving it to Category:Maps instead. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 21:38, 19 February 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1488: Flowcharts

2015-02-19T21:36:26Z

Gijobarts:

A little bit more of 730? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.108|141.101.80.108]] 06:53, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
:More along the lines of 94, 210, 518, 627, 844, 845, and 1195, though I see similarities with 730. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 07:09, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
How should we do the transcript? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 07:09, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

You could do the transcript as a number list formatted like: "[Title of item] IF YES(GOTO X), IF NO(GOTO Y)" (where "X" and "Y" are the numbers on the list for the corresponding next option). Derek [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.107|108.162.216.107]] 13:25, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

I would just like to say that I find some of the linked spiral-images ''very'' disturbing. Although for some they'd be the same even ''without'' the spirals, admitedly. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.188|141.101.98.188]] 09:47, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

I believe this will end up being one of the most challenging explanations yet (of those that are completely explicable) - got quite a task up ahead... -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 10:35, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

Normally (for a flowchart) the Start symbol should not have an input. The electrical circuit is not a rectifier! Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.103|108.162.254.103]] 10:59, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
:In the newly corrected version, it is. [[User:Knob creek|Knob creek]] ([[User talk:Knob creek|talk]]) 16:58, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
::But it doesn't need to be, since the rectification is done by the flow chart. Two of the diodes will never be used. (Is it still a rectifier if it's not rectifying?) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.182|108.162.249.182]] 21:49, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
:::Yes it's still a rectifier. It just appears to be out of a job, that's all. Anyone else notice that the bridge rectifier IS a flowchart? The two decision trees feeding it are completely unnecessary. Getting rid of them gives the rectifier back it's job! Also, to give Randall a break, the original diagram of the bridge is actually a ring modulator. It's been decades since I've been in RF so I had to track it down and confirm.[[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 23:24, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
OCD comment: There appear to be two lines missing, 1) from scatter plots to data or axis, 2) from the bottom of positive or negative DC terminal to the negative terminal of the battery. Also, I would be happier if the two left hand diodes of the full wave rectifier were reversed. {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.95}}

:Scatter plots don't have lines, that's the joke. {{unsigned ip|199.27.133.71}}

Either I was really tired this morning, or the spiral was not actually present in the first version of this comic.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.98|108.162.254.98]] 13:00, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

It seems like the options for the "Do you like flowcharts?" box should be reversed (only putting someone through the flowchart if they say they like flowcharts). I think it makes less sense to have the first option "annoy" someone with a flowchart option until they say they don't like flowcharts, then put them through a flowchart. Derek [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.107|108.162.216.107]] 13:31, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

I see no evidence that the "time or your happiness" box is asking you to "choose whichever you value more". The graph shows your happiness as a function of time, not "your time" (it's not as if you were asked to choose between, say, more happiness or more spare time for yourself). I think it is just asking you to choose which axis of the graph you want to follow. The flowchart for the line graph and the scatter plot are similar; since "X or Y" is not interpreted as a question about value, why should "time or your happiness" be?
Zetfr 14:00, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

The comment on the Fibonacci and Golden Spirals being the same is not correct. According to Wikipedia{{w|Golden_Spiral|[1]}}{{w|Fibonacci_number|[2]}}: "A Fibonacci spiral '''approximates''' the golden spiral using quarter-circle arcs inscribed in squares of integer Fibonacci-number side." - [[User:Prometheusmmiv|Prometheusmmiv]] ([[User talk:Prometheusmmiv|talk]]) 14:55, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

Randall has uploaded a new version, it fixes some missing lines: The scatter graph is now connected, as is the DC terminal, and the battery is now in a circuit. Some of the explaination above needs updating [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.47|141.101.99.47]] 15:32, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

Clicking on the image takes you to http://xkcd.com/spiral/ {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.149}}
:Good catch about http://xkcd.com/spiral/ ! --[[User:Guest|Guest]] ([[User talk:Guest|talk]]) 17:46, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

'''NOTE''' this comic has been changed, oddly. http://xkcd.com/1488/ [[User:Halfhat|Halfhat]] ([[User talk:Halfhat|talk]]) 18:21, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

How do we change this wiki to have the updated image? The XKCD site is updated, but this page still shows the old image. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 18:59, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
:I have uploaded the correct version now. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:30, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
:: The image is still out of date as it lacks the Yes / Never! markings on the Path of Least Resistance decision box. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.174|173.245.54.174]] 21:00, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

Is it a coincidence that a Fibonacci sequence has a link to the golden ratio? I think not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTWKKvlZB08 [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 21:08, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

Wow - I tried the random button once and got to this comic: [[1359: Phone Alarm]]. For a second I thought he had rigged it - but that is was not the case. But that was not getting to something else ;-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:19, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

:I got [[518]] and started laughing all over again. He really should rig the random button on this page to point to only flowchart comics. He has enough of them: [[94]], [[210]], [[518]], [[844]], [[851]], [[854]], [[1066]], [[1195]], [[1359]]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.98|108.162.216.98]] 15:20, 19 February 2015 (UTC)
::Thanks, you found one that wasn't in Category:Flowcharts. Fixed it. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 21:31, 19 February 2015 (UTC)
:I only got [[1100: Vows]]. The comic was posted yesterday, though. Is it possible that he rigged it, but only for yesterday? [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 21:36, 19 February 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1488: Flowcharts

2015-02-19T21:31:40Z

Gijobarts:

1066: Laundry

2015-02-19T21:29:41Z

Gijobarts: add to Category:Flowcharts

{{comic
| number = 1066
| date = June 8, 2012
| title = Laundry
| image = laundry.png
| titletext = During the second semester, the path is briefly routed through the dishwasher.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is all about college laundry habits and how as time goes by, you end up just throwing clothes on the floor and then wearing them again.

In the first week, the student undertakes a proper laundry routine. However, due to increasing laziness and stress from due assignments, by the second week they have abandoned folding their clothes, and by the third week no longer bother hanging them in the closet. By the second month dirty clothes are no longer stored in a laundry hamper and are just dumped on the floor, and by the end of the semester clothes are not washed at all.

The title text seems to indicate that the student has a brainwave sometime later, to wash their clothes in the dishwasher along with the dishes, presumably as a timesaver. The experiment was brief because dishwashers aren't actually any good at washing clothes as they wouldn't move the clothes about.

==Transcript==
:'''College Laundry Habits'''

:[Panel labeled "First Week". 5 ovals arranged in a rough circle, with a clockwise path connecting them: "Dresser & Closet", "On Body", "Hamper", "Washer & Dryer", "Folding Area" (and back to the first). The area outside the ovals is labeled "Floor."]

:[Panel labeled "Second Week". The path has been modified so that it does not go through "Folding Area" - only through the other 4 ovals.]

:[Panel labeled "Third Week". The path has been modified so that it does not go through "Dresser & Closet". Only "On Body", "Hamper", and "Washer & Dryer" remain.]

:[Panel labeled "Second Month". The path no longer passes through "Hamper" - only "On Body" and "Washer & Dryer".]

:[Panel labeled "End of Semester". The path no longer goes to "Washer & Dryer", instead just looping back around from "On Body" to "On Body" again after passing through the "Floor."]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Flowcharts]]

Talk:153: Cryptography

2014-03-06T05:57:15Z

Gijobarts:

I think that executing that S-box twice would get you back where you started. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 05:28, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
:Actually that's not true. Regardless of the bit in position 1 to begin with, you will always have a 1 in position 8 in the result. When you shift, you're adding a 0 in position 1 (assuming a 0 shift in), then the inverse is 1, and flipping would put the 1 in position 8. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 14:06, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
::I was expecting the last bit to wrap around to the front. It could go either way. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 05:57, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
" and so is the author Randall Munroe at [http://pycon.blogspot.com/2009/02/randall-munroe.html PyCon]"
:I think that post is a joke.
:* It links to [[541: TED Talk]].
:* It says "Registration volunteers have been instructed to refuse admission to Randall Munroe personally, and in fact, to any '''stick figures''' who may attempt to register"
:* There isn't anything on YouTube or {{w|Randall Munroe}}'s Wikipedia page about it.
:* [http://www.blog.pythonlibrary.org/2009/02/11/xkcd-artist-banned-from-pycon/ Another Python blog] says that it was a publicity stunt, citing the organizers' mailing list archives. I didn't bother to sign up for access to the archive.
:[http://catherinedevlin.pythoneers.com/leadership.html Catherine Devlin] claims that she banned Randall, so we could try asking her if she's serious.
:[http://holdenweb.blogspot.com/2009/02/randall-munroe-banned-from-pycon.html Another blog post about it]
:[[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 16:48, 2 September 2013 (UTC) (edited 20:29 UTC)
::I've signed up for access to the mailing list, and am currently waiting for moderator approval. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 20:38, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

Beret Guy

2013-09-09T17:28:22Z

Gijobarts:

{{Infobox character
| image = Beret_Guy.png
| imagesize = 40px
| caption = Beret guy, as seen in [[1117: My Sky]]
| first_appearance = [[167: Nihilism]]
}}
'''Beret Guy''' is a [[stick figure]] character in [[xkcd]]. He is distinguished by his white beret.

==Characteristics==
Beret Guy is an optimist, and sometimes a naïve one (although he is rarely a victim in the strip). He enjoys philosophizing, often taking the role of the {{w|existentialist}}. He has a very surreal side to him, often thinking about or being involved in bizarre situations. He is also fascinated with bakeries, scones in particular.

He shares several traits with Beriah from [http://www.meninhats.com/ Men in Hats], as [[Black Hat]] does with Aram from the same series, but in contrast to the latter, this doesn't appear to have been officially acknowledged.

{{navbox-characters}}
[[Category:Characters]]

541: TED Talk

2013-09-03T01:40:12Z

Gijobarts:

{{comic
| number = 541
| date = February 9, 2009
| title = TED Talk
| image = ted_talk.png
| titletext = The IAU ban came after the "redefinition of the 'planet' to include the IAU president's mom" incident.
}}

==Explanation==
The comics shows Randall as a presenter at the highly prestigious {{w|TED conference}}, a symposium about technology, entertainment and design. The illustrious {{w|list of TED speakers|list of former presenters}} includes amongst others Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Larry Page, Richard Dawkins and Gordon Brown. The conference is regarded as a forum for {{w|digerati}}. Every talk has a length of 18 minutes and is supposed to be as captivating as possible.

Randall's presentation, however, reduces the purpose of the conference to absurdity: The topic he wishes to point out to his listeners, is that of how to put an emoticon at the end of a parenthetical statement. This question is of little practical consequence, although it received a lot of attention after publication of the comic. In the last panel, the TED conference is another item to add to his list of conferences from which he has been banned. On the list are other conferences from all sorts of fields, including every American furry convention.

The title text about Randall's ban from the {{w|IAU}} conference is a reference to the popular maternal insults called {{w|"yo mama" jokes}}. A common representative of the genre runs "Yo mama so fat, scientists have declared her the 10th planet."

Getting banned from attending a conference occurs more than once in xkcd, cf. [[153]] and [[410]].

In response to this comic, {{w|PyCon}} organizers jokingly [http://pycon.blogspot.com/2009/02/randall-munroe.html announced] that Randall Munroe was banned from PyCon 2009 due to "last year's disgraceful keynote, 'Web Spiders vs. Red Spiders'." They also said they instructed their volunteers to refuse admission to him and "any stick figures who may attempt to register, particularly if they are wearing hats."

Messages on the PyCon-Organizers mailing list show that this joke was intended to get Randall to come to PyCon: (The links will only work if you're subscribed to the mailing list.)
:PyCon mentioned briefly in today's xkcd:
:http://xkcd.com/541/
:We've still never gotten Randall Munroe to actually attend, have we? Anybody want to take charge of twisting his arm this time? I think we can still offer him a "press pass" (free registration). [...] [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011224.html]
::An invite would seem most appropriate given the cartoon. :-)
::We could also have an official PyCon blog post confirming his ban... [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011225.html]
:::How about a public blog post LIFTING the ban and inviting him? [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011226.html]
::::Confirming the ban is far funnier... He's definitely a disturbing influence on programmers. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011227.html]
:::::Agreed, especially if we invite him concurrently with confirming the ban. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011239.html]
:::::(a few posts later)
:::::I'm happy to participate in actually throwing some thin guy out of the conference, and then get some graphics savvy person to animate a stick figure over that. :) [...][http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011274.html]
::::::here's a rough idea of what would show up if you invited him to actually do any speaking...
::::::http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24
::::::it's fairly long. he shows up in the beginning around 3:25. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011275.html]
:::::::For the record, I did try to convince him to come when got the art for the tshirt last year. He didn't seem super psyched, but then again emotions are hard to read via IRC.
:::::::I love the idea of "officially" banning him, however. ;-) [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011241.html]
::::::::(a few posts later)
::::::::OK - posted to the PyCon blog, by the power vested in me as publicity chair. With Michael Foord's excellent sentence added.
::::::::Now let him know that since he's banned, he HAS to come. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011251.html]

==Transcript==
:[Randall Munroe on stage.]
:Randall: Hi. I'm Randall. Welcome to my TED talk.
:Randall: It's an honor to speak to you, some of the brightest innovators from so many fields, about a problem in desperate need of your attention:
:Randall: How DO you end parenthetical statements with emoticons? I can't figure out a good way.
:[Screen next to him shows two statements, both crossed out in red.]
:"Linux (or BSD :)" would... "looks mismatched"
:"Linux (or BSD :))" would... "looks mismatched and weird"

:[Randall writing on a desk.]
:Randall's List - Conferences I'm banned from:
:Siggraph
:Eurocrypt
:Defcon
:Pycon
:International Astronomical Union
:Canadian Paleontology Conference
:Every American Furry Convention
:American Baking Society
:Asian Dolphin-Training Conference
:TED

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]]
[[Category:Furries]]

153: Cryptography

2013-09-03T01:39:35Z

Gijobarts:

{{comic
| number = 153
| date = September 6, 2006
| title = Cryptography
| image = cryptography.png
| titletext = If you got a big keyspace, let me search it.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic, as the name implies, is relevant to the study of {{w|cryptography}}. At the podium, [[Cueball]] is describing a proposed crypto system (a computer program that turns a very large number, called the "{{w|key (cryptography)|key}}", and a message into an encrypted form that can only be read by using the same key), based on the model of a {{w|Feistel cipher}}. Part of any Feistel cipher is the "round function", which determines how the key is applied to the original message; this is applied multiple times with a variety of tricks and techniques to insure the process can eventually be reversed. One common component of round functions is the {{w|S-box}}, a simple table that converts input bytes into output bytes, preferably in a way that doesn't correspond to any mathematical rules.

Here, the S-box would be implemented by doing the following (with the computer operation actually shown in the diagrams indicated in parentheses):

#Take the bitstring down (roll right by 1)
#Flip it (take its binary NOT)
#Reverse it (run the bits in the opposite order)

This would be run on each round of the cipher to further scramble the message for the next round. As the caption implies, the steps are based on a line from the {{w|Missy Elliott}} song ''{{w|Work It (Missy Elliott song)|Work It}}'': "I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it."

The {{w|Key space (cryptography)|keyspace}} for a cryptographic algorithm is the number of possible keys the algorithm can possibly accept. For example, {{w|Advanced Encryption Standard|AES-256}} has a keyspace of 2256 (roughly 1.1579209e+77) possible keys, simply because the algorithm specifies that each key is 256 bits wide. The title text is referring to "searching a keyspace", which is to say, simply trying every key until you find one that works. (For reference, a computer would require roughly the energy of a billion billion supernovas to even count to 2256, let alone actually try each one.) The precise wording "If you got a big keyspace, let me search it" is, of course, another reference to the same song: "If you got a big **** let me search ya." (The **** in the song is apparently the sound of an elephant, but it is heavily implied from context to be "penis".)

Cueball is banned from multiple conferences for similar pranks in [[541: TED Talk]]. In response to 541, {{w|PyCon}} organizers jokingly [http://pycon.blogspot.com/2009/02/randall-munroe.html announced] that Randall Munroe was banned from PyCon 2009 due to "last year's disgraceful keynote, 'Web Spiders vs. Red Spiders'." They also said they instructed their volunteers to refuse admission to him and "any stick figures who may attempt to register, particularly if they are wearing hats."

Messages on the PyCon-Organizers mailing list show that this joke was intended to get Randall to come to PyCon: (The links will only work if you're subscribed to the mailing list.)
:PyCon mentioned briefly in today's xkcd:
:http://xkcd.com/541/
:We've still never gotten Randall Munroe to actually attend, have we? Anybody want to take charge of twisting his arm this time? I think we can still offer him a "press pass" (free registration). [...] [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011224.html]
::An invite would seem most appropriate given the cartoon. :-)
::We could also have an official PyCon blog post confirming his ban... [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011225.html]
:::How about a public blog post LIFTING the ban and inviting him? [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011226.html]
::::Confirming the ban is far funnier... He's definitely a disturbing influence on programmers. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011227.html]
:::::Agreed, especially if we invite him concurrently with confirming the ban. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011239.html]
:::::(a few posts later)
:::::I'm happy to participate in actually throwing some thin guy out of the conference, and then get some graphics savvy person to animate a stick figure over that. :) [...][http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011274.html]
::::::here's a rough idea of what would show up if you invited him to actually do any speaking...
::::::http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24
::::::it's fairly long. he shows up in the beginning around 3:25. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011275.html]
:::::::For the record, I did try to convince him to come when got the art for the tshirt last year. He didn't seem super psyched, but then again emotions are hard to read via IRC.
:::::::I love the idea of "officially" banning him, however. ;-) [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011241.html]
::::::::(a few posts later)
::::::::OK - posted to the PyCon blog, by the power vested in me as publicity chair. With Michael Foord's excellent sentence added.
::::::::Now let him know that since he's banned, he HAS to come. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011251.html]

==Transcript==
:[Cueball at a podium.]
:Cueball: My cryptosystem is like any Feistel cipher, except in the S-Boxes we simply take the bitstring down, flip it, and reverse it.
:I've been barred from speaking at any major cryptography conferences ever since it became clear that all my algorithms were just thinly disguised Missy Elliot songs.

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

541: TED Talk

2013-09-03T01:38:34Z

Gijobarts: add PyCon info from 153: Cryptography

{{comic
| number = 541
| date = February 9, 2009
| title = TED Talk
| image = ted_talk.png
| titletext = The IAU ban came after the "redefinition of the 'planet' to include the IAU president's mom" incident.
}}

==Explanation==
The comics shows Randall as a presenter at the highly prestigious {{w|TED conference}}, a symposium about technology, entertainment and design. The illustrious {{w|list of TED speakers|list of former presenters}} includes amongst others Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Larry Page, Richard Dawkins and Gordon Brown. The conference is regarded as a forum for {{w|digerati}}. Every talk has a length of 18 minutes and is supposed to be as captivating as possible.

Randall's presentation, however, reduces the purpose of the conference to absurdity: The topic he wishes to point out to his listeners, is that of how to put an emoticon at the end of a parenthetical statement. This question is of little practical consequence, although it received a lot of attention after publication of the comic. In the last panel, the TED conference is another item to add to his list of conferences from which he has been banned. On the list are other conferences from all sorts of fields, including every American furry convention.

The title text about Randall's ban from the {{w|IAU}} conference is a reference to the popular maternal insults called {{w|"yo mama" jokes}}. A common representative of the genre runs "Yo mama so fat, scientists have declared her the 10th planet."

Getting banned from attending a conference occurs more than once in xkcd, cf. [[153]] and [[410]].

In response to this comic, {{w|PyCon}} organizers jokingly [http://pycon.blogspot.com/2009/02/randall-munroe.html announced] that Randall Munroe was banned from PyCon 2009 due to "last year's disgraceful keynote, 'Web Spiders vs. Red Spiders'." They also said they instructed their volunteers to refuse admission to him and "any stick figures who may attempt to register, particularly if they are wearing hats."

Messages on the PyCon-Organizers mailing list show that this joke was intended to get Randall to come to PyCon:
:PyCon mentioned briefly in today's xkcd:
:http://xkcd.com/541/
:We've still never gotten Randall Munroe to actually attend, have we? Anybody want to take charge of twisting his arm this time? I think we can still offer him a "press pass" (free registration). [...] [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011224.html]
::An invite would seem most appropriate given the cartoon. :-)
::We could also have an official PyCon blog post confirming his ban... [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011225.html]
:::How about a public blog post LIFTING the ban and inviting him? [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011226.html]
::::Confirming the ban is far funnier... He's definitely a disturbing influence on programmers. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011227.html]
:::::Agreed, especially if we invite him concurrently with confirming the ban. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011239.html]
:::::(a few posts later)
:::::I'm happy to participate in actually throwing some thin guy out of the conference, and then get some graphics savvy person to animate a stick figure over that. :) [...][http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011274.html]
::::::here's a rough idea of what would show up if you invited him to actually do any speaking...
::::::http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24
::::::it's fairly long. he shows up in the beginning around 3:25. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011275.html]
:::::::For the record, I did try to convince him to come when got the art for the tshirt last year. He didn't seem super psyched, but then again emotions are hard to read via IRC.
:::::::I love the idea of "officially" banning him, however. ;-) [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011241.html]
::::::::(a few posts later)
::::::::OK - posted to the PyCon blog, by the power vested in me as publicity chair. With Michael Foord's excellent sentence added.
::::::::Now let him know that since he's banned, he HAS to come. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011251.html]

==Transcript==
:[Randall Munroe on stage.]
:Randall: Hi. I'm Randall. Welcome to my TED talk.
:Randall: It's an honor to speak to you, some of the brightest innovators from so many fields, about a problem in desperate need of your attention:
:Randall: How DO you end parenthetical statements with emoticons? I can't figure out a good way.
:[Screen next to him shows two statements, both crossed out in red.]
:"Linux (or BSD :)" would... "looks mismatched"
:"Linux (or BSD :))" would... "looks mismatched and weird"

:[Randall writing on a desk.]
:Randall's List - Conferences I'm banned from:
:Siggraph
:Eurocrypt
:Defcon
:Pycon
:International Astronomical Union
:Canadian Paleontology Conference
:Every American Furry Convention
:American Baking Society
:Asian Dolphin-Training Conference
:TED

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]]
[[Category:Furries]]

153: Cryptography

2013-09-03T01:36:35Z

Gijobarts:

{{comic
| number = 153
| date = September 6, 2006
| title = Cryptography
| image = cryptography.png
| titletext = If you got a big keyspace, let me search it.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic, as the name implies, is relevant to the study of {{w|cryptography}}. At the podium, [[Cueball]] is describing a proposed crypto system (a computer program that turns a very large number, called the "{{w|key (cryptography)|key}}", and a message into an encrypted form that can only be read by using the same key), based on the model of a {{w|Feistel cipher}}. Part of any Feistel cipher is the "round function", which determines how the key is applied to the original message; this is applied multiple times with a variety of tricks and techniques to insure the process can eventually be reversed. One common component of round functions is the {{w|S-box}}, a simple table that converts input bytes into output bytes, preferably in a way that doesn't correspond to any mathematical rules.

Here, the S-box would be implemented by doing the following (with the computer operation actually shown in the diagrams indicated in parentheses):

#Take the bitstring down (roll right by 1)
#Flip it (take its binary NOT)
#Reverse it (run the bits in the opposite order)

This would be run on each round of the cipher to further scramble the message for the next round. As the caption implies, the steps are based on a line from the {{w|Missy Elliott}} song ''{{w|Work It (Missy Elliott song)|Work It}}'': "I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it."

The {{w|Key space (cryptography)|keyspace}} for a cryptographic algorithm is the number of possible keys the algorithm can possibly accept. For example, {{w|Advanced Encryption Standard|AES-256}} has a keyspace of 2256 (roughly 1.1579209e+77) possible keys, simply because the algorithm specifies that each key is 256 bits wide. The title text is referring to "searching a keyspace", which is to say, simply trying every key until you find one that works. (For reference, a computer would require roughly the energy of a billion billion supernovas to even count to 2256, let alone actually try each one.) The precise wording "If you got a big keyspace, let me search it" is, of course, another reference to the same song: "If you got a big **** let me search ya." (The **** in the song is apparently the sound of an elephant, but it is heavily implied from context to be "penis".)

Cueball is banned from multiple conferences for similar pranks in [[541: TED Talk]]. In response to 541, {{w|PyCon}} organizers jokingly [http://pycon.blogspot.com/2009/02/randall-munroe.html announced] that Randall Munroe was banned from PyCon 2009 due to "last year's disgraceful keynote, 'Web Spiders vs. Red Spiders'." They also said they instructed their volunteers to refuse admission to him and "any stick figures who may attempt to register, particularly if they are wearing hats."

Messages on the PyCon-Organizers mailing list show that this joke was intended to get Randall to come to PyCon:
:PyCon mentioned briefly in today's xkcd:
:http://xkcd.com/541/
:We've still never gotten Randall Munroe to actually attend, have we? Anybody want to take charge of twisting his arm this time? I think we can still offer him a "press pass" (free registration). [...] [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011224.html]
::An invite would seem most appropriate given the cartoon. :-)
::We could also have an official PyCon blog post confirming his ban... [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011225.html]
:::How about a public blog post LIFTING the ban and inviting him? [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011226.html]
::::Confirming the ban is far funnier... He's definitely a disturbing influence on programmers. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011227.html]
:::::Agreed, especially if we invite him concurrently with confirming the ban. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011239.html]
:::::(a few posts later)
:::::I'm happy to participate in actually throwing some thin guy out of the conference, and then get some graphics savvy person to animate a stick figure over that. :) [...][http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011274.html]
::::::here's a rough idea of what would show up if you invited him to actually do any speaking...
::::::http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24
::::::it's fairly long. he shows up in the beginning around 3:25. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011275.html]
:::::::For the record, I did try to convince him to come when got the art for the tshirt last year. He didn't seem super psyched, but then again emotions are hard to read via IRC.
:::::::I love the idea of "officially" banning him, however. ;-) [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011241.html]
::::::::(a few posts later)
::::::::OK - posted to the PyCon blog, by the power vested in me as publicity chair. With Michael Foord's excellent sentence added.
::::::::Now let him know that since he's banned, he HAS to come. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011251.html]

==Transcript==
:[Cueball at a podium.]
:Cueball: My cryptosystem is like any Feistel cipher, except in the S-Boxes we simply take the bitstring down, flip it, and reverse it.
:I've been barred from speaking at any major cryptography conferences ever since it became clear that all my algorithms were just thinly disguised Missy Elliot songs.

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

153: Cryptography

2013-09-03T01:29:55Z

Gijobarts: add mailing list messages

{{comic
| number = 153
| date = September 6, 2006
| title = Cryptography
| image = cryptography.png
| titletext = If you got a big keyspace, let me search it.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic, as the name implies, is relevant to the study of {{w|cryptography}}. At the podium, [[Cueball]] is describing a proposed crypto system (a computer program that turns a very large number, called the "{{w|key (cryptography)|key}}", and a message into an encrypted form that can only be read by using the same key), based on the model of a {{w|Feistel cipher}}. Part of any Feistel cipher is the "round function", which determines how the key is applied to the original message; this is applied multiple times with a variety of tricks and techniques to insure the process can eventually be reversed. One common component of round functions is the {{w|S-box}}, a simple table that converts input bytes into output bytes, preferably in a way that doesn't correspond to any mathematical rules.

Here, the S-box would be implemented by doing the following (with the computer operation actually shown in the diagrams indicated in parentheses):

#Take the bitstring down (roll right by 1)
#Flip it (take its binary NOT)
#Reverse it (run the bits in the opposite order)

This would be run on each round of the cipher to further scramble the message for the next round. As the caption implies, the steps are based on a line from the {{w|Missy Elliott}} song ''{{w|Work It (Missy Elliott song)|Work It}}'': "I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it."

The {{w|Key space (cryptography)|keyspace}} for a cryptographic algorithm is the number of possible keys the algorithm can possibly accept. For example, {{w|Advanced Encryption Standard|AES-256}} has a keyspace of 2256 (roughly 1.1579209e+77) possible keys, simply because the algorithm specifies that each key is 256 bits wide. The title text is referring to "searching a keyspace", which is to say, simply trying every key until you find one that works. (For reference, a computer would require roughly the energy of a billion billion supernovas to even count to 2256, let alone actually try each one.) The precise wording "If you got a big keyspace, let me search it" is, of course, another reference to the same song: "If you got a big **** let me search ya." (The **** in the song is apparently the sound of an elephant, but it is heavily implied from context to be "penis".)

Cueball is banned from multiple conferences for similar pranks in [[541: TED Talk]]. In response to 541, PyCon organizers [http://pycon.blogspot.com/2009/02/randall-munroe.html announced] that Randall Munroe was banned from PyCon 2009 due to "last year's disgraceful keynote, 'Web Spiders vs. Red Spiders'." They also said they instructed their volunteers to refuse admission to him and "any stick figures who may attempt to register, particularly if they are wearing hats."

Messages on the PyCon-Organizers mailing list show that this was a joke intended to get Randall to come to PyCon:
:PyCon mentioned briefly in today's xkcd:
:http://xkcd.com/541/
:We've still never gotten Randall Munroe to actually attend, have we? Anybody want to take charge of twisting his arm this time? I think we can still offer him a "press pass" (free registration). [...] [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011224.html]
::An invite would seem most appropriate given the cartoon. :-)
::We could also have an official PyCon blog post confirming his ban... [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011225.html]
:::How about a public blog post LIFTING the ban and inviting him? [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011226.html]
::::Confirming the ban is far funnier... He's definitely a disturbing influence on programmers. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011227.html]
:::::Agreed, especially if we invite him concurrently with confirming the ban. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011239.html]
:::::(a few posts later)
:::::I'm happy to participate in actually throwing some thin guy out of the conference, and then get some graphics savvy person to animate a stick figure over that. :) [...][http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011274.html]
::::::here's a rough idea of what would show up if you invited him to actually do any speaking...
::::::http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24
::::::it's fairly long. he shows up in the beginning around 3:25. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011275.html]
:::::::For the record, I did try to convince him to come when got the art for the tshirt last year. He didn't seem super psyched, but then again emotions are hard to read via IRC.
:::::::I love the idea of "officially" banning him, however. ;-) [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011241.html]
::::::::(a few posts later)
::::::::OK - posted to the PyCon blog, by the power vested in me as publicity chair. With Michael Foord's excellent sentence added.
::::::::Now let him know that since he's banned, he HAS to come. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011251.html]

==Transcript==
:[Cueball at a podium.]
:Cueball: My cryptosystem is like any Feistel cipher, except in the S-Boxes we simply take the bitstring down, flip it, and reverse it.
:I've been barred from speaking at any major cryptography conferences ever since it became clear that all my algorithms were just thinly disguised Missy Elliot songs.

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

153: Cryptography

2013-09-03T01:13:52Z

Gijobarts: expand 541/PyCon paragraph

153: Cryptography

2013-09-02T20:40:12Z

Gijobarts: /* Explanation */ insert missing space

Talk:153: Cryptography

2013-09-02T20:38:59Z

Gijobarts:

I think that executing that S-box twice would get you back where you started. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 05:28, 30 July 2013 (UTC)

" and so is the author Randall Munroe at [http://pycon.blogspot.com/2009/02/randall-munroe.html PyCon]"
:I think that post is a joke.
:* It links to [[541: TED Talk]].
:* It says "Registration volunteers have been instructed to refuse admission to Randall Munroe personally, and in fact, to any '''stick figures''' who may attempt to register"
:* There isn't anything on YouTube or {{w|Randall Munroe}}'s Wikipedia page about it.
:* [http://www.blog.pythonlibrary.org/2009/02/11/xkcd-artist-banned-from-pycon/ Another Python blog] says that it was a publicity stunt, citing the organizers' mailing list archives. I didn't bother to sign up for access to the archive.
:[http://catherinedevlin.pythoneers.com/leadership.html Catherine Devlin] claims that she banned Randall, so we could try asking her if she's serious.
:[http://holdenweb.blogspot.com/2009/02/randall-munroe-banned-from-pycon.html Another blog post about it]
:[[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 16:48, 2 September 2013 (UTC) (edited 20:29 UTC)
::I've signed up for access to the mailing list, and am currently waiting for moderator approval. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 20:38, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

Talk:153: Cryptography

2013-09-02T20:29:28Z

Gijobarts: fix link

153: Cryptography

2013-09-02T20:26:32Z

Gijobarts: PyCon info is disputed

User:Gijobarts

2013-09-02T20:20:58Z

Gijobarts: There aren't any comics without explanations anymore.

The first explanation I contributed was [[570: New Car]].

User talk:Dgbrt

2013-09-02T20:19:34Z

Gijobarts: /* PyCon */ new section

== [[1190: Time]] ==

It's fine that you're helping with updating [[1190: Time]]. I'm trying to write a script that automatically updates the hashes and uploads the images. In order to test the script, could you, at least for the next image, refrain from doing that? I can then test the script and if it works, you can continue if you want to, but least I know that my script does work.

Updating the transcript and anything else from the page is still absolutely fine, I cannot do this. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 15:56, 2 May 2013 (UTC)
: Ok, seems to work. If you want, you can continue updating, but my script should do this automatically within ~1 minute while I'm online. And if I'm not, it should catch up later. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 16:09, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

:: GREAT, it's really working. My computer is online 24/7 (but not me). Since updates should be done in time maybe my computer is the better machine for your script. I am on Linux and a cron job is downloading at 00,05,20,35,50 each hour, just in case the update frequency will change again. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:31, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

::: Might be, but I have a folder full of scripting stuff, and I would have to tidy up all that to get the important lines. And I'm not really in the mood for that. ;-) Maybe I will come back to this later. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 16:52, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Thank you for your comment. The reason I said "another" river is because "another" is referencing Megan's quote that "yes. there are other rivers" - implying they have arrived at "another" river, not the one they already knew about. I put quotes because as you point out, we haven't exactly seen them come across the first river. As to the water bottle, if you want to change it to "drinking bottle", I'm fine with that. The contents being water is an assumption based on what you might expect someone to do going on a long journey. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 20:18, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

: I am not a native English speaker - so thanks for help - but I just want to be correct. And I did edit your edit...

I think a special page (i.e. "1190: Time: Pictures") with a table (description | thumb with link) or other form of separator might work. I seem to remember seeing something on using a different thumb file on a picture link. This is my first time editing wiki pages, but the thumbs and smaller images on the upload pages don't appear to be working. As a work around, I just used blind links without thumbs (e.g. :file:fname...). I can create and upload smaller pictures, but will need some help putting it all together. If this sounds good to you, give me a nod on my talk page and I'll start adding content and let the regulars help straighten it out. Also, am I doing something wrong on the uploads or is it just not working? [[User:Galois|Galois]] ([[User talk:Galois|talk]]) 23:52, 5 June 2013 (UTC)
: I'm also relatively new to wiki edits, but I'm a programmer, Linux expert (and more OS's) and also the admin for the wiki at my company. Thumbnails do not work because of a bug in the configuration or missing capabilities at the hoster. I will try to talk to the admins here, maybe I can help. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:33, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

== Redirections, and incomplete explanations ==

Hello there, and thank you for your work! :-)

One technical thing that you should note, when you create pages that should redirect directly to a newly created explanation page (for example [[332]] to redirect to [[332: Gyroscopes]]), use the redirection syntax which goes like this: <code><nowiki>#REDIRECT [[332: Gyroscopes]]</nowiki></code>

You've done it right for [[447]] / [[Too Old For This Shit]] or [[531]] / [[Friends]] for instance, so try to do it all the time, instead of leaving pages with only a link in it, like {{diff|39258|332}} / {{diff|39259|Gyroscopes}} or {{diff|39251|311}} / {{diff|39252|Action Movies}}. Thanks :-)

Another thing, not from me, and about content this time: [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] left you a couple of message in the changes he made to the pages you created, but it's fairly possible that you didn't get them, so here they are:
* (in response to your comment ''"I am still trying to give every comic a page here. Help me to complete it!"''): {{diff|39262|''"I'd really rather leave those links red for someone to write a proper explanation. With explanations that read like second transcripts, all we really do is take traffic away from xkcd.com without adding value."''}}
* {{diff|39263|''"Also, incomplete articles are harder to track than nonexistent articles, so I'd rather we just focus on making explanations well instead of making an unsatisfactory shell for every comic. Incomplete explanations make us look kinda bad too."''}}
* {{diff|39265|''"People on other sites often comment on how our explanations are a wildly mixed bag of quality. I'd rather you put your effort into making a few good substantial explanations instead of loads of summaries and rehashes of the transcript."''}}

Try to take that into account also...

Cheers, [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 10:45, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

:Hello [[User:Cos|Cos]], here some comments by me:
::Redirections - I'm sorry for the missing #REDIRECT tag. I'm using often a text editor for my own copy and paste templates. I am sure I would have figured out that error today by myself. Thanks for your help!
::Incomplete explanations - I will stop on this even when I think it's good idea to have a page for each comic here and work afterwards on all those incomplete ones. The pages [[Help:How_to_add_a_new_comic_explanation]] and [[List_of_unexplained_comics]] should clarify this issue. Furthermore there are many more incomplete comics not marked as incomplete so you can't find them here: [[:Category:Incomplete articles|Incomplete explanations]]. I will also send a message to [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] about this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:35, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

Speaking of incomplete explanations, do you think you could help add some text to [[266: Choices: Part 3]] and [[267: Choices: Part 4]]? To my knowledge, they are the only articles on the wiki without even a stub for an explanation. In addition, the other three choice articles could use some better explanations. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 04:02, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

== Ach nee,... ==

...schau mal einer an, noch ein Deutscher! Wollte nur mal 'nen Gruß hinterlassen... ;-) --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 21:37, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
:Ich grüße zurück! I am greeting you too.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:20, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

== Congratulations! ==

You worked on the last unexplained comic of ''xkcd'' at very much the same time that the article was created! [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 23:41, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
:I was working at the same time to create that explanation. After trying to save I got a warning that it's already there. So I just did add my work there.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 10:40, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
::In that case, you also created the last explanation. You two worked on the comic at essentially the same time. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 18:13, 28 June 2013 (UTC)

== 1190:Time frame renumbering ==

Apologies if I created confusion, I was under the impression that davidy22 had already made the final decision to renumber the frames. I didn't know there was someone else who made the decision. [[User:Patzer|Patzer]] ([[User talk:Patzer|talk]]) 01:11, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

== DgbrtBOT ==

It took a while for me to notice your request. I think you've been quite the active figure around the wiki, so I've added the bot to the bots group.

Keep up the work and don't burn out! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:37, 8 August 2013 (UTC)

:Many thanks, my request was mainly for picture uploads to 1190 Time, but maybe I will use this feature in the future. I will be careful, first tests will be done at my local TestWiki.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:29, 8 August 2013 (UTC)

== The right place to add 'discussion' ==

I don't disagree with your comment to [[User:Anon]] (although I'd say "additions" instead of "adds"), or to a number of your edits to their additions, but some of what has been added is not worthy of Trivia sections being added. They should probably have been put into the talk page, or in some cases, left where they were. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 05:39, 15 August 2013 (UTC)
:You are right, I just did not want to delete the additions by this new user. Because I can't move a single line to the talk page by one edit I thought the Trivia section would be the best solution. I don't like links to other comics here when it doesn't explain anything to the actual one. But a sidestep to a similar joke could be worthy to the Trivia section.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:36, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

== Explained too much ==

Hello Dgbrt, I'm sorry I explained too much about comic 1255. I was under the impression that the purpose of this wiki was to explain XKCD comics for those who don't get the references, so I thought it would be helpful to explain the part about sailing in a line tangent to the surface, which wasn't previously touched on in the description. I understand now that what you guys actually do here is to describe and transcribe XKCD comics. That's not something I'm interested in so I'll leave now. Thank you for correcting my misunderstanding. [[User:Rombobjörn|Rombobjörn]] ([[User talk:Rombobjörn|talk]]) 12:47, 25 August 2013 (UTC)
:Hey, this site does not only "transcribe XKCD comics". The wrong stories about Columbus is the major joke here, Megan did use Tolkien's books, but she also could have used many others. The explain should point on the essentials of the comic, people should be able to read this easy in general.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:07, 25 August 2013 (UTC)
::Hello. Admin here. I don't comb through and look at every single edit that happens in this wiki, but some things flag up as significant and this scuffle qualifies. Reading the current explanation and your addition, there are a number of unexplained and unreferenced Tolkien-specific terms littered around the place. Valar and Ilúvatar will not be familiar to people who have not read the Silmarillion before. Megan appears to be drawing a direct parallel between Eärendil and Columbus here with the quote "A silmaril on his brow, he wanders the heavens as the morning star." There is no apparent evidence to show that the reformation of the earth is referenced in this comic; no mention of Akallabêth, Ilúvatar or any hint of Columbus being of elvish descent. If you can link your reference directly to the comic, feel free to add it in.
::Also, Dgbrt, you only have to reply once to the original talk message. You don't have to leave disjointed messages in other people's talk pages. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:05, 25 August 2013 (UTC)

== Discussions with Quicksilver ==

Hello! I have noticed that "In this comic" is a pet peeve to you. As a gift, I have removed it from almost all of the 60 explanations that it started, but there remain some more places where it could be removed. If you wish, you can go ahead and remove the newlines that I left in their wake.

If you need a general copy-editor for grammar, punctuation, or usage, let me know. I consider myself adequate at it, being a decently educated native American English speaker. (I am not a professional editor, though, so stuff can always be made better.)

Also, as you definitely have noticed, I can get belligerent over some things, particularly whether a page deserves its "Incomplete" status. I expect some more sparring matches in the coming future. I do hope to work with you on cutting the number of such pages down.

Anyway, thanks for the intro to the wiki! --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 21:31, 25 August 2013 (UTC)
:Welcome Quicksilver! I did see that you must be an native American speaker but some of your edits are too offensive, I do reply on this, and we have to discuss until a final solution can be presented. Many updates by you are great, but please check all the links, etc. until removing the incomplete tag. This tag does not mean the explain is wrong. BTW: Please sign your discussions.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:22, 25 August 2013 (UTC)

Now that I have your attention, we can begin discussing things. We have a brewing edit war over the following pages (so far): [[694: Retro Virus]], [[54: Science]], and [[10: Pi Equals]].

The first one I claim to be complete, while you dispute this. I cannot see how much further we can go into explanations of XP, viruses, Howard Dean, Friendster, or Kazaa. Apart from those, the comic really doesn't have anything else to explain, and its grammar and style are fair. I see no reason that the Incomplete tag should be there.

In the second one, we have different interpretations of the title text, "Bonus point if you can identify the science in question." You claim that this somehow means we should challenge science. While I understand that part of the spirit of science is questioning it, this sentence has a fairly straightforward meaning: if you can identify the science in question, you get a bonus point. In other words, if you know where this equation comes from, good for you. Randall is praising his readers who happen to know about the blackbody radiation curve, which would be a good number of them (I'd guess).

The third one is a simple issue of punctuation. You have argued, via explanations, that "one must close sentences." While I understand that it may look awkward for the quotation marks in question (those around the name of Mrs Roberts's daughter) to contain a period, not part of the name, and to have the sentence ended by a punctuation mark inside a pair of quotes, this is the English convention on quotation marks. Such a convention can be checked [http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/577/ here]. This usage clashes with that of French, German, and many other languages, but is standard in English.

As other pages turn into edit wars, I would prefer to discuss them in some central location (such as your wonderful talk page) rather than individual pages. Thank you for your consideration. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 22:40, 25 August 2013 (UTC)
:Every comic does have it's own discussion page. Here you can talk about my behave, especial on some few offensive edits I did not accept. And keep short or I will just reply {{w|Wikipedia:Too long; didn't read|tl;dr}}--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:09, 25 August 2013 (UTC)
::Very well. Our agenda begins with [[54: Science]]. The other two we will address at some point. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 23:14, 25 August 2013 (UTC)

== Allegations concerning [[User:Quicksilver]] ==

You have in the edit summary field claimed that Quicksilver's edits are offensive. After a quick glance through some of his recent edits, I don't find this to be the case. Do you care to explain yourself? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:26, 26 August 2013 (UTC)
:200 or 300 edits within a few hours, no one can understand all that comics at this time range. I just did criticized two or three edits he did, but an edit to former content without any understandable explain I can't except. And than he reverts my criticism, that's all.

:I'm not a spam hunter here, but I like CLEAR and SHORT (meaning, people will be able read) explains here. Look at [[1256: Questions]], just an other hell (nobody will ever read all that masturbation orgasms writers must have - sorry, put this into the sex category.)--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:11, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

::One add: Understand sarcasm, xkcd, romance, math, and language. Randall did publish many sarcastic comics, I just do like to point this out.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:52, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

== Language and writing style ==
Please, please stop reverting and calling editors out on language and writing style. It is not your strong point. Focus on content. When we start work on our german translations, you can go jabbing editors in their talk pages over writing too much. Here, you're only reverting and deterring valuable edits. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:35, 27 August 2013 (UTC)
:You know I'm not native American, many viewers are too. American English is still strange sometimes, but you are right: It's not my "strong point". But nevertheless, I always did focus on content in the past, and I will do this in the future. I was just acting on mass updates nobody can review.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:01, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

== PyCon ==

The post saying that Randall was banned was a joke. There is no PyCon issue. See [[Talk:153: Cryptography]]. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 20:19, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

Beret Guy

2013-09-02T17:33:53Z

Gijobarts: /* Characteristics */ nothing odd about liking bakeries. Yum!

1259: Bee Orchid

2013-09-02T17:30:11Z

Gijobarts: /* Transcript */ appears to be complete

{{comic
| number = 1259
| date = September 2, 2013
| title = Bee Orchid
| image = bee orchid.png
| titletext = In sixty million years aliens will know humans only by a fuzzy clip of a woman in an Axe commercial.
}}

==Explanation==
Megan is explaining the evolutionary [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/l_011_02.html phenomenon] of mimicry of female insects which fools male insects into trying to mate with the flower ({{w|pseudocopulation}}). This causes the pollen of the flower to stick to the male bee, who may make the same mistake with another flower, allowing for pollination.

This particular orchid mimicked the solitary bee ''{{w|Eucera}}'', which now only pollinates it in the Mediterranean (the bee isn't really extinct yet). This may eventually lead to the extinction of the orchid due to lack of reproduction. In most areas where it grows, the orchid is using a method of {{w|self-pollination}}, which can be detrimental to the genetic vitality of the species as it is a form of in-breeding.

Photographs of ''Ophrys apifera'':

[[File:Ophrys apifera flower1.jpg | x250px]] [[File:Bee orchids, Aller Brook Local Nature Reserve - geograph.org.uk - 833516.jpg | x250px]]

Female ''Eucera (Synhaolonia)'' guarding nests (left) and male ''Eucera'' (right):

[[File:Synhalonia_nest_1.jpg | x200px]] [[File:Apidae - Eucera sp. (male).JPG | x200px]]

The title text makes the assumption that, in sixty million years, much like the ''Eucera'' has today, humans will become nearly or completely extinct, and the only remaining records for other forms of life to identify them by would be commercials for the {{w|Axe (brand)|Axe}} line of male grooming products.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Beret Guy are walking through woods.]
:Megan: There are these orchids whose flowers look like female bees. When males try to mate with them, they transfer pollen.
:Megan, crouching near a flower: This orchid -- ''Ophrys apifera'' -- makes flowers, but no bees land on them because the bee it mimics went extinct long ago.
:Megan: Without its partner, the orchid as resorted to self-pollinating, a last-ditch genetic strategy that only delays the inevitable. Nothing of the bee remains, but we know it existed from the shape of the flower.
:[They continue walking.]
:Megan: Its an idea of what the female bee looked like to the male bee...
:Megan: ...as interpreted by a plant.
:Beret Guy: Wow, so...
:[painting of an orchid]
:Beret Guy: ... The only memory of the bee is a painting.
:Beret Guy [text in corner of painting, like an artist's signature]: By a dying flower.
:[Beret Guy runs back to the flower and sits down]: I'll remember your bee, orchid. I'll remember you.
:[Beret Guy runs in the direction of Megan, out of frame.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:153: Cryptography

2013-09-02T16:54:45Z

Gijobarts:

I think that executing that S-box twice would get you back where you started. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 05:28, 30 July 2013 (UTC)

" and so is the author Randall Munroe at [http://pycon.blogspot.com/2009/02/randall-munroe.html PyCon]"
:I think that post is a joke.
:* It links to [[541: TED Talk]].
:* It says "Registration volunteers have been instructed to refuse admission to Randall Munroe personally, and in fact, to any '''stick figures''' who may attempt to register"
:* There isn't anything on YouTube or {w|Randall Munroe]'s Wikipedia page about it.
:* [http://www.blog.pythonlibrary.org/2009/02/11/xkcd-artist-banned-from-pycon/ Another Python blog] says that it was a publicity stunt, citing the organizers' mailing list archives. I didn't bother to sign up for access to the archive.
:[http://catherinedevlin.pythoneers.com/leadership.html Catherine Devlin] claims that she banned Randall, so we could try asking her if she's serious.
:[http://holdenweb.blogspot.com/2009/02/randall-munroe-banned-from-pycon.html Another blog post about it]
:[[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 16:48, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

153: Cryptography

2013-09-02T16:49:12Z

Gijobarts:

Talk:153: Cryptography

2013-09-02T16:48:18Z

Gijobarts:

1259: Bee Orchid

2013-09-02T08:58:47Z

Gijobarts: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1259
| date = September 2, 2013
| title = Bee Orchid
| image = bee orchid.png
| titletext = In sixty million years aliens will know humans only by a fuzzy clip of a woman in an Axe commercial.
}}

==Explanation==
Megan is explaining the evolutionary [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/l_011_02.html phenomena] of mimicry of female insects which fools male insects into trying to mate with the flower. This allows the pollen of the flower to be stuck to the male bee, who may make the same mistake with another flower, allowing for pollination.

This particular orchid mimicked the solitary bee [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucera eucera], which now only pollinates it in the Mediterranean. (The bee isn't really extinct yet.) This may eventually lead to the extinction of the orchid due to lack of reproduction. In most areas where it grows, the orchid is using a method of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-pollination self-pollination], which can be detrimental to the genetic vitality of the species as it is a form of in-breeding.

Photographs of ophrys apifera:

[[File:Ophrys apifera flower1.jpg | x400px]] [[File:Bee orchids, Aller Brook Local Nature Reserve - geograph.org.uk - 833516.jpg | x400px]]

Female eucera (synhalonia) guarding nests (left) and male eucera (right):

[[File:Synhalonia_nest_1.jpg | 400px]] [[File:Apidae - Eucera sp. (male).JPG | 400px]]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Megan and Beret Guy are walking through woods.]
:Megan: There are these orchids whose flowers look like female bees. When males try to mate with them, they transfer pollen.
:Megan, crouching near a flower: This orchid -- ophrys apifera -- makes flowers, but no bees land on them because the bee it mimics went extinct long ago.
:Megan: Without its partner, the orchid as resorted to self-pollinating, a last-ditch genetic strategy that only delays the inevitable. Nothing of the bee remains, but we know it existed from the shape of the flower.
:[They continue walking.]
:Megan: Its an idea of what the female bee looked like to the male bee...
:Megan: ...as interpreted by a plant.
:Beret Guy: Wow, so...
:[painting of an orchid]
:Beret Guy: ... The only memory of the bee is a painting.
:Beret Guy [text in corner of painting, like an artist's signature]: By a dying flower.
:[Beret Guy runs back to the flower and sits down]: I'll remember your bee, orchid. I'll remember you.
:[Beret Guy runs in the direction of Megan, out of frame.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Biology]]

1259: Bee Orchid

2013-09-02T08:53:47Z

Gijobarts:

{{comic
| number = 1259
| date = September 2, 2013
| title = Bee Orchid
| image = bee orchid.png
| titletext = In sixty million years aliens will know humans only by a fuzzy clip of a woman in an Axe commercial.
}}

==Explanation==
Megan is explaining the evolutionary [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/l_011_02.html phenomena] of mimicry of female insects which fools male insects into trying to mate with the flower. This allows the pollen of the flower to be stuck to the male bee, who may make the same mistake with another flower, allowing for pollination.

This particular orchid mimicked the solitary bee [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucera eucera], which now only pollinates it in the Mediterranean. (The bee isn't really extinct yet.) This may eventually lead to the extinction of the orchid due to lack of reproduction. In most areas where it grows, the orchid is using a method of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-pollination self-pollination], which can be detrimental to the genetic vitality of the species as it is a form of in-breeding.

Photographs of ophrys apifera:

[[File:Ophrys apifera flower1.jpg | x400px]] [[File:Bee orchids, Aller Brook Local Nature Reserve - geograph.org.uk - 833516.jpg | x400px]]

Female eucera (synhalonia) guarding nests (left) and male eucera (right):

[[File:Synhalonia_nest_1.jpg | 400px]] [[File:Apidae - Eucera sp. (male).JPG | 400px]]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Megan and Beret Guy are walking through woods.]
:Megan: There are these orchids whose flowers look like female bees. When males try to mate with them, they transfer pollen.
:Megan, crouching near a flower: This orchid - ophrys apifera - makes flowers, but no bees land on them because the bee it mimics went extinct long ago.
:Megan: Without its partner, the orchid as resorted to self-pollinating, a last-ditch genetic strategy that only delays the inevitable. Nothing of the bee remains, but we know it existed from the shape of the flower.
:[They continue walking.]
:Megan: Its an idea of what the female bee looked like to the male bee...
:Megan: ...as interpreted by a plant.
:Beret Guy: Wow, so...
:[color drawing of an orchid]
:Beret Guy: ... The only memory of the bee is a painting.
:Beret Guy [text in corner of color image, like an artist's signature]: By a dying flower.
:[Beret Guy goes back to the flower and sits down]: I'll remember your bee, orchid. I'll remember you.
:[Beret Guy walks away.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:1259: Bee Orchid

2013-09-02T08:47:45Z

Gijobarts:

[[First]]! The act of telling someone not to jinx something causes the jinx you're trying to prevent. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 07:02, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

I had thought all the worker bees were female, and all the male "drones" stayed in the hives. The Wikipedia says that isn't true for all species. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 07:15, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ophrys_apifera&oldid=571187022#Reproduction Wikipedia on the reproduction of Ophrys apifera]:
:It is the only species of the genus Ophrys which preferentially practice self-pollination. The flowers are almost exclusively self-pollinating in the northern ranges of the plant's distribution, but pollination by the solitary bee Eucera occurs in the Mediterranean area. In this case the plant attracts these insects by producing a scent that mimics the scent of the female bee. In addition, the lip acts as a decoy as the male bee confuses it with a female. Pollen transfer occurs during the ensuing pseudocopulation.
:Bees in the past have promoted the evolution of bee orchids. Male bees, over many generations of cumulative orchid evolution, have built up the bee-like shape through trying to copulate with flowers, and hence carrying pollen.
[[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 07:36, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

:A colony of ophrys apifera was discovered a few months ago.[http://www.elperiodic.com/torrent/noticias/254352_serra-perenxisa-disfruta-categoria-microrreserva-flora.html (Spanish)]. Probably not related.
:[http://www.nguoiduatin.vn/nhung-ky-hoa-di-thao-quai-la-nhat-the-gioi-a98176.html This page (Vietnamese)] has an excellent photo of an ophrys apifera, along with other strange-looking plants. You can see how it looks like bees in that photo. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 07:50, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

Was there once another bee that pollinated it in more areas, or did the eucera once populate more of the world, or has the flower expanded where the bee has not followed? [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 08:47, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

1259: Bee Orchid

2013-09-02T08:40:36Z

Gijobarts: /* Explanation */ add photos of bees

{{comic
| number = 1259
| date = September 2, 2013
| title = Bee Orchid
| image = bee orchid.png
| titletext = In sixty million years aliens will know humans only by a fuzzy clip of a woman in an Axe commercial.
}}

==Explanation==
Megan is explaining the evolutionary [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/l_011_02.html phenomena] of mimicry of female insects which fools male insects into trying to mate with the flower. This allows the pollen of the flower to be stuck to the male bee, who may make the same mistake with another flower, allowing for pollination. This particular orchid mimicked the solitary bee [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucera eucera], which now only pollinates it in the Mediterranean. This may eventually lead to the extinction of the orchid due to lack of reproduction. In most areas where it grows, the orchid is using a method of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-pollination self-pollination], which can be detrimental to the genetic vitality of the species as it is a form of in-breeding.

Photographs of ophrys apifera:

[[File:Ophrys apifera flower1.jpg | x400px]] [[File:Bee orchids, Aller Brook Local Nature Reserve - geograph.org.uk - 833516.jpg | x400px]]

Female eucera (synhalonia) guarding nests (left) and male eucera (right):

[[File:Synhalonia_nest_1.jpg | 400px]] [[File:Apidae - Eucera sp. (male).JPG | 400px]]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Megan and Beret Guy are walking through woods.]
:Megan: There are these orchids whose flowers look like female bees. When males try to mate with them, they transfer pollen.
:Megan, crouching near a flower: This orchid - ophrys apifera - makes flowers, but no bees land on them because the bee it mimics went extinct long ago.
:Megan: Without its partner, the orchid as resorted to self-pollinating, a last-ditch genetic strategy that only delays the inevitable. Nothing of the bee remains, but we know it existed from the shape of the flower.
:[They continue walking.]
:Megan: Its an idea of what the female bee looked like to the male bee...
:Megan: ...as interpreted by a plant.
:Beret Guy: Wow, so...
:[color drawing of an orchid]
:Beret Guy: ... The only memory of the bee is a painting.
:Beret Guy [text in corner of color image, like an artist's signature]: By a dying flower.
:[Beret Guy goes back to the flower and sits down]: I'll remember your bee, orchid. I'll remember you.
:[Beret Guy walks away.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Biology]]

1259: Bee Orchid

2013-09-02T08:31:57Z

Gijobarts: eucera lives!

{{comic
| number = 1259
| date = September 2, 2013
| title = Bee Orchid
| image = bee orchid.png
| titletext = In sixty million years aliens will know humans only by a fuzzy clip of a woman in an Axe commercial.
}}

==Explanation==
Megan is explaining the evolutionary [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/l_011_02.html phenomena] of mimicry of female insects which fools male insects into trying to mate with the flower. This allows the pollen of the flower to be stuck to the male bee, who may make the same mistake with another flower, allowing for pollination. This particular orchid mimicked the solitary bee [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucera eucera], which now only pollinates it in the Mediterranean. This may eventually lead to the extinction of the orchid due to lack of reproduction. In most areas where it grows, the orchid is using a method of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-pollination self-pollination], which can be detrimental to the genetic vitality of the species as it is a form of in-breeding.

Photographs of ophrys apifera:

[[File:Ophrys apifera flower1.jpg | x400px]] [[File:Bee orchids, Aller Brook Local Nature Reserve - geograph.org.uk - 833516.jpg | x400px]]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Megan and Beret Guy are walking through woods.]
:Megan: There are these orchids whose flowers look like female bees. When males try to mate with them, they transfer pollen.
:Megan, crouching near a flower: This orchid - ophrys apifera - makes flowers, but no bees land on them because the bee it mimics went extinct long ago.
:Megan: Without its partner, the orchid as resorted to self-pollinating, a last-ditch genetic strategy that only delays the inevitable. Nothing of the bee remains, but we know it existed from the shape of the flower.
:[They continue walking.]
:Megan: Its an idea of what the female bee looked like to the male bee...
:Megan: ...as interpreted by a plant.
:Beret Guy: Wow, so...
:[color drawing of an orchid]
:Beret Guy: ... The only memory of the bee is a painting.
:Beret Guy [text in corner of color image, like an artist's signature]: By a dying flower.
:[Beret Guy goes back to the flower and sits down]: I'll remember your bee, orchid. I'll remember you.
:[Beret Guy walks away.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Biology]]

1259: Bee Orchid

2013-09-02T08:23:18Z

Gijobarts: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1259
| date = September 2, 2013
| title = Bee Orchid
| image = bee orchid.png
| titletext = In sixty million years aliens will know humans only by a fuzzy clip of a woman in an Axe commercial.
}}

==Explanation==
Megan is explaining the evolutionary [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/l_011_02.html phenomena] of mimicry of female insects which fools male insects into trying to mate with the flower. This allows the pollen of the flower to be stuck to the male bee, who may make the same mistake with another flower, allowing for pollination. This particular orchid mimicked a bee now extinct in most areas, which may eventually lead to the extinction of the orchid due to lack of reproduction. The orchid is using a method of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-pollination self-pollination], which can be detrimental to the genetic vitality of the species as it is a form of in-breeding.

Photographs of ophrys apifera:

[[File:Ophrys apifera flower1.jpg | x400px]] [[File:Bee orchids, Aller Brook Local Nature Reserve - geograph.org.uk - 833516.jpg | x400px]]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Megan and Beret Guy are walking through woods.]
:Megan: There are these orchids whose flowers look like female bees. When males try to mate with them, they transfer pollen.
:Megan, crouching near a flower: This orchid - ophrys apifera - makes flowers, but no bees land on them because the bee it mimics went extinct long ago.
:Megan: Without its partner, the orchid as resorted to self-pollinating, a last-ditch genetic strategy that only delays the inevitable. Nothing of the bee remains, but we know it existed from the shape of the flower.
:[They continue walking.]
:Megan: Its an idea of what the female bee looked like to the male bee...
:Megan: ...as interpreted by a plant.
:Beret Guy: Wow, so...
:[color drawing of an orchid]
:Beret Guy: ... The only memory of the bee is a painting.
:Beret Guy [text in corner of color image, like an artist's signature]: By a dying flower.
:[Beret Guy goes back to the flower and sits down]: I'll remember your bee, orchid. I'll remember you.
:[Beret Guy walks away.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Biology]]

1259: Bee Orchid

2013-09-02T08:17:17Z

Gijobarts: /* Explanation */ add photo from Wikimedia

{{comic
| number = 1259
| date = September 2, 2013
| title = Bee Orchid
| image = bee orchid.png
| titletext = In sixty million years aliens will know humans only by a fuzzy clip of a woman in an Axe commercial.
}}

==Explanation==
Megan is explaining the evolutionary [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/l_011_02.html phenomena] of mimicry of female insects which fools male insects into trying to mate with the flower. This allows the pollen of the flower to be stuck to the male bee, who may make the same mistake with another flower, allowing for pollination. This particular orchid mimicked a bee now extinct in most areas, which may eventually lead to the extinction of the orchid due to lack of reproduction. The orchid is using a method of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-pollination self-pollination], which can be detrimental to the genetic vitality of the species as it is a form of in-breeding.

Photograph of an ophrys apifera:

[[File:Ophrys apifera flower1.jpg | x400px]]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Megan and Beret Guy are walking through woods.]
:Megan: There are these orchids whose flowers look like female bees. When males try to mate with them, they transfer pollen.
:Megan, crouching near a flower: This orchid - ophrys apifera - makes flowers, but no bees land on them because the bee it mimics went extinct long ago.
:Megan: Without its partner, the orchid as resorted to self-pollinating, a last-ditch genetic strategy that only delays the inevitable. Nothing of the bee remains, but we know it existed from the shape of the flower.
:[They continue walking.]
:Megan: Its an idea of what the female bee looked like to the male bee...
:Megan: ...as interpreted by a plant.
:Beret Guy: Wow, so...
:[color drawing of an orchid]
:Beret Guy: ... The only memory of the bee is a painting.
:Beret Guy [text in corner of color image, like an artist's signature]: By a dying flower.
:[Beret Guy goes back to the flower and sits down]: I'll remember your bee, orchid. I'll remember you.
:[Beret Guy walks away.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Biology]]

1259: Bee Orchid

2013-09-02T07:53:55Z

Gijobarts: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1259
| date = September 2, 2013
| title = Bee Orchid
| image = bee orchid.png
| titletext = In sixty million years aliens will know humans only by a fuzzy clip of a woman in an Axe commercial.
}}

==Explanation==
Megan is explaining the evolutionary [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/l_011_02.html phenomena] of mimicry of female insects which fools male insects into trying to mate with the flower. This allows the pollen of the flower to be stuck to the male bee, who may make the same mistake with another flower, allowing for pollination. This particular orchid mimicked a bee now extinct in most areas, which may eventually lead to the extinction of the orchid due to lack of reproduction. The orchid is using a method of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-pollination self-pollination], which can be detrimental to the genetic vitality of the species as it is a form of in-breeding.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Megan and Beret Guy are walking through woods.]
:Megan: There are these orchids whose flowers look like female bees. When males try to mate with them, they transfer pollen.
:Megan, crouching near a flower: This orchid - ophrys apifera - makes flowers, but no bees land on them because the bee it mimics went extinct long ago.
:Megan: Without its partner, the orchid as resorted to self-pollinating, a last-ditch genetic strategy that only delays the inevitable. Nothing of the bee remains, but we know it existed from the shape of the flower.
:[They continue walking.]
:Megan: Its an idea of what the female bee looked like to the male bee...
:Megan: ...as interpreted by a plant.
:Beret Guy: Wow, so...
:[color drawing of an orchid]
:Beret Guy: ... The only memory of the bee is a painting.
:Beret Guy [text in corner of color image, like an artist's signature]: By a dying flower.
:[Beret Guy goes back to the flower and sits down]: I'll remember your bee, orchid. I'll remember you.
:[Beret Guy walks away.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:1259: Bee Orchid

2013-09-02T07:50:22Z

Gijobarts:

Talk:1259: Bee Orchid

2013-09-02T07:36:17Z

Gijobarts:

1259: Bee Orchid

2013-09-02T07:28:51Z

Gijobarts: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1259
| date = September 2, 2013
| title = Bee Orchid
| image = bee orchid.png
| titletext = In sixty million years aliens will know humans only by a fuzzy clip of a woman in an Axe commercial.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Megan and Beret Guy are walking through woods.]
:Megan: There are these orchids whose flowers look like female bees. When males try to mate with them, they transfer pollen.
:Megan, crouching near a flower: This orchid - ophrys apifera - makes flowers, but no bees land on them because the bee it mimics went extinct long ago.
:Megan: Without its partner, the orchid as resorted to self-pollinating, a last-ditch genetic strategy that only delays the inevitable. Nothing of the bee remains, but we know it existed from the shape of the flower.
:[They continue walking.]
:Megan: Its an idea of what the female bee looked like to the male bee...
:Megan: ...as interpreted by a plant.
:Beret Guy: Wow, so...
:[color drawing of an orchid]
:Beret Guy: ... The only memory of the bee is a painting.
:Beret Guy [text in corner of color image, like an artist's signature]: By a dying flower.
:[Beret Guy goes back to the flower and sits down]: I'll remember your bee, orchid. I'll remember you.
:[Beret Guy walks away.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:1259: Bee Orchid

2013-09-02T07:15:57Z

Gijobarts:

Talk:1258: First

2013-09-02T07:08:44Z

Gijobarts:

First! [[User:Edo|Edo]] ([[User talk:Edo|talk]]) 04:28, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

:This is a wiki, not some xkcd reader's blog. [[User:GameZone|GameZone]] ([[User talk:GameZone|talk]]) 04:30, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

::(it's called a joke) [[User:Edo|Edo]] ([[User talk:Edo|talk]]) 04:38, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

::I thought it was funny. [[Special:Contributions/75.37.205.50|75.37.205.50]] 07:42, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

:: I actually would have been slightly disappointed if someone hadn't made a "First!" comment for this particular comic. Only slightly, though, because that would mean I would've been able to do it. [[Special:Contributions/66.87.67.175|66.87.67.175]] 18:30, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

:Ha! I was going to do the same thing. --[[User:Druid816|Druid816]] ([[User talk:Druid816|talk]]) 07:58, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

When I saw today's comic on XKCD.com, I came here just to check if someone made a "First!" comment in comic's discussion page. [[Special:Contributions/78.205.5.80|78.205.5.80]] 08:13, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

:Yep, I wanted to come here and post "first!" I thought that would be fun and original. [[User:Porkypine|Porkypine]] ([[User talk:Porkypine|talk]]) 14:50, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

:I also only came by to make sure the first thing in Discussion was "First," as is appropriate.

I agree it is likely Megan offscreen, but can we be sure? [[Special:Contributions/83.227.33.35|83.227.33.35]] 09:57, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

:Is Megan the canonical name for the long-haired brunette? Interesting... [[Special:Contributions/188.76.190.204|188.76.190.204]] 12:10, 30 August 2013 (UTC)
:: Yes. See [[159:_Boombox]] --[[User:Rael|Rael]] ([[User talk:Rael|talk]]) 14:51, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

I corrected the indents, dont be mad at me :) [[Special:Contributions/188.76.190.204|188.76.190.204]] 12:10, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

Can someone explain what it means? I first guessed it was the proliferation on the "exactly zero" sentence, but it can also means "not comments at all". [[Special:Contributions/188.76.190.204|188.76.190.204]] 12:10, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

:He is being ironic because there have been so many annoying internet behaviours have come about. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 13:09, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

:Could also be self referencing, as massive use of irony can be considered an annoying internet behaviour. --[[Special:Contributions/132.230.150.44|132.230.150.44]] 13:13, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

:If someone comes with a new annoying behavior, it will be the first! [[Special:Contributions/179.219.106.94|179.219.106.94]] 14:20, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

:I get that there are annoying Internet behavior, and idiocy on the Web is pretty much unavoidable, but are there any new, specific behaviors that we can put in the explanation rather than just telling people how obvious it is? (I'm not just complaining, if it came across that way. I would offer examples if I could think of any.) [[Special:Contributions/98.166.43.28|98.166.43.28]] 22:29, 30 August 2013 (UTC)DBrak

:For starters, how bout those Youtube commenters? "Justin Bieber suxorz", "49 JB fans disliked this vid", "Metal = shit, rap = awesome", etc. [[User:Diszy|Diszy]] ([[User talk:Diszy|talk]]) 00:16, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

:Youtube memes could fill a thread alone. How about "thumbs up if still listening to this in 2013", or "57 people [number of negative votes] don't like good music". But I think more generic internet behavior was intended, like Rickrolling, ending dubiously spelled words with (sp?) rather than use a spell checker, any number of annoying and overused acronyms and letter/number substitutions, etc.

:"Exactly zero" is often used in dubious arguments. "The odds of that working are exactly zero." [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 07:08, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1019: First Post

2013-09-02T07:06:13Z

Gijobarts:

Consistent posting order . . . .

With a Wiki, you can edit the posting order any way you want, there's no reason you have to add your comments to the bottom [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 20:15, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=first First!!] (ok, bad joke...)--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 19:36, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

I personally prefer seeing comments in chronological order, especially if the respondents reply to each other. I find it very annoying to see the reply before I've had a chance to read the original. The current comment system on Slate (where not only do new comments appear first, the page defaults to auto-updating, so the comments move down the page as you are trying to read them) is especially horrible. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 20:15, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
:I prefer threaded discussions. Chronological is close enough for short discussions, but threaded makes it so much easier to find read all the replies a comment got. (Yes, I know I'm replying to a year-old post.) [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 07:06, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

. . . . is overrated. [[Special:Contributions/74.213.186.41|74.213.186.41]] 17:01, 1 April 2013 (UTC)