explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3227: Creation

2026-04-01T20:35:16Z

Henke37: Modes!

{{comic
| number = 3227
| date = April 1, 2026
| title = Creation
| image = creation_2x.png
| imagesize = 567x198px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This xkcd.com update introduces a variety of new reading modes which can be activated through the menu.
}}To experience the interactivity, visit the {{xkcd|{comicNum}|original comic}}!

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently in ROBOTIC MODE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
this comic was created when modes were added to the xkcd website, allowing different viewing options. Some are normal, like light and dark mode, but others are more interesting, like airplane mode (see below)

The comic references one of the first lines of the bible, about god making light, but then a person on earth asks to turn on dark mode, referencing the new options.

MODES:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Mode
! Description
|-
| Light Mode
| Normal
|-
| Lighter Mode
| The entire web page is overexposed, making colors wash out and reducing the contrast.
|-
| Dark Mode
| A standard "white content on black background" dark mode.
|-
| Darkest Mode
| Everything on the webpage turns completely black, sans the drop down menu which is merely a dark gray.
|-
| Blurry Mode
| Blurs the entire webpage
|-
| Grayscale Mode
| Applies a standard grayscale conversion filter to the entire webpage.
|-
| Greyscale Mode
| Applies a standard grayscale conversion filter to the entire webpage. Also the text on the page is now in British English.
|-
| Dorian Greyscale Mode
|
|-
| Space Opera Mode
| Turns the entire page into a StarWars style opening scroll.
|-
| 3D Mode
| Makes the comic render in anaglyphic stereoscopy
|-
| Origami Mode
| Rotates various pieces of the webpage.
|-
| Ink Mode
| Recolors the webpage as if drawn in blue ink.
|-
| Spring Mode
| Gives the comic a simple physics simulation, making it slightly rotate as the page is scrolled.
|-
| Southern Hemisphere Mode
| Turns the entire webpage upside down.
|-
| Hacker Mode
| Recolors the entire webpage in the stereotypical "green on black" hacker color scheme.
|-
| Screensaver Mode
| Makes the comic float around on the webpage, bouncing as it hits the edges.
|-
| Modem Mode
| Makes the comic load slowly, accompanied with modem static audio playing.
|-
| Stained Glass Mode
| Colors each closed area of the comic in a separate color.
|-
| Airplane Mode
| Makes the comic fly around on the page, with a "NYOOM!" written next to it.
|-
| Boat Mode
| Makes the entire webpage tilt back and forth, emulating the way a boat rolls on the water.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>[[Category:Interactive comics]][[Category:Dynamic comics]]

Talk:3221: Landscape Features

2026-03-18T18:26:38Z

Henke37: tautology

F1rst P0st!!! [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 17:27, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

The ???? in New York is probably the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adirondack_Mountains Adirondack Mountains]:

<blockquote>About 10 million years ago, the region began to be uplifted. It has been lifted about 7,000 feet (2,000 m) and is continuing at about 0.08 inches (2 mm) per year, which is greater than the rate of denudation. The cause of the uplift is unknown, but geologists theorize that it is caused by a hot spot in the Earth's crust.[18] A recent study has revealed a column of seismically slow materials about 30 to 50 miles (50 to 80 km) deep beneath the Adirondack Mountains,[20] which was interpreted to be the upwelling asthenosphere contributing to the uplift of the mountains.</blockquote>

[[User:Zzzt|Zzzt]] ([[User talk:Zzzt|talk]]) 17:58, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Geology being the cause of geological events is a tautology.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 18:26, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3105: Interoperability

2025-06-20T21:55:19Z

Henke37:

Well, it is not interoperability that would be the potential problem, but potential interconnectedness. Some systems are just not meant to be connected to the rest of the network`21:48, 20 June 2025 (UTC)

There will be more interoperability concerns than the track gauge. Such as the up stop wheels. And side wheels. [[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 21:55, 20 June 2025 (UTC)

3102: Reading a Big Number

2025-06-13T13:10:14Z

Henke37: Initial line by line explanation

{{comic
| number = 3102
| date = June 13, 2025
| title = Reading a Big Number
| image = reading_a_big_number_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x438px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

this comic expresses Randall's frustration when reading large numbers. it starts with normal digits and commas you would find in a large number, but gradually becomes more and more chaotic.
{|
! Thought !! Explanation
|-
| A simple start
|-
| Underselling how long the number is with the "at least a thousand", but is a fair thought from the POV of not being able to know how long the number is.
|-
| Excitement from how large the number must be, showing two plausible things to measure with a this big number.
|-
| Continuing the hypothesis from the last thought while adding more astonishment
|-
| At this point the number is too big for human minds to comprehend
|-
| Numbers this large don't normally appear anywhere, so it is either an error or an extraordinary circumstance
|-
| Something is wrong with the formatting, could it be a typo?
|-
| It is not a typo. Something is seriously wrong
|-
| Big Numbers are normally rounded, any digits this far in are effectively noise and should've been removed.
|-
| The arcsecond mark " indicates that this number is an angle. Even accounting for how small an arcsecond is, this angle would be countless rotations.
|-
| Numbers normally only use the digits 0-9. The use of letters suggest that this is a hexadecimal number. Angles are not normally expressed in hexadecimal.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

54,000,000,000,000,000,000,0000,0000,054,000"000,00c2ef46

Talk:2841: Sign Combo

2023-10-14T07:06:39Z

Henke37:

Theoretically you can get around this limitation by turning off the road before the sign and doing whatever maneuvers you need to out in the wide open area to the right or left of the road. It's not a U-turn if you're not on the road, and you didn't enter a restricted part of a road either, and didn't stop on the road. After which you calmly make a turn onto the road when traffic is clear. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.207|108.162.245.207]] 02:34, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
:I'm pretty sure swerving off of a road is also illegal. [[User:SteveTheNoob|SteveTheNoob]] ([[User talk:SteveTheNoob|talk]]) 04:41, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

So does making a three point turn count as a u-turn? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.66|172.69.58.66]] 02:40, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
Wouldn't putting it in reverse stop you briefly as you switched from forward acceleration to reverse?
:Yes, this is also an example of Rolle's theorem as seen in [[2042]]. [[User:SteveTheNoob|SteveTheNoob]] ([[User talk:SteveTheNoob|talk]]) 04:56, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immelmann_turn Immelmann!] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stall_turn Hammerhead!] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_eight Half Cuban Eight!] [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 03:21, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

You could obey the title text if it was 45 miles per hour and 65 meters per hour, respectively. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.96|162.158.90.96]] 04:04, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

Take notice of the road markings too. At least here in Europe double white lines are not to be crossed. And they go past the point of the sign.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 07:06, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

2700: Account Problems

2022-11-20T20:24:22Z

Henke37: utf-8 is unicode, switch to ascii, which is much more limited

{{comic
| number = 2700
| date = November 18, 2022
| title = Account Problems
| image = account_problems_2x.png
| imagesize = 538x272px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = My password is just every Unicode codepoint concatenated into a single UTF-8 string.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a VISIBLE ZERO WIDTH SPACE. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Cueball]] asks [[Ponytail]] to help him because he can't log in to his account. Having attempted to fix [[:Category:Cueball Computer Problems|Cueball's tech issues]] in the past, Ponytail replies with dread. Cueball promises that "It's a normal problem this time", and Ponytail agrees to look at it. But then Cueball reveals that he has included a {{w|Null character|null string terminator character}} in his password when creating an account and now he can't log in. Ponytail responds in disbelief, and Cueball defends his actions by saying that the instructions said to use special characters.

In computer systems, every {{w|Character (computing)|"character"}} (letter, digit, punctuation, etc.) is represented as an integer. For example the lowercase letter 'a' is represented as the number 97, and the digit '1' is represented as the number 49 (when using the {{w|ASCII}} character encoding or {{w|Unicode}} character encoding). A {{w|String (computer science)|"string"}} refers to a sequence of characters, and can be used to store arbitrary text (for example names, messages, passwords). Strings can be arbitrarily long, so some mechanism must be used to record their length. One approach is to store the length explicitly; this representation is often called a {{w|String_(computer_science)#Length-prefixed|Pascal string}} (after the programming language {{w|Pascal}}, which uses this representation). Another approach is to mark the end of the string using a specific character, usually the {{w|null character}} (which is represented as the number 0); such strings are called {{w|null-terminated string}}s, and are used by the {{w|C (programming language)|C programming language}}. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages.

A limitation of null-terminated strings is that they cannot be used to represent text containing embedded null characters. This is usually not a problem, because normal text never contains null characters. However, if somehow a null character were to end up in the middle of the string, it would cause problems: any code that uses that string would assume this null character marks the end of the string, so the string would effectively be truncated.

Account registration systems often place requirements on passwords in an attempt to encourage users to pick stronger passwords. For example, they might ask that the password include at least one "special character" (such as <code>!@#$%^&*</code>). Cueball misunderstood this requirement as referring to characters such as the null character (which is more accurately referred to as a {{w|ASCII#Control_characters|control character}}). Cueball managed to type the null character as part of his password somehow (on some systems it is possible to type the null character using {{w|Null_character#Representation|certain keyboard shortcuts}} such as <code>Ctrl</code>+<code>Space</code>, <code>Ctrl</code>+<code>@</code>, or <code>Ctrl</code>+<code>2</code>), but the software running the registration system was poorly written and could not cope with this – it allowed him to create an account with that password, but then when he tried to log in with the same password the system didn't accept it. Software that accepts user inputs is supposed to "sanitize" the entered data, to prevent exactly this sort of problem. (This has come up previously, in [[327: Exploits of a Mom]].)

The number of the xkcd comic is 2700. When interpreting this as two concatenated octal numbers \27 + \00 it represents both the {{w|End-of-Transmission-Block_character|ETB}} as well as the null character, both of these characters possibly leading to problems when processed in legacy systems (e.g. mainframe computers). When interpreting 2700 as hexadecimal 0x27 + 0x00 numbers it represents the ' character and the null character - a sequence that could lead to SQL injection when it is placed in unescaped form inside of a SQL command.

It's unclear how that particular situation might arise in real software, but here is a similar situation that can easily happen in practice: Suppose a website's registration form allows the user's new password to have up to 20 characters, but due to a programmer error the login page only accepts passwords with up to 18 characters. If the user picks a medium-length password (say with 12 characters), all is well. But if the user picks a password with 20 characters, they will be able to register but they won't be able to log in (which is what happened to Cueball). Another problem can arise when the password system allows the input of Unicode characters at first, but is later changed to only store ASCII passwords: language-specific characters like é or ö are then no longer allowed, locking the user from their account until a new password is set.

The title text describes a different situation, where a person's password is "simply" every Unicode character concatenated into a single string. {{w|Unicode}} is a standard for representing characters from many writing systems, and it has 149,186 characters[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode#Versions] as at the time of this comic (with new characters being added over time). A password consisting of all of those characters would be extremely long; it would be impractical to type by hand, and would be too long for pretty much all account registration systems. (A "codepoint" is the number assigned to a character, and {{w|UTF-8}} is a common encoding system for representing a Unicode codepoint as a sequence of {{w|byte}}s.)

==Transcript==
:[Cueball carries an open laptop over to Ponytail, holding in in both hands. The screen shows a box filling the screen with some text on lines. Ponytail is sitting in an office chair with her laptop at her desk. She has turned her head away from the computer looking at Cueball's screen.]
:Cueball: Can you help me with my account?
:Ponytail: Oh no.

:[Cueball holds his laptop up in front of Ponytail who has turned the chair so she faces him, with her hands in her lap. Her table is not drawn.]
:Cueball: No no, I promise it's a normal problem this time.
:Ponytail: Okay. Fine. What is it?

:[Cueball holds both hands out palm up towards Ponytail who is sitting with his laptop in her lap typing on it.]
:Cueball: I included a null string terminator as part of my password, and now I can't-
:Ponytail: '''''How?!'''''
:Cueball: They said to use special characters!

{{comic discussion}}

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

Disappearing Sunday Update

2022-07-15T23:57:26Z

Henke37: add category

{{comic
| date = August 4, 2019
| title = Disappearing Sunday Update
| image = disappearing_sunday_update.png
| titletext = This comic won't exist in the archives. NOTHING IS REAL.
| ldomain = web.archive.org/web/20190804230254/https://www
| lappend = #
| extra = yes
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is a special Disappearing comic that was placed between the Friday comic [[2184: Unpopular Opinions]] but before the normal Monday comic update, which became [[2185: Cumulonimbus]].

It was, of course, released on [[:Category:Sunday comics|a Sunday]] (August 4th), becoming only the fifth comic to be released on a Sunday.

It is the first comic that was fully deleted from the xkcd archives, as it was replaced by the normal Monday update, leaving no trails on xkcd, but lots of trails in many other sites, like this one and in the [http://web.archive.org/web/20190804230254/https://www.xkcd.com/#/ Internet Archive] of the {{w|Wayback Machine}}. Also the [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/disappearing_sunday_update.png image] (and its [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/disappearing_sunday_update_2x.png 2x version]) was still on the xkcd image server after it had disappeared.

The entire comic is an advertisement for [[Randall|Randall's]] upcoming book "[[How To]]".

The entire comic was a link directly to https://xkcd.com/how-to/. This link was also mentioned in the text of the comic. But as Randall has never learned how to make a different part of an image into a different link, his [[Blag]], the other link mentioned in the text, was not linked from the comic. The link to this is https://blog.xkcd.com/. When this comic was released the top blog post was the one about the ''How To'' book.

The first part of the comic, the advertisement, included a drawing of the cover, two sets of pages, showing the open book, and a sampling of the table of contents of the book. The full table of contest can be found in the Blag post mentioned above.

The second part of the comic, the joke, shows Randall (as [[Cueball]]) at the bottom where he in advance apologized for the various bots, that automatically catalog xkcd comics, which might break because of this special comic. See more under [[#Unusual Means|Unusual Means]].

This ''Explain xkcd'' website is one example of such a page, where the bot that creates new pages, was assigning the comic a number of 2185 despite the comic not having a designated number at the time it was released.

The comic even broke the xkcd site itself as the previously released Friday comic, [[2184: Unpopular Opinions]], then had a next button that linked to comic 2185, which did not exist at time of release! So using that button from comic 2184 displayed a [[404]] error. Later this was fixed by giving this comic the number 2185, although only temporarily, see the [[#Trivia|Trivia]] section. At this time it was thus also included in the archive, see below regarding the title text.

In the title text it is stated that: ''This comic won't exist in the archives. NOTHING IS REAL.''. However, as shown in the [[#Trivia|Trivia]] section, Randall had so many problems with his plans for this comic, that he ended up making it a normal numbered comic and thus also put it into the archives, ensuring that the title texts statement was not real. But when the normal Monday comic was released it was removed from the xkcd site, and the archive. But then so was this title text, so for most of the time it was available, it was not true!

One of the bot methods mentioned may be in reference to the recent comic [[2180: Spreadsheets]], where [[Cueball]] debates making a real program to do a task, or to use a Google spreadsheet instead.

Two weeks later he released a permanent comic with a reference to one of the chapters in his book with [[2190: Serena Versus the Drones]].

===Unusual Means===
Randall notes that ''if you read xkcd through unusual means... ... I hope this ephemeral ghost comic doesn't break them too badly''.

Between the dots he suggested different methods of reading xkcd, other than on the {{xkcd}} home page. These methods get progressively sillier (many still need explanations). Here is a list:

; Apps
: The Android app [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.tap.easy_xkcd easyxkcd] was broken by this comic when used in offline mode, as reported [https://github.com/tom-anders/Easy_xkcd/issues/162 here].
: An iOS app called xkcd: Open-Source is broken by this comic, permanently assigning the comic number 2185 to this comic, and not replacing it with the *actual* 2185 comic. Because of that, this comic can be viewed in the app, but the real 2185 isn’t viewable.
; Custom screen-scraping systems
: See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_scraping#Screen_scraping
; Google Reader clones
: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Reader Google Reader] was an RSS/Atom aggregator that Google discontinued in 2013. Enthusiasts created a full-featured work-alike replacement, called [https://theoldreader.com/ The Old Reader.]
; Twitter bots
: Scripts that automatically post content to a designated [https://twitter.com/ Twitter] account.
; BASH scripts
: A popular Unix shell; one might, say, write a script in it to run on one's personal Unix machine, checking for a new xkcd comic and displaying it somewhere.
; Gopher portals
: [https://www.minnpost.com/business/2016/08/rise-and-fall-gopher-protocol/ Gopher] was a method of surfing the Internet that predated the Web (by about five months) and was vastly more popular (for about three years).
; Lynx-based ASCII art browsers
: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_%28web_browser%29 Lynx] is a text-based Web browser. It can launch external programs to view images, but Randall is suggesting that instead a Lynx variant might convert images to [https://www.asciiart.eu/ ASCII art], which renders images using the 94 visible ASCII keyboard characters.
; Third-party Second Life feeds
: [https://secondlife.com/ Second Life] is a virtual world that opened in 2002 and has [http://www.gridsurvey.com/charts/historicalconcurrency.png averaged about 40,000 simultaneous users for the past five years].
; RFC 2549
: An RFC is a proposal for how to run the Internet. [https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2549 RFC 2549] is about transmitting data using carrier pigeons (this was one of the earliest [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day April Fools' Day] RFCs).
; Massive Google docs sheets
: See #[[2180]].

Another unusual method is [http://uni.xkcd.com/ UNIXkcd], which was reported here to have broken, but was later working.

==Transcript==
:[Heading:]
:~Special Disappearing Sunday comic~

:[Below the header to the right are the following text:]
:I'm posting this ephemeral Sunday update to let you know that I wrote a book! It's a guide to solving everyday problems in terrible ways using science.
:It comes out next month, and it's available for preorder now.

:[Below this text is an arrow to an image of the book to the left. The arrow comes from this text:]
:The cover looks like this

:[The book is shown to the left as a black rectangle with large blue text and smaller white text. On the book cover, in white drawings, are seen Ponytail with a ladder and either Black or White Hat (hard to say on black background). Both are looking up on Cueball who is floating in the air with a quadcopter beneath either leg, trying to plug in an electric light bulb in a naked lamp hanging down near him. It seems he has already removed the broken light bulb, as he has one in both hands. And now he tries to put in the new one. He could have let Ponytail use the ladder...]
:[The header in blue above it all:] How To.
:[Sub header in white to the left of Cueball:] Absurd Scientific Answers to Common Real-world Problems
:[Author name in blue below the drawing:] Randall Munroe
:[Sub header to this below in white:] Creator of xkcd
:[Sub header to this below in white:] Author of ''what if?'' and ''Thing Explainer''

:[Below the text with the arrow to the book is the following text with an arrow pointing down to an image of two pages in the open book, shown to the right:]
:And the inside looks like this.

:[To the left of the open book are the following text:]
:Chapters include:
:'''How to charge your phone'''
:'''How to throw a pool party'''
:'''How to move'''
:'''How to build a lava moat'''
:'''How to ski'''

:[The open book to the right has almost only unreadable text. The left page shows a drawing of car in front of a trailer which is loaded with about 15 of boxes in four layers. Two stick figures are standing between the car and the trailer, talking with each other. The trailer is not attached to the car. There are some lines of text beneath the drawing and then what appears to be a chapter heading. It probably says something as "How to move", as this is mentioned as a chapter in the text to the left of these pages, but there one of two more unreadable words at the end of that heading. Beneath that the rest of the page is text and at the bottom there seems to be a footnote. The right page shows a house that seems to be floating a couple of meters above the ground, two arrows pointing up to the bottom of the house on either side. A stick figure stands to the left of the house which float at the figures head height. There is text beneath this drawing. Beneath that there is another drawing of a house towed on a truck, which speeds up a steep hill and jumps over a cliff to get to the other side. Seems like it will work. The speed of the truck seems to be very high as indicated by two curly lines indicating exhaust from the truck. It becomes three small clouds further behind the moving house. There is a footnote beneath the drawing. The driver of the truck yells as the truck jumps. This can actually be read:]
:Driver: ''Woooooo''

:[Beneath the above text and pages are another image of the open book with two other pages. This time to the left. This time there is text to the right.]

:[These book pages are also mainly unreadable. At the top of the left page is a drawing of what could be a lake. Two people seems to be standing out in the water, only heads showing above the water. A sign is standing on the brink, is may say "Sorry"? Behind the lake is some mountains in the background. Beneath the drawing is some text of, then a smaller diagram like drawing which may show some black clouds above and below a line in the middle of this drawing. One of the clouds are beneath a curly bracket which are beneath the line. The curly bracket lies down and has the same length as the cloud. Beneath this drawing is more text and then a third drawing at the bottom. Here is shown a cross section of the lake. At the left side of the lake the water is shallow and a stick figure is standing in the water on the bottom, head above water with its arms held up in the air. It is directing its attention to the four stick figure standing on the brink to the left looking at the figure in the water. To the right the lake becomes more than three times as deep. Clouds are above the lake, one large just right of the stick figure and one smaller further right. At the right edge the lakes edge is vertical. On the brink is what may be a diving board protruding over the lake. Something is lying on top of the board. And above is what seems to be another cloud. To the right of the lake is a pile of earth with what appears to be a large black Nuclear bomb (with the nuclear icon on it) stuck with its tip in the pile. On the right page is a line coming down from the top, which then turns to the right ending in an arrow. There is a line of text above the horizontal part of the line. The arrow points to a large heading in two rows. (See below). Beneath the heading are a few lines of text. Then a drawing of a torn map (like an old treasure map whit a X at the end of a trail marked with dots. Mountains indicated with small "^" and coast line is visible. There seems to be text beneath the X. There are text beneath the drawing. Beneath that are a header with a line beneath it, and then text beneath the line.]
:How to Dig a Hole

:[To the right of these pages are the following text:]
:You can learn more and preorder it at '''xkcd.com/how-to'''
:And read an excerpt at '''blog.xkcd.com'''

:[Beneath all this Randall (drawn as Cueball) is telling about the problem this disappearing comic may cause:]
:Randall: If you read xkcd through unusual means, including apps, custom screen-scraping systems, Google reader clones, Twitter bots, bash scripts, gopher portals, lynx-based ASCII art browsers, third-party Second Life feeds, RFC 2549, or massive google docs sheets full of =IMPORTHTML() and =IMAGE() formulas, I hope this ephemeral ghost comic doesn't break them too badly.
:Randall: It will disappear with the normal Monday update.
:Randall: (At least, I think it will. I've never tried this before. So I'm honestly not sure what the server will do.)

==Trivia==
*This August 4th 2019 [[:Category:Sunday comics|Sunday comic]] was first posted on the front page without any number relating to it. Thus breaking the next comic button on xkcd.
**Since it was scheduled to be deleted on Monday August 5th 2019, when the next comic arrives on xkcd, it was not supposed to have a number or be in the archive. But seems like this caused too many problems for the xkcd site it self (not just for all the other sites Randall jokes about).
**So later it was given the next number in the comic list (2185) and was also included in the archive for the duration of its stay on the xkcd front page.
**It was later removed from the archive and 2185 was assigned to the Monday comic [[2185: Cumulonimbus]].
*Here are some pictures documenting that the comic at some point between release and the next comics release worked like a normal comic with number 2185 as shown in the web address at the top.
*[[File:Disappearing Sunday Update with number 2185.png]]
*It was also part of the archive with the release date showing corectly when hovering over the title:
*[[File:Archive with Disappearing Sunday Update and date.png]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Extra comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]] 
[[Category:Book promotion]]
[[Category:How To]]
[[Category:Comics with color]] 
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Deleted comics]]

Talk:2483: Linked List Interview Problem

2021-07-01T09:45:06Z

Henke37: Modern Perspective

Assuming not everyone understands O notation: O(1) means that it always takes the same time, no matter how much data is stored. O(n) means the time is proportional to the amount of data stored - if you have 10 times the data, it takes 10 times as long to find the one you want. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.84}}

This code won't mail the linked list to a museum - it will mail the memory location of the head of the list to a museum.{{unsigned ip|172.70.130.192}}

just to make sure I get this right.
If I want to save the numbers "1", "2", "3", "4" in an array it could (depending on the programming language) just be "[1,2,3,4]", while a linked list could be "1 (jump to 3rd entry), 4, 2 (jump to 4th entry), 3 (jump to 2nd entry)"?
Then entering 2.5 between 2 and 3 would be complicated in the array as you have to move the 3 and 4 to new places, while in the linked list you just change the direction after to to jump to 5th entry, and add 2.5 and the instruction to jump to 4th entry? While it is of course harder to find a specific entry in the linked list. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:01, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

Does anyone know when the last comic was that used colors? Is this something worth mentioning? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.42|162.158.88.42]] 06:11, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

: I found the category: [[Category:Comics with color]]. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.153|162.158.93.153]] 06:17, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

I added some words regarding the title text. Feel free to expand/clarify/correct as necessary. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.209|172.69.35.209]] 06:57, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

The comic could also be a reference to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum_Algorithm British Museum Algorithm]. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.110|162.158.88.110]] 09:09, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

I second a previous comment, the code *does not* send the list to the museum, only the string representation of the head pointer. So the examiner may be rightully pissed off because both can be true: the candidate is trying to make fun of list algorithms '''and''' he doesn't know how to deal with a list.
(Unsure of what follows: given that the code looks like python, this may also be sarcasm about the style of (not only) python programming that always resorts to some external code module instead of defining new data structures and coding related methods. In this case, the external module is a museum :-) ). [[User:Xkcdmax|Xkcdmax]] ([[User talk:Xkcdmax|talk]])

Those wondering why linked lists are considered obsolete: insertion and deletion performance is rarely the issue these days. It's the cost of enumerating over all elements in the list. Both arrays and linked lists have O(n) complexity there, but arrays have the lower cost. And that's before we get into stuff like caches liking predictable access patterns (pointer chasing is not predictable) and all those pointers costing precious cache memory space.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 09:45, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2236: Is it Christmas?

2019-12-03T09:47:19Z

Henke37:

according Wayback Machine, the site [https://web.archive.org/web/20181225014549/https://isitchristmas.com/ still] [https://web.archive.org/web/20171225032723/https://isitchristmas.com/ says] [https://web.archive.org/web/20161209052757/https://isitchristmas.com/ NO] [https://web.archive.org/web/20151225060146/https://isitchristmas.com/ even] on Christmas. --[[User:Valepert|valepert]] ([[User talk:Valepert|talk]]) 21:56, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

:Hmmm, maybe it will be fixed this year. I imagine everybody spammed the guy on twitter when it didnt work last year. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.155|172.68.132.155]] 22:06, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

:; It checks your system time
:It uses the <code>new Date()</code> constructor to check whether it is Christmas, which uses your system time. Thus, the Wayback won't get anything, but changing your system time will. Kay? [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 22:14, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Okay so looking at isitchristmas.com, there's a comment at the top of the page saying to look at the console, but I don't see anything in there, anyone know what that might be about? Also at the bottom of the html file, the bottommost <script> tag looks like it might contain code for a chat client? I don't know JS so I'm unsure, but I tried changing all the related "false" values to "true" that looked relevant and nothing happened, so idk. Maybe someone else can figure it out. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.155|172.68.132.155]] 22:03, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

:(I'm the dev.) Check back again closer to Christmas, on 12/23 or 12/24. [[User:Konklone|Konklone]] ([[User talk:Konklone|talk]]) 00:55, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

::I mean, I kind of find that suspect. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.234|172.68.47.234]] 01:39, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Well, one way to put it is that the overall probability of a false negative is 0.27%, which doesn't seem too bad, but the conditional probability of a false negative given that it's Christmas is 100%, which is horrid. --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 22:37, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Of course it depends on your definition of "It's Christmas". The figure is right if you just mean Christmas Day and ignore the Julian vs Gregorian issue, but not you subscribe to "the 12 days of Christmas" = Christmas ... Just saying ;-) [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 23:53, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

:Every year, people ask me about including multiple definitions of Christmas, but I think for my own sanity it's going to keep looking just at 12/25. ;) [[User:Konklone|Konklone]] ([[User talk:Konklone|talk]]) 00:57, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

How do we know Randall's version is wrong on Christmas? Has anyone set their system clock to Dec 25 and checked it? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 02:14, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:Have tested; Randall's displayed "no" as per main image. isitchritmas displayed "yes" as per explanation. [[User:RedHillian|RedHillian]] ([[User talk:RedHillian|talk]]) 02:44, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
::It may be Randall uses Server-Time, and not client-time like isitchristmas.com - Also, in the official Calendars, there are two Christmas days, first and second day of Christmas. I think Randall went only for the gifting day, which is different in many countries anyway. My kids get there presents on Christmas eve (24 December), their friends mostly on 6 December (Sint Nicolas) (or the evening before). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.62|141.101.77.62]] 07:45, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:: Based on his 99.73% accuracy comment, I assume the comic is a static image, and will always show "NO", even on Christmas day. I think that is the whole joke, that his comic is correct 364 (+ leap days) of the year, when it is not Christmas. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.158|172.69.34.158]] 08:23, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:::Of course this is a static image, that is the whole point. ;-) In Demark we also have the [https://erdetfredag.dk/ is it Friday] which at least is easier to check if it works, as it changes from No (Nej) to Yes (Ja) once a week. As mentioned above in Denmark the isitchristmas answers in Danish with a Nej. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:34, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

About "when is christmas". Christmas consists of two days, which makes the calculation of predicted correctness too optimistic. (99,45% for 363/365 and for 364/366; 99,38% for 363/365.25)[[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.62|141.101.77.62]] 07:45, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

"In the western world celebrated on 25th" is not correct. For UK,US and Canada and probably a lot others it might be true, german and I think spanish speaking countries not.
:No no. Even when you celebrate Christmas Eve on December 24th (as also in Denmark) we call the 25th Christmas Day. Even if you also celebrate the 2nd Christmas day, there is only one day a year that it is Christmas, and that is the 25th of December. That is when Christians claim Jesus was born. Of course I celebrate the Winter solstice (and accept that I do this a few days off, since that is when I can have the day off.) In Denmark we count the days up till the 24th and celebrate in the evening, (as the Vikings always did, because the new day began the sun set.) We do not look at the 12 days after. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:34, 3 December 2019 (UTC)
:The XKCD page has the additional advantage of being equally accurate whether you follow [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar Western] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodox_liturgical_calendar Eastern Orthodox] calendars, or whatever calendar you choose! --[[User:Quantum7|Quantum7]] ([[User talk:Quantum7|talk]]) 08:39, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Reminds me of [[937: TornadoGuard]] in subject matter.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 09:47, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2220: Imagine Going Back in Time

2019-10-26T15:30:15Z

Henke37:

I wonder if Randall had a particular "frog pokemon" in mind? Croagunk, Toxicroak, Froakie, Frogadier, Greninja...? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.44.150|172.69.44.150]] 19:58, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

:Hint: First, Pokemon Go didn't finished deploying generation 5 pokemons yet. Second, Trump is totally toxic. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:17, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

:The Poliwhirl family dates from Generation 1 and is the "original" frog pokémon. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.36|162.158.122.36]] 23:59, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

"... and I suppose Marla Maples is the first lady!" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.88|172.68.38.88]] 20:04, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

I know that Randall, and by extension Cueball, are not enthusiastic about the idea of dealing with a player who goes by "Reelect Trump 2020", but what does it mean that there is a frog Pokemon in the gym alongside? In other words, is Cueball's annoyance just that there is a Trump-promoting player in the game or is there more to it than that? --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.46|172.69.90.46]] 20:16, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
:Definitely the Trump-promoting, as Toxicroak wouldn't be that hard pokemon to remove, with max CP 2488. Wait, "next to mine"? Ok, so he plays same team as Cueball and Cueball CANT remove it due to that. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:17, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

:The frog Pokemon is likely a reference to Pepe the Frog, which is a meme popular with Trump supporters--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.112|172.68.90.112]] 20:52, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

Trump was quite sufficiently (in)famous by 1999. Remember that he divorced his most famous wife, Ivana, in 1991. His various business and romantic <s>failures</s> ventures were regular tabloid fodder throughout the 90s. If you think a 1999 person would have never heard of Trump, you're obviously <s>too young to be using the internet</s> younger than I am. I think the main joke in this comic is that Cueball goes back expecting his younger self to go, "wait, re-elect WHO??", but his younger self doesn't even bat an eyelash at that part. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.175|173.245.52.175]] 21:03, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
:Famous, yes. Expected to became president, no. And young Cueball might be too young to care about tabloids and celebrities. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:17, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
:Nobody - not even Randall - is suggesting ANYBODY didn't know who Trump was in 1999. He's been quite famous for decades. The surprise here is that he's president, not who he is. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:29, 26 October 2019 (UTC)

Has no one considered that we have been "dumbed down" to the point that so-called adults playing Pokemon and so-called adults voting for Trump are inextricably linked and are symptoms of the same malaise - a general inability to think for ourselves and a deep susceptibility to marketing, advertising and following the herd[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.148|108.162.241.148]] 03:05, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
:Yes, but nobody important. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.98|172.69.34.98]] 03:11, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
:Adults playing Pokemon just means they’re happy doing what makes them happy, why should someone be ashamed of it? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.141|162.158.166.141]] 10:35, 26 October 2019 (UTC)

Just as I remember reading in a 1969 textbook that Ronald Regan was going to someday be elected President if (then current) political trends that became the “southern strategy” weren’t addressed, I also remember reading at least one op-Ed piece in the late 1990’s that if the political parties didn’t clean house and get rid of undue influence from big donors that someday Donald Trump would become President. There were people worried about Trump in 1999.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.129|162.158.62.129]] 04:13, 26 October 2019 (UTC)

I can't help but wonder if the wording of the title text is meant to invoke another shocking reveal when considering what "trendy adults" really are into these days.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 15:30, 26 October 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2120: Brain Hemispheres

2019-03-07T13:09:56Z

Henke37: Optic chiasm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_hemisphere#Hemisphere_lateralization
If the left side controls the top half of the body, wouldn't that mean it also controls the right half? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.248|108.162.241.248]] 20:04, 6 March 2019 (UTC)
: It is uncontroversial that many senses and motoric functions are swapped between the right and left side. The anatomy of the nerve swaps can also be shown. But it is still under discussion, why evolution led to this swap (source: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contralateral_brain Contralateral brain] and the even better organized German version [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kontralateralit%C3%A4t_des_Vorderhirns Kontralateralität des Vorderhirns]) Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.46|172.68.110.46]] 08:41, 7 March 2019 (UTC)

I don't think the sentence "all 3 claims are false" is accurate. I think the claim that the right side of your brain controls the left side of your body is accurate. It says so on the Wikipedia article mentioned and in several other sources. What the Wikipedia article disputes is whether or not "higher-level" functions are partitioned to one side of the brain. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.42.64|172.69.42.64]] 20:29, 6 March 2019 (UTC) Harrison
: With regard to the retina, the right half of the brain processes what the right half of each retina receives, and the left half processes what the left half of each retina receives (see e.g. [https://nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroscience/m/s2/chapter15.html optic nerve]), but because our retina is behind the focal point of our lens so all the lightbeams cross and images hit the back of the eyeball upside-down and backwards, that means the halves of our brain process the opposite halves of what we see. But it's the same side of our body! I stopped learning neuroscience after we got to the optic nerve ;p [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.95|108.162.221.95]] 21:48, 6 March 2019 (UTC)
: You must've stopped in the middle of the lesson, because the optic nerves split so that both brain halves get a copy of each eye. Your own link points it out in the figure as the "Optic chiasm".--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 13:09, 7 March 2019 (UTC)

:I think the "right side of your brain controls the left side of your body" is NOT accurate, it's just closer to truth than the reverse. Some parts of perception and motor control are divided that way, but unless you have corpus callosotomy the high-level control is centralized and/or distributed regardless the side. Would be hard to synchronize both hands if not. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:05, 7 March 2019 (UTC)

Having survived an ischemic stroke on the left side of my brain, which temporarily paralyzed the right side of my body, this comic speaks to me like none other.

2002: LeBron James and Stephen Curry

2018-06-04T10:54:38Z

Henke37: Enough transcription for me

{{comic
| number = 2002
| date = June 4, 2018
| title = LeBron James and Stephen Curry
| image = lebron_james_and_stephen_curry.png
| titletext = The 538TR attempts to capture a player's combined skill at basketball (either real-life or NBA 2K18) and election forecasting.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Basketball - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

At first glance, the comic looks like an in-depth analysis of two NBA star players, LeBron James and Stephen Curry. The joke is that while comprehensive, all the statistics are completely meaningless - many don't show any correlation, and if there is one, it's extremely unlikely there is any causal link in there.

The shot map shows from what position Curry's shots were scored compared to other NBA players. It shows that he scored several times from outside the playing field, including twice from the bleachers (which isn't a legal play), and once from the locker room (which is physically impossible due to multiple walls in between).

The note about the alignment with Magnetic North is likely a reference to Foxes. Artic and Red Foxes both have a ditinctive hunting method, called 'mousing', involving tracking prey that is hiding under the snow, then leaping into the air and diving into the snow head-first, to try to catch the prey. A study found that they are more likely (to a statistically significant degree) to catch their prey when mousing, when they start facing approximately 20 degrees east of Magnetic North. (link: [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/01/11/foxes-use-the-earths-magnetic-field-as-a-targeting-system/])

Nate Silver is a political commentator and founder of FiveThirtyEight website, famous for getting everything right in 2012 US presidential elections, and getting everything wrong in 2016.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[The comic consists of several plots and tables, listed here in western reading order]

=== Scatter plot of Social Security Number vs Free throw percentage ===
No pattern discrenable, aside from points being a bit denser in the middle of the plot. Steven Curry is marked as a point on the right edge of the plot.

=== Scatter plot of 2018 points per game vs Average teammate APGAR score ===
Pattern suggests a somewhat positive link between the two factors. Lebon James is marked as having a lot of points, but low teammate score.

=== Shot map ===
A map of a basketball field is shown with dots placed where players have taken shots at the goal. Steven Curry has dots in a separate color. For the all players category the dots generally cluster next to the goal basket and in front of the three point line. Steven has no dots next to the basket, but does cluster next to the three point line. He also has several dots off the side of the playing field, including three in the bleachers and one in the locker room.

=== Sandwiches eaten vs Win % ===
A plot that suggests no relation between the factors because practically all dots are in the zero sandwiches column. 2018 Wariors have one dot marked as a high win % and 4 sandwiches.

=== 2018 total points ===
A table listing teams and their total scores with an extra column labeled "When net is within 15° of magnetic north". The row for the Cleveland Cavaliers is highlighted and shows an abnormally high score in the magnetic north column.

{{comic discussion}}

2002: LeBron James and Stephen Curry

2018-06-04T10:45:24Z

Henke37: Initial stab at describing the plots

Talk:1989: IMHO

2018-05-05T11:06:06Z

Henke37:

I mean, the dress is b&w if you have one of the forms of colorblindness. Although, what colors ''is'' it? [[User:SilverMagpie|SilverMagpie]] ([[User talk:SilverMagpie|talk]]) 16:33, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
: The gold/black part is 61522F hex and the white/blue part is 8190B2 hex. [[User:Grabadora304|Grabadora304]] ([[User talk:Grabadora304|talk]]) 16:55, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
::So that explains the colors represented by the photo; what about the colors of the dress itself? I'd guess black & gold, based purely upon the discussions I've heard. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:52, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:::The dress was blue with black lace. And I've added the fact that Randall had made a comic because of the dress ([[1492: Dress Color]]). [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 01:04, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
Currently adding transcript. [[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:38, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:Did top row. Feel free to format it differently. [[User:SilverMagpie|SilverMagpie]] ([[User talk:SilverMagpie|talk]]) 16:42, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
::''Screams in edit conflicts.'' [[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:53, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:::Okay, I've normalized the formatting to what seems to be the standard: uniform indent with ":".[[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:57, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:::: What about using tabs? ;D
::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:52, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

AFAIK In normal (British) usage the phrase is "In my humble opinion" and I have heard it said, when someone prefaces their contribution with IMHO it is rarely humble but is definitely an opinion. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 16:47, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

No lie, I had a manager who used to refer to the database language as Squeal. As in a high-pitched animal sound. We had an in-house database tool called PiggySQL. [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 17:26, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:I've always preferred that pronunciation too. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:53, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

Dammit. Now my brain will always translate "OMG" to "oh, my genitals".[[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.167|172.68.58.167]] 17:45, 4 May 2018 (UTC)Pat

The single space convention became the standard [[wiki:History_of_sentence_spacing#Movement_to_single_sentence_spacing|waaay before HTML]]. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 18:13, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:Standard, but less readable. For printed documents (especially stories with a lot of lengthy paragraphs) I'd still strongly recommend using double spaces because it's easier for the reader to discern sentence breaks. Incidentally, I had points deducted from English papers lacking that extra space as late as 1998.
:(By the way, that link you gave is broken:
:"Trouble Encountered ~ can't fetch document")
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:10, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:: If you print documents with monospace font, using just single space is NOT the main reason it's hard to read. You should use proportional font and tool actually designed to handle printing, which include having better option than using two spaces. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:25, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

Tabs vs Spaces might also be a reference to the programmer's war on how to indent code correctly. [[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 19:25, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:Agreed. I prefer " " (U+2003, A.K.A. &emsp;)
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:10, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:: Did you ever manage to RUN some of those programs? :) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:25, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
Maybe I'm reading too much in this, but there is a popular product called "cramp tabs" for use during and right after a period [[User:Sysin|Sysin]] ([[User talk:Sysin|talk]])

I hate to be that guy, but I pronounce Giantess and Gift the same way.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 11:06, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

1966: Smart Home Security

2018-03-16T23:07:06Z

Henke37: vulnerabilities are not exploits

{{comic
| number = 1966
| date = March 12, 2018
| title = Smart Home Security
| image = smart_home_security.png
| titletext = If they're getting valuable enough stuff from you, at least the organized crime folks have an incentive to issue regular updates to keep the appliance working after the manufacturer discontinues support.
}}

==Explanation==

With the proliferation of smart appliances in recent years, there is a growing trend of hackers taking over smart "Internet of Things" devices and adding them to {{w|botnets}}. The hardware is then used for DDOS attacks, crypto mining etc. The "Mirai" botnet made of over 500,000 compromised routers, refrigerators, TVs, DVRs, baby monitors, thermostats, and webcams was used in October 2016 to take down DynDNS, one of the core infrastructure providers for the internet in North America.

With the constant potential threat, security updates must be constantly published, and vulnerabilities must be found by the original developers and "white hat" hackers (The faceless team of engineers [[Randall]] describes), before they could be found (and get used) by "black hat" hackers. At any time, these people could quit, leaving devices defenseless.

The graph shows the various cases of how well things go on the y axis, compared to how long it has been owned on the x axis. The probability of compromise briefly dips (indicative of first rounds of security fix updates & the time window when you can easily exchange the product if you find out it's faulty) within the 1st year, then rises: The older a device/software is, the less likely it is to consistently receive security updates for protection, so they are more likely to be hacked, even in the best case. After 10 years, the device/software, is most likely outdated and is not being used anymore. Companies then no longer find it profitable to continually update the product. Thus, they pull the support out, even if people are still using the device, leaving customers vulnerable.

The title text suggests that there may be some silver lining to having your device controlled by organized crime professionals: These criminals have a vested interest in keeping your device working well enough that you keep it plugged in. So the more organized & pragmatic attackers will in fact secure it against competing attackers, especially those of a more prankster mindset, who'd cause more noticeably malicious changes. Advanced malware in the wild does frequently block & evict competing malware, so he's probably right. Some IOT malware may thus provide 'regular security update service' after the manufacturers give up - some at a conceivably acceptable cost of a few cents electrical usage for a crypto miner for instance. However, it could very easily go horribly wrong - for instance if that miner is hiding by letting a refrigerator run 2°C higher than its outputs allege, & using the energy difference to max out the processor on mining operations

==Transcript==
:[A graph is shown inside a frame. There is one dotted line going from the middle of the left edge, then dipping slightly before rising slowly at first, then more rapid and finally slowing its ascend down as it nears the top right corner.]

:[Above the frame is the title of the x-axis, and from each end of this text, there is a small line going out and then down, to indicate a time range, which is shown below with four times:]
:How long you've had your smart appliance
:6 months     1 year     5 years     10 years

:[Along the left part of the frame there runs a double arrow and at the top and bottom of these arrows there are legends at the top and bottom of the panels height:]
:Best-case
:Worst-case

:[Inside the panel there is text above the dotted line to the left, and below the dotted line to the right:]
:You're constantly being rescued from peril by a faceless team of engineers who could wander away at any time

:Your appliance is part of a botnet run by organized crime

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Virtual Assistants]]

1953: The History of Unicode

2018-02-10T01:27:52Z

Henke37: filling out some implied stuff

{{comic
| number = 1953
| date = February 9, 2018
| title = The History of Unicode
| image = the_history_of_unicode.png
| titletext = 2048: "Great news for Maine—we're once again an independent state!!! Thanks, @unicode, for ruling in our favor and sending troops to end New Hampshire's annexation. 🙏🚁🎖️"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by XEROX - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

An {{w|character encoding|encoding of a character set}} is a mapping from characters to numbers. For example, the letter "A" might be represented by the value 65.
{{w|Unicode}} was planned as a way of representing the various characters used in the world's languages in a single encoding. Prior to Unicode, each script had its own character set. Different characters would be represented by the same value. Some languages, such as Japanese, had several inconsistent character encodings, so before people could send text, they would have to have agreed which character set to use. Unicode attempts to solve this by providing for a single character encoding for all the worlds languages. Unicode is run by {{w|Unicode Consortium|a consortium}} of major technology companies and stakeholders.

The founders of Unicode include {{w|Joe Becker (Unicode)|Joe Becker}}, who worked for Xerox in the 1980s. He wears a beard and may be the character featured in the first and third panels.

New characters have continued to be added, and recently many "{{w|emoji}}" (picture characters) have been added to Unicode. One recently added emoji is the "[https://emojipedia.org/lobster/ Lobster emoji]". It was approved as part of Unicode 11, for release in 2018.

This is supposedly important for the US State of {{w|Maine}}, which has a large {{w|lobster}} fishing industry. The second panel quotes [https://twitter.com/SenAngusKing/status/961331752718557184 an actual tweet] by a Senator from Maine, {{w|Angus King}}. The tweet is signed using [https://emojipedia.org/cow-face/ 🐮 cow face emoji] (an angus is a bovine) and [https://emojipedia.org/crown/ 👑 Crown emoji], which stands for "king".

The central role of Unicode in setting standards for emoji was not foreseen by the consortium's founders. The disconnect between the usual boring tasks and emoji has been a source of amusement for many.

The title text imagines that Unicode will gain other unexpected roles in the next 30 years. In particular it acts as an international armed force, capable of intervening in military disputes, such as an annexation of Maine by its neighbour, New Hampshire. The title text ends with three Unicode emoji, "🙏" code point 1F64F "PERSON WITH FOLDED HANDS", "🚁" code point 1F681 "HELICOPTER", and "🎖" code point 1F396 "MILITARY MEDAL", suggesting that they are thanking them for their effort in the war.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[1988:]
:[A bearded man holds a document labeled "Unicode".]
:Bearded man: My "Unicode" standard should help reduce problems caused by incompatible binary text encodings.

:[2018:]
:[A tweet from Twitter is shown. To the left of Senator Angus King's name is his avatar (a face with a mustache) and to the right is the blue checkmark used by Twitter to signify a verified user.]
:Senator Angus King‏
:@SenAngusKing
:Great news for Maine - we're getting a lobster emoji!!! Thanks to @unicode for recognizing the impact of this critical crustacean, in Maine and across the country.
:Yours truly,
:Senator 🐮👑
:2/7/18 3:12 PM

[Cueball and the bearded man are looking at a wall with the Unicode standard, labeled "1988", and Senator King's tweet, labeled "2018", posted on it.]
:Cueball: Wait, what happened in those thirty years?
:Bearded man: ''Things got a little weird, okay?''

[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Emoji]]
[[Category:Unicode]]

==Trivia==
*Initial version of the comic had "1998" in panel 3 instead of "1988" as shown in panel 1. This was fixed later.

*Ironically, [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1953:_The_History_of_Unicode&oldid=152168 the first version of this article] (automatically generated by a bot) had problems with emoji encoding.

*The scenario in the title text isn't ''quite'' as far-fetched as it sounds. Maine and New Hampshire were for many years involved in border disputes, primarily over [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_v._Maine fishing rights] and whether [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seavey%27s_Island Seavey Island,] located in the middle of the river that forms the border of the two states, was part of Maine or New Hampshire. The latter issue [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piscataqua_River_border_dispute was not settled until 2002]. Neither dispute ever quite rose to the level of a full-on shooting war but [http://nhpr.org/post/legacy-nh-maine-lobster-war-and-why-it-may-wage#stream/0 they got surprisingly close].

{{comic discussion}}

1895: Worrying Scientist Interviews

2017-09-27T15:32:17Z

Henke37: Start of an explanation

{{comic
| number = 1895
| date = September 27, 2017
| title = Worrying Scientist Interviews
| image = worrying_scientist_interviews.png
| titletext = They always try to explain that they're called 'solar physicists', but the reporters interrupt with "NEVER MIND THAT, TELL US WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE SUN!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{|
|-
! Intreviewee !! Worry level !! Explanation
|-
| Archeologist || Minimum || Likely just dug up some old fossils
|-
| Economist || Very low
|-
| Nutritionist || Very low
|-
| Criminologist || Low || Probably just crime statistics
|-
| Ornithologist || Medium || Possible strange flying dinosaur behavior
|-
| Botanist || Medium
|-
| Marine Biologist || Medium
|-
| Entomologist || Medium high
|-
| Astronomer || High
|-
| Virologist || Very high || Some disease is likely spreading
|-
| Vulcanologist || Very high || The local volcano is most likely going to erupt soon.
|-
| Astronomer who studies the sun || Maximum
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

How worried you should be if you see local reporters interviewing scientists about a breaking news story, by field:

[Chart showing "More worried" with an arrow to the right with these marks in progressively more worrying sequence.]
Archeologist 
Economist 
Nutritionist 
Criminologist 
Ornithologist 
Botanist 
Marine Biologist 
Entomologist 
Astronomer 
Virologist 
Vulcanologist 
Astronomer who studies the sun

Tag:They always try to explain that they're called 'solar physicists', but the reporters interrupt with "NEVER MIND THAT, TELL US WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE SUN!"

{{comic discussion}}

1883: Supervillain Plan

2017-09-22T22:36:20Z

Henke37: i duno, bad dates less bad than moving a county?

{{comic
| number = 1883
| date = August 30, 2017
| title = Supervillain Plan
| image = supervillain_plan.png
| titletext = Someday, some big historical event will happen during the DST changeover, and all the tick-tock articles chronicling how it unfolded will have to include a really annoying explanation next to their timelines.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Black Hat]] is a {{w|supervillain}}, befitting his {{w|Black hat|character}}. He plans to use {{w|Unmanned aerial vehicle|drones}} and explosives to move the entire State of California into the Pacific, a la {{w|Lex Luthor}} in the 1978 ''{{w|Superman (1978 film)|Superman}}'' movie.

His {{w|Henchman|henchmen}} are [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]]. The latter appears to be a programmer who is concerned that the mission (and hence the drones' coding) may have to account for time/date adjustments, such as {{w|time zone}}s and {{w|daylight saving time}} (DST), which would be a factor if the event took place on the wrong date or the landmasses were pushed too far apart. (Though by coding the drones on UTC, the drones would not need to change time zones, except for displaying the local time for some reason, which would likely be unneeded.)

In computer programming, working with dates and times can be complicated. Think about {{w|Leap year|leap years}} or {{w|Leap second|leap seconds}}, the non existing {{w|Year zero|year zero}} which even worse for scientists does exist in {{w|Astronomical year numbering|astronomical calendars}}, or the {{w|Year 2000 problem|Y2K}} and {{w|Year 2038 problem|year 2038}} problem. Nevertheless in this comic there is only a ''time zone problem'' mentioned. To handle this the {{w|tz database}}, also known as ''tzdata'', provides all relevant information for every country back to 1970 and, less accurate, before. But it's still up to the programmer to use this data in useful ways.

Supervillains have reason to fear daylight saving time issues. In 1999, two coordinated car bombings ended up killing the terrorists transporting the bombs when they exploded one hour early. Details explained e.g. on the [http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1999-38.html Darwin Awards] site.

Time zones and DST can give seemingly nonsensical results when used improperly. For example, a flight going west might leave at 02:00pm and reach its destination at 03:00pm while the reverse flight will leave at 02:00pm and arrive at 05:00pm. In both cases, the travel time is two hours, but the one hour difference between the two time zones makes it seem otherwise. You might even find yourself arriving at your destination at an earlier time than your departure! DST can also makes a given time mean two different things, if after 01:59am you go back to 01:00 am, 01:30am can either be one hour after 00:30am, or one hour before 02:30am. Or in the reverse change, some dates don't actually exist, like 02:30 when going straight from 01:59 to 03:00. Humans often avoid this issue by being in only one place at the same time{{Citation needed}}, or by sleeping when the DST changes happen, but computer communications often span over large distances, and drones don't need to sleep at night. Megan wants to make sure she won't have to deal with the difficult problem of communication between drones and other systems with those issues, where a single poorly communicated date can have disastrous effects (although possibly far less disastrous than moving California into the sea{{Citation needed}}).

California is currently located entirely within the {{w|UTC−08:00|UTC-8}} time zone (at standard time {{w|Pacific Time Zone|PST}}, while in summer PDT is at {{w|UTC−07:00|UTC-7}}). But after Black Hat's actions California is at risk of floating West into the next time zone at {{w|UTC−09:00|UTC-9}}.

However, in reality, time zones in the United States are determined by [https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=6a1a124065df269aff9faa2340478852&node=pt49.1.71&rgn=div5#se49.1.71_12 Department of Transportation regulations], and California's time zone is not defined based on its longitude. Consequently, even if California were pushed out to sea, its time zone would remain the same unless the Department of Transportation issued a regulation otherwise, so Megan can rest easy. (On the other hand, Black Hat could alter the time zone of any of the East Coast states except Maine if his drones could push the state east of 67°30″ W. longitude, since the Eastern Time Zone's eastern boundary is mostly based on longitude, except for Maine.)

Note: Megan should be happy Black Hat hasn't planned [https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2012-11-12/daylight-saving-donut-arizona-ken-jennings-maphead to involve Arizona in his scheme].

A [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tick_tock "tick tock article"] is a term in journalism for a step by step account of an event or timeline, such as [https://web.archive.org/web/20111001222353/http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7033428/breakdown-wednesday-games this one recounting the end of the 2011 MLB regular season]. Such an article published for an event during the change to or from Daylight Saving Time would need to account for the changeover, making the timeline confusing for those unaware of the switch.

==Transcript==
:[On the left of this single panel comic Black Hat sits on a high throne, showing a fist, and looking down to Cueball and Magan who stand in front of him on the right.]

:Black Hat: ... then, after our drones take control of the cities, we will detonate the devices. California will break off from the mainland and drift out to sea!
:Megan: How far out to sea? Will it put any of the cities in the UTC-9 time zone?
:Black Hat: What? I don't know.
:Megan: One request: Can we make sure this doesn't happen during the daylight saving changeover?

:[Caption below the panel:]
:You can tell when someone's been a programmer for a while because they develop a deep-seated fear of time zone problems.

==Trivia==
*Different time zones often confuse people. When [[xkcd]] comics are released on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday early as possible at 00:00 according to [[Randall]]'s home at Eastern Time (EST/EDT) it is still the day before in the most regions of the United States further to the west. In California (PST/PDT) that would be 21:00 in the evening before. Nevertheless most comics are released later when the entire US is at the same day. This particular comic was released at 13:00 UTC, which was 09:00 EDT or 06:00 PDT.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Drones]]
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]
[[Category:Programming]]

Talk:1888: Still in Use

2017-09-11T17:08:54Z

Henke37:

Just for all writers: The {{w|Garbage collection (computer science)|Garbage collection}} prominently belongs to {{w|Java (programming language)|Java}}. Microsoft had adopted this only in C# and it's NOT used in file systems.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:47, 11 September 2017 (UTC)
Note: Java adopted garbage collection over 30 years after it had been used in Lisp. I would question the use of 'prominently belongs'. Any user of Gnu Emacs will be aware of what happens when garbage collection hits unexpectedly... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.112|141.101.98.112]] 16:13, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

Seams like a pretty clear reference to not being able to empty the computers Trash because files are in use. Normally files in the Trash can't be opened, and files can't be moved to the Trash if opened but weird things can happen. The real rub here is that the computer does know '''exactly''' what process has each file open and is intentionally designed and told not to tell you the user the remedy that it already knows nor to show an option to remedy the problem itself leaving you in the lurch. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.58|172.68.206.58]] 15:37, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

It could be that another user is the one that used the paper towel last. I was actually running into an issue where I couldn't delete a file from a network share that I had used last. The dialog would tell me what program was still using it (Source Tree, which had unceremoniously crashed and didn't close out properly) but my coworker simply got the "Is in use by another program" message. [[User:Bpendragon|Bpendragon]] ([[User talk:Bpendragon|talk]]) 15:43, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

I've also come across the issue where the process using the file is the file manager utility itself; I opened the trash to see what was in there, it started trying to make preview images of all the items, and of course when you close the window it doesn't release whatever filehandle it was currently trying to make a preview for. -- [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 16:12, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

You could always power the house down and restart it! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.28|162.158.78.28]] 16:37, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

Part of the joke is how unhelpful windows tend(ed/s) to be in helping you identify the application that is still hanging onto the file.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 17:08, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

1884: Ringer Volume/Media Volume

2017-09-01T18:01:58Z

Henke37: it was added in XP. previous versions had nearly useless mixers based on the type according to the low level hardware

{{comic
| number = 1884
| date = September 1, 2017
| title = Ringer Volume/Media Volume
| image = ringer_volume_media_volume.png
| titletext = Our new video ad campaign has our product's name shouted in the first 500 milliseconds, so we can reach the people in adjacent rooms while the viewer is still turning down the volume.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The {{w|Smartphone|smartphones}}, as of the time of publication of the comic, tend to have multiple system-level sound volume settings, such as, for example, phone call alarm volume, timed alarm volume, phone communication volume, and media volume, the last covering video, music, games and such. For comparison, personal computers running under recent versions of Windows operating system and such tend to expose the user to a master sound volume control by default, which affects all the sounds emitted by system. Applications that emit sound (other than basic interface sounds, such as clicking) tend to implement a separate volume control themselves.

In addition, smartphones tend to have dedicated hardware buttons for sound volume control, however these are usually limited to two buttons that naturally map to rising and lowering sound volume, however they don't naturally map to selection of which volume control user wants to adjust. Smartphone operating systems tend to resolve to adjust the volume level of currently emitted sound type, with some default in case of sound not playing, typically the phone call alarm (ringer). Adjusting arbitrary volume control is usually possible using system settings app controlled by touch screen, which can take more time than pressing dedicated buttons, and/or stop currently used program, depending on the smartphone in question.

The comic demonstrates, using a time axis, a typical annoyance generated by this kind of setup. User wants to play a video clip but expects its sound volume, or sound volume or a preceding advertisement, to be louder than optimal, so they start to preemptively press button responsible for lowering sound volume. However, since video clip just started loading while user preemptively pressed the button, this leads to adjustment of phone alarm volume instead of media volume, which is not what was intended at all. User proceeds to raise the ringer volume and waits until the information box about ringer volume being adjusted disappears from screen, then tries again. This doesn't work again, since video is still loading, and apparently needs to start emitting sound before possibility of adjusting that sound with volume buttons arises, and this is exactly what happens after another ringer volume readjusting - the video starts uncomfortably loudly, upon which user finally manages to adjust media volume down.

Despite most applications implementing separate sound controls, Windows has also been able to adjust volume on per-program basis using a single on-screen control since at least Windows XP. You can access this feature on the most recent (as of 2017) version of Windows 10 by right-clicking the speaker icon on the tray, and selecting the "Volume Mixer" option.

The title text presents a method of exploiting the phenomenon presented in the main comic by putting important parts of an advertisement very early in the video clip in loud audio form. Since user may have problems with adjusting video sound volume before it starts playing, this will result in the important part of ad (here, product name) emitted very loudly, to the levels of narrator of title text expecting it to reach other rooms than one the smartphone is in.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

1882: Color Models

2017-08-28T19:06:27Z

Henke37: the additive and subtractive were switched around

{{comic
| number = 1882
| date = August 28, 2017
| title = Color Models
| image = color_models.png
| titletext = What if what *I* see as blue, *you* see as a slightly different blue because you're using Chrome instead of Firefox and despite a decade of messing with profiles we STILL can't get this right somehow.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Randall is describing how his level of understanding of colors has changed by age. The chart starts with two tracks of understanding color.

In grade school he learned about the primary colors, and the very simple model of colors, as shown in the left track. Mixing of color solids, as in painting (or finger painting being probably the earliest exposure to color mixing), is intuitive for a child. The process is subtractive, and the more colors you mix the darker and closer to black you get. Color is seen by the eyes when light bounces off the solid colors and becomes light of different wavelengths that the eye can then see. However at this level, things just "look" like different colors without understanding light's role.

The right track is mixing of color light, as in prisms and light waves, where mixing colors is additive and the more you mix the lighter and closer to white you get. But this is without a real understanding of light bouncing off surfaces, and is limited to an understanding of different colors of light and how they mix. The first exposure in grade school is usually by shining white light through a prism to separate it into the different visible colors.

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opponent_process opponent color model] connects these two models, by explaining how different wavelengths of light are absorbed by different rods and cones in the eyes.

The "complex multidimensional gamut" mentions two more models: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIE_1931_color_space CIE 1931] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lab_color_space L*a*b*]. These are more detailed models based on the opponent color model, which precisely define how a particular color maps to the different channels that our eyes see.

However, understanding how the eye sees color ''still'' isn't enough, because not every device can display all the colors your eye can see. Your laptop might have a different [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamut color gamut] than your phone, and if you printed the page out, you might see yet another color. To handle this issue, web browsers use "color profiles", so that an image can be tagged with the color space it uses and the browser can handle it appropriately. Unfortunately, browsers do this inconsistently and not very well. The title text expands on this joke, implying that the reason for the "unknowable" answer above is that everyone's browser shows colors slightly differently.

The "hyperdimensional four-sided quantum Klein manifold" is probably a joke. A "Klein manifold" is a Klein bottle. Randall is here projecting a "abstract multidimensional gamut" onto an even more complicated surface, presumably in order to eliminate the errors in color rendering caused by previous attempts to eliminate the errors in color rendering. This seems to actually be "a thing" in that you could do it, but not a "thing" in that nobody has done it.

Eventually it appears Randall has given up, hoping he won't have to deal with the difficulty in describing and understanding the concept of colors.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Needs arrows like a flowchart}}

:Evolution of my understanding of color over time:

:Grade school
:|
:| "Color" is...
:| ...three primary colors mixed together
:| ...a rainbow, and each color is a wavelength
:| ...unknowable ("maybe what ''I'' see as blue, ''you'' see as...")
:| ...three-ish primary colors mixed together (RGB/RYB/CMYK)
:| ...a mix of infinite wavelengths filtered through three eye pigments
:| [something about the opponent color model]
:| ...an abstract multidimensional gamut (CIE 1931, L*a*b*, etc)
:| ...an abstract multidimensional gamut filtered through inconsistently-implemented device color profiles
:| ...a hyperdimensional four-sided quantum Klein manifold? Is that a thing?
:| ...hopefully somebody else's problem.
:|
:Now

{{comic discussion}}

1854: Refresh Types

2017-06-26T18:31:20Z

Henke37: clean up the http cache semantics text to be factual

{{comic
| number = 1854
| date = June 23, 2017
| title = Refresh Types
| image = refresh_types.png
| titletext = The hardest refresh requires both a Mac keyboard and a Windows keyboard as a security measure, like how missile launch systems require two keys to be turned at once.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Randall]] presents five different levels of refresh operations for web applications. The first three (''soft refresh'', ''normal refresh'', and ''hard refresh'') are common operations to keep the content in the browser retrieved from the server up to date. The other two (''harder refresh'' and ''hardest refresh'') are fictional operations to perform ''refresh'' operations on remote resources. The terms are probably adopted from {{w|Reboot (computing)|soft}} and {{w|Hardware reset|hard reset}} operations used to restart broken computers or e.g. smartphones.

=== Soft refresh ===
''Soft refresh'' refers to an operation in a web page that requests new information without reloading the entire page. The given example, {{w|Gmail}}, includes a feature that allows users to poll new emails and show it in the inbox interface. It is a command using {{w|JavaScript}} and {{w|Ajax (programming)|Ajax}} to load new contents from the server in the background and only update necessary components of the page. Since modern web applications do this also automatically in short time intervals those buttons are mostly unnecessary. In Gmail a user will see a new message instantly.

=== Normal refresh ===
The ''normal refresh'' is a browser operation that reloads the complete web page, text and other content that has changed since the original load will be updated. The operation can be triggered by refresh buttons in browsers, though it also can be requested using the common keyboard commands as listed by Randall. Many pages -- like the main page at xkcd.com -- don't have a refresh button. If the page has been opened before a new comic release, pressing F5 afterwards causes reload and the new comic is shown.

=== Hard refresh ===
What Randall calls ''hard refresh'' is a less common browser operation forcing the browser to re-download every part of the webpage, ignoring any cached content. Caching is a common way of decreasing webpage load times. Browsers save resources such as images or {{w|Cascading Style Sheets|CSS stylesheets}} on the first visit on a webpage and use the local copy on subsequent visits. It allows them to decrease amount of transfer needed to show the webpage, but can prevent showing changes made to the resources (for example a web developer changing the stylesheet). In those cases the ''hard refresh'' ensures that each part of the website is downloaded in its newest form.

If there is a {{w|Proxy server|Web-Proxy}} or a Cloud-Cache (like used for this wiki) in between the browser and the Web-Server this type of refreshing may not work. In this case, unless a purge link is available, the user has to wait until the cache entry is expired and a new request to the web server is done. A Web-developer may try to avoid this behavior by including special headers in the HTTP reply to control caching, but not all proxies or clouds follow these instructions.

=== Harder refresh ===
''Harder refresh'' is a joke that extends the existing naming scheme. The joke is that if a ''hard refresh'' resets the browser display and cache, a ''harder refresh'' should reset the source of the data by cycling power in the data center. Assuming no damage was done, this would reset the memory on the server, erasing any information that had not been written to disk, and setting the server to the state it was in at launch. This would cause considerable downtime, and would be unlikely to help the user at all.

In {{w|Orchestration (computing)|orchestrated}} environment it may indirectly cause some virtual machines in the {{w|Cloud computing|cloud}} to be rebooted and assigned to an other web server needing more workload. But a growing workload is caused by hundreds or thousands additional requests and not just a single key combination from one browser. And rebooting an actual physical server using a common web page is not possible, unless there is a software or operating system bug that will cause exactly this. Nevertheless there are administrative web tools allowing to perform a reboot (physical or virtual server) just by clicking a single button.

The ''harder refresh'' uses six keys, including the non-standard '[https://askubuntu.com/questions/19558/what-are-the-meta-super-and-hyper-keys HYPER]' key, a feature of the {{w|Space cadet keyboard}}.

=== Hardest refresh ===
The fifth option, ''hardest refresh'', moves beyond resetting the source of the data and resets the entire internet back to {{w|ARPANET}}, an early military network which was a forerunner to the modern internet. The implications of this are not made clear, but it should be noted that it wouldn't help to fix any problems a user is experiencing in-browser, as {{w|HTTP}}, the protocol by which web pages are sent, was not developed until late 1990, the year ARPANET was decommissioned.

The ''hardest refresh'' shortcut uses fifteen keys, including non-standard ones such as Ø and ⏏. (The former is a key found on Norwegian and Danish keyboards, the latter is the "eject" key found on Mac keyboards and some laptops.) The shortcut makes amusing comparisons about a shortcut that includes not only the F5 function key, but also the keys for the letter "F" and the digit "5", as well as the similarity in appearance between O, 0, and Ø.

The title text suggests that the inclusion of both the {{w|Windows key}} and {{w|Command key}} in the ''hardest refresh'' shortcut is a security measure akin to the {{w|Two-man rule}}, as it would require two keyboards to enter. Normally this would not work in practice as the modifier keys are handled per keyboard and not combined across keyboards for most operating systems allowing more than one keyboard.

==Transcript==
:[A table with three columns is shown. The header is:]
:Refresh Type; Example Shortcuts; Effect

:[First row:]
:Soft Refresh
:[The word refresh has a border to mimic a button:]
:Gmail REFRESH Button
:Requests update within JavaScript

:[Second row:]
:Normal Refresh
:[Two PC shortcuts and the Apple command key followed by an R:]
:F5, CTRL-R, ⌘R
:Refreshes page

:[Third row:]
:Hard Refresh
:[One PC shortcut, the combination Control plus Shift, and the Apple command key followed by Shift and R:]
:CTRL-F5, CTRL-⇧, ⌘⇧R
:Refreshes page including cached files

:[Fourth row:]
:Harder Refresh
:[One single combination using Control plus Shift plus Hyper plus Escape plus R plus F5:]
:CTRL-⇧-HYPER-ESC-R-F5
:Remotely cycles power to datacenter

:[Fifth row:]
:Hardest Refresh
:[One single combination using Control plus the Apple command key plus the Windows key plus Shift plus the hash key plus R plus F5 plus F plus 5 plus Escape plus the letter O plus a slashed zero plus a slashed letter O plus an eject sign plus Scroll Lock:]
:CTRL-⌘⊞⇧#-R-F5-F-5-ESC-O-0-Ø-⏏-SCROLL LOCK
:Internet starts over from ARPANET

==Trivia==

* One of the shortcuts listed for Hard Refresh, “CTRL-⇧”, is incorrect – it should be “CTRL-⇧-R”.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Internet]]

Talk:1813: Vomiting Emoji

2017-03-21T10:03:41Z

Henke37:

Did anyone else think of the Akatsuki member Deidara from Naruto when they saw the vomiting hand emoji? [[User:GoonPontoon|GoonPontoon]] ([[User talk:GoonPontoon|talk]]) 17:52, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

The "Vomit Comet" was not a rocket, it was the name of NASA's KC-135 aircraft which simulated weightlessness on parable flights. Given that rockets must be airtight, it is a bit strange that you could vomit out of a rocket.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.82|162.158.150.82]] 22:19, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

I wish Randall used a vomiting face vomiting (using the vomiting modifier) or a unicorn puking rainbows (U+1F984 U+1F93F U+1F308 🦄🤢🌈). --[http://windowsfreak.de/ Björn Eberhardt] 08:01, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

For those thinking of making a real proposal, it's not actually needed. You can combine any characters with the special combining character. Originally intended for languages such as arabic, it works with emoji too.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 10:03, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

1742: Will It Work

2016-10-05T09:38:36Z

Henke37: Geocities

{{comic
| number = 1742
| date = October 5, 2016
| title = Will It Work
| image = will_it_work.png
| titletext = 'Copy and paste from a random thread on a website' is the hardest to predict, and depends on the specific website, programming language, tone of the description, and current phase of the moon.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Should include a description of each source mentioned in the comic, and why it is in the order it is. Does anyone have an example of a paper with code in an appendix?}}

This comic humorously lists how likely computer code is to function on the user's computer based on the source of the code.

'''App store or package manager:''' Most likely referring to the Mac or iOS App Store or package managers such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Packaging_Tool apt]. Programs in the App Store are already compiled from raw code into executable files that have been tested on a Mac computer or iOS device, and so should be expected to run with no effort from the user. Similarly, a package manager for a Linux OS handles downloading and installing the program requested, as well as installing any dependencies (other programs or libraries needed by the desired program) automatically.

'''GitHub Link:''' [https://github.com/ GitHub] is a website where people can host [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git Git] repositories of code that they are working on. Since Git is built to track changes in code for an entire project, it is likely that all of the code needed to run the project is included in the download. One reason it may be less reliable that the previous entry is that it may not include external libraries expected to already be on the user's computer.

'''Sourceforge Link:'''

'''Geocities/Tripod Link:''' Geocities is a now defunct free website host. The fact that the software comes from there means that nobody has paid attention to the project since Geocities shut down. Which could mean that code rot has begun to take effect, with various dependencies being less and less likely to work over time.

'''Copy-and-paste example from paper's appendix:'''

'''Anything that "requires only minimal configuration and tweaking":''' Usually means that the code was tested and works with minimal configuration and tweaking on the system it was developed on but the
experience might vary wildly for anybody else trying to get it to work. It's also often used by technically advanced people who are not aware how difficult even minimal configuration and tweaking can be
for beginners.

The title text refers to websites such as [http://stackoverflow.com/ StackOverflow] that allow users to post questions about their code and other users answer. Websites like StackOverflow usually generate [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6827834/how-to-filter-a-dict-to-contain-only-keys-in-a-given-list?noredirect=1&lq=1 useful answers] but the quality may be lower if the conversation is disgruntled (i.e. if the asker has put in very little effort to solve the problem themselves) or if the language is less commonly used.

Saying that something "depends on the phase of the moon" usually means that there is some apparently random component to the problem, as neither the performance of a program nor the quality of answers on websites should depend on the position of the moon in its orbit. However, there was [http://www.hacker-dictionary.com/terms/phase-of-the-moon at least one case] where the phase of the moon did, in fact, cause a bug in code.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1726: Unicode

2016-08-31T12:33:05Z

Henke37:

# Proposal by Courtney Milan - 3 dinosaurs: [http://unicode.org/L2/L2016/16072-jurassic-emoji.pdf http://unicode.org/L2/L2016/16072-jurassic-emoji.pdf]
# Feedback by Andrew West - 13 dinosaurs: [http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2016/16103-jurassic-fdbk.pdf http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2016/16103-jurassic-fdbk.pdf]
# Article by Becky Ferreira - they should have feathers: [http://motherboard.vice.com/read/dinosaur-emojis http://motherboard.vice.com/read/dinosaur-emojis]

Sebastian [[Special:Contributions/162.158.83.168|162.158.83.168]] 12:14, 29 August 2016 (UTC)--
:Regarding the brontosaurus reference, there is also some material in the intro of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brontosaurus wikipedia page]. [[User:Chtit draco|Chtit draco]] ([[User talk:Chtit draco|talk]]) 14:33, 29 August 2016 (UTC)
:Comic could be a reference to WE’RE ALL USING THESE EMOJI WRONG - http://www.wired.com/2015/05/using-emoji-wrong/ where the 😪 emoji is supposed to be a sleepy emoji and not a side-tear emoji - http://emojipedia.org/sleepy-face/ - see facebook's interpretation vs Samsung's{{unsigned ip|162.158.49.60}}
::Indeed. However IMHO the problem lies not in the standardisation attempt, but on the choice of non-obvious pictograms (which is a font-designer problem). The sleepy emoji would not be used wrong if it unquestionably looked like sleepy. Chinese solved this problem long ago by switching from pictograms to abstract ideogram designs. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.49|108.162.229.49]] 14:13, 30 August 2016 (UTC) Sylvain M.

I thought it was funny that the two people in the upper left (who, at the time of this comment, were noted to be "helping" Cueball) are actually impeding the quixotic quest by arguing amongst themselves. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.222|108.162.237.222]] 23:38, 29 August 2016 (UTC)

Personally, I'm still dumbfounded by the lack of a marijuana leaf. There are pills, a syringe, a cigarette, rice wine, plus *multiple* Emoji for both wine & beer. I hate the fact that Emoji are *not* implemented in a sensible, standardized fashion: For instance, the guy Emoji may or may not have a mustache, or gray hair. The "short hair" female may be blonde, or brunette & may even have a coiffure instead of short hair! I think they should be far more specific with their definitions. Personally, I'm sticking with emoticons until they get this sorted out. ; P As for dinosaur Emoji, contrary to my previous statement about specificity, I believe you only need three dinomoji: Carnivore head (raptor or T-rex, non-specific), long-neck herbivore in profile, & winged. Anything more specific than that should probably be expressed with, y'know, WORDS. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.87|108.162.221.87]] 07:35, 30 August 2016 (UTC)
:Words? Weird concept ;) [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:47, 30 August 2016 (UTC)
:There's already a winged dinosaur emoji and has been since 2010 http://emojipedia.org/bird/ [[User:Jeremyp|Jeremyp]] ([[User talk:Jeremyp|talk]]) 09:33, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

There is a good amount of detail regarding why/how the Unicode people are arguing over Emojis (In reference to the title text) but there is not much information provided regarding what Randall is referring to in the main strip, e.g. an example of what kind of language regulations the Unicode group try to impose. While the current explanation does a good job of explaining why there is a lot of drama regarding a Brontosaurus Emoji, the meat and potatoes of the article is in reference to language itself. I have never encountered anyone trying to communicate in English using letters that are not part of the current alphabet. Since English uses predefined Roman symbols for sound representation, and the Unicode people only deal with the representation of symbols, I am having a difficult time comprehending how the group in charge of rendering English into text would have any part in the changes that (at least English) is undergoing (which are largely related to spelling and grammar, not the symbols itself). [[User:Snowblinded|Snowblinded]] ([[User talk:Snowblinded|talk]]) 08:19, 30 August 2016 (UTC)
:I think the main point of this comic is about using characters from different alphabets to get a funny look (or fool anti-spam). In Unicode, characters sharing the same design but from different alphabets have separate code-points. For example: U+0041 (latin "A"), U+0391 (greek "Alpha") and U+0410 (cyrillic "A") look exactly the same but are not interchangeable... neither in Unicode nor in real live since writing English with Greek letters doesn't make sense anyway. Example 2: U+0049 (latin "I"), U+2160 (roman numeral 1) and U+30BC (japanese "E") have a similar yet different look (and very different meaning), and so have different code-points (seems logical). One may want to mix them to get a funny typing... as long as writing proper English is not a concern. Conclusion: I hardly see how Unicode restricts anything, since the "consistent technical standards" pretty much already exist in any language. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.49|108.162.229.49]] 11:55, 30 August 2016 (UTC) Sylvain M.

I feel like he isn't trying to steer the river but the two confused looking people across the river. What else are their role if it's not the case?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.39|162.158.166.39]] 14:01, 30 August 2016 (UTC)
:They have another sign laying down on the ground, so they seem to be fighting about where to put said sign. [[User:Psu256|Psu256]] ([[User talk:Psu256|talk]]) 17:45, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

I think that the "Hey! That's not what that area is for!" line is about how people use features of Unicode in [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NotTheIntendedUse unintended ways].--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 12:33, 31 August 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1724: Proofs

2016-08-24T10:04:16Z

Henke37:

Judging from my experience when I first encountered proofs in math classes (or my general experience from math classes), the teacher is going to write down a "proof" which makes absolutely no sense to students and is also never explained in a way that actually makes them understand. Instead, they are just going to use "dark magic" and write what seems to be completely senseless to students.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.223|141.101.91.223]] 04:24, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Transcript generated by the BOT was murdering me, had to change it. Proposing miss Lenhart is party 1. [[User:EppOch|EppOch]] ([[User talk:EppOch|talk]]) 04:45, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
:: I support that. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.223|141.101.91.223]] 06:13, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
:: Me to, but I am on mobile, so editing is a pain [[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.71|162.158.86.71]] 06:51, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
:: Done [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:26, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Irrationality proof isn't really a proof by contradiction (it doesn't use double negation elimination). You're showing (exists a,b. ...) -> False by assuming (exists a, b. ...) and showing False, which is implication introduction --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.105|162.158.85.105]] 07:33, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

I'm thinking she's doing one of those proof that write down a formula or function out of nowhere, and proceeds to proof everything with it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.125|108.162.222.125]] 08:43, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

This comic reminds me of "divination" rituals, where a magical spirit is summoned to write out an answer. Usually not something as complex as here, but hey, XKCD! --[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 10:04, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1694: Phishing License

2016-06-16T07:31:53Z

Henke37: licensed crime

Perhaps it should also mention that the need for a license is analog to the need for one when you actually go fishing. {{unsigned ip|162.158.234.221}}

^^^^ if I am being honest that is really fucking obvious you dumb fuck[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.132|108.162.241.132]] 00:35, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

While exiting the fake/scam jail, Cueball could have also been amazed that he could pay his bail with *Apple gift cards*. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.74|108.162.229.74]] 16:13, 15 June 2016 (UTC)Daniel H

Do I sense a reference to Monty Python's Fish licence sketch here as well? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.8|141.101.98.8]] 21:57, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

"Clearly, there is no reason why a license would be available for a clear crime like fraud" I think the tax stamps for illegal drugs come very close to being a license for a clear crime.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.59|108.162.218.59]] 05:08, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

On the other hand, you used to be able to get a pirating license. The ship attacking one, not the copyright infringement. But then again...--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 07:31, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1676: Full-Width Justification

2016-05-04T07:41:02Z

Henke37:

I added the emoji snake. Is emoji snake the same as a Unicode snake would be? [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 05:46, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:I assumed Unicode snakes would use three different characters: a head, a body segment, and a tail. Your solution is good, but objectively not perfect compared to what's shown in the comic.
:So what ''would'' be the optimal snake transcription method here? A parenthetical aside saying "''A drawing of a snake stretches to the right end of the line.''"? Or should we just blackmail the Unicode consortium again? [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]
::The correct solution is obviously to include a 16 Mpixel image of a snake.[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 07:41, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Could the title text also be a reference to the snake in umwelt? [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 05:46, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Amazon is notorious for being bad at this. Here's a somewhat related [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzdugwr4Fgk Computerphile video]. [[User:Eno|Eno]] ([[User talk:Eno|talk]]) 06:32, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

1603: Flashlights

2015-11-13T10:22:22Z

Henke37: missed a space or two

{{comic
| number = 1603
| date = November 13, 2015
| title = Flashlights
| image = flashlights.png
| titletext = Due to a typo, I initially found a forum for serious Fleshlight enthusiasts, and it turns out their highest-end models are ALSO capable of setting trees on fire. They're impossible to use without severe burns, but some of them swear it's worth it.
}}

==Explanation==
Cueball is talking to Megan about how in the past flashlights were dim and finnicky. He tells Megan about flashlight enthusiasts on the internet. Who have supposedly created a better flashlight. The flashlight lights the trees on fire and is very bright. Flashlights should not be able to set things on fire.

The title text is referencing flesh lights which are sex toys for men. It is saying that there are also fleshlight enthusiasts.Their highest end model of flesh lights can supposedly set trees on fire as well. It states that they are impossible to use without severe burns, but some have tried and swear it's worth it. Supposedly everyone who has used that fleshlight has come away with severe burns but believe that it was worth the experience

==Transcript==

[Cueball carries a flashlight walking towards Megan who is sitting on a couch]

Cueball: Remember how flashlights sucked when we were kids? Always dim and finnicky?

Megan: I guess?

[Cueball and Megan walking away to the left]

Cueball: Well, I discovered there are now internet flashlight enthusiasts.And the technology has... improved.

Megan: OK, Let's see

[Darkness surrounds Cueball and Megan. '''''FWOOSH''''' a beam of light from the flashlight. Megan shielding her eyes with her arm]

Cueball: See how it lights up the whole forest?

Megan: ...the trees are on fire.

Cueball: Real bright though.
{{comic discussion}}

1603: Flashlights

2015-11-13T10:21:14Z

Henke37: more spaces

{{comic
| number = 1603
| date = November 13, 2015
| title = Flashlights
| image = flashlights.png
| titletext = Due to a typo, I initially found a forum for serious Fleshlight enthusiasts, and it turns out their highest-end models are ALSO capable of setting trees on fire. They're impossible to use without severe burns, but some of them swear it's worth it.
}}

==Explanation==
Cueball is talking to Megan about how in the past flashlights were dim and finnicky. He tells Megan about flashlight enthusiasts on the internet. Who have supposedly created a better flashlight. The flashlight lights the trees on fire and is very bright. Flashlights should not be able to set things on fire.

The title text is referencing flesh lights which are sex toys for men. It is saying that there are also fleshlight enthusiasts.Their highest end model of flesh lights can supposedly set trees on fire as well.It states that they are impossible to use without severe burns but some have tried and swear it's worth it. Supposedly everyone who has used that fleshlight has come away with severe burns but believe that it was worth the experience

==Transcript==

[Cueball carries a flashlight walking towards Megan who is sitting on a couch]

Cueball:Remember how flashlights sucked when we were kids? Always dim and finnicky?

Megan:I guess?

[Cueball and Megan walking away to the left]

Cueball:Well,I discovered there are now internet flashlight enthusiasts.And the technology has... improved.

Megan:OK, Let's see

[Darkness surrounds Cueball and Megan. '''''FWOOSH''''' a beam of light from the flashlight. Megan shielding her eyes with her arm]

Cueball:See how it lights up the whole forest?

Megan:...the trees are on fire.

Cueball:Real bright though.
{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1574: Trouble for Science

2015-09-07T14:22:15Z

Henke37: old comic is still relevant

Sentence case, or down style, is one method, preferred by many print and online publications and recommended by the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. The only two rules are the two rules mentioned above: Capitalize the first word and all proper nouns. Everything else is in lowercase. http://www.dailywritingtips.com/rules-for-capitalization-in-titles/ [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.154|173.245.50.154]] 12:30, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

;Problems with the p-value as an indicator of significance

The p-value alone can never be an indicator of significance. However, it is still often used as the only indicator, because a full set of parameters (including sample size, test setup, etc.) can't easily be packed into a single number. There's a nice article in nature about this problem: [http://www.nature.com/news/scientific-method-statistical-errors-1.14700]
I can also recommend [http://io9.com/i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-chocolate-helps-weight-1707251800this story] about (ab-)using hacked p-values to get maximum publicity. I hope this helps :-) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.183|141.101.105.183]] 12:41, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

I think the joke is that these newspapers are talking about how bad science is, and yet they manage to come up with a stupid story about Bunsen burners, presumably being too scientifically illiterate to know the problem. [[User:Timband|Timband]] ([[User talk:Timband|talk]]) 12:55, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

See [[Significant]] for another comic on p-values.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 14:22, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

;Controlled trials show Bunsen burners make things colder

Actually, I can easily imagine a way to use a Bunsen burner to make something colder. Involving an unlit Bunsen burner that has been placed in the freezer for a couple hours, for example. Nowhere in the headline is there any mention of a flame. --[[User:Svenman|Svenman]] ([[User talk:Svenman|talk]]) 12:59, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

:Actually, there was a (badly formatted and badly placed, probably therefore now removed) comment on the explanation page earlier which pointed out that feeding a Bunsen burner from a propane bottle will cause the pressure, and therefore the temperature, in the bottle to decrease. That is a lot less contrived than my original idea. --[[User:Svenman|Svenman]] ([[User talk:Svenman|talk]]) 13:37, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

::That was me. Trying to get my 2 cents in on my phone before I forgot. http://www.propane101.com/propaneregulatorfreezing.htm as an example. [[User:Mattiep|Mattiep]] ([[User talk:Mattiep|talk]]) 13:45, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

I think the joke is in the wording of the headlines. The fact that a replication study fails to reproduce can be seen as a contradiction. Overfeeding rodents leads to fat rodents. This compromises their ability to function als animal (runway) models. I haven't figured out the other ones yet. But that's çause I'm dumb :-). Alva. {{unsigned ip|141.101.104.80}}

*It's way simpler than that - The joke is that people outside of sciences (with no understanding really of how to science) will report basically anything that sounds shocking or exciting, especially if it proves those nerdy, scary scientists wrong! So Randall gives us a bunch of possibly headlines that to a layman read like real, scary news about science, but to scientists this is stuff that is generally well known and understood. The last one is just taking it a step further for credulous news editors - They've been lying to us all this time! 13:33, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
**I think it's even simpler than that: the title is "Trouble for Science" and it shows a series of misleading headlines about misleading (i.e.: invalidated) scientific studies. The implication is "Trouble for Journalism".[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.87|173.245.54.87]] 14:21, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1513: Code Quality

2015-04-17T06:00:57Z

Henke37: signing unsigned comment

On the bright side, I now have a new array of phrases to keep me sane while doing code reviews... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.162|108.162.249.162]] 05:47, 17 April 2015 (UTC)
I think the emojis were referring to swift where you can use emojis as variables.{{unsigned-ip|108.162.250.168|05:53, 17 April 2015‎}}

Talk:1506: xkcloud

2015-04-01T10:31:46Z

Henke37:

The lack of a hover text breaks all sorts of things :) e.g. Floern's unofficial xkcd browser linked here via the hover text but it won't display the link or the lack of give text if there's no hover text! We may get a few less visitors for this comic as a result...

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.115|108.162.229.115]] 08:42, 1 April 2015 (UTC)
:Still getting swamped, it's business as usual for April 1st. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:06, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

Why is "literally on fire" a question? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.163|108.162.249.163]] 09:52, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

It indicates uncertainty. He's not really asking a question, but making a statement hesitantly.

:Indeed, see also {{w|uptalk}}. [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 10:03, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

How does i work? Does it work? When i click the "Help us"-Button i just get a blank comic with "..." written at the top :( [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.148|108.162.254.148]] 10:14, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

Oh boy, time to find out if mediawiki does imagemaps.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 10:31, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

1472: Geography

2015-01-12T07:30:20Z

Henke37: volcanoes erupt, not interrupt.

{{comic
| number = 1472
| date = January 12, 2015
| title = Geography
| image = geography.png
| titletext = The place I'd least like to live is the farm in the background of those diagrams showing how tornadoes form.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is a map showing examples of land forms from a geography textbook. Randall notes that he would like to live in the middle of this region. These maps include an improbable density of land forms, leading to an interesting environment in which to live. In the real world, these geographical features would take up far more space, and the geologic forces that shape them would create far different patterns than those shown. This kind of Neverland of land forms would offer a range of outdoor activities and landscapes that would make it a very nice place to live. (As long as the volcano do not erupt too violently...)

Some of the geographic features do have a (very) loose similarity to the area around Boston, where Randall lives.

The title text notes that Randall would least like to live in the farm in the background of the diagram that show how tornados form - maybe because this farm will be the one they used as example on the next page of the damage created whem a tornado hits... Tornados very rarely hit any given place. So living near an active volcano may be much more dangerous than living in the {{w|Tornado Alley}}.

==Transcript==
:[A map shows the various land forms listed, from top and clockwise:]
:Mountains
:Sea
:Plain
:Island
:Delta
:Strait
:River
:Bay
:Lagoon
:Penninsula
:Forest
:Mesa
:Hills
:Volcano
:Lake
:Glacier
:Desert

:[In the middle of these, between the lake and the lagoon there is a dot with an arrow pointing it out. The arrow is labeled:]
:My house

:If I could Live Anywhere, I would choose the example map from geography books that explains what everything is called.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Geography]]

Talk:1439: Rack Unit

2014-10-28T14:49:39Z

Henke37: dumb joke

Bzzzzz [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.202|108.162.250.202]] 04:52, 27 October 2014 (UTC)
: Bzz ZZ zz bz?! (What did you say about my mother?!) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.26|108.162.216.26]] 19:09, 27 October 2014 (UTC)
:: Bzz, zzz bzzz bz. Bzz zz. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.202|108.162.250.202]] 23:30, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Air Bud has had multiple mentions in his comics, but I don't know all of them. I also think it was mentioned in one of the What-If's. I'll do a quick Google search to see if I can get at least one of them. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 06:55, 27 October 2014 (UTC)
:Mouse-over text in the final image. http://what-if.xkcd.com/111/ Still searching. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 06:58, 27 October 2014 (UTC)
:http://xkcd.com/115/ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 07:00, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

This comic may be a reference to the highly hyped lack-rack https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack --[[User:Belibem|Belibem]] ([[User talk:Belibem|talk]]) 09:43, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

It's unlikely that this was intentional, but this comic is almost the same as this panel from MSPA: http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003976 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.224|108.162.219.224]] 11:50, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

I'm sure an apiarist might know whether there'd be a problem with air temperature (often chilled), on any bee colony. And with the lack of non-plastic internal flora, and almost certainly some quite severe filtration screens betwixt server environment and the outside world I can't see [i]any[/i] chance for nectar collection. Of course, it's Black Hat, so he's probably worked around both of these (slotted in next to blade servers with consistently warming processors, and maybe a ready nectar supply. But I stil feel for the poor bees, with all those whirring fans of all shapes and sizes, around and within the server room equipment.
(Also, perhaps interesting to note that apparently ''most'' colocatiopn TOSs don't mention beehives. So he found that ''some'' did...) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 12:47, 27 October 2014 (UTC)
: I'd think that a more-or-less simple restriction on interference with other tenants and their equipment would be sufficient to proscribe Black-Hat from causing any issues with his bees (officially, at least), wouldn't it? So perhaps it's as simple as a TOS that only proscribes ''electromagnetic'' interference (maybe even touching equipment of other tenants), but nothing involving ''bees'' per se? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 13:11, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

:Lack of non-plastic flora might not be a problem, since honeybees are opportunists, and will gather any sugary liquid they can find. Someone once told me that the bees in the Smithsonian's observation hive made honey from what they found in discarded beverage containers left around the mall by human pedestrians. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.153|173.245.54.153]] 01:11, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

What does "similar pitches" in the comic mean? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.73|108.162.216.73]]
:not entirely sure about an industry-general term, but there is mention of "tile pitch" here: http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/energy-smart-containment-rack-deployment-guide-dell.pdf -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 14:41, 27 October 2014 (UTC)
:Ah, here's something I [http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19088-01/v445.srvr/819-5730-10/rackmount.html found]: "Aisle pitch is the distance from the center of one cold aisle to the center of the next cold aisle either to the left or right. Data centers often use a seven-tile aisle pitch. This measurement allows two 2 x 2 foot (0.61 x 0.61 m) floor tiles in the cold aisle, 3 feet (0.9 m) in the hot aisle, and a 42-inch (1-m) allowance for the depth of the cabinet or rack."
:...and though it doesn't seem the term "pitch" is used in bee keeping that I can find, there are probably generally followed guidelines on spacing... http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/04/placement-of-beehives.html -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 14:49, 27 October 2014 (UTC)
:Per [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch wikipedia] -- " "Pitch" is widely used to describe the distance between repeated elements in a structure possessing translational symmetry". This would include things like server racks (the distance from the bottom of one slot to the bottom of the next), beehives (the distance from one pane to the next). You commonly hear it in relation to airline seats ("seat pitch" -- the distance from one seat to the next, as a measure of the relative comfort of airline seats) but it is a more general term. [[User:Vyzen|Vyzen]] ([[User talk:Vyzen|talk]]) 15:13, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

::Engineer here - The term pitch is used to describe the distance between repeating items. For example: The holes have a 10mm pitch = There is a hole every 10mm. I've added the pitch spec for server racks and beehives, which are not too dissimilar. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 15:27, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

:::Without looking it up (sorry, feeling lazy), it occurs to me that the term pitch might ultimately have derived from screwthreads. Pitching (especially when it comes to ships, and by extension air and space-craft) regards a sloping angle, and the angle of the thread dictates the linear distance between each circuit of the ridge/thread element. This latter property is more handily measured than the perpendicular angle away from the pure tangent (assuming not multi-threaded, although that's rarer in nuts and bolts, etc, due to less inherent mechanical advantage), and so while the cutting may have been dictated by the angle (i.e. pitch), the definition quickly becomes standardised against the linear periodicity, and thus becomes used even in describing perfectly square measurements, such as screwholes in racking. Just an idle thought. That adds nothing to the discussion. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 21:55, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

:::Actually, the pitch of the frames in a Langstroth hive is variable. Some beekeepers use ten frames to a super (box) and others use nine or eight, spacing them by eye. With too much space between frames, the bees tend to build bridge comb (a form of undesired "burr comb") between frames, making it difficult to work the hive. Frames sometimes need to be taken out, mostly for inspection or honey harvesting. "Bee space" is a familiar concept to every modern beekeeper. Much less than 3/16" between components, and the bees will seal that space shut with bee glue, or propolis. Much more than 3/8" and they will fill the vacancy with wild comb, or burr comb. Spaces dimensioned between those limits are left clear for bees to move around in. I'm having fun imagining going into a server rack with a smoker and hive tool (a little pry bar to separate the supers and unglue the frames from their support.)

:::Orienting the frames horizontally in a normally situated rack would be a deal-breaker, though. Honeycomb cells are built with their bases on a vertical foundation, with each cell having a slight upward tilt, on the order of 10° to 12°, so that the nectar doesn't fall out. The bees fan their wings to ventilate the hive, reducing the nectar's water content and increasing its viscosity, but they also manage the ventilation to maintain a certain warmth around the brood comb. At that temperature, honey flows pretty well. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.153|173.245.54.153]] 01:28, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

::::Thanks for your insight, I found it very interesting. I never thought I would be learning about bees today! As far as the frame pitch, my research suggested that there wasn't any 'standard' pitch, but that 1.5" was fairly typical. I would certainly defer to your greater expertise if you feel the article needs editing.--[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 08:41, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

I wouldn't bee suprised if this became of those 'reality imitates art' situations, and somebody goes and makes a beehive out of an old server cabinet. I'll just leave [http://www.ebay.com/itm/18U-SERVER-RACK-DATA-NETWORK-CABINET-19-INCH-600-W-x450-D-x-1000-H-NEW-/191337505928?pt=UK_Computing_Rackmount_Cabinets_Frames&hash=item2c8c9aa488 this eBay auction] here.... --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 15:31, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

::: I'd be cautious if I were to do this. This is one of those projects that could develop some serious bugs... {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.202}}

This is certainly related to the famous ant-farm-computer, Hex, invented by Terry Pratchett. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hex_(Discworld) Anthill Inside!] ::: [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.231|108.162.249.231]] 02:48, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

That certainly is one way to run a honeypot.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 14:49, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

1350: Lorenz

2014-04-03T10:15:01Z

Henke37: missing key

{{comic
| number = 1350
| date = April 1, 2014
| title = Lorenz
| image = 1350_lorenz_loop.png
| titletext = Every choice, no matter how small, begins a new story
}}

{{incomplete|All possible dialogues are not yet accounted for}}

==Explanation==
This is a dynamic comic with crowd-sourced content. In honor of {{w|April Fools' Day}} the comic was posted a day early, on Tuesday instead of the usual Wednesday.

The title 'Lorenz' is referring to {{w|Edward Norton Lorenz}} who among other subjects was famous for {{w|Chaos theory}}. The title is a reference to that the story line of today's comic will include most (all?) of the user submitted dialogue and hence will in nature be chaotic. In addition, the title text, "Every choice, no matter how small", is a reference to the butterfly effect, a phrase coined by Edward Lorenz to describe how a small initial change can lead to wide variations in outcome in a chaotic system.

This comic is an example of a {{w|Choose Your Own Adventure}} story.

===Functionality and bugs===
The reader is initially presented with only one panel where Hat Guy is sitting in front of his computer. The reader is given multiple choices concerning what exactly Hat Guy is thinking. Upon choosing any option, a second panel appears, to give continuity to the story. Each new panel may have a new set of options or just the button "Continue" to see the next panel without making any choice in particular. Eventually, one may reach a dead end in which the story is interrupted and reader is presented with a text box to suggest how it should continue. Some of the suggestions given should eventually become available as new options.

It appears that new panels may be generated by Randall in near real time as user suggestions to dialog is submitted. The dialogue options are likely based on click-through rates and hence will change over day based on which choices are clicked most using {{w|A/B_testing|A/B measurement techniques..}} This will mean that the most popular choices for dialogue line will prevail as the statistics build up. In some cases, dialogue line options do not depend on the continuity of the storyline followed, suggesting that some parts of the story are planned. For example, do several of the storylines involve one of the two main characters waking up and for instance telling the other character, “I had the strangest dream…” or even reliving the dream again. This may be due to common submissions across storylines as well.

Normally, there is a total of 4 options to make: a/b/c/d. Sometimes, there are 3 or less options, with the text box to suggest an alternative option. Their order changes constantly. Sometimes, a given panel actually has 5 or more available options, although even in this case only 4 options appear at a time. Refreshing the comic changes randomly which of the available options are visible and which are hidden. As of April 2nd 2014, the existence of 5 or more options seems to occur only in a few rare cases, including the first panel itself.

Every panel has a "permalink" option which generates a unique URL for all the choices made by the reader -- so for example http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:26c8dcea-b9aa-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd will take you to a particular place in the selected choices.

{{w|HTTP cookie|Cookies}} are required to see this page properly.

====Buttons====
* Up/Down - navigate options
* Enter/Right - choose option after navigating with Up/Down
* Left - go back one panel
* a/b/c/d - choose any option directly

====Bugs====
There seems to be a bug, where <nowiki>xkcd.com</nowiki> (http and https) are the only functioning URLs that display this comic. The URLs <nowiki>www.xkcd.org</nowiki> and <nowiki>m.xkcd.com</nowiki>, don't seem to work, instead displaying the previous comic, [[1349: Shouldn%27t Be Hard]]

===Themes===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name + Example image
! Description
|-
! Computer problems [[Image:lorenz - laptop 1.png]]
| The laptop has an unspecified problem. The two characters attempt to fix it. The story either ends with the two randomly floating in the ocean (with or without circling sharks) or with the laptop being melted using a blowtorch.
|-
! Debate [[File:lorenz - debate 1.png]]
| Hat Guy uses his laptop to watch a debate online between the Politician 1 (on the left) and the Politician 2 (Cueball, on the right), the subject and the actual conversation of which varies according to the storyline. Eventually, they fight each other, the Politician 2 using a lightsaber and the Politician 1 using his bare fists. Subjects debated:
* Politician 1 questions Politician 2's project of tying multiple birds to a car as fuel replacement, which would require some method to make the birds take off in unison. The solutions mentioned are opening and closing an umbrella near them, using a predatory bird to the car to scare them, putting resources in the hands of bird educators for the purpose of training them and employing fiscal hawks. If the Politician 1 points out some problem with the reasoning, often the solution proposed by the Politician 2 would be doing the same in a larger scale. In the end, Dave visits Hat Guy and points out something happening near involving birds as a direct result of Politician 2's project.
|-
! Dreams [[File:lorenz - wake up 1.png]]
| Sometimes, Hat Guy or Dave find themselves waking from a dream, suggesting that all prior events were just part of they dreaming. Often, in the storylines they fall in the big hole outside Hat Guy's house, they wake up from a dream. Hat Guy also wakes up after watching the debate, in some storylines. Often, the dream loops upon itself, as the characters wake up multiple times in the same storyline
|-
! Pokémon [[File:lorenz - pikachu theft.png]]
| Some of the storylines involve Pokémon battles featuring Pikachu, a very popular Pokémon. The battles are drawn in the style of the video games. (a trainer in the left-bottom corner facing the foe in the right-top corner, with a narration box below the scene and the trainer's Poké Balls visible, although some elements are missing, such as the level, gender and HP bar) Pikachu uses a number of different moves, few if any of which are from the Pokémon games. Pikachu's moves seem to be invariably remarked by the narrator as "Not very effective". In the video games, a move is "Not very effective" when the opponent's type resists the attacking move's type. Normally after a few failed attempts, there is an uncomfortable silence as the Pikachu says "Um..." and Hat Guy and Dave walk away. Pikachu is left in the grass and has time to make his final remarks as the two leave him. But rarely a suggested move knocks Pikachu out.

Pikachu's moves:
* Abandonment - Pikachu disappears completely.
* Anguish - Pikachu is sad.
* Ant Colony - Pikachu is covered in ants.
* Cute Face
* The Discrete Metric
* Ethylene Dichloride - Nothing seems to happen, but Ethylene Dichloride is a toxic chemical, so there may be future consequences for the characters.
* Extrude - Pikachu's head moves away from his body as his neck becomes long and malleable.
* Faceless - Pikachu's face disappears.
* Friendship - Pikachu is on Hat Guy's head, signifying they are now friends.
* Granite - Pikachu is atop a block of granite.
* Ink Cloud - Pikachu is covered in ink. In the storyline Pikachu uses it, there is the option to "gather" the ink.
* Radicality - Pikachu is on a skateboard.
* Struggle - In one storyline, after Pikachu uses a number of moves, it says: "Now I only have Struggle left. Tie?" In the Pokémon games, when a Pokémon runs out of PP (Power Points, the energy required to use each of its moves) for all its moves, it may only use Struggle, a weak move, indefinitely reusable, that harms not only the opponent but the user as well.
* Theft - Pikachu wears Hat Guy's hat. Pikachu seems to be using "Thief", a similarly-named actual move from the games, that is used to steal the foe's item and use it as its own.
* Uplift - Pikachu's head goes upward, separated from its body, showing a long, thick cable still connecting the head and the body.
|-
! Hole in the ground [[Image:lorenz - gap.png]]
| Cueball spots a hole in the ground and leans over it to make a comment
|-
! Tree [[image:lorenz - tree.png]]
| The characters walk past a tree.
|-
! Thinking [[image:lorenz - thinking.png]]
| One of the characters take a panel or two to think about something.
|-
! Arguing [[image:lorenz - discuss.png]]
| The two characters argue with each other
|-
! Huge hole on the lawn [[image:lorenz - hole.png]]
| There is a huge hole in the ground just outside of the building. The two characters always end up falling into it and awakening from a dream.
|-
! Space rocket [[Image:lorenz - rocket 1.png]]
| There is a rocket on the ground just outside of the building. The rocket either explodes (with a screenshot from Kerbal Space Program), fails to launch or goes off into space.
|-
! Space planet [[image:lorenz - rocket 21.png]]
| Eventually the space rocket meets a guy on a very tiny planet.
|-
! Relativistic encounter [[Image:lorenz - rocket 16.png]]
| The space rocket meets another space rocket that asks a question about relativity. The other space rocket will shoot and destroy the main rocket if the question isn't answered satisfactory. Otherwise the two rockets fly past each other.
|-
! Bomerang [[image:lorenz - boomerang 1.png]]
| The lone character finds a bomerang on the ground and throws it. The story either ends with the bomerang crashing into something of panel, the space rocket from another story branch getting hit, the character getting hit in the face with the rebound or the character putting the bomerang down on the ground.
|-
! Salesman [[image:lorenz - sale 1.png]]
| The lone character meets a salesman with a small stand.
|-
! Random dinosaur interruption [[image:lorenz - dinosaur 1.png]]
| A green T-rex interrupts the story and proceeds to stamp on the house the main characters are in.
|}

==Images==
For the images that appear in this comic, see [[1350: Lorenz/Images]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[An accurate transcript will be impossible to create because the comic changes over time..]

There are many options. Not everyone will see the same options. We are trying to capture as many options as possible in the transcript below. '''The order and options has changed since the transcripter captured the dialogue'''....The dialogue is likely based on click-through rates and hence will change over time based on which choices are clicked most using {{w|A/B_testing|A/B measurement techniques..}}

Often, when a panel is without any choices to make, there is only the option "Continue" to see the next panel.

'''1st Pane:''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:be7a3304-b685-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 permalink]) 
Hat Guy:
* Refresh... No new email... Refresh .. No new tweets... Refresh...
* These stupid tiles... I'll just play one more game.
* These stupid tiles... I'll just play one more game. [There are two completely separate branches with this same text. In one of them, it's written "i'll" in lowercase rather than "I'll".]
* Oh. Hey. There's some kind of political thing going on.
* Let's see if BSD is any easier to install nowadays.
* Gravity. Lots of it.
* Hurry! We're in talks with facebook.

:'''2nd Pane: Refresh Branch''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6479d184-b9a0-11e3-b947-94de80a03a39 permalink]) 
:Dave:
:* So you're still refusing to use Facebook?
:* Wanna build a snowman?
:* Hey. I hear Godot is in town. Wanna try to meet him?
:* You know. Your car's on fire.

:'''2nd Pane: Stupid Tiles Branch''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:79f036ac-b9a0-11e3-9003-94de80a03a39 permalink]) 
:[Dave visits Hat Guy.]
:Dave:
:* There's something weird out on the lawn.
:* There's a dinosaur at the door.
:* I heard Home Depot has 1024 bathroom tiles.
:* I think I saw a "4096" tile outside somewhere.

::'''3rd Pane: Something Weird Branch''' 
::Hat Guy:
::* This is an apartment. We don't have a lawn.
::* I have a lawn?
::* I hope it's not a bobcat this time.
::* If you reprogrammed the squirrel laser to target hipsters again...

:::'''4th-5th Panes: Apartment Branch''' 
:::[Hat Guy and Dave leave the house. They pass by a moat.]
:::Dave:
:::* OK, two weird things.
:::* I can see a creeper down there.
:::* Is this 1-1 from Mario?
:::* See? It's like a glitch in the Matrix.
:::* This isn't where I left that...

::::'''6th Pane: Two Weird Things Branch''' 
::::Dave:
::::* I count three.
::::* Why is there a gap here?
::::* Who tiled the moat?

::::'''6th Pane: Creeper Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy: Damn Griefers.

::::'''6th Pane: Mario Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave pass by a tree.]
::::Dave:
::::* Why does that tree looks fake?
::::* Actually, it's the final castle. Grab your Fire Flower!
::::* It's over this way.
::::* I've never been this far before!

:::::'''7th-11th Panes: Fake Tree Branch''' 
:::::Narrator: A wild Pikachu appeared!
:::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Theft"!
:::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
:::::Narrator: ...
:::::Pikachu: Um...

:::::'''7th Pane: Never This Far Branch''' 
:::::Dave: Are you going insane again?

::::'''6th Pane: Matrix Glitch Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* How far can we go?
::::* What the fuck?!
::::* How... How do we get everything back?

:::'''4th-5th Panes: Lawn Question Branch''' 
:::[Hat Guy and Dave leave the house. They pass by a moat.]
:::Dave:
:::* Hmmm, did you order a moat?
:::* I don't remember this being here.
:::* Look how deep it goes!
:::* It looks like I can see Moria from here.

::::'''6th Pane: Order Moat Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* It helps keep bobcats out.
::::* Of course. All cool kids have moats in their yards.
::::* I don't have the best rerlationship with my mailman.
::::* Yep. Delivered in two days, courtesy of Amazon Prime.

::::'''6th Pane: Don't Remember Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* It has begun! That's one of the first holes in reality.
::::* I wanted to jump over the massive sinkhole, but nooo, someone just had to find out what was down there.
::::* Oh, I had the moving company install it last week.
::::* We poop in it.
::::* Finally got you out of the damn house.

:::::'''7th Pane: Hole in Reality Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* I've been working on a theory that 2048 is a tool for the old ones to open up portals to this reality.
:::::* What about black holes? Those don't count?
:::::* We must go deeper.

::::::'''7th-13th Panes: Damn House Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: A wild Pikachu appeared!
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Ink Cloud"!
::::::Narrator: ...
::::::Pikachu: Um...
::::::Pikachu: Well then.
::::::Pikachu: I might have left surprises in that direction.

::::'''6th Pane: Look How Deep Branch''' 
::::Dave:
::::* I wonder if we can get someone to fall in?
::::* I'm going in. You can come if you want to. I think I see stars down there.
::::* That was a missing opportunity.
::::* I should come outside more often.

::::'''6th Pane: Moria Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* You see Moria from everywhere, Dave.
::::* Yeah, who did you think gave them a balrog?
::::* Moria is an anagram of Mario!

:::::'''7th-10th Panes: Moria Everywhere Branch''' 
:::::Narrator: A wild Pikachu appeared!
:::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Ink Cloud"!
:::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
:::::Narrator:
:::::* Google Maps didn't warn me of this.
:::::* Enemy Pikachu used "The Discrete Metric"!
:::::* Gathered the ink!

::::::'''11th-21th Panes: Google Maps Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Uplift!"
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Cute Face!"
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Faceless"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Where's Twitch when I need help?
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Abandonment"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...

::::::'''11th-15th Panes: Discrete Metric Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Extrude"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: ...
::::::Pikachu: Um...
::::::Pikachu:
::::::* Now I only have Struggle left. Tie?
::::::* We are the knights who say Ni!
::::::* What is even going on here?

:::::::'''16th Pane: Struggle Branch''' 
:::::::Pikachu: No fair!

::::::'''11th-13th Panes: Gathered Ink Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Granite"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...

:::::'''7th-10th Panes: Balrog Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* One does not simple "give" a balrog.
:::::* What? You weren't using it!
:::::* Gift-wrapping's the hardest part.

:::::'''7th Pane: Anagram Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy and Dave pass by a tree.]
:::::Dave: Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall.

:::'''4th-12th Panes: Bobcat Branch''' 
:::[A giant hole appears and they fall into it.]
:::Hat Guy and Dave: Aaaaa...
:::[Hat Guy wakes up.]
:::Hat Guy: Gasp [Goes to his desk.]
:::Hat Guy: Yawn [Sits at his desk.]
:::Hat Guy:
:::* Might as well clear more tiles.
:::* Definitely not going outside today.
:::* Thank God it wasn't a bobcat.
:::* Hmmm... I should buy a shovel.

::::'''13th Pane: Clear More Tiles Branch''' 
::::[Dave visits Hat Guy again.]
::::Dave:
::::* Um, there's a hole in your lawn...
::::* There's someone at the door looking for you.
::::* I made an apple pie.
::::* If you want to do that, I'm rebuilding my bathroom this afternoon.

:::::'''14th Pane: Hole in the Lawn Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* If it doesn't lead to a 1024 tile, I'm leaving.
:::::* Damn bobcats.
:::::* I just had a dream about that.

::::::'''15th-16th Panes: Damn Bobcats Branch''' 
::::::Dave:
::::::* Well it was here...
::::::* I don't think it was bobcats this time. Unless they have backshoes...

::::::'''15th-22th Panes: Dream Branch''' 
::::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside again and fall in the hole again~.]
::::::Hat Guy and Dave: Aaaaa...
::::::[Hat Guy wakes up, leaves the bed and finds a boomerang.]
::::::Hat Guy:
::::::* It looks like is [sic] fell from space.
::::::* I hope this isn't just another one of those dreams that keeps coming back at you.
::::::* I hope this was not thrown by a bobcat.

:::::::'''23th-26th Panes: Space Branch''' 
:::::::[Hat Guy throwns the boomerang away and it hits something.]
:::::::Crash!
:::::::[Hat Guy runs away.]

:::::::'''23th-34th Panes: Coming Back Branch''' 
:::::::[Hat Guy throws the boomerang twice, only for it to return to him both times.]
:::::::Hat Guy: Hm. I was expecting a shark.
:::::::[Hat Guy throwns the boomerang again, and it returns to him again.]

:::::::'''23th-30th Panes: Thrown by Bobcat Branch''' 
:::::::[Hat Guy throws the boomerang, only for it to return to him .]
:::::::Hat Guy: There's a mesage written on it.
:::::::[Hat Guy throws the boomerang again. It hits something.]
:::::::Crash!
:::::::[Hat Guy runs away.]

::::'''13th Pane: Thank God Branch''' 
::::Dave:
::::* You just got a package. It's by the door.
::::* Why is there a bobcat on your lawn?
::::* There's somewhere [sic] weird out on the lawn.
::::* Hey do you know why there's a giant hole in the yard?

::::'''14th Pane: Something Weird Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* This seems familiar.
::::* Hold up. I need to get my wingsuit first.
::::* I hope it's not a giant hole.
::::* I have a bad feeling about this.

::::'''15th-18th Pane: Familiar Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside.]
::::Hat Guy: I hope it's not a velociraptor.

::::'''15th-18th Pane: Hope Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside. They pass by a tree.]
::::Dave: How disappointed are you?
::::Hat Guy:
::::* I was expecting a bobcat.
::::* Oh? That's the other tree.
::::* Eh, not that much.

::::'''14th-16th Panes: Do You Know Why Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside.]
::::Hat Guy: I swear if it's a bobcat.
::::Hat Guy:
::::* Why did you bring me here?
::::* This dream has been looping for years, and yet we never tire of it. Why is that?

:::::'''17th Pane: Dream Loop Branch''' 
:::::[There is a gap in the ground. Hat Guy jumps over it, Dave looks into it.]

::::'''13th-14th Panes: Buy Shovel Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy looks at his screen wondering.]
::::Hat Guy:
::::* Wow! Shovels sure are expensive!
::::* Shovels can't be actually made out of two sticks and a row of rocks?
::::* How can there be 36 types of shovel??!
::::* These prices are insane! I wonder if you can rent a shovel...

:::::'''15th-18th Panes: Sticks and Rocks Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy is wondering more. Dave comes. They connect their laptops. Dave is wondering. Hat Guy tries something at Dave's laptop.]

:::'''4th-5th Panes: Squirrel Laser Branch''' 
:::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside.]
:::Hat Guy:
:::* Let's just say we won't have to worry about parking.
:::* No, now they're just wearing wigs ironically.
:::* Things may have gotten out of control a little.
:::* At least it improved their haircuts.

::'''3rd Pane: Bathroom Tiles Branch''' 
::Hat Guy:
::* But how many bathrooms?
::* That's 2^5 more than Ikea, I need to see for myself.
::* Let's go, I can keep playing on my phone on the drive.
::* Pfft. Amateurs. Let's go mock them.

::'''3rd Pane: Dinosaur Branch''' 
::T-Rex:
::* Self-doubt crippled my arms. Can I have yours?
::* I need a hand!
::* Did you think he was joking?
::* Sorry for just barging in, I couldn't reach the doorbell.

:::'''4th Pane: Crippled Arms Branch''' 
:::T-Rex:
:::* Never answer your mobile phone while I am addressing you!
:::* Also, have you heard about Tumblr?
:::* Also I have some trenchant observations on language and philosophy to make.
:::* It's not like you're using them.

::::'''5th Pane: Mobile Phone Branch''' 
::::[T-Rex is going to step on a house.]
::::T-Rex:
::::* I think you just entered a dead zone.
::::* Kids these days.
::::* Die you monster.

:::::'''6th Pane: Dead Zone Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, goes outside and finds a boomerang.]

:::::'''6th Pane: Kids These Days Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, and goes back to his computer.]

:::::'''6th Pane: Die You Monster Branch''' 
:::::[Dave is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, and starts singing.]
:::::Dave: [Singing] ''I woke up like this.''

::::'''5th-11th Panes: Language and Philosophy Branch''' 
::::[T-Rex is going to step on a house.]
::::* T-Rex: Also, your brain is like this house.
:::: [Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream and goes back to his computer.]

:'''2nd Pane: Stupid Tiles Branch''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffdd8916-b9a7-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd]) 
:[Dave visits Hat Guy.]
:Dave:
:* What's with those tiny games you keep playing, anyway?
:* Isn't that sort of meaningless?
:* Up for a dangerous experiment with no pay?
:* You won't believe what just fell off of your roof.

:'''2nd-3rd Panes: Political Thing Branch''' 
:Laptop: "...and let's go live to the debate."
:[Two politicians are debating on TV.]
:Politician 1:
:* In contrast to my oppponent, who I quote, "Never liked Firefly much to begin with."
:* ...but even if you tied enough birds to the car, would you get them to take off in unison?
:* And if elected, I vow to win this war on Christmas once and for all!
:* I agree with my opponent all all [sic] issues and I think his economic plan is fantastic!

::'''4th Pane: Tied Birds Branch''' 
::Politician 2:
::* Tie a predatory bird to the car with a somewhat shorter rope so that it will scare off the rest of the birds without being able to reach them.
::* Training. That's why I support the "Airlift Act", which would put more resources into the hands of bird educators everywhere.
::* By opening and closing an umbrella near them.
::* One word: Fiscal hawks.

:::'''5th Pane: Airlift Act Branch''' 
:::Politician 1:
:::* But is "Airlift" an acronym?
:::* But you must agree that a bitd in the hand is worth more than three educators in the bush.
:::* Incredible!
:::* Wait... Is that like people who educate birds, or birds that teach?

::::'''6th Pane: Airlift an Acronym''' 
::::Dave:
::::* There are birds outside tied to a car.
::::* The owls in our barn are forming a union.
::::* Or course: Avian Implemented Reuseable Lifter and Ingenuous Flight Technology!

:::::'''7th Pane: Car Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* Cool, let's see who we should vote for.
:::::* I know who I'm voting for.
:::::* How many birds?

:::::'''8th-9th Panes: How Many Branch''' 
:::::Dave:
:::::* I call her "Serenity."
:::::* So when you said birds...

:::::'''10th-13th Panes: You Said Birds Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* Wait. The birds are inside!?
:::::* I needed to escape from politics anyway.

:::::'''14th-19th Panes: Birds Inside Branch''' 
:::::White Hat: Want to forget your dreams? There's a pill for that!

:'''2nd-3rd Panes: BSD Branch''' 
:[Hat Guy is confused, staring at his laptop.]
:Hat Guy: ??
:Hat Guy:
:* Now I just need to look up what a "beard error" is...
:* Wait. What's on this other partition?
:* Why is Python importing Skynet?
:* My keyboard has to support SSH over USB?

::'''4th-7th Panes: Beard Error Branch''' 
::[Hat Guy has ?? next to his head to signify confusion. [[Dave]] walks in. (continue) Dave is on the other side of the desk with his own laptop computer. Both the computers are connected through Ethernet cable. The two characters are typing on the computer. The two stop typing. Dave has ??? next to his head. Dave had stepped back while the character is checking on Dave's laptop computer. The character is holding something rectangular.]
::Dave:
::* The USB cable appears to be mono-directional.
::* Kernel mites?
::* I'm not sure rubbing butter on it will help
::* Yep. It's haunted.

:::'''8th-12th Panes: Rubbing Butter Branch''' 
:::[Dave and Hat Guy are handling their computers more aggressively.]
:::Hat Guy: ARGH!
:::[They both stop. Hat Guy walks away, his chair turned 180 degrees. Pushing aside the chair, the character returns with a fiery blowtorch while wearing goggles.]
:::Dave: [holding up a finger] Um.
:::[Hat Guy's computer was so burned, not only steam is coming out of the computer, but even the desk is noticeably burnt. The cable (apparently also burned) hangs from Dave's laptop computer. The used blowtorch is clumsily laid sideways be the side of the desk. Both Hat Guy (whose goggles are pushed off his eye) and Dave are looking at the calamity. The chair is almost out of view. The goggles are on the floor while the chair is nowhere to be seen. Dave and Hat Guy are walking away from the scene.]
:::Dave:
:::* Are you all of a sudden in the mood for Thai food?
:::* Let's try OpenBSD next time...
:::* If you'd done the other one, maybe the popcorn would have popped.
:::* Let's see if rubbing some bacon on it will work.
:::* Let's try Linux next time...

::::'''13th-14th Panes: OpenBSD Branch''' 
::::[13th panel is of a panned view. Dave and Hat Guy are walking on a path away from a house.]
::::[14th panel is back to a "normal camera view".]
::::Dave:
::::* Okay then.
::::* Let's go exploring!
::::* I love Windows.
::::* Guess not.

::'''4th-7th Panes: Other Partition Branch''' 
::[Hat Guy has ??? next to his head to signify confusion. [[Dave]] walks in. Dave is on the other side of the desk with his own laptop computer. Both the computers are connected through Ethernet cable. The two characters are typing on the computer. The two stop typing. Dave has ??? next to his head. Dave had stepped back while Hat Guy is checking on Dave's laptop computer. Hat Guy is holding something rectangular.]
::Dave:
::* Maybe if you cross connect the serial port to video port you'll be able to send the video directly in as an input for the password
::* What's a segfault?
::* I think the cameras need to face each other.
::* I'm not sure spaghetti works as a USB cable...

::'''8th Pane: Video Password Branch''' 
::[Hat Guy and Dave are at sea, both emitting ripples. A shark's fin can be seen close to Dave.]
::Dave:
::* It worked fine for the shark
::* We're definitely getting closer though
::* That didn't work!
::* It would have worked for Solaris.
::* Look, it made perfect sense at the time.
::* Still simpler than it used to be, I guess.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:April fool's comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Bobcats]]
[[Category:Boomerangs]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Dreams]]
[[Category:Firefly]]
[[Category:Google Maps]]
[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

1350: Lorenz

2014-04-03T10:07:50Z

Henke37: oh, cross story reference! didn't see that one myself.

{{comic
| number = 1350
| date = April 1, 2014
| title = Lorenz
| image = 1350_lorenz_loop.png
| titletext = Every choice, no matter how small, begins a new story
}}

{{incomplete|All possible dialogues are not yet accounted for}}

==Explanation==
This is a dynamic comic with crowd-sourced content. In honor of {{w|April Fools' Day}} the comic was posted a day early, on Tuesday instead of the usual Wednesday.

The title 'Lorenz' is referring to {{w|Edward Norton Lorenz}} who among other subjects was famous for {{w|Chaos theory}}. The title is a reference to that the story line of today's comic will include most (all?) of the user submitted dialogue and hence will in nature be chaotic. In addition, the title text, "Every choice, no matter how small", is a reference to the butterfly effect, a phrase coined by Edward Lorenz to describe how a small initial change can lead to wide variations in outcome in a chaotic system.

This comic is an example of a {{w|Choose Your Own Adventure}} story.

===Functionality and bugs===
The reader is initially presented with only one panel where Hat Guy is sitting in front of his computer. The reader is given multiple choices concerning what exactly Hat Guy is thinking. Upon choosing any option, a second panel appears, to give continuity to the story. Each new panel may have a new set of options or just the button "Continue" to see the next panel without making any choice in particular. Eventually, one may reach a dead end in which the story is interrupted and reader is presented with a text box to suggest how it should continue. Some of the suggestions given should eventually become available as new options.

It appears that new panels may be generated by Randall in near real time as user suggestions to dialog is submitted. The dialogue options are likely based on click-through rates and hence will change over day based on which choices are clicked most using {{w|A/B_testing|A/B measurement techniques..}} This will mean that the most popular choices for dialogue line will prevail as the statistics build up. In some cases, dialogue line options do not depend on the continuity of the storyline followed, suggesting that some parts of the story are planned. For example, do several of the storylines involve one of the two main characters waking up and for instance telling the other character, “I had the strangest dream…” or even reliving the dream again. This may be due to common submissions across storylines as well.

Normally, there is a total of 4 options to make: a/b/c/d. Sometimes, there are 3 or less options, with the text box to suggest an alternative option. Their order changes constantly. Sometimes, a given panel actually has 5 or more available options, although even in this case only 4 options appear at a time. Refreshing the comic changes randomly which of the available options are visible and which are hidden. As of April 2nd 2014, the existence of 5 or more options seems to occur only in a few rare cases, including the first panel itself.

Every panel has a "permalink" option which generates a unique URL for all the choices made by the reader -- so for example http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:26c8dcea-b9aa-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd will take you to a particular place in the selected choices.

{{w|HTTP cookie|Cookies}} are required to see this page properly.

====Buttons====
* Up/Down - navigate options
* Enter - choose option after navigating with Up/Down
* Left - go back one panel
* a/b/c/d - choose any option directly

====Bugs====
There seems to be a bug, where <nowiki>xkcd.com</nowiki> (http and https) are the only functioning URLs that display this comic. The URLs <nowiki>www.xkcd.org</nowiki> and <nowiki>m.xkcd.com</nowiki>, don't seem to work, instead displaying the previous comic, [[1349: Shouldn%27t Be Hard]]

===Themes===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name + Example image
! Description
|-
! Computer problems [[Image:lorenz - laptop 1.png]]
| The laptop has an unspecified problem. The two characters attempt to fix it. The story either ends with the two randomly floating in the ocean (with or without circling sharks) or with the laptop being melted using a blowtorch.
|-
! Debate [[File:lorenz - debate 1.png]]
| Hat Guy uses his laptop to watch a debate online between the Politician 1 (on the left) and the Politician 2 (Cueball, on the right), the subject and the actual conversation of which varies according to the storyline. Eventually, they fight each other, the Politician 2 using a lightsaber and the Politician 1 using his bare fists. Subjects debated:
* Politician 1 questions Politician 2's project of tying multiple birds to a car as fuel replacement, which would require some method to make the birds take off in unison. The solutions mentioned are opening and closing an umbrella near them, using a predatory bird to the car to scare them, putting resources in the hands of bird educators for the purpose of training them and employing fiscal hawks. If the Politician 1 points out some problem with the reasoning, often the solution proposed by the Politician 2 would be doing the same in a larger scale. In the end, Dave visits Hat Guy and points out something happening near involving birds as a direct result of Politician 2's project.
|-
! Dreams [[File:lorenz - wake up 1.png]]
| Sometimes, Hat Guy or Dave find themselves waking from a dream, suggesting that all prior events were just part of they dreaming. Often, in the storylines they fall in the big hole outside Hat Guy's house, they wake up from a dream. Hat Guy also wakes up after watching the debate, in some storylines. Often, the dream loops upon itself, as the characters wake up multiple times in the same storyline
|-
! Pokémon [[File:lorenz - pikachu theft.png]]
| Some of the storylines involve Pokémon battles featuring Pikachu, a very popular Pokémon. The battles are drawn in the style of the video games. (a trainer in the left-bottom corner facing the foe in the right-top corner, with a narration box below the scene and the trainer's Poké Balls visible, although some elements are missing, such as the level, gender and HP bar) Pikachu uses a number of different moves, few if any of which are from the Pokémon games. Pikachu's moves seem to be invariably remarked by the narrator as "Not very effective". In the video games, a move is "Not very effective" when the opponent's type resists the attacking move's type. Normally after a few failed attempts, there is an uncomfortable silence as the Pikachu says "Um..." and Hat Guy and Dave walk away. Pikachu is left in the grass and has time to make his final remarks as the two leave him. But rarely a suggested move knocks Pikachu out.

Pikachu's moves:
* Abandonment - Pikachu disappears completely.
* Anguish - Pikachu is sad.
* Ant Colony - Pikachu is covered in ants.
* Cute Face
* The Discrete Metric
* Ethylene Dichloride - Nothing seems to happen, but Ethylene Dichloride is a toxic chemical, so there may be future consequences for the characters.
* Extrude - Pikachu's head moves away from his body as his neck becomes long and malleable.
* Faceless - Pikachu's face disappears.
* Friendship - Pikachu is on Hat Guy's head, signifying they are now friends.
* Granite - Pikachu is atop a block of granite.
* Ink Cloud - Pikachu is covered in ink. In the storyline Pikachu uses it, there is the option to "gather" the ink.
* Radicality - Pikachu is on a skateboard.
* Struggle - In one storyline, after Pikachu uses a number of moves, it says: "Now I only have Struggle left. Tie?" In the Pokémon games, when a Pokémon runs out of PP (Power Points, the energy required to use each of its moves) for all its moves, it may only use Struggle, a weak move, indefinitely reusable, that harms not only the opponent but the user as well.
* Theft - Pikachu wears Hat Guy's hat. Pikachu seems to be using "Thief", a similarly-named actual move from the games, that is used to steal the foe's item and use it as its own.
* Uplift - Pikachu's head goes upward, separated from its body, showing a long, thick cable still connecting the head and the body.
|-
! Hole in the ground [[Image:lorenz - gap.png]]
| Cueball spots a hole in the ground and leans over it to make a comment
|-
! Tree [[image:lorenz - tree.png]]
| The characters walk past a tree.
|-
! Thinking [[image:lorenz - thinking.png]]
| One of the characters take a panel or two to think about something.
|-
! Arguing [[image:lorenz - discuss.png]]
| The two characters argue with each other
|-
! Huge hole on the lawn [[image:lorenz - hole.png]]
| There is a huge hole in the ground just outside of the building. The two characters always end up falling into it and awakening from a dream.
|-
! Space rocket [[Image:lorenz - rocket 1.png]]
| There is a rocket on the ground just outside of the building. The rocket either explodes (with a screenshot from Kerbal Space Program), fails to launch or goes off into space.
|-
! Space planet [[image:lorenz - rocket 21.png]]
| Eventually the space rocket meets a guy on a very tiny planet.
|-
! Relativistic encounter [[Image:lorenz - rocket 16.png]]
| The space rocket meets another space rocket that asks a question about relativity. The other space rocket will shoot and destroy the main rocket if the question isn't answered satisfactory. Otherwise the two rockets fly past each other.
|-
! Bomerang [[image:lorenz - boomerang 1.png]]
| The lone character finds a bomerang on the ground and throws it. The story either ends with the bomerang crashing into something of panel, the space rocket from another story branch getting hit, the character getting hit in the face with the rebound or the character putting the bomerang down on the ground.
|-
! Salesman [[image:lorenz - sale 1.png]]
| The lone character meets a salesman with a small stand.
|-
! Random dinosaur interruption [[image:lorenz - dinosaur 1.png]]
| A green T-rex interrupts the story and proceeds to stamp on the house the main characters are in.
|}

==Images==
For the images that appear in this comic, see [[1350: Lorenz/Images]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[An accurate transcript will be impossible to create because the comic changes over time..]

There are many options. Not everyone will see the same options. We are trying to capture as many options as possible in the transcript below. '''The order and options has changed since the transcripter captured the dialogue'''....The dialogue is likely based on click-through rates and hence will change over time based on which choices are clicked most using {{w|A/B_testing|A/B measurement techniques..}}

Often, when a panel is without any choices to make, there is only the option "Continue" to see the next panel.

'''1st Pane:''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:be7a3304-b685-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 permalink]) 
Hat Guy:
* Refresh... No new email... Refresh .. No new tweets... Refresh...
* These stupid tiles... I'll just play one more game.
* These stupid tiles... I'll just play one more game. [There are two completely separate branches with this same text. In one of them, it's written "i'll" in lowercase rather than "I'll".]
* Oh. Hey. There's some kind of political thing going on.
* Let's see if BSD is any easier to install nowadays.
* Gravity. Lots of it.
* Hurry! We're in talks with facebook.

:'''2nd Pane: Refresh Branch''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6479d184-b9a0-11e3-b947-94de80a03a39 permalink]) 
:Dave:
:* So you're still refusing to use Facebook?
:* Wanna build a snowman?
:* Hey. I hear Godot is in town. Wanna try to meet him?
:* You know. Your car's on fire.

:'''2nd Pane: Stupid Tiles Branch''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:79f036ac-b9a0-11e3-9003-94de80a03a39 permalink]) 
:[Dave visits Hat Guy.]
:Dave:
:* There's something weird out on the lawn.
:* There's a dinosaur at the door.
:* I heard Home Depot has 1024 bathroom tiles.
:* I think I saw a "4096" tile outside somewhere.

::'''3rd Pane: Something Weird Branch''' 
::Hat Guy:
::* This is an apartment. We don't have a lawn.
::* I have a lawn?
::* I hope it's not a bobcat this time.
::* If you reprogrammed the squirrel laser to target hipsters again...

:::'''4th-5th Panes: Apartment Branch''' 
:::[Hat Guy and Dave leave the house. They pass by a moat.]
:::Dave:
:::* OK, two weird things.
:::* I can see a creeper down there.
:::* Is this 1-1 from Mario?
:::* See? It's like a glitch in the Matrix.
:::* This isn't where I left that...

::::'''6th Pane: Two Weird Things Branch''' 
::::Dave:
::::* I count three.
::::* Why is there a gap here?
::::* Who tiled the moat?

::::'''6th Pane: Creeper Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy: Damn Griefers.

::::'''6th Pane: Mario Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave pass by a tree.]
::::Dave:
::::* Why does that tree looks fake?
::::* Actually, it's the final castle. Grab your Fire Flower!
::::* It's over this way.
::::* I've never been this far before!

:::::'''7th-11th Panes: Fake Tree Branch''' 
:::::Narrator: A wild Pikachu appeared!
:::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Theft"!
:::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
:::::Narrator: ...
:::::Pikachu: Um...

:::::'''7th Pane: Never This Far Branch''' 
:::::Dave: Are you going insane again?

::::'''6th Pane: Matrix Glitch Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* How far can we go?
::::* What the fuck?!
::::* How... How do we get everything back?

:::'''4th-5th Panes: Lawn Question Branch''' 
:::[Hat Guy and Dave leave the house. They pass by a moat.]
:::Dave:
:::* Hmmm, did you order a moat?
:::* I don't remember this being here.
:::* Look how deep it goes!
:::* It looks like I can see Moria from here.

::::'''6th Pane: Order Moat Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* It helps keep bobcats out.
::::* Of course. All cool kids have moats in their yards.
::::* I don't have the best rerlationship with my mailman.
::::* Yep. Delivered in two days, courtesy of Amazon Prime.

::::'''6th Pane: Don't Remember Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* It has begun! That's one of the first holes in reality.
::::* I wanted to jump over the massive sinkhole, but nooo, someone just had to find out what was down there.
::::* Oh, I had the moving company install it last week.
::::* We poop in it.
::::* Finally got you out of the damn house.

:::::'''7th Pane: Hole in Reality Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* I've been working on a theory that 2048 is a tool for the old ones to open up portals to this reality.
:::::* What about black holes? Those don't count?
:::::* We must go deeper.

::::::'''7th-13th Panes: Damn House Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: A wild Pikachu appeared!
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Ink Cloud"!
::::::Narrator: ...
::::::Pikachu: Um...
::::::Pikachu: Well then.
::::::Pikachu: I might have left surprises in that direction.

::::'''6th Pane: Look How Deep Branch''' 
::::Dave:
::::* I wonder if we can get someone to fall in?
::::* I'm going in. You can come if you want to. I think I see stars down there.
::::* That was a missing opportunity.
::::* I should come outside more often.

::::'''6th Pane: Moria Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* You see Moria from everywhere, Dave.
::::* Yeah, who did you think gave them a balrog?
::::* Moria is an anagram of Mario!

:::::'''7th-10th Panes: Moria Everywhere Branch''' 
:::::Narrator: A wild Pikachu appeared!
:::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Ink Cloud"!
:::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
:::::Narrator:
:::::* Google Maps didn't warn me of this.
:::::* Enemy Pikachu used "The Discrete Metric"!
:::::* Gathered the ink!

::::::'''11th-21th Panes: Google Maps Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Uplift!"
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Cute Face!"
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Faceless"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Where's Twitch when I need help?
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Abandonment"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...

::::::'''11th-15th Panes: Discrete Metric Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Extrude"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: ...
::::::Pikachu: Um...
::::::Pikachu:
::::::* Now I only have Struggle left. Tie?
::::::* We are the knights who say Ni!
::::::* What is even going on here?

:::::::'''16th Pane: Struggle Branch''' 
:::::::Pikachu: No fair!

::::::'''11th-13th Panes: Gathered Ink Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Granite"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...

:::::'''7th-10th Panes: Balrog Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* One does not simple "give" a balrog.
:::::* What? You weren't using it!
:::::* Gift-wrapping's the hardest part.

:::::'''7th Pane: Anagram Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy and Dave pass by a tree.]
:::::Dave: Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall.

:::'''4th-12th Panes: Bobcat Branch''' 
:::[A giant hole appears and they fall into it.]
:::Hat Guy and Dave: Aaaaa...
:::[Hat Guy wakes up.]
:::Hat Guy: Gasp [Goes to his desk.]
:::Hat Guy: Yawn [Sits at his desk.]
:::Hat Guy:
:::* Might as well clear more tiles.
:::* Definitely not going outside today.
:::* Thank God it wasn't a bobcat.
:::* Hmmm... I should buy a shovel.

::::'''13th Pane: Clear More Tiles Branch''' 
::::[Dave visits Hat Guy again.]
::::Dave:
::::* Um, there's a hole in your lawn...
::::* There's someone at the door looking for you.
::::* I made an apple pie.
::::* If you want to do that, I'm rebuilding my bathroom this afternoon.

:::::'''14th Pane: Hole in the Lawn Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* If it doesn't lead to a 1024 tile, I'm leaving.
:::::* Damn bobcats.
:::::* I just had a dream about that.

::::::'''15th-16th Panes: Damn Bobcats Branch''' 
::::::Dave:
::::::* Well it was here...
::::::* I don't think it was bobcats this time. Unless they have backshoes...

::::::'''15th-22th Panes: Dream Branch''' 
::::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside again and fall in the hole again~.]
::::::Hat Guy and Dave: Aaaaa...
::::::[Hat Guy wakes up, leaves the bed and finds a boomerang.]
::::::Hat Guy:
::::::* It looks like is [sic] fell from space.
::::::* I hope this isn't just another one of those dreams that keeps coming back at you.
::::::* I hope this was not thrown by a bobcat.

:::::::'''23th-26th Panes: Space Branch''' 
:::::::[Hat Guy throwns the boomerang away and it hits something.]
:::::::Crash!
:::::::[Hat Guy runs away.]

:::::::'''23th-34th Panes: Coming Back Branch''' 
:::::::[Hat Guy throws the boomerang twice, only for it to return to him both times.]
:::::::Hat Guy: Hm. I was expecting a shark.
:::::::[Hat Guy throwns the boomerang again, and it returns to him again.]

:::::::'''23th-30th Panes: Thrown by Bobcat Branch''' 
:::::::[Hat Guy throws the boomerang, only for it to return to him .]
:::::::Hat Guy: There's a mesage written on it.
:::::::[Hat Guy throws the boomerang again. It hits something.]
:::::::Crash!
:::::::[Hat Guy runs away.]

::::'''13th Pane: Thank God Branch''' 
::::Dave:
::::* You just got a package. It's by the door.
::::* Why is there a bobcat on your lawn?
::::* There's somewhere [sic] weird out on the lawn.
::::* Hey do you know why there's a giant hole in the yard?

::::'''14th Pane: Something Weird Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* This seems familiar.
::::* Hold up. I need to get my wingsuit first.
::::* I hope it's not a giant hole.
::::* I have a bad feeling about this.

::::'''15th-18th Pane: Familiar Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside.]
::::Hat Guy: I hope it's not a velociraptor.

::::'''15th-18th Pane: Hope Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside. They pass by a tree.]
::::Dave: How disappointed are you?
::::Hat Guy:
::::* I was expecting a bobcat.
::::* Oh? That's the other tree.
::::* Eh, not that much.

::::'''14th-16th Panes: Do You Know Why Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside.]
::::Hat Guy: I swear if it's a bobcat.
::::Hat Guy:
::::* Why did you bring me here?
::::* This dream has been looping for years, and yet we never tire of it. Why is that?

:::::'''17th Pane: Dream Loop Branch''' 
:::::[There is a gap in the ground. Hat Guy jumps over it, Dave looks into it.]

::::'''13th-14th Panes: Buy Shovel Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy looks at his screen wondering.]
::::Hat Guy:
::::* Wow! Shovels sure are expensive!
::::* Shovels can't be actually made out of two sticks and a row of rocks?
::::* How can there be 36 types of shovel??!
::::* These prices are insane! I wonder if you can rent a shovel...

:::::'''15th-18th Panes: Sticks and Rocks Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy is wondering more. Dave comes. They connect their laptops. Dave is wondering. Hat Guy tries something at Dave's laptop.]

:::'''4th-5th Panes: Squirrel Laser Branch''' 
:::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside.]
:::Hat Guy:
:::* Let's just say we won't have to worry about parking.
:::* No, now they're just wearing wigs ironically.
:::* Things may have gotten out of control a little.
:::* At least it improved their haircuts.

::'''3rd Pane: Bathroom Tiles Branch''' 
::Hat Guy:
::* But how many bathrooms?
::* That's 2^5 more than Ikea, I need to see for myself.
::* Let's go, I can keep playing on my phone on the drive.
::* Pfft. Amateurs. Let's go mock them.

::'''3rd Pane: Dinosaur Branch''' 
::T-Rex:
::* Self-doubt crippled my arms. Can I have yours?
::* I need a hand!
::* Did you think he was joking?
::* Sorry for just barging in, I couldn't reach the doorbell.

:::'''4th Pane: Crippled Arms Branch''' 
:::T-Rex:
:::* Never answer your mobile phone while I am addressing you!
:::* Also, have you heard about Tumblr?
:::* Also I have some trenchant observations on language and philosophy to make.
:::* It's not like you're using them.

::::'''5th Pane: Mobile Phone Branch''' 
::::[T-Rex is going to step on a house.]
::::T-Rex:
::::* I think you just entered a dead zone.
::::* Kids these days.
::::* Die you monster.

:::::'''6th Pane: Dead Zone Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, goes outside and finds a boomerang.]

:::::'''6th Pane: Kids These Days Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, and goes back to his computer.]

:::::'''6th Pane: Die You Monster Branch''' 
:::::[Dave is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, and starts singing.]
:::::Dave: [Singing] ''I woke up like this.''

::::'''5th-11th Panes: Language and Philosophy Branch''' 
::::[T-Rex is going to step on a house.]
::::* T-Rex: Also, your brain is like this house.
:::: [Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream and goes back to his computer.]

:'''2nd Pane: Stupid Tiles Branch''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffdd8916-b9a7-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd]) 
:[Dave visits Hat Guy.]
:Dave:
:* What's with those tiny games you keep playing, anyway?
:* Isn't that sort of meaningless?
:* Up for a dangerous experiment with no pay?
:* You won't believe what just fell off of your roof.

:'''2nd-3rd Panes: Political Thing Branch''' 
:Laptop: "...and let's go live to the debate."
:[Two politicians are debating on TV.]
:Politician 1:
:* In contrast to my oppponent, who I quote, "Never liked Firefly much to begin with."
:* ...but even if you tied enough birds to the car, would you get them to take off in unison?
:* And if elected, I vow to win this war on Christmas once and for all!
:* I agree with my opponent all all [sic] issues and I think his economic plan is fantastic!

::'''4th Pane: Tied Birds Branch''' 
::Politician 2:
::* Tie a predatory bird to the car with a somewhat shorter rope so that it will scare off the rest of the birds without being able to reach them.
::* Training. That's why I support the "Airlift Act", which would put more resources into the hands of bird educators everywhere.
::* By opening and closing an umbrella near them.
::* One word: Fiscal hawks.

:::'''5th Pane: Airlift Act Branch''' 
:::Politician 1:
:::* But is "Airlift" an acronym?
:::* But you must agree that a bitd in the hand is worth more than three educators in the bush.
:::* Incredible!
:::* Wait... Is that like people who educate birds, or birds that teach?

::::'''6th Pane: Airlift an Acronym''' 
::::Dave:
::::* There are birds outside tied to a car.
::::* The owls in our barn are forming a union.
::::* Or course: Avian Implemented Reuseable Lifter and Ingenuous Flight Technology!

:::::'''7th Pane: Car Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* Cool, let's see who we should vote for.
:::::* I know who I'm voting for.
:::::* How many birds?

:::::'''8th-9th Panes: How Many Branch''' 
:::::Dave:
:::::* I call her "Serenity."
:::::* So when you said birds...

:::::'''10th-13th Panes: You Said Birds Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* Wait. The birds are inside!?
:::::* I needed to escape from politics anyway.

:::::'''14th-19th Panes: Birds Inside Branch''' 
:::::White Hat: Want to forget your dreams? There's a pill for that!

:'''2nd-3rd Panes: BSD Branch''' 
:[Hat Guy is confused, staring at his laptop.]
:Hat Guy: ??
:Hat Guy:
:* Now I just need to look up what a "beard error" is...
:* Wait. What's on this other partition?
:* Why is Python importing Skynet?
:* My keyboard has to support SSH over USB?

::'''4th-7th Panes: Beard Error Branch''' 
::[Hat Guy has ?? next to his head to signify confusion. [[Dave]] walks in. (continue) Dave is on the other side of the desk with his own laptop computer. Both the computers are connected through Ethernet cable. The two characters are typing on the computer. The two stop typing. Dave has ??? next to his head. Dave had stepped back while the character is checking on Dave's laptop computer. The character is holding something rectangular.]
::Dave:
::* The USB cable appears to be mono-directional.
::* Kernel mites?
::* I'm not sure rubbing butter on it will help
::* Yep. It's haunted.

:::'''8th-12th Panes: Rubbing Butter Branch''' 
:::[Dave and Hat Guy are handling their computers more aggressively.]
:::Hat Guy: ARGH!
:::[They both stop. Hat Guy walks away, his chair turned 180 degrees. Pushing aside the chair, the character returns with a fiery blowtorch while wearing goggles.]
:::Dave: [holding up a finger] Um.
:::[Hat Guy's computer was so burned, not only steam is coming out of the computer, but even the desk is noticeably burnt. The cable (apparently also burned) hangs from Dave's laptop computer. The used blowtorch is clumsily laid sideways be the side of the desk. Both Hat Guy (whose goggles are pushed off his eye) and Dave are looking at the calamity. The chair is almost out of view. The goggles are on the floor while the chair is nowhere to be seen. Dave and Hat Guy are walking away from the scene.]
:::Dave:
:::* Are you all of a sudden in the mood for Thai food?
:::* Let's try OpenBSD next time...
:::* If you'd done the other one, maybe the popcorn would have popped.
:::* Let's see if rubbing some bacon on it will work.
:::* Let's try Linux next time...

::::'''13th-14th Panes: OpenBSD Branch''' 
::::[13th panel is of a panned view. Dave and Hat Guy are walking on a path away from a house.]
::::[14th panel is back to a "normal camera view".]
::::Dave:
::::* Okay then.
::::* Let's go exploring!
::::* I love Windows.
::::* Guess not.

::'''4th-7th Panes: Other Partition Branch''' 
::[Hat Guy has ??? next to his head to signify confusion. [[Dave]] walks in. Dave is on the other side of the desk with his own laptop computer. Both the computers are connected through Ethernet cable. The two characters are typing on the computer. The two stop typing. Dave has ??? next to his head. Dave had stepped back while Hat Guy is checking on Dave's laptop computer. Hat Guy is holding something rectangular.]
::Dave:
::* Maybe if you cross connect the serial port to video port you'll be able to send the video directly in as an input for the password
::* What's a segfault?
::* I think the cameras need to face each other.
::* I'm not sure spaghetti works as a USB cable...

::'''8th Pane: Video Password Branch''' 
::[Hat Guy and Dave are at sea, both emitting ripples. A shark's fin can be seen close to Dave.]
::Dave:
::* It worked fine for the shark
::* We're definitely getting closer though
::* That didn't work!
::* It would have worked for Solaris.
::* Look, it made perfect sense at the time.
::* Still simpler than it used to be, I guess.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:April fool's comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Bobcats]]
[[Category:Boomerangs]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Dreams]]
[[Category:Firefly]]
[[Category:Google Maps]]
[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

1350: Lorenz

2014-04-03T09:59:13Z

Henke37: images for the new stories

{{comic
| number = 1350
| date = April 1, 2014
| title = Lorenz
| image = 1350_lorenz_loop.png
| titletext = Every choice, no matter how small, begins a new story
}}

{{incomplete|All possible dialogues are not yet accounted for}}

==Explanation==
This is a dynamic comic with crowd-sourced content. In honor of {{w|April Fools' Day}} the comic was posted a day early, on Tuesday instead of the usual Wednesday.

The title 'Lorenz' is referring to {{w|Edward Norton Lorenz}} who among other subjects was famous for {{w|Chaos theory}}. The title is a reference to that the story line of today's comic will include most (all?) of the user submitted dialogue and hence will in nature be chaotic. In addition, the title text, "Every choice, no matter how small", is a reference to the butterfly effect, a phrase coined by Edward Lorenz to describe how a small initial change can lead to wide variations in outcome in a chaotic system.

This comic is an example of a {{w|Choose Your Own Adventure}} story.

===Functionality and bugs===
The reader is initially presented with only one panel where Hat Guy is sitting in front of his computer. The reader is given multiple choices concerning what exactly Hat Guy is thinking. Upon choosing any option, a second panel appears, to give continuity to the story. Each new panel may have a new set of options or just the button "Continue" to see the next panel without making any choice in particular. Eventually, one may reach a dead end in which the story is interrupted and reader is presented with a text box to suggest how it should continue. Some of the suggestions given should eventually become available as new options.

It appears that new panels may be generated by Randall in near real time as user suggestions to dialog is submitted. The dialogue options are likely based on click-through rates and hence will change over day based on which choices are clicked most using {{w|A/B_testing|A/B measurement techniques..}} This will mean that the most popular choices for dialogue line will prevail as the statistics build up. In some cases, dialogue line options do not depend on the continuity of the storyline followed, suggesting that some parts of the story are planned. For example, do several of the storylines involve one of the two main characters waking up and for instance telling the other character, “I had the strangest dream…” or even reliving the dream again. This may be due to common submissions across storylines as well.

Normally, there is a total of 4 options to make: a/b/c/d. Sometimes, there are 3 or less options, with the text box to suggest an alternative option. Their order changes constantly. Sometimes, a given panel actually has 5 or more available options, although even in this case only 4 options appear at a time. Refreshing the comic changes randomly which of the available options are visible and which are hidden. As of April 2nd 2014, the existence of 5 or more options seems to occur only in a few rare cases, including the first panel itself.

Every panel has a "permalink" option which generates a unique URL for all the choices made by the reader -- so for example http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:26c8dcea-b9aa-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd will take you to a particular place in the selected choices.

{{w|HTTP cookie|Cookies}} are required to see this page properly.

====Buttons====
* Up/Down - navigate options
* Enter - choose option after navigating with Up/Down
* Left - go back one panel
* a/b/c/d - choose any option directly

====Bugs====
There seems to be a bug, where <nowiki>xkcd.com</nowiki> (http and https) are the only functioning URLs that display this comic. The URLs <nowiki>www.xkcd.org</nowiki> and <nowiki>m.xkcd.com</nowiki>, don't seem to work, instead displaying the previous comic, [[1349: Shouldn%27t Be Hard]]

===Themes===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name + Example image
! Description
|-
! Computer problems [[Image:lorenz - laptop 1.png]]
| The laptop has an unspecified problem. The two characters attempt to fix it. The story either ends with the two randomly floating in the ocean (with or without circling sharks) or with the laptop being melted using a blowtorch.
|-
! Debate [[File:lorenz - debate 1.png]]
| Hat Guy uses his laptop to watch a debate online between the Politician 1 (on the left) and the Politician 2 (Cueball, on the right), the subject and the actual conversation of which varies according to the storyline. Eventually, they fight each other, the Politician 2 using a lightsaber and the Politician 1 using his bare fists. Subjects debated:
* Politician 1 questions Politician 2's project of tying multiple birds to a car as fuel replacement, which would require some method to make the birds take off in unison. The solutions mentioned are opening and closing an umbrella near them, using a predatory bird to the car to scare them, putting resources in the hands of bird educators for the purpose of training them and employing fiscal hawks. If the Politician 1 points out some problem with the reasoning, often the solution proposed by the Politician 2 would be doing the same in a larger scale. In the end, Dave visits Hat Guy and points out something happening near involving birds as a direct result of Politician 2's project.
|-
! Dreams [[File:lorenz - wake up 1.png]]
| Sometimes, Hat Guy or Dave find themselves waking from a dream, suggesting that all prior events were just part of they dreaming. Often, in the storylines they fall in the big hole outside Hat Guy's house, they wake up from a dream. Hat Guy also wakes up after watching the debate, in some storylines. Often, the dream loops upon itself, as the characters wake up multiple times in the same storyline
|-
! Pokémon [[File:lorenz - pikachu theft.png]]
| Some of the storylines involve Pokémon battles featuring Pikachu, a very popular Pokémon. The battles are drawn in the style of the video games. (a trainer in the left-bottom corner facing the foe in the right-top corner, with a narration box below the scene and the trainer's Poké Balls visible, although some elements are missing, such as the level, gender and HP bar) Pikachu uses a number of different moves, few if any of which are from the Pokémon games. Pikachu's moves seem to be invariably remarked by the narrator as "Not very effective". In the video games, a move is "Not very effective" when the opponent's type resists the attacking move's type. Normally after a few failed attempts, there is an uncomfortable silence as the Pikachu says "Um..." and Hat Guy and Dave walk away. Pikachu is left in the grass and has time to make his final remarks as the two leave him. But rarely a suggested move knocks Pikachu out.

Pikachu's moves:
* Abandonment - Pikachu disappears completely.
* Anguish - Pikachu is sad.
* Ant Colony - Pikachu is covered in ants.
* Cute Face
* The Discrete Metric
* Ethylene Dichloride - Nothing seems to happen, but Ethylene Dichloride is a toxic chemical, so there may be future consequences for the characters.
* Extrude - Pikachu's head moves away from his body as his neck becomes long and malleable.
* Faceless - Pikachu's face disappears.
* Friendship - Pikachu is on Hat Guy's head, signifying they are now friends.
* Granite - Pikachu is atop a block of granite.
* Ink Cloud - Pikachu is covered in ink. In the storyline Pikachu uses it, there is the option to "gather" the ink.
* Radicality - Pikachu is on a skateboard.
* Struggle - In one storyline, after Pikachu uses a number of moves, it says: "Now I only have Struggle left. Tie?" In the Pokémon games, when a Pokémon runs out of PP (Power Points, the energy required to use each of its moves) for all its moves, it may only use Struggle, a weak move, indefinitely reusable, that harms not only the opponent but the user as well.
* Theft - Pikachu wears Hat Guy's hat. Pikachu seems to be using "Thief", a similarly-named actual move from the games, that is used to steal the foe's item and use it as its own.
* Uplift - Pikachu's head goes upward, separated from its body, showing a long, thick cable still connecting the head and the body.
|-
! Hole in the ground [[Image:lorenz - gap.png]]
| Cueball spots a hole in the ground and leans over it to make a comment
|-
! Tree [[image:lorenz - tree.png]]
| The characters walk past a tree.
|-
! Thinking [[image:lorenz - thinking.png]]
| One of the characters take a panel or two to think about something.
|-
! Arguing [[image:lorenz - discuss.png]]
| The two characters argue with each other
|-
! Huge hole on the lawn [[image:lorenz - hole.png]]
| There is a huge hole in the ground just outside of the building. The two characters always end up falling into it and awakening from a dream.
|-
! Space rocket [[Image:lorenz - rocket 1.png]]
| There is a rocket on the ground just outside of the building. The rocket either explodes (with a screenshot from Kerbal Space Program), fails to launch or goes off into space.
|-
! Space planet [[image:lorenz - rocket 21.png]]
| Eventually the space rocket meets a guy on a very tiny planet.
|-
! Relativistic encounter [[Image:lorenz - rocket 16.png]]
| The space rocket meets another space rocket that asks a question about relativity. The other space rocket will shoot and destroy the main rocket if the question isn't answered satisfactory. Otherwise the two rockets fly past each other.
|-
! Bomerang [[image:lorenz - boomerang 1.png]]
| The lone character finds a bomerang on the ground and throws it. The story either ends with the bomerang crashing into something of panel, the character getting hit in the face with the rebound or the character putting the bomerang down on the ground.
|-
! Salesman [[image:lorenz - sale 1.png]]
| The lone character meets a salesman with a small stand.
|-
! Random dinosaur interruption [[image:lorenz - dinosaur 1.png]]
| A green T-rex interrupts the story and proceeds to stamp on the house the main characters are in.
|}

==Images==
For the images that appear in this comic, see [[1350: Lorenz/Images]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[An accurate transcript will be impossible to create because the comic changes over time..]

There are many options. Not everyone will see the same options. We are trying to capture as many options as possible in the transcript below. '''The order and options has changed since the transcripter captured the dialogue'''....The dialogue is likely based on click-through rates and hence will change over time based on which choices are clicked most using {{w|A/B_testing|A/B measurement techniques..}}

Often, when a panel is without any choices to make, there is only the option "Continue" to see the next panel.

'''1st Pane:''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:be7a3304-b685-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 permalink]) 
Hat Guy:
* Refresh... No new email... Refresh .. No new tweets... Refresh...
* These stupid tiles... I'll just play one more game.
* These stupid tiles... I'll just play one more game. [There are two completely separate branches with this same text. In one of them, it's written "i'll" in lowercase rather than "I'll".]
* Oh. Hey. There's some kind of political thing going on.
* Let's see if BSD is any easier to install nowadays.
* Gravity. Lots of it.

:'''2nd Pane: Refresh Branch''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6479d184-b9a0-11e3-b947-94de80a03a39 permalink]) 
:Dave:
:* So you're still refusing to use Facebook?
:* Wanna build a snowman?
:* Hey. I hear Godot is in town. Wanna try to meet him?
:* You know. Your car's on fire.

:'''2nd Pane: Stupid Tiles Branch''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:79f036ac-b9a0-11e3-9003-94de80a03a39 permalink]) 
:[Dave visits Hat Guy.]
:Dave:
:* There's something weird out on the lawn.
:* There's a dinosaur at the door.
:* I heard Home Depot has 1024 bathroom tiles.
:* I think I saw a "4096" tile outside somewhere.

::'''3rd Pane: Something Weird Branch''' 
::Hat Guy:
::* This is an apartment. We don't have a lawn.
::* I have a lawn?
::* I hope it's not a bobcat this time.
::* If you reprogrammed the squirrel laser to target hipsters again...

:::'''4th-5th Panes: Apartment Branch''' 
:::[Hat Guy and Dave leave the house. They pass by a moat.]
:::Dave:
:::* OK, two weird things.
:::* I can see a creeper down there.
:::* Is this 1-1 from Mario?
:::* See? It's like a glitch in the Matrix.
:::* This isn't where I left that...

::::'''6th Pane: Two Weird Things Branch''' 
::::Dave:
::::* I count three.
::::* Why is there a gap here?
::::* Who tiled the moat?

::::'''6th Pane: Creeper Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy: Damn Griefers.

::::'''6th Pane: Mario Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave pass by a tree.]
::::Dave:
::::* Why does that tree looks fake?
::::* Actually, it's the final castle. Grab your Fire Flower!
::::* It's over this way.
::::* I've never been this far before!

:::::'''7th-11th Panes: Fake Tree Branch''' 
:::::Narrator: A wild Pikachu appeared!
:::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Theft"!
:::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
:::::Narrator: ...
:::::Pikachu: Um...

:::::'''7th Pane: Never This Far Branch''' 
:::::Dave: Are you going insane again?

::::'''6th Pane: Matrix Glitch Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* How far can we go?
::::* What the fuck?!
::::* How... How do we get everything back?

:::'''4th-5th Panes: Lawn Question Branch''' 
:::[Hat Guy and Dave leave the house. They pass by a moat.]
:::Dave:
:::* Hmmm, did you order a moat?
:::* I don't remember this being here.
:::* Look how deep it goes!
:::* It looks like I can see Moria from here.

::::'''6th Pane: Order Moat Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* It helps keep bobcats out.
::::* Of course. All cool kids have moats in their yards.
::::* I don't have the best rerlationship with my mailman.
::::* Yep. Delivered in two days, courtesy of Amazon Prime.

::::'''6th Pane: Don't Remember Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* It has begun! That's one of the first holes in reality.
::::* I wanted to jump over the massive sinkhole, but nooo, someone just had to find out what was down there.
::::* Oh, I had the moving company install it last week.
::::* We poop in it.
::::* Finally got you out of the damn house.

:::::'''7th Pane: Hole in Reality Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* I've been working on a theory that 2048 is a tool for the old ones to open up portals to this reality.
:::::* What about black holes? Those don't count?
:::::* We must go deeper.

::::::'''7th-13th Panes: Damn House Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: A wild Pikachu appeared!
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Ink Cloud"!
::::::Narrator: ...
::::::Pikachu: Um...
::::::Pikachu: Well then.
::::::Pikachu: I might have left surprises in that direction.

::::'''6th Pane: Look How Deep Branch''' 
::::Dave:
::::* I wonder if we can get someone to fall in?
::::* I'm going in. You can come if you want to. I think I see stars down there.
::::* That was a missing opportunity.
::::* I should come outside more often.

::::'''6th Pane: Moria Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* You see Moria from everywhere, Dave.
::::* Yeah, who did you think gave them a balrog?
::::* Moria is an anagram of Mario!

:::::'''7th-10th Panes: Moria Everywhere Branch''' 
:::::Narrator: A wild Pikachu appeared!
:::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Ink Cloud"!
:::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
:::::Narrator:
:::::* Google Maps didn't warn me of this.
:::::* Enemy Pikachu used "The Discrete Metric"!
:::::* Gathered the ink!

::::::'''11th-21th Panes: Google Maps Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Uplift!"
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Cute Face!"
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Faceless"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Where's Twitch when I need help?
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Abandonment"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...

::::::'''11th-15th Panes: Discrete Metric Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Extrude"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: ...
::::::Pikachu: Um...
::::::Pikachu:
::::::* Now I only have Struggle left. Tie?
::::::* We are the knights who say Ni!
::::::* What is even going on here?

:::::::'''16th Pane: Struggle Branch''' 
:::::::Pikachu: No fair!

::::::'''11th-13th Panes: Gathered Ink Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Granite"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...

:::::'''7th-10th Panes: Balrog Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* One does not simple "give" a balrog.
:::::* What? You weren't using it!
:::::* Gift-wrapping's the hardest part.

:::::'''7th Pane: Anagram Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy and Dave pass by a tree.]
:::::Dave: Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall.

:::'''4th-12th Panes: Bobcat Branch''' 
:::[A giant hole appears and they fall into it.]
:::Hat Guy and Dave: Aaaaa...
:::[Hat Guy wakes up.]
:::Hat Guy: Gasp [Goes to his desk.]
:::Hat Guy: Yawn [Sits at his desk.]
:::Hat Guy:
:::* Might as well clear more tiles.
:::* Definitely not going outside today.
:::* Thank God it wasn't a bobcat.
:::* Hmmm... I should buy a shovel.

::::'''13th Pane: Clear More Tiles Branch''' 
::::[Dave visits Hat Guy again.]
::::Dave:
::::* Um, there's a hole in your lawn...
::::* There's someone at the door looking for you.
::::* I made an apple pie.
::::* If you want to do that, I'm rebuilding my bathroom this afternoon.

:::::'''14th Pane: Hole in the Lawn Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* If it doesn't lead to a 1024 tile, I'm leaving.
:::::* Damn bobcats.
:::::* I just had a dream about that.

::::::'''15th-16th Panes: Damn Bobcats Branch''' 
::::::Dave:
::::::* Well it was here...
::::::* I don't think it was bobcats this time. Unless they have backshoes...

::::::'''15th-22th Panes: Dream Branch''' 
::::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside again and fall in the hole again~.]
::::::Hat Guy and Dave: Aaaaa...
::::::[Hat Guy wakes up, leaves the bed and finds a boomerang.]
::::::Hat Guy:
::::::* It looks like is [sic] fell from space.
::::::* I hope this isn't just another one of those dreams that keeps coming back at you.
::::::* I hope this was not thrown by a bobcat.

:::::::'''23th-26th Panes: Space Branch''' 
:::::::[Hat Guy throwns the boomerang away and it hits something.]
:::::::Crash!
:::::::[Hat Guy runs away.]

:::::::'''23th-34th Panes: Coming Back Branch''' 
:::::::[Hat Guy throws the boomerang twice, only for it to return to him both times.]
:::::::Hat Guy: Hm. I was expecting a shark.
:::::::[Hat Guy throwns the boomerang again, and it returns to him again.]

:::::::'''23th-30th Panes: Thrown by Bobcat Branch''' 
:::::::[Hat Guy throws the boomerang, only for it to return to him .]
:::::::Hat Guy: There's a mesage written on it.
:::::::[Hat Guy throws the boomerang again. It hits something.]
:::::::Crash!
:::::::[Hat Guy runs away.]

::::'''13th Pane: Thank God Branch''' 
::::Dave:
::::* You just got a package. It's by the door.
::::* Why is there a bobcat on your lawn?
::::* There's somewhere [sic] weird out on the lawn.
::::* Hey do you know why there's a giant hole in the yard?

::::'''14th Pane: Something Weird Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* This seems familiar.
::::* Hold up. I need to get my wingsuit first.
::::* I hope it's not a giant hole.
::::* I have a bad feeling about this.

::::'''15th-18th Pane: Familiar Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside.]
::::Hat Guy: I hope it's not a velociraptor.

::::'''15th-18th Pane: Hope Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside. They pass by a tree.]
::::Dave: How disappointed are you?
::::Hat Guy:
::::* I was expecting a bobcat.
::::* Oh? That's the other tree.
::::* Eh, not that much.

::::'''14th-16th Panes: Do You Know Why Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside.]
::::Hat Guy: I swear if it's a bobcat.
::::Hat Guy:
::::* Why did you bring me here?
::::* This dream has been looping for years, and yet we never tire of it. Why is that?

:::::'''17th Pane: Dream Loop Branch''' 
:::::[There is a gap in the ground. Hat Guy jumps over it, Dave looks into it.]

::::'''13th-14th Panes: Buy Shovel Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy looks at his screen wondering.]
::::Hat Guy:
::::* Wow! Shovels sure are expensive!
::::* Shovels can't be actually made out of two sticks and a row of rocks?
::::* How can there be 36 types of shovel??!
::::* These prices are insane! I wonder if you can rent a shovel...

:::::'''15th-18th Panes: Sticks and Rocks Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy is wondering more. Dave comes. They connect their laptops. Dave is wondering. Hat Guy tries something at Dave's laptop.]

:::'''4th-5th Panes: Squirrel Laser Branch''' 
:::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside.]
:::Hat Guy:
:::* Let's just say we won't have to worry about parking.
:::* No, now they're just wearing wigs ironically.
:::* Things may have gotten out of control a little.
:::* At least it improved their haircuts.

::'''3rd Pane: Bathroom Tiles Branch''' 
::Hat Guy:
::* But how many bathrooms?
::* That's 2^5 more than Ikea, I need to see for myself.
::* Let's go, I can keep playing on my phone on the drive.
::* Pfft. Amateurs. Let's go mock them.

::'''3rd Pane: Dinosaur Branch''' 
::T-Rex:
::* Self-doubt crippled my arms. Can I have yours?
::* I need a hand!
::* Did you think he was joking?
::* Sorry for just barging in, I couldn't reach the doorbell.

:::'''4th Pane: Crippled Arms Branch''' 
:::T-Rex:
:::* Never answer your mobile phone while I am addressing you!
:::* Also, have you heard about Tumblr?
:::* Also I have some trenchant observations on language and philosophy to make.
:::* It's not like you're using them.

::::'''5th Pane: Mobile Phone Branch''' 
::::[T-Rex is going to step on a house.]
::::T-Rex:
::::* I think you just entered a dead zone.
::::* Kids these days.
::::* Die you monster.

:::::'''6th Pane: Dead Zone Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, goes outside and finds a boomerang.]

:::::'''6th Pane: Kids These Days Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, and goes back to his computer.]

:::::'''6th Pane: Die You Monster Branch''' 
:::::[Dave is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, and starts singing.]
:::::Dave: [Singing] ''I woke up like this.''

::::'''5th-11th Panes: Language and Philosophy Branch''' 
::::[T-Rex is going to step on a house.]
::::* T-Rex: Also, your brain is like this house.
:::: [Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream and goes back to his computer.]

:'''2nd Pane: Stupid Tiles Branch''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffdd8916-b9a7-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd]) 
:[Dave visits Hat Guy.]
:Dave:
:* What's with those tiny games you keep playing, anyway?
:* Isn't that sort of meaningless?
:* Up for a dangerous experiment with no pay?
:* You won't believe what just fell off of your roof.

:'''2nd-3rd Panes: Political Thing Branch''' 
:Laptop: "...and let's go live to the debate."
:[Two politicians are debating on TV.]
:Politician 1:
:* In contrast to my oppponent, who I quote, "Never liked Firefly much to begin with."
:* ...but even if you tied enough birds to the car, would you get them to take off in unison?
:* And if elected, I vow to win this war on Christmas once and for all!
:* I agree with my opponent all all [sic] issues and I think his economic plan is fantastic!

::'''4th Pane: Tied Birds Branch''' 
::Politician 2:
::* Tie a predatory bird to the car with a somewhat shorter rope so that it will scare off the rest of the birds without being able to reach them.
::* Training. That's why I support the "Airlift Act", which would put more resources into the hands of bird educators everywhere.
::* By opening and closing an umbrella near them.
::* One word: Fiscal hawks.

:::'''5th Pane: Airlift Act Branch''' 
:::Politician 1:
:::* But is "Airlift" an acronym?
:::* But you must agree that a bitd in the hand is worth more than three educators in the bush.
:::* Incredible!
:::* Wait... Is that like people who educate birds, or birds that teach?

::::'''6th Pane: Airlift an Acronym''' 
::::Dave:
::::* There are birds outside tied to a car.
::::* The owls in our barn are forming a union.
::::* Or course: Avian Implemented Reuseable Lifter and Ingenuous Flight Technology!

:::::'''7th Pane: Car Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* Cool, let's see who we should vote for.
:::::* I know who I'm voting for.
:::::* How many birds?

:::::'''8th-9th Panes: How Many Branch''' 
:::::Dave:
:::::* I call her "Serenity."
:::::* So when you said birds...

:::::'''10th-13th Panes: You Said Birds Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* Wait. The birds are inside!?
:::::* I needed to escape from politics anyway.

:::::'''14th-19th Panes: Birds Inside Branch''' 
:::::White Hat: Want to forget your dreams? There's a pill for that!

:'''2nd-3rd Panes: BSD Branch''' 
:[Hat Guy is confused, staring at his laptop.]
:Hat Guy: ??
:Hat Guy:
:* Now I just need to look up what a "beard error" is...
:* Wait. What's on this other partition?
:* Why is Python importing Skynet?
:* My keyboard has to support SSH over USB?

::'''4th-7th Panes: Beard Error Branch''' 
::[Hat Guy has ?? next to his head to signify confusion. [[Dave]] walks in. (continue) Dave is on the other side of the desk with his own laptop computer. Both the computers are connected through Ethernet cable. The two characters are typing on the computer. The two stop typing. Dave has ??? next to his head. Dave had stepped back while the character is checking on Dave's laptop computer. The character is holding something rectangular.]
::Dave:
::* The USB cable appears to be mono-directional.
::* Kernel mites?
::* I'm not sure rubbing butter on it will help
::* Yep. It's haunted.

:::'''8th-12th Panes: Rubbing Butter Branch''' 
:::[Dave and Hat Guy are handling their computers more aggressively.]
:::Hat Guy: ARGH!
:::[They both stop. Hat Guy walks away, his chair turned 180 degrees. Pushing aside the chair, the character returns with a fiery blowtorch while wearing goggles.]
:::Dave: [holding up a finger] Um.
:::[Hat Guy's computer was so burned, not only steam is coming out of the computer, but even the desk is noticeably burnt. The cable (apparently also burned) hangs from Dave's laptop computer. The used blowtorch is clumsily laid sideways be the side of the desk. Both Hat Guy (whose goggles are pushed off his eye) and Dave are looking at the calamity. The chair is almost out of view. The goggles are on the floor while the chair is nowhere to be seen. Dave and Hat Guy are walking away from the scene.]
:::Dave:
:::* Are you all of a sudden in the mood for Thai food?
:::* Let's try OpenBSD next time...
:::* If you'd done the other one, maybe the popcorn would have popped.
:::* Let's see if rubbing some bacon on it will work.
:::* Let's try Linux next time...

::::'''13th-14th Panes: OpenBSD Branch''' 
::::[13th panel is of a panned view. Dave and Hat Guy are walking on a path away from a house.]
::::[14th panel is back to a "normal camera view".]
::::Dave:
::::* Okay then.
::::* Let's go exploring!
::::* I love Windows.
::::* Guess not.

::'''4th-7th Panes: Other Partition Branch''' 
::[Hat Guy has ??? next to his head to signify confusion. [[Dave]] walks in. Dave is on the other side of the desk with his own laptop computer. Both the computers are connected through Ethernet cable. The two characters are typing on the computer. The two stop typing. Dave has ??? next to his head. Dave had stepped back while Hat Guy is checking on Dave's laptop computer. Hat Guy is holding something rectangular.]
::Dave:
::* Maybe if you cross connect the serial port to video port you'll be able to send the video directly in as an input for the password
::* What's a segfault?
::* I think the cameras need to face each other.
::* I'm not sure spaghetti works as a USB cable...

::'''8th Pane: Video Password Branch''' 
::[Hat Guy and Dave are at sea, both emitting ripples. A shark's fin can be seen close to Dave.]
::Dave:
::* It worked fine for the shark
::* We're definitely getting closer though
::* That didn't work!
::* It would have worked for Solaris.
::* Look, it made perfect sense at the time.
::* Still simpler than it used to be, I guess.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:April fool's comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Bobcats]]
[[Category:Boomerangs]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Dreams]]
[[Category:Firefly]]
[[Category:Google Maps]]
[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

1350: Lorenz

2014-04-03T09:50:26Z

Henke37: more possible storylines

{{comic
| number = 1350
| date = April 1, 2014
| title = Lorenz
| image = 1350_lorenz_loop.png
| titletext = Every choice, no matter how small, begins a new story
}}

{{incomplete|All possible dialogues are not yet accounted for}}

==Explanation==
This is a dynamic comic with crowd-sourced content. In honor of {{w|April Fools' Day}} the comic was posted a day early, on Tuesday instead of the usual Wednesday.

The title 'Lorenz' is referring to {{w|Edward Norton Lorenz}} who among other subjects was famous for {{w|Chaos theory}}. The title is a reference to that the story line of today's comic will include most (all?) of the user submitted dialogue and hence will in nature be chaotic. In addition, the title text, "Every choice, no matter how small", is a reference to the butterfly effect, a phrase coined by Edward Lorenz to describe how a small initial change can lead to wide variations in outcome in a chaotic system.

This comic is an example of a {{w|Choose Your Own Adventure}} story.

===Functionality and bugs===
The reader is initially presented with only one panel where Hat Guy is sitting in front of his computer. The reader is given multiple choices concerning what exactly Hat Guy is thinking. Upon choosing any option, a second panel appears, to give continuity to the story. Each new panel may have a new set of options or just the button "Continue" to see the next panel without making any choice in particular. Eventually, one may reach a dead end in which the story is interrupted and reader is presented with a text box to suggest how it should continue. Some of the suggestions given should eventually become available as new options.

It appears that new panels may be generated by Randall in near real time as user suggestions to dialog is submitted. The dialogue options are likely based on click-through rates and hence will change over day based on which choices are clicked most using {{w|A/B_testing|A/B measurement techniques..}} This will mean that the most popular choices for dialogue line will prevail as the statistics build up. In some cases, dialogue line options do not depend on the continuity of the storyline followed, suggesting that some parts of the story are planned. For example, do several of the storylines involve one of the two main characters waking up and for instance telling the other character, “I had the strangest dream…” or even reliving the dream again. This may be due to common submissions across storylines as well.

Normally, there is a total of 4 options to make: a/b/c/d. Sometimes, there are 3 or less options, with the text box to suggest an alternative option. Their order changes constantly. Sometimes, a given panel actually has 5 or more available options, although even in this case only 4 options appear at a time. Refreshing the comic changes randomly which of the available options are visible and which are hidden. As of April 2nd 2014, the existence of 5 or more options seems to occur only in a few rare cases, including the first panel itself.

Every panel has a "permalink" option which generates a unique URL for all the choices made by the reader -- so for example http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:26c8dcea-b9aa-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd will take you to a particular place in the selected choices.

{{w|HTTP cookie|Cookies}} are required to see this page properly.

====Buttons====
* Up/Down - navigate options
* Enter - choose option after navigating with Up/Down
* Left - go back one panel
* a/b/c/d - choose any option directly

====Bugs====
There seems to be a bug, where <nowiki>xkcd.com</nowiki> (http and https) are the only functioning URLs that display this comic. The URLs <nowiki>www.xkcd.org</nowiki> and <nowiki>m.xkcd.com</nowiki>, don't seem to work, instead displaying the previous comic, [[1349: Shouldn%27t Be Hard]]

===Themes===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name + Example image
! Description
|-
! Computer problems
| The laptop has an unspecified problem. The two characters attempt to fix it. The story either ends with the two randomly floating in the ocean (with or without circling sharks) or with the laptop being melted using a blowtorch.
|-
! Debate [[File:lorenz - debate 1.png]]
| Hat Guy uses his laptop to watch a debate online between the Politician 1 (on the left) and the Politician 2 (Cueball, on the right), the subject and the actual conversation of which varies according to the storyline. Eventually, they fight each other, the Politician 2 using a lightsaber and the Politician 1 using his bare fists. Subjects debated:
* Politician 1 questions Politician 2's project of tying multiple birds to a car as fuel replacement, which would require some method to make the birds take off in unison. The solutions mentioned are opening and closing an umbrella near them, using a predatory bird to the car to scare them, putting resources in the hands of bird educators for the purpose of training them and employing fiscal hawks. If the Politician 1 points out some problem with the reasoning, often the solution proposed by the Politician 2 would be doing the same in a larger scale. In the end, Dave visits Hat Guy and points out something happening near involving birds as a direct result of Politician 2's project.
|-
! Dreams [[File:lorenz - wake up 1.png]]
| Sometimes, Hat Guy or Dave find themselves waking from a dream, suggesting that all prior events were just part of they dreaming. Often, in the storylines they fall in the big hole outside Hat Guy's house, they wake up from a dream. Hat Guy also wakes up after watching the debate, in some storylines. Often, the dream loops upon itself, as the characters wake up multiple times in the same storyline
|-
! Pokémon [[File:lorenz - pikachu theft.png]]
| Some of the storylines involve Pokémon battles featuring Pikachu, a very popular Pokémon. The battles are drawn in the style of the video games. (a trainer in the left-bottom corner facing the foe in the right-top corner, with a narration box below the scene and the trainer's Poké Balls visible, although some elements are missing, such as the level, gender and HP bar) Pikachu uses a number of different moves, few if any of which are from the Pokémon games. Pikachu's moves seem to be invariably remarked by the narrator as "Not very effective". In the video games, a move is "Not very effective" when the opponent's type resists the attacking move's type. Normally after a few failed attempts, there is an uncomfortable silence as the Pikachu says "Um..." and Hat Guy and Dave walk away. Pikachu is left in the grass and has time to make his final remarks as the two leave him. But rarely a suggested move knocks Pikachu out.

Pikachu's moves:
* Abandonment - Pikachu disappears completely.
* Anguish - Pikachu is sad.
* Ant Colony - Pikachu is covered in ants.
* Cute Face
* The Discrete Metric
* Extrude - Pikachu's head moves away from his body as his neck becomes long and maleable.
* Granite - Pikachu appears atop a granite platform.
* Ethylene Dichloride - Nothing seems to happen, but Ethylene Dichloride is a toxic chemical, so there may be future consequences for the characters.
* Faceless - Pikachu's face disappears.
* Friendship - Pikachu is on Hat Guy's head, signifying they are now friends.
* Granite - Pikachu is atop a block of granite.
* Ink Cloud - Pikachu is covered in ink. In the storyline Pikachu uses it, there is the option to "gather" the ink.
* Radicality - Pikachu is on a skateboard.
* Struggle - In one storyline, after Pikachu uses a number of moves, it says: "Now I only have Struggle left. Tie?" In the Pokémon games, when a Pokémon runs out of PP (Power Points, the energy required to use each of its moves) for all its moves, it may only use Struggle, a weak move, indefinitely reusable, that harms not only the opponent but the user as well.
* Theft - Pikachu wears Hat Guy's hat. Pikachu seems to be using "Thief", a similarly-named actual move from the games, that is used to steal the foe's item and use it as its own.
* Uplift - Pikachu's head goes upward, separated from its body, showing a long, thick cable still connecting the head and the body.
|-
! Hole in the ground
| Cueball spots a hole in the ground and leans over it to make a comment
|-
! Tree
| The characters walk past a tree.
|-
! Thinking
| One of the characters take a panel or two to think about something.
|-
! Arguing
| The two characters argue with each other
|-
! Huge hole on the lawn
| There is a huge hole in the ground just outside of the building. The two characters always end up falling into it and awakening from a dream.
|-
! Space rocket
| There is a rocket on the ground just outside of the building. The rocket either explodes (with a screenshot from Kerbal Space Program), fails to launch or goes off into space.
|-
! Space planet
| Eventually the space rocket meets a guy on a very tiny planet.
|-
! Relativistic encounter
| The space rocket meets another space rocket that asks a question about relativity. The other space rocket will shoot and destroy the main rocket if the question isn't answered satisfactory. Otherwise the two rockets fly past each other.
|-
! Bomerang
| The lone character finds a bomerang on the ground and throws it. The story either ends with the bomerang crashing into something of panel, the character getting hit in the face with the rebound or the character putting the bomerang down on the ground.
|-
! Salesman
| The lone character meets a salesman with a small stand.
|-
! Random dinosaur interruption
| A green T-rex interrupts the story and proceeds to stamp on the house the main characters are in.
|}

==Images==
For the images that appear in this comic, see [[1350: Lorenz/Images]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[An accurate transcript will be impossible to create because the comic changes over time..]

There are many options. Not everyone will see the same options. We are trying to capture as many options as possible in the transcript below. '''The order and options has changed since the transcripter captured the dialogue'''....The dialogue is likely based on click-through rates and hence will change over time based on which choices are clicked most using {{w|A/B_testing|A/B measurement techniques..}}

Often, when a panel is without any choices to make, there is only the option "Continue" to see the next panel.

'''1st Pane:''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:be7a3304-b685-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 permalink]) 
Hat Guy:
* Refresh... No new email... Refresh .. No new tweets... Refresh...
* These stupid tiles... I'll just play one more game.
* These stupid tiles... I'll just play one more game. [There are two completely separate branches with this same text. In one of them, it's written "i'll" in lowercase rather than "I'll".]
* Oh. Hey. There's some kind of political thing going on.
* Let's see if BSD is any easier to install nowadays.
* Gravity. Lots of it.

:'''2nd Pane: Refresh Branch''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6479d184-b9a0-11e3-b947-94de80a03a39 permalink]) 
:Dave:
:* So you're still refusing to use Facebook?
:* Wanna build a snowman?
:* Hey. I hear Godot is in town. Wanna try to meet him?
:* You know. Your car's on fire.

:'''2nd Pane: Stupid Tiles Branch''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:79f036ac-b9a0-11e3-9003-94de80a03a39 permalink]) 
:[Dave visits Hat Guy.]
:Dave:
:* There's something weird out on the lawn.
:* There's a dinosaur at the door.
:* I heard Home Depot has 1024 bathroom tiles.
:* I think I saw a "4096" tile outside somewhere.

::'''3rd Pane: Something Weird Branch''' 
::Hat Guy:
::* This is an apartment. We don't have a lawn.
::* I have a lawn?
::* I hope it's not a bobcat this time.
::* If you reprogrammed the squirrel laser to target hipsters again...

:::'''4th-5th Panes: Apartment Branch''' 
:::[Hat Guy and Dave leave the house. They pass by a moat.]
:::Dave:
:::* OK, two weird things.
:::* I can see a creeper down there.
:::* Is this 1-1 from Mario?
:::* See? It's like a glitch in the Matrix.
:::* This isn't where I left that...

::::'''6th Pane: Two Weird Things Branch''' 
::::Dave:
::::* I count three.
::::* Why is there a gap here?
::::* Who tiled the moat?

::::'''6th Pane: Creeper Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy: Damn Griefers.

::::'''6th Pane: Mario Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave pass by a tree.]
::::Dave:
::::* Why does that tree looks fake?
::::* Actually, it's the final castle. Grab your Fire Flower!
::::* It's over this way.
::::* I've never been this far before!

:::::'''7th-11th Panes: Fake Tree Branch''' 
:::::Narrator: A wild Pikachu appeared!
:::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Theft"!
:::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
:::::Narrator: ...
:::::Pikachu: Um...

:::::'''7th Pane: Never This Far Branch''' 
:::::Dave: Are you going insane again?

::::'''6th Pane: Matrix Glitch Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* How far can we go?
::::* What the fuck?!
::::* How... How do we get everything back?

:::'''4th-5th Panes: Lawn Question Branch''' 
:::[Hat Guy and Dave leave the house. They pass by a moat.]
:::Dave:
:::* Hmmm, did you order a moat?
:::* I don't remember this being here.
:::* Look how deep it goes!
:::* It looks like I can see Moria from here.

::::'''6th Pane: Order Moat Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* It helps keep bobcats out.
::::* Of course. All cool kids have moats in their yards.
::::* I don't have the best rerlationship with my mailman.
::::* Yep. Delivered in two days, courtesy of Amazon Prime.

::::'''6th Pane: Don't Remember Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* It has begun! That's one of the first holes in reality.
::::* I wanted to jump over the massive sinkhole, but nooo, someone just had to find out what was down there.
::::* Oh, I had the moving company install it last week.
::::* We poop in it.
::::* Finally got you out of the damn house.

:::::'''7th Pane: Hole in Reality Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* I've been working on a theory that 2048 is a tool for the old ones to open up portals to this reality.
:::::* What about black holes? Those don't count?
:::::* We must go deeper.

::::::'''7th-13th Panes: Damn House Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: A wild Pikachu appeared!
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Ink Cloud"!
::::::Narrator: ...
::::::Pikachu: Um...
::::::Pikachu: Well then.
::::::Pikachu: I might have left surprises in that direction.

::::'''6th Pane: Look How Deep Branch''' 
::::Dave:
::::* I wonder if we can get someone to fall in?
::::* I'm going in. You can come if you want to. I think I see stars down there.
::::* That was a missing opportunity.
::::* I should come outside more often.

::::'''6th Pane: Moria Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* You see Moria from everywhere, Dave.
::::* Yeah, who did you think gave them a balrog?
::::* Moria is an anagram of Mario!

:::::'''7th-10th Panes: Moria Everywhere Branch''' 
:::::Narrator: A wild Pikachu appeared!
:::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Ink Cloud"!
:::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
:::::Narrator:
:::::* Google Maps didn't warn me of this.
:::::* Enemy Pikachu used "The Discrete Metric"!
:::::* Gathered the ink!

::::::'''11th-21th Panes: Google Maps Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Uplift!"
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Cute Face!"
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Faceless"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Where's Twitch when I need help?
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Abandonment"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...

::::::'''11th-15th Panes: Discrete Metric Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Extrude"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: ...
::::::Pikachu: Um...
::::::Pikachu:
::::::* Now I only have Struggle left. Tie?
::::::* We are the knights who say Ni!
::::::* What is even going on here?

:::::::'''16th Pane: Struggle Branch''' 
:::::::Pikachu: No fair!

::::::'''11th-13th Panes: Gathered Ink Branch''' 
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...
::::::Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Granite"!
::::::Narrator: It's not very effective...

:::::'''7th-10th Panes: Balrog Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* One does not simple "give" a balrog.
:::::* What? You weren't using it!
:::::* Gift-wrapping's the hardest part.

:::::'''7th Pane: Anagram Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy and Dave pass by a tree.]
:::::Dave: Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall.

:::'''4th-12th Panes: Bobcat Branch''' 
:::[A giant hole appears and they fall into it.]
:::Hat Guy and Dave: Aaaaa...
:::[Hat Guy wakes up.]
:::Hat Guy: Gasp [Goes to his desk.]
:::Hat Guy: Yawn [Sits at his desk.]
:::Hat Guy:
:::* Might as well clear more tiles.
:::* Definitely not going outside today.
:::* Thank God it wasn't a bobcat.
:::* Hmmm... I should buy a shovel.

::::'''13th Pane: Clear More Tiles Branch''' 
::::[Dave visits Hat Guy again.]
::::Dave:
::::* Um, there's a hole in your lawn...
::::* There's someone at the door looking for you.
::::* I made an apple pie.
::::* If you want to do that, I'm rebuilding my bathroom this afternoon.

:::::'''14th Pane: Hole in the Lawn Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* If it doesn't lead to a 1024 tile, I'm leaving.
:::::* Damn bobcats.
:::::* I just had a dream about that.

::::::'''15th-16th Panes: Damn Bobcats Branch''' 
::::::Dave:
::::::* Well it was here...
::::::* I don't think it was bobcats this time. Unless they have backshoes...

::::::'''15th-22th Panes: Dream Branch''' 
::::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside again and fall in the hole again~.]
::::::Hat Guy and Dave: Aaaaa...
::::::[Hat Guy wakes up, leaves the bed and finds a boomerang.]
::::::Hat Guy:
::::::* It looks like is [sic] fell from space.
::::::* I hope this isn't just another one of those dreams that keeps coming back at you.
::::::* I hope this was not thrown by a bobcat.

:::::::'''23th-26th Panes: Space Branch''' 
:::::::[Hat Guy throwns the boomerang away and it hits something.]
:::::::Crash!
:::::::[Hat Guy runs away.]

:::::::'''23th-34th Panes: Coming Back Branch''' 
:::::::[Hat Guy throws the boomerang twice, only for it to return to him both times.]
:::::::Hat Guy: Hm. I was expecting a shark.
:::::::[Hat Guy throwns the boomerang again, and it returns to him again.]

:::::::'''23th-30th Panes: Thrown by Bobcat Branch''' 
:::::::[Hat Guy throws the boomerang, only for it to return to him .]
:::::::Hat Guy: There's a mesage written on it.
:::::::[Hat Guy throws the boomerang again. It hits something.]
:::::::Crash!
:::::::[Hat Guy runs away.]

::::'''13th Pane: Thank God Branch''' 
::::Dave:
::::* You just got a package. It's by the door.
::::* Why is there a bobcat on your lawn?
::::* There's somewhere [sic] weird out on the lawn.
::::* Hey do you know why there's a giant hole in the yard?

::::'''14th Pane: Something Weird Branch''' 
::::Hat Guy:
::::* This seems familiar.
::::* Hold up. I need to get my wingsuit first.
::::* I hope it's not a giant hole.
::::* I have a bad feeling about this.

::::'''15th-18th Pane: Familiar Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside.]
::::Hat Guy: I hope it's not a velociraptor.

::::'''15th-18th Pane: Hope Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside. They pass by a tree.]
::::Dave: How disappointed are you?
::::Hat Guy:
::::* I was expecting a bobcat.
::::* Oh? That's the other tree.
::::* Eh, not that much.

::::'''14th-16th Panes: Do You Know Why Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside.]
::::Hat Guy: I swear if it's a bobcat.
::::Hat Guy:
::::* Why did you bring me here?
::::* This dream has been looping for years, and yet we never tire of it. Why is that?

:::::'''17th Pane: Dream Loop Branch''' 
:::::[There is a gap in the ground. Hat Guy jumps over it, Dave looks into it.]

::::'''13th-14th Panes: Buy Shovel Branch''' 
::::[Hat Guy looks at his screen wondering.]
::::Hat Guy:
::::* Wow! Shovels sure are expensive!
::::* Shovels can't be actually made out of two sticks and a row of rocks?
::::* How can there be 36 types of shovel??!
::::* These prices are insane! I wonder if you can rent a shovel...

:::::'''15th-18th Panes: Sticks and Rocks Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy is wondering more. Dave comes. They connect their laptops. Dave is wondering. Hat Guy tries something at Dave's laptop.]

:::'''4th-5th Panes: Squirrel Laser Branch''' 
:::[Hat Guy and Dave go outside.]
:::Hat Guy:
:::* Let's just say we won't have to worry about parking.
:::* No, now they're just wearing wigs ironically.
:::* Things may have gotten out of control a little.
:::* At least it improved their haircuts.

::'''3rd Pane: Bathroom Tiles Branch''' 
::Hat Guy:
::* But how many bathrooms?
::* That's 2^5 more than Ikea, I need to see for myself.
::* Let's go, I can keep playing on my phone on the drive.
::* Pfft. Amateurs. Let's go mock them.

::'''3rd Pane: Dinosaur Branch''' 
::T-Rex:
::* Self-doubt crippled my arms. Can I have yours?
::* I need a hand!
::* Did you think he was joking?
::* Sorry for just barging in, I couldn't reach the doorbell.

:::'''4th Pane: Crippled Arms Branch''' 
:::T-Rex:
:::* Never answer your mobile phone while I am addressing you!
:::* Also, have you heard about Tumblr?
:::* Also I have some trenchant observations on language and philosophy to make.
:::* It's not like you're using them.

::::'''5th Pane: Mobile Phone Branch''' 
::::[T-Rex is going to step on a house.]
::::T-Rex:
::::* I think you just entered a dead zone.
::::* Kids these days.
::::* Die you monster.

:::::'''6th Pane: Dead Zone Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, goes outside and finds a boomerang.]

:::::'''6th Pane: Kids These Days Branch''' 
:::::[Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, and goes back to his computer.]

:::::'''6th Pane: Die You Monster Branch''' 
:::::[Dave is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, and starts singing.]
:::::Dave: [Singing] ''I woke up like this.''

::::'''5th-11th Panes: Language and Philosophy Branch''' 
::::[T-Rex is going to step on a house.]
::::* T-Rex: Also, your brain is like this house.
:::: [Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream and goes back to his computer.]

:'''2nd Pane: Stupid Tiles Branch''' ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffdd8916-b9a7-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd]) 
:[Dave visits Hat Guy.]
:Dave:
:* What's with those tiny games you keep playing, anyway?
:* Isn't that sort of meaningless?
:* Up for a dangerous experiment with no pay?
:* You won't believe what just fell off of your roof.

:'''2nd-3rd Panes: Political Thing Branch''' 
:Laptop: "...and let's go live to the debate."
:[Two politicians are debating on TV.]
:Politician 1:
:* In contrast to my oppponent, who I quote, "Never liked Firefly much to begin with."
:* ...but even if you tied enough birds to the car, would you get them to take off in unison?
:* And if elected, I vow to win this war on Christmas once and for all!
:* I agree with my opponent all all [sic] issues and I think his economic plan is fantastic!

::'''4th Pane: Tied Birds Branch''' 
::Politician 2:
::* Tie a predatory bird to the car with a somewhat shorter rope so that it will scare off the rest of the birds without being able to reach them.
::* Training. That's why I support the "Airlift Act", which would put more resources into the hands of bird educators everywhere.
::* By opening and closing an umbrella near them.
::* One word: Fiscal hawks.

:::'''5th Pane: Airlift Act Branch''' 
:::Politician 1:
:::* But is "Airlift" an acronym?
:::* But you must agree that a bitd in the hand is worth more than three educators in the bush.
:::* Incredible!
:::* Wait... Is that like people who educate birds, or birds that teach?

::::'''6th Pane: Airlift an Acronym''' 
::::Dave:
::::* There are birds outside tied to a car.
::::* The owls in our barn are forming a union.
::::* Or course: Avian Implemented Reuseable Lifter and Ingenuous Flight Technology!

:::::'''7th Pane: Car Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* Cool, let's see who we should vote for.
:::::* I know who I'm voting for.
:::::* How many birds?

:::::'''8th-9th Panes: How Many Branch''' 
:::::Dave:
:::::* I call her "Serenity."
:::::* So when you said birds...

:::::'''10th-13th Panes: You Said Birds Branch''' 
:::::Hat Guy:
:::::* Wait. The birds are inside!?
:::::* I needed to escape from politics anyway.

:::::'''14th-19th Panes: Birds Inside Branch''' 
:::::White Hat: Want to forget your dreams? There's a pill for that!

:'''2nd-3rd Panes: BSD Branch''' 
:[Hat Guy is confused, staring at his laptop.]
:Hat Guy: ??
:Hat Guy:
:* Now I just need to look up what a "beard error" is...
:* Wait. What's on this other partition?
:* Why is Python importing Skynet?
:* My keyboard has to support SSH over USB?

::'''4th-7th Panes: Beard Error Branch''' 
::[Hat Guy has ?? next to his head to signify confusion. [[Dave]] walks in. (continue) Dave is on the other side of the desk with his own laptop computer. Both the computers are connected through Ethernet cable. The two characters are typing on the computer. The two stop typing. Dave has ??? next to his head. Dave had stepped back while the character is checking on Dave's laptop computer. The character is holding something rectangular.]
::Dave:
::* The USB cable appears to be mono-directional.
::* Kernel mites?
::* I'm not sure rubbing butter on it will help
::* Yep. It's haunted.

:::'''8th-12th Panes: Rubbing Butter Branch''' 
:::[Dave and Hat Guy are handling their computers more aggressively.]
:::Hat Guy: ARGH!
:::[They both stop. Hat Guy walks away, his chair turned 180 degrees. Pushing aside the chair, the character returns with a fiery blowtorch while wearing goggles.]
:::Dave: [holding up a finger] Um.
:::[Hat Guy's computer was so burned, not only steam is coming out of the computer, but even the desk is noticeably burnt. The cable (apparently also burned) hangs from Dave's laptop computer. The used blowtorch is clumsily laid sideways be the side of the desk. Both Hat Guy (whose goggles are pushed off his eye) and Dave are looking at the calamity. The chair is almost out of view. The goggles are on the floor while the chair is nowhere to be seen. Dave and Hat Guy are walking away from the scene.]
:::Dave:
:::* Are you all of a sudden in the mood for Thai food?
:::* Let's try OpenBSD next time...
:::* If you'd done the other one, maybe the popcorn would have popped.
:::* Let's see if rubbing some bacon on it will work.
:::* Let's try Linux next time...

::::'''13th-14th Panes: OpenBSD Branch''' 
::::[13th panel is of a panned view. Dave and Hat Guy are walking on a path away from a house.]
::::[14th panel is back to a "normal camera view".]
::::Dave:
::::* Okay then.
::::* Let's go exploring!
::::* I love Windows.
::::* Guess not.

::'''4th-7th Panes: Other Partition Branch''' 
::[Hat Guy has ??? next to his head to signify confusion. [[Dave]] walks in. Dave is on the other side of the desk with his own laptop computer. Both the computers are connected through Ethernet cable. The two characters are typing on the computer. The two stop typing. Dave has ??? next to his head. Dave had stepped back while Hat Guy is checking on Dave's laptop computer. Hat Guy is holding something rectangular.]
::Dave:
::* Maybe if you cross connect the serial port to video port you'll be able to send the video directly in as an input for the password
::* What's a segfault?
::* I think the cameras need to face each other.
::* I'm not sure spaghetti works as a USB cable...

::'''8th Pane: Video Password Branch''' 
::[Hat Guy and Dave are at sea, both emitting ripples. A shark's fin can be seen close to Dave.]
::Dave:
::* It worked fine for the shark
::* We're definitely getting closer though
::* That didn't work!
::* It would have worked for Solaris.
::* Look, it made perfect sense at the time.
::* Still simpler than it used to be, I guess.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:April fool's comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Bobcats]]
[[Category:Boomerangs]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Dreams]]
[[Category:Firefly]]
[[Category:Google Maps]]
[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

Talk:1340: Unique Date

2014-03-10T10:23:05Z

Henke37: /* Dynamic? */ new section

My first thought was that he makes fun of people that consider dates like the 12.12.12 as important. As any other date they occur only once and are thus not more special. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.66|108.162.254.66]] 04:37, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

:Good point, I have added something about that. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 04:49, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

Possibly related to the upcoming Pi Day. Also, next year's Pi Day will be 03-14-(20)15, which a few images going around on the Internet have made an annoyingly big deal about. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.64|108.162.237.64]] 06:24, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

So - Maybe I suck at searching (I do), but I can't find any information about us being limited to 4 digits in our calendar system...?[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.107|173.245.53.107]] 08:38, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

:Most of the computer software that handles dates would have problems with more (or less) then four digits. Why bother with variable year length when you can just take the first four characters of "2014-03-10" and it works for the next 8 thousand years? [[Special:Contributions/103.22.200.103|103.22.200.103]] 09:42, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
:Also, most digital displays are limited to four digits for the year. [[Special:Contributions/103.22.200.103|103.22.200.103]] 09:43, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

::And I don't think we actually start address that sooner that in September 9999. It will be Y2K over again! .... not sure where will people of 9999 get {{w|Fortran}} and {{w|Cobol}} programmers, though. Maybe we should freeze some before we run out of them. :-) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:20, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

== Dynamic? ==

Wanna bet that this comic always shows the current date?--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 10:23, 10 March 2014 (UTC)