explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3217: Home Remedies

2026-03-10T17:47:03Z

Ralfoide:

Wow that came out late. I guess it is still technically Monday in California? Or at least was when it came up on explain xkcd half an hour ago? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:03, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
:Randall lives in Boston. I suppose that there's some lag between xkcd and the explain xkcd upload, as TheusafBOT takes some time to transfer it. [[User:42.book.addict|tori :3]][[User talk:42.book.addict|talk to me!]] 16:50, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Very late comic [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 08:13, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
: Even later explanation. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:30, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

For anyone perhaps wondering how you get a skunk with a hangover, all you need to do is find one of them that is {{wiktionary|drunk as a skunk|famously inebriated}}, then wait. The chewing gum bit probably 'just happens' at some point during this whole process... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.231.180|82.132.231.180]] 10:40, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Unrelated but I had a dream that I checked this website and it was Randall announcing he was going to quit, just text on a white panel as the final comic, not too dissimilar to Schultz quitting Peanuts. It felt shockingly realistic [[Special:Contributions/168.8.230.58|168.8.230.58]] 12:59, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

The set-up with the competitor stations and the hidden 'ingredients' is very similar to the mystery challenge in the Great British Bake-off (though they seem to have drawers where the ovens would be) - not sure whether it's specific enough to include in the explanation though. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:35, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

It looks like White Hat's skunk either hasn't woken up yet or has a much less nasty hangover than the other two. [[Special:Contributions/2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:D9C6:625B:47D6:8BE3|2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:D9C6:625B:47D6:8BE3]] 15:50, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
: Or it has a much ''worse'' hangover, to the point where it can't contemplate moving. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 17:17, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
: Or something to do with gender/hormones as the other 2 skunks are agitated near females (coincidence in an XKCD strip? I don't think so.) OTOH a much more likely explanation in the context of XKCD is simply White Hat's natural unorthodox luck and/or behavior. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:43, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

"[…], but that person must be ''a'' grandparent" does ''not'' imply the contestants may not call anyone else but ''their grandparents''. And since many people are grandparents, this means they may call any of them. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C05:F300:5825:EE15:4B0B:B964|2001:4C4E:1C05:F300:5825:EE15:4B0B:B964]] 17:39, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

We don't know the rules of the game, and the host did not state clear instructions on what's to do. Thus _my_ "home remedy" would simply be to take the box as-is and move it out of the premises, whereever that be (e.g. the game show place). Problem solved. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:47, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3217: Home Remedies

2026-03-10T17:43:10Z

Ralfoide:

Talk:3203: Binary Star

2026-02-05T19:24:48Z

Ralfoide: cosmic sans

here before the explanation [[User:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|Qwertyuiopfromdefly]] ([[User talk:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|talk]]) 04:47, 5 February 2026 (UTC)
: Me too [[Special:Contributions/115.70.50.73|115.70.50.73]]
:: It was me as well :::;) [[Special:Contributions/216.25.182.141|216.25.182.141]] 05:34, 5 February 2026 (UTC)
::: Here before the comments [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:15, 5 February 2026 (UTC)
:::: Here After the comments [[Special:Contributions/66.210.7.66|66.210.7.66]] 17:22, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

Randall has been, uh, funnier… I thought I must be missing something, a clever joke or some astronomers insider, but no—that's really all there was to it. Well. {{unsigned ip|2a02:908:c30:5000:b86c:d747:e182:c327|07:54, 5 February 2026 (UTC)}}
:They can't all be blockbusters. I suspect he first came up with the "big asterisk" pun in the title text, and worked backwards from that to the main comic. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:54, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

Nice to see that Randall has graduated from the woes of [[1029]], and now can draw Morocco-style stars :-) --[[Special:Contributions/2001:A62:5F7:FB01:BF80:8165:D7C9:B014|2001:A62:5F7:FB01:BF80:8165:D7C9:B014]] 08:24, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

The idea of pointed stars alongside normal ones is probably a reference to the James Web Space Telescope. In its images, very bright stars have diffraction spikes, caused by the segmented hexagonal primary mirrors and the three-strut support of the secondary mirror. However, these form 8 spiked images not 5. The Hubble Space Telescope forms 4 spike images, however the effect was not so noticeable with Hubble. [[Special:Contributions/2A12:F41:145B:1300:C59:505F:B2DB:7572|2A12:F41:145B:1300:C59:505F:B2DB:7572]] 12:19, 5 February 2026 (UTC) dww-uk

Hey, sometimes a good simple pun is all what it takes. The second star should have been rendered with the Cosmic Sans font, though, for more impact amongst the typography fanbase. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 19:24, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3198: Double-Pronged Extension Cord

2026-01-24T18:11:00Z

Ralfoide: Clarke's quote

F1rSt!1!!1!1!!1!1!1!11!11!1!!!!1!1![[User:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|Qwertyuiopfromdefly]] ([[User talk:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|talk]]) 02:08, 24 January 2026 (UTC)

curses, im too early on the scene for an explanation of what he's gonna do with the items in the titletext; such are the woes of being one of the people writing the explanations that you have to actually ''understand'' the comics - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 02:15, 24 January 2026 (UTC)

Same [[User:This isn't a good name|This isn't a good name]] ([[User talk:This isn't a good name|talk]]) 02:17, 24 January 2026 (UTC)

This is the third comic to reference the Demon Core experiment, after [[1242]] and [[2593]]. [[User:Soupgirls|Soupgirls]] ([[User talk:Soupgirls|talk]]) 02:21, 24 January 2026 (UTC)

: >"''Demon Core experiment''": [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core Demon Core]No, I don't understand either --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 03:26, 24 January 2026 (UTC)

If you're otherwise creating fire hazards, a lithium ion battery is a terrible thing to have, and none of the horror stories you've heard involved a sack of them. Flour is a serious explosion hazard. Vinegar and bleach will release chlorine gas when combined. It sounds like an attempt to have the highest ratio of destruction to materials cost with the least effort. [[User:MrMatt|MrMatt]] ([[User talk:MrMatt|talk]]) 03:32, 24 January 2026 (UTC)

The title text just sounds like a bunch of flammable/noxious substances. So really, he has good intentions. [[User:Tanner07|Tanner07]] ([[User talk:Tanner07|talk]]) 03:57, 24 January 2026 (UTC)

---
Would someone mind explaining how the suicide cord can kill grid workers? I don't know if this is easier to understand in the US - we work on a ring main system in the UK, and (once it is plugged in and the prongs thus protected) I'm having problems seeing why it would be a problem even to the end-user (I suppose you could theoretically use it to connect a ring main rated for less current and set the walls on fire?)

:The problem is if you don't plug one end in --[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 10:52, 24 January 2026 (UTC)

EDIT: Gemini reminded me that these are generally used to connect a generator, to power up internal wiring that is depowered - if the grid worker has done this deliberately to work upstream and you power things back up things get ugly.

[[Special:Contributions/92.237.46.83|92.237.46.83]] 08:48, 24 January 2026 (UTC) Jon

Electrician here, Suicide cords are used to 'backfeed' a circuit. Homeowners make them when they are too cheap to add a generator outlet. When plugged in, one side has exposed live parts which can shock or kill you. The other danger is backfeeding the grid itself when plugging in a generator (hence lineworker danger) for the exact reason that line interactive inverters for solar arrays need to shut down when the grid is off. Line workers are expecting dead lines when they come down and backfeeding them may make them live on the ground or while the worker is holding them. The proper way to power a house is to have a generator outlet installed and an interlocked panel that disconnects the mains power from your panel (isolating the power lines) and connects the generator power to specific circuits you want.

I added a "Trivia" note that two days before this comic was posted, Randall had put up a YouTube video version of the ''What If?'' item about what would happen if someone's DNA all disappeared. It was compared to the effects of receiving a massive dose of ionizing radiation. The connection between this comic and Slotin's accident seemed relevant to me, at least enough for a "Trivia" item, but another editor disagreed and removed it. Opinions? [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:03, 24 January 2026 (UTC)

I've noticed that recently, these explanations start off very short and without the same humor that most explainxkcd explanations have, and almost appear to be written by AI, before being replaced by a longer explanation that seems more in the vein of this website. Could someone explain what's happening here, and if AI is being used? [[User:CreatorOfWorlds|CreatorOfWorlds]] ([[User talk:CreatorOfWorlds|talk]]) 15:32, 24 January 2026 (UTC)
:"Any sufficiently advanced AI is indistinguishable from a lazy unimaginative human" -- Clarke's AI bot's Third Law [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]])

Talk:3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-16T17:31:44Z

Ralfoide: isn't it very USA centric?

Altoona-style is listed first in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_in_the_United_States#Variations but that's because the list is alphabetical. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I prefer +style pizza. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 21:16, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
: Not a fan of electrons as a topping then? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:37, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Imo, positron pizza is far better. Some people won’t appreciate it though, as it disintegrates [in] your mouth. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 15:28, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

I’m pretty sure this comic is intended to be titled “<City>-Style Pizza”, as it is labeled in the HTML of xkcd.com (notably, xkcd.com itsel uses “-Style Pizza” for the <title> elements and the rss/atom feeds, but not for the visible title. (But there, the “<city>” gets swallowed by the browser)--[[User:Nleanba|Nleanba]] ([[User talk:Nleanba|talk]]) 21:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

Altoona-style most literally looks like a sandwich except cheese instead of a top bun《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:54, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
:Yeah, a bunch of open-faced sandwiches side-by-side. [[Special:Contributions/47.248.235.170|47.248.235.170]] 22:07, 15 September 2025 (UTC)Pat
: It looks most like a heart attack in waiting. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:42, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

On a related note, locally (hint: absolutely nowhere near the place mentioned), there's a business advertising "genuine New York-style bagels". The juxtaposition of the "genuine" claim and yet the acknowledgement that they are only of the given ''style'' always makes me wonder what worth the genuineness truly has, with an ocean's-width of distance between any physical manifestation of New Yorkification and what we have here. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I thought he was talking about Altoona Iowa (less than half the size of Altoona Pennsylvania). Look up “Altoona Iowa pizza” and one of the top hits will tell you it’s ranked one of the worst in the nation. You see, in Iowa, they lay out the dough, put on the ‘toppings’ (ahem) then dump on so much cheese that you can’t see any of the ‘toppings’ (ahem) anymore. When I came home from college in another state, I had to teach my mother how to make good pizza. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C|2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C]] 23:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

Well at least THIS one was about a kind of pi. I guess pi does round to 3.142. [[Special:Contributions/138.88.96.2|138.88.96.2]] 00:16, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Shame he missed out on Pittsburgh's 'specialty' with this... since they had the sheer audacity to call it 'Ohio Valley Pizza'... Which I hadn't even *heard* of, let alone actually seen, in 40 years of living in Cincinnati! -Edit: Turns out it originates from Steubenville, which had he named it 'Steubenville style pizza' would've put it way down on the bottom left somewhere. -Tiron [[Special:Contributions/2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7|2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7]] 01:18, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Wikipedia has a way of displaying article titles that have non-standard characters in them. Could something similar be done here? [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 04:05, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:they do, but it doesn't work. {{w|WP:DISPLAYTITLE|DISPLAYTITLE}} doesn't support <> symbols. [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 13:29, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

The article is describing the Altoona style pizza, but Randall is calling on the viewer to look it up on Google images because the picture is likely more offensive than the description. I don't know what the wiki policy is but a picture in the article would do a much better job at explaining than anything Randall may or may not like about the ingredients. [[Special:Contributions/46.144.8.194|46.144.8.194]] 06:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Surely it's no coincidence that XKCD 3142 is about pie. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 11:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:I hope it ''is'' a coincidence, because I'd like to think that Randall knows better than to call a pizza – a dish that isn't a pie – a "pie". [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 12:53, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Says the person whose name is a pancake that calls itself a pudding. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:54, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::A [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_pudding yorkshire pudding] is made similarly to a pancake, but it ends up more like a bun. And the British just call any dessert a "pudding", though I don't see how a yorkshire pudding could be a dessert... [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 17:22, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Randall suggests that pizza quality correlates with city size. That means Brazilians were right all along, and the best pizza is from São Paulo. [[User:MCBastos|MCBastos]] ([[User talk:MCBastos|talk]]) 14:01, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: No - it's completely outclassed by Chongqing Pizza. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 14:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

What about moving this page to [[3142: (City)-Style Pizza]] or similar? --[[User:Birdlover32767|Birdlover32767]] ([[User talk:Birdlover32767|talk]]) 16:25, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

I had never heard of pizza styles "being named after a city" when I was living in Europe or South America. Is that just a USA thing? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:31, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-16T17:25:26Z

Ralfoide: it's very USA centric

{{comic
| number = 3142
| date = September 15, 2025
| title = <City>-Style Pizza
| image = city_style_pizza_2x.png
| imagesize = 480x314px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you want to see true audacity, do an image search for 'Altoona-style pizza.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT WITH SAUSAGE AND ANCHOVIES. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
Many varieties of {{w|pizza}} in the US are named after a city — usually where the style originated or was popularized, such as {{w|New York–style pizza}} and {{w|Chicago-style pizza}}. A New York-style pizza is characterized by a thin, but not hard, crust. By contrast, Chicago-style pizza, or Chicago deep-dish pizza, is known for being notoriously thick.

This comic contains a chart that compares the tastiness of pizza styles with the size of the city in the name. They generally span a broad range, but poor-tasting styles are mostly found only in small cities. The suggested reason is that these are due to restaurant owners in small towns who are bored and make up strange styles of pizza as a prank on visitors. According to [[Randall]], New York-style pizza is near the top of the tastiness axis. New York happens to be the largest city in the US. It's also where pizza was first brought to the US by Italian immigrants.

The title text mentions an {{w|Altoona-style pizza}}. Created in the Altoona hotel in Altoona, Pennsylvania, it contains American Cheese on Sicilian crust, as well as bell peppers and salami. The “true audacity” of this style may include that people may not consider it pizza, and some may even narrow it down to something similar to a sandwich. Also, American cheese and Sicilian crust are very different, and probably aren't compatible. Also also, the vast amount of cheese relative to pizza may horrify some people{{citation needed}}. It is noteworthy that a remarkable spike in Google searches for Altoona-style pizza was observed at the publication date of this comic, as can be observed on [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=%2Fg%2F11nmt6q5kp Google Trends].

The original comic's title has an encoding error in terms of HTML rendering, and it was copied to this wiki page. It reads "<City>-Style", which is interpreted by web browsers as containing an HTML tag and rendered as "-Style".

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[A graph.]
:[The x and y axes are unmarked. They are labeled: ]
::[X axis: Tastiness of "<city>-style pizza"]
::[Y axis: City size]

:[A shaded region is shown, initially covering nearly the whole y-axis on the left. The region's top area barely changes. The region's bottom area changes with a curve upwards to the right.]
:[Arrows point around to various locations in this shaded region, indicating an otherwise-unmarked subregion.]

:[The region is labelled: ]
::Various controversial regional specialties

:[An arrow points to a medium-high y-value at the absolute rightmost x-axis. It is labelled: ]
::New York up here somewhere

:[An arrow points to a low x and y-value. It is labelled: ]
::Towns with bored restaurant owners who have come up with a fun prank to play on visitors

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Food]]
[[Category: Charts]]

Talk:3082: Chess Position

2025-04-29T17:49:33Z

Ralfoide: Stare

This is very nearly the core plot conceit of the movie ''Π'' (1998). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.190|172.70.130.190]] 22:36, 28 April 2025 (UTC)
:I believe you want lower-case Pi: π not Π. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_(film) --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 22:54, 28 April 2025 (UTC)
::Unless they're talking about an obscure spinoff where the protagonist becomes weirdly obsessed with the products of sequences of numbers. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.180|172.69.195.180]] 14:47, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

Does anybody know whether Randall has taken up chess as a hobby? 5 of the 82 comics in the 3000s have been related to chess and only 2 in the 2000s were. If so, this should be included in the explanation. [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 23:11, 28 April 2025 (UTC)
:3000s? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.190.236|172.71.190.236]] 23:40, 28 April 2025 (UTC)
:Oh right comic number not decade/millennium. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.157|172.70.43.157]] 23:41, 28 April 2025 (UTC)
:Wouldn't surprise me, there's a three year gap in between chess comics 2465 (May 2021) and 2936 (May 2024), then the aforementioned 5 in 5 months. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.251|172.70.114.251]] 00:46, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

I really suspect that the full explanation has something to do with this: https://www.kasparov.com/the-implacable-logic-of-the-vortex-of-history/ [[Special:Contributions/172.68.7.206|172.68.7.206]] 23:34, 28 April 2025 (UTC) Dan
: Doubtful, that article was written in 2013, and it is unlikely that Randall came upon it just now to make this comic. Vortex is a general term for something that sucks you in. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.66|172.70.214.66]] 00:38, 29 April 2025 (UTC)
: Quite possible, since simple web search on Garry Kasparov reveals the aforementioned article about Kasparov's theories of the "vortex of history'. And there is a PlayStation game called "Virtual Kasparov" which is reviewed on the PlayStation review site [https://www.gamevortex.com/psillustrated/soft_rev.php/748 Virtual Kasparov on GameVortex.com]. So, there are at least two places where Kasparov and the word vortex are connected. The term "vortex" would be very tempting for Randall to exploit for comic effect. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 16:15, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

I sure hope that it stays as not a real thing [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 01:32, 29 April 2025 (UTC)
: It might not be, but it's easy enough to make: Train an adversarial network on human chess games. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.41|172.68.22.41]] 04:56, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

The part about losing the ability to play chess even after building a resistance feels familiar. Isn't that how the Elder Scrolls worked in Skyrim, at least. Even highly trained sages would lose the ability to see for a time after reading an Elder Scroll. And the Oblivion remaster just released the other day... --[[User:Ragashingo|Ragashingo]] ([[User talk:Ragashingo|talk]]) 01:54, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

----
Cf Von Gom's Gambit by [Victor Contoski](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Contoski) published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1966:

And what of Von Goom's Gambit? Chess is a game of logic. Thirty-two pieces move on a board of sixty-four squares, colored alternately dark and light. As they move they form patterns. Some of these patterns are pleasing to the logical mind of man, and some are not. They show what man is capable of and what is beyond his Take any position of the pieces on the chessboard. Usually it tells of the logical or semi-logical plans of the players, their strategy in playing for a win or a draw, and their personalities. If you see a pattern from the King s Gambit Accepted, you know that both players are tacticians, that the fight will be brief but fierce...
Now suppose someone discovers by accident or design a pattern on the chessboard that is more than displeasing, an alien pattern that tells unspeakable things about the mind of the player, man in general and the order of the universe. Suppose no normal man can look at such a pattern and remain normal. Surely such a pattern must have been formed by Von Goom’s Gambit.

I wish the story could end here, but I fear it will not end for a long time. History has shown that discoveries cannot be unmade. Two months ago in Camden, New Jersey, a forty-tliree year old man was found turned to stone staring at a position on a chessboard... {{unsigned ip|162.158.217.38|05:22, 29 April 2025}}

: ''"Cf Von Gom's Gambit"'' https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_Science_Fiction_v031n06_1966-12_PDF/page/n63/mode/2up?view=theater --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 17:46, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

----

<q>When you stare into the vortex, the vortex also stares into you</q>, a famous quote from Kasparov. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:49, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3028: D&D Roll

2024-12-24T18:25:13Z

Ralfoide:

Dice comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.181|172.69.22.181]] 04:09, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

And in a pinch, d4s can be used as caltrops. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.210|172.71.147.210]] 05:22, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

I am willing to bet good money that every D&D comic that features the game's name inside the title will either [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#RSS_Feed_Broken|break the RSS Feed]] or [[User:TheusafBOT]]. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 10:17, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
:Ah, that's why we never got a good explanation about the one with the D&D players dialling in over AT&T to roleplay S&M sessions while eating M&Ms and drinking A&W. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.4|172.70.90.4]] 13:22, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
If the D20 is large enough (>30 cm?) and its full volume is made of a heavy metal or alloy, like iron, steel or gold, one can just use it as a "blunt weapon" (that is, the weight is used against the enemy). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.39.208|172.70.39.208]] 17:01, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

Second XKCD on D&D in a few months... I think some cartoonish picked up a new hobby recently. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 18:25, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2938: Local Group

2024-05-29T15:42:03Z

Ralfoide: kcal

What other comics are there about the far future? Something maybe about the Sun swallowing the Earth in maybe 5.5B years? Btw, the Andromeda-Milky Way collision is in 4.5B years. {{w|Andromeda–Milky Way collision}} [[Special:Contributions/172.71.103.208|172.71.103.208]] 23:15, 27 May 2024 (UTC)
:There is one with the weather on that scale of time for instance [[1606: Five-Day Forecast]]. Guess Randall rounded up? Anyway how many years does the first collision take. And is the time when the edges touch or when the centers pass close to each other? And after that there will be more than one further collision before the galaxy finally merges. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:49, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

Does the estimated nutritional value include pasta sauce etc? Would it be possible to work back from the food value given to figure out the thickness of the strand? {{unsigned|MarcusRowland}}
:Seems like someone already have done this and in the scene from Lady and the Tramp the only other thing than pasta is meatballs. Maybe satellite galaxies could make up those ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:49, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

:The current calculation fails to allow for the fact that a lot of the strand is still curled in the cosmic bowl.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.73|141.101.99.73]] 08:24, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

I'm not sure if eating the "noodly appendages" is considered blasphemy (I don't even know if Pastafarianism actually knows the concept) considering that Catholics believe they're literally eating their God. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 06:48, 28 May 2024 (UTC)
:Completely agree and have just changed the explanation. The spoof religion was a cry out against blasphemy laws and showing how silly it is to ask people to believe something you cannot disprove. Of course you cannot blaspheme against such a religion but also the goal of the religion is to eat lots of pasta and the galaxies would thus be doing the monsters bidding if anything. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:54, 28 May 2024 (UTC)
::Great :) I removed the blaspehmy part as it's only relevant in context of this discussion and not for the explanation of the comic. You could argue that the whole FSM part is "off topic" but I get why one would jump to that idea that it's related to the comic, so I guess it's fine [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:17, 28 May 2024 (UTC)
:Pastafarianism is but a shadow of the One True Truth, which is that of the Invisible Pink Unicorn... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.120|172.70.163.120]] 08:58, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

:I've never heard of a such a thing as a "dietary Calorie". "kcal" is the proper measurement and wording. Also if there's more than one, it should be "calories". [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 15:42, 29 May 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2910: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

2024-03-23T18:05:27Z

Ralfoide:

well ''that'' was early. [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 11:47, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

This singer is a bit fast and loose with the rhyme-scheme; aAbCd(?D)eC with the "dD", especially, being Go+Most, Tune+Words(!), ¿This/As?+Words and Crimes+Time. And scansion is potentially off (mid-line endings definitely are). I would hope that another shipwreck wouldn't happen until this new guy has tightened up his own art a little. (But once he gets good enough, fair enough!) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.161|172.71.242.161]] 12:57, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

:"For it's challenging trying to write good" [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 14:00, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

:"This singer is a bit fast and loose..." This is Gordon and his First Draft. Just strumming to see if the song has legs (fins?). We know Gordon could fiddle the rhyme and line-breaks as good as anybody. But prolly not on a dock on Lake Superior in November. (OTOH Sittin' on The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding wrote in August on a rented houseboat in Sausalito, California; a much nicer workplace.) --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 23:05, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

Is the Cameron accusation also suggesting that he has actual time travel technology, as shown in his Terminator movies? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:19, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

How long should we wait before using peoples' deaths as entertainment? Relatives and friends of the crew are still alive. Are the terrorist attacks of 2001 open yet for parody? ...or wait another decade or two? Please consider others. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.108|172.69.214.108]] 14:26, 22 March 2024 (UTC)
: Given that the original song turned it into entertainment less than a year after, and it's been widely parodied pretty much ever since, I think you may, if you'll pardon the phrase, have missed the boat on that one.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.53|141.101.98.53]] 14:59, 22 March 2024 (UTC)
::Although it was performed as entertainment, the song was written as a kind of memorial or tribute. That's quite different from using the accident as fodder for a joke. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:38, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

: It's important to consider sides. Like, deaths of Russian soldiers in Ukraine are open to parody immediately because they are enemies. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:39, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

: I have some bad news for you about the prevalence of 9/11 jokes. [[424: Security Holes|Within xkcd itself]], no less! [[User:Esogalt|Esogalt]] ([[User talk:Esogalt|talk]]) 09:28, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

What if Cueball bribed Gordon Lightfoot to bribe the mechanic so he could write a song about Lightfoot bribing the mechanic to write a song? [[User:AoPS is superior|AoPS is superior]] ([[User talk:AoPS is superior|talk]]) 00:24, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

Was it rammed by the Cat Stevens? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.144|172.70.211.144]] 04:57, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

The flags on the upside down eighth notes are backwards [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.211|172.71.146.211]] 06:21, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

My first reaction was, "this is not funny" because of the seriousness of the Edmund Fitgerald tragedy and the gravity of the song as tribute to the lost lives. My second reaction was that Randall is a really awful songwriter. My conclusion is that the only funny thing about this comic is the comically bad fake song. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 11:47, 23 March 2024 (UTC)
: I full agree with that. Yet, we can look at it another way: we need to have some "lesser" xkcd comics to better appreciate the "better" ones. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 18:05, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2873: Supersymmetry

2023-12-28T15:09:30Z

Ralfoide: What is Super Nintendo?

Ah, good, I was ''just'' about to tell people (on 2872's Talk page) that there was a new one... (And that we obviously need to prod the theusafBOT.) Currently, [[2872: Hydrothermal Vents]] doesn't have the 'Next' links to here, but (from last comic's experience) it might just be a matter of nudging its server-side cache a bit. I'll try the tricks I tried yesterday. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.101|141.101.99.101]] 20:08, 27 December 2023 (UTC)

Too bad the franchise has never introduced a Weach character (there's a couple of witches). A game with Peach as the main protagonist would be interesting, and it would give us a convenient positron. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.135|172.71.26.135]] 20:56, 27 December 2023 (UTC)
:If they made Weach, people would start asking for Wowser. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.202|108.162.245.202]] 21:53, 27 December 2023 (UTC)
::Isn't that just Bowyer? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.37|172.70.131.37]] 21:59, 27 December 2023 (UTC)
:There is a Princess Peach game, Super Princess Peach. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.237|172.68.174.237]] 14:06, 28 December 2023 (UTC)
I think the mouse over text references mariokart? We know that Randall plays... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.200.144|172.70.200.144]] 00:43, 28 December 2023 (UTC)
: Absolutely. It's directly referring to the track ''GCN Baby Park'', found in ''{{w|Mario Kart: Double Dash|Double Dash}}'', ''{{w|Mario Kart 8|MK8}}'', and ''{{w|Mario Kart 8 Deluxe|MK8DX}}''. on the other hand, it also references ''The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask'' (which is already included in the explanation) [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 02:21, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

I'm not that familiar with Mario or particle physics. What would the anti-Peach particle be? Bowsette? [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 00:59, 28 December 2023 (UTC)
:I'm fairly well acquainted with particle physics but not at all with anything Mario (post Donkey Kong, at least). I wish now I'd formatted my own initial explanation with unordered-list (*) or tabular format of the referenced-particles side of this parody when I first visited (141.101.99.101, 20:08, 27 December 2023) rather than the current stop-gap version, but would naturally want to have columns/continuation for the Marioland characters (of which I know too little, only that they exist and that Mario's evil 'twin' is Wario at some much later point in the franchise). Can we perhaps knock it into shape, or are too many editors on Christmas break/distracted by RL? I can still reformat it into a table, but I have less idea what the Mario columns need to leave space for than the other bits... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.14|172.69.194.14]] 12:37, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

Clearly, he's referencing Wapeach. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.118|162.158.74.118]] 10:35, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

I'd suggest to prefix the explanation by explaining what a "Super Nintendo" is. I had to look it up in the other wiki to figure that the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System SNES] (which I'm only familiar with by name) actually stands for "Super Nintendo". [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 15:09, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2865: The Wrong Stuff

2023-12-09T18:48:54Z

Ralfoide: that's no moon

the design is very timeghost-esque [[Special:Contributions/172.71.167.165|172.71.167.165]] 21:42, 8 December 2023 (UTC)Bumpf

== personal similarity ==

NOTE: people are misleadingly adding comments below this lengthy topic. Looks like the interface is defaulting to that.

I made a post to the derelict cypherpunks list right before this about ghost visits. It’s notable because I used to post to the same derelict list about making a spaceship out of tissue paper, specifically pursuing the wrong materials in response to a ghostlike experience preventing me from effective work (which i now understand as a dissociative disorder).

[https://lists.cpunks.org/pipermail/cypherpunks/2023-December/120247.html Thu Dec 7 20:57:06 PST 2023]<blockquote><code>2249

a ghost visits you

you: “oh! a ghost! are you a spirit of a person who is now dead?”

the ghost looks sheepish

ghost: “i am a psychological result of something you went through!”

the ghost grins, trying to put on a great-looking appearance

you: “awww frack”

the ghost stops grinning and looks crestfallen and depressed

ghost: “i want to repeat something that perturbed you from the thing you went through, over and over … would this be okay with you?” [translator may have taken liberties with this line]

you: “oh no that would um be really perterburing! um !!”

ghost [looking sheepish again]: “um !”

you and the ghost both put handkerchiefs over your mouths to represent politeness or something and you go for a walk down a lane in your town called “memory la—
</code></blockquote>

[https://lists.cpunks.org/pipermail/cypherpunks/2023-January/110003.html Mon Jan 30 18:35:20 PST 2023]<blockquote><code>[crazy][spam]

let’s reduce the tension and go back to a concept spammed to this list before

let’s make a space rocket out of tissue paper! or s9mething similarly incredibly flimsy like cobwebs or dustballs.
</code></blockquote>
[https://lists.cpunks.org/pipermail/cypherpunks/2023-January/110004.html Mon Jan 30 18:36:19 PST 2023]
<blockquote><code>[crazy][spam]

- we can use an nlp bot to scrape the internet for materials
properties and perform the rough design

- we can make bots that replicate like a reprap generator to collect
the materials
</code></blockquote>
[https://lists.cpunks.org/pipermail/cypherpunks/2023-September/117502.html Sun Sep 3 18:03:06 PDT 2023]
<blockquote><code>Model Spaceship Made Of Snow

I'm guessing we can make it out of ice when it is really cold. We
could press or melt the snow to make it into ice, and cast, cut, or
assemble and fuse parts into a spaceship shape.

Rocket fuel could melt the ship when it burns, maybe need a way to
cool it significantly, but with a model maybe it could hold compressed
air somehow? it does seem hard
</code></blockquote>
[https://lists.cpunks.org/pipermail/cypherpunks/2023-September/117517.html Sun Sep 3 18:23:54 PDT 2023]
<blockquote><code>how to make spaceship out of ice?

so, ice is likely to melt when traveling at escape velocity, maybe
imagining a huge buffer around the ship: like, design it to melt its
exterior. big wide giant spaceship near ground, little tiny spaceship
at edge of atmosphere
</code></blockquote>
[https://lists.cpunks.org/pipermail/cypherpunks/2022-March/097050.html Tue Mar 8 17:35:33 PST 2022]
<blockquote><code>The Questioning Spam

A worker was building a rocket ship out of grass.

Questioner: "Why don't you use, I dunno, like, steel and ceramic
plates, to make your rocket ship, rather than grass?"

Worker: "It's just a hobby project."

Questioner: "Why don't you make it a serious proiject?"

Worker: "I really have more time than money, honestly."
…
</code></blockquote>
[https://lists.cpunks.org/pipermail/cypherpunks/2022-January/094637.html Fri Jan 7 03:23:38 PST 2022]
<blockquote><code>[ot][spam][crazy] holding community goals

stone soup is kind of a puzzle, no? like building a spaceship out of
wet noodles
</code></blockquote>
[https://lists.cpunks.org/pipermail/cypherpunks/2021-December/093963.html Wed Dec 22 09:47:30 PST 2021]
<blockquote><code>Making a Spaceship out of Wet Noodles in C

It's hard to make a C program that builds a spaceship out of wet noodles.

But, at the end of the day, it's down to your free time,
experience+ingenuity, and the libraries you have available to call
into.
</code></blockquote>
[https://lists.cpunks.org/pipermail/cypherpunks/2021-December/093000.html Wed Dec 1 00:17:51 PST 2021]
<blockquote><code>[spam][ot][rambling][crazy] Building a Spaceship Out Of Something Ridiculously Weak and Flimsy

I like to daydream around hard challenges.

I don't know how to build a spaceship. But maybe it would be fun to try.

To make it harder, let's make it out of only something ridiculously hard to
do it with, like toilet paper, or leaves, or old newspapers.

I don't know what kinds of problems one runs into when building a
spaceship, but when I start planning it I think the first problem will be
getting something to go really, really far against gravity.

Another problem I hear about is burning up as you accelerate through the
atmosphere.

I imagine aiming what direction you go in is pretty hard too.

I'm thinking I'm probably okay with there being some guidance computers and
robotics on the craft, but that we would _mostly_ make it out of tissue
paper or whatnot. Making computers out of tissue paper can be considered a
separate problem, for now.

One way to make tissue paper move is to burn it. Could we use a
tissue-paper-fueled rocket to accelerate the craft? Almost certainly not,
but doing the calculations for this could inform what thing to consider
next.

I have no idea how to make a rocket, or how rockets work, but I imagine
that when you burn something, it turns into gas, and the expansion of the
gas is much larger than the thing you burned, so if you direct this gas in
some direction or another, it might push something further. I dunno. Like
getting up from a chair because of a fire you sat in. Maybe? I dunno.

Maybe I'll briefly websearch for "solid fuel rocket" and see what I get.
</code></blockquote> … the post goes on and I then replied with more things for a few days. Rereading it turns out I was playing with my psychological triggers from social influence AI, and it’s hard to continue cause my amnesia and dissociation is kicking in (might try a different part not sure). I think of this xkcd as about me though!

[[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.32|172.71.254.32]] 21:48, 8 December 2023 (UTC)

It's probably worth a mention that the title is most likely a reference to "The Right Stuff" (film). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.65|172.69.247.65]] 22:57, 8 December 2023 (UTC)

The title is probably a reference to "The Right Stuff" (TV Series) instead, since the title's unusual capitalization aligns with the series's title's font style but not the film's title font. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.43|172.71.146.43]] 00:04, 9 December 2023 (UTC)

:I don't understand why the Trojan Horse is considered an example of building something out of the wrong stuff. Within the legendary context of the Trojan War, the Trojan Horse succeeded at exactly what it was built to do, namely, transport the Greek warriors into Troy so they could sack the city. An actual horse made out of skin and muscle and bones would not have been able to fit the Greek warriors inside.{{cn}} That's like saying that Lunar Module Eagle from Apollo 11 was built of the wrong material because it didn't have feathers. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.127.57|172.70.127.57]] 06:34, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
:: Humour comes in threes, perhaps Randall was struggling to come up with a third example (while saving the Brick Moon for the mouse over text)? :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 07:04, 9 December 2023 (UTC)

What has happened to this wiki? It used to be when there were glitches and flubs, there would be evidence, screenshots, records for us to see, particularly for those of us who didn't see it before it was fixed. Now there's a passing mention in Trivia and for all we know someone could be mistaken or lying. Uhhh, we'd like to SEE this! I mean, when the anomaly is "It was posted super early/late", okay, not much to capture there, really, but a screenshot of the mis-capitalized title would have been easy! Every time the comic is uploaded 2x, a bot gives "here it is normal sized, which isn't special at all and you can see anyway because Randall fixed it by now". What happened to the recordkeeping here? (BTW, the text title here still says "the", not "The") [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]])
: The mailing list email was sent out with the incorrect capitalization, which should provide some evidence. Unfortunately the RSS and Atom feeds have been corrected, so I'm not sure how someone could provide proof, since screenshots can be manipulated. Could someone publish the email headers to show that an email with that subject was sent by the mailing.xkcd.com servers? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.251|172.70.46.251]] 12:47, 9 December 2023 (UTC)

The discrete would have worked. :-) What isn't mentioned was the successful (for a given definition of) we the reinforced concrete ships in WW2. Mostly mine sweepers. They could be repaired at sea! Possibly a precursor of GRP? Oh, BTW steel was thought to be a wrong material! [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 08:14, 9 December 2023 (UTC)

== What kind of bricks? ==

When I first read this comic, I was sure it meant LEGO bricks... --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.129.17|162.158.129.17]] 11:33, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
:...which would naturally lead to the obvious reply: "That's no moon!" [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 18:48, 9 December 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2861: X Value

2023-11-29T20:46:09Z

Ralfoide: recursive search

transcript and short explanation added [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 18:47, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

Is there an easter egg here? Is 4.1083 a significant constant in some field?
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.91|172.71.154.91]] 19:00, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
:Dunno...but when I Googled it, it came up with a picture of a motorcycle I used to own - same vintage, same colour, same non-original aftermarket panniers - which was a little strange. Anybody else return any results centred around long-since-departed vehicles?

:Or not? [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 19:31, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

:Googling for it showed me... a picture of this very xkcd. It's recursive? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 20:46, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

https://www.der-postillon.com/2012/08/mathemuffel-erleichtert-wert-von-x-ein.html [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.148|172.68.110.148]] 20:42, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
: This is in german, could you maybe give a translation at least? [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 20:45, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2829: Iceberg Efficiency

2023-09-16T17:19:03Z

Ralfoide: airberg

BH clearly isn't Freudian. For the {{w|File:Structural-Iceberg.svg|Iceberg of the Mind}}, the most important part is the 90% of it that is ''hidden''. Which makes for a totally ''different'' (and potentially more implementable) solution whenever you happen to consider that the most important function of an iceberg is to sneak up on ships... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.68|172.71.178.68]] 13:26, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

i added a transcript hopefully it isn't horrible [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 13:47, 15 September 2023 (UTC)
:Tweaked (slightly, to personal descriptive tastes), but definitely not horrible. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.7|172.70.86.7]] 14:07, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

Does anyone have knowledge of aerogels being infused with helium? I'm assuming it wouldn't be too outlandish to do so, but honestly don't have a lot of experience with them. [[User:Fifteen12|Fifteen12]] ([[User talk:Fifteen12|talk]]) 14:39, 15 September 2023 (UTC)
:It'd be complex. Most are 'open cell', so need an external coating. Or "pockets of helium" could mean small helium-filled ballonettes embedded within aerogel; being uniformly externally supported by the aerogel, these pockets could be structurally less bulky than traditional bladders of lift-gas (still need to be impermeable, but without the inflate-stretching of rubber, can be a more 'delicate but efficient' material, perhaps [https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/online/27257/Graphene-displays-unexpected-permeability graphene]). You could (also?) coat the outside of the aerogel, but adding an arbitrarily large envelope of such a membrane around helium-infused aerogel and then adding more (normally aerated) aerogel onto the outside as additional buffer/structural precaution might be wise(r), as you go ship-hunting... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.61|141.101.98.61]] 15:22, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

It seems ChatGPT was use to write the description text? The contributor share in on XKCD's euphoria channel: https://chat.openai.com/share/02006f2e-cca5-4518-8fb4-f9176b39512e [[Special:Contributions/188.114.111.117|188.114.111.117]] 16:04, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

What aerogel would break down in water? From what I've seen, I thought most aerogel was made of silica? (There's actually no gel left in an aerogel; the gel is replaced by gases.) Is this an error produced by ChatGPT? Since my searches just now have turned up no mention of aerogel being made water soluble, I'm removing that statement for now; if someone has a citation supporting it, we could add it back in? [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:28, 15 September 2023 (UTC)
:Wikipedia has a section on [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogel#Waterproofing waterproofing aerogels] which talks about "hyrodoxyl groups...causing [the aerogel] to catastrophically dissolve in the water". However, the [https://www.vsl.cua.edu/cua_phy/images/c/cf/Aerogel_Aerlon_SilicaAerogels.pdf source it cites] clarifies that this is only for aerogels made with a certain process. Other aerogels can be easily made that invert the hydrodoxyl groups and prevent structural breakdown, resulting in hydrophobic aerogels. I presume Black Hat would be smart enough to get his chemistry right. I agree with removing that part.[[User:Fifteen12|Fifteen12]] ([[User talk:Fifteen12|talk]]) 01:20, 16 September 2023 (UTC)

Why not filling the aerogel with hydrogen? You might save for torpedoes then. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:24, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

"God himself couldn't sink this ship." That's just giving Murphy a temptation far too great to resist. Naval architect Thomas Andrews, the leader of the Titanic's design team, knew exactly how much damage his ship could sustain and stay afloat, and he knew that the damage inflicted by the iceberg was too great to sustain. He [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Andrews#Death did not survive the sinking.] [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.82|172.69.33.82]] 22:12, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

Wouldn't helium be a better choice for the low-mass pursuit iceberg? Not only is hydrogen even lighter than helium, it can combust when exposed to heat and oxygen, making the limited kinetic energy of a collision less relevant. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 14:28, 16 September 2023 (UTC)
:Assume you meant "Wouldn't hydrogen be a better choice...", from context/rest of your argument. In which case, pperhaps a floating(-in-air!) iceberg that attacks just the ''one'' ship is considered less efficient than one which can (potentially) attack several..? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.205|172.70.85.205]] 15:31, 16 September 2023 (UTC)
:An hydrogen-filled "airberg" would also be easier to dispatch by firing at it remotely, igniting the hydrogen. An helium one wouldn't have that weakness. Black Hat would have anticipated this. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:19, 16 September 2023 (UTC)

Since an _iceberg_ is made of ice, how would be called an helium-filled one? "hellberg"?
I posit that the generic term would be an "airberg". [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:19, 16 September 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2691: Encryption

2022-10-29T16:18:17Z

Ralfoide:

More generally, when the explanation of the encryption algorithm needs example people, it picks names going sequentially through the alphabet. Alice and Bob are the canonical first two, names starting with C and D would be next. Eve, the eavesdropper, is next. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:01, 29 October 2022 (UTC)
:...though it depends upon {{w|Alice and Bob#Cast of characters|what other protagonists/required roles}} are to be featured in the scenario as to which initials get given to the 'normal' example correspondants. And I'm sure you could come up with other punny names for other novel roles, if you're in the position to require something special, only Alice and Bob being (normally!) inviolable as to both role and initialism. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.58|172.70.91.58]] 09:43, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

Is this comic a subtle reference to Signal announcing the discontinuing of SMS/MMS support, thus vastly lowering the number of people that Signal users can send messages to? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.205|172.70.114.205]] 09:10, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

I'd reckon you're also banned from the app if your name is Mallory, which might be inconvenient if you're James Bond's boss. Then again, that's Voldemort... [[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 10:36, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

This was hilarious. And it's the only app you should be able to install on the [[2377:_xkcd_Phone_12|XKCD Phone]], for obvious security reasons. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:18, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2689: Fermat's First Theorem

2022-10-25T16:59:13Z

Ralfoide:

but it ''does'' spell ant bacon [[User:JLZ0kTC5|JLZ0kTC5]] ([[User talk:JLZ0kTC5|talk]]) 18:35, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

Possible reference to Fermat's Last Theorem. {{unsigned ip|172.70.206.151|18:43, 24 October 2022 (UTC)}}
:Make that ''certain'' reference to Fermat's Last Theorem. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.179.30|172.70.179.30]] 18:57, 24 October 2022

[[2492:_Commonly_Mispronounced_Equations]]? [[User:JLZ0kTC5|JLZ0kTC5]] ([[User talk:JLZ0kTC5|talk]]) 19:45, 24 October 2022 (UTC)
:Yes, added it. —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]]) 21:46, 24 October 2022 (UTC)
::Thanks [[User:JLZ0kTC5|JLZ0kTC5]] ([[User talk:JLZ0kTC5|talk]]) 14:28, 25 October 2022 (UTC)

Is it worth pointing out that Fermat's Last Theorum was not the last one he postulated, but the last one that remained unproven? Or do we leave all that to the Wikipedia link for anyone curious? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.59|172.71.26.59]] 20:50, 24 October 2022 (UTC)
:I say leave it to Wikipedia, since it doesn't seem to help with explaining any part of the comic.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.179|172.71.94.179]] 06:49, 25 October 2022 (UTC)

Little Fermat's Theorem, as opposed to Fermat's Little Theorem. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.219|162.158.2.219]] 20:58, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

Fermat was French (not American). Not sure, what the French call the equals sign. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.215|198.41.242.215]] 07:07, 25 October 2022 (UTC)
:They call it ''égale'', so it does start with an (accented) E.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.77|172.70.162.77]] 08:48, 25 October 2022 (UTC)
:Randall's Fermat seems to speak English, since "ant" and "bacon" are English. And "BNECN" is not Fermat's interpretation, but discovered centuries later, perhaps by Wyles, who is American. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:05, 25 October 2022 (UTC)

In Semitic languages we omit vowels when writing words, so "An+BnCn" could be read as "Ant Bancon", which is close enough. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:59, 25 October 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2679: Quantified Self

2022-10-01T17:09:48Z

Ralfoide: whoosh

This could also be a call back to the Billy Path comics run in Family Circus. I don't have time today to add that research though. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.59|172.70.214.59]] 16:00, 30 September 2022 (UTC)

Here is an explanation of what it is about
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCD/comments/1ve309/invisible_thread_attached_to_my_back_am_i_the/ {{unsigned|Florian F|18:11, 30 September 2022‎}}
:I was going to guess sorting Google Maps Directions by sustainability announced this past Wednesday. https://blog.google/products/search/new-ways-to-make-more-sustainable-choices/ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.17|172.69.134.17]] 18:53, 30 September 2022 (UTC)
::How is this comic about optimizing for sustainability?
:::It is about optimizing a particular attribute of maps directions. Sustainability is the most recent such attribute announced (two days prior to the comic) by a top-3 commerical maps directions provider. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.183|172.70.214.183]] 06:04, 1 October 2022 (UTC)
:::: Google optimizes paths for distance and time for a long time already. The announcement is about optimizing for fuel efficiency instead. The comic clearly speaks about measuring distance but not about fuel consumption.
:::: The comic also insists on the topological features of constructions, namely whether there is a hole. This has nothing to do with fuel efficiency. And how does pulling a string taut measure fuel efficiency? I don't understand.
:::: The newspapers are full of events that happened 3 days ago. What makes Google's announcement more relevant to the comic than other news? [[User:Florian F|Florian F]] ([[User talk:Florian F|talk]]) 09:29, 1 October 2022 (UTC)
::::: Are you saying your OCD interpretation is more likely? Do you have any sources compatible with {{w|WP:RSP}}? How do those sources compare to an annual software release announcement by a top-10 tech company? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.125|162.158.166.125]] 09:34, 1 October 2022 (UTC)
::::::What I am saying is that the Google announcement as reliable as it is, is totally irrelevant to this comic. It is both optimization of a path. So what? It doesn't shed any light on any peculiarity of the comic. If you can explain why the red line is affected by bridges and an arch, but not by buildings or mountains, in the context of sustainability an fuel reduction, you might have a case. [[User:Florian F|Florian F]] ([[User talk:Florian F|talk]]) 15:35, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

:I think you're way off. I don't see any hint that it's about OCD. If it's similar to the condition you referenced, it's just a coincidence. The whole thing needs to be started from scratch. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.105|108.162.221.105]] 20:41, 30 September 2022 (UTC)
::That is why this site exists. To explain things you don't see. I don't think many people are familiar with this compulsion about an imaginary string retracing your path in space, but when you are, it is spot on. [[User:Florian F|Florian F]] ([[User talk:Florian F|talk]]) 23:09, 30 September 2022 (UTC)

GOOMHR! - Although for me it was the opposite aim. I've had periods of time when I wouldn't even like (if I noticed, I wasn't like OCD or anything[1]!!!) to make a return journey that meant I even crossed the road at a different point and thus passed under a different telegraph wire between a different set of adjacent poles, on the presumption that if I were to 'retract my path' then it would be irrevocably looped around at least one telegraph poles. (But normal lamp-posts were Ok... the path-'string' could just pass over and around the top and continue to retract. And it could pass above/below anything movable like cars, people, etc.) My ideal would be to be topologically contracted to zero length. Nut I wasn't actually obsessed by it, just... sometimes noticed when I was forced to do something that would cause such 'problems' and might deliberately ensure that any such loop was fully reversed (in strict reverse order to any such transit adding them in) ''if at all possible''. Of course, once it was spoilt by one end of the journey being held by a loop, the rest didn't matter so much. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.71|162.158.34.71]] 18:21, 30 September 2022 (UTC)
:''[1] Not even CDO, which is like OCD but ordered alphabetically!''
:: I definitely am also someone who always played it your way, the reverse XKCD. My cats play it straight though, running into the house, through, and out a different entrance repeatedly one day, then the other way the day after. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.45|172.68.210.45]] 19:35, 30 September 2022 (UTC)

; Red string of Fate
The drawing looks like the red thread connecting people in chinese mythology.
-[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.188|162.158.91.188]] 18:21, 30 September 2022 (UTC)

What happens to the string if you crawl under a car which then drives off?[[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.141|172.70.134.141]] 20:05, 30 September 2022 (UTC)
:You probably would only count objects that were stationary after you passed them.[[User:Anonymouscript|Anonymouscript]] ([[User talk:Anonymouscript|talk]]) 21:10, 30 September 2022 (UTC)
::If it can conceivably move over your 'thread', then it isn't a 'tangling loop'. You have to allow for any degree of mysterious topological optimisation that can magically unhook itself from anything that can be unhooked from, no matter {{w|Alexander horned sphere|how much work it has to do to do so}}, and if that has to include choosing just the right time (with perfect prescience, where necessary!) to allow it to untangle wherever/whenever possible. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.205|162.158.34.205]] 21:25, 30 September 2022 (UTC)
:::That doesn't make sense, taken to the extreme, since all things will turn to dust eventually.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.42|162.158.107.42]] 21:47, 30 September 2022 (UTC)
::::Within the period of your concern (e.g. per daily routine), I would presume. That gantry over the road will be (partially, perhaps in stages) dissasembled for maintenance at some point, if not outright taken down, allowing an arbitrarily future-sensitive thread to not be caught up in it any more. Tachyonic thread-behaviour could happily unwrap around the time ''before'' the gantry (or bridges, or arch) were built, and as for the house... Before completion or after the next F5 tornado, the 4D constraints are far less (a line snagged permanently in a 4D 'passage' suggests something a bit more interesting, given a closed door doesn't 'snag' in 3D, only the use of two different doorways, with or without actual doors). But limiting it to a daily assesment bookends the whole 4D construct with a virtual lintel over (and under, in the ''t''-dimension) any potential gap for thread-movement that might be considered a way to be optimising to minimal necessary set of straight-line distances... Well, unless you learn the gantry was only assembled that morning, or that it had sufficient Ship Of Theseus-style repairs during the day, or a truck hit it by the end of the day... then it still acts as a looped-snagger
::::The car is trivial, in comparison, as we ''know'' it drives away in the posited scenario (and within the duration of the scenario). Even if our mental thread-pull does not allow us to tug it under the firmly ground-planted tyres, by reducing to periods of instaniousness as the 'trapped' thread is then rolled over (and even more tightly trapped, without violating the 'through solid matter' issue) you reach a point where it is now rolled ''off'' of (no longer underneath the car at all) so you can consider it untrapped. Unlike any thread that was threaded in through the driver's side door but out again through the passenger-side one, which traps loops completely (except for convertables, of course, or if Black Hat subsequently does a more width-wise [[562: Parking|version of the "cut'n'shut", with or without the "shut" bit]].
::::But that's just my interpretation. Thread-line obsessions probably come in various flavours and twists (can a thread-line knot about itself? And, insofar as the car example, is it basically forced to stay 'loose' but looped under the car as it drives, at least until enough of the car's wheels lose contact with the ground due to excessive speed over a humped bridge or even speedbump?) and I can't speak for all of them, but my reasonable (FCVO 'reasonable') assessment suggests that there are get outs ''and'' constraints that might be more universal than not. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.48|172.70.91.48]] 01:47, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

{{cot|When it was all about the OCD}}
This is about a type of OCD where some people feel like they have an imaginary string connecting them to where they come from. As they move around, that string gets entangled and they feel the urge to untangle it. When they enter a car, they feel the need to exit the car from the same door, or else the string will be trapped as forever passing through the car. When they enter a building, they feel they need to exit using the same doorway(s), to avoid entangling the string in the building.

Some cases, like turning around a lamp post are OK because you can imagine removing the loop over the top of the lamp post, such that it is not really entangled.

There may not be an official clinical name for this variety of OCD, but one suggested one is the "imaginary path-string".

Randall treats this OCD like a new measure to add to one's quantified self. The quantified self normally refers to the collection of measurements about your activity, like the number of steps you walk in a day, or monitoring your weight, blood pressure or calories intake. Here, Cueball measures his OCD, i.e. how long this imaginary string has become at the end of the day, after mentally untangling the string as much as possible with valid changes, like moving it around objects, but never through solid matter.

Unlike most people with this OCD, who feel the urge to minimize it, Randall/Cueball takes the opposite stance and actually prefers to maximize the (optimally minimal) length of that imaginary string.

The alt text tells about all the things that become useful adjuncts to this way of thinking and measuring, such as passing (one way) through any tube, tunnel or frame made of solid material that could thus capture the imaginary string and help to keep its ultimate distance as lengthy as possible. All of these situations are dreaded by the people with the more traditional version of OCD.
{{cob}}
...because someone [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2679:_Quantified_Self&diff=295745&oldid=295744 ''just deleted it''], and didn't even appear to attempt to replace it with anything useful themselves. (It did need a lot of editing, but not sure it is totally inapplicable, given the demonstrated familiarity with the basic concept by Randall's target audience...) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.205|162.158.34.205]] 21:25, 30 September 2022 (UTC)
::I also had a preoccupation with this sort of thing, for a while as a child. My magic thread was a remnant of the umbilical cord, with one end permanently anchored in the hospital where I was born. I had little or no knowledge of the fundamental nature of matter and just thought of it as a rubber band that was too small to see or feel. Like in the comic and other comments here, it could magically stretch as much as needed and would un-stretch when possible. I did not consider changing behaviour (e.g. choosing an exit to leave a building) because I had no desire for it to be longer or shorter, and it was clearly far too late to make a significant difference. I did spend quite some time thinking of all the places the thread must have gotten caught (as in the comic) and estimating its total length. (I did not consider airports, or my estimate would have been far longer). [[User:Mrob27|Mrob27]] ([[User talk:Mrob27|talk]]) 06:17, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

;Comics with color, red-line subset
As [[:Category:Comics with color]] doesn't have a currently extant Talk-page to it, mentioning it here (although not sure if this one counts, as much, for my suggestion). Many CwC examples are basically "monochrome with added red" ([[2639: Periodic Table Changes|'corrections' to periodic tables]], e.g.) that are distinct from "having lines of various colours" (like [[657: Movie Narrative Charts|multidata plottings]]), which are in turn distinctive from [[2598: Graphic Designers|floodfilled]] or [[1024: Error Code|brushstroked]] multihue images. A simple(ish) algorithm could autoclassify all images with any non-greyscale pixels in them, but (from a human perspective, which is [[1530: Keyboard Mash|definitely my kind of perspective]]!) I think that we could sub-split CwC candidates into something like "(Monochrome) Comics with added red lines", and the rest. Doubtless some are going to be edge-cases (is this one technically a red-line one? Probably, but it's not really the same as a 'correction/annotation' red-lined comic), but such subcategorisation might still be broadly useful. - Just a wild idea, that you could perhaps safely ignore. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.117|172.70.90.117]] 02:25, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

Are there any ''reliable'' sources for the OCD interpretation, or merely a collection of anecdotes? If the former, please spell out and wikilink OCD. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.158.119|172.71.158.119]] 07:24, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

I have some questions about the Google Maps Directions sustainability and related Google features; please see:
* https://itep.org/the-impact-of-work-from-home-on-commercial-property-values-and-the-property-tax-in-u-s-cities/
* https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/08/working-from-home-commercial-office-space-booming
* https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-08-12/office-rentals-shrink-as-tenant-employees-work-from-home
* https://www.computerworld.com/article/3659891/google-others-adding-office-space-in-anticipation-of-the-great-return.html
* https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2022/01/14/google-spends-billions-on-buying-office-buildings-is-this-a-sign-of-the-post-pandemic-pushback-against-remote-work/
* https://www.wsj.com/articles/companies-cutting-office-space-predict-long-term-savings-11625493601
Firstly, has Google published a cost-benefit analysis comparing the sharply increased profits and productivity from work-from-home to the value of coastal region commercial office space holdings and leases? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.59|172.70.214.59]] 08:49, 1 October 2022 (UTC)
:Added, except I TLDRed on those six links lol. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.185|162.158.166.185]] 08:57, 1 October 2022 (UTC)
::This looks totally irrelevant to me. [[User:Florian F|Florian F]] ([[User talk:Florian F|talk]]) 09:29, 1 October 2022 (UTC)
:Did you miss these three?
:* https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2021-04-28/google-is-saving-1-billion-per-year-as-a-result-of-employees-working-from-home
:* https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-15/google-googl-wants-employees-to-return-to-office-despite-productivity-gains
:* https://www.reuters.com/world/the-great-reboot/pay-cut-google-employees-who-work-home-could-lose-money-2021-08-10/
:? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.125|162.158.166.125]] 09:31, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

I [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2679%3A_Quantified_Self&type=revision&diff=295816&oldid=295813 deleted the entire OCD interpretation section] because I couldn't figure out how to comment it out. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.158.89|172.71.158.89]] 10:59, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

;r/whoosh
We need a "I don't get it" tag for these strips. We could call it "r/whoosh".
(to be fair, I understand the comics, but I don't personally find it neither fascinating, nor interesting, nor funny, nor depicting an interesting fact, nor something I can relate about, and I don't think I'm going to be the only one... YMMV to those who feel differently). [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:09, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2668: Artemis Quote

2022-09-06T18:59:46Z

Ralfoide:

The first quote is self-referential (and confuses people, when quoted). The second plays unto the myth that the moon landing was staged. It is nice to be able to choose words, which are cited. A great opportunity to confuse people. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.143|172.68.110.143]] 21:09, 5 September 2022 (UTC)

To those of you wondering [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2668:_Artemis_Quote&diff=294177&oldid=294176 why, "<tt>mankind" ,[emphasis</tt>," currently appears in the wikitext,] I would direct you to [[explain xkcd talk:Editor FAQ#Punctuation inside quotes and parentheses]]. I am discouraged by such pettiness. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.59|172.70.214.59]] 21:26, 5 September 2022 (UTC)
:Waitwhat? ...Quote-Space-Comma-OpenBracket..? Good job it isn't like that now, or I'd be rewriting it. (Probably put the <tt>[emphasis added]</tt> within the quotes, for starters, before worrying about the other punctuation.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.77|172.70.162.77]] 23:02, 5 September 2022 (UTC)

Perhaps the first Artemis astronaut to set foot on the moon will prefer to come with her own idea of what to say. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.75|172.71.142.75]] 21:55, 5 September 2022 (UTC)
:I'm hoping for interpretive dance. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.59|172.70.214.59]] 22:31, 5 September 2022 (UTC)
::I hope they do a couple cartwheels before saying anything. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.163|172.70.206.163]] 03:09, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
::: Endorsed: "two small cartwheels for women of color; two giant tumblings for people!" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.59|172.70.214.59]] 05:07, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

The quote in the title text is factually true, adding to the confusion it would cause, as it does not actually claim that the Artemis astronaut is the first human to set foot on the Moon, only that it is a great honor to be the first. [[User:Bugstomper|Bugstomper]] ([[User talk:Bugstomper|talk]]) 22:34, 5 September 2022 (UTC)

It is not [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2668:_Artemis_Quote&diff=prev&oldid=294204 feeding trolls] to acknowledge that these <s>trolls</s> people exist (and are exactly the kind of people Randall [[690: Semicontrolled Demolition|likes to bait]]. But I won't 'unedit' that. (Someone else can either restore it or get rid of the silly compromise of being commented out with a confusingly 'inline' text-comment. Only by checking the precise version dif would it even make much sense.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.141|172.71.178.141]] 22:57, 5 September 2022 (UTC)

I interpreted the second (alt text) option as being intended to cause a similar mis-hearing (or suspected mis-hearing) debate as was the case with the original man/a man quote. The word "human" could possibly be mis-heard as "woman" over a poor-quality audio transmission, leading to a debate about which was intended. (According to the comic, the intended word would in fact be "human", but if the person was female most listeners would likely assume that it is supposed to be "woman" as most people are aware that humans have been on the moon before but probably unsure of whether or not a woman has ever been on the moon.)

Questions: Has a woman ever been to the moon, and is NASA planning to choose a woman for the new mission? It wouldn't surprise me if they were planning to send a woman this time around for PC points. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.128|172.70.91.128]] 23:13, 5 September 2022 (UTC)
:Yes, I believe Artemis has announced that they intend to let a woman of color be the 13th on the Moon, but I'm not up to date on the official press releases. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.126|172.70.211.126]] 23:20, 5 September 2022 (UTC)
::I'm Hoping it will be an African-American woman chosen specifically as commander for identity purposes, who says "It's Great to be Black on the Moon!" [Obref Netflix _Space Force_][[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 23:23, 5 September 2022 (UTC)
:[Written before two other replies, above, appeared... One maybe answering an issue I raise below about the 'twofer'...] One of the main 'selling points' has been that the {{w|Artemis 3|first landing mission}} would definitely include a female crewmember, and a 'person of colour'. I've never been quite clear that this is to be the two identities of the two crew or if the intention is that there'll be one person fulfilling them both as a "twofer". So those worrying about (or applauding!) "PC points" are already happy to have their fears(/hopes) confirmed.
:As a side note, I find the "PoC" term a horrible phrase, in my mind, but I'm British and I know that whatever problems we have with what terminology to use (BAME, etc) are quite different from the US. And there are near-universally undeniably worse terms to use. And "of colour" (or "color", in Leftpondian) doesn't seem to mean much except not being pure-Saxon. Apparently Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (neé Markle) is mixed-race (some even say "black") but I wouldn't have known (and, now knowing, am not at all bothered by the fact) given that tanning salons output a steady stream of darker-skinned anglo-saxon or even celtic-heritage locals.
:Anyway, there'll be complaints by the anti-PC brigade regardless, not that I mind them being upset. So long as they have good individuals (no Iron Sky 'just send a model', purely as a vanity passenger) they should be able to pick and choose which of various suitable candidates works well in the grand scheme of things.
: (And I don't agree with the "human/woman confusion thing", seems far too clumsy. Even as deliberately awkward phrasing.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.141|172.71.178.141]] 23:46, 5 September 2022 (UTC)

I don't understand <tt>because e.g., conflating "a" man with "mankind" is potentially self-contradictory</tt>. There's no conflation in "a man is an individual, but mankind is a group", and the issue is surely more that so seen in "man is an individual, but mankind is a group" where "man"=="mankind" in this respect so that the logic ends up as (A==B)&(A!=B) by trivial analysis... Whatever, I just don't think that explains what is 'wrong'. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.141|172.71.178.141]] 23:46, 5 September 2022 (UTC)
:Addressed in subsequent edits to the Explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.231|172.69.33.231]] 03:04, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

If the astronaut removed his boot before saying "It is an honor to be the first human to set foot on the moon." He/she would technically be correct. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 23:28, 5 September 2022 (UTC)
: It's a terrible idea to place an unclothed foot on {{w|lunar regolith}}, not only because of the vacuum and temperature, but it's like a layer of somewhat coarsely ground glass reasonably likely to cause puncture or laceration even from the diminished weight of any adult. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.213|172.70.206.213]] 23:44, 5 September 2022 (UTC)
:: I forget where, but I've seen a 'hard'/speculative SF treatment of future Moon tourism options that includes a run out of one handy airlock and almost immediately into another whilst suited and ''singly-''booted (an extremely tight ligature on the other lower leg, for the necessary duration) for those wishing to make their 'ultimate footprint' in the regolith. With a bit of practice beforehand, there is probably a (comparatively) safe hop-step gait that doesn't cause much more damage than the briefly decompressive coldness betwixt the portals connecting to the safer internal environment of the moonbase this all happens at. Still a 'thrill' activity, with inherent risks both in the execution and afterwards. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.33|172.70.85.33]] 23:58, 5 September 2022 (UTC)
:::I have no doubt that someone will leave their actual footprints on the Moon someday, but I hope they use crutches and some way to get their foot back into their pressure suit ASAP. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.49|172.70.210.49]] 02:34, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

Someone ''really'' likes to remove "redundant" words, in edits, amongst other minor adjustments (described similarly laconically) that I'm not sure are truly justified. I bet if I put some of them back (just the ones that I felt served a purpose, and I can imagine the original authors thought so too) they'd just be removed again. And no easy way to argue the toss, so I'll spare you the arguments and put up with the potential travesties. But I get the feeling that there's a particularly opinionated editor out there, active at this very moment, who is more pleased with themself than they rightfully have reason to be. There are valid rhetorical uses for emphasis, you know, and your 'perfection' might not be so universally agreeable despite your sniping. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.33|172.70.85.33]] 00:24, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
:Is there a Unicode glyph for saying wiki editors need to calm down? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 00:32, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
::There must be one for "copyedit". Which seems to just mean that an edit is being made, without any proper comment. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.33|172.70.85.33]] 00:47, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
::: ⛚✎ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.49|172.70.210.49]] 01:03, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

I just deleted this, because it doesn't make sense to me:
:''This joke could be taken in one of two ways: one, that it is a violation of the {{w|cooperative principle}} which states that what people say usually is of relevance to the current situation - in this scenario implying that the Artemis astronaut is the first person on the Moon when in fact they were simply discussing the topic in a disconnected bubble the same way one might make such a comment on Earth; alternatively it could simply be to mislead people into thinking Artemis was the first crewed mission to the Moon.''
Perhaps the author can go into more detail here on how this is a better explanation than the text it replaced, please? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.183|172.70.214.183]] 04:20, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
:I'm not the author of that, but I'm the one who put the lander-appearance paragraph under a Trivia field, and was about to do the same with the Artemis 1 paragraph when I find someone edited the Trivia away (mentioning it by name) and wants to talk about it... So, I don't know what you think you're doing (in the nicest way, I just think you're confused about what your 'partial reverts' are actually doing). But the editing is clearly busy, so <s>I'll probably come back to it later today anyway and see what we have.</s> ''...no, scratch that. Seeing the 'missing' paragraph improperly appended to another paragraph, both that and the Artemis 1 one are both now in Trivia as purely incidental to the comic but maybe interesting regardless. Until someone decides to do something stupid(er) with them, maybe.'' [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.4|172.70.86.4]] 04:31, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
::So if I understand you, the comment about how the drawing has people coming out of the base of the SpaceX Starship, while the contract NASA awarded them has an elevator, presumably with some sort of a backup like a winch or rope ladder, is trivial? You might also consider commenting on the content instead of the contributors. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.213|172.70.206.213]] 04:35, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
:::It's not trivial, but it's Trivia. Anyway, see above. Unless you already saw what I did and maybe rereverted it (but now I ''am'' staying away for several hours, so fill your boots...). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.141|172.71.178.141]] 04:43, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
:::Ok, Trivia-proponent back here again, finally. Yes, it ''did'' get immediately/before-I-had-finished reverted (and compounded back to that other unrelated para) as predicted. And then someone came up with a other term that seems to have stuck.
:::Noting that the Artemis 1 para really is the main thing (of the asides), which I'd originally put at the top of the more ephemeral subsection, and that Trivia (or its otherwise-named direct alternative) is generally positioned below Transcript. But at least it's not a glaringly obvious directly unexplanatory intrusion in the explanatory flow, FFS. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.141|172.71.178.141]] 15:01, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

I wonder what other editors think about [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2668:_Artemis_Quote&diff=prev&oldid=294312 this deletion,] given the extent to which schwas and dialect have played in Xkcd recently. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.239|172.69.33.239]] 05:13, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

One small step for man'); DROP TABLE Quotes;-- [[Special:Contributions/172.70.135.92|172.70.135.92]] 06:58, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

Yet another xkcd where I learn something: I never realized there was any confusion on the "man / (a) man" part in Armstrong's quote. It did not even occur to me there was a missing article to begin with. American speakers do omit their articles from time to time in casual speech (e.g. "sorry I'm late, damn car broke"), not to mention that this is actually a feature in many non-English languages. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 18:59, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2667: First Internet Interaction

2022-09-03T18:34:45Z

Ralfoide: what's green day?

Is this related to https://www.kerrang.com/green-day-fans-remind-the-internet-not-to-post-wake-me-up-when-september-ends-jokes/ ? {{unsigned ip|172.70.114.87|21:51, 2 September 2022‎}}

((Hey, what a coincidence. You edit-conflict the following ramble (that mentiones the September thing) that I was trying not to make too wordy and mostly failed at...)) 
Not entirely sure what my first Internet thing was (pre-web, might have been telnetting - or even Kermitting - to the software ftp/whatever server at Univeristy of Kent, but that was pretty much not an 'interaction'). And I may have IRCed/Usenetted already, with forgettable results, but I'm fairly sure my very first email to anyone outside of the campus networks (and certainly my first outside of JANET) was to Terry Pratchett. {{cot|...even more boringly nostalgic bit}}
I decided to pointing out something interesting I'd thought of after reading Wyrd Sisters. Which his reply made obvious that he clearly already knew and was definitely riffing off of. (That was me being naive, definitely. It was a very personable knock-back, really. But as 'one of probably many' I never did apologise for my stupidity in any future interactions.)
{{cob}}
Mind you, I'd only just become sort of reassured that I didn't have to pay any kind of postage for email. (Probably.)
 I think I had to wait until after The Eternal September to start getting the comic-like responses. But then I probably lost my patience with various Eternal Septemberites (AOL/WebTV/etc) myself, though never with Greenday details. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.173|172.69.79.173]] 22:10, 2 September 2022 (UTC)

is there a related comics section? If so, https://xkcd.com/1053/ is probably related. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.8|172.69.34.8]] 00:46, 3 September 2022 (UTC)
:Good one. I know I've seen Green Day mentioned in <s>at least a few other xkcds</s> some other media about Randall. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.79|172.70.214.79]] 01:01, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

I think the title text is implying that he does have a serious problem [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.35|172.69.33.35]] 01:15, 3 September 2022 (UTC)
:The reply was a conditional, so we can't really infer that generality. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.59|172.70.214.59]] 01:30, 3 September 2022 (UTC)
: Maybe Cueball's socialization issues. Or possibly that the internet is broadly searchable if you don't know something, so you needn't ask humans. But while I'm outside American culture, I doubt that now or at any time has it been "a serious problem" to not know what or, as it turns out, who is/are "Green Day".
: The name isn't apparently a reference to St Patrick's holiday, but, says Wikipedia, "slang in the San Francisco Bay area" for what I can call taking a herbal holiday. At least, I assume I can, but rules may be subjective. And it's local, so perhaps in New York it does mean St Patrick's Day. Japan celebrates "Greenery Day" for, indirectly, historic reasons. I expect they don't try to say "greenery".
: Anyway, would "AOL Kids" tell you about the San Francisco meaning? It is "A Logic Named Joe" all over again, as has been noticed often. Incidentally, it appears that Green Day were founded as "Sweet Children". Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.73|162.158.159.73]] 03:12, 3 September 2022 (UTC)
:I know of Green Day (more so after these two comics, obviously) but until now I doubt I'd have mentioned them off the top of my head if I'd have been given an hour to list as many musical acts as I could, except for very isolated instances of prior "oh yeah, someone mentioned this lot earlier". And not sure when they first came to my attention, but probably well post 1993 (and well well post being a 9yo).
:And I couldn't (recent info aside) have actually named any of their songs if asked ''specifically'' about them. Probably heard something they did, some time, but if I've experienced American Idiot then absolutely nothing about it (tune, words or (except since Wednesday) title) seems to have stuck. I have now glanced at their wikipedia article, and... -> Who...my head...osh! ->
:But then I could tell you that Clive Dunn performed "Grandad" and Terry Wogan did the "Floral Dance" and Joe Dolce sang "Whatsa matter you" instead, so probably my serious problem is that I'm just not in their normal target audience. An ocean away and a decade (or probably more) outside their usual fanbase catchment. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.128|172.70.91.128]] 03:23, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

This is what I come to explainxkcd for, answers to such questions as “Who or what is or was Green Day (and why should I care)?” and other such things I’ve never come across during my more than six decades of literacy. Thanks explainxkcd. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.137|172.71.146.137]] 08:52, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

My sole knowledge of Green Day is that they released an album called "Dookie", there were two or three songs from it that were on MTV, and I couldn't name any of them today, not even at gunpoint. [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 09:14, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

To the best of my knowledge, Cueball has always been drawn bald (or at least with no visible hair), yet the 1993 Cueball shows a relatively long and very unkempt growth. Wonder what happened – alopecia? Very early onset of male pattern baldness? Or maybe he just prefers to shave it and rock the Yul Brynner look? [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 09:24, 3 September 2022 (UTC)
:Not all "child stick-figures" have had hair (obvious girls, like clear women, being the exception for obvious characterisation/distinction reasons) so I presume it's a deliberate contrast. Young Cueball (Who Is Not A 'cueball') clearly had full hair (with maybe a pudding-basin cut/styling?) that was distinctive. Whether, then, Current Cueball has hair so non-descript that there's no depiction that can be done...; whether he is full bald/shaved (because of early male-pattern-baldness/other)...; or whether his hair is just so head-shape-clingy... I don't know.
:Note that Cueball's head (especially in early comics) is not a true oval/ovoid but seems to have a small cusp (about where the crown of his hair would be) that's often usefully depicting his head-attitude but also where the illustrating pen probably started and ended its head-loop. I choose to believe that to be representative of his (short/managed) hair as an abstract of where the hairs might radiate from in a pretty normal hairstyle aithout excessive styling/combovering/etc.
:But there are many possible reasons for any (in)consistent portrayal. Except that it clearly depicts a youth who has changed (perhaps through cynicism of life's many challenges, including online interactions) into the more world-worn current self. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.33|172.70.85.33]] 12:40, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

So who else is going to admit they had never heard of Green Day ever before? I sure had not, and I'm an 80s kid living in California. Maybe because I've never been in indie rock bands that much. Does that makes me one of the lucky 10,000 of the day? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 18:34, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2576: Control Group

2022-02-03T21:46:20Z

Ralfoide: not everyone has HDPI monitors

This is my first explanation, feel free to improve upon it. [[User:KirbyDude25|KirbyDude25]] ([[User talk:KirbyDude25|talk]]) 00:30, 3 February 2022 (UTC)

Ran into your edit when I tried to submit mine, hah.
I don't actually like Know Your Meme that much but I'm not sure where else I could source that joke. Maybe it's unnecessary. [[User:Obw|Obw]] ([[User talk:Obw|talk]]) 00:36, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
:Sorry about that. Thanks for expanding my explanation, especially the description of the "study" aspect. I think the joke is fine, though we'll see what others think. [[User:KirbyDude25|KirbyDude25]] ([[User talk:KirbyDude25|talk]]) 00:43, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
:Your explanation of the title text actually helped me understand the joke there! I added a bit more to flesh out the explanation [[User:Obw|Obw]] ([[User talk:Obw|talk]]) 00:45, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
:Thanks! Your edits definitely helped clear up the study terminology. [[User:KirbyDude25|KirbyDude25]] ([[User talk:KirbyDude25|talk]]) 00:50, 3 February 2022 (UTC)

Is the text exceptionally large for an xkcd comic? I was seeing if my browser was zoomed in, but the previous comics are all a normal size [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.215|172.70.134.215]] 00:55, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
:I noticed that, too. It looks about 1.5 times larger than normal. I don't think it means anything, though; Randall probably just made the image the wrong size by accident. [[User:KirbyDude25|KirbyDude25]] ([[User talk:KirbyDude25|talk]]) 01:00, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
:The image is the size normally used for the _2x version. In this case, the main image is the same size as the _2x version for some reason. Normal image: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/control_group.png; 2x image: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/control_group_2x.png; Normally the _2x version is double size for hi-DPI displays. I'm hoping that will get fixed and we'll get the normal size back. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 01:11, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
::This size is way better though. Do people still use low-res monitors? When I check the website, it shows up as 478 x 613 pixels, which is absurdly small, even for a webcomic. - [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.153|172.70.130.153]] 01:33, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
:::Some of us use "low-res" monitors. 1280x720 here, which I see as standard and not "low". [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 21:46, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
:::The site standard is to give the standard version, for various reasons not just confined to monitor (or, in my case, tablet) resolution. It doesn't happen here, but the double-wide version of some comics would often make my device shrink the rest of the page to make the image fit within the width.
:::(Ironically, my device seems to load the _2x in the original published context, in normal non-huge comics, ''without'' changing the xkcd site dimensions, so maybe there's a CSS solution to that, as well as it clearly heing the reason for the current problem due to hard-coded pixel-widths adding up to less than necessary to wholey contain the image-width.)
:::If the _2x version is necessary to see details (not the case here), a link to that version is given. Or if it has been uploaded as well, I suppose. But anyone can go to the source and get the _2x if they want it. But for this comic it adds little value. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.79|172.70.85.79]] 02:57, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
::::Is there some way to make it DEFAULT to the 2x version (here or on xkcd.com) without some kind of addons or external scripts? I didn't see any settings, and I don't want to register an account. - [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.166|162.158.74.166]] 03:05, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
:::::The bot that makes these pages now was set to use the _2x version by default briefly, but was asked to switch back to the normal size. See this talk page: [[User_talk:Theusaf]]. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 21:03, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
:::: Why is the "standard" version so tiny? If anything, they should make the <1mp version mobile-only, and the standard should be desktop/hd - [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.122|172.70.131.122]] 03:03, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
::::: I could give you several technical reasons why this is just not going to work here, without a lot of reworking that will probably involve breaking a significant number of readers of this site, but I don't think you'll be dissuaded. Like I said, it works 'natively' like that in the xkcd site, but it often breaks things here on explainxkcd (in my case, YMMV). It's been discussed under the Community Portal pages for this site, I know, but I'll leave it to you to find out how that went. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.29|162.158.159.29]] 03:15, 3 February 2022 (UTC)

Anyone know why the title text doesn't show properly? For me, the rows are on separate lines on xkcd.com but display on the same line over here, ruining the effect. Is there a hidden break character that's not displaying in the source? [[User:Zzyzx|Zzyzx]] ([[User talk:Zzyzx|talk]]) 03:07, 3 February 2022 (UTC)

Knowing if you are in the control group or not can falsify the results, which is why any self-respecting study (aka blind or double blind) won't tell their participants this information. [[User:Kimmerin|Kimmerin]] ([[User talk:Kimmerin|talk]]) 10:25, 3 February 2022 (UTC)

imo placeable could mean you get to place the correct or incorrect into the box? and the x/6 could have x be a variable, and the grey squares are actually blank to change to correct or incorrect? idk ive never played wordle [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.158|162.158.187.158]] 13:23, 3 February 2022 (UTC)Bumpf
:It says "Placeble," without the second A (meaning described above). Perhaps your theory about the squares is correct, but I think it's more likely that they're just blank and that the "placebo" Wordle doesn't actually have a word to guess. [[User:KirbyDude25|KirbyDude25]] ([[User talk:KirbyDude25|talk]]) 13:32, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
::"Wordle" is just a portmanteau of "Word" and "Wardle" - so "Placeble" is likewise one of "placebo" and "Wordle". I don't think much more should be read into it. It would be interesting to think about how hard it is to not get any squares right in a Wordle puzzle, though. You'd have to get "lucky" on the first word. I'm not sure - can you enter the same word twice, or does the page stop you? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.135.154|172.70.135.154]] 15:18, 3 February 2022 (UTC)

Given the current context, it feels like there may also be some reference here to Wordle's 'virality', and allusion to virus-related vaccine and treatment studies.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.121|172.70.90.121]] 16:26, 3 February 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2565: Latency

2022-01-08T19:01:15Z

Ralfoide:

Ha! Welcome to my life. Just thought to check if there was a new xkcd yet (at 04:45, GMT) after spending the last five hours messing semi-manually with some geodata. Ok, the first three hours was in the text editor looking at the raw JSON file, and the next two was writing a Perl script to redo everything I had already done (and more, but not yet everything I will eventually want to do) without the fallible human element. Once the fallible human element has polished the script up to account for unforseen circumstances. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.73|172.70.85.73]] 04:51, 8 January 2022 (UTC)

what is SCAPDFATIAT
OH what is says in the Comic

Right, Someone Copies and Pastes From a Thing Into Another Thing [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.183|172.70.210.183]] 05:36, 8 January 2022 (UTC)

I can relate to this. In fact, i use 2 computer screens just for that: I copy data from software ''X, screen 1'' to quickly paste it into software ''Y, screen 2''. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.183.232|162.158.183.232]] 06:09, 8 January 2022 (UTC)

I suspect that "cumshots" in the last paragraph is either a (very lame) joke or an incidence of spam. Either way, please remove it! Thanks.

Often the reason for the SCAPDFATIAT step is that A Thing has no direct connection to Another Thing. So someone has to design a way for them to communicate to get the human out of the loop. Unless this process is done frequently, it doesn't reach the top of the priority list. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 13:48, 8 January 2022 (UTC)
: There are tools for such automation (they're usually called either workflow or orchestration tools) and have been for decades, but they tend to be ''really'' fragile. If the services being orchestrated aren't aware of it, it is very easy for them to change things and break the coordination in a way that just fails silently. BTDT. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.73|172.70.85.73]] 15:46, 8 January 2022 (UTC)
: There are many organizations where such automation workflow just _cannot_ happen because the IT or upper management will ignore the users request to integrate X with Y. Can be due to anything from incompetence, to relying on 3rd party vendors that don't offer any support, to financial reasons ("too expensive"), to power struggles, or all of the above. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 19:01, 8 January 2022 (UTC)

User:Ralfoide

2021-12-11T18:23:40Z

Ralfoide: Created page with "This page does not exist yet."

This page does not exist yet.

User talk:Ralfoide

2021-12-11T18:23:00Z

Ralfoide: Created page with "This is not the page you are looking for."

This is not the page you are looking for.

Talk:2553: Incident Report

2021-12-11T18:18:59Z

Ralfoide: Moar story

It seems that "juggling pins" is also a common term for them. Many websites selling them call them pins. Wikipedia says they "sometimes are referred to as pins or batons by non-jugglers". Presumably the technician writing the IR is not a juggler. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:00, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

I'm going to assume that 12/10/2021 is the [https://xkcd.com/1179/ flawed American date system]? [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 23:01, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

You have read The Leaky Establishment. Dave Langford always claims he did not smuggle nuclear material out, but will admit to a filing cabinet. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 23:09, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

''strictly regulated control rooms which would prevent the simultaneous presence of fireworks, juggling and birthday celebrations'' - I would hope that in control room of nuclear power plants, fireworks, juggling and birthday celebrations can't be present AT ALL, not just simultaneously ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:15, 10 December 2021 (UTC)
: You might think that, but I'm basing my edits on that documentary of modern American life entitled "The Simpsons" [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 11:23, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

: As an operator at a nuclear power plant I can tell you that birthday cake is not infrequently present in the control room. But yeah, juggling would be quite discouraged, and security would not be happy if you tried to bring fireworks into the Protected Area. Also, for the record, I have never heard the fuel rods called "pins" (though that may be regional), and while the description of fuel rods here isn't *technically* false I think that "control rods" are what the writer was attempting to describe. (The design of the fuel rods does of course effect neutron flux et al, but they are not positionable or anything like that so to say that they "control reaction speed" is rather misleading.) --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.65|172.70.126.65]] 12:23, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

It's perhaps worth noting that the comic was posted within hours of Amazon in real life releasing an incident report for a major outage of one of their server locations which affected many of their services, perhaps explaining how an Amazon delivery worker accidentally delivered fireworks to the wrong location. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.173|172.70.110.173]] 02:36, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

It's never specified to be a ''birthday'' cake, but I don't know how to put that in the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.80|172.70.175.80]] 03:05, 11 December 2021 (UTC)Bumpf
*The third paragraph says "a birthday cake intended for Technician B". --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.205|172.70.130.205]] 04:55, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

Noting that Randall is not above drilling down even to decimals (or subunits) of seconds as needed. Relarivistic Baseball and Vlass Half Empty come immediately to mind. But I'm not sure if he's gone down the Xeno's Paradox route of starting off fairly long-scale and as the finale approaches cutting down the gap between each itemisation and the next to finer and finer distictions. Wouldn't be surprised if he did, but I'd have to search for it.
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.227|172.70.85.227]] 03:45, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

I don't think that "false minute-level precision" is correct here. In fact, the next more precise-looking times might actually be false precision: go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_precision to see what I mean. I don't know how to express the changing precision indications, however . . . . [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.87|172.70.126.87]] 11:32, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

I suppose '' [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seconds_from_Disaster Seconds From Disaster]'' is just the kind of show this would end up on... [[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 15:21, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

(1) Although anonymous, it appears that we know it's Technician B's birthday which is quite personally identifiable and (2) I want more follow up about the kittens, for public safety. We could be looking at a new animal martial arts franchise but I can't decide if that's the best case or worst. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.41|172.70.85.41]] 15:50, 11 December 2021 (UTC) Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com
:...they've possibly already got a more {{w|Samurai Pizza Cats|direct competition}}. (See also {{w|Bucky O'Hare|other}} {{w|Streaky the Supercat|examples}} for the generally furry, if not feline, if you prefer. ;) ) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.43|162.158.159.43]] 16:55, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

Is there an xkcd fanfic site where the story continues? I sure would love to read what happens at the microsecond level. How detailed will the story get? Femtosecond maybe? Ah such suspense! [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 18:18, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2478: Alien Visitors 2

2021-06-20T17:57:16Z

Ralfoide:

Sorry for intruding, I am just delighted that I am early [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.161|162.158.166.161]] 14:02, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

"Maybe we shouldn't stand right under it." This line might (inadvertently?) reference the common alien-movie fail in which massive spacecraft hover at low altitude over human populations without obliterating them and their infrastructure. It might also be bathroom humor. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.134|172.68.129.134]] 15:56, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
:I'm with the original explanation. The aliens just don't seem very advanced, so they're worried that the spaceships are poorly constructed and pieces might fall off, or the entire ship might just drop. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:19, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
:You are probably correct with respect to Randall's intentions. The situation, though, brings to my mind Turtledove's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwar_series Worldwar series], in which "The Race" had very advanced technology (hence little risk of spaceships crashing on their own) but had, at least initially, a poor opinion about human technologies and their advancement. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.132|172.68.129.132]] 18:31, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

::Thanks for the reference, 172.68.129.132! I’m enjoying listening to the series for free through my public library account using Hoopla. Apparently the original e-books had atrocious copy editing so I get to miss out on that visual horror. :-). [[User:Dhugot|Dhugot]] ([[User talk:Dhugot|talk]]) 18:02, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

To the individual who made a callback to Capri Sun--bless you. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.83|172.70.130.83]] 19:11, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

:Need a category for this recurring comic: [[:Category:Alien Visitors]]. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.65|172.69.35.65]] 00:33, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

Doesn’t the United States still add lead to gasoline used for piston airplane engines, and also high octane race car fuel?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.55|162.158.62.55]] 03:28, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
:Very limited niche use remains, phased out of major applications. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 08:52, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
::Does 167,000 aircraft in the USA (plus more around the world) count as “limited niche use”? Assuming a super conservative estimate of an average of only 100 hours/year/airframe and an equally conservative burn rate of 10 gal/hr, that’s 167 million gallons of leaded gasoline burned per year. See https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=14754 for more info on the FAA’s continuing refusal to remove lead from avgas.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.44|172.70.110.44]] 04:46, 20 June 2021 (UTC)

::Although lead was originally added to gas in order to improve efficiency, it was retained in order to reduce refining expense. After refining crude oil, you get gasoline at a variety of octanes. The different octanes are blended to produce what you pay for (e.g. 87 for regular, 93 for premium). Lead is an octane-boosting additive, allowing manufacturers to ship sub-standard gas (that is a little below the rated octane), adding lead to bring it up to standard. Without lead, you need to blend in a higher proportion of higher-octane gas in order to get the required octane rating. Which is why, back when lead was being phased out, unleaded gas cost more than leaded. The effect of lead reducing engine knock is simply a result of the gas having a higher octane rating. High octane gas without lead (e.g. premium) has the same effect.

::Another interesting side point is that computer-controlled refineries have effectively reduced the quality of gas you get at the pump. There are serious legal penalties for selling gas with an octane rating below what is labeled, but no penalties for being higher. Back when refineries were not computer controlled, they were not precise enough to produce the exact blend required, so they would always err a little higher (e.g. selling 88 octane labeled as 87). But with modern systems, they can sell exactly what's labeled, so consumers don't get any free bonus octane anymore. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 16:22, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

An honorary mention might be made to {{w|Thomas Midgley Jr.}}, who helped to make both TEL and CFCs widely used. (Though didn't get the chance to widely promote his bed-lift before it also proved unsafe.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 08:52, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

I don't think the Hindenburg exploded. It just burned.

One would question how benevolent these aliens are. They only offer inferior technology (pyramids, biplanes) which they could have ''trivially'' seen not to be useful, or they offer harmful technology like lead-based gasoline and inefficient fruit-presses. On the other hand they do not offer the one tech we don't have, e.g. still-standing flying saucers. Thus one may question their real motives... <Insert reference to V>. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:53, 20 June 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2478: Alien Visitors 2

2021-06-20T17:55:53Z

Ralfoide: fix typo

Sorry for intruding, I am just delighted that I am early [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.161|162.158.166.161]] 14:02, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

"Maybe we shouldn't stand right under it." This line might (inadvertently?) reference the common alien-movie fail in which massive spacecraft hover at low altitude over human populations without obliterating them and their infrastructure. It might also be bathroom humor. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.134|172.68.129.134]] 15:56, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
:I'm with the original explanation. The aliens just don't seem very advanced, so they're worried that the spaceships are poorly constructed and pieces might fall off, or the entire ship might just drop. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:19, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
:You are probably correct with respect to Randall's intentions. The situation, though, brings to my mind Turtledove's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwar_series Worldwar series], in which "The Race" had very advanced technology (hence little risk of spaceships crashing on their own) but had, at least initially, a poor opinion about human technologies and their advancement. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.132|172.68.129.132]] 18:31, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

::Thanks for the reference, 172.68.129.132! I’m enjoying listening to the series for free through my public library account using Hoopla. Apparently the original e-books had atrocious copy editing so I get to miss out on that visual horror. :-). [[User:Dhugot|Dhugot]] ([[User talk:Dhugot|talk]]) 18:02, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

To the individual who made a callback to Capri Sun--bless you. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.83|172.70.130.83]] 19:11, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

:Need a category for this recurring comic: [[:Category:Alien Visitors]]. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.65|172.69.35.65]] 00:33, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

Doesn’t the United States still add lead to gasoline used for piston airplane engines, and also high octane race car fuel?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.55|162.158.62.55]] 03:28, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
:Very limited niche use remains, phased out of major applications. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 08:52, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
::Does 167,000 aircraft in the USA (plus more around the world) count as “limited niche use”? Assuming a super conservative estimate of an average of only 100 hours/year/airframe and an equally conservative burn rate of 10 gal/hr, that’s 167 million gallons of leaded gasoline burned per year. See https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=14754 for more info on the FAA’s continuing refusal to remove lead from avgas.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.44|172.70.110.44]] 04:46, 20 June 2021 (UTC)

::Although lead was originally added to gas in order to improve efficiency, it was retained in order to reduce refining expense. After refining crude oil, you get gasoline at a variety of octanes. The different octanes are blended to produce what you pay for (e.g. 87 for regular, 93 for premium). Lead is an octane-boosting additive, allowing manufacturers to ship sub-standard gas (that is a little below the rated octane), adding lead to bring it up to standard. Without lead, you need to blend in a higher proportion of higher-octane gas in order to get the required octane rating. Which is why, back when lead was being phased out, unleaded gas cost more than leaded. The effect of lead reducing engine knock is simply a result of the gas having a higher octane rating. High octane gas without lead (e.g. premium) has the same effect.

::Another interesting side point is that computer-controlled refineries have effectively reduced the quality of gas you get at the pump. There are serious legal penalties for selling gas with an octane rating below what is labeled, but no penalties for being higher. Back when refineries were not computer controlled, they were not precise enough to produce the exact blend required, so they would always err a little higher (e.g. selling 88 octane labeled as 87). But with modern systems, they can sell exactly what's labeled, so consumers don't get any free bonus octane anymore. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 16:22, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

An honorary mention might be made to {{w|Thomas Midgley Jr.}}, who helped to make both TEL and CFCs widely used. (Though didn't get the chance to widely promote his bed-lift before it also proved unsafe.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 08:52, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

I don't think the Hindenburg exploded. It just burned.

One would question how benevolent these aliens are. They only offer inferior technology (pyramids, biplanes) which they could have ''trivially' seen not to be useful, or they offer harmful technology like lead-based gasoline and inefficient fruit-presses. On the other hand they do not offer the one tech we don't have, e.g. still-standing flying saucers. Thus one may question their real motives... <Insert reference to V>. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:53, 20 June 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2478: Alien Visitors 2

2021-06-20T17:53:33Z

Ralfoide: V?

Sorry for intruding, I am just delighted that I am early [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.161|162.158.166.161]] 14:02, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

"Maybe we shouldn't stand right under it." This line might (inadvertently?) reference the common alien-movie fail in which massive spacecraft hover at low altitude over human populations without obliterating them and their infrastructure. It might also be bathroom humor. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.134|172.68.129.134]] 15:56, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
:I'm with the original explanation. The aliens just don't seem very advanced, so they're worried that the spaceships are poorly constructed and pieces might fall off, or the entire ship might just drop. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:19, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
:You are probably correct with respect to Randall's intentions. The situation, though, brings to my mind Turtledove's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwar_series Worldwar series], in which "The Race" had very advanced technology (hence little risk of spaceships crashing on their own) but had, at least initially, a poor opinion about human technologies and their advancement. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.132|172.68.129.132]] 18:31, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

::Thanks for the reference, 172.68.129.132! I’m enjoying listening to the series for free through my public library account using Hoopla. Apparently the original e-books had atrocious copy editing so I get to miss out on that visual horror. :-). [[User:Dhugot|Dhugot]] ([[User talk:Dhugot|talk]]) 18:02, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

To the individual who made a callback to Capri Sun--bless you. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.83|172.70.130.83]] 19:11, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

:Need a category for this recurring comic: [[:Category:Alien Visitors]]. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.65|172.69.35.65]] 00:33, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

Doesn’t the United States still add lead to gasoline used for piston airplane engines, and also high octane race car fuel?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.55|162.158.62.55]] 03:28, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
:Very limited niche use remains, phased out of major applications. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 08:52, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
::Does 167,000 aircraft in the USA (plus more around the world) count as “limited niche use”? Assuming a super conservative estimate of an average of only 100 hours/year/airframe and an equally conservative burn rate of 10 gal/hr, that’s 167 million gallons of leaded gasoline burned per year. See https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=14754 for more info on the FAA’s continuing refusal to remove lead from avgas.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.44|172.70.110.44]] 04:46, 20 June 2021 (UTC)

::Although lead was originally added to gas in order to improve efficiency, it was retained in order to reduce refining expense. After refining crude oil, you get gasoline at a variety of octanes. The different octanes are blended to produce what you pay for (e.g. 87 for regular, 93 for premium). Lead is an octane-boosting additive, allowing manufacturers to ship sub-standard gas (that is a little below the rated octane), adding lead to bring it up to standard. Without lead, you need to blend in a higher proportion of higher-octane gas in order to get the required octane rating. Which is why, back when lead was being phased out, unleaded gas cost more than leaded. The effect of lead reducing engine knock is simply a result of the gas having a higher octane rating. High octane gas without lead (e.g. premium) has the same effect.

::Another interesting side point is that computer-controlled refineries have effectively reduced the quality of gas you get at the pump. There are serious legal penalties for selling gas with an octane rating below what is labeled, but no penalties for being higher. Back when refineries were not computer controlled, they were not precise enough to produce the exact blend required, so they would always err a little higher (e.g. selling 88 octane labeled as 87). But with modern systems, they can sell exactly what's labeled, so consumers don't get any free bonus octane anymore. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 16:22, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

An honorary mention might be made to {{w|Thomas Midgley Jr.}}, who helped to make both TEL and CFCs widely used. (Though didn't get the chance to widely promote his bed-lift before it also proved unsafe.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 08:52, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

I don't think the Hindenburg exploded. It just burned.

One would question how benevolent these aliens are. They only offer inferior technology (pyramids, biplanes) which they could have _obviously_ seen not to be useful, or they offer harmful technology like lead and inefficient fruit-presses. On the other hand they do not offer the one tech we don't have, e.g. still-standing flying saucers. Thus one may question their real motives... <Insert reference to V>. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:53, 20 June 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2214: Chemistry Nobel

2019-10-13T07:40:30Z

Ralfoide:

No Discussion yet? REALLY?!!? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 15:23, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

This may be a reference to SCP-2046. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.34|162.158.146.34]] 15:40, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
:Or something else. From the beginning, what are the ten radical isotopes? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:36, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

Couldn't this potentially involve exotic isotopes of hydrogen that behave similarly to elements in the same group? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.136|162.158.214.136]] 16:02, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

Oh gods, I needed this laugh. Have my Chemistry exam on Monday, this does put a smile on my face.

''"misconception that the empty space at the top of the periodic table represents undiscovered elements"''... [citation needed]. Is that really a thing? Never heard of it. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:53, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
:Somehow I did not think about that the entire time I was editing this thing, because I don’t believe it is. I guess I’ll fix it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.56|172.69.34.56]] 18:32, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
::I guess my point, if I had any, is that I have a hard time believing there's such a "misconception" to begin with in real life. Of course, there is in Randall's strip universe, which is what makes the joke work in his usual out-of-this-world humor. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 07:40, 13 October 2019 (UTC)

Some uninvited pedantry (unlike all my other didactic discourse here, which you guys bring on yourselves): Referenced in the comic is not THE periodic table, just ''a'' periodic table. And it isn't really objectively scientific. It's better to call it the ''most popular'' periodic table. Such tables are a rather ham-handed attempt to explain the patterns of the elements in an "intuitive" (or at least heuristic) way. But the popular one we learn in school is actually far from the best one even in that sense. [[wikipedia:Alternative periodic tables|Check out the alternatives]], many of which are more scientifically sound and logical...but aren't as simplistic for the easy-minded, so they haven't caught on. —[[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 23:37, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
:Do you mean the one that looks like a candyland board game (Benfey's) or the one that looks like the worst Tetris level ever (Tsimmerman's)? [j/k]... If I had seen that in school, I'd have been too distracted to ever pay attention ;-) [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 07:35, 13 October 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2214: Chemistry Nobel

2019-10-13T07:35:38Z

Ralfoide:

No Discussion yet? REALLY?!!? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 15:23, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

This may be a reference to SCP-2046. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.34|162.158.146.34]] 15:40, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
:Or something else. From the beginning, what are the ten radical isotopes? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:36, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

Couldn't this potentially involve exotic isotopes of hydrogen that behave similarly to elements in the same group? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.136|162.158.214.136]] 16:02, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

Oh gods, I needed this laugh. Have my Chemistry exam on Monday, this does put a smile on my face.

''"misconception that the empty space at the top of the periodic table represents undiscovered elements"''... [citation needed]. Is that really a thing? Never heard of it. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:53, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
:Somehow I did not think about that the entire time I was editing this thing, because I don’t believe it is. I guess I’ll fix it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.56|172.69.34.56]] 18:32, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

Some uninvited pedantry (unlike all my other didactic discourse here, which you guys bring on yourselves): Referenced in the comic is not THE periodic table, just ''a'' periodic table. And it isn't really objectively scientific. It's better to call it the ''most popular'' periodic table. Such tables are a rather ham-handed attempt to explain the patterns of the elements in an "intuitive" (or at least heuristic) way. But the popular one we learn in school is actually far from the best one even in that sense. [[wikipedia:Alternative periodic tables|Check out the alternatives]], many of which are more scientifically sound and logical...but aren't as simplistic for the easy-minded, so they haven't caught on. —[[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 23:37, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
:Do you mean the one that looks like a candyland board game (Benfey's) or the one that looks like the worst Tetris level ever (Tsimmerman's)? [j/k]... If I had seen that in school, I'd have been too distracted to ever pay attention ;-) [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 07:35, 13 October 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2214: Chemistry Nobel

2019-10-12T16:53:27Z

Ralfoide:

Talk:1932: The True Meaning of Christmas

2017-12-22T18:23:32Z

Ralfoide:

Is that guy with a black "santa cap" Black Hat? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.77|162.158.166.77]] 13:38, 22 December 2017 (UTC)
:Since most comics a not in color we safely can assume this Santa Hat as red. And if it should be Black Hat we would be able to identify him. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:01, 22 December 2017 (UTC)
::I definitely think it's supposed to be Black Hat Guy (Cueball's comment in the first panel fits). However, as we're uncertain, how about we use "Santa Hat" as in the below comments? -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 15:13, 22 December 2017 (UTC)

Cant find a definition or recognition of the word autometalogolex. My google-fu is weak. ̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶a̶y̶b̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶d̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶u̶p̶ [[User:DPS2004|DPS2004'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:DPS2004|talk]]) 14:11, 22 December 2017 (UTC)
:"autometalogolex" is an invention by Santa Hat and consists of three prefixes "auto-", "meta-", and "logo-" and the word "lex" for law or statute. I'm still thinking about the deeper meaning.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:17, 22 December 2017 (UTC)
::Why dont we make it a word? UrbanDictionary is blocked where i am. [[User:DPS2004|DPS2004'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:DPS2004|talk]]) 14:25, 22 December 2017 (UTC)
:I added the meanings of each of the prefixes, as well as a more likely analysis of the root, though "auto-" is still up in the air. It can mean "self" as in the classic meaning, but it can also mean done without interaction (as in "automatic") which sounds closer to the usage present in the comic. I'll leave it to others to refine. We still need to better interpret the fullness of the title text. Respectfully, -- a guy stuck in a government cube all day. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.184}}
::"auto-" means self. The roots of automatic mean "self-acting" or "self-thinking". [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 15:26, 22 December 2017 (UTC)
:I'd say that Autometalogolex is the word that Santa Hat is making up for the definition that cueball gives "The act of looking up the definition of this word.", so my interpretation is that the definition of Autometalogolex is "The act of looking up the definition of autometalogolex" (so you are all autometalogolexing at this moment) -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.152|141.101.77.152]] 15:06, 22 December 2017 (UTC)volivav
:WDYT about my reference to autological words? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autological_word] [[User:DarlingGeert|DarlingGeert]]

Doesn't the title text reference Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.166|172.69.69.166]] 17:25, 22 December 2017 (UTC)
:Thanks, I thought about this too. Please check my additions. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:20, 22 December 2017 (UTC)

Tautometalogolex should be "the act of looking up the definition of autometalogolex". [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 18:23, 22 December 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1754: Tornado Safety Tips

2016-11-03T16:18:23Z

Ralfoide:

Just to avoid edit wars and be clear with each other - Yeah. I don't want people reverting over and over without knowing our reasons. [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 14:30, 2 November 2016 (UTC)

Is the title-text a Ghostbusters reference? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.127|172.68.54.127]] 18:01, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
:I do not think so. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:03, 2 November 2016 (UTC)

Anyone who can explain the PSA better. As a non native english speakers I have never heard of PSA before, and although I understand what it means with the current explanation it is not really something that pops up when googled. A nice link would be great. I have also found [https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b3/ba/02/b3ba0231f99bf14622a347b65ad30ea7.jpg a picture with this very title] but it seems to only be on pinterest, so I'm not sure we could use it in this explanation... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:06, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
:Does what I added help? It probably didn't aid things either that PSA, at least in 'Murica, actually stands for "Public Service Announcement," not the more specific "Public Safety Advisory," and the only thing I was able to find when searching for the latter was information about government committees named that. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.127|172.68.65.127]] 01:59, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
::What is there now is great. I could not find that wiki page when I searched. Thanks. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:31, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

I was just about to create a new category [[:Category:Tornadoes]], but when I posted the first link on the very first tornado comic, the link was already active. It turned out that [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] had just created it earlier today. Turns out there were already ten comics referencing tornadoes before this one. Now we just need to create a category for volcanoes as well, I think they are just as often referenced... ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:03, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
:How about categories for Weather and Geologic Activity? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.196|108.162.210.196]] 23:22, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
::That could also make sense. But that would not rule out the volcano or tornado category. They would be soub categories. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:31, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

Should there be quotation marks around Tornadoes in the sentence "Tornadoes is a recurring subject on xkcd."? I realize that the construction is being used as "(category) is a recurring subject" with "Tornadoes" being a single category, but I can't help but cringe a little when I read "Tornadoes is"; my instinctual grammar sense is in conflict with the fact that on analyzing it I know it is following the rules. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.48|108.162.238.48]] 12:00, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
:No I agree that is should have been are. My bad. Someone has already corrected it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:46, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

Can someone explain why Black Hat is on the poster? It's the only part that confuses me.
: [[Black Hat]] is well known for his controversial statements or actions in the XKCD universe. He is often the character that will ruin something just for the sake of it, even more so if it may have dire consequences for ''others''. Many safety posters feature a person or character giving the advice for more emotional impact and this seems exactly like the kind of confusing and potentially dangerous poster he would create and he would not be ashamed of being featured on it. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:18, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

The sentence "in 937: TornadoGuard. Sadly that seems to also have been made by Black Hat!" seems unsubstantiated. Nothing in 937 mentions Black Hat. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 15:56, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

Talk:937: TornadoGuard

2016-11-03T16:05:15Z

Ralfoide:

The image text is also a reference to another comic: http://xkcd.com/583/
In this comic, the bug was that the speech recognition fails on a young child's voice. So the team attempts to reproduce a child in order to fix the bug and get the test subject. The bug report is closed as cannot fixed with the reason being 'could not reproduce'. {{unsigned ip|128.237.217.152| 19:40, 22 August 2012‎ (UTC)}}

And it's happened. See https://twitter.com/andymangold/status/341327603451441152/photo/1. Four-star rated "Tornado by American Red Cross" app, current top review reads "I did not find this app useful at all. There was a tornado watch for eight hours in my town, a tornado warning for 30 minutes, and there were no warnings or alerts visible on this app." [[Special:Contributions/192.91.191.162|192.91.191.162]] 16:58, 3 June 2013 (UTC)
:ROFL ;) If this picture is real it should be added to this explain. Check the Customer Review here: [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tornado-by-american-red-cross/id602724318?mt=8 itunes], I am sure it's just a reaction on this comic.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:06, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

According to [[1098]], it's still an OK app. 22:57, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

'could not reproduce'

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sci.geo.earthquakes/kTDkMMbC_mw

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 13:19, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

This is why looking at both the positive and negative reviews is good practice. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.44|173.245.54.44]] 17:57, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

It struck me when I read it that it was also suggesting that there are probably other people out there who COULDN'T leave a negative review, because the app failed them and they were killed in the tornado. If the program not working means you're likely to die, then only people with positive reviews will survive to leave reviews, giving the wrong impression: look, the are 3 times as many positive reviews as negative ones! I'll take it!"
It seems like there must be some reason he chose something so deadly as a tornado; it could have been anything, and the other reasons would still have worked.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 00:42, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

True to life if you've ever checked a travel insurance policy review site. Everything is rated five stars because of idiots leaving reviews that went "I didn't need it, thank God, but the feeling of security is invaluable."[[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.35|108.162.222.35]] 09:08, 14 May 2016 (UTC)

Neither the explanation nor the comment seem to realize that the app does not claim to warn of approaching tornadoes. The description actually indicates it notifies of "tornado warnings", which are PSA (public service announcements) broadcasted on TV or over-the-air radio when there's an official tornado detected in a certain area. So technically even the 1-star comment is either wrong or incomplete -- we don't know whether a tornado warning was issued in this particular case. Furthermore, one of positive comments indicates one can setup geofencing locations in the app, and in the case of the 1-star comment we don't know whether this was setup properly or not by the user.
Far from blaming the victim, this is actually a real issue on the receiving end of bug reports. Software developers often have to deal with laconic explanations of what went wrong, lacking proper context and details that would make the bug reports actually meaningful. A proper bug report is supposed to give as much context as possible, which a single short sentence in a feedback/rating screen does not allow for. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:05, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

Talk:937: TornadoGuard

2016-11-03T16:04:38Z

Ralfoide:

Talk:1754: Tornado Safety Tips

2016-11-03T15:56:16Z

Ralfoide: Forgot to sign

Just to avoid edit wars and be clear with each other - Yeah. I don't want people reverting over and over without knowing our reasons. [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 14:30, 2 November 2016 (UTC)

Is the title-text a Ghostbusters reference? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.127|172.68.54.127]] 18:01, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
:I do not think so. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:03, 2 November 2016 (UTC)

Anyone who can explain the PSA better. As a non native english speakers I have never heard of PSA before, and although I understand what it means with the current explanation it is not really something that pops up when googled. A nice link would be great. I have also found [https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b3/ba/02/b3ba0231f99bf14622a347b65ad30ea7.jpg a picture with this very title] but it seems to only be on pinterest, so I'm not sure we could use it in this explanation... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:06, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
:Does what I added help? It probably didn't aid things either that PSA, at least in 'Murica, actually stands for "Public Service Announcement," not the more specific "Public Safety Advisory," and the only thing I was able to find when searching for the latter was information about government committees named that. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.127|172.68.65.127]] 01:59, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
::What is there now is great. I could not find that wiki page when I searched. Thanks. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:31, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

I was just about to create a new category [[:Category:Tornadoes]], but when I posted the first link on the very first tornado comic, the link was already active. It turned out that [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] had just created it earlier today. Turns out there were already ten comics referencing tornadoes before this one. Now we just need to create a category for volcanoes as well, I think they are just as often referenced... ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:03, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
:How about categories for Weather and Geologic Activity? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.196|108.162.210.196]] 23:22, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
::That could also make sense. But that would not rule out the volcano or tornado category. They would be soub categories. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:31, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

Should there be quotation marks around Tornadoes in the sentence "Tornadoes is a recurring subject on xkcd."? I realize that the construction is being used as "(category) is a recurring subject" with "Tornadoes" being a single category, but I can't help but cringe a little when I read "Tornadoes is"; my instinctual grammar sense is in conflict with the fact that on analyzing it I know it is following the rules. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.48|108.162.238.48]] 12:00, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
:No I agree that is should have been are. My bad. Someone has already corrected it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:46, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

Can someone explain why Black Hat is on the poster? It's the only part that confuses me.

The sentence "in 937: TornadoGuard. Sadly that seems to also have been made by Black Hat!" seems unsubstantiated. Nothing in 937 mentions Black Hat. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 15:56, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

1754: Tornado Safety Tips

2016-11-03T15:55:29Z

Ralfoide: Nothing in coming 937 mentions the app being made by Black Hat.

{{comic
| number = 1754
| date = November 2, 2016
| title = Tornado Safety Tips
| image = tornado_safety_tips.png
| titletext = It's a myth that you can never cross mountains safely, but be sure you understand how the climatic situation there will affect your parent thunderstorm.
}}
==Explanation==
The comic features a {{w|Public Service Announcement}} (PSA) poster, which generally contain public-interest messages aimed at raising awareness or steering behavior around a specific issue of concern, that in this case contains tips for {{w|tornado}} safety. Typically, a poster labeled "Tornado Safety Tips" would be filled with instructions for how humans can stay safe in the event of a tornado, such as "stay away from windows," "go to the lowest floor of your home," "if in the open, take shelter in a ditch," and so on, see these examples: [https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b3/ba/02/b3ba0231f99bf14622a347b65ad30ea7.jpg Example 1] (with same title as comic), [https://www.weather.gov/images/oun/wxevents/20130531/socialmedia/torsafety.png example 2] and [https://www.weather.gov/images/oun/wxevents/20130531/socialmedia/carsafety.png example 3].

[[Black Hat]] on the other hand, has flipped this on its head by publishing a poster that contains safety tips for the Tornado itself and contains information for how tornadoes can stay safe, i.e. continue to exist, see the [[#Table of tips|table of tips]] below. The joke is that just as, for example, a "climber safety" poster is directed at climbers, the "tornado safety" poster is directed at tornadoes.

It is thus in no way helpful for people who actually live in an area that experience tornadoes. It is not possible to follow most of the guidelines, as they are intended for tornadoes. But the advice a human could follow would only take you towards places which can sustain tornadoes. Instead they should choose to use an app like the one in [[937: TornadoGuard]].

The title text simply adds more tornado advice for tornadoes, bringing up the common myth about tornadoes not crossing mountains, except from the tornado's perspective.

Although this is clearly not a tip for humans, the idea is related to the [[:Category:Protip|Protip]] category and other ''tip'' comics (also listed under protip).

Tornadoes are a [[:Category:Tornadoes|recurring subject]] on xkcd. The tornado in this comic is similar to the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/52/umwelt_disasters_tornado.png picture used] in the [[1037:_Umwelt#Tornado|Tornado version]] of [[1037: Umwelt]].

===Table of tips===
{|class="wikitable"
! Tornado Safety Tips
! Explanation
|-
|Avoid low-lying cool air || {{w|Supercells}}, and particularly {{w|tornadogenesis}}, requires highly {{w|buoyant}} air near the surface to, put simply, provide the energy and rapid upward motion for to their growth and maintenance. Tornadoes, being small scale features on the scale of the atmosphere and requiring fairly extreme conditions to form, are particularly sensitive to shallow layers, perhaps even a few hundred meters of less buoyant (i.e. cooler/dryer) air near the surface. If a tornado encountered such a layer of air, it would be quite "dangerous" to its survival, as sufficient depth and exposure would likely disrupt the tornado's circulation and perhaps even dissipate it completely.
|-
|Keep your downdrafts and updrafts from mixing || Strictly speaking, this statement is only entirely true on the larger scales of a tornadic storm (though to some extent {{w|updraft}}/{{w|downdraft}} interaction is crucial to the process on the scale of the actual tornado). Generally, it is for exactly the lack of this that tornadic supercells are able to gain such intensity and last many hours, whereas a typical individual storm cell has a life-cycle on the order of less than an hour. Any given storm cell is composed of an updraft, warm, moist air moving upward and forming clouds, and a downdraft, the corresponding movement of cooler air downward, often bringing heavy rain with it. If this downdraft is superimposed directly over the parent updraft, as would occur in a calm atmosphere with no substantial differences in wind with height, it will suppress the storm's updraft very quickly, and the cell will die a rapid death. However, if the winds change quickly enough with height (vertical wind shear), this displaces the updraft and downdraft so they don't interfere as directly, resulting in a longer lived storm. Nevertheless, the cold air moved downward by the downdraft will eventually spread along the surface and choke off the flow of warm air to the original updraft, however, this denser air may force more warm air to rise, starting the cycle anew, albeit with a new storm cell. This is how squall lines work (see below), along with more typical multi-cell clusters. Still, this results in no one cell being "dominant," remaining strong for any great length of time, and growing past a certain point, all factors that preclude significant tornado formation.

However, if the vertical wind shear is particularly strong, with very strong winds aloft going in near the opposite direction as winds near the surface, this causes horizontal rotation in the atmosphere (think a pencil rolled between two hands). A particularly strong updraft can lift this rotation into the vertical, and soon the entire storm begins to rotate. Through rather complex physics, this allows the storm to more cleanly separate its updraft and downdraft, and continuously propagate into warm, buoyant air. This process and the updraft/downdraft separation it creates is associated with nearly all dangerous tornadoes, and is what distinguishes a supercell from other types of thunderstorms, and if such separation is not properly maintained, it will likely "kill" the storm's tornado chances including any currently in progress. However, it bears pointing out that a specific type of downdraft interacting with a tornado, called {{w|Rear flank downdraft}} (RFD), actually may play a crucial role in tornado formation, carrying this rotating motion (vorticity) down from higher levels of the storm and feeding it into the tornado. Therefore, if a storm's RFD is too weak or does not interact with the core of the storm's updraft, a tornado is not likely to form or maintain itself. However, if the RFD is too cold/strong, it will indeed cut off the tornado's supply of warm air (see below), and regardless of type the RFD does eventually tend to "kill" the tornado after some length of time, which is why any individual tornado only lasts for a short amount of time.
|-
|Seek out warm and humid surface air layers || Hot, humid air near the surface is vital for tornadoes to form, as it provides the "fuel" for their parent storms as well as tornadoes themselves. Any {{w|thunderstorm}}, large or small, begins as an updraft, a column of warm, moist air moving upward due to its positive buoyancy (i.e. lower density, think a balloon or heat rising from the pavement on a hot summer day). Due (mostly) to its temperature, once the air is less dense than its environment, it will start moving upward, and will continue to do so as long as it stays that way. However, air cools as it rises as it expands under lower pressure, generally speaking at a faster rate than the surrounding environment does. This is where the moisture comes in, as once the air cools to the saturation point, where it can hold no more water vapor, water begins to condense into tiny liquid droplets to form clouds. This process releases latent heat to the surrounding air parcel, and thus in a suitable environment with sufficient cooling with height, this rising air starts to cool slower than its surroundings, and continues to rise on its own. The warmer and wetter the air relative to its surroundings, the faster it can rise, and thus the more intense storms it can feed. Further, once a storm forms and begins to rotate (see above), the tornado itself, being an extremely intense, rotating updraft near the ground, is "fed" by very warm and moist air at the surface and thus would want to seek it out to survive.
|-
|Don't let rain-cooled air choke off your circulation || As discussed above, if a storm's downdrafts are too strong, they can block the supply of warm, moist, buoyant (rising) air that feeds a tornado which will cause it to dissipate or never fully form in the first place. On the storm scale, this type of supercell is termed "outflow dominant", it generally maintains itself but too much rain cooled air present at the surface is preclusive to tornado formation. On the tornado scale, the buoyancy of the storm's Rear Flank Downdraft, RFD, is believed to play a crucial role in tornadogenesis. It is this air that carries high-vorticity, i.e. rotating air down from aloft to enable the tornado to have such an intense circulation near the surface, as updraft parcels beginning near the surface otherwise have little preexisting rotation. However, if this air is too cold and dense, which is typically a result of evaporative cooling and water loading from rain, it can choke off the supply of warm air to the tornado's circulation, and reduce its overall buoyancy, this "killing" the tornado, which is generally why they dissipate.
|-
|Avoid letting your supercell merge with a squall line || Supercells, the powerful, rotating thunderstorms that produce nearly all strong tornadoes, generally like being left alone. Other storms compete for the same warm, moist air that the supercell needs to fuel its continued development, and the cold downdrafts produced by such storms can also choke off a supercell's supply. Furthermore, interaction with other storms, particularly strong ones can disrupt the complex physical processes that keep a supercell going, particularly those delicate ones that lead to and sustain tornadogenesis. A {{w|squall line}} is a particularly potent threat in this regard, and probably the biggest "killer" of supercells in this specific regard. Squall lines, well known as the culprit behind most of the violent derecho windstorms, are long lines of thunderstorms that can, as a larger-scale feature, last many hours and travel thousands of kilometers. They generally occur when environmental conditions allow one or a few storms to combine the cold, dense air in their respective downdrafts in such a fashion that it moves rapidly and spreads out in a linear fashion, forcing warm air up right ahead of it to form clouds and additional storms. This then creates new downdrafts that contribute to this "cold pool", as its called, continuing the process. While squall lines can occasionally produce weak, short-lived tornadoes along their leading edge, they generally lack the rotation and individual persistence necessary to form proper "twisters". Their fast motion, large size, sizable cold pool, and all-consuming hunger for warm, moist air and resultant tendency to gobble up storms in their path make them a mortal threat to the generally slower-moving, freedom-loving supercells, and their resultant tornadoes. An encounter with a squall line almost never ends well for tornado and they should avoid such a meeting if they strive for longevity. However, it is interesting to note that storm interactions, occasionally even with squall lines, can briefly enhance tornadogenesis if conditions are just right, but this rarely has a sustained positive impact on the tornado's long-term survival prospects.
|-
|'''Title text''': It's a myth that you can never cross mountains safely, but be sure you understand how the climatic situation there will affect your parent thunderstorm. || In a style perhaps evoking that of a safety warning for a pharmaceutical drug, the title text reminds tornadoes that while it is indeed {{w|Tornado_myths#Near_rivers.2C_valleys.2C_mountains.2C_or_other_terrain_features|false that tornadoes are not able to cross mountains}} (while rough terrain can sometimes disrupt the very low-level circulation, there is nothing intrinsic to mountains areas that prevent tornadoes from moving over them), the tornado should be cautious that the environment on the other side of the mountain should still be supportive of the parent supercell and the broader processes keeping the tornado "alive." This is a valid concern because, generally speaking, the more mountainous areas of the United States generally tend to have less favorable environments for supercells and tornadoes, but this isn't always the case as the title text notes, particularly for more local-scale terrain. (For humans it may actually be true that you can never be sure to be safe crossing a mountain, some parts of the world are prone to the phenomenon {{w|Flash flood|flash floods}} which occurs with heavy rain and ground that has low absorption, these can be dangerous)
|}

==Transcript==
:[Beneath a large caption there are two pictures above each other to the left and a bullet list with five points to the right of the pictures. The top picture shows a black tornado beneath a white cloud. It is destroying something on the ground. To the right of the debris is a house and to the left some trees. The picture below shows Black Hat from the waist and up.]
:<big>'''Tornado Safety Tips'''</big>
:* Avoid low-lying cool air
:* Keep your downdrafts and updrafts from mixing
:* Seek out warm and humid surface air layers
:* Don't let rain-cooled air choke off your circulation
:* Avoid letting your supercell merge with a squall line

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Tornadoes]]

Talk:1754: Tornado Safety Tips

2016-11-03T15:54:22Z

Ralfoide:

Just to avoid edit wars and be clear with each other - Yeah. I don't want people reverting over and over without knowing our reasons. [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 14:30, 2 November 2016 (UTC)

Is the title-text a Ghostbusters reference? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.127|172.68.54.127]] 18:01, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
:I do not think so. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:03, 2 November 2016 (UTC)

Anyone who can explain the PSA better. As a non native english speakers I have never heard of PSA before, and although I understand what it means with the current explanation it is not really something that pops up when googled. A nice link would be great. I have also found [https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b3/ba/02/b3ba0231f99bf14622a347b65ad30ea7.jpg a picture with this very title] but it seems to only be on pinterest, so I'm not sure we could use it in this explanation... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:06, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
:Does what I added help? It probably didn't aid things either that PSA, at least in 'Murica, actually stands for "Public Service Announcement," not the more specific "Public Safety Advisory," and the only thing I was able to find when searching for the latter was information about government committees named that. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.127|172.68.65.127]] 01:59, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
::What is there now is great. I could not find that wiki page when I searched. Thanks. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:31, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

I was just about to create a new category [[:Category:Tornadoes]], but when I posted the first link on the very first tornado comic, the link was already active. It turned out that [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] had just created it earlier today. Turns out there were already ten comics referencing tornadoes before this one. Now we just need to create a category for volcanoes as well, I think they are just as often referenced... ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:03, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
:How about categories for Weather and Geologic Activity? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.196|108.162.210.196]] 23:22, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
::That could also make sense. But that would not rule out the volcano or tornado category. They would be soub categories. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:31, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

Should there be quotation marks around Tornadoes in the sentence "Tornadoes is a recurring subject on xkcd."? I realize that the construction is being used as "(category) is a recurring subject" with "Tornadoes" being a single category, but I can't help but cringe a little when I read "Tornadoes is"; my instinctual grammar sense is in conflict with the fact that on analyzing it I know it is following the rules. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.48|108.162.238.48]] 12:00, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
:No I agree that is should have been are. My bad. Someone has already corrected it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:46, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

Can someone explain why Black Hat is on the poster? It's the only part that confuses me.

The sentence "in 937: TornadoGuard. Sadly that seems to also have been made by Black Hat!" seems unsubstantiated. Nothing in 937 mentions Black Hat.

Talk:1671: Arcane Bullshit

2016-04-23T17:10:02Z

Ralfoide:

I was obsessively refreshing XKCD and the new comic popped up. Then I did the same on ExplainXKCD to make an explanation. Here's my first rough-draft attempt. [[User:Papayaman1000|Papayaman1000]] ([[User talk:Papayaman1000|talk]]) 13:34, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Your explanation confuses OOP with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structured_programming structured programming].
[[User:Svorkoetter|Svorkoetter]] ([[User talk:Svorkoetter|talk]]) 15:03, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Developing a kernel is not the same as compiling a kernel. You would, for example, rebuild a Linux kernel after you've added a module, or changed some parameters. Also, the purpose of object-oriented programming is not to solve the problem of spaghetti code. (That problem was solved by structured programming.) It's to enforce principles of abstraction, information hiding and modularity.
[[User:Krishnanp|Krishnanp]] ([[User talk:Krishnanp|talk]]) 15:20, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

I modified the explanation on OOP to include Structured & Procedural language code and briefly described the 80's era of low level languages.
[[User:Digital_Night|Digital_Night]] ([[User talk:Digital_Night|talk]]) 15:41, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

OK, I rewrote the kernel compiling explanation to explain why someone would recompile a 80's era kernel. Modular kernels sure are nice!
[[User:Digital night|Digital night]] ([[User talk:Digital night|talk]]) 15:50, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Could this be a reference to the large amount of open-source projects using C (an arcane bull* language from the 70s/80s that need 10000 lines ./configure scripts to work) ? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.79|108.162.219.79]] 16:38, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

T.M.I. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.231|162.158.222.231]] 18:54, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

I think this comic refers to keeping or fixing 30 over year old programs and their "bs" factor. At which the most extreme will be something like gentoo where you have to compile everything first before doing anything productive. (Sorry gentoo users didnt meant to start a flame war) {{unsigned ip|103.31.5.240}}

:While installing applications on gentoo takes longer because it's being compiled, it's the time of the COMPUTER. You can do something else while it's compiling. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:16, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

I'm afraid the explanation misses the point completely ... Rather than excursion to programming techniques and languages, the sociology behind that should be focused on. Programmers were considered mages (hence "arcane", or do I get the meaning of it wrong, not being native speaker?), and don't forget also that 80's were the time when the GNU project started. The title text then may refer to changing standards in (released) software quality - I remember my ZX Spectrum crashing because of overheating, but not because of software problems. And its system was written in assembler that is kinda badmouthed by the current version of the explanation, in favour of sophisticated languages. Then, with DOS, a problem emerged from time to time, but not a big deal. Then, with Windows 95, the system crashed daily ... Nowadays, programmers just throw their bullshit code on users, and break "everyone else's computer", also thanks to Internet etc. It has very little to do with programming language choice and jumps/gotos. - [[Special:Contributions/141.101.95.123|141.101.95.123]] 06:58, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

:Agree, the "breaking everyone else's computer" is definitely about low code quality. It's true than programming with "goto" is harder, but maybe that was the reason only people who known how to program was doing it. Nowadays, everyone thinks he can program, but based on number of bugs it's obviously not true. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:16, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

The current explanation completely misses the point and honestly should be taken down -- no offense to the original writer. Arcane BS here means "wizard-like stuff" in the sense of what programmers do which is different from what users would do. Where regular users just buy a computer and never open it, the arcane programmer might just actually open the computer and start swapping parts in and out, with or without a precise grasp on what s/he's doing. Same goes on the software part where a user might just run Windows in the 80s since it comes off-the-shelf and one never modifies it, whereas the arcane programmer might go through the effort of installing a UNIX-like system such as Minix and recompile the kernel to adjust parameters, add new modules, all of which involve complicated command lines that look like insane arcane magic to normal users. This is what is called "hacking" in the sense of the original meaning of the work "[http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html hacker]" as you can find in [http://www.catb.org/jargon/ The Jargon File] and that work "hacking" really meant tinkering -- the word "cracker" was coined after misuse of the former by the media.

It was tinkering for the sole purpose of tinkering, which is why the comics says this accomplishes nothing. It is however an excellent way to learn how computers really work, something, again, that normal end-users don't care for, thus the "arcane" aspect.

Also note that in the 80's there was no Linux (the project started in 1991) and no GNU (the project started in the mid 80s with the manifesto but GNU had no kernel at first till it got combined with Linux to form the now-ubiquitous GNU/Linux.)

The tag line is easily explained: nowaday hacking (tinkering) on Linux is a common thing; the arcane hacking happens at the secops level. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:02, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1671: Arcane Bullshit

2016-04-23T17:02:27Z

Ralfoide:

I was obsessively refreshing XKCD and the new comic popped up. Then I did the same on ExplainXKCD to make an explanation. Here's my first rough-draft attempt. [[User:Papayaman1000|Papayaman1000]] ([[User talk:Papayaman1000|talk]]) 13:34, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Your explanation confuses OOP with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structured_programming structured programming].
[[User:Svorkoetter|Svorkoetter]] ([[User talk:Svorkoetter|talk]]) 15:03, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Developing a kernel is not the same as compiling a kernel. You would, for example, rebuild a Linux kernel after you've added a module, or changed some parameters. Also, the purpose of object-oriented programming is not to solve the problem of spaghetti code. (That problem was solved by structured programming.) It's to enforce principles of abstraction, information hiding and modularity.
[[User:Krishnanp|Krishnanp]] ([[User talk:Krishnanp|talk]]) 15:20, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

I modified the explanation on OOP to include Structured & Procedural language code and briefly described the 80's era of low level languages.
[[User:Digital_Night|Digital_Night]] ([[User talk:Digital_Night|talk]]) 15:41, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

OK, I rewrote the kernel compiling explanation to explain why someone would recompile a 80's era kernel. Modular kernels sure are nice!
[[User:Digital night|Digital night]] ([[User talk:Digital night|talk]]) 15:50, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Could this be a reference to the large amount of open-source projects using C (an arcane bull* language from the 70s/80s that need 10000 lines ./configure scripts to work) ? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.79|108.162.219.79]] 16:38, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

T.M.I. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.231|162.158.222.231]] 18:54, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

I think this comic refers to keeping or fixing 30 over year old programs and their "bs" factor. At which the most extreme will be something like gentoo where you have to compile everything first before doing anything productive. (Sorry gentoo users didnt meant to start a flame war) {{unsigned ip|103.31.5.240}}

:While installing applications on gentoo takes longer because it's being compiled, it's the time of the COMPUTER. You can do something else while it's compiling. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:16, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

I'm afraid the explanation misses the point completely ... Rather than excursion to programming techniques and languages, the sociology behind that should be focused on. Programmers were considered mages (hence "arcane", or do I get the meaning of it wrong, not being native speaker?), and don't forget also that 80's were the time when the GNU project started. The title text then may refer to changing standards in (released) software quality - I remember my ZX Spectrum crashing because of overheating, but not because of software problems. And its system was written in assembler that is kinda badmouthed by the current version of the explanation, in favour of sophisticated languages. Then, with DOS, a problem emerged from time to time, but not a big deal. Then, with Windows 95, the system crashed daily ... Nowadays, programmers just throw their bullshit code on users, and break "everyone else's computer", also thanks to Internet etc. It has very little to do with programming language choice and jumps/gotos. - [[Special:Contributions/141.101.95.123|141.101.95.123]] 06:58, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

:Agree, the "breaking everyone else's computer" is definitely about low code quality. It's true than programming with "goto" is harder, but maybe that was the reason only people who known how to program was doing it. Nowadays, everyone thinks he can program, but based on number of bugs it's obviously not true. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:16, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

The current explanation completely misses the point and honestly should be taken down -- no offense to the original writer. Arcane BS here means "wizard-like stuff" in the sense of what programmers do which is different from what users would do. Where regular users just buy a computer and never open it, the arcane programmer might just actually open the computer and start swapping parts in and out, with or without a precise grasp on what s/he's doing. Same goes on the software part where a user might just run Windows in the 80s since it comes off-the-shelf and one never modifies it, whereas the arcane programmer might go through the effort of installing a UNIX-like system such as Minix and recompile the kernel to adjust parameters, add new modules, all of which involve complicated command lines that look like insane arcane magic to normal users. This is what is called "hacking" in the sense of the original meaning of the work "hacker" as you can find in The Jargon file and that work "hacking" really meant tinkering (the other side was "cracker", but the media easily confuses the too.)

It was tinkering for the sole purpose of tinkering, which is why the comics says this accomplishes nothing.

Also note that in the 80's there was no Linux (the project started in 1991) and no GNU (the project started in the mid 80s with the manifesto but GNU had no kernel at first till it got combined with Linux to form the now-ubiquitous GNU/Linux.)

The tag line is easily explained: nowaday hacking (tinkering) on Linux is a common thing; the arcane hacking happens at the secops level. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:02, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1669: Planespotting

2016-04-19T16:40:00Z

Ralfoide:

Hybrid could also refer to hybrid airship dynastats which are a combination between a blimp and a lifting body airplane. HAV in England and Lockheed Martin have both flown prototypes in the last few years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_Air_Vehicles_HAV-3

How would one even pronounce "Mk. IVII"? IV is 4, VII is 7. I could see an argument for treating it as a really bizarre way to say 6. Or, if we treat it as two distinct digits (as opposed to a two-digit number), it could be either "1-7" or "4-2".

: "Usage in ancient Rome varied greatly and remained inconsistent in medieval and modern times." But AFAIK each numeral only stood for a fixed amount, never for a "digit" (in the sense that its value could specify ones or tens depending on its position). So six ((5 - 1) + 1 + 1) is a plausible interpretation, though definitely not standard; but 17 or 42 would be treating Roman numerals as if they were Arabic. [[User:Huttarl|Huttarl]] ([[User talk:Huttarl|talk]]) 16:03, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

:: You're correct; in Roman numerals, there is not a concept of "this is an I, in the hundreds place, so it's really a 100". If you mean 100, that's always C. Hence the phrasing "two distinct digits (as opposed to a two-digit number). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.11|108.162.221.11]] 14:16, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

I think that's actually MI, or 1001.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.222|162.158.214.222]] 16:12, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

: That was my first thought on reading it, too. Doesn't an underline and overline on a Roman numeral increase it by a factor of 10,000, or am I mis-recalling grade school? ---> 19:38 UTC, 18 April 2016

:: I read it as having too much space between strokes for it to be "MI" rather than "IVII", but poor penmanship is as likely as deliberate nonsense. In proper Roman Empire-era Roman numerals, the overline denotes "multiply by 1,000", but in English an overline/underline combo just means we're being fancy. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.11|108.162.221.11]] 14:16, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

I assume there are other parts of this that are similarly nonsensical to people who know what Cueball thinks he's talking about. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.32|108.162.221.32]] 14:43, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
:When I first read the comic before the explanation I was assuming Cueball was roughly, and poorly, describing a Bombardier DHC-8. It is also known as a Q400 and is a twin-engine turboprop. The silhouette looks vaguely like it.[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 15:56, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

::Wholeheartedly agreed on it being a DHC-8 version, which could be a Q400. The engine nacelles appear to extend behind the wing (unlike an ATR42/72 or Do328), and the T-tail eliminates a lot of other regional prop possibilities. It also ties in with Cueball calling it a "Q404". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.170|108.162.237.170]] 17:07, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

De Havilland Canada (which developed the Dash-8) did belong to Boeing between 1988 and 1992, during which time the aircraft was commonly referred to as the "Boeing Dash-8". The Q400 variant was developed after DHC was sold to Bombadier, however. So it is possible that a DHC-8 could, in fact, have been made by Boeing, just not the Q400 variant.

There are ''so many'' things wrong about this comic. [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 14:53, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

Maybe I'm totally off base, but this reminds me of something called "Vaynespotting". In League of Legends, there's a character named Shauna Vayne. She has an extremely high skill-ceiling and skill-floor. Vaynespotting is a minigame where other players receive imaginary points for calling out a bad Vayne player when that player makes aggressive maneuvers, but doesn't have the skill to pull it off. [[User:Thefance|Thefance]] ([[User talk:Thefance|talk]]) 15:38, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

Is that black hat or white hat? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.65|108.162.221.65]] 15:10, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
:Probably White Hat, but it is impossible to say. Have corrected explanation [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:11, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

Fixed the title text explanation regarding the hydroelectric plant. The water going over the dam still falls down (reservoir -> dam -> out of the plane?), but lifting the water in the plane would take more energy than the plant would produce.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.170|108.162.237.170]] 17:02, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

To me this comic looks like a clear reference to the "user agent" property of a browser notorious for being long, nonsensical and bearing little relationship to the version and the type of browser the client actually uses. E.g. In my Chromium this value is: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Ubuntu Chromium/49.0.2623.108 Chrome/49.0.2623.108 Safari/537.36. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.72|141.101.80.72]] 17:46, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

:The user agent string is not SUPPOSED to say what browser you HAVE, but what your browser is capable of doing. For start, Mozilla/ means that it's graphics browser, just like Netscape 4. Gecko means that authors of engine did read the HTML specifications (as authors of Gecko did), as opposed to authors of older versions of Internet Explorer (older than 7). It's because user agent string is only thing server knows about browser and therefore uses it to choose what version of page (and bug workarounds) it's supposed to use. And because some servers never update their definitions, every new browser needs to ADD his own strings to strings of some already existing browser instead of replacing them. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:16, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Dual Wielding could easily refer to the fact the plane has two engines or possibly four if it is dual wielding engine sets. I feel the current explanation of that line item is a little lacking. ([[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.60|173.245.56.60]] 17:52, 18 April 2016 (UTC))
:Then please update the explanation :-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:58, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

I originally read that as "Dual Weld", as in 'using a dual welder', which made no sense since it would be absolutely irrelevant (a dual welder can mean either a welding machine that operates on 120/240V or one that operates in both gas/gasless mode.) [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:40, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

I understood the Mig-380 part as a mix, an Airbus-380 but made by Mig. I'm not sure if I explained myself properly...[[User:NeoRaist|NeoRaist]] ([[User talk:NeoRaist|talk]]) 18:15, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1666: Brain Upload

2016-04-12T16:52:53Z

Ralfoide:

I don't think you can assume Cueball is doing it to live longer. I figured he did it just to allow the researcher to experiment with the system. If I uploaded my consciousness into a computer, *it* might 'live' longer than me, but *I* will not live any longer for having done it. demiller9 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.68.47|162.158.68.47]] 16:15, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

:I think that the bit in the middle speculating about why is irrelevant to the explanation of the comic. All that the explanation really needs to say is that the computer crashes because the consciousness being uploaded to it is stupid. It doesn't matter why he is doing it so long as people understand what he is doing.
03:25, 12 April 2016 (UTC)~

Are we completely certain that its Cueball? Initially from reading it i would be more inclined to believe that its Beret Guy
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.133.138|162.158.133.138]] 16:59, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

I don't see how we can ascertain the identity of the individual with the headgear. Since the defining characteristics are in the hat or hair of the reoccurring characters, and this person has neither visible. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.41|173.245.54.41]] 18:27, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
:Given no visible other clues (hair visible from under the headgear, hat laying on bench or nearby, etc.) I'd call him or her cueball, as that's the default when nothing else is known. If he were beret guy, I'd expect more off-beat or non sequitur dialog. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 19:17, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
:: Also the beret is stapled to his head. Not sure if it can be taken off. A Cueball seems more reasonable. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 01:53, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

The irony of the comic is that uploading human consciousness is supposed to be one possible milestone toward reaching the technological singularity--either by optimizing the conscious mind to enhance its capabilities to beyond human levels and letting it enhance itself further, or, at the very least, by being able to deploy mental labor at a massive scale at the cost of hardware components (no costs in raising and educating a biological human), which would presumably increase the quality of living for people above a certain threshold of wealth (Elysium type scenario)--yet, the conscious mind that has been uploaded appears to be limited by a terribly wasteful focus on unimportant details.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.217|162.158.142.217]] 21:34, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

;title text

Randall's title text seems to have an error. It says "I spent ..." where it should say "It spent ..." as the Computer is supposed to behave like the human. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.83.240|162.158.83.240]] 21:08, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
It makes sense to me - I think he means that as he has taken 20 minutes to make the choice, his mind is working slowly, so what the computer uploaded would also look like it froze. [[User:Komadori|komadori]] ([[User talk:Komadori|talk]]) 21:17, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
::No it is not the computer but probably Randall who used this time (or joking that he did), trying to show by this why such an upload would probably fail... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:30, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

;Copy?

Now it gets quite philsophical, but what, actually, is the difference between a copy and transfer - at least in this case? If you see a transfer as copying with deleting the original there's no difference (Think: Star Trek Transporter technology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transporter_%28Star_Trek%29). So from this point of view I see no reason why the copy shouldn't "feel" as the original - given that the copy we are talking about is not just the "hard" data (e.g. memories) but the "soft" consciousness as well.
Nice blog article about this topic: http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/12/what-makes-you-you.html
There's no reason why the original and the copy woudln't feel "real".
So, all I want to say is, I think the wording of "though since it's a copy rather than a transfer it's doubtful the human would feel like the copy is really them." is not quite accurate or even absolutely wrong [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:38, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

:I would feel as original and wouldn't feel the copy is real. The copy will feel like original and may not feel I'm real. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:38, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

Lurker popping in, the title text: <blockquote>"I just spent 20 minutes deciding whether to start an email with 'Hi' or 'Hey', so I think it transferred correctly."</blockquote> explains why the AI version of Cueball isn't responding. It hasn't decided on what the first words of the first AI should be, just like he didn't for 20 minutes when thinking about the first words of a mundane email is.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.112|108.162.246.112]] 08:59, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

This may have something to do with 269. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.139|162.158.214.139]] 15:32, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

Also, upload != move, so I don't think crashing would affect anything. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.139|162.158.214.139]] 15:34, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
;Reboot and not responding
Human brain is actually constructed in way which makes extremely hard for lock up. In normal operating condition, even when you think whether to start an email with 'Hi' or 'Hey', your brain also does breathing, heart beating, it keeps your position stable (only position which you can keep stable without brain is lying on floor), it processes signals checking if you are thirsty, hungry or sleepy ... lot of work. Computer, on the other hand, can lock so hard it wouldn't be able to keep internal clocks running. Although if it's application and not operating system which is locked, you can often see mouse still moving - which requires lot of processing if it's on USB. On a related note, it's not true brain can't reboot - in most cases, human brain will automatically reboot itself by going to sleep after some period of time. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:38, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
:That's not how computers are designed, nor how the brain works :-) Besides the central processing unit there are many peripherals that behave autonomously, from discrete electronic devices like fans to the myriad of those that have their own embedded processor, including ethernet chip, keyboard, mouse, graphic card, etc. They continue working, it's just that the main CPU doesn't listen to them anymore. Similarly, the brain is not a single entity but multiple areas interconnected, one being the medulla oblongata that controls breathing and reflexes. In absence of input or overrides, it continues its job automatically, as can be seen in any patient in a coma. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:51, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1666: Brain Upload

2016-04-12T16:51:36Z

Ralfoide:

I don't think you can assume Cueball is doing it to live longer. I figured he did it just to allow the researcher to experiment with the system. If I uploaded my consciousness into a computer, *it* might 'live' longer than me, but *I* will not live any longer for having done it. demiller9 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.68.47|162.158.68.47]] 16:15, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

:I think that the bit in the middle speculating about why is irrelevant to the explanation of the comic. All that the explanation really needs to say is that the computer crashes because the consciousness being uploaded to it is stupid. It doesn't matter why he is doing it so long as people understand what he is doing.
03:25, 12 April 2016 (UTC)~

Are we completely certain that its Cueball? Initially from reading it i would be more inclined to believe that its Beret Guy
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.133.138|162.158.133.138]] 16:59, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

I don't see how we can ascertain the identity of the individual with the headgear. Since the defining characteristics are in the hat or hair of the reoccurring characters, and this person has neither visible. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.41|173.245.54.41]] 18:27, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
:Given no visible other clues (hair visible from under the headgear, hat laying on bench or nearby, etc.) I'd call him or her cueball, as that's the default when nothing else is known. If he were beret guy, I'd expect more off-beat or non sequitur dialog. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 19:17, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
:: Also the beret is stapled to his head. Not sure if it can be taken off. A Cueball seems more reasonable. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 01:53, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

The irony of the comic is that uploading human consciousness is supposed to be one possible milestone toward reaching the technological singularity--either by optimizing the conscious mind to enhance its capabilities to beyond human levels and letting it enhance itself further, or, at the very least, by being able to deploy mental labor at a massive scale at the cost of hardware components (no costs in raising and educating a biological human), which would presumably increase the quality of living for people above a certain threshold of wealth (Elysium type scenario)--yet, the conscious mind that has been uploaded appears to be limited by a terribly wasteful focus on unimportant details.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.217|162.158.142.217]] 21:34, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

;title text

Randall's title text seems to have an error. It says "I spent ..." where it should say "It spent ..." as the Computer is supposed to behave like the human. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.83.240|162.158.83.240]] 21:08, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
It makes sense to me - I think he means that as he has taken 20 minutes to make the choice, his mind is working slowly, so what the computer uploaded would also look like it froze. [[User:Komadori|komadori]] ([[User talk:Komadori|talk]]) 21:17, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
::No it is not the computer but probably Randall who used this time (or joking that he did), trying to show by this why such an upload would probably fail... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:30, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

;Copy?

Now it gets quite philsophical, but what, actually, is the difference between a copy and transfer - at least in this case? If you see a transfer as copying with deleting the original there's no difference (Think: Star Trek Transporter technology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transporter_%28Star_Trek%29). So from this point of view I see no reason why the copy shouldn't "feel" as the original - given that the copy we are talking about is not just the "hard" data (e.g. memories) but the "soft" consciousness as well.
Nice blog article about this topic: http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/12/what-makes-you-you.html
There's no reason why the original and the copy woudln't feel "real".
So, all I want to say is, I think the wording of "though since it's a copy rather than a transfer it's doubtful the human would feel like the copy is really them." is not quite accurate or even absolutely wrong [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:38, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

:I would feel as original and wouldn't feel the copy is real. The copy will feel like original and may not feel I'm real. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:38, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

Lurker popping in, the title text: <blockquote>"I just spent 20 minutes deciding whether to start an email with 'Hi' or 'Hey', so I think it transferred correctly."</blockquote> explains why the AI version of Cueball isn't responding. It hasn't decided on what the first words of the first AI should be, just like he didn't for 20 minutes when thinking about the first words of a mundane email is.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.112|108.162.246.112]] 08:59, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

This may have something to do with 269. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.139|162.158.214.139]] 15:32, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

Also, upload != move, so I don't think crashing would affect anything. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.139|162.158.214.139]] 15:34, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
;Reboot and not responding
Human brain is actually constructed in way which makes extremely hard for lock up. In normal operating condition, even when you think whether to start an email with 'Hi' or 'Hey', your brain also does breathing, heart beating, it keeps your position stable (only position which you can keep stable without brain is lying on floor), it processes signals checking if you are thirsty, hungry or sleepy ... lot of work. Computer, on the other hand, can lock so hard it wouldn't be able to keep internal clocks running. Although if it's application and not operating system which is locked, you can often see mouse still moving - which requires lot of processing if it's on USB. On a related note, it's not true brain can't reboot - in most cases, human brain will automatically reboot itself by going to sleep after some period of time. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:38, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
:That's not how computers are designed, nor how the brain works :-) Besides the central processing unit there are many peripherals that behave autonomously, from pure electronic devices like fans to the myriad of those that have their own embedded processor, including ethernet chip, keyboard, mouse, graphic card, etc. They continue working, it's just that the main CPU doesn't listen to them anymore. Similarly, the brain is not a single entity but multiple areas interconnected, one being the medulla oblongata that controls breathing and reflexes. In absence of input or overrides, it continues its job automatically, as can be seen in any patient in a coma. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:51, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1652: Conditionals

2016-03-08T16:29:13Z

Ralfoide: /* Thank you! */

The title text... So he should both stop being pedantic in general and stop caring about conditionals in particular. What is it he does in the title text... the current explanation of that part is not clear to me. Is it completely clear who speaks which line in the title text...? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:03, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
:It is fairly obvious that the line "If you're done being pedantic, we should get dinner," is provided by Cueball's friend, as it is already established that Cueball was the one being pedantic about conditionals in the first place. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.12|108.162.216.12]] 15:15, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

To me the word "Conditionals" is clearly in the grammatical sense. Computer programming was invented literally centuries after the grammatical meaning, and the joke would have been as meaningful 3000 years ago as it is today. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.13|108.162.221.13]] 15:17, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

The particular kind of conditional that Cueball's friend is using is called a "biscuit conditional," after the example "There are biscuits in the sideboard if you want some" (from the philosopher J.L. Austin). There's a bit of discussion of them at [http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1469 Language Log]--Cueball is doing what Sam C talks about in the first comment, deliberately misunderstanding the conditional. The characteristic of these conditionals is that the truth of the consequent doesn't depend on the truth of the antecedent (the "if" clause), but the consequent isn't relevant if the antecedent isn't true--if Cueball didn't want to hang out, it wouldn't matter that his friend was in the city.
In the title text, Cueball thinks that his friend is uttering another biscuit conditional, and that just saying that they should get dinner. But the truth of the consequent really is dependent on the truth of the antecedent--if Cueball isn't done being pedantic his friend doesn't want to get dinner. So I think it is accurate to say "The intent is to show that because the initiator still believes that Cueball is still being pedantic, then he believes that it is not a good idea to have dinner together," though maybe it could be expressed more clearly. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.60.23|162.158.60.23]] 15:57, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

Didn't Demitri Martin do this joke like 10 years ago? :P [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.63|108.162.221.63]] 18:11, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

Whenever there is something like this that annoys me and I find out it has a name (like relevance conditional), it stops bothering me. [[User:HisHighestMinion|HisHighestMinion]] ([[User talk:HisHighestMinion|talk]]) 20:20, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

The one that always bugs me is the Steven Universe intro song:

''We are the Crystal Gems
''We'll always save the day,
''and if you think we can't
''We'll always find a way.

Something about the "if" being at the beginning of the biscuit clause throws me. What if I think they can save the day? Then there's no guarantee that they will! But if I AM always thinking that they can't save the day, then they will ALWAYS find a way. Therefore I think they will always find a way. It's so circular![[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 20:28, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
:By the way... {{w|Steven Universe}} was references twice in [[1608: Hoverboard]], [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/39/1608_1031x1095y_Steven_Universe_family_and_ice_cream_prediction.png first the family with a "gem"] (to the right of course) and then [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/fa/1608_1077x1109y_Darth_Vaders_talks_about_Steven_Universe_on_the_bridge_Megan_adjust_antenna.png Vader himself talks about them], both inside the Destroyer. I never hear of the show before experiencing the Hoverboard comic, but since I have seen part of an episode and now this comment ;-) You learn so much from reading xkcd. But I'm not sure most of it is useful. But almost always funny. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:29, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
:: "You learn so much from reading xkcd. But I'm not sure most of it is useful. But almost always funny." This should be on a banner at the top of explainxckd. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.162|162.158.255.162]] 00:49, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

The title text (you did it again - no I didn't) hearkens back to [[725: Literally]] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.58|108.162.216.58]] 21:14, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
:Thanks for the ref. I have included this in the explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:10, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

So I read the caption as "WHEN I try not to be pedantic about conditionals" and was thinking that it was about "if/only if" directionality. ;-) {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.16}}

The relevance-conditional that always gets me is "If you're interested in buying something, my name is X". Always makes me think, "And what is your name if I'm just looking?" [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 01:27, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

== Thank you! ==

It's amazing how much you can learn about things you thought you already knew. Explainxkcd is so much more than xkcd! [[User:Mumiemonstret|Mumiemonstret]] ([[User talk:Mumiemonstret|talk]]) 22:03, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
:Yes thanks to those who made today's explanation. This was outside my English capabilities, and I really needed others to explain! :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:24, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

+1! This is one of the best (clearest, succinct, well written) explanations on this site. Kudos to all who participated. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.40|108.162.221.40]] 14:38, 8 March 2016 (UTC)
----

Is this another case of [[1650:_Baby#Small_talk_category|small talk]] problems just mentioned after the release of [[1650: Baby]]? Maybe there should be a category (see link for more)...--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:10, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

== Philosophy ==

There are some underlying elements of solipsism here. If the other person is hanging out with Clueball, she actually exists. But if that other person is not present, does she exist? "Where will you be" means that the other person existence becomes unsure, at least from Clueball's point of view.

As an off topic, it would be interesting to see what modern solipsism supporters have to say about the usage of cell phone communications. If one were to spend all day alone say in a forest and talked to a bunch of people over cell phone for the whole day, what would that say about the existence of others outside the forest? Would other's existence still be unsure? Is talking to someone via a mechanical device validating or invalidating of their actual existence?
[[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:29, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1609: Food Combinations

2015-12-01T16:28:29Z

Ralfoide:

I tried this on a friend and after three tries she said, you just mentioned all my favorite food items. So... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:27, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

You know what's really good? Ice cream on pizza. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:23, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
:That's a popular summer snack in Tasmania. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.32|198.41.238.32]] 08:02, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

So nobody puts sour cream on pancakes??? {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.14}}

Joey agrees with that - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSFgDZJVYbo [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.139|162.158.34.139]] 15:40, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
:Thanks I was just thinking of that episode when seeing this comic. Think it deserves a place in the explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:06, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Well, I made a first-hack attempt, with terrible grammar and no appropriate citations. Please don't be too harsh! [[Special:Contributions/199.27.129.83|199.27.129.83]] 16:14, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Most of the combinations involving the dairy items are disgusting. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.9|108.162.216.9]] 19:29, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

If you think sour cream and pancakes is not a traditional combination, you've never been to Russia. We put sour cream in a lot of things, really, but pancakes especially. That applies almost as well to sour cream and ketchup (though that is just a pair of commonly combined condiments, not a food item in itself). I do, however, agree with the commentor above (even regarding sour cream). Incidentally, I had to google "relish" - apparently it's a general term for a big variety of chopped-vegetable items. The Russian name for one particularly common type literally translates as "eggplant caviar". Goes nicely with ham, is applied to pancakes occasionally. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.180.191|162.158.180.191]] 20:51, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
:FYI, pickle (that is to say, pickled cucumber) relish is generally what people from the US mean when referring to relish. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 05:05, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

It will be interesting to see if all items will be checked of eventually when people from many different countries comes by? I checked of pancakes and ice cream. I put ice in almost every time I make sweet pancakes. Yummy. But we also have "food" pancakes (not sweat) with meat in them. And I'm note talking about tortillas or burrito pancakes. Made exactly like normal sweet pancakes without sugar and with salt. In The Netherlands they have pancake houses where the toppings is more like that of a pizza, and then after wards they drop on some kind of syrup... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:06, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Avocado and ice cream is traditional? Really? I mean, the novelty ice cream places (bacon ice cream, beer ice cream, Tabasco ice cream, you know the drill), sure, but where is that a traditional pairing? ... However, I'm putting in another vote for sour cream with pancakes. Especially if you consider crêpes and associated acts as in the pancake category, so there's the whole world of savory pancakes out there. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.7|108.162.221.7]] 04:16, 28 November 2015 (UTC)MR
:I have removed avocado and ice cream. That cannot be thought of as traditional even if someone actually likes it. I do not know if you could think of pancakes and sour cream as traditional. But again if you think of them both as sweat and food pancakes (as already is the case, then maybe...) I will not list it though as I do not feel it is traditional. But I would also not delete it if anyone else feels it is. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:41, 28 November 2015 (UTC)
:Sorry, that was me. Wasn't aware that this had to be exclusively limited to food items from the US, but anyway was thinking about the avocado icecream here (taluwang.com.my). It's quite popular where I come from and quite delicious, actually. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.153.137|162.158.153.137]] 14:13, 29 November 2015 (UTC)
:Avocado ice cream is also eaten occasionally in Brazil. Admittedly, Brazil isn't the United States. However, a simple Google Search of "Avocado Ice Cream" brings up dozens of very different recipes (including an avocado coconut ice cream that I really have to try). In addition, the table of traditional pairings says "it should mainly be combinations that are common in the US". If it said "combinations exclusively in the US" then I could see justifiably removing Avocado Ice Cream. However, since there are multiple countries that it is both popular and commonly eaten ''and'' literally millions of hits show up in English if you search it in Google, I would say that it counts. (That's not even including the smoothies and shakes that include avocado and ice cream). [[User:Jeudi Violist|Jeudi Violist]] ([[User talk:Jeudi Violist|talk]]) 07:13, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

At least five of those alleged "individually good" so-called "foods" - relish, ketchup, cheese, sour cream, and avocado - are absolutely disgusting and would destroy any food value of things they came in contact with. YMMV.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.33|108.162.221.33]] 09:46, 28 November 2015 (UTC)
:Well I also do not like avocado or sour cream and neither most forms of eggs plus only a few kind of cheese. But I know that many people really love these items, and that would not make it a bad combination to put sour cream and avocado together. I just would not wish to eat it for my personal taste. That I do not like it, does not make it disgusting. But I would be sorry if someone tried to make me eat it. But not get disgusted because other people eat it in front of me. Disgusting things are something like rat or excrements... ;-) And this has to be taken into account before anyone changes the table above. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:37, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

There's some "almost something I've seen" combinations, in the above. For example, while I've never had Ham And Avocado, Ham And Pineapple is not uncommon. (Of course, now we're also into neighbouring territory of "does pineapple belong on a pizza?" ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.227|162.158.152.227]] 16:39, 28 November 2015 (UTC)
:Yes pineapple definitely belongs to a pizza! Ham and pineapple are the basis for a classic hawaiian pizza recipe. Nothing odd about it, fairly common in stores or pizza places. One of my favourites. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:28, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Err, what? Ketchup flavored chips hard to come by in the US? I've yet to see a single supermarket that didn't have a large quantity of Herr's Ketchup Chips. And I live in the american Northeast.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 05:00, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

"Pairings" is itself a bit ambiguous, but I'd vote that none of cupcakes/sour cream, pancakes/cheese nor eggs/ relish are traditional pairings. Pancakes with sour cream may well edge in as blinis, but only by counting blinis (and crepes?) within pancakes. Some others are perhaps a little more likely, but still would not make my personal cut as a traditional pairing -- ice cream/ hot chocolate & ham/relish would fail, and if we count hot chocolate/pancakes as OK because they may both be part of a breakfast, then why not hot chocolate/eggs? [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 20:40, 29 November 2015 (UTC)
: I agree that Cupcakes/Sour Cream is certainly not a traditional pairing. I believe this should be removed. [[User:Teleksterling|Teleksterling]] ([[User talk:Teleksterling|talk]]) 23:24, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

In my experience, all combinations of individually-good foods are only bad if you go into it expecting them to be. Speaking of which, I highly recommend putting creamy peanut butter and slices of banana on a burger.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.60|108.162.216.60]] 05:21, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

the one problem i see is the non-solid combinations... such as ketch and hot coco or eggs (depending on state) [[User:Needforsuv|Needforsuv]] ([[User talk:Needforsuv|talk]]) 11:20, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

I think some of those "traditional" combinations colored-coded into the chart are very much "[citation needed]." Just because something /can/ go together (without being disgusting :p) doesn't mean they /traditionally/ occur together. Skittles and Ice Cream don't sound like a bad combination (depending on the ice cream flavor), but I've never seen nor heard of them together.

Pancakes and Ham seem to be paired because they're both "breakfast" foods, but I've never heard of anyone putting ham on their pancakes, so it's not a traditional pairing as is "ham and eggs" or "ham and (disgusting) cheese [sandwiches]."
: I can go to any diner around here and get pancakes and ham for breakfast. Nothing in the comic says I have to put the ham ''on'' the pancakes (the comic is about "X ''and'' Y", not "X ''on'' Y"), although now that sounds like a good idea to try next time (I have done so with bacon, hmmmm baaacoooon...) [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:28, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

The same goes for cheese and relish. They both may be on the same food (burgers), but they're not paired on their own. There may be a correlation, but it's certainly not a /pairing/.

I'm not a contributor, just an anonymous snarker, so I won't be making edits to the chart - especially since someone would just as likely strike them on accusation of "vandalism." :( [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.33|108.162.221.33]] 03:02, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

The comments seem to have converged on the idea that there must be ''traditional'' pairings. I think the purpose of the comic is more about being open minded and about "what does sound like a possible good idea" especially where it is not traditional. Comments seem to focus on literally "X ''on'' Y" instead of a more vague "X ''and'' Y." The color table is too much black-and-white (pun intended); instead what would be more interesting would be a number of likes/dislikes if people were asked "would you be ''open'' to ''try'' to eat X at the same than Y?" I have no idea how to do that with a wiki syntax. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:28, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1604: Snakes

2015-11-17T16:28:21Z

Ralfoide:

I have determined that some of my local wildlife is comprised of 103Ω snakes, with a 1% tolerance for holding. --[[User:SquaredRoot|SquaredRoot]] ([[User talk:SquaredRoot|talk]]) 13:46, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

i don't know how to add the omega sign for the units of the resistor in the transcript. i'll leave that to someone more skilled than myself [[User:Beardmcbeardson|Beardmcbeardson]] ([[User talk:Beardmcbeardson|talk]]) 05:26, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

Just copy-and-paste! -N00b {{unsigned ip|108.162.214.77}}

Or find the 'omega' symbol in Windows Character Map. [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 08:37, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

To be exact, a 24Ω resistor would be red, yellow, black; 240Ω would be red, yellow, brown, and so on, along a well-defined sequence. Red, yellow on its own would be missing the final "scaling" colour. [[User:Gearoid|Gearóid]] ([[User talk:Gearoid|talk]]) 08:54, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:We don't need the scaling colour here, the snake is scaly enough as is. [[User:Matega|Matega]] ([[User talk:Matega|talk]]) 18:58, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_color_code， a "black red black red black" resistor shoud be 2kΩ, not 24Ω ... -- Oicebot [[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.119|162.158.252.119]] 09:30, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

The fourth band on a resister is usually the multiplier (the value gets multiplied by 10 to a power according to the colour); it's the fifth that indicates tolerance [[User:sbutler87|sbutler87]]
:The resisteors that I have at hand are coloured the way I remember, Three bands of 'spectrum' colours (including black at zero, brown for 1, leading through the spectrum red to violet until grey at 8 and white at 9), the first two are literal, the third the power of magnitude to adjust up, and a fourth band (metalic silver/gold, to aid identification of the direction to read) as tolerance.
:I know there's variations, and zero ohm (or effectively so) links are a single black band, but that's all I've ever needed to know, in my time. (When I don't put something across mulimeter probes, just to make sure...) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.221|162.158.152.221]] 11:57, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
::The last band is tolerance, and there can be as many bands before that as the manufacturer needs. It's always the last band, no matter how many come before. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 18:18, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:There's two "standard" versions of colour banding that I know of, the 4-band and 5-band "precision" resistors. Some resistors may also have a red band after the tolerance band to indicate that it's "flame-proof" – or at least very high temperature resistant. The 4-band system indicates first digit, second digit, multiplier, tolerance like people have said so far. In the 5-band system the bands indicate first digit, second digit, third digit, multiplier, and tolerance. Bah, in verifying my facts I've found a 6 band system (really? Give it up already. :P) which is: first digit, second digit, third digit, multiplier, tolerance, temperature coefficient (in ppm/ºC or ppm/ºK relative change). Heck, why don't we code the power dissipation on to the resistors while we're at it? Instead of colours let's switch to a micro-bar code or QR code. (Sorry, slightly OT.) [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 15:11, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

FWIW: raw image: [[File:snake-pixelated.png]] and with added math: [[File:snake-interpolated.png]]. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 12:28, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

Does this mean a 200ohm snake is safe? (Red black yellow) [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:51, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:That would be 20*10^4 ohm = 240.000 ohm if I get it right? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:13, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
::Red black yellow would be 200000 ohms, or 200kΩ (200 kilohms). Red-black is 20, and yellow is basically adding 4 zeroes to that. [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] 17:56, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:::Ups, I put in the 4 from the comic, 20*10^4 ohm = 200.000 (not 240.000 as I wrote at first). Thanks for correcting ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:48, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:As far as I can see, it's <code>black yellow red yellow</code>, repeated, and red does not touch black... {{User:Grep/signature|20:57, 16 November 2015}}

Do they still use color bands? Do they still teach them to technicians? Should parts of this explanation be rewritten in the past tense mentioning that Randal is getting old? I though the bands were relegated to the dead languages section, right next to linear B, once surface mounted components came along. I certainly haven't used them since around 1990, and would not expect my younger technicians to understand them.
--[[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.101|198.41.235.101]] 19:58, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:I garuntee that they still do.--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.47|199.27.133.47]] 23:21, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:Being one who is actively learning electronics I can say firsthand that they still do teach color bands, and almost all the resistors we use in class are color banded. [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] 23:27, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
:That's just the thing, though; surface mount components aren't used everywhere. Hobbyists and classroom environments still use through-hole resistors and DIP TTL ICs and the like because they're easier to breadboard and reuse, and therefore cheaper. SMT, CMOS, and other things have advantages for most commercial applications but not for everything else.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.36|108.162.221.36]] 05:07, 17 November 2015 (UTC)
:In industrial applications, there's hardly use of through-hole resistor anymore. However with the resurgence of DIY electronics and arduino stuff I think it's safe to say people are now seeing breadboard electronics way way more than in the past and in this context color-coded resistor are relevant. Surface mount components are not very hobby-friendly so casual DIYers are actually not familiar with them. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 15:53, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

I f***ing lost it when I read this. Easily one of the funniest xkcds in my opinion haha [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 12:32, 17 November 2015 (UTC)
:Edited the swearing. Won't somebody please think of the children! [[User:Hellen Lovejoy|Hellen Lovejoy]] ([[User talk:Hellen Lovejoy|talk]]) 15:53, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes? [[User:Indiana Jones|Indiana Jones]] ([[User talk:Indiana Jones|talk]]) 15:53, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1604: Snakes

2015-11-17T15:53:55Z

Ralfoide:

Talk:1600: MarketWatch

2015-11-06T16:23:23Z

Ralfoide:

I don't get it as much... Perhaps something to do with the apparent erratic behavior of a stock market chart? You'd expect a rising and falling line, but for it to completely trace out building patterns is odd.{{Citation needed}} It would need a straight line, wouldn't it? and isn't that impossible in graphs like this? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.5|108.162.216.5]] 13:01, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

Couple of things in play with this one:
* Comic #1600, so that's probably a reference to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. (address of the White House). True, the WH isn't mentioned, but it's flat and makes for an uninteresting skyline element. What is shown looks to be the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, followed of course by the Capitol Building as referenced by the text.
* Desire not to break the pattern is like in comic #276, where the pattern is so tempting that people wanted to continue with it, in spite of negative side effects.

Just a couple of thoughts. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.57|173.245.54.57]] 13:21, 6 November 2015 (UTC)
:There is no such a thing as "probably a reference". A reference requires mentioning the referenced thing. A more appropriate word would be coincidence. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 13:30, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

::He/she is guessing that it is a reference, and that is a good guess. "That's probably a reference" is fine to use in this situation.
:::But it's not a reference, it's a coincidence. If it were a reference the White House could be seen in the skyline; it's just between the Washington Monument and the Capitol [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 13:58, 6 November 2015 (UTC)
::Coincidence is not at all appropriate when the intended meaning is that something was done purposefully. What the person is speaking of is an implicit reference, so "reference" was the right word choice. You are speaking of explicit references, which are merely one type of reference. [[User:GonzoI|GonzoI]] ([[User talk:GonzoI|talk]]) 15:59, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

My view is that it is a play on how silly stock trader can be sometimes. There is a way of trading called technical analysis, where a trader will look for graphical "patterns" and "signals" in the stock charts and trade on that. This way of doing is notoriously looked down at by either truly quantitative investors that rely on actual stats/signal processing to place their bets or fundamental investor that will look for information in things like the balance sheet statement of a company to place their bets. So if you are such a technical analyst and you see such a pattern as DC Skyline appearing in the stock chart of a stock...well best of luck to make a trading decision based on that, mate.

Plus, Randall seems to be playing on the whole idea some pundits on TV gives people that "the market" is a conscious entity with the ability to go up and down. If this was the case, well this skyline pattern could emerge just like that. But as real price is defined by market participants behavior, there is no way for it to be so smooth (unless this is a fairly illiquid stocks that trade rarely and jumps violently when it does.)
Finally, the comments play on the same idea that some people will see a "spirit" in the market, while it's just participant pushing the price around (taking actual economic factors into account in their decisions.).

And stock price can definitely jump if a major event happen or flatline if nobody trades it so the Capitol is really the only pattern that feels truly impossible here :p (first time I post here, so apologies if I did not respect a rule of the wiki) [[User:Legaulois|Legaulois]] ([[User talk:Legaulois|talk]]) 14:16, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

In my mind, there has recently been an increase in tools allowing for live events to be controlled by massive numbers of internet users in order to attempt to bang out patterns. Twitch Plays Pokemon comes to mind. Perhaps this comic has something to do with this new trend: a stock market version of the Twitch Plays phenomenon, with investors trying to bang out a pattern together by pressing the right buttons (buying stocks and dumping them) in the right order. Is that worth mentioning? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.64|173.245.55.64]] 15:17, 6 November 2015 (UTC)dmar198

I saw this as a reference to the logos TV news reports use for their segments. Most market news segment logos have some representation of a generic or stylized line meant to imply a market index, and I know I have seen at least one that had their stylized line draw pictures in the middle similar to this. [[User:GonzoI|GonzoI]] ([[User talk:GonzoI|talk]]) 15:59, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

If the stock market crashes after hours and there's no one to see it, does it still make a sound? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:23, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1599: Water Delivery

2015-11-06T15:55:51Z

Ralfoide:

I...dont get it {{unsigned ip|108.162.228.179}}
: I suspect this is another of "hey, why we are even bothering with bottled water when we have water pipes" ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 13:05, 4 November 2015 (UTC)
Yeah, i'm suspecting that this means that "we've always had 1 hr. water delivery, in the form of modern plumbing. it's pretty similar to https://xkcd.com/1367/ in which (amazon) is reinventing something that already exists. Also advertising is spelled wrong, but that's just a typo perhaps. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.5}}
:Sounds about right. And isn't Advertizing the the American way of spelling it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.162|108.162.249.162]] 14:25, 4 November 2015 (UTC)
::Yes, it is. [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 14:49, 4 November 2015 (UTC)
:::''Criminalizing'' means ''making criminal'' and if the word ''advertizing'' existed it would mean ''making an advert''. The correct spelling in American English is ''advertising'' (telling the public about a product)) and the original comic is corrected. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 16:54, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

I wish the illustration had showed the bottles transition from vertical to horizontal, then merge together to form the pipe. - - EazyEpete {{unsigned|EazyEpete}}
:That would have been better. ☺ [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 14:49, 4 November 2015 (UTC)
::But less practical, as the point is to add more water, and end-to-end would represent less water-per-meter than side-by-side. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 22:15, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

Global transition to HDPE (Polyethylene) pipes and plumbing can be related to the subject. {{unsigned ip|162.158.180.137}}

This would make sense if water was simply water. However, the water in my pipes at home tastes terrible and rapidly coats my plumbing with lime deposits. My favorite local restaurant serves the same water...I pay for bottled instead. In the nearby small city, though, the tap water tastes fine. Similarly, I spend a couple months every year at a location in Texas where I don't even feel clean after showering with their tap water because it is so "soft" and I've considered buying bottled water and using a solar shower. In the store you'll find not only different brands, but different types; spring water, distilled water, etc; just because you have a source for one type of water does not mean all other types of water are invalid. {{unsigned|Swordsmith}}
:Certainly water isn't just water; there are lots of factors that go into what water tastes like, does to what it comes in contact with, and contains both as good and bad substances -- just like when you go to a paint store and ask for white or black, and find out there are 20 varieties of what we think of as a simple color (or lack of). But we still just call water water regardless of what (liquid) form it takes, and we call white white even when it's just very slightly off, so in those theoretical terms the comic makes perfect sense. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 22:15, 4 November 2015 (UTC)
:If water in pipes at your city tastes terrible, wouldn't the logical thing be to complain to municipal authorities and get them fix it? On the other hand ... when I'm buying bottled water, I usually buy carbonated water ; I suspect carbonating tap water wouldn't be practical. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 13:10, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

The taste of water in mains is very subjective. Some people will think it tastes fine when other think it tastes bad or strange -- because people have different tastes but also because one gets used to what's at hand. That being said, there are workarounds such as reusing water filters (e.g. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brita Brita]) to get drinkable tap water without lime deposits or odd taste; for whole household water (either too soft or too hard), there are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_softening water softener] filters that can be added to the mains to soften or harden the water. Now the point to be made is why would one have to pay extra to fix a problem with their tap water when they are already paying for that service? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 15:55, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

Possible reference to https://xkcd.com/1165/ ? The one panel looks like a river to me. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:39, 4 November 2015 (UTC)
:Reference and similarity are not synonyms. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 12:49, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

I don't want to dive back into my own explanation again to make yet another minor edit, especially if I'm going to cause anyone an edit conflict on a far better addition/change/overhaul. ...but if anyone wants to take the "(cars and buses and planes)" aside and add "trains" in there as well, as examples of discrete passenger units? If it remains there. For some reason I missed the thing ''closest'' to the eventual hyperloop concept... ''edit: Also, I meant to say "'''prompt''' home-order goods", but seemed to have forgotten to type it!'' (Also, I didn't bother explaining the Titletext. Someone should try that. Although I'm not sure Amazon ''is'' thinking the same, except through the same '(il)logical extrapolation', vis-a-vis water delivery.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.161|141.101.106.161]] 15:42, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

I believe people are overlooking the 1 hour part of this comic. Amazon has been shipping water for a long time (citation needed). The 1 hour aspect is what makes it closer to a pipe now. You're basically using an on-demand system to request the water in 1 hour and it's being delivered like a tap. This also plays into the title text in that Amazon is ultimately striving to make "real time" deliveries of everything, so a toothpaste pipe is closer to reality now if you define pipe in the same way the comic implies.
[[User:RTPGiants|RTPGiants]] ([[User talk:RTPGiants|talk]]) 17:24, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

''Three comments moved to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#Captcha]]'' [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Technical&oldid=104572#Captcha]

By the way, how about setting up a service like Amazon's, having someone come to your door with an empty bottle, filling it from your tap, and charging the customer for quick water delivery?--[[User:Jojonete|Jojonete]] ([[User talk:Jojonete|talk]]) 09:14, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

:I like that idea! Here's a similar variation, in case a person doesn't want a stranger coming into their house to use their own tap. There can be a loose network (i.e. coordinated via the Internet) of a million "affiliated" households, servicing the needs of a million different customers ordering water, and then a bunch of dedicated couriers traveling the short distance between the nearest affiliated independent water micro-fulfillment center (AIWMFC) and the customer. Or maybe cut out the dedicated courier entirely -- the nearest AIWMFC's CEO (or her husband, or one of the kids) could fill the bottle themselves, don a hat with the company's logo, and walk or drive the bottle over to their neighbor. This company could probably get times down to an average of just a few minutes rather than that insanely long 1 hour that Amazon.com has with their measly few mega-fulfillment centers. And this could bring speedy delivery even to small towns or rural areas rather than just major urban centers. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:55, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

Cynic here! Bottled water are also oft used as a vanity item - display of wealth. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.79.43|141.101.79.43]] 11:28, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

I buy bottled water because I want the thing to carry it, not the water itself. If I'm at the store and know I'll want some water later on when I'm not near a water fountain (eg in the car) I'll pay the dollar or so for the bottle pre-filled with water, not the water itself. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.236.145|108.162.236.145]] 16:55, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1597: Git

2015-11-01T17:38:45Z

Ralfoide:

If someone is interested, the best book I've read on it is [http://www.git-scm.com/book/en/v2 Pro Git]. The chapters 2 and 3 explain pretty well this mess of branching and merging. But it's true that it takes a bit of patience to go over it all. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.228.35|108.162.228.35]] 08:47, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Also take a look at [http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/ GitFlow: A Successful Git Branching Model]. Though Randall is correct there usually comes a time when it is easier to give up and "start again". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.147|162.158.34.147]] 08:53, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

I never liked the name of this piece of software; in British English, the name "git" is mildly rude :-)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git_(slang) . [[User:Gearoid|Gearóid]] ([[User talk:Gearoid|talk]]) 09:20, 30 October 2015 (UTC)
:According to word of god it was on purpose: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git_(software)#History [[Special:Contributions/162.158.22.46|162.158.22.46]] 11:41, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

'Internally, Git works by saving the differences between various versions of the files, rather than creating a new copy each time the user "commits" the current version of the code.' - It is exactly the opposite. It stores whole files, or rather all committed pieces of data (blobs). See http://gitready.com/beginner/2009/02/17/how-git-stores-your-data.html [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.202|141.101.88.202]] 09:38, 30 October 2015 (UTC)TK

: It is stored as diffs in pack file. Whole file (loose object) are packed automatically by default.
:
: See https://schacon.github.io/gitbook/7_the_packfile.html and https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-pack-objects.html

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.177.59|162.158.177.59]] 10:15, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

::Not sure what pack files are used for, but data is stored as is and named by the SHA-1 of its contents. See [https://schacon.github.io/gitbook/1_the_git_object_model.html object model] in the same reference. [[User:Walenc|Walenc]] ([[User talk:Walenc|talk]]) 16:02, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

I feel like this article should end with a quick guide to git commands. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.27}}

Well, I feel this article focuses on explaning git too much that it loses the point of the joke. We have Wikipedia to refer readers to ... The thing is, not just users who are unable to use git beyond a few basic commands, but also those who understand git often use some sort of "start over" method because an action looking perfectly legit got the repository into unusable state, where recovery is much more difficult than reapplying patches. For one of the most common, search for "detached head", for example - especially funny when git insists on falling into that state after checking out master which is in direct contradiction to what docs say when it happens. But I don't feel like rewriting that, sorry :-/ --kavol, [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.206|141.101.96.206]] 16:04, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

I feel you've all been nerd-sniped. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.8|108.162.216.8]] 19:33, 30 October 2015 (UTC)Pat

The problem is not about the working copy and about the branching tree structure and some git internals that is quite confusing.
This 4 years old reddit post can be used as a funny reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/embdf/git_complicated_of_course_not_commits_map_to/

http://tartley.com/?p=1267
"One of the things that tripped me up as a novice user was the way Git handles branches. Unlike more primitive version control systems, git repositories are not linear, they support branching, and are thus best visualised as trees, upon the nodes of which your current commit may add new leaf nodes. To visualise this, it’s simplest to think of the state of your repository as a point in a high-dimensional ‘code-space’, in which branches are represented as n-dimensional membranes, mapping the spatial loci of successive commits onto the projected manifold of each cloned repository." {{unsigned ip|108.162.210.212}}

Should someone mention how git is by default used through a terminal - which is often more confusing than a GUI for most people - and that while there are graphical shells for git, some people refuse to use them because they're not fully-featured? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.36|108.162.221.36]] 11:43, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Shit. I use git for almost a year and I delete my repos more often than I'd like to admit. I'm going to read [https://www.git-scm.com/book/en/v2] and (hopefully) fix this once and for all. [[User:Kripmo|Kripmo]] ([[User talk:Kripmo|talk]]) 02:04, 31 October 2015 (UTC)
:It was way easier than I thought. This is what I needed: git reset --hard <commit before fuck up>. Its alias will be fu. [[User:Kripmo|Kripmo]] ([[User talk:Kripmo|talk]]) 08:10, 31 October 2015 (UTC)

The really sad part of all this is that if you work in a multi-dev environment and anyone on the team is doing what Cueball suggests, it negates every other user's ability to use the main trunk properly. [[User:Ericm301|Ericm301]] ([[User talk:Ericm301|talk]]) 02:26, 31 October 2015 (UTC)

Hasn't it got too extensive about git? I've never used git but quite understood the comedy. I just visited this page to know about git.txt and there's nothing about it but just long text that doesn't help whatsoever to understand the comic. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.84.125|141.101.84.125]] 08:45, 31 October 2015 (UTC)

:I agree completely! I've stripped out the overlong discussion of git's features. --[[User:Slashme|Slashme]] ([[User talk:Slashme|talk]]) 00:12, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

AFAIK, the git.txt is not the part of the Git itself. I just added it to explanation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.231|162.158.114.231]] 20:21, 31 October 2015 (UTC)

:"This comic is a play on how git, a popular version control system, is misused by people who have a very poor understanding of its inner workings."

Comically missing the point. That is NOT what the comic is about, that is a poor excuse from a fanboy. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.159|162.158.90.159]] 12:00, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
: I agree the verbose "explanation" misses the point. The reality is that git is a confusing mess from a user's point of view. It's a very nice and powerful design from a technical point of view yet one that will mostly confuse anyone who encounters it at first; most people are afraid of admitting it because they don't want to look dumb. There's beauty in a design that is user-friendly at its core, and git misses that mark. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:38, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

In pretty much every team I've worked I found there ends up being one "git expert" that raises above the rest and people continuously go see that person with "I don't know how to do X", to which the expert will often reply with a magic unheard-of-before git command line that looks pretty much like perl line noise. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:38, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1593: Play-By-Play

2015-10-21T16:52:04Z

Ralfoide:

First!
Sorry. On a more serious note, is "how rude" a reference to the ugly guy on the first Star Wars? I'm sleepy and can't think well. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 05:41, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
:I strongly doubt it, since this is a completely unrelated topic to Star Wars [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.231|162.158.38.231]] 06:07, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
:Also, the comic doesn't even include the phrase "how rude"... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.161|108.162.250.161]] 06:11, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
::Why is Star Wars and its trailer even mentioned? Completely unrelated. The trailer aired during a football game not baseball. If Randall was trying to make that point it would be as such. This is more akin to a non-sports minded son-in-law trying to enjoy the sport with his wife's father (been there done that). Or perhaps Randall is saying that baseball is having a hard time trying to attract new fans with all the scandals so baseball has turned to reeling in non-traditional fans who need the games rules and play-by-play toned down to an understandable level. Anything but Star Wars.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 15:56, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

The big issue I have is that he says there's no one else. There is the catcher. Would have made more sense to say two men are playing catch and someone else is rudely trying to hit the ball. Or that they're playing monkey in the middle... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.236.235|108.162.236.235]] 15:18, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

;Simple Words

Could someone check if this is an instance of Randall Munroe doing a comic using only the 1000 most commonly used words? It looks like it might be. {{unsigned ip|108.162.218.197}}

:Nope! Lots of difficult words like "Wow" and "shelves" and "teammates" {{unsigned ip|198.41.235.59}}
::Yes should this even be references in the trivia. I vote for deleting the trivia, as I do not see this as an example of Beret Guy trying to speak simple, he just uses other words because he do not know the baseball version for these. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:50, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

:I put the transcript and title text into Randall's word checker and came up with eleven words that didn't make the cut (twelve if you count all forms of a word separately): "bat", "shelves", "wow", "rude", "teammates", "pillow", "rules", "yikes", "hopefully", ("bats",) "king", and "jail". --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.65|108.162.218.65]] 12:47, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

;Surreal

I do not see this as surreal at all. His description is spot on, assuming that he knows nothing about the game.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.79.73|141.101.79.73]] 06:32, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

What's surreal is the (somewhat implausible) scenario where someone who knows nothing about baseball (or softball, I suppose. Or sport...) whould be commentating on a game.[[User:ChrisBedford|ChrisBedford]] ([[User talk:ChrisBedford|talk]]) 06:46, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
: That's not surreal. That's ironic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.81|108.162.237.81]] 15:11, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
;Pillow

Why is beret guy talking about a pillow? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.125|173.245.49.125]] 07:12, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

:I read it as a reference to the points on the field (“bases”?) that the runner has to go around. The ones that are used as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_metaphors_for_sex a euphemism for touching genitalia]. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.236|141.101.104.236]] 07:19, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
::See [[540: Base System]]! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:50, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
: Historically, the bases were made from stuffed fabric, they were essentially pillows.[[User:Tverma|Tverma]] ([[User talk:Tverma|talk]]) 08:15, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

;Baseball and cricket

Not being American, and never having watched a game of baseball in my life, this sounds like pretty much the way I would see baseball. Americans can get the same effect by watching a game of cricket. [[User:GreenWyvern|GreenWyvern]] ([[User talk:GreenWyvern|talk]]) 07:28, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
:Until he said "second pillow" I wasn't sure if it was commentary on baseball or cricket.[[User:Tverma|Tverma]] ([[User talk:Tverma|talk]]) 08:05, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
::Agreed, when you never have watched a full game of baseball even the explanation above is not enough to understand the rules and events he is talking about. So spot on ;-) We only play this in early school as we think it is a kids game (probably like many Americans consider soccer?) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:50, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
:::And just like the football/'soccer' difference in naming local variants in Association Football, our baseball is generally called 'rounders'. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.185|141.101.75.185]] 13:21, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

:While the description of the game might match someone who never saw any baseball, the failure to identify cheering and heckling suggest he never saw ANY game nor other sport event, which seems improbable. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:25, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
::Although not for Beret Guy! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:50, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

Main text says the words are not part of the "10,000" common words. But Randall's simplespeak is only a 1000 word corpus -- ten hundred. <digressing rant> That's somewhat irrelevant given the dubious qualities of Randall's simplespeak anyway. "bat" for example is a common word that kids learn early in kindergarten and elementary school when they learn the CVC pattern, not to mention it's a fairly common theme for Halloween and children books. Same goes to some of the other words. "wow" is not a word but an onomatopoeia, and "rude" is a basic English word known to everybody {{Citation needed|}}. Somewhere along the line, followers forgot this is all a game and are taking it way too seriously. </rant> [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:48, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

== Variant games ==

It might be interesting to mention which comments by the Beret Guy lead to the elimination of other ball and bat games, especially when only a single comment does so. For instance, it looks like the description of the game would also fit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pes%C3%A4pallo pesäpallo], a Finnish ball and bat game, save that in that game you don't throw the ball at the batter. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.164|173.245.54.164]] 13:37, 21 October 2015 (UTC)