explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1492: Dress Color

2017-11-29T17:35:53Z

GuiRitter: opinion

To me, they both look blue/gold [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 06:29, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
:To me as well. The one on the right, with a lighter background, appears more bluish and the collar is a darker brown. (The collar on the left, to my eyes, matches the face on the right.) But both definitely appear bluish with a dull yellow. - Equinox [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.120|199.27.128.120]] 16:50, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

What is the illusion supposed to be? The colors of the dress look a bit darker with the light background, but not very much. Is that the illusion? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.82|141.101.80.82]] 07:07, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
: Agree. To me, it looks like it's definitely light blue (maybe "cornflower"?) with pale olive stripes. "Gold" would really be a stretch. It looks like that in all lighting conditions and in both backgrounds of the strip. Did I pass some kind of color-blindness test? Or fail? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.133|108.162.254.133]] 07:43, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
: This has nothing to do with color-blindness, but probably with certain arbitrary constants related to white-balance adjustment that differ brain-to-brain. Many people I know insist that even though the picture looks blue, it's a dress illuminated by a blue light, and based on this assumption their brain may essentially redden the whole picture to adjust for this light. The actual picture was taken in white light, not blue light. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.28|173.245.55.28]] 07:46, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

::It may also be related to white-balance of the MONITOR. I see original dress like black and blue and the one on left here as gold and light blue. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:00, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Apparently for some people the left-hand-side's general blueishness is adjusted against by the visual system enough to make the dress look white and gold instead of blue and brown. I am not one of those people. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.28|173.245.55.28]] 07:43, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Description says left for both [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.219|141.101.98.219]] 08:37, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
:Now changed. (Saw it myself before I saw your comment, and just lept straight in there. Hopefully I changed the right left so that it's right and not left the wrong left whilst producing the wrong right. Alright?) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 09:30, 27 February 2015 (UTC) (Also, "hello near-IP neighbour!"... The same digits, even. Creepy.)
::Y'all are both from London, and probably live on the same street. Congrats! You made a friend! :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.192|108.162.216.192]] 16:25, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Are they really the same colour? 'Cause to me on the blue side it looks blue and black- while on the white side it looks white and gold. Is this normal? {{unsigned|FlyingPiggy}}

The figure on the right definitely has a beard. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.182|108.162.249.182]] 09:38, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

I checked with ColorZilla and the RGB values are identical. From my perspective, in the one on the left the dress appears pale blue with darker brown/gold stripes, and the one on the right appears a darker blue with lighter brown/gold stripes. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 10:10, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

This is just a polychromatic version of that checker shadow illusion, right? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checker_shadow_illusion [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.38|108.162.231.38]] 10:12, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
:That's what I thought too. But it looks the same (doesn't it?) and is the same (that, thankfully is non-subjective and verifiable with as little as MSPaint), so I'm at loss as to why this deserves a comic. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.136|141.101.104.136]] 10:47, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
: This is a common optical illusion (at least I've seen this many times) - most peoples eyes perform a white balance adjustment automatically which affects the perceived colours. If your eyes don't do this then you will do well in the paint colour matching business. http://www.moillusions.com/hue-optical-illusion/ I apologise for the jarring colours in the link. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.220}}
:Here's a particularly good demonstration of the underlying "color perception" illusion (i.e. the Checker-Shadow illusion referred to above): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Sen1HTu5o [[User:Arcanechili|Arcanechili]] ([[User talk:Arcanechili|talk]]) 15:45, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
:Confused guy again. It seems I can only 'accurately' see shades of red (or is it blue? anyway, the first illusion in the Hue article, but not the other two) fascinating as that is, I'm probably not getting the paint job.

[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.136|141.101.104.136]] 11:52, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

The comic is a reference to the debate around the coloration of [http://amd.c.yimg.jp/amd/20150227-00000070-zdn_n-000-2-view.jpg this dress]. The band in the middle of the image shows some of the material of the dress. To some people, including me, the dress is obviously, unquestionably black and blue. But to others, including my wife, it's obviously, unquestionably, black and gold. {{unsigned ip|103.22.200.196}}
:And to others it's apparently a number of other combinations - I've seen claims of white/gold and blue/orange. However, surprisingly few people seem to have seen [http://www.romanoriginals.co.uk/invt/70931?colour=Royal-Blue this link] to the manufacturer's page for what appears to be the same dress; available in 4 colour combinations which according to the manufacturers' descriptions are ivory/black, scarlet/black, pink/black and royal-blue/black, with pictures available of all versions. As such I'm happy to accept the pictures doing the rounds are probably the blue/black variant (although most of the over-exposed versions I've seen appear light-blue/goldish-brown to me. {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.77}}

Our eyes are too efficient, which makes this illusion work. In dim light we dilate our eyes, so an enclosed room with one lamp seems bright, though it is a cave compared to the outdoors. If the bulb in our lamp is of a warm tone, our eyes adjust so we believe we see colours as though in daylight. I think that's what's happening in the dress illusion -- we are trying to allow for perceived lighting conditions in the photo -- so the actual illusion is in our guess as to what those light conditions actually are. And finally an artist quote: "I can paint you the skin of Venus with mud, provided you let me surround it as I will." - Eugene Delacroix [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.84|108.162.242.84]] 13:28, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Some Notes on camera color correction: it's worse than, and is not just an optical illusion. It's a camera screwup.

* [http://40.media.tumblr.com/a391a1b4b46dd6b498d379e50f96ecbc/tumblr_nkcjuq8Tdr1tnacy1o1_500.jpg Here is the original photo] as [http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112159166305/katze-geht-meow-ijustloveyoutubers seen here]

* [http://media.tumblr.com/ec387ec0bb03230268a9e905d74097d9/tumblr_inline_nkeezsjAuH1svicb3.jpg Here is a second photo of the same dress in normal light] As [http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112164479015/can-we-have-more-pictures-of-the-dress-please-we seen here]

* [http://www.romanoriginals.co.uk/invt/70931?colour=Royal-Blue Here is the online store where you can buy the dress]

* [http://www.romanoriginals.co.uk/content/ebiz/romanoriginals/invt/70931/70931rbl_zoom1.jpg Here is a high quality photo of the dress from the store]

* [http://imgur.com/RY2dTnW.jpg Here is an example of the color "correction" that happens when you calibrate things so that Dark Blue = White.] NOTE: This is a major readjustment of colors and there is no real color matching between the two images. White is not actually blue in this image, and up is not down, and you are not going crazy

Cheap cameras will try to adjust colors based on formulas that guess what the correct color scheme is.

If you take a photo while in the shade on a sunny day, you likely get most of your light from the bright *BLUE* sky. This can make you look awful. The camera is set up to guess the correct exposure. In this case the camera follows the rules, and guesses, wrongly, that the the overall majority color in the center of the photo is white, and transforms the rest of the colors to match

It's a camera screwup. It also depends on how bad your viewing device is behaving, because, based on how dark the screen is, you then get the optical illusion effect that Randall posted.

This is a secondary effect, and not the real reason why behind what is going on in the first place. The correct rendering of the camera screwup is going to be, on most devices with normal color rendition, white with gold. Because some monitors are lighter or darker depending on viewing angle, this also impacts color perception.

We can then get the actual optical illusion after all that. But as we have seen with good photos of the actual dress in normal light, the camera got it wrong.

TL;DR: It's a cell phone camera screwup. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.170|173.245.52.170]] 14:22, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

: Thank you so much! That is the only good explanation I've read. The colour correction introduced by the cellphone is massive. But I still don't know how anyone can see the gold as being black unless their computer monitor is completely maladjusted. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.182|108.162.249.182]] 04:30, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

:The first time I saw the alleged image of the same dress by the manufacturer (which is clearly to me black and blue), I couldn't believe they where the same dresses, because, by looking at the viral image, I can't imagine a lightning scenario and brain correction that would cause black to look gold. The camera adjustment screw up makes sense to make them the same dress. Therefore, I hereby challenge someone to buy the black and blue dress and take a photo of it, doing whatever necessary to make the black look gold. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.99.189|188.114.99.189]] 22:40, 10 December 2015 (UTC)

Is it possible that there's a connection between this comic and [[690: Semicontrolled Demolition]]? Some discussions I've seen about this topic involve the choice between white/gold and blue/black, so Randall coloured his dress gold/blue. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.122|108.162.216.122]] 16:20, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
: It's more likely due to the fact that the colors of the actual picture - that is, if you use a color picker - are roughly the same as those in the comic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.111|108.162.216.111]] 17:06, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

I'm reminded of [[356: Nerd Sniping]], only the perpetrator has managed to snipe the entire interwebs {{unsigned ip|141.101.106.107}}

No one has yet mentioned that ignoring color, the two images are also mirror images of each other. On the left, the figure is looking slightly toward her own right shoulder; while on the right she is looking slightly to her own left. Most likely not at all relevant to this discussion, but usually folks on this forum are very quick to point out even insignificant details (like I'm doing right now) :)
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.42|108.162.216.42]] 19:01, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

;Similar Illusions and explanation

I feel like this line seems out o place, or at least badly worded (using half the URL as the text...):

''"Similar types of illusions can be seen at Optical illusion#Color_and_brightness_constancies and at echalk. (requires Flash®player)."''

Also, this seems similar to the [http://web.mit.edu/persci/people/adelson/checkershadow_illusion.html checker shadow illusion] (link to page on website with explanation of said illusion).

On another note, this page seems rather disorganized and uniformative about the phenomenon behind this illusion.

[[User:Zweisteine|Zweisteine]] ([[User talk:Zweisteine|talk]]) 19:04, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

This explanation is lacking in a particular detail: in Randall's drawing, what colors do the dresses look. I'm color blind, so they don't look different to me, but I couldn't name them. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.173|173.245.52.173]] 00:13, 28 February 2015 (UTC)
:I guess it depends. For ME it is blue and gold. --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 01:57, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

LOOK, Randall. Schrödinger was a crossdresser. This was Schrödinger's dress. My Schrödinger fanfics say so and you can't take away my dreams! [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.107|173.245.50.107]] 02:15, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

Wow. This is amazing. Starting out, I see only blue and gold in both sides of the comic, the photo strip down the center, and the photo it's based on. I see only slight differences in color among all these images. Just variations in brightness. Has anyone else noticed that the colors Randall has chosen are almost precisely complementary? Adding the R, G, and B values from each color cited in the explanation gets you 248 R, 248 G, and 247 B. The values in the center strip vary alot but I have found examples of each color that match within 2 bits in an 8 bit RGB system. I wonder how and why Randall chose these values. NewScientist has an article on this too. Trivia, re Monty Hall discussion: In the 60's muscle car era the Pontiac GTO was nicknamed "The Goat" so maybe the car IS the goat! [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 02:44, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

So, does this have anything to do with Christopher Columbus? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 03:14, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

The [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1492:_Dress_Color&oldid=85394 current version of the transcript] says that on the right Megan is "yellow against a buttercup background." I think I'm going to change that to "brown" and "white." (If we want to get super nerdy about it, then name-of-color.com says the actual colors are [http://name-of-color.com/color#A47933 luxor gold,] [http://name-of-color.com/color#D7B75B equator] and [http://name-of-color.com/color#F9F6E9 old lace.)] [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 02:29, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

The weird part is that I see no difference between the dresses. The same blue brown, but if I stare long enough, right side looks darker. Despite that, you cannot convince me that checker B is the same colour as A in the checker colour illusion.

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.93|108.162.216.93]] 06:43, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Okok.... in the image, the dress is technically light blue and dark gold. HOWEVER, it is obvious that the real dress could not be this color, because the lighting is weird and you can tell that it is really white and gold. Also, that is a more reasonable color for a dress anyway... QED [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.180|173.245.56.180]] 22:29, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

I actually saw it just as it was (blue and brown). I can't understand why anybody else saw it differently. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.150|108.162.221.150]] 09:28, 22 July 2015 (UTC)

The regular 'dress' looks white and gold to me, but this looks blue and brown. Aargh! {{unsigned|Jadzia.dax}}

It may seem petty, but this site usually points out small errors Randall makes and I think there is one in the mouse over text. I'm not native in English, so it's likely I'm wrong. But »''only to find there was unexpectedly disagreement over whether the thing they'd revealed was a goat or a car''« doesn't look right to me. I'd want it to be either »»''only to find there was unexpected disagreement over whether the thing they'd revealed was a goat or a car''« or »''only to find there unexpectedly was disagreement over whether the thing they'd revealed was a goat or a car''«. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.178|162.158.134.178]] 17:04, 29 November 2017 (UTC)

:I'm not a native English speaker either, and I also take a little longer to understand that phrase because of the way it's worded. Your first suggestion looks better. The second one, though, not as much. [[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 17:35, 29 November 2017 (UTC)

explain xkcd:Community portal/Miscellaneous

2016-02-09T16:25:20Z

GuiRitter: /* Sightless readers offended by the "It's 'cause you're dumb" tagline. */ opinion

<noinclude>{{Community portal}}</noinclude>

== The Community Portal's design ==

{{tl|Community portal}} looks too Wikipedia-ish (because that's where I got it). Someone who can design things should probably fix that. It isn't protected for the time being, though it probably will be in the future (high-visibility template). --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:54, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Common mistake ==

This affects all pages that ever say "alt text" in reference to the TITLE text on xkcd images. "Alt text" is incorrect; Alt text refers to the text that is shown as an alternative when images are not displayed. Title text is what xkcd uses and is shown as a tool tip-like bubble when images are hovered over.

I would correct this myself but I saw no way to edit the main page. --[[User:Jillysky|Jillysky]] ([[User talk:Jillysky|talk]]) 14:21, 6 August 2012‎ (UTC)

:You actually don't need to edit the main page to fix it, as what's there is just a mirror (transclusion) of the actual content from the comic page, at [[Curiosity]], which is open for editing by anyone. Then again, the "alt-text" in that case is generated by a template, {{tl|comic}}, so that's where we should fix this. The template's code, however, is currently a terrible mess (sorry!), so I went ahead and took care of it. Thanks for catching that! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:24, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

:Ah? So it's wrong, for instance, on http://m.xkcd.com? because of that I took it for granted that we could call it the alt-text... - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 17:38, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

:: Yes. If you look at the page's html source, you'll see:
<nowiki><img
id="comic"
src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/curiosity.png"
title="As of this writing the NASA/JPL websites are still overloaded. Trying CURIOSITY-REAR-CAM_[256px_x_256px].torrent.SwEsUb.DVDRip.XviD-aXXo.jpg instead."
alt="Curiosity"></nowiki>
::(line breaks added for clarity) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 23:54, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

:::That was my error in the template. I knew "image text" that has been commonly used by Jeff was not techically correct, but I didn't actually go back and confirm it was alt text before I included that tag in the template. That's to Waldir (I believe?) for correcting the template. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 14:14, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

== When the "official" transcript is wrong? ==
I did [[903: Extended Mind]]. Interestingly, the transcript on xkcd.com is missing the bottom line "When Wikipedia has a server outage, my apparent IQ drops by 30 points." I assume we want a complete transcript, rather than whatever xkcd.com says it is...? [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 04:10, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

:We're focusing on the actual transcript of the comic, not the xkcd.com transcript. The official transcript is usually right, but even Randall makes mistakes sometimes. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 04:24, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

== Milestone: half the comics explained!! ==

Hi all! I'm pleased to announce that we have just broke the 50% mark for xkcd explanations! The page that balanced the count (568 explained, 568 to go, at the time) was [[877: Beauty]], created 01:31 UTC, 21 November 2012 by [[User:Davidy22]]. Congratulations!! :D --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 03:10, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

:The caterer's been called! The punch will be arriving soon! Go [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:53, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

::[[File:freedom.png]] Punch is served! [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 07:11, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

But the Main page says 407 explanations, 731 to go! What's up with that? --[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 21:00, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

== Reverse? ==

Why in the Archive why are all the thing up until "Heatmap" in Reverse? Can someone please answer? [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 08:28, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
:Archive? Can you provide a link or screenshot? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:43, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

http://xkcd.com/archive/ [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 08:28, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

::Ah, that's because the comic right after that, rtl, has a right-to-left character in it that flips all the proceeding text. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:13, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Ah, ok, i see that now. When I 1st saw that RTL I just thought that it was random letters, thankyou for explaining it for me. [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 08:28, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

It also depends on what browser you are on because on Google Chrome it was normal. [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 09:08, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

== Do you think this question was asked by one of the xkcd people? ==

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090301060752AAtYugc [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 08:38, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

== Matthew Reilly ==

I would just like to tell everyone that I asked Matthew Reilly (the author) if he is ever scared that a velociraptor is going to attack him, and he said NO! He clearly needs to start worrying about them! [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 10:45, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

== What can we learn section ==
First of all I love your work. I believe deeper understanding of each XKCD can make a world a better place and I thank you sincerely for starting this webpage. I wanted to ask what you think about "What can we learn?" section I've been adding to some of the pages. Thank you - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 13:27, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

:This site is actually the work of multiple editors working slowly and steadily to fill in explanations for all the old comics. Some of the xkcd comics are incredibly deep - comic [[956]] is such a poignant comic that digs into the DRM issue on so many levels. Your reflections on many of the comics are very much warranted and you're helping us create talk pages with high-quality opening posts, which is great for future discussion on this wiki. It'd be nice if you could refrain from putting headers in talk pages, technical limitations of the wiki make long explanation pages choke when headings are in the discussion page. Other than that, keep up the good work! '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:42, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

::I've put in my 2 cents to comic [[956]], and thank you for teaching me how to comment and link to other comics - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 13:58, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

::: FYI, you can always make pseudo-headings using a horizontal rule and a bold "header", but honestly I think a simple standard opening sentence would suffice. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:14, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

:Oh, and the guy who draws xkcd is called {{w|Randall Munroe}}. So many glowing things to be said about him. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:44, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

::Yes, I can't thank him enough for simplifying complex issues to funny stories, I think it's exactly what our generation needs - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 13:58, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

:I'm in favor of a Mr. Rogers style of 'what lesson can be learned' on the talk page, but make sure your comments don't come across as sanctimonious and holier-than-thou as that can be really off-putting. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 19:06, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

:: You are absolutely correct, I have not thought of that, please trust me I did not do it on purpose. Thank you Mr. Lcarsos - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 19:55, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

Thank you David, and I apologize that I've not made it clear that by your work, I do mean your collective work (the wiki is only as good as all the people behind it). I was trying to put the headers to allow others to find the section easier in case they start looking for it, perhaps I could make a suggestion to make it a standalone section so that others would be encouraged to contribute their own understanding of lessons they have noticed from each comic. I know the lessons I've seen, but I would love to learn from others as much as I hope they can learn from me and Mr. XKCD, thank you. - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 13:48, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

== DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD ==

Hello fellow editors. Do you remember the last time we were hit by a surge of automated spam? Neither do I. ConfirmEdit has really done a number on the volume of spam that we're eating - one spam account has been created since we finished configuring confirmEdit, and zero anon edits have been spam. Zero. Can you say happiness? Can you say party? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:41, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

:Hehe, I'm glad! Thanks for being so relentless on the spam-fighting all this time! Maybe we should make up a new reason to make Jeff remove the /wiki/ in the URL? ;) –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 18:11, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

:: Awesome news! Finally the patrolling feature will be usable: [{{fullurl:Special:RecentChanges|hideanons=1&hidepatrolled=1&from=20121204025000&days=365&limit=1000}} Unpatrolled changes by registered users] / [{{fullurl:Special:RecentChanges|hideliu=1&hidepatrolled=1&from=20121204025000&days=365&limit=1000}} Unpatrolled changes by anonymous users] :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:27, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

== 1000th comic explanation!! ==

Hi all! It apparently went unnoticed that '''we have recently surpassed the mark of 1000 comic explanations!''' Some calculations based on [[:Category:Comics]] and [[Special:NewPages]] led me to the conclusion that the 1000th explanation was [[681: Gravity Wells]], created by [[User:AlexRNL]] just yesterday! Yay! This calls for a celebration, no? Congrats to [[Special:ContributionScores|everyone]] who made this happen! I'll edit [[Mediawiki:Sitenotice]] with a congratulatory message. Way to go, guys! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:04, 10 April 2013 (UTC)
:ps - I also took the opportunity to flesh out our [[explain xkcd|about/history page]]. Please take a look and fix/add any details I might have missed. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:06, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

== Style guide ==
Is there a style guide for this wiki? --[[User:PeterMortensen|PeterMortensen]] ([[User talk:PeterMortensen|talk]]) 20:14, 10 August 2013 (UTC)
:Oh, sorry, I did forget to answer here. A guide on this is not easy, many individual comics do need special layouts because they have content never can match to a style guide. But I will give a try [[Help:Style Guide]].--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:18, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

== Adblock ==

I've whitelisted the site in adblock, but the ads are still blocked.
Anyone know what' going on here and how I can fix it?--[[User:ParadoX|ParadoX]] ([[User talk:ParadoX|talk]]) 04:34, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
:Huh. I was wondering why our impression counts weren't rising. I thought it was just because this site had high turnover. I've changed the webpage that the word whitelisting links to, try the instructions there instead. Project wonderful is our ad provider, and they've been pretty good to us so far. Also, thanks for helping to support the site! '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:40, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
::Great! I don't really mid ads as long as they aren't intrusive. Works now, Hope everyone else does it as well.--[[User:ParadoX|ParadoX]] ([[User talk:ParadoX|talk]]) 05:16, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
::I saw you wrote "the webpage that the word whitelisting links to" so I went to the search box and typed whitelisting. My search didn't yield anything useful: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?search=whitelisting&go=Go&title=Special%3ASearch]. I don't know how to create the missing page but there oughta be a link for someone like me who searches for whitelist or whitelisting, to take them to the instructions you refer to. [[User:SaxTeacher|SaxTeacher]] ([[User talk:SaxTeacher|talk]]) 10:59, 17 May 2014 (UTC)
:::We already have this linked somewhere, but [https://www.projectwonderful.com/adblock.php this] is the link you want. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:41, 17 May 2014 (UTC)

I normally access this site through the android app "xkcd browser". That app only links to the content part of the site and doesn't show the side bar, so the adds aren't shown either. Might be worth discussing it with the author. [[Special:Contributions/109.158.126.139|109.158.126.139]] 08:06, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

:We support those avenues completely, you don't need to feel bad if you use an app to browse this site. We're only really concerned when we put up ads and our impressions are less than half our page hits, because that essentially means more than half our readers aren't contributing to server costs. That's really hard to deal with. We have enough daily page hits to qualify as web publishers at very big ad agencies, but we've had to settle for relatively low rates at the smaller Project Wonderful because 60% of our users were using adblock, so the agencies rejected us because our valuable "paying" audience was too low for them to consider us. That's been the difference between us using dedicated servers to host the site and hiring a contractor to set it up, and the (admittedly somewhat decent) shared hosting plan that we have to settle for now. We can only afford the shared hosting, because the small-scale advertisers at Project Wonderful don't even pay for full days of advertising; most of the time, we make less per day than the posted $3.90 price. That said, we're grateful that Project Wonderful would take us as a publisher when no one else would, but it really feels like the difference between being accepted to community college and being accepted to an ivy league school. For a similar reason, the Google ads route was not sufficient to satisfy our needs; not a large enough proportion of our users were looking at ads, so we either needed to spam them and degrade the site, or we needed to make them refresh, which makes pages slow and causes needlessly high traffic for a lot of users. We didn't want our ads to make the site worse, because that would drive away users and defeat the purpose of us being a public resource for xkcd readers. We actually decided to go the agency route pretty early, because adsense takes a massive cut of revenues and gives us little control over what ads or advertisers actually showed, which was not okay with us. Whoah, I wrote a lot. I hope it was coherent. Maybe someday I'll collect my thoughts and write a proper summary on how and why we advertise. Also, if you have any questions about anything ad-related, you can always ask us at [[explain xkcd talk:Advertise Here]]. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:15, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

== Feynman? ==

Feynman (both in [[182: Nash|living]] and [[397: Unscientific|zombie]] form) probably deserves an entry in the [[Template:Navbox characters|character navbox]] template doesn't he? [[Special:Contributions/128.250.152.198|128.250.152.198]] 02:21, 1 October 2013 (UTC)
:That's two comics out of 1200+. Three if you count the song. Not quite enough yet. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:27, 1 October 2013 (UTC)
:: If that's the criterion, then we need to get rid of [[Brown Hat]]. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 19:30, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

== Job Interview (Electric Soup) ==

The soup is clearly being poured out of an electric socket. This "electric soup" is probably not a reference to the alcoholic brew favoured by Scottish tramps, but more likely to the virtual nature of the company. {{unsigned|Sulis}}
:Hey, go here [[Talk:1293: Job Interview‎]] for discussions. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:58, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

== Is there a similar, transcripted service for The Oatmeal? ==

Hi everyone - this site is a real gem, I've sent it to a friend of mine who can't read XKCD because she's blind. The transcripts on this site are a real boon!

Does anyone know if there is a similar service for The Oatmeal? I've searched and searched, but found nothing so far.

Thanks :)

Jeff

:As far as I know we are kind of unique in the web comics world. I think we get away with it because Randall publishes all his comics as Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial. We liberally link back to xkcd, and we don't make a penny (The ads are just to cover server expenses, because wikis and the databases that support them get big when you're covering a body of work like xkcd). I haven't looked into the copyright Matt uses for the Oatmeal, but he seems like a cool enough guy to not kill a community transcripting effort of his comics. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 20:32, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

== what if 103: Vanishing Water - comics ==

Please explain the 2nd and the 4th comics from http://what-if.xkcd.com/103/

"Just tried to sail my boat over land, because I didn't learn from that kid in the Zephyr." (who's the kid from Zephyr?)

"A third time?" (maybe whales were dropped twice before in other what-ifs?) [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 21:57, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

:"A third time?" is a reference to a whale falling twice in "Hitchiker's guide to the Galaxy". Been a while, so I don't remember the details of how this fit in, but the second time it happened to the whale, he thought "Not again" or something along those lines. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 18:49, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

Raises the question of if we should explain jokes imbedded in What If comics. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 18:49, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

== Discussion usage ==

Am I being a killjoy in feeling that the discussion section should be mainly limited to discussion on improving the explanation, gathering consensus and that type of thing.
Specifically, the discussion for [[1418: Horse]] is quickly turning into every man and his dog posting a sentence in the style of the comic, which doesn't really add anything to the page other than clutter.

Personally, I'd just delete most of them, but I think I might be turning into a grumpy old bugger... --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 20:32, 10 September 2014 (UTC)
:The discussion is also there for just talking about the comic. Those guys aren't wildly off-topic, there's no need to clamp down on what they get to talk about. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:44, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

::Yep, I must just be grumpy and draconian! Lesson learned --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 20:32, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

== 2014 Christmas header ==

Since the header for the site current contains a [http://imgs.xkcd.com/store/store_default.png graphic link to the store] that promises that Randall probably won't ship you a [[:Category:Bobcats|bobcat]], it seems to me that probably ought to be preserved and explained somewhere. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.189|173.245.56.189]] 17:45, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

== XKCD at LanguageLog ==

Arnold Zwicky (of the well-known linguistics blog Language Log) has put together a list of linguistics-related XKCD strips, here: http://arnoldzwicky.org/the-language-of-comics/comics-lists/xkcd-cartoons/ I thought it might be appropriate for a copy of the list (maybe a category) to be created from it. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.79|199.27.133.79]] 03:48, 28 December 2014 (UTC)
:[[:Category:Language]] '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:39, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

== Bookmarklet ==

Hello there, I've created a little bookmarklet (https://ginkobox.fr/shaarli/?a77vQw) and I thought it might be useful for someone out there.

When launched, it adds the 'explain' before xkcd.com and the browser loads the explainxkcd page. I've tested it only on Firefox.

(Contact @ https://ginkobox.fr/wiki/doku.php?id=about) {{unsigned ip|‎108.162.229.100}}

== Is there a RSS feed for What If? ==

Is there a RSS feed for What If?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 11:59, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
:No, because we cover the comics. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:57, 29 March 2015 (UTC)

== My User Page ==

Can someone help me with [[user:17jiangz1|my user page]]? I can't seem to remove the large space on top.--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 07:43, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
: The only solution I've found is to remove the contribution scores (data6=...). Not sure what exactly is triggering this bug. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 21:02, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
I am receiving "Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character ""." for <code><pre>{{#expr: {{formatnum:{{#cscore:17jiangz1|pages}}|R}}/{{formatnum:{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}|R}}*100 round 5 }}</pre></code>--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 05:46, 10 April 2015 (UTC)
:Bump?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 06:48, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

== What-If ==

It hasn't updated for 2 weeks. why?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 06:50, 25 April 2015 (UTC)
:Looks like they're on hold for a few months (Until July 14th). Too bad, I enjoyed them. ([http://what-if.xkcd.com/ Look at the top of the What-If page]) --[[User:Zman9600|Zman9600]] ([[User talk:Zman9600|talk]]) 20:24, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
:What is so special about the date and time? Seems very specific: ''July 14th, 2015 at 7:49:59 AM EDT.'' --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.99|141.101.98.99]] 12:48, 28 May 2015 (UTC)
Looks like it's set for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz mission launch. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.158}}

What If updates will resume on July 14th, 2015 at 7:49:59 AM EDT. By that time {{w|New Horizons}} will have it's closest approach to {{w|Pluto}}. See here: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/ --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:34, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

== thanks for having a working website ==

the search function on xkcd.com was taken off, and now the random function seems to be having issues, but it's nice that here both work [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.114|188.114.97.114]] 19:09, 9 June 2015 (UTC)
:We do our best. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:27, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

== Ada Munroe ==

The latest [[what if?]] number 139 has a question by "Ada Munroe". Is she related to [[Randall]] in any way? --{{User:17jiangz1/signature|06:57, 09 August 2015}}

== Out of curiosity ==

I notice that whenever someone links to tvtropes.org in an explanation, someone changes the link to the matching page on allthetropes.org. I'm curious as to why that is. Is there some kind of terms of use conflict at play here that an editor should be keeping in mind? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.156|199.27.128.156]] 06:33, 26 October 2015 (UTC)
:TVtropes does not restrict links to their site, and if this has been happening there are some time-outs that I need to be handing out. Can you point me to some of the edits where this is happening? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:24, 26 October 2015 (UTC)
::The specific example I had was, um, [[1468: Worrying]]. On Jan 3rd the links went to tvtropes.org, and on March 18th they were all changed over to allthetropes.orain.org. I just found it curious, I wasn't sure what the reason for it was [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.47|162.158.255.47]] 10:32, 29 October 2015 (UTC)
:::Reverted. Typically, the reason people change perfectly good links to specific, obscure links in wikis is usually self-advertising. I'll be watching that guy's edits in the future. Thanks for the heads up. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:00, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

== Sightless readers offended by the "It's 'cause you're dumb" tagline. ==

I'll admit, every now and again the comic is over my head. ...because I'm dumb in that particular field. However, blind users who enjoy xkcd must do so through explainxkcd. They are NOT dumb. They are *blind*. Without explainxkcd, they would have no idea what is in the comics panels.

Explainxkcd is a great site. There is no question it provides a service to the internet community.

Please see this thread (last paragraph) on Userfriendly.org. Keep in mind, the end user is sightless and explainxkcd is "viewed" through a screen reader. http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/read.cgi?id=20160207&tid=3930989 (Anonymous)

: The guy on that other site is complaining about that XKCD does not work well in a screen reader -- that is not our problem, but a problem for Randall to solve on his own site. We cannot be the catch all for everything on the internet that Randall broke [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 15:37, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
:: Agreed --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:28, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

Honestly, I never even noticed the tagline in question. Humorous to sighted folks, sure. ...but obviously offensive to those who have no choice but to access xkcd through explainxkcd.

I'll leave it to the administrators or the community to figure something out, if anything at all. Maybe no one cares? I didn't come here to make any suggestions, only to point out how offensive those 4 words are to some users of the website. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.88}}

:Alright, put a link here in the site notice. What does everyone else think? I'm open to changing it, it's something people complain about fairly periodically and our identity isn't completely tied to the tagline, I feel. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:16, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

::Well, we definitely shouldn't change anything because that particular guy is upset. It's one thing to be offended, but he's also attacking both this site and Randal Monroe. I don't think that sort of behavior should be rewarded. I actually have a rule online where, if someone acts like a jerk to me, I will be kind, but I won't give them what they want. I think a lot of the problems with people being jerks to others is that they still get what they want, so what reason do they have to stop? If he wants us to change it, he should address us like an adult and ask us himself.

::But you claim this is a common complaint. Then I would say we need more info. My instinct would be that people don't understand that it's a joke. But then my solution would be to do what the site is designed to do and explain the joke, rather than take it down. If there's actually something about it that's offensive to an entire class of people, that's different. I am unaware of a stereotype that blind people are stupid, but I'm open to the idea that I don't know.

::I'm not particularly married to the tag line. I actually didn't even notice it was there. But I'm loathe to take it down over a misunderstanding. I can't think of a similarly humorous replacement that would not be offensive, but I can at least suggest "Because nobody knows everything." --[[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 09:42, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
:::I've gotten these before. There's a [[Talk:Main_Page#Header_message|slowly growing]] section in the main page discussion page and a complaint buried somewhere in my talk page and they're usually quite unhappy. I pegged it up this time round because there's special needs involved, and a good part of our intended appeal is the transcripts for the blind. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:45, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

::Is he one of those people who are so self-centered and 'entitled' that just because they have a disability they assume that everyone is constantly trying to offend them, even in the most unlikeliest of cases? Does he actually believe that the tag line was written with the intention of offending blind people? This is ridiculous. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.71|141.101.106.71]] 11:04, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

"Just in case you feel dumb"? "Some comics may be funnier than they appear"?[[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.198|199.27.130.198]] 09:55, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

How about simply removing it? At least until we find something that isn't offensive to anyone - which might be very hard to obtain. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:34, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

Because you're crippled... That's worse I guess. 
But before considering the "you're dumb" tagline, one must think about the name of this wiki. It is called '''Explain''' xkcd, not read xkcd, and explaining is for dumb people, not blind people. 
Maybe one thing we can do is add a "(unless you are just here for the transcript)" subtext, with a link to the transcript section, which has the advantage of both taming offended blind readers (maybe) and provide a direct, "spoilerless" link. --[[User:GuB|GuB]] ([[User talk:GuB|talk]]) 10:40, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I need explainxkcd for two reasons: being visually impaired, although I can see most of the comics I often miss crucial details that I find only in the transcript; and as a non-American, I lack many cultural references (books, movies, songs, sayings...) that are given in the explanations.
I don't think either of these reasons makes me "dumb". However, I never found the tagline offensive. It was immediately obvious to me that it was meant as humor. Who could seriously think that someone is dumb just because they haven't read the specific book that Randall is parodying in a given comic? Or because they're not familiar with a specific programming language or Unix command? IMHO the tagline *is* funny precisely because very few people can actually "get" all the comics without an explanation. Suggesting that anyone who isn't part of the 0.1% of the population who share all of Randall's abilities and references, is dumb, can't be anything but a joke. Adding to the lot those who can't get the comics because they're blind doesn't make the joke more offensive. It's a sad world where political correctness kills all forms of humor.

On the other hand, the tagline is not an essential part of the site and if a significant number want it removed, so be it.
Zetfr 10:46, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

:Well not everybody's mind works the same way, and some people legitimately cannot grasp humor very easily. They may come to read the explanations precisely because they can't recognize what about a given comic is supposed to be humorous, and they likewise may not be able to tell that the tagline is just a joke. Besides, the tagline is equating a lack of knowledge with a lack of intelligence, which also makes it inaccurate and kind of kills the humor for those who stop and think about it.

:I personally agree with the above "Because nobody knows everything." approach. I would suggest something along the lines of "Because you won't always get the joke." --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.134|108.162.242.134]] 11:06, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

:: This sounds like a bunch of dumb people coming together and suggesting that the rest of people should be more like them (joke intended) [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 15:33, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

: +1 on this. '''Keep'''. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 20:15, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote removal [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 11:01, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

Mostly agree with Zetfr, it is a rather obvious joke, and this is a website about a webcomic which is mostly about fun, it would be different if this was some serious news portal, but it isn't, and in my humble opinion people who can't take a joke shouldn't even be here. There will always be ranters and people who get offended, we should not let them make decisions for us. I sincerely believe vast majority of people, blind or otherwise, understand it. [[User:Jaalenja|Jaalenja]] ([[User talk:Jaalenja|talk]])

:I agree with Zetfr. If a user doesn't understand that it is a joke, then he won't understand XKCD's jokes, either, no matter how much explaination he can get.
:--[[User:Lou Crazy|Lou Crazy]] ([[User talk:Lou Crazy|talk]]) 12:12, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
::I also agree with the above, and like the part of Zetfr about because you need a reader to use the page you do not need to be offended by an obvious joke --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:28, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

if i had a vote i'd say change the "because you're dumb" from text to a picture with alt text of something slightly less rude. "because you're using a screenreader," perhaps. although that would show up on mouseover. meh. whatever. --13:01, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
:and someone isn't "entitled" because they get annoyed about something that doesn't annoy you. as a sighted person i don't even look at the headers on the page. i would imagine that since the text in question is at the top of the page he has to listen to it every single time the page is refreshed. which is annoying enough if it's not insulting. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.161|141.101.106.161]] 13:06, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
:It is bad to have the alt-text saying something differently, but since the current tagline is not offensive to non-blind people then why would it be offensive to a blind person. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 15:24, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''keep''' -- Blind people do not have to come to this site, they can just use xkcd.com directly and if that is not working for blind people then that is Randall's problem not ours. The tag line has been there for years while I have noticed it before and used the site and I have never been offended, if a blind person is offended maybe they should stop using the internet. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.109|162.158.255.109]] 15:18, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
: I second that -- the tag line does not appear to offend non-blind people, it should not offend blind people either [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 15:24, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

Voting '''KEEP''' -- the tag line is a joke, and who is to say that blind people cannot be dumb [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 15:24, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''keep''' as well. I don't see any reason to change it; it's not a jab at disabled people, blind or otherwise. The site is called '''explain'''xkcd, and everything here centers around explaining the comic, not being a transcription service. (If that's not the case, then maybe other things need changing too.) I always thought the tagline fit nicely with the "sarcasm" part of xkcd's own tagline. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.26|108.162.216.26]] 15:26, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''KEEP and satisfy both sides'''. If you examine the HTML, or use [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/fangs-screen-reader-emulator/ Fangs] (free screen reader), you may notice there is a jump-to-nav div element that lets people with screen readers jump to various parts of the page. The jump-to-nav div is only a few HTML lines below the tagline. I'd recommend:
# Moving the jump-to-nav div to '''before''' the tagline
# Adding a "Jump to Transcript" link in the jump-to-nav div.
# Test it with [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/fangs-screen-reader-emulator/ Fangs] in Firefox to simulate a screen reader.
This way, screen-reader users can jump to the transcript and don't have to hear the tagline every time they visit an explainxkcd.com page.
-- [[User:Hat|Hat]] ([[User talk:Hat|talk]]) 15:44, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

Consider "Do you get it now?" [[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.11|198.41.235.11]] 16:09, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''keep''': it's reasonable and no change is warranted

I like the suggestion of '''keeping''' the current tagline, but changing it to an '''image with alttext''' saying something like "because you're using a screenreader". I also vote to move the link to the transcript to above the tagline. [[User:Rileysci|Rileysci]] ([[User talk:Rileysci|talk]]) 17:32, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I get the joke and I'm not offended by it, but it seems to me that it really sticks out on this site and it doesn't seem consistent with Randall's sense of humor. Everyone on this site is very inclusive and eager to share all perspectives and points of view. I come here both to see the humor that I have the knowledge to understand and to learn more about the world the way Randall sees it. In short, I come here to be one of the lucky 10,000. In fact, I would suggest that as the tag line, "Congratulations! You're one of today's lucky 10,000!". Inside joke that can link to the comic (http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1053:_Ten_Thousand) and it is welcoming. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.170|108.162.245.170]] 18:44, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
: +1 on this. '''Change''' [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 03:45, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''keep'''. In case it is not kept then it should be changed to something completely different. Te idea of making a title text to an image I really dislike, although I even more dislike adding anything to the existing one to either refer to people coming for the transcript or making excuses for the obvious joke. This has been a part of the page forever, I have seen it almost every time I come here. To begin with I did feel dumb sometimes, but I was never offended by it, just amused. But of course an explain page is for those who did not get the joke. And there are other pages that explains the comic. I do not know if they have a transcript? But I'm happy to know that some people must really enjoy the detailed transcripts that I usually try to provide. I had just not though about the blind perspective. I more use the transcript to make sure every one agrees on what is seen in the images of the comic. Having said all this, I must admit that the best suggestion for a change so far is the one posted above my post (about the lucky 10,000). :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:28, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote keep, for exactly the reasons explained by Zeftr above. Changing it to an image with alt text would be OK also. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 20:45, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

:I vote '''Change''' it because it is too easily mistaken as an insult instead of a joke. At least change it to ''Because you are stupid''.... Ah, maybe instead ''Because xkcd is far beyond common knowledge'' or ''Because hardly anyone gets everything'' or ''Because it is usually nerdly esoteric even for geeks''. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.46|108.162.221.46]] 21:39, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

:I vote '''Change'''. I have never been a big fan of the tagline. I don't know everything, but I am certainly not dumb. Also, I echo the reference to (http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1053:_Ten_Thousand). This comic has always been about expanding knowledge, not making you feel guilty for not knowing something.

:'''Change''': I realize the "It's because you're dumb" tagline follows the sarcastic nature of Randall's humor, but there are enough people who don't get or appreciate that sort of humor and are likely to be more offended by it, special needs or no. Here's my suggestion: "For those of us who don't get it." [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 21:59, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

At what point is "enough" people offended? I've only seen evidence of several (https://xkcd.com/1070/) visually impaired users actually offended by the site, along with a couple people who didn't specify their visual ability. I don't know the traffic on this site, but I would expect it to be on the order of 10^4 or higher. So is this discussion about changing something that a handful of people find offensive? Or is there an actual problem of something inappropriate on the site. If this is all about a couple people finding something offensive, I imagine a few christians might take issue with (https://xkcd.com/709/). Should we start another discussion about accommodating them? Or add a disclaimer that the views expressed by Randall Munroe are his own and do not reflect those of this site? [[User:Beardmcbeardson|Beardmcbeardson]] ([[User talk:Beardmcbeardson|talk]]) 01:25, 9 February 2016 (UTC)
: So you vote to '''keep''' -- right? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 04:30, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Slightly Change'''-- make it more obviously tongue in cheek. "It's cause we're dumb" or "For those of us who need it" I agree with the point about not complying with people on the internet who can't behave like adults, however I've never found the line particularly funny. Also change the jump-to-nav, as that would just get annoying to hear it every time you open up the site. I am not recommending changing it based on the imagined offenses of others. I just think it could be funnier.[[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 06:29, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Keep''' Trying to satisfy everyone is like trying to understand every comic. It probably won't happen. As an example, using the 'one of 10 000' example provided above can insult a bunch of people that are not from the States simply because the comic (and the reference to the comic for that matter) will make them feel left out. My other reasons for voting keep have all been mentioned already. People get insulted so easily, let's try not to encourage this behavior by rewarding it. [[User:Bon|Bon]] ([[User talk:Bon|talk]]) 07:16, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''Change''' because I find it slightly offensive myself. If we change it, we should replace it with something that everybody would interpret as humorous, e.g. "Because we can't all be rocket scientists". [[User:Condor70|Condor70]] ([[User talk:Condor70|talk]]) 08:25, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Keep'''. Next thing we know, liberal arts majors will complain about xkcd science being offensive. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.229|141.101.91.229]] 10:12, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote for '''change''' or '''remove'''. Regarding the former, while I know it's supposed to be a joke, I never found it humorous myself and, unlike others that wrote before me, I don't think it relates to the humor or sarcasm used by Randall. It being offensive is not part of my motivation for my vote. I agree with some of the suggestions written up to now. Regarding the latter, I don't really think it's existence is necessary. Regardless, changing the div things is a must. [[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 16:25, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1555: Exoplanet Names 2

2016-01-19T23:01:32Z

GuiRitter: my opinion

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znxFrgql5dc "This Land"] is a ''Firefly'' reference. [[User:Keavon|Keavon]] ([[User talk:Keavon|talk]]) 05:11, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
: This land is also track n6 of The Lion King, I think Randall is also a fan of this.--[[User:NeoRaist|NeoRaist]] ([[User talk:NeoRaist|talk]]) 14:54, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

What is with Kepler-283? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.214.137|108.162.214.137]] 05:09, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
:283b is the phonetic spelling for Uranus (your-a-nus) and 283c is the phonetic spelling for Uranus (your-ay-nus) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.77|141.101.104.77]] 05:33, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

;Netherlands
.. I almost feel like that titletext gives enough reason for there to be (some) pages about the [[what_if?|''What If?'']] series, but ehhhh... [[User:Pixali|Pixali]] ([[User talk:Pixali|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Pixali|contribs]]) 05:02, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

Thought about that and Randall's "promise" to use this joke more often: Do we need a "Netherlands" category for comics/articles? Having said that, maybe this was the very last reference to this joke, because of this promise... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:06, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

;Kostner
Is there a pun I'm missing by spelling Kevin Costner as "Kostner"? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.241.7|198.41.241.7]]
:[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/exoplanet_names_2.png Randall fixed it.] I don't know how to update the file here, though. [[User:P1h3r1e3d13|P1h3r1e3d13]] ([[User talk:P1h3r1e3d13|talk]]) 20:15, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
::I got it - the file's been updated, but I had to go all the way to the image and force a refresh on my browser for it to appear correctly. :P [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 00:34, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

;Novella

I'm not 100% sure what "Novella" refers to, aside from the dictionary definition of the word (and if that's the case I'm unsure of the context), but in case it's not widely-known on this wiki, I want to suggest the possibility that it's a tribute to the Novella brothers, who are among the co-hosts of the popular science podcast The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. - [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.175|108.162.241.175]] 04:43, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

:Seems like a cool podcast, sadly I don't have time to listen to 10 years Witt of podcasts. Any specific ones I should listen to and where should I start for new ones? {{unsigned ip|173.245.55.63}}
:: The podcast is very topical, often talking about current news items. It is OK to start with new ones, and back-fill as desired. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 18:57, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
: Considering the sex-themed names Novella it is grouped with. I will assume it is a joke on 60/70's exploitation/B-movies, some of which had names or leadcharacters named something..-ella. In this case the prefix is just particularly confusing ;) [[Special:Contributions/188.114.110.47|188.114.110.47]] 08:51, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
::I assumed this was a reference to the SGU, perhaps because I was primed by the Phil Plait reference (who has been a guest on that podcast a few times), and because of their enthusiasm for space news. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.57|141.101.99.57]] 20:04, 28 July 2015 (UTC)
: It could also be interpreted in this context as the diminutive form of "nova," like a stellar nova. - [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.165|173.245.56.165]] 15:09, 31 July 2015 (UTC)

;A$aplanet

Is a pun on the rap group {{w|A$AP Mob}} and their most prominient member {{w|A$AP Rocky}}.
: Included that possibility. Thanks. Didn't know of A$AP, before. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 13:21, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

Somehow I just read this as "a dollar a planet", maybe refering to a donating scheme ("a dollar donated for every planet found" or even more along the lines of "a dollar a day", meaning: donate 1 dollar to save this planet) or a sale advertisement ("just $1 to buy a planet", which is very likely to be a scam as it would not be possible with current technology to visit another planet outside of our solar system) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.253|198.41.242.253]] 15:15, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

;Planet of the Apes (disambiguation)
I think the suggestion here is to actually put the "(disambiguation)" in the name of the planet, thereby creating a problem in the wikipedia entry, since [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes_%28disambiguation%29 there's already a wikipedia page with that title]. They would have to create a meta-disambiguation page, which is why this is funny. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.235|141.101.98.235]] 13:39, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

::That's definitely the joke. But Wikipedia is actually already prepared to deal with this. When the Prince and the Revolution cover band "Prince (disambiguation)" tried to add a page for their band, editors pointed out that it should be listed as "Prince (disambiguation) (band)", with that "misnamed for technical reasons" template at the top explaining that the band's proper name is "Prince (disambiguation)", and possibly a disambiguation page at "Prince (disambiguation)" could point to it as well as to "Prince (musician)" and various other things. (But of course the band is completely non-notable, so the page was just deleted anyway). (I may be misremembering the details; it may have been a similarly-named cover band for a similar artist.) So, this would just be "Planet of the Apsa (disambiguation) (exoplanet)". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.52|162.158.255.52]] 17:17, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

;Kepler-438b
In the previous comic, Kepler-438 was named Kepler-1686 (which does not seem to exist...) and was updated to the current [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler-438b Kepler-438b]. It even is colored red to show the update. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.23.198|162.158.23.198]] 16:34, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

;Hot Mess

Why is Hot Mess an Arrested Development thing? The phrase is in general use, not just limited to viewers of that show. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.189}}

;Air Bud Pluto #9 Reference
A few strips back, in ''Rulebook'', we were debating whether the "9" on the dog's jersey may have been a subtle jab at the Pluto debate. I argued that there was a strong possibility of that, given the timing of that comic immediately after the New Horizons flyby, the strong relationship between dogs and the name Pluto, and Pluto's former status as the 9th planet. There was no way to prove that that was what Randall had in mind (short of him personally confirming it), but I think this strip could lend some credence to it. What do you think? [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 17:50, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

:What I think: #1 I don't think just the mention of Pluto is enough to support the relationship between Air Bud and Pluto; #2 read my commentary on [[1552: Rulebook]]. [[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 23:01, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

;Definition of Planet
What about the fact that the new definition of planet made by the IAU says it has to be around the sun. None of these would fit the definition of planet then and the answer to "is Pluto a planet" would still be no.[[User:Agent0013|Agent0013]]
: Here's a link to the IAU resolution which defines a planet (and confirms Agent0013's comment): [http://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau0603/ IAU 2006 General Assembly Results]. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.150|173.245.50.150]] 19:35, 25 July 2015 (UTC)
::<Here used to be nonsense, sorry> [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:51, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

;Planet with Arms
(I just added this to the 1253 talk. Adding it here too.) I think Planet With Arms refers to both Hitchhiker's and to Galileo describing Saturn as a 'planet with ears' when he discovered. it. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.26|173.245.54.26]] 13:12, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

A few more possibilities for you:
*"Skydot" - a reference to Carl Sagan's famous "Pale Blue Dot" of Earth.
*"Seas of Toothpaste" - possibly referencing the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" with its various peculiar "Seas" (e.g., "Sea of Phrenology", "Sea of Holes")
*"Moonchild" is a generic hippy name, and also the title of a 1917 novel by Aleister Crowley and songs by King Crimson and Iron Maiden. The King Crimson song, perhaps importantly, is the fourth song (i.e., "song d") on their debut album.
* "Planet With Arms" also follows on directly after "LEGoland" as a pun, as well as referencing Galileo's description of Saturn as a planet with ears.
[[User:Grutness|Grutness]] ([[User talk:Grutness|talk]]) 01:48, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

Planet with arms could also probably be a reference to the 'birds with arms' meme. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.169|108.162.249.169]] 09:12, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

It's probably not intentional, but '''Spherical Discworld''' reminded me of an aspect of the Pratchett novel, ''Strata'' (pre-Discworld-series, i.e. ''very'' early work, and arguably a bit rough around the edges, but you still might want to peruse it some time). Although I'm not wanting to go into any more detail lest I spoiler the very interesting thing that I'm talking about. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.168|141.101.98.168]] 21:18, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

I am vaguely disappointed that none of the Eridani planets got named "Planet of the Fish Assholes"... -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 23:46, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

Can we talk about how this comic is the fourth time the island {{w|Sulawesi}} was mentioned without any reason? Sulawesi appeared in [[273: Electromagnetic Spectrum|comic 273]] as part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and physically in both Online Communities maps [[256: Online Communities|I]] and [[802: Online Communities 2|II]]? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.133|108.162.225.133]] 09:55, 27 July 2015 (UTC)

:I vote for a Sulawesi category. [[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 23:01, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1552: Rulebook

2016-01-19T22:57:01Z

GuiRitter: linked 915

Doesn't ''the law'' forbid harming another's domestic animal? --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 05:20, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:Well, probably not absolutely, because self-defense against dangerous dogs is rarely prosecuted as far as I know. The question's moot though - if we're being really realistic, we need to also account for the fact that Bud is probably playing uninsured, that he's definitely either not maintaining the minimum GPA for organised sports or not even enrolled in the school and thus someone is committing fraud, probably a couple of things about yelling and cheering at a dog in a big bright room at scheduled times, idk if that counts as cruelty but I'd hate it. And that's assuming he's had all his shots and stuff, otherwise it's like, reckless endangerment of any child who hasn't already suffered through a bout of Dog Mites or whatever they have (disclaimer: not a vet)[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.185|141.101.106.185]] 00:34, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
:Yes. Yes it does. So, basically, the rulebook of the country says they cannot do it. It could have been a great cartoon if he had picked an example that was actually legal. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.239.32|198.41.239.32]] 05:50, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
::Well, technically ([[1475: Technically]]) the law isn't part of any rule book... Unless there is a law (or rule) which says otherwise. (edit: That doesn't mean the law wouldn't apply nevertheless!)[[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 06:15, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:Does this law exist in every country? The dog is on property owned by the sports venue in an unspecified country.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 08:23, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:: Slaughter is not technically harming, otherwise we would not be able to eat beef, pork, .. -- and yes some people _do_ eat dogs (and cats) [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 13:48, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:: If an animal enters your premise and is not a protected species, you may kill it. If the owners wanted it alive they shouldn't have let it illegally trespass, since it usually only illegal to kill domestic animal on their domicile.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 00:29, 18 July 2015 (UTC)
:At least in my state (Utah) ''the law'' supports euthanasia of (non-human) animals so long as it is performed in a humane manner (which is a very different standard than applies to humans). Cruelty is punishable in the law, but one could make an argument that so long as the killing of the animal was done in a humane way, it may not be punishable by the cruelty statutes. The judgment of law enforcement officers, officers of a court with jurisdiction, juries, and perhaps the court of public opinion in some extra-legal context would all come into play if a question of whether euthanasia was cruel were to be raised. [[User:CasaDeRobison|CasaDeRobison]] ([[User talk:CasaDeRobison|talk]]) 14:17, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
::I don't think you can euthanize someone else's animal though, unless the court has ordered it. I'm pretty sure you'd be guilty of theft & destruction of private property.
:::Ya, killing and eating the dog would be a crime. You'd go to jail for theft (or something like unto it), have to pay to replace the dog and for killing him in the first place, and probably have to forfeit the game when you get arrested for disturbing the peace and using a weapon in the court. Never mind whatever harm you caused to the people trying to defend the dog. Of course, when you get out, if your muscles haven't atrophied and you aren't banned from the game, the enemy team will have lost their key player... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.179|108.162.238.179]] 16:57, 18 July 2015 (UTC)
::::Keep in mind the location of this comic isn't clear. In some countries, it is legal to kill and eat dogs. (Or at least, it isn't explicitly ''illegal''.) [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 21:02, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

On a mostly unrelated note: In at least one movie, the sports-playing dog has only three legs.
:"But, why is the dog missing a leg?" 'Well, a dog that good you don't eat all at once!' - old joke
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.19|108.162.221.19]] 22:12, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

Amusingly, Air Bud is also wrong because the basketball rules say that a team consists of five men, and dogs are not men. --[[User:AndyZ|AndyZ]]
:That can be argued, if Air Bud is a male dog. Besides, "baseball is a game of two teams of 9 players each", but then they go and use the Designated Hitter. So Air Bud is just the Designated Dog. [[User:PsyMar|PsyMar]] ([[User talk:PsyMar|talk]]) 07:22, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:: Designated Hitler! --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.151|173.245.53.151]] 11:23, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

I'm reminded of what Paul said to the Galatians: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law." Life is meant to be lived in this positive way, where the more of these "fruits" we express, the better we make the world. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 12:48, 17 July 2015 (UTC)''

:Here endeth the lesson. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 13:04, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

I'm not convinced this is related to Pluto at all. In the Air Bud movie, the dog's jersey reads K on one side, and 9 on the other. I think the 9 is in reference to this, and not a veiled commentary on planet definitions. {{unsigned|Strangequark}}
:I rewrote the Pluto section to incorporate this and to also note that this particular comic came out immediately after the New Horizons fly-by. Given Randall's penchant for this type of scientific reference, I'm more inclined to believe this is not a coincidence, but rather a subtle message that takes a couple of degrees of connection to form. He has been known to do that in the past. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 21:15, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Huh? Pluto?? Come on, let's remove that. I know some people are really traumatized about the whole Pluto thing, but there's no need to see ghosts everywhere... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.5|141.101.104.5]] 15:05, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

The intentional foul is also referencing basketball when the losing team will intentionally foul the winning team late in the game so that the clock may stop. The winning team can only get 0,1, or 2 points from this then the losing team can try to quickly get 2 or 3 points making it "worth it" [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.126|173.245.50.126]] 15:09, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

I am an Israeli and 1552 is about to be very very useful in describing the actions of my government. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.114|162.158.91.114]] 19:41, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

;Battlebots
I guess no one else watches BattleBots here.
 A few weeks ago, in the second episode, [http://www.google.com/search?q=battlebots+Complete+Control+net the "Complete Control" team used a net against their opponent], citing the fact that the "no entanglement" rule which had previously existed had been removed from the rulebook. [https://what-if.xkcd.com/5/ Randall states he watches the show in What-if #5], so I think it's likely that Randall watched this new episode, and that this comic at least partially references it, although I concede that it's odd that he waited several weeks before doing so.
 Also, I think the connection between the 9 and Pluto is tenuous, but I concede that it's possible given the timing. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 15:10, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:Battlebots might have served as an inspiration for the timing of this comic, but given that these kinds of loopholes are exploited in virtually everything, I doubt he was referring specifically to it. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 20:57, 20 July 2015 (UTC)
::Quite a few comics are inspired by, and refer to, recent events without actually mentioning the events, such as [[1560: Bubblegum]] comic. "Roddy Pipers death" is to "1560: Bubblegum" as "the BattleBots net incident" is to "1552: Rulebook". Both comics stand on their own, but have a little extra if you know these recent events. Do you know of any other recent events that might be related to this? -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 16:02, 6 August 2015 (UTC)

Many sports, especially youth sports, have rules specifying a player's minimum age. It's very likely that a dog could be excluded on those grounds. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.249|162.158.2.249]] 16:15, 17 July 2015 (UTC)1

:Most league sports require the player to wear footwear meeting certain requirements as well. This would surely impede Buds dunkability. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.184|108.162.215.184]] 23:12, 18 July 2015 (UTC)BLuDgeons

A dog is a "canine" which, depending on your dialect of English, can sound like "K 9".
[[User:WL15|WL15]] ([[User talk:WL15|talk]]) 00:11, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

There is no reference to ''Babe'' in this comic. Reference means ''to write or speak about something/somebody, especially without giving much information''. In this case zero information about Babe is given. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 20:41, 20 July 2015 (UTC)
:I actually agree with you here - in the first draft that I started revising, the writer had made specific mention of the "pathos" of Babe, but a more recent revision has pretty much removed that. The loophole in this case really has solely to do with Air Bud. I'll remove the Babe reference. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 20:57, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Are we really just going to let that whole section on Pluto stay there because the number 9 appeared in the comic? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.138|108.162.210.138]] 18:48, 21 July 2015 (UTC)
:I totally agree - the Pluto part just completely ruins the explanation for me. Same goes for the weird and out of thin air reference to the dog name Pluto - seriously please remove these. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.81|141.101.92.81]] 06:10, 22 July 2015 (UTC) WS
::I read through this again and outlined all of the links in this theory. While I still think it's possible that Randall was making a statement here, the one link that would clinch it was too tenuous: The dog's name in the film is "Buddy", and he is never called "Pluto" at any point. So there was no real basis to bring the name popularity into this, nor the connection to Disney's Pluto - the only link there was that a dog was involved, which isn't enough. I pulled that whole part of the explanation, at least until we have something more definite from Randall to set us straight. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 22:45, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

:I first came across this page after the whole "Pluto incident", which I only know about from the comments, and I'm glad it has been removed. I think I can help settle things if some people still think it should be mentioned: the comic references ''Air Bud'', but the presence of a dog and a rulebook may not be enough to bring the movie to people's minds. Therefore, the "9" serves to identify the dog as the one from ''Air Bud''. Also, always keep [[915]] in mind: the more I read this wiki, the more I see it's importance. [[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 19:10, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

For what it's worth, I can't look at this comic and not immediately think of the history of American-Rules football, which circa 1900 was all about thinking about what wasn't in the rulebook, and using it to advantage. Radiolab did an entire episode about it, in particular the Carlisle Indians, an all-native-American-Indian team who, among other things, used special jerseys to hide the football so the opposing team wouldn't know where it was, and on another occasion, ran out of bounds, downfield, and then back in bounds to catch a pass. Basically, passing for a touchdown wasn't even a common thing until the Carlisle Indians did it. See http://www.radiolab.org/story/photos-carlisle-football/ for some great photos of the team that caused more rulebook changes than any other. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.187|162.158.255.187]] 00:14, 19 August 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1552: Rulebook

2016-01-18T19:10:42Z

GuiRitter:

Doesn't ''the law'' forbid harming another's domestic animal? --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 05:20, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:Well, probably not absolutely, because self-defense against dangerous dogs is rarely prosecuted as far as I know. The question's moot though - if we're being really realistic, we need to also account for the fact that Bud is probably playing uninsured, that he's definitely either not maintaining the minimum GPA for organised sports or not even enrolled in the school and thus someone is committing fraud, probably a couple of things about yelling and cheering at a dog in a big bright room at scheduled times, idk if that counts as cruelty but I'd hate it. And that's assuming he's had all his shots and stuff, otherwise it's like, reckless endangerment of any child who hasn't already suffered through a bout of Dog Mites or whatever they have (disclaimer: not a vet)[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.185|141.101.106.185]] 00:34, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
:Yes. Yes it does. So, basically, the rulebook of the country says they cannot do it. It could have been a great cartoon if he had picked an example that was actually legal. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.239.32|198.41.239.32]] 05:50, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
::Well, technically ([[1475: Technically]]) the law isn't part of any rule book... Unless there is a law (or rule) which says otherwise. (edit: That doesn't mean the law wouldn't apply nevertheless!)[[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 06:15, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:Does this law exist in every country? The dog is on property owned by the sports venue in an unspecified country.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 08:23, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:: Slaughter is not technically harming, otherwise we would not be able to eat beef, pork, .. -- and yes some people _do_ eat dogs (and cats) [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 13:48, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:: If an animal enters your premise and is not a protected species, you may kill it. If the owners wanted it alive they shouldn't have let it illegally trespass, since it usually only illegal to kill domestic animal on their domicile.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 00:29, 18 July 2015 (UTC)
:At least in my state (Utah) ''the law'' supports euthanasia of (non-human) animals so long as it is performed in a humane manner (which is a very different standard than applies to humans). Cruelty is punishable in the law, but one could make an argument that so long as the killing of the animal was done in a humane way, it may not be punishable by the cruelty statutes. The judgment of law enforcement officers, officers of a court with jurisdiction, juries, and perhaps the court of public opinion in some extra-legal context would all come into play if a question of whether euthanasia was cruel were to be raised. [[User:CasaDeRobison|CasaDeRobison]] ([[User talk:CasaDeRobison|talk]]) 14:17, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
::I don't think you can euthanize someone else's animal though, unless the court has ordered it. I'm pretty sure you'd be guilty of theft & destruction of private property.
:::Ya, killing and eating the dog would be a crime. You'd go to jail for theft (or something like unto it), have to pay to replace the dog and for killing him in the first place, and probably have to forfeit the game when you get arrested for disturbing the peace and using a weapon in the court. Never mind whatever harm you caused to the people trying to defend the dog. Of course, when you get out, if your muscles haven't atrophied and you aren't banned from the game, the enemy team will have lost their key player... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.179|108.162.238.179]] 16:57, 18 July 2015 (UTC)
::::Keep in mind the location of this comic isn't clear. In some countries, it is legal to kill and eat dogs. (Or at least, it isn't explicitly ''illegal''.) [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 21:02, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

On a mostly unrelated note: In at least one movie, the sports-playing dog has only three legs.
:"But, why is the dog missing a leg?" 'Well, a dog that good you don't eat all at once!' - old joke
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.19|108.162.221.19]] 22:12, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

Amusingly, Air Bud is also wrong because the basketball rules say that a team consists of five men, and dogs are not men. --[[User:AndyZ|AndyZ]]
:That can be argued, if Air Bud is a male dog. Besides, "baseball is a game of two teams of 9 players each", but then they go and use the Designated Hitter. So Air Bud is just the Designated Dog. [[User:PsyMar|PsyMar]] ([[User talk:PsyMar|talk]]) 07:22, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:: Designated Hitler! --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.151|173.245.53.151]] 11:23, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

I'm reminded of what Paul said to the Galatians: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law." Life is meant to be lived in this positive way, where the more of these "fruits" we express, the better we make the world. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 12:48, 17 July 2015 (UTC)''

:Here endeth the lesson. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 13:04, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

I'm not convinced this is related to Pluto at all. In the Air Bud movie, the dog's jersey reads K on one side, and 9 on the other. I think the 9 is in reference to this, and not a veiled commentary on planet definitions. {{unsigned|Strangequark}}
:I rewrote the Pluto section to incorporate this and to also note that this particular comic came out immediately after the New Horizons fly-by. Given Randall's penchant for this type of scientific reference, I'm more inclined to believe this is not a coincidence, but rather a subtle message that takes a couple of degrees of connection to form. He has been known to do that in the past. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 21:15, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Huh? Pluto?? Come on, let's remove that. I know some people are really traumatized about the whole Pluto thing, but there's no need to see ghosts everywhere... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.5|141.101.104.5]] 15:05, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

The intentional foul is also referencing basketball when the losing team will intentionally foul the winning team late in the game so that the clock may stop. The winning team can only get 0,1, or 2 points from this then the losing team can try to quickly get 2 or 3 points making it "worth it" [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.126|173.245.50.126]] 15:09, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

I am an Israeli and 1552 is about to be very very useful in describing the actions of my government. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.114|162.158.91.114]] 19:41, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

;Battlebots
I guess no one else watches BattleBots here.
 A few weeks ago, in the second episode, [http://www.google.com/search?q=battlebots+Complete+Control+net the "Complete Control" team used a net against their opponent], citing the fact that the "no entanglement" rule which had previously existed had been removed from the rulebook. [https://what-if.xkcd.com/5/ Randall states he watches the show in What-if #5], so I think it's likely that Randall watched this new episode, and that this comic at least partially references it, although I concede that it's odd that he waited several weeks before doing so.
 Also, I think the connection between the 9 and Pluto is tenuous, but I concede that it's possible given the timing. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 15:10, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:Battlebots might have served as an inspiration for the timing of this comic, but given that these kinds of loopholes are exploited in virtually everything, I doubt he was referring specifically to it. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 20:57, 20 July 2015 (UTC)
::Quite a few comics are inspired by, and refer to, recent events without actually mentioning the events, such as [[1560: Bubblegum]] comic. "Roddy Pipers death" is to "1560: Bubblegum" as "the BattleBots net incident" is to "1552: Rulebook". Both comics stand on their own, but have a little extra if you know these recent events. Do you know of any other recent events that might be related to this? -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 16:02, 6 August 2015 (UTC)

Many sports, especially youth sports, have rules specifying a player's minimum age. It's very likely that a dog could be excluded on those grounds. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.249|162.158.2.249]] 16:15, 17 July 2015 (UTC)1

:Most league sports require the player to wear footwear meeting certain requirements as well. This would surely impede Buds dunkability. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.184|108.162.215.184]] 23:12, 18 July 2015 (UTC)BLuDgeons

A dog is a "canine" which, depending on your dialect of English, can sound like "K 9".
[[User:WL15|WL15]] ([[User talk:WL15|talk]]) 00:11, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

There is no reference to ''Babe'' in this comic. Reference means ''to write or speak about something/somebody, especially without giving much information''. In this case zero information about Babe is given. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 20:41, 20 July 2015 (UTC)
:I actually agree with you here - in the first draft that I started revising, the writer had made specific mention of the "pathos" of Babe, but a more recent revision has pretty much removed that. The loophole in this case really has solely to do with Air Bud. I'll remove the Babe reference. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 20:57, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Are we really just going to let that whole section on Pluto stay there because the number 9 appeared in the comic? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.138|108.162.210.138]] 18:48, 21 July 2015 (UTC)
:I totally agree - the Pluto part just completely ruins the explanation for me. Same goes for the weird and out of thin air reference to the dog name Pluto - seriously please remove these. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.81|141.101.92.81]] 06:10, 22 July 2015 (UTC) WS
::I read through this again and outlined all of the links in this theory. While I still think it's possible that Randall was making a statement here, the one link that would clinch it was too tenuous: The dog's name in the film is "Buddy", and he is never called "Pluto" at any point. So there was no real basis to bring the name popularity into this, nor the connection to Disney's Pluto - the only link there was that a dog was involved, which isn't enough. I pulled that whole part of the explanation, at least until we have something more definite from Randall to set us straight. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 22:45, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

:I first came across this page after the whole "Pluto incident", which I only know about from the comments, and I'm glad it has been removed. I think I can help settle things if some people still think it should be mentioned: the comic references ''Air Bud'', but the presence of a dog and a rulebook may not be enough to bring the movie to people's minds. Therefore, the "9" serves to identify the dog as the one from ''Air Bud''. Also, always keep comic 915 in mind: the more I read this wiki, the more I see it's importance. [[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 19:10, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

For what it's worth, I can't look at this comic and not immediately think of the history of American-Rules football, which circa 1900 was all about thinking about what wasn't in the rulebook, and using it to advantage. Radiolab did an entire episode about it, in particular the Carlisle Indians, an all-native-American-Indian team who, among other things, used special jerseys to hide the football so the opposing team wouldn't know where it was, and on another occasion, ran out of bounds, downfield, and then back in bounds to catch a pass. Basically, passing for a touchdown wasn't even a common thing until the Carlisle Indians did it. See http://www.radiolab.org/story/photos-carlisle-football/ for some great photos of the team that caused more rulebook changes than any other. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.187|162.158.255.187]] 00:14, 19 August 2015 (UTC)

1526: Placebo Blocker

2015-12-23T22:43:27Z

GuiRitter: /* Explanation */ typo

{{comic
| number = 1526
| date = May 18, 2015
| title = Placebo Blocker
| image = placebo blocker.png
| titletext = They work even better if you take them with our experimental placebo booster, which I keep in the same bottle.
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|Work on making the explanation more simple, as well as a summary of the article: Genetics and the placebo effect}}
This comic is a joke about the difficulty of testing a drug that is supposed to block the placebo effect.

In an ideal experiment involving humans there is a test group and a control group. The control group is used to isolate a variable that the experiment can not be devised to avoid. For example, when people are treated for an illness they often show improvement relative to an untreated patient, regardless of the effectiveness of the treatment. This is called the {{w|placebo}} effect. Because medical scientists wish to determine the effectiveness of the treatment, they wish to isolate it from the placebo effect. Therefore, in many drug trials one group is given a placebo (an ineffective treatment) and one group is given the real treatment.

[[Cueball]] states to [[Hair Bun Girl]], with a citation from the real world, that his team created a Placebo Blocker, a drug designed to prevent the placebo effect. Cueball begins to design a test for this new drug. Following typical experimental design, patients would be split into two groups: a control group, and the group that receives the treatment.

Cueball knows that the treatment given to the control group is supposed to be designed so that it is not influenced by the variable trying to be isolated. As the placebo effect ''is'' the effect under investigation, a placebo can not be used as a control treatment as a comparison with a placebo blocker. Cueball tries to design around this. In his test, both groups would receive a placebo as a treatment for an unspecified condition (the ''Treatment Placebo''); in addition the test group would receive the Placebo Blocker drug, while the control group would get a placebo pill instead (the ''Placebo-Blocker Placebo''). If this works as expected, the ''Treatment Placebo'' would be blocked by the ''Placebo Blocker'' in the test group, while in the control group, the ''Placebo-Blocker Placebo'' may have a placebo effect in blocking the placebo effect of the ''Treatment Placebo'', and the difference between these effects can be measured to test the effectiveness of the ''Placebo Blocker''.

Cueball and Hair Bun Girl think about this trial until they both develop headache from frustration. Cueball then kindly offers Hair Bun Girl a sugar pill. While this might have helped cure the headache via the placebo effect had he told her it was a headache treatment, by revealing the pill as merely a sugar pill, it may suppress or reduce the effect (although as noted above, it would probably still have some effect).

In the title text, Cueball mentions that his sugar pills against headache works even better together with the new experimental placebo ''boosters''. Incidentally, he indicates that he keeps those in the same bottle with his sugar pills. Assuming someone believes placebo ''boosters'' are in the jar this would allow them to take the sugar pills and receive a greater placebo effect, as the placebo effect is based upon faith in the treatment, regardless of whether there are placebo ''boosters'' in the jar.

It is possible but unlikely that:
* Cueball's sugar pills are, in fact, the Placebo Blockers themselves and that, seeing Hair Bun Girl has a headache, Cueball is inspired to somehow use the opportunity as an experiment to test the Blockers
* Cueball is suggesting Hair Bun Girl take a "placebo booster" which is really a "placebo blocker", thus testing the blocker he mentioned earlier in the comic.

Questionable neuroscience research is also discussed in [[1453: fMRI]].

===Placebos===
The {{w|placebo}} effect refers to the phenomenon in which patients given an inactive treatment such as a sugar pill can still show improvement relative to an untreated patient. The placebo effect is thus very important to consider when testing new drugs, since even ineffective drugs can have a positive effect on the patients due to the placebo effect. Modern drug experiments are hence conducted as {{w|Blind experiment#Double-blind trials|double-blind trials}}, where the patients are randomly given either the treatment or a placebo without either they or the administering doctors knowing who receives the new drug and who received the placebo pill. (It is important that the doctor does not know, as if they did, it may affect the way they interact with the patient.)

Generally the patients need to believe that they are receiving an active treatment, but one [http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015591 study] showed that the effect can occur even if the patients are told that they are receiving a placebo pill. The key factor seems to be that the patients most believe that a positive effect will occur. For example, (1) patients experience a greater effect if they believe that the treatment is expensive and (2) patients who know that they have not been given an active treatment will experience the effect if they are told that placebos can have a positive effect through the power of the mind. Furthermore, the placebo can increase the effectiveness of treatments which ''seem'' larger (this is why over-the-counter pain medication is often administered as two half-doses rather than just one full dose).

Several reasons for the placebo effect have been proposed, from study artifacts - such as under-reporting of negative outcomes by patients who think they are being treated, to neurological explanations for how mental state can translate into physical outcomes.

Placebo-blockers do actually already exist. A side-effect of the opiate antagonist {{w|Naloxone}} is that it [http://healthland.time.com/2009/08/26/a-neurological-explanation-for-the-placebo-effect/ blocks the placebo effect].

===Mechanisms of the placebo effect===
The placebo effect is one of the greatest mysteries in modern medicine. It is typically found that the placebo effect is an effective treatment in itself in addition to the effectiveness of drugs and other treatments, and it has been found to cause small improvements to cancer outcomes. In other cases such as pain relief, the placebo effect is very large compared with the effectiveness of the drug itself.

The comic refers to the recent study by Kathryn T. Hall, Joseph Loscalzo, and Ted J. Kaptchuk. (2015) ''[https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/J.MOLMED.2015.02.009 Genetics and the placebo effect: the placebome.]'' Trends in Mol Medicine. Volume 21, Issue 5, May 2015, Pages 285–294

It is possible to test the placebo blocker using three groups: a test group who receive a placebo blocker, a control group who receive a placebo, and a second control group who receive no treatment whatsoever, as a lack of treatment is the variable that an actual placebo is designed to control for. Still it might be hard to determine if the pills are having a negative effect or blocking the placebo effect, so multiple trials with multiple illnesses may have to be carried out.

==Transcript==
:[Hair Bun Girl is standing in front of Cueball who does all the talking. Below them is a footnote.]
:Cueball: Some researchers* are starting to figure out the mechanism behind the placebo effect.
:Cueball: We've used their work to create a new drug: A ''placebo effect blocker''.
:Footnote: * Hall et al, DOI: 10.1016/J.MOLMED.2015.02.009

:[Zoom in on Cueball who now holds his arms out.]
:Cueball: Now we just need to run a trial! We'll get two groups, give them both placebos, then give one the ''real'' placebo blocker, and the other a...
:Cueball: ...wait.

:[Hair Bun Girl holds her chin, while Cueball just stand there for a beat panel.]

:[Hair Bun looks again at Cueball who begins to take the lid off of a medicine bottle.]
:Hair Bun Girl: ...My head hurts.
:Cueball: Mine too.
:Cueball: Here, want a sugar pill?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]
[[Category:Science]]

Talk:1490: Atoms

2015-12-09T23:43:07Z

GuiRitter:

"My dad FORM the dog"? Typo in the actual comic or just the wiki?
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.240|199.27.128.240]] 05:47, 23 February 2015 (UTC)Anonymous
: The actual comment, the wiki just grabs what the website has listed.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.24|108.162.216.24]] 05:56, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
:: Generally in cases like this, it's customary to add ''[sic]'' to indicate any typoes ''[sic]'' or grammarization ''[sic]'' mistakes in the original techs. ''[sic]''. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 19:55, 23 February 2015 (UTC) ''[sic]''
plutonium = radiation exposure, or pacemaker?
: Radiation exposure wouldn't give you plutonium, maybe the byproducts of its fission. I'm thinking that, whatever it is, it mutated Beret Guy in the womb, hence why he has this strange superpower.--[[User:Druid816|Druid816]] ([[User talk:Druid816|talk]]) 06:52, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
: Referencing Pink Floyd's 1970 album 'Atom Heart Mother' I think.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.122|108.162.225.122]] 07:25, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
this guy sees by which elements are contained, not by which visible light?
--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.172|199.27.128.172]] 06:14, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Are the elements actually representing their atomic symbols? Be, O, S, Z? Not sure what the metal-in-the-face comment is about.

--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 07:47, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

: A deliberate BeOS reference? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.4|141.101.99.4]] 14:12, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

: Metal in the face might be a comment on braces, and how uncomfortable people are about having noticable ones. --
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.41|141.101.104.41]] 08:37, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
::Are there braces that aren't very noticeable? I can see adults being a little uncomfortable, but they're ocmmon enough on kids that kids aren't going to be uncomfortable with them. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.98}}
: (Dental) fillings are explicitly mentioned as a possible source of metal. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.75|188.114.102.75]] 09:26, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

: Makeup and powers may contain a variety of metals and rare earths [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 18:16, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps the plutonium is coming from his mother smoking? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.102|141.101.99.102]] 08:51, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Possibly a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood Silkwood]?
[[User:DaveHowe|DaveHowe]] ([[User talk:DaveHowe|talk]]) 20:36, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

:: I like the Karen Silkwood explanation i.e. she worked at an enrichment plant. The other read I had was that of The Stepford Wives -- I.e. she is a plutonium powered robot. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 18:27, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
:: Yes, I thought of Karen Silkwood too. It could also explain Beret Guy's supernatural powers. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.185|141.101.98.185]] 12:08, 27 March 2015 (UTC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States#Plutonium_experiments [[User:Andries|Andries]] ([[User talk:Andries|talk]]) 09:02, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

I read it as both his mother and him beeing a robot or cyborg, which she never told him. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.77|141.101.75.77]] 09:30, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

: Yes, I rather thought it might be a Terminator 2 reference (based on the scene in which the T-1000 replaces John Connor's mother.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.4|141.101.99.4]] 14:12, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

:: The first thing I thought was Terminator, but in looking at their wiki there's no plutonium reference for their fuel cells, as far as I can tell (http://terminator.wikia.com/wiki/Fuel_cell). {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.98}}

: I also assumed it was a reference to some kind of nuclear powered cyborg. Being partially composed of electronic parts could also account for his unusually high levels of Zinc and could explain why he sees people as a list of their constituent particles. {{unsigned ip|173.245.55.29}}

-- did the radiation give him those superpowers? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.204|108.162.222.204]] 11:05, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

He can't distinguish Dad and Dog, so he wasn't a genious back then. So what if the Plutonium wasn't a super complex mysterium, just one of the most important things for an infant, her breasts (in this case maby big ons).
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.108|141.101.92.108]] 11:44, 23 February 2015 (UTC) Pietro
:Seen as purely clumps of chemicals (which it appears that White Hat has been restricted to, at least whilst growing up) mammals (if not animals in general or even wider!) look pretty much the same. A whole lot of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, calcium, phospohorous, some iron, [http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/chem.life.intro.html etc], and if WH sees predominately in "amounts of chemicals", it won't just be fine facial features that might get lost in amongst all this irregular information but ''species'' as well. The dog could about the same mass as the father and mother (if that was ever a distinguishing factor, rather than just ratios), and it took a while to learn a method other than that of the 'obvious' presence of plutonium in the mother to differentiate his father from all other humans/creatures/hogroasts... (I suspect he's learnt the trick of differentiating individuals, since then, but his abnormal primary sense of 'elements' could very well be the source of some of his other otherworldy 'powers', how he has become rich, why he has somehow found it necessary to contrive a 'soup-dispensing socket', etc. Kind of like a Dr Manhattan like omniscience and unusual understanding of everyday physics. Maybe or maybe not in the various other ways, though.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 10:04, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

I agree with 141.101.80.53. Beret Guy is answering Megan's question about what is wrong with him, not being arrogant. Arrogant would be out of character for Beret Guy, but giving an unusual answer to a rhetorical question would be true to character. [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 12:42, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps too oddball a theory, but maybe his mom was actually a spacecraft powered by plutonium (e.g. [[Wikipedia:Galileo (spacecraft)#Electrical_power | Galileo(spacecraft)]]), making his father a planet and the dog a moon.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.182|173.245.56.182]] 12:43, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
:Wouldn't the dog need to be a dwarf planet? :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 12:54, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
:What would that make him? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 21:48, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
::Pluto! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 13:57, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

When I read the alt text the first time around, I read it as platinum and figured Randall meant an IUD... perhaps that was a typo on his part as well (much like the "form" typo mentioned above)? Can't figured out another reasonable plutonium explanation. --[[User:Canned Soul|Canned Soul]] ([[User talk:Canned Soul|talk]]) 14:28, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
: If you Google "plutonium in IUDs" you get some interesting results. Perhaps early copper IUDs contained a small amount of incidental plutonium?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.191|108.162.216.191]] 19:26, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

I like the plutonium experiments reverence, but are strongly against the suggestion in the explanation that Pu is not found in nature: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium#Occurrence Do NOT diss Oklo! Oklo is badass! [[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 15:23, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Putting in my own two bits, my first thought reading the title text was that she had a pacemaker. The fact that there were plutoniu pacemakers and the fact he mentioned that they were "in her middle" make me think "pacemaker". But I digress. As far as the "too much zinc", ??? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.186|199.27.128.186]] 02:20, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Not sure if it's an inspiration, but this is an example of people not knowing what common human experiences they are missing (see: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/03/17/what-universal-human-experiences-are-you-missing-without-realizing-it/). Also, "or she was the victim of unethical medical experimentation. Thus the probable reason for his abnormality." is ridiculous - no amount of medical experimentation will cause this. The probable reason for his abnormality is magic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.17|108.162.241.17]] 15:35, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
:Agree: I removed "Thus the probable reason for his abnormality." {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.217}}
:That's too bad; I opened that link expecting to see a list... Maybe someone will make a list someday. Maybe someone else will post the link here... [[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 23:43, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

I believe that the "Too Much Zinc?" - is an answer to what might be wrong with him, not a retort to Megan's tone. In fact, zinc is linked to eyesight, see for instance https://www.nei.nih.gov/news/pressreleases/101201 and other sources, and this "zinc overdose" might be believed by white beret guy to relate to his "super-human" eyesight? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.53|141.101.80.53]]
: Can this be added to the explanation? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:58, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
:: Edit: the link is an outdated study that warns at the top should not be considered scientifically accurate. Better to leave a link between zinc and eyesight out of the explanation (unless a better source is available). [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 15:45, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

The link to the UPPU club (You Pee Pu) appears to be broken. EDIT: fixed now, thanks whoever fixed it. {{unsigned ip|108.162.249.181}}

Did anyone else notice that this is the second comic in a row about elementary particles? I suspect a series coming up. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 21:48, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
:Guess I was wrong [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 17:16, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Pacemakers are usually implanted round the clavicle, so I'm not satisfied with the theory that the plutonium is from a pacemaker. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.46|141.101.104.46]] 08:40, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

The "form"/"from" mistake was corrected in the original strip, I applied the changes to the article. -- [[User:guest|guest]] ([[User talk:guest|talk]]) 17:40, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Can someone elaborate on this: "The presence of plutonium in his mother may be an explanation or source of his own differences."? How does plutonium in the mother explain him having elemental eyesight (or vacuum energy harnessing or soup-from-an-outlet, etc.) abilities? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 22:01, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
:I would say, quite simply, that radiation or radioactive chemistry is typically offered as a means of activating/creating abnormal powers (Hulk, Spiderman, Daredevil, etc, etc) in the appropriate fictional genres. And whilst it might have inexplicably failed to create any obvious illness in either mother or child (as would normally happen outside of comic-book franchises) it could have "activated his X-gene" or whatever was required to produce this particularly strange person. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 10:04, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

I read bits of a book my mother has, written by a woman who worked for a few years at a plutonium enrichment plant near Denver. It seems the safety and containment systems were faulty, and she has "smokers patches" in her lungs, caused by minute specks of plutonium she inhaled while there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination_from_the_Rocky_Flats_Plant
A little late, I know, but I really figured someone else would mention this before the day was up.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.29|173.245.55.29]] 14:32, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Just found an article on wikipedia(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plutonium_Files) about pregnant women who were given "radioactive mixtures" for research. Maybe his mother was one of them and he developed this ability because of it? "In Nashville, pregnant women were given radioactive mixtures." {{unsigned ip|198.41.243.254}}

>RTG-powered pacemaker (actually a thing)

My only thought is WHO THE FUCK THOUGHT THAT THST WAS A GOOD IDEA I mean I know itnwad before the age of Li-Ion batteries and they had to use something. But when I think RTG, all I can think of is "let's leave these to spacecraft and keep them as far from humans as possible." But no we were sticking them *in* humans. Like what o.o
[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 13:23, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

User talk:GuiRitter

2015-12-03T13:57:12Z

GuiRitter: found the Java code to treat the image

I've been nerdsniped. I've colored the map from [[1407]] in two different ways. First, by using the index of the hurricane in the table, from 0 to 73. Second, by finding out in what day the hurricane happened (actually used dissipation day), then by converting this date to the {{w|Unix time|number of milliseconds since 1970/01/01}}, then by normalizing that to a 0–1 range. Both ranges where converted to a color with {{w|HSL_and_HSV|HSL}} (''x'', 100, 50), where ''x'' varies from red to blue, going through green. Some areas of the map remained blank because it's not stated which hurricane was most remembered there, and I'm not that interested in US geography/meteorology to find out. I used {{w|Java_(programming_language)|Java}} to parse the data and Java/{{w|GIMP|GIMP}} to make the images.

Here's the map colored by each hurricane's dissipation date:
[[File:xkcd_1407_colored_millis.png]]

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
! Here's the data table for the date coloring
|-
|
day month year name millis normalized color
23 8 1915 Galveston -1715461200000 0.0 ff0000
30 9 1915 1915 VI -1712178000000 0.0010703936396083205 ff0100
15 7 1916 1916 IV -1687208400000 0.009211018951366336 ff0900
20 8 1916 1916 VI -1684098000000 0.01022507608362685 ff0a00
7 8 1918 1918 I -1622149200000 0.030421713967815425 ff1f00
29 10 1921 1921 VI -1520283600000 0.06363208504934725 ff4000
2 8 1926 1926 I -1370120400000 0.11258850993459096 ff7200
8 8 1926 1926 II -1369602000000 0.11275751945663438 ff7300
27 8 1926 1926 III -1367960400000 0.11329271627643854 ff7300
22 9 1926 1926 VII -1365714000000 0.11402509087196003 ff7400
18 9 1928 1928 IV -1302901200000 0.13450341129288762 ff8900
15 8 1932 Freeport -1179608400000 0.17469950928554745 ffb200
25 8 1933 1933 VI -1147208400000 0.18526260441326114 ffbc00
6 9 1935 1935 III -1083099600000 0.2061634486392973 ffd200
22 9 1938 1938 VI -987022800000 0.23748654672467762 fff200
14 8 1940 1940 III -927234000000 0.2569789782670186 f7ff00
25 9 1941 1941 II -892069200000 0.2684434575122972 ecff00
31 8 1942 Matagord -862693200000 0.27802066376142426 e2ff00
15 9 1944 1944 VII -798238800000 0.29903418100215606 ccff00
20 10 1944 1944 XII -795214800000 0.30002006988074265 cbff00
14 10 1946 1946 VI -732661200000 0.32041388554064854 b7ff00
16 10 1947 King -700952400000 0.330751634638971 acff00
1 9 1949 1949 II -641682000000 0.3500750566592686 98ff00
9 9 1950 Easy -609454800000 0.36058181527963445 8eff00
1 9 1954 Carol -483915600000 0.4015102878678158 64ff00
15 9 1954 Edna -482706000000 0.4019046434192504 64ff00
18 10 1954 Hazel -479854800000 0.40283419579048924 63ff00
15 8 1955 Connie -453848400000 0.41131284014633407 5aff00
23 8 1955 Diane -453157200000 0.4115381861757253 5aff00
29 6 1957 Audrey -394750800000 0.4305799256592838 46ff00
29 9 1958 Helene -355266000000 0.4434528175882576 39ff00
30 9 1959 Gracie -323643600000 0.45376239843290617 2fff00
14 9 1960 Donna -293403600000 0.46362128721877227 25ff00
17 9 1961 Carla -261608400000 0.47398720457076865 1aff00
27 9 1961 Esther -260744400000 0.47426888710750764 1aff00
14 9 1964 Dora -167173200000 0.5047751058363448 00ff04
5 10 1964 Hilda -165358800000 0.5053666391634968 00ff05
13 9 1965 Betsy -135723600000 0.5150283501736456 00ff0f
13 6 1966 Alma -112136400000 0.5227182834266211 00ff17
22 9 1967 Beulah -71874000000 0.5358446896386599 00ff24
22 8 1969 Camille -11394000000 0.5555624672103922 00ff38
5 8 1970 Celia 18673200000 0.5653650194889105 00ff42
23 6 1972 Agnes 78116400000 0.5847447780165559 00ff56
10 9 1974 Carmen 148014000000 0.6075328952387435 00ff6d
24 9 1975 Eloise 180759600000 0.6182086633811529 00ff78
8 9 1979 David 305607600000 0.6589117899399429 00ffa2
15 9 1979 Frederic 306212400000 0.6591089677156603 00ffa2
11 8 1980 Allen 334810800000 0.6684326596817222 00ffab
16 9 1984 Diana 464151600000 0.7106005354315552 00ffd6
4 9 1985 Elena 494650800000 0.7205439289784431 00ffe0
2 10 1985 Gloria 497070000000 0.7213326400813124 00ffe1
23 11 1985 Kate 501559200000 0.7227962155951189 00ffe3
25 9 1989 Hugo 622695600000 0.7622892809231676 00f2ff
20 8 1991 Bob 682657200000 0.7818380489728564 00deff
28 8 1992 Andrew 714970800000 0.7923729758468961 00d3ff
5 10 1995 Opal 812862000000 0.8242876072594284 00b3ff
10 9 1996 Fran 842324400000 0.8338929817622294 00a9ff
30 8 1998 Bonnie 904446000000 0.8541459561537658 0094ff
19 9 1999 Floyd 937710000000 0.8649907338182186 0089ff
8 10 2002 Lili 1034046000000 0.8963983366646205 0069ff
20 9 2003 Isabel 1064026800000 0.906172720689465 005fff
15 8 2004 Charley 1092538800000 0.915468244401853 0056ff
10 9 2004 Frances 1094785200000 0.9162006189973745 0055ff
3 9 2004 Gaston 1094180400000 0.9160034412216571 0055ff
24 9 2004 Ivan 1095994800000 0.9165949745488091 0055ff
29 9 2004 Jeanne 1096426800000 0.9167358158171787 0054ff
18 7 2005 Dennis 1121655600000 0.9249609458899584 004cff
31 8 2005 Katrina 1125457200000 0.9262003490516101 004bff
26 9 2005 Rita 1127703600000 0.9269327236471316 004aff
7 9 2008 Gustav 1220756400000 0.9572699328539253 002bff
15 9 2008 Ike 1221447600000 0.9574952788833165 002bff
30 8 2011 Irene 1314673200000 0.9878888245974581 000cff
6 9 2011 Lee 1315278000000 0.9880860023731753 000cff
2 11 2012 Sandy 1351821600000 1.0 0000ff
|}

Here's the map colored by each hurricane's index:
[[File:xkcd_1407_colored_index.png]]

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
! Here's the data table for the index coloring
|-
|
day month year name normalized position color
23 8 1915 Galveston 0.0 ff0000
30 9 1915 1915 VI 0.0136986301369863 ff0100
15 7 1916 1916 IV 0.0273972602739726 ff0900
20 8 1916 1916 VI 0.0410958904109589 ff0a00
7 8 1918 1918 I 0.0547945205479452 ff1f00
29 10 1921 1921 VI 0.0684931506849315 ff4000
2 8 1926 1926 I 0.0821917808219178 ff7200
8 8 1926 1926 II 0.0958904109589041 ff7300
27 8 1926 1926 III 0.1095890410958904 ff7300
22 9 1926 1926 VII 0.1232876712328767 ff7400
18 9 1928 1928 IV 0.136986301369863 ff8900
15 8 1932 Freeport 0.1506849315068493 ffb200
25 8 1933 1933 VI 0.1643835616438356 ffbc00
6 9 1935 1935 III 0.1780821917808219 ffd200
22 9 1938 1938 VI 0.1917808219178082 fff200
14 8 1940 1940 III 0.2054794520547945 f7ff00
25 9 1941 1941 II 0.2191780821917808 ecff00
31 8 1942 Matagorda 0.2328767123287671 e2ff00
15 9 1944 1944 VII 0.2465753424657534 ccff00
20 10 1944 1944 XIII 0.2602739726027397 cbff00
14 10 1946 1946 VI 0.273972602739726 b7ff00
16 10 1947 King 0.2876712328767123 acff00
1 9 1949 1949 II 0.3013698630136986 98ff00
9 9 1950 Easy 0.3150684931506849 8eff00
1 9 1954 Carol 0.3287671232876712 64ff00
15 9 1954 Edna 0.3424657534246575 64ff00
18 10 1954 Hazel 0.3561643835616438 63ff00
15 8 1955 Connie 0.3698630136986301 5aff00
23 8 1955 Diane 0.3835616438356164 5aff00
29 6 1957 Audrey 0.3972602739726027 46ff00
29 9 1958 Helene 0.410958904109589 39ff00
30 9 1959 Gracie 0.4246575342465753 2fff00
14 9 1960 Donna 0.4383561643835616 25ff00
17 9 1961 Carla 0.4520547945205479 1aff00
27 9 1961 Esther 0.4657534246575342 1aff00
14 9 1964 Dora 0.4794520547945205 00ff04
5 10 1964 Hilda 0.4931506849315068 00ff05
13 9 1965 Betsy 0.5068493150684932 00ff0f
13 6 1966 Alma 0.5205479452054794 00ff17
22 9 1967 Beulah 0.5342465753424658 00ff24
22 8 1969 Camille 0.547945205479452 00ff38
5 8 1970 Celia 0.5616438356164384 00ff42
23 6 1972 Agnes 0.5753424657534246 00ff56
10 9 1974 Carmen 0.589041095890411 00ff6d
24 9 1975 Eloise 0.6027397260273972 00ff78
8 9 1979 David 0.6164383561643836 00ffa2
15 9 1979 Frederic 0.6301369863013698 00ffa2
11 8 1980 Allen 0.6438356164383562 00ffab
16 9 1984 Diana 0.6575342465753424 00ffd6
4 9 1985 Elena 0.6712328767123288 00ffe0
2 10 1985 Gloria 0.684931506849315 00ffe1
23 11 1985 Kate 0.6986301369863014 00ffe3
25 9 1989 Hugo 0.7123287671232876 00f2ff
20 8 1991 Bob 0.726027397260274 00deff
28 8 1992 Andrew 0.7397260273972602 00d3ff
5 10 1995 Opal 0.7534246575342466 00b3ff
10 9 1996 Fran 0.7671232876712328 00a9ff
30 8 1998 Bonnie 0.7808219178082192 0094ff
19 9 1999 Floyd 0.7945205479452054 0089ff
8 10 2002 Lili 0.8082191780821918 0069ff
20 9 2003 Isabel 0.821917808219178 005fff
15 8 2004 Charley 0.8356164383561644 0056ff
10 9 2004 Frances 0.8493150684931506 0055ff
3 9 2004 Gaston 0.863013698630137 0055ff
24 9 2004 Ivan 0.8767123287671232 0055ff
29 9 2004 Jeanne 0.8904109589041096 0054ff
18 7 2005 Dennis 0.9041095890410958 004cff
31 8 2005 Katrina 0.9178082191780822 004bff
26 9 2005 Rita 0.9315068493150684 004aff
7 9 2008 Gustav 0.9452054794520548 002bff
15 9 2008 Ike 0.958904109589041 002bff
30 8 2011 Irene 0.9726027397260274 000cff
6 9 2011 Lee 0.9863013698630136 000cff
2 11 2012 Sandy 1.0 0000ff
|}

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
! Here's the Java code to parse the data
|-
|
package main;

public final class xkcd1407Hurricane {

public int color[] = null;

public double colorNormalizedMillis = 0;

public double colorNormalizedPosition = 0;

public long date = 0;

public byte day = 0;

public byte month = 0;

public String name = null;

public short year = 0;
}

package main;

import java.util.GregorianCalendar;
import java.util.LinkedList;

public final class xkcd1407 {

private static String fields[] = null;

private static final LinkedList<xkcd1407Hurricane> hurricanes = new LinkedList<>();

//<editor-fold desc="input">
private static final String input
= "23 8 1915 Galveston\n"
+ "30 9 1915 VI\n"
+ "15 7 1916 1916 IV\n"
+ "20 8 1916 VI\n"
+ "7 8 1918 1918 I\n"
+ "29 10 1921 1921 VI\n"
+ "2 8 1926 1926 I\n"
+ "8 8 1926 II\n"
+ "27 8 1926 III\n"
+ "22 9 1926 VII\n"
+ "18 9 1928 1928 IV\n"
+ "15 8 1932 Freeport\n"
+ "25 8 1933 1933 VI\n"
+ "6 9 1935 1935 III\n"
+ "22 9 1938 1938 VI\n"
+ "14 8 1940 1940 III\n"
+ "25 9 1941 1941 II\n"
+ "31 8 1942 Matagorda\n"
+ "15 9 1944 1944 VII\n"
+ "20 10 1944 XIII\n"
+ "14 10 1946 1946 VI\n"
+ "16 10 1947 King\n"
+ "1 9 1949 1949 II\n"
+ "9 9 1950 Easy\n"
+ "1 9 1954 Carol\n"
+ "15 9 Edna\n"
+ "18 10 Hazel\n"
+ "15 8 1955 Connie\n"
+ "23 8 Diane\n"
+ "29 6 1957 Audrey\n"
+ "29 9 1958 Helene\n"
+ "30 9 1959 Gracie\n"
+ "14 9 1960 Donna\n"
+ "17 9 1961 Carla\n"
+ "27 9 Esther\n"
+ "14 9 1964 Dora\n"
+ "5 10 Hilda\n"
+ "13 9 1965 Betsy\n"
+ "13 6 1966 Alma\n"
+ "22 9 1967 Beulah\n"
+ "22 8 1969 Camille\n"
+ "5 8 1970 Celia\n"
+ "23 6 1972 Agnes\n"
+ "10 9 1974 Carmen\n"
+ "24 9 1975 Eloise\n"
+ "8 9 1979 David\n"
+ "15 9 Frederic\n"
+ "11 8 1980 Allen\n"
+ "16 9 1984 Diana\n"
+ "4 9 1985 Elena\n"
+ "2 10 Gloria\n"
+ "23 11 Kate\n"
+ "25 9 1989 Hugo\n"
+ "20 8 1991 Bob\n"
+ "28 8 1992 Andrew\n"
+ "5 10 1995 Opal\n"
+ "10 9 1996 Fran\n"
+ "30 8 1998 Bonnie\n"
+ "19 9 1999 Floyd\n"
+ "8 10 2002 Lili\n"
+ "20 9 2003 Isabel\n"
+ "15 8 2004 Charley\n"
+ "10 9 Frances\n"
+ "3 9 Gaston\n"
+ "24 9 Ivan\n"
+ "29 9 Jeanne\n"
+ "18 7 2005 Dennis\n"
+ "31 8 Katrina\n"
+ "26 9 Rita\n"
+ "7 9 2008 Gustav\n"
+ "15 9 Ike\n"
+ "30 8 2011 Irene\n"
+ "6 9 Lee\n"
+ "2 11 2012 Sandy";
//</editor-fold>

public static int[] percentageToColor (double percentage) {
int color[] = new int[]{255, 0, 0};
if ((percentage > 0) && (percentage < 0.25)) {
color[0] = 255;
color[1] = (int) (255 * (percentage * 4.0));
color[2] = 0;
} else if (percentage == 0.25) {
color[0] = 255;
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = 0;
} else if ((percentage > 0.25) && (percentage < 0.5)) {
color[0] = (int) (255 * ((percentage * (-4.0)) + 2));
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = 0;
} else if (percentage == 0.5) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = 0;
} else if ((percentage > 0.5) && (percentage < 0.75)) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = (int) (255 * ((percentage * 4.0) - 2));
} else if (percentage == 0.75) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = 255;
} else if ((percentage > 0.75) && (percentage < 1)) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = (int) (255 * ((percentage * (-4.0)) + 4));
color[2] = 255;
} else if (percentage == 1) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = 0;
color[2] = 255;
}
return color;
}

public static void main (String args[]) throws IOException {
{
xkcd1407Hurricane hurricane = null;
short lastYear = 0;
for (String sI : input.split("\n")) {
fields = sI.split("\t");
hurricane = new xkcd1407Hurricane();
hurricane.day = Byte.parseByte(fields[0]);
hurricane.month = Byte.parseByte(fields[1]);
try {
hurricane.year = Short.parseShort(fields[2]);
lastYear = hurricane.year;
} catch (NumberFormatException ex) {
hurricane.year = lastYear;
}
hurricane.name = fields[3];
hurricane.date = new GregorianCalendar(hurricane.year, hurricane.month - 1, hurricane.day).getTimeInMillis();
hurricanes.add(hurricane);
}
}
for (int i = 0; i < hurricanes.size(); i++) {
hurricanes.get(i).colorNormalizedMillis
= ((double) (hurricanes.get(i).date - hurricanes.getFirst().date))
/ ((double) (hurricanes.getLast().date - hurricanes.getFirst().date));
hurricanes.get(i).colorNormalizedPosition
= ((double) i) / ((double) hurricanes.size() - 1);
hurricanes.get(i).color = percentageToColor(hurricanes.get(i).colorNormalizedMillis);
//hurricanes.get(i).color = percentageToColor(hurricanes.get(i).colorNormalizedPosition);
}
for (xkcd1407Hurricane hI : hurricanes) {
System.out.format(" " + hI.day + "\t" + hI.month + "\t" + hI.year + "\t" + hI.name + "\t\t" + hI.date + "\t" + hI.colorNormalizedMillis + "\t%02x%02x%02x\n", hI.color[0], hI.color[1], hI.color[2]);
//System.out.format(" " + hI.day + "\t" + hI.month + "\t" + hI.year + "\t" + hI.name + "\t\t" + hI.colorNormalizedPosition + "\t%02x%02x%02x\n", hI.color[0], hI.color[1], hI.color[2]);
}
}
}
|}

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
! Here's the Java code to treat the image
|-
|
package main;

import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.awt.image.WritableRaster;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;

@SuppressWarnings("Convert2Lambda")
public final class Main {

private static int color[] = null;

public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException {
BufferedImage input = ImageIO.read(new File("C:\\Users\\GuiR\\Desktop\\worst_hurricane_large.png"));
WritableRaster raster = input.getRaster();
for (int y = 0; y < input.getHeight(); y++) {
for (int x = 0; x < input.getWidth(); x++) {
color = raster.getPixel(x, y, (int[]) null);
//if ((color[0] != color[1]) || (color[1] != color[2]) || (color[0] != color[2])) {// it's red
if ((color[0] == color[1]) && (color[1] == color[2])) {// it's not red
color[0] = 255;
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = 255;
}
raster.setPixel(x, y, color);
}
}
//ImageIO.write(input, "png", new File("C:\\Users\\GuiR\\Desktop\\worst_hurricane_large_black.png"));
ImageIO.write(input, "png", new File("C:\\Users\\GuiR\\Desktop\\worst_hurricane_large_red.png"));
}
}
|}

I just used it to separate the red lines from the black lines.

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
! Here's the image I used to color the areas. Add the original image on top and set it to multiply.
|-
|
[[File:xkcd_1407_colored_template.png]]
|}
I was going to add the GIMP xcf image, but this wiki doesn't allow it.

[[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 12:45, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

User talk:GuiRitter

2015-11-30T14:18:54Z

GuiRitter: added template image

I've been nerdsniped. I've colored the map from [[1407]] in two different ways. First, by using the index of the hurricane in the table, from 0 to 73. Second, by finding out in what day the hurricane happened (actually used dissipation day), then by converting this date to the {{w|Unix time|number of milliseconds since 1970/01/01}}, then by normalizing that to a 0–1 range. Both ranges where converted to a color with {{w|HSL_and_HSV|HSL}} (''x'', 100, 50), where ''x'' varies from red to blue, going through green. Some areas of the map remained blank because it's not stated which hurricane was most remembered there, and I'm not that interested in US geography/meteorology to find out. I used {{w|Java_(programming_language)|Java}} to parse the data and Java/{{w|GIMP|GIMP}} to make the images.

Here's the map colored by each hurricane's dissipation date:
[[File:xkcd_1407_colored_millis.png]]

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
! Here's the data table for the date coloring
|-
|
day month year name millis normalized color
23 8 1915 Galveston -1715461200000 0.0 ff0000
30 9 1915 1915 VI -1712178000000 0.0010703936396083205 ff0100
15 7 1916 1916 IV -1687208400000 0.009211018951366336 ff0900
20 8 1916 1916 VI -1684098000000 0.01022507608362685 ff0a00
7 8 1918 1918 I -1622149200000 0.030421713967815425 ff1f00
29 10 1921 1921 VI -1520283600000 0.06363208504934725 ff4000
2 8 1926 1926 I -1370120400000 0.11258850993459096 ff7200
8 8 1926 1926 II -1369602000000 0.11275751945663438 ff7300
27 8 1926 1926 III -1367960400000 0.11329271627643854 ff7300
22 9 1926 1926 VII -1365714000000 0.11402509087196003 ff7400
18 9 1928 1928 IV -1302901200000 0.13450341129288762 ff8900
15 8 1932 Freeport -1179608400000 0.17469950928554745 ffb200
25 8 1933 1933 VI -1147208400000 0.18526260441326114 ffbc00
6 9 1935 1935 III -1083099600000 0.2061634486392973 ffd200
22 9 1938 1938 VI -987022800000 0.23748654672467762 fff200
14 8 1940 1940 III -927234000000 0.2569789782670186 f7ff00
25 9 1941 1941 II -892069200000 0.2684434575122972 ecff00
31 8 1942 Matagord -862693200000 0.27802066376142426 e2ff00
15 9 1944 1944 VII -798238800000 0.29903418100215606 ccff00
20 10 1944 1944 XII -795214800000 0.30002006988074265 cbff00
14 10 1946 1946 VI -732661200000 0.32041388554064854 b7ff00
16 10 1947 King -700952400000 0.330751634638971 acff00
1 9 1949 1949 II -641682000000 0.3500750566592686 98ff00
9 9 1950 Easy -609454800000 0.36058181527963445 8eff00
1 9 1954 Carol -483915600000 0.4015102878678158 64ff00
15 9 1954 Edna -482706000000 0.4019046434192504 64ff00
18 10 1954 Hazel -479854800000 0.40283419579048924 63ff00
15 8 1955 Connie -453848400000 0.41131284014633407 5aff00
23 8 1955 Diane -453157200000 0.4115381861757253 5aff00
29 6 1957 Audrey -394750800000 0.4305799256592838 46ff00
29 9 1958 Helene -355266000000 0.4434528175882576 39ff00
30 9 1959 Gracie -323643600000 0.45376239843290617 2fff00
14 9 1960 Donna -293403600000 0.46362128721877227 25ff00
17 9 1961 Carla -261608400000 0.47398720457076865 1aff00
27 9 1961 Esther -260744400000 0.47426888710750764 1aff00
14 9 1964 Dora -167173200000 0.5047751058363448 00ff04
5 10 1964 Hilda -165358800000 0.5053666391634968 00ff05
13 9 1965 Betsy -135723600000 0.5150283501736456 00ff0f
13 6 1966 Alma -112136400000 0.5227182834266211 00ff17
22 9 1967 Beulah -71874000000 0.5358446896386599 00ff24
22 8 1969 Camille -11394000000 0.5555624672103922 00ff38
5 8 1970 Celia 18673200000 0.5653650194889105 00ff42
23 6 1972 Agnes 78116400000 0.5847447780165559 00ff56
10 9 1974 Carmen 148014000000 0.6075328952387435 00ff6d
24 9 1975 Eloise 180759600000 0.6182086633811529 00ff78
8 9 1979 David 305607600000 0.6589117899399429 00ffa2
15 9 1979 Frederic 306212400000 0.6591089677156603 00ffa2
11 8 1980 Allen 334810800000 0.6684326596817222 00ffab
16 9 1984 Diana 464151600000 0.7106005354315552 00ffd6
4 9 1985 Elena 494650800000 0.7205439289784431 00ffe0
2 10 1985 Gloria 497070000000 0.7213326400813124 00ffe1
23 11 1985 Kate 501559200000 0.7227962155951189 00ffe3
25 9 1989 Hugo 622695600000 0.7622892809231676 00f2ff
20 8 1991 Bob 682657200000 0.7818380489728564 00deff
28 8 1992 Andrew 714970800000 0.7923729758468961 00d3ff
5 10 1995 Opal 812862000000 0.8242876072594284 00b3ff
10 9 1996 Fran 842324400000 0.8338929817622294 00a9ff
30 8 1998 Bonnie 904446000000 0.8541459561537658 0094ff
19 9 1999 Floyd 937710000000 0.8649907338182186 0089ff
8 10 2002 Lili 1034046000000 0.8963983366646205 0069ff
20 9 2003 Isabel 1064026800000 0.906172720689465 005fff
15 8 2004 Charley 1092538800000 0.915468244401853 0056ff
10 9 2004 Frances 1094785200000 0.9162006189973745 0055ff
3 9 2004 Gaston 1094180400000 0.9160034412216571 0055ff
24 9 2004 Ivan 1095994800000 0.9165949745488091 0055ff
29 9 2004 Jeanne 1096426800000 0.9167358158171787 0054ff
18 7 2005 Dennis 1121655600000 0.9249609458899584 004cff
31 8 2005 Katrina 1125457200000 0.9262003490516101 004bff
26 9 2005 Rita 1127703600000 0.9269327236471316 004aff
7 9 2008 Gustav 1220756400000 0.9572699328539253 002bff
15 9 2008 Ike 1221447600000 0.9574952788833165 002bff
30 8 2011 Irene 1314673200000 0.9878888245974581 000cff
6 9 2011 Lee 1315278000000 0.9880860023731753 000cff
2 11 2012 Sandy 1351821600000 1.0 0000ff
|}

Here's the map colored by each hurricane's index:
[[File:xkcd_1407_colored_index.png]]

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
! Here's the data table for the index coloring
|-
|
day month year name normalized position color
23 8 1915 Galveston 0.0 ff0000
30 9 1915 1915 VI 0.0136986301369863 ff0100
15 7 1916 1916 IV 0.0273972602739726 ff0900
20 8 1916 1916 VI 0.0410958904109589 ff0a00
7 8 1918 1918 I 0.0547945205479452 ff1f00
29 10 1921 1921 VI 0.0684931506849315 ff4000
2 8 1926 1926 I 0.0821917808219178 ff7200
8 8 1926 1926 II 0.0958904109589041 ff7300
27 8 1926 1926 III 0.1095890410958904 ff7300
22 9 1926 1926 VII 0.1232876712328767 ff7400
18 9 1928 1928 IV 0.136986301369863 ff8900
15 8 1932 Freeport 0.1506849315068493 ffb200
25 8 1933 1933 VI 0.1643835616438356 ffbc00
6 9 1935 1935 III 0.1780821917808219 ffd200
22 9 1938 1938 VI 0.1917808219178082 fff200
14 8 1940 1940 III 0.2054794520547945 f7ff00
25 9 1941 1941 II 0.2191780821917808 ecff00
31 8 1942 Matagorda 0.2328767123287671 e2ff00
15 9 1944 1944 VII 0.2465753424657534 ccff00
20 10 1944 1944 XIII 0.2602739726027397 cbff00
14 10 1946 1946 VI 0.273972602739726 b7ff00
16 10 1947 King 0.2876712328767123 acff00
1 9 1949 1949 II 0.3013698630136986 98ff00
9 9 1950 Easy 0.3150684931506849 8eff00
1 9 1954 Carol 0.3287671232876712 64ff00
15 9 1954 Edna 0.3424657534246575 64ff00
18 10 1954 Hazel 0.3561643835616438 63ff00
15 8 1955 Connie 0.3698630136986301 5aff00
23 8 1955 Diane 0.3835616438356164 5aff00
29 6 1957 Audrey 0.3972602739726027 46ff00
29 9 1958 Helene 0.410958904109589 39ff00
30 9 1959 Gracie 0.4246575342465753 2fff00
14 9 1960 Donna 0.4383561643835616 25ff00
17 9 1961 Carla 0.4520547945205479 1aff00
27 9 1961 Esther 0.4657534246575342 1aff00
14 9 1964 Dora 0.4794520547945205 00ff04
5 10 1964 Hilda 0.4931506849315068 00ff05
13 9 1965 Betsy 0.5068493150684932 00ff0f
13 6 1966 Alma 0.5205479452054794 00ff17
22 9 1967 Beulah 0.5342465753424658 00ff24
22 8 1969 Camille 0.547945205479452 00ff38
5 8 1970 Celia 0.5616438356164384 00ff42
23 6 1972 Agnes 0.5753424657534246 00ff56
10 9 1974 Carmen 0.589041095890411 00ff6d
24 9 1975 Eloise 0.6027397260273972 00ff78
8 9 1979 David 0.6164383561643836 00ffa2
15 9 1979 Frederic 0.6301369863013698 00ffa2
11 8 1980 Allen 0.6438356164383562 00ffab
16 9 1984 Diana 0.6575342465753424 00ffd6
4 9 1985 Elena 0.6712328767123288 00ffe0
2 10 1985 Gloria 0.684931506849315 00ffe1
23 11 1985 Kate 0.6986301369863014 00ffe3
25 9 1989 Hugo 0.7123287671232876 00f2ff
20 8 1991 Bob 0.726027397260274 00deff
28 8 1992 Andrew 0.7397260273972602 00d3ff
5 10 1995 Opal 0.7534246575342466 00b3ff
10 9 1996 Fran 0.7671232876712328 00a9ff
30 8 1998 Bonnie 0.7808219178082192 0094ff
19 9 1999 Floyd 0.7945205479452054 0089ff
8 10 2002 Lili 0.8082191780821918 0069ff
20 9 2003 Isabel 0.821917808219178 005fff
15 8 2004 Charley 0.8356164383561644 0056ff
10 9 2004 Frances 0.8493150684931506 0055ff
3 9 2004 Gaston 0.863013698630137 0055ff
24 9 2004 Ivan 0.8767123287671232 0055ff
29 9 2004 Jeanne 0.8904109589041096 0054ff
18 7 2005 Dennis 0.9041095890410958 004cff
31 8 2005 Katrina 0.9178082191780822 004bff
26 9 2005 Rita 0.9315068493150684 004aff
7 9 2008 Gustav 0.9452054794520548 002bff
15 9 2008 Ike 0.958904109589041 002bff
30 8 2011 Irene 0.9726027397260274 000cff
6 9 2011 Lee 0.9863013698630136 000cff
2 11 2012 Sandy 1.0 0000ff
|}

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
! Here's the Java code to parse the data
|-
|
package main;

public final class xkcd1407Hurricane {

public int color[] = null;

public double colorNormalizedMillis = 0;

public double colorNormalizedPosition = 0;

public long date = 0;

public byte day = 0;

public byte month = 0;

public String name = null;

public short year = 0;
}

package main;

import java.util.GregorianCalendar;
import java.util.LinkedList;

public final class xkcd1407 {

private static String fields[] = null;

private static final LinkedList<xkcd1407Hurricane> hurricanes = new LinkedList<>();

//<editor-fold desc="input">
private static final String input
= "23 8 1915 Galveston\n"
+ "30 9 1915 VI\n"
+ "15 7 1916 1916 IV\n"
+ "20 8 1916 VI\n"
+ "7 8 1918 1918 I\n"
+ "29 10 1921 1921 VI\n"
+ "2 8 1926 1926 I\n"
+ "8 8 1926 II\n"
+ "27 8 1926 III\n"
+ "22 9 1926 VII\n"
+ "18 9 1928 1928 IV\n"
+ "15 8 1932 Freeport\n"
+ "25 8 1933 1933 VI\n"
+ "6 9 1935 1935 III\n"
+ "22 9 1938 1938 VI\n"
+ "14 8 1940 1940 III\n"
+ "25 9 1941 1941 II\n"
+ "31 8 1942 Matagorda\n"
+ "15 9 1944 1944 VII\n"
+ "20 10 1944 XIII\n"
+ "14 10 1946 1946 VI\n"
+ "16 10 1947 King\n"
+ "1 9 1949 1949 II\n"
+ "9 9 1950 Easy\n"
+ "1 9 1954 Carol\n"
+ "15 9 Edna\n"
+ "18 10 Hazel\n"
+ "15 8 1955 Connie\n"
+ "23 8 Diane\n"
+ "29 6 1957 Audrey\n"
+ "29 9 1958 Helene\n"
+ "30 9 1959 Gracie\n"
+ "14 9 1960 Donna\n"
+ "17 9 1961 Carla\n"
+ "27 9 Esther\n"
+ "14 9 1964 Dora\n"
+ "5 10 Hilda\n"
+ "13 9 1965 Betsy\n"
+ "13 6 1966 Alma\n"
+ "22 9 1967 Beulah\n"
+ "22 8 1969 Camille\n"
+ "5 8 1970 Celia\n"
+ "23 6 1972 Agnes\n"
+ "10 9 1974 Carmen\n"
+ "24 9 1975 Eloise\n"
+ "8 9 1979 David\n"
+ "15 9 Frederic\n"
+ "11 8 1980 Allen\n"
+ "16 9 1984 Diana\n"
+ "4 9 1985 Elena\n"
+ "2 10 Gloria\n"
+ "23 11 Kate\n"
+ "25 9 1989 Hugo\n"
+ "20 8 1991 Bob\n"
+ "28 8 1992 Andrew\n"
+ "5 10 1995 Opal\n"
+ "10 9 1996 Fran\n"
+ "30 8 1998 Bonnie\n"
+ "19 9 1999 Floyd\n"
+ "8 10 2002 Lili\n"
+ "20 9 2003 Isabel\n"
+ "15 8 2004 Charley\n"
+ "10 9 Frances\n"
+ "3 9 Gaston\n"
+ "24 9 Ivan\n"
+ "29 9 Jeanne\n"
+ "18 7 2005 Dennis\n"
+ "31 8 Katrina\n"
+ "26 9 Rita\n"
+ "7 9 2008 Gustav\n"
+ "15 9 Ike\n"
+ "30 8 2011 Irene\n"
+ "6 9 Lee\n"
+ "2 11 2012 Sandy";
//</editor-fold>

public static int[] percentageToColor (double percentage) {
int color[] = new int[]{255, 0, 0};
if ((percentage > 0) && (percentage < 0.25)) {
color[0] = 255;
color[1] = (int) (255 * (percentage * 4.0));
color[2] = 0;
} else if (percentage == 0.25) {
color[0] = 255;
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = 0;
} else if ((percentage > 0.25) && (percentage < 0.5)) {
color[0] = (int) (255 * ((percentage * (-4.0)) + 2));
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = 0;
} else if (percentage == 0.5) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = 0;
} else if ((percentage > 0.5) && (percentage < 0.75)) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = (int) (255 * ((percentage * 4.0) - 2));
} else if (percentage == 0.75) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = 255;
} else if ((percentage > 0.75) && (percentage < 1)) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = (int) (255 * ((percentage * (-4.0)) + 4));
color[2] = 255;
} else if (percentage == 1) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = 0;
color[2] = 255;
}
return color;
}

public static void main (String args[]) throws IOException {
{
xkcd1407Hurricane hurricane = null;
short lastYear = 0;
for (String sI : input.split("\n")) {
fields = sI.split("\t");
hurricane = new xkcd1407Hurricane();
hurricane.day = Byte.parseByte(fields[0]);
hurricane.month = Byte.parseByte(fields[1]);
try {
hurricane.year = Short.parseShort(fields[2]);
lastYear = hurricane.year;
} catch (NumberFormatException ex) {
hurricane.year = lastYear;
}
hurricane.name = fields[3];
hurricane.date = new GregorianCalendar(hurricane.year, hurricane.month - 1, hurricane.day).getTimeInMillis();
hurricanes.add(hurricane);
}
}
for (int i = 0; i < hurricanes.size(); i++) {
hurricanes.get(i).colorNormalizedMillis
= ((double) (hurricanes.get(i).date - hurricanes.getFirst().date))
/ ((double) (hurricanes.getLast().date - hurricanes.getFirst().date));
hurricanes.get(i).colorNormalizedPosition
= ((double) i) / ((double) hurricanes.size() - 1);
hurricanes.get(i).color = percentageToColor(hurricanes.get(i).colorNormalizedMillis);
//hurricanes.get(i).color = percentageToColor(hurricanes.get(i).colorNormalizedPosition);
}
for (xkcd1407Hurricane hI : hurricanes) {
System.out.format(" " + hI.day + "\t" + hI.month + "\t" + hI.year + "\t" + hI.name + "\t\t" + hI.date + "\t" + hI.colorNormalizedMillis + "\t%02x%02x%02x\n", hI.color[0], hI.color[1], hI.color[2]);
//System.out.format(" " + hI.day + "\t" + hI.month + "\t" + hI.year + "\t" + hI.name + "\t\t" + hI.colorNormalizedPosition + "\t%02x%02x%02x\n", hI.color[0], hI.color[1], hI.color[2]);
}
}
}
|}

The Java code to treat the image was probably deleted after use, and was too simple anyway to post here. I just used it to separate the red lines from the black lines.

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
! Here's the image I used to color the areas. Add the original image on top and set it to multiply.
|-
|
[[File:xkcd_1407_colored_template.png]]
|}
I was going to add the GIMP xcf image, but this wiki doesn't allow it.

[[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 12:45, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

File:xkcd 1407 colored template.png

2015-11-30T14:13:11Z

GuiRitter: Template for easy coloring of the map from xkcd 1407

== Summary ==
Template for easy coloring of the map from xkcd 1407
== Licensing ==
{{XKCD file derived}}

Talk:1407: Worst Hurricane

2015-11-30T12:50:07Z

GuiRitter: honoring 141.101.98.187's wish

I tried to list all the unnamed hurricanes, but I gave up after 1938. Anybody feel like finishing it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.195|108.162.219.195]] 05:37, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

The current explanation seems to interpret the title text completely wrongly; it isn't about finding a person that lived in *all* of the states, but finding people that lived in *each*. The point is that the entire data is estimated based on rainfall, not based on actually asking people the question. {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.231}}
:I very much doubt that the data was based on rainfall, which is pretty irrelevant to the severity of most hurricanes. The severity is generally a factor of storm surge and windspeed, rainfall only becomes relevant far inland.

:And the map is too small scale to really represent what you would get if actually asked people - for instance, in Fort Lauderdale it's unlikely anyone would say Andrew was worst (having been thru both Andrew and Wilma, I'd say Wilma was worse, but old timers in Fort Lauderdale would say the 1947 hurricane was worst).{{unsigned ip|108.162.238.182}}

::Except the fact remains that the comic says it is based on rainfall. So why is wind speed and pressure on the table? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]]

Hurricane Audrey was in June 1957.{{unsigned|Jkrstrt}}

Some areas in the map is pretty large se Opal, Katrina, Hugo while others are very small like 1946 near the tip of Florida. I don't know much about hurricanes but could one draw a conclusion that the hurricanes in the small areas are not as bad as the larger ones (and that some large ones like those near Mexico, are large only because they don't receive many hurricanes)? Should one add a note in the description why not entire America is mapped? We know that the Atlantic is very good at producing hurricanes but why doesn't the Pacific Ocean produce as many? I write my comment out of curiousity hoping someone has the answers, not that I know much about this (I am not even an American). [[User:Aquaplanet|Aquaplanet]] ([[User talk:Aquaplanet|talk]]) 10:09, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
:That would be a false conclusion. The area of severe damage for a hurricane is fairly narrow (perhaps 50 miles wide), so if another hurricane has hit nearby, each would just be "worst" in a small area. Conversely, in an area that gets few hurricanes even light damage would count as "worst". Just for reference, in terms of deaths the three most severe hurricanes would be 1915 Galveston TX, 1926 Palm Beach FL, and 2005 Katrina MS/LA. In terms of wind strength, the three most severe would be 1935 Florida Keys, 1969 Camille MS, and 1992 Andrew (FL).{{unsigned ip|108.162.238.182}}

:On the Pacific coast of the US we get no hurricanes. This is due to the cold water flowing south from Alaska rather than coming north from the equator. This in turn is due to the clockwise flow of large bodies of water in the northern hemisphere, which is in turn due to the coreolis effect (caused by the rotation of the earth.) In California we only remember hurricanes because we here about them on the news, or occasionally when we travel. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.134|108.162.215.134]] 10:25, 13 August 2014 (UTC)BluDgeons

:There are no hurricanes in Pacific because they are called {{w|Typhoon}}s ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoonhttp://www.diffen.com/difference/Hurricane_vs_Typhoon difference]) and damage places like South East Asia where the concentration of news reporters is lower. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:01, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
:: Both of the above comments are mistaken. Tropical cyclones in the western Pacific are called hurricanes. It is possible (altho rare) for a hurricane to hit California (it's common in Baja California). If the map were expanded to include California and Arizona, 1997 Kathleen would probably be the worst anyone remembered.{{unsigned ip|108.162.238.182}}

:::West Pacific and Baja are not US which I specifically stated for that reason. I also doubt anyone remembers Hurricane Kathleen, I certainly don't. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.197|173.245.54.197]] 08:56, 15 August 2014 (UTC)BluDgeons

::I swear there must be a small joke in there about the reporters, but the veil is a bit too opaque for me, I fear... Also, is it kosher for me to fix people's links, if it's evident what needs to be fixed, and what they ''meant'' to put? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 11:19, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
:::You're welcome, and actually encouraged, to do that; a wiki is a group project, with every editor contributing their knowledge and fixing others' errors.--[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 12:12, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

"'If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!'" I would like to point out that if someone has the specific hurricane that they would like to claim to be worse than the presented one, they only need to find someone who experienced both hurricanes; there is no need for 105-year-olds every time.--[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 12:16, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

Is there any rhyme or reason to the parentheses? I can't figure out why we have ''Connie (1955)'' and ''Diane 1955''. [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 13:10, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

If we make a complete list, are we ordering it chronologically or north-to-south? It seems easier to list it from Maine to Texas. Unless we can create a list that lets you adjust those fields which I don't know how to do[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.152|173.245.56.152]] 12:44, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
:There is no proper north to south order, but we could create a table with name, year, state and description, so you can order by it. [[User:Condor70|Condor70]] ([[User talk:Condor70|talk]]) 15:07, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

Very cool. And next someone could mash this up with a population density map and find the number of people likely to remember each one as "worst", then sort by that ro find the hurricane most-remembered as "worst". [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 15:43, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

This comic might have been inspired by Robin William's bit on hurricanes in ''Weapons of Self-Destruction'' in light of his recent death.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.95|108.162.217.95]] 15:19, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

It might be of interest to colour the hurricanes by decade; see if there's a visible secular trend in hurricane "worseness". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.187|141.101.98.187]] 20:24, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
:Like this? (smaller version isn't yet available or I'd link to that) --[[User:Mwarren|Mwarren]] ([[User talk:Mwarren|talk]]) 00:36, 14 August 2014 (UTC) 
[[File:XKCD_1407_with_timeline.png]]
 
::Not really. That doesn't distinguish between hurricanes which were the worse over a small area, and the worse over a large area. A less bad hurricane that by chance hasn't been topped in a small locality has the same weight as a more intense one that was the worse over large tracts of land. What I was thinking of was colouring the map according to date - start at hue 0 (red) in 1914 and end at hue 200 (magenta) in 2014. The problem is that the potential sample bias mentioned would lead to a apparent trend to worser hurricanes, so any map so coloured wouldn't necessarily represent the reality of the record. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.187}}
:Like this, then?
:[[File:xkcd_1407_colored_millis_smaller.png]]
:More details on my talk page. [[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 12:50, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

That's beautiful but I thought it would be more like the tables here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements (maybe not the best example) but each vertical column would be ordered so we'd have dates, states, severity, etc. Just basically like a grid. Maybe I was alone in that thought. {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.152}}

Suggestion: HSL model (or perhaps HSV) colour-space applied on the map such that Hue (say Red/0° up to Magenta/300°, the long way round) represents the year of a given hurricane, Saturation (if only to cash in on the obvious pun) depicts actual rainfall and Luminosity/Lightness or 'brightness' Value or the Intensity value (whatever it is you're using) can show windspeeds. If anyone can go back to the source data (which Randall has) it might even be possible to blend neighbouring zones together, although with this system that'd risk (say) a 1914 (Red-hued) hurricane neighbouring a 1954 one (Green-hued) giving a yellowed zone between them that might looking like an intersticial 1934 storm area (with rainfall/windspeed qualities based upon the combinatorial method you use). However, sticking to just the 'areas of majority', you could either flood-fill with their worst/greatest/typical HS''X'' or (if the source data gives the required granularity) gradient it to show how (for example) 1995 Opal tails off into Tennessee, if my US geography is correct, while showing how Ivan's path interleaves the former patchily but (where it shows through against its competitors) doesn't evaporate, just get outdone. IYSWIM [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 12:38, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
:Restructured the list into a table. Would you like to fill in the states (I'm not familiar enough with US geography)? [[User:Condor70|Condor70]] ([[User talk:Condor70|talk]]) 06:38, 15 August 2014 (UTC)

The 105 year old comment is probably based on the earliest storm shown on the map being 1915 Galveston; you'd have to be 105 years old to remember that one.{{unsigned ip|108.162.238.182}}

Would/Should we add a section or modify what we have so we can rate by the more familiar categories (CAT 1, CAT 2, etc)?[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.152|173.245.56.152]] 01:03, 17 August 2014 (UTC)
:Would it help understand the comic? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 18:23, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

The Weather Channel reported on this comic as if people were actually asked about which hurricanes they remember. I'm not even certain TWC understood its provenance. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.155}}

I propose we remove much of the table, and provide the name of the hurricane the year, and a link to a reference to the hurricane if we can find one.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 18:23, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

All of the hurricanes are linked on Wikipedia, and the remarks are arbitrary facts pulled from that. There is no standard as to what kind of remark or interesting fact should be left. Some just link to the wikipedia article, which already happens in the initial listing, while others tried to find a cool or key fact, but this is the least fun part of completing this list especially when there is no uniformity to this section. I propose removing the remarks point as it's the most subjective and least scientific and least important aspect of the list. If people want to read more about the storm, they can click the link by the name. Anyone agree or disagree? [[User:4jonah|4jonah]] ([[User talk:4jonah|talk]]) 17:26, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

I have a followup thought - just make remarks 2 figures: number killed and cost of damage. That's pretty empirical and would make for simple columns. This allows it to be filtered by most deadly and most costly

I'm giving total casualties. The Wiki pages sometimes say x deaths direct, y deaths indirect. I'm giving a unified total otherwise it gets too confusing. {{unsigned|4jonah}}

There were duplicate entries for 1926 such as, in a single column, "1926 "IIII/II." In addition to being out of sequence, no other year did this so I have each one it's own listing. We should remove the remarks section. Does anyone attend this page anymore?[[User:4jonah|4jonah]] ([[User talk:4jonah|talk]]) 18:34, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

This table has more listed than the map does. Are we going to have 2 separate, inconsistent lists? Or is the table going to have only what's on the map?[[User:4jonah|4jonah]] ([[User talk:4jonah|talk]]) 21:18, 26 December 2014 (UTC)

Hey, guys. I have been slowly working through the transcript, but the southern states are going to bee pretty crazy. If anyone wants to help, or maybe has a better idea for how to format the transcript, please do so. [[User:Reywas|Reywas]] ([[User talk:Reywas|talk]]) 21:02, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

User talk:GuiRitter

2015-11-30T12:45:11Z

GuiRitter: 1407 nerdsnipe

I've been nerdsniped. I've colored the map from [[1407]] in two different ways. First, by using the index of the hurricane in the table, from 0 to 73. Second, by finding out in what day the hurricane happened (actually used dissipation day), then by converting this date to the {{w|Unix time|number of milliseconds since 1970/01/01}}, then by normalizing that to a 0–1 range. Both ranges where converted to a color with {{w|HSL_and_HSV|HSL}} (''x'', 100, 50), where ''x'' varies from red to blue, going through green. Some areas of the map remained blank because it's not stated which hurricane was most remembered there, and I'm not that interested in US geography/meteorology to find out. I used {{w|Java_(programming_language)|Java}} to parse the data and Java/{{w|GIMP|GIMP}} to make the images.

Here's the map colored by each hurricane's dissipation date:
[[File:xkcd_1407_colored_millis.png]]

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
! Here's the data table for the date coloring
|-
|
day month year name millis normalized color
23 8 1915 Galveston -1715461200000 0.0 ff0000
30 9 1915 1915 VI -1712178000000 0.0010703936396083205 ff0100
15 7 1916 1916 IV -1687208400000 0.009211018951366336 ff0900
20 8 1916 1916 VI -1684098000000 0.01022507608362685 ff0a00
7 8 1918 1918 I -1622149200000 0.030421713967815425 ff1f00
29 10 1921 1921 VI -1520283600000 0.06363208504934725 ff4000
2 8 1926 1926 I -1370120400000 0.11258850993459096 ff7200
8 8 1926 1926 II -1369602000000 0.11275751945663438 ff7300
27 8 1926 1926 III -1367960400000 0.11329271627643854 ff7300
22 9 1926 1926 VII -1365714000000 0.11402509087196003 ff7400
18 9 1928 1928 IV -1302901200000 0.13450341129288762 ff8900
15 8 1932 Freeport -1179608400000 0.17469950928554745 ffb200
25 8 1933 1933 VI -1147208400000 0.18526260441326114 ffbc00
6 9 1935 1935 III -1083099600000 0.2061634486392973 ffd200
22 9 1938 1938 VI -987022800000 0.23748654672467762 fff200
14 8 1940 1940 III -927234000000 0.2569789782670186 f7ff00
25 9 1941 1941 II -892069200000 0.2684434575122972 ecff00
31 8 1942 Matagord -862693200000 0.27802066376142426 e2ff00
15 9 1944 1944 VII -798238800000 0.29903418100215606 ccff00
20 10 1944 1944 XII -795214800000 0.30002006988074265 cbff00
14 10 1946 1946 VI -732661200000 0.32041388554064854 b7ff00
16 10 1947 King -700952400000 0.330751634638971 acff00
1 9 1949 1949 II -641682000000 0.3500750566592686 98ff00
9 9 1950 Easy -609454800000 0.36058181527963445 8eff00
1 9 1954 Carol -483915600000 0.4015102878678158 64ff00
15 9 1954 Edna -482706000000 0.4019046434192504 64ff00
18 10 1954 Hazel -479854800000 0.40283419579048924 63ff00
15 8 1955 Connie -453848400000 0.41131284014633407 5aff00
23 8 1955 Diane -453157200000 0.4115381861757253 5aff00
29 6 1957 Audrey -394750800000 0.4305799256592838 46ff00
29 9 1958 Helene -355266000000 0.4434528175882576 39ff00
30 9 1959 Gracie -323643600000 0.45376239843290617 2fff00
14 9 1960 Donna -293403600000 0.46362128721877227 25ff00
17 9 1961 Carla -261608400000 0.47398720457076865 1aff00
27 9 1961 Esther -260744400000 0.47426888710750764 1aff00
14 9 1964 Dora -167173200000 0.5047751058363448 00ff04
5 10 1964 Hilda -165358800000 0.5053666391634968 00ff05
13 9 1965 Betsy -135723600000 0.5150283501736456 00ff0f
13 6 1966 Alma -112136400000 0.5227182834266211 00ff17
22 9 1967 Beulah -71874000000 0.5358446896386599 00ff24
22 8 1969 Camille -11394000000 0.5555624672103922 00ff38
5 8 1970 Celia 18673200000 0.5653650194889105 00ff42
23 6 1972 Agnes 78116400000 0.5847447780165559 00ff56
10 9 1974 Carmen 148014000000 0.6075328952387435 00ff6d
24 9 1975 Eloise 180759600000 0.6182086633811529 00ff78
8 9 1979 David 305607600000 0.6589117899399429 00ffa2
15 9 1979 Frederic 306212400000 0.6591089677156603 00ffa2
11 8 1980 Allen 334810800000 0.6684326596817222 00ffab
16 9 1984 Diana 464151600000 0.7106005354315552 00ffd6
4 9 1985 Elena 494650800000 0.7205439289784431 00ffe0
2 10 1985 Gloria 497070000000 0.7213326400813124 00ffe1
23 11 1985 Kate 501559200000 0.7227962155951189 00ffe3
25 9 1989 Hugo 622695600000 0.7622892809231676 00f2ff
20 8 1991 Bob 682657200000 0.7818380489728564 00deff
28 8 1992 Andrew 714970800000 0.7923729758468961 00d3ff
5 10 1995 Opal 812862000000 0.8242876072594284 00b3ff
10 9 1996 Fran 842324400000 0.8338929817622294 00a9ff
30 8 1998 Bonnie 904446000000 0.8541459561537658 0094ff
19 9 1999 Floyd 937710000000 0.8649907338182186 0089ff
8 10 2002 Lili 1034046000000 0.8963983366646205 0069ff
20 9 2003 Isabel 1064026800000 0.906172720689465 005fff
15 8 2004 Charley 1092538800000 0.915468244401853 0056ff
10 9 2004 Frances 1094785200000 0.9162006189973745 0055ff
3 9 2004 Gaston 1094180400000 0.9160034412216571 0055ff
24 9 2004 Ivan 1095994800000 0.9165949745488091 0055ff
29 9 2004 Jeanne 1096426800000 0.9167358158171787 0054ff
18 7 2005 Dennis 1121655600000 0.9249609458899584 004cff
31 8 2005 Katrina 1125457200000 0.9262003490516101 004bff
26 9 2005 Rita 1127703600000 0.9269327236471316 004aff
7 9 2008 Gustav 1220756400000 0.9572699328539253 002bff
15 9 2008 Ike 1221447600000 0.9574952788833165 002bff
30 8 2011 Irene 1314673200000 0.9878888245974581 000cff
6 9 2011 Lee 1315278000000 0.9880860023731753 000cff
2 11 2012 Sandy 1351821600000 1.0 0000ff
|}

Here's the map colored by each hurricane's index:
[[File:xkcd_1407_colored_index.png]]

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
! Here's the data table for the index coloring
|-
|
day month year name normalized position color
23 8 1915 Galveston 0.0 ff0000
30 9 1915 1915 VI 0.0136986301369863 ff0100
15 7 1916 1916 IV 0.0273972602739726 ff0900
20 8 1916 1916 VI 0.0410958904109589 ff0a00
7 8 1918 1918 I 0.0547945205479452 ff1f00
29 10 1921 1921 VI 0.0684931506849315 ff4000
2 8 1926 1926 I 0.0821917808219178 ff7200
8 8 1926 1926 II 0.0958904109589041 ff7300
27 8 1926 1926 III 0.1095890410958904 ff7300
22 9 1926 1926 VII 0.1232876712328767 ff7400
18 9 1928 1928 IV 0.136986301369863 ff8900
15 8 1932 Freeport 0.1506849315068493 ffb200
25 8 1933 1933 VI 0.1643835616438356 ffbc00
6 9 1935 1935 III 0.1780821917808219 ffd200
22 9 1938 1938 VI 0.1917808219178082 fff200
14 8 1940 1940 III 0.2054794520547945 f7ff00
25 9 1941 1941 II 0.2191780821917808 ecff00
31 8 1942 Matagorda 0.2328767123287671 e2ff00
15 9 1944 1944 VII 0.2465753424657534 ccff00
20 10 1944 1944 XIII 0.2602739726027397 cbff00
14 10 1946 1946 VI 0.273972602739726 b7ff00
16 10 1947 King 0.2876712328767123 acff00
1 9 1949 1949 II 0.3013698630136986 98ff00
9 9 1950 Easy 0.3150684931506849 8eff00
1 9 1954 Carol 0.3287671232876712 64ff00
15 9 1954 Edna 0.3424657534246575 64ff00
18 10 1954 Hazel 0.3561643835616438 63ff00
15 8 1955 Connie 0.3698630136986301 5aff00
23 8 1955 Diane 0.3835616438356164 5aff00
29 6 1957 Audrey 0.3972602739726027 46ff00
29 9 1958 Helene 0.410958904109589 39ff00
30 9 1959 Gracie 0.4246575342465753 2fff00
14 9 1960 Donna 0.4383561643835616 25ff00
17 9 1961 Carla 0.4520547945205479 1aff00
27 9 1961 Esther 0.4657534246575342 1aff00
14 9 1964 Dora 0.4794520547945205 00ff04
5 10 1964 Hilda 0.4931506849315068 00ff05
13 9 1965 Betsy 0.5068493150684932 00ff0f
13 6 1966 Alma 0.5205479452054794 00ff17
22 9 1967 Beulah 0.5342465753424658 00ff24
22 8 1969 Camille 0.547945205479452 00ff38
5 8 1970 Celia 0.5616438356164384 00ff42
23 6 1972 Agnes 0.5753424657534246 00ff56
10 9 1974 Carmen 0.589041095890411 00ff6d
24 9 1975 Eloise 0.6027397260273972 00ff78
8 9 1979 David 0.6164383561643836 00ffa2
15 9 1979 Frederic 0.6301369863013698 00ffa2
11 8 1980 Allen 0.6438356164383562 00ffab
16 9 1984 Diana 0.6575342465753424 00ffd6
4 9 1985 Elena 0.6712328767123288 00ffe0
2 10 1985 Gloria 0.684931506849315 00ffe1
23 11 1985 Kate 0.6986301369863014 00ffe3
25 9 1989 Hugo 0.7123287671232876 00f2ff
20 8 1991 Bob 0.726027397260274 00deff
28 8 1992 Andrew 0.7397260273972602 00d3ff
5 10 1995 Opal 0.7534246575342466 00b3ff
10 9 1996 Fran 0.7671232876712328 00a9ff
30 8 1998 Bonnie 0.7808219178082192 0094ff
19 9 1999 Floyd 0.7945205479452054 0089ff
8 10 2002 Lili 0.8082191780821918 0069ff
20 9 2003 Isabel 0.821917808219178 005fff
15 8 2004 Charley 0.8356164383561644 0056ff
10 9 2004 Frances 0.8493150684931506 0055ff
3 9 2004 Gaston 0.863013698630137 0055ff
24 9 2004 Ivan 0.8767123287671232 0055ff
29 9 2004 Jeanne 0.8904109589041096 0054ff
18 7 2005 Dennis 0.9041095890410958 004cff
31 8 2005 Katrina 0.9178082191780822 004bff
26 9 2005 Rita 0.9315068493150684 004aff
7 9 2008 Gustav 0.9452054794520548 002bff
15 9 2008 Ike 0.958904109589041 002bff
30 8 2011 Irene 0.9726027397260274 000cff
6 9 2011 Lee 0.9863013698630136 000cff
2 11 2012 Sandy 1.0 0000ff
|}

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
! Here's the Java code to parse the data
|-
|
package main;

public final class xkcd1407Hurricane {

public int color[] = null;

public double colorNormalizedMillis = 0;

public double colorNormalizedPosition = 0;

public long date = 0;

public byte day = 0;

public byte month = 0;

public String name = null;

public short year = 0;
}

package main;

import java.util.GregorianCalendar;
import java.util.LinkedList;

public final class xkcd1407 {

private static String fields[] = null;

private static final LinkedList<xkcd1407Hurricane> hurricanes = new LinkedList<>();

//<editor-fold desc="input">
private static final String input
= "23 8 1915 Galveston\n"
+ "30 9 1915 VI\n"
+ "15 7 1916 1916 IV\n"
+ "20 8 1916 VI\n"
+ "7 8 1918 1918 I\n"
+ "29 10 1921 1921 VI\n"
+ "2 8 1926 1926 I\n"
+ "8 8 1926 II\n"
+ "27 8 1926 III\n"
+ "22 9 1926 VII\n"
+ "18 9 1928 1928 IV\n"
+ "15 8 1932 Freeport\n"
+ "25 8 1933 1933 VI\n"
+ "6 9 1935 1935 III\n"
+ "22 9 1938 1938 VI\n"
+ "14 8 1940 1940 III\n"
+ "25 9 1941 1941 II\n"
+ "31 8 1942 Matagorda\n"
+ "15 9 1944 1944 VII\n"
+ "20 10 1944 XIII\n"
+ "14 10 1946 1946 VI\n"
+ "16 10 1947 King\n"
+ "1 9 1949 1949 II\n"
+ "9 9 1950 Easy\n"
+ "1 9 1954 Carol\n"
+ "15 9 Edna\n"
+ "18 10 Hazel\n"
+ "15 8 1955 Connie\n"
+ "23 8 Diane\n"
+ "29 6 1957 Audrey\n"
+ "29 9 1958 Helene\n"
+ "30 9 1959 Gracie\n"
+ "14 9 1960 Donna\n"
+ "17 9 1961 Carla\n"
+ "27 9 Esther\n"
+ "14 9 1964 Dora\n"
+ "5 10 Hilda\n"
+ "13 9 1965 Betsy\n"
+ "13 6 1966 Alma\n"
+ "22 9 1967 Beulah\n"
+ "22 8 1969 Camille\n"
+ "5 8 1970 Celia\n"
+ "23 6 1972 Agnes\n"
+ "10 9 1974 Carmen\n"
+ "24 9 1975 Eloise\n"
+ "8 9 1979 David\n"
+ "15 9 Frederic\n"
+ "11 8 1980 Allen\n"
+ "16 9 1984 Diana\n"
+ "4 9 1985 Elena\n"
+ "2 10 Gloria\n"
+ "23 11 Kate\n"
+ "25 9 1989 Hugo\n"
+ "20 8 1991 Bob\n"
+ "28 8 1992 Andrew\n"
+ "5 10 1995 Opal\n"
+ "10 9 1996 Fran\n"
+ "30 8 1998 Bonnie\n"
+ "19 9 1999 Floyd\n"
+ "8 10 2002 Lili\n"
+ "20 9 2003 Isabel\n"
+ "15 8 2004 Charley\n"
+ "10 9 Frances\n"
+ "3 9 Gaston\n"
+ "24 9 Ivan\n"
+ "29 9 Jeanne\n"
+ "18 7 2005 Dennis\n"
+ "31 8 Katrina\n"
+ "26 9 Rita\n"
+ "7 9 2008 Gustav\n"
+ "15 9 Ike\n"
+ "30 8 2011 Irene\n"
+ "6 9 Lee\n"
+ "2 11 2012 Sandy";
//</editor-fold>

public static int[] percentageToColor (double percentage) {
int color[] = new int[]{255, 0, 0};
if ((percentage > 0) && (percentage < 0.25)) {
color[0] = 255;
color[1] = (int) (255 * (percentage * 4.0));
color[2] = 0;
} else if (percentage == 0.25) {
color[0] = 255;
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = 0;
} else if ((percentage > 0.25) && (percentage < 0.5)) {
color[0] = (int) (255 * ((percentage * (-4.0)) + 2));
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = 0;
} else if (percentage == 0.5) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = 0;
} else if ((percentage > 0.5) && (percentage < 0.75)) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = (int) (255 * ((percentage * 4.0) - 2));
} else if (percentage == 0.75) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = 255;
color[2] = 255;
} else if ((percentage > 0.75) && (percentage < 1)) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = (int) (255 * ((percentage * (-4.0)) + 4));
color[2] = 255;
} else if (percentage == 1) {
color[0] = 0;
color[1] = 0;
color[2] = 255;
}
return color;
}

public static void main (String args[]) throws IOException {
{
xkcd1407Hurricane hurricane = null;
short lastYear = 0;
for (String sI : input.split("\n")) {
fields = sI.split("\t");
hurricane = new xkcd1407Hurricane();
hurricane.day = Byte.parseByte(fields[0]);
hurricane.month = Byte.parseByte(fields[1]);
try {
hurricane.year = Short.parseShort(fields[2]);
lastYear = hurricane.year;
} catch (NumberFormatException ex) {
hurricane.year = lastYear;
}
hurricane.name = fields[3];
hurricane.date = new GregorianCalendar(hurricane.year, hurricane.month - 1, hurricane.day).getTimeInMillis();
hurricanes.add(hurricane);
}
}
for (int i = 0; i < hurricanes.size(); i++) {
hurricanes.get(i).colorNormalizedMillis
= ((double) (hurricanes.get(i).date - hurricanes.getFirst().date))
/ ((double) (hurricanes.getLast().date - hurricanes.getFirst().date));
hurricanes.get(i).colorNormalizedPosition
= ((double) i) / ((double) hurricanes.size() - 1);
hurricanes.get(i).color = percentageToColor(hurricanes.get(i).colorNormalizedMillis);
//hurricanes.get(i).color = percentageToColor(hurricanes.get(i).colorNormalizedPosition);
}
for (xkcd1407Hurricane hI : hurricanes) {
System.out.format(" " + hI.day + "\t" + hI.month + "\t" + hI.year + "\t" + hI.name + "\t\t" + hI.date + "\t" + hI.colorNormalizedMillis + "\t%02x%02x%02x\n", hI.color[0], hI.color[1], hI.color[2]);
//System.out.format(" " + hI.day + "\t" + hI.month + "\t" + hI.year + "\t" + hI.name + "\t\t" + hI.colorNormalizedPosition + "\t%02x%02x%02x\n", hI.color[0], hI.color[1], hI.color[2]);
}
}
}
|}

The Java code to treat the image was probably deleted after use, and was too simple anyway to post here. I just used it to separate the red lines from the black lines.

[[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 12:45, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

File:xkcd 1407 colored millis smaller.png

2015-11-30T12:28:30Z

GuiRitter: Map from xkcd 1407 colored based on each hurricane's dissipation date, normalized, scaled down.

== Summary ==
Map from xkcd 1407 colored based on each hurricane's dissipation date, normalized, scaled down.
== Licensing ==
{{XKCD file derived}}

File:xkcd 1407 colored millis.png

2015-11-30T12:25:58Z

GuiRitter: Map from xkcd 1407 colored based on each hurricane's dissipation date, normalized.

== Summary ==
Map from xkcd 1407 colored based on each hurricane's dissipation date, normalized.
== Licensing ==
{{XKCD file derived}}

File:xkcd 1407 colored index.png

2015-11-30T12:25:09Z

GuiRitter: /* Summary */ typo

== Summary ==
Map from xkcd 1407 colored based on each hurricane's index in the table.

== Licensing ==
{{XKCD file derived}}

File:xkcd 1407 colored index.png

2015-11-30T12:23:58Z

GuiRitter: Map from xkcd 1407 colored based on dissipation date, normalized.

== Summary ==
Map from xkcd 1407 colored based on dissipation date, normalized.
== Licensing ==
{{XKCD file derived}}