explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1301: File Extensions

2013-12-09T15:40:00Z

Schmammel:

The title text reference of "hand-aligned data" may refer to ASCII art. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.28|108.162.215.28]] 05:36, 9 December 2013 (UTC) Alan K.

I think it's also a notable point, that the better rated document formats are more data centric while the low rated formats mix text informations with design elements and finally become pure graphic formats, which often is an indication, that the author didn't use the accurate file type for (mostly) pure text informations.
Something I don't understand is the gap between jpg and jpeg. The first suffix is AFAIK only an abbreviation used by older DOS/MS Systems to fullfill the 8.3 limitation for filenames. The note about hand alignment might concern the fact, that hand alignment is more time expensive which might increase the amount of the the author spend in overthink the content before layouting. Also often automated layouting as supported by many modern writing application might lead to unexpected and sometimes wrong results, because the automatism has no semantical knowledge about the authors intention, which might lead to post processed errors
Sorry for my bad english, I'm not a natural writer
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.239|108.162.231.239]] 05:45, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
:"hand-aligned data" seems to me like (manually) space-indented paragraphs, perhaps even manual padding to achieve the desired justification (centering and right-and-left-margin-hugging). And of course neatly lining up an 'embedded table', perhaps originally extracted from a .csv output. Although a number of plain-text editors (in the days of CGA and pure terminal/fixedspace fonts) or text formatters and wrappers (e.g. Lynx, man-page creaters, etc) ''would'' do things like this for you. And still do. At least insofar as the justification and margining is concerned. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.229|141.101.99.229]] 08:35, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
If anyone has taken the time to hand align a text file (as in a README, or other info file), they want it to look attractive for people to read. Odd are you're not going to take the time to "hand pretty" the document just to be malicious. Back in the BBS days there were a large number of "online" groups who had "signature" text files which were (very probably) hand aligned, and made extensive use of extended ASCII codes to generate basic graphics. (Granted there were programs to help auto-generate "ascii art".) If you've ever seen these files you'd know. [[http://www.thuglife.org/tlv5/aabout.shtml Example 1]] - [[http://textfiles.com/piracy/NFO/ Example 2]] [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 14:14, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

I find it interesting that .jpg and .jpeg are at different levels. Aren't those the same thing? --[[User:Mralext20|Mralext20]] ([[User talk:Mralext20|talk]]) 05:48, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
Perhaps the .gif could contain suddenly unexpected scary/surprising frames? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.208.172|108.162.208.172]] 14:54, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

:That JPG/JPEG thing indeed seems strange. The more important distinction is between JPEGs that are photographs (fine) and those that are not (stupid). Also, pre-PNG, non-photograph GIFs could be just fine. And with all the accounting scandals we've seen, why would those spreadsheet formats get any credibility? -- [[User:Dfeuer|Dfeuer]] ([[User talk:Dfeuer|talk]]) 06:06, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
::Alongside .jpeg ('full' extension format) and .jpg (MS '8.3'-compatible extension format), I'd have expected .jpe (often full extension historically truncated on an 8.3 system), I must be honest. (And interesting that .docx doesn't co-inhabit the .doc line... or be somewhere else.) And the disparity betwixt the two versions of JPEG extension ''may'' relate to the tendency for a higher artefact-intensity of images back in the early days (when a better option than GIFs for... certain pictures... e.g. on Usenet between *nix workstations with vastly restricted bandwidths and storage capacities) compared to today's users (cameras that regularly store 10+MP pictures in low-loss JFIF files, and/or in Raw format!). But that may be a spurious or off-track reasoning on my part. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.229|141.101.99.229]] 08:27, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

I measured the bars in photoshop to +/- 2pixels. If we scale .tex to a value of 100 like the transcript says, these are the values I get for the bar lengths (rounded to one decimal place)
.tex 100
.pdf 89.4
.csv 84.9
.txt 66.5
.svg 64.8
.xls 48.6
.doc 21.2
.png 15.1
.ppt 14.5
.jpg 3.4
.jpeg -8.4
.gif -35.8

Dunno if it is helpful - or even trusted given I'm a first time commenter - but there it is. Closer values than just estimating, though the eyeballed estimates aren't bad. Not going to adjust the actual transcript because I feel that's overstepping my bounds. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.56}}
:Not at all, wikis are free to edit for a reason. If we didn't want new users to be editing pages, we could have turned that off long ago. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:55, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

As the information that is provided by the graph comes as png, we should probably not trust her. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.120|141.101.92.120]] 09:03, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
: Ha, +1 Like :-) [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]])

I never saw image of cute cats lying to me ... I mean, the gif is STILL the preferred format for animation, mostly because it's the only one supported. Animation formats based on PNG didn't catched up, hard to say why ... on the other hand, gif animation apparently have huge number of weird extensions, judging by the number of animated images I found which don't render properly in anything EXCEPT the browser. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:27, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
:The cute cat may not be lying, but since the format is used in other context -- like banner ads, then the average GIF may well be lying, also I believe there have been many security issues with GIFs and JPGs as they have been used as an attack vector for internet-bad-guys to take over your computer -- so while security issues is not specifically the topic for todays strip, then that may be worth noticing as well [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]])
:It is also possible to create animations with svg which is (for good reason, I like that format) ranked higher. Especially for scientific purposes it can be handy. Unfortunately is the MediaWiki software unable to show them. For example in the previous comic is an animation of the Galilean moons shown. That is an gif but someone also uploaded an [[Wikipedia:commons:File:Galilean_moon_Laplace_resonance_animation_(en_-_monochrome_-_350x217).svg|svg animation]] and I would say it does look smoother than the gif. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.215|108.162.231.215]] 14:40, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
:The Grumpy Cat is not grumpy in real life - so cat pictures DO lie! [[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 15:40, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1208: Footnote Labyrinths

2013-05-06T12:36:56Z

Schmammel:

Way to nerd-snipe me, Randall. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 04:52, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

In the nested-footnotes interpretation, 5 has to be ignored: The 6 must be true, and the 6 says that it’s “actually a 1”, but with footnote 2+2 which says “ibid.” and thus equals footnote 3, which is true. So 6 really ''does mean'' actually a 1, which leaves 5 to be ignored. --[[Special:Contributions/77.186.8.191|77.186.8.191]] 10:47, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

The footnote for 6 is actually 1 to the 2 to the 2 [[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 12:36, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1189: Voyager 1

2013-03-22T14:37:24Z

Schmammel:

Uh, not all tally marks are Doctor Who references. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 05:49, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

Oh, was he talking about the glove? I though it was referring to "running the gauntlet" for some reason. --[[Special:Contributions/123.243.217.72|123.243.217.72]] 07:17, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

No, that's "running the gantlet." Two words which are often confused for each other. Plus you could run a gantlet of people whacking you with their gauntlets. [[Special:Contributions/63.241.174.129|63.241.174.129]] 13:21, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

He almost certainly meant 'gantlet'; I think Randall just got the two words confused (it happens frequently. At this point, dictionary.com lists both spellings as synonymous.) The medieval punishment makes much more sense in context (ie: lots of things that could potentially hit Voyageur.)[[Special:Contributions/24.70.188.179|24.70.188.179]] 13:31, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

: Well, I saw a straight wordplay belt→glove there. --[[User:Mormegil|Mormegil]] ([[User talk:Mormegil|talk]]) 14:21, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

There were several stories two days ago saying it had left, then a correction from NASA saying it didn't.
http://science.time.com/2013/03/20/humanity-leaves-the-solar-system-35-years-later-voyager-offically-exits-the-heliosphere/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2416867,00.asp
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/voyager20130320.html
[[User:Bugefun|Bugefun]] ([[User talk:Bugefun|talk]]) 07:21, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

Is it just me or is it unclear why are there sixteen leaving events described in the title text but twenty-two tally marks on the comic? [[Special:Contributions/188.221.199.135|188.221.199.135]] 07:39, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

I just keep hoping that my children will be interested in space. Too late for me, NASA wouldn't want me, but surely my genes are still ok, I hope. To follow voyager down the rabbit hole of our expectations, what else can father ever ask? [[Special:Contributions/166.147.120.177|166.147.120.177]] 08:05, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

No it is not just you why there are 22 tick marks, and only 16 countable exits.[[Special:Contributions/192.231.124.16|192.231.124.16]] 12:03, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

The Crystal Sphere may refer to a David Brin story used to explain the fermi paradox of why we have had no alien contact: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Spheres [[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 14:37, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1183: Rose Petals

2013-03-08T19:55:04Z

Schmammel:

Can anyone explain what Roomba is? {{unsigned|194.105.120.80}}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roomba
[[Special:Contributions/131.251.254.81|131.251.254.81]] 09:14, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

: "... but out onto the street."
Is it really? It looks to me like it's going down the hallway seen in the background of the 3rd panel. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 16:28, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

It is, really. When you look at the door in the 3rd panel, you can see another house across the street, then closer a sidewalk, then closer the street, then closer another sidewalk and a walkway leading up to the door. There is then a mat in front of the door (presumably a welcome mat, or at least a mat for wiping your feet). In the 4th panel you can see the the sidewalk expansion joints. [[User:Haruspex|Haruspex]] ([[User talk:Haruspex|talk]])

I don't think that's a mailbox. It think it's a shredder. Either way, I think what happening is that Cueball sent a woman some roses, and this is her way of rejecting his advances (which puts the image text into context) [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 17:18, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

I like the way it steers around the books just left in the middle of the floor. Presumably it heads outside because Cueball left the door open. Or did whoever set it up use the books to ensure it left the house by precalculating its behavior? [[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 19:54, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1183: Rose Petals

2013-03-08T19:54:38Z

Schmammel:

Can anyone explain what Roomba is? {{unsigned|194.105.120.80}}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roomba
[[Special:Contributions/131.251.254.81|131.251.254.81]] 09:14, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

: "... but out onto the street."
Is it really? It looks to me like it's going down the hallway seen in the background of the 3rd panel. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 16:28, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

It is, really. When you look at the door in the 3rd panel, you can see another house across the street, then closer a sidewalk, then closer the street, then closer another sidewalk and a walkway leading up to the door. There is then a mat in front of the door (presumably a welcome mat, or at least a mat for wiping your feet). In the 4th panel you can see the the sidewalk expansion joints. [[User:Haruspex|Haruspex]] ([[User talk:Haruspex|talk]])

I don't think that's a mailbox. It think it's a shredder. Either way, I think what happening is that Cueball sent a woman some roses, and this is her way of rejecting his advances (which puts the image text into context) [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 17:18, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

I like the way it steers around the books just left in the middle of the floor. Presumably it heads outside because Cueball left the door open. Or did whover set it up use the books to ensure it left the house by precalculating its behavior? [[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 19:54, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1182: Rembrandt Photo

2013-03-07T14:41:48Z

Schmammel:

I don't get it. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 07:57, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

It is a pun. Artist's conception can either mean an artist's description of an event where no real photo is available; or the artist's biological conception, meaning the sex that led to his birth. [[Special:Contributions/84.199.78.189|84.199.78.189]] 08:02, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

:Ohhh and Artist's conception, I get it! [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 08:15, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

::Example of an 'Incredibly Lame Pun' actually being hilarious. --[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 17:07, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

I don't get the "whistler" reference in the title text... anyone? [[Special:Contributions/84.197.94.196|84.197.94.196]] 09:21, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
:[[wikipedia:Whistler's Mother|"Whistler's Mother"]] is a famous American painting by [[wikipedia:James McNeill Whistler|James McNeill Whistler]] of his own mother. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 11:39, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

Insert heartfelt groan here: -----> [. Groan! ][[Special:Contributions/24.79.11.46|24.79.11.46]] 12:15, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

I was too busy being grossed out by the prospect that it was the artist who conceived the image of his own conception. Be it Rembrandt or Whistler. Unresolved Oedipus complex, anyone? [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 13:05, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

Incidentally there is a great reference to Whistler's Mother in the movie "Sneakers". Dan Akroyd's character makes the reference regarding his blind colleage ("Whistler"). Great movie.
:In which scene? --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 18:06, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
:: Dan Akroyd's character is called "Mother"; I don't think there is any more reference than that: two characters, Whistler and Mother. "Whistler", incidentally, is a reference to being able to whistle the tone needed on old pay phones to get it to give you a free call -- Whistler is a phreaker. {{unsigned|72.68.11.22}}

Anyone know what "click" refers to in the title text? [[User:Trek7553|Trek7553]] ([[User talk:Trek7553|talk]]) 15:15, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
: the "click" because of Cueball working on the PC and not listening to Megan any more. [[Special:Contributions/80.76.68.155|80.76.68.155]] 15:38, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
:: Actually it's Megan switching to the next picture (that of Whistler's mother) on her laptop. {{unsigned|212.149.48.43}}
:: It's Cueball closing the door as he leaves the room. [[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 14:40, 7 March 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1182: Rembrandt Photo

2013-03-07T14:40:58Z

Schmammel:

I don't get it. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 07:57, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

It is a pun. Artist's conception can either mean an artist's description of an event where no real photo is available; or the artist's biological conception, meaning the sex that led to his birth. [[Special:Contributions/84.199.78.189|84.199.78.189]] 08:02, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

:Ohhh and Artist's conception, I get it! [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 08:15, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

::Example of an 'Incredibly Lame Pun' actually being hilarious. --[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 17:07, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

I don't get the "whistler" reference in the title text... anyone? [[Special:Contributions/84.197.94.196|84.197.94.196]] 09:21, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
:[[wikipedia:Whistler's Mother|"Whistler's Mother"]] is a famous American painting by [[wikipedia:James McNeill Whistler|James McNeill Whistler]] of his own mother. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 11:39, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

Insert heartfelt groan here: -----> [. Groan! ][[Special:Contributions/24.79.11.46|24.79.11.46]] 12:15, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

I was too busy being grossed out by the prospect that it was the artist who conceived the image of his own conception. Be it Rembrandt or Whistler. Unresolved Oedipus complex, anyone? [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 13:05, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

Incidentally there is a great reference to Whistler's Mother in the movie "Sneakers". Dan Akroyd's character makes the reference regarding his blind colleage ("Whistler"). Great movie.
:In which scene? --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 18:06, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
:: Dan Akroyd's character is called "Mother"; I don't think there is any more reference than that: two characters, Whistler and Mother. "Whistler", incidentally, is a reference to being able to whistle the tone needed on old pay phones to get it to give you a free call -- Whistler is a phreaker. {{unsigned|72.68.11.22}}

Anyone know what "click" refers to in the title text? [[User:Trek7553|Trek7553]] ([[User talk:Trek7553|talk]]) 15:15, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
: the "click" because of Cueball working on the PC and not listening to Megan any more. [[Special:Contributions/80.76.68.155|80.76.68.155]] 15:38, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
:: Actually it's Megan switching to the next picture (that of Whistler's mother) on her laptop. {{unsigned|212.149.48.43}}
:: It's Cueball closing the door as he leaves the room[[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 14:40, 7 March 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1180: Virus Venn Diagram

2013-03-03T02:21:14Z

Schmammel:

If nothing else, defragging the Singularity would keep it busy for a few hours. ~ [[User:Quackslikeaduck|Quackslikeaduck]] ([[User talk:Quackslikeaduck|talk]]) 13:40, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

I wonder if defragging the Singularity would actually erase/ruin it. Just imagine what would have happened to the first multi-cellular organism if someone had rearranged its molecules in what it considered to be a more "efficient" manner!--[[User:Joehammer79|Joehammer79]] ([[User talk:Joehammer79|talk]]) 15:00, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

And for a minute I was asking myself what black holes had to do with it... --[[Special:Contributions/65.222.165.65|65.222.165.65]] 16:14, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

: Well, beyond borrowing the name from the black-hole concept, there's something else too. You could say defragging decreases entropy. Decreasing the entropy of a black-hole would lead to what? Not a black hole? Bear in mind that black holes are tricky from a physics POV, and to top that, entropy, in the context of gravitation is a tricky thing. Also, the entire concept of "efficiency" is governed by the second law. So... Damn. I've tied this into all sorts of knots. But I'm going to say, if you tried defragging the singularity, it would actually prevent it from acting (since any action increases entropy), and therefore, IS a viable method to slow down the AI takeover. [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 22:39, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

I've managed to put someone in the "Maybe it has a Virus" category. I added an implementation of "{{w|Neko_(computer_program)|neko}}" to an application we where working on, and the little cat following the mouse just confused a user who had never seen it before. [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 19:15, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

It's actually an Euler diagram, not a Venn diagram. --[[Special:Contributions/23.17.150.29|23.17.150.29]] 21:04, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
:I looked it up and agree. I wonder if someone has told Randall. I know he would appreciate it ([[1053: Ten Thousand]]). I'm not sure whether or not to change the "a Euler diagram" to "an Euler diagram" though. --[[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 21:31, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
:It's no less a Venn Diagram than it is a Euler. --[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 05:27, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
::Since Euler is pronounced "Oiler" the "an" is appropriate no matter what your thoughts are regarding it's conventions.[[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 03:05, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
:Also, one of the most fascinating things from the Euler Wiki article was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Euler_diagram_of_triangle_types.svg this image] on a Euler diagram of traingles. --[[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 21:41, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

:I was about to make a post about unnecessary amounts of pedantry, but after reading both wikipedia articles, I've decided that this is exactly the kind of "Learn something new every day" material that I really liked about the old explain xkcd blog, and I'm happy that its continuing. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:32, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

Haha, how often do I have this conversation with my parents! They: "I think we are being hacked." Me: "?!" They: "Yeah, this morning when I started my computer, X wasn't working and now Y is acting all weird." ... Yes, of course. --[[Special:Contributions/83.84.33.170|83.84.33.170]] 08:49, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1180: Virus Venn Diagram

2013-03-02T03:05:51Z

Schmammel:

If nothing else, defragging the Singularity would keep it busy for a few hours. ~ [[User:Quackslikeaduck|Quackslikeaduck]] ([[User talk:Quackslikeaduck|talk]]) 13:40, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

I wonder if defragging the Singularity would actually erase/ruin it. Just imagine what would have happened to the first multi-cellular organism if someone had rearranged its molecules in what it considered to be a more "efficient" manner!--[[User:Joehammer79|Joehammer79]] ([[User talk:Joehammer79|talk]]) 15:00, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

And for a minute I was asking myself what black holes had to do with it...

: Well, beyond borrowing the name from the black-hole concept, there's something else too. You could say defragging decreases entropy. Decreasing the entropy of a black-hole would lead to what? Not a black hole? Bear in mind that black holes are tricky from a physics POV, and to top that, entropy, in the context of gravitation is a tricky thing. Also, the entire concept of "efficiency" is governed by the second law. So... Damn. I've tied this into all sorts of knots. But I'm going to say, if you tried defragging the singularity, it would actually prevent it from acting (since any action increases entropy), and therefore, IS a viable method to slow down the AI takeover. [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 22:39, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

I've managed to put someone in the "Maybe it has a Virus" category. I added an implementation of "{{w|Neko_(computer_program)|neko}}" to an application we where working on, and the little cat following the mouse just confused a user who had never seen it before. [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 19:15, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

== Diagram Type ==

It's actually an Euler diagram, not a Venn diagram. --[[Special:Contributions/23.17.150.29|23.17.150.29]] 21:04, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
:I looked it up and agree. I wonder if someone has told Randall. I know he would appreciate it ([[1053: Ten Thousand]]). I'm not sure whether or not to change the "a Euler diagram" to "an Euler diagram" though. --[[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 21:31, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
::Since Euler is pronounced "Oiler" the "an" is appropriate no matter what your thought are regarding it's conventions.[[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 03:05, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
:Also, one of the most fascinating things from the Euler Wiki article was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Euler_diagram_of_triangle_types.svg this image] on a Euler diagram of traingles. --[[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 21:41, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1175: Moving Sidewalks

2013-02-21T04:48:01Z

Schmammel:

I'm not quite sure what the joke here is supposed to be. Many have tried to develop variable speed walkways, as one can see in [http://worldwide.espacenet.com/searchResults?page=0&compact=false&ST=advanced&locale=en_EP&DB=EPODOC&CPC=B66B23%2f26%2flow patents]. There was even a pair of these that were installed circa Y2K in the Paris subway (Châtelet-Les-Halles, IIRC), which is renowned for its long passageways. It is AFAIK no longer in service, I don't know why. When I saw it an attendant was present to watch over for making sure that users wouln't fall. This contraption is way more complicated than standard rubber-belt conveyors with its meshing steps. --[[Special:Contributions/70.52.115.181|70.52.115.181]] 15:59, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
: Is it possible that you're thinking of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBJN1X3LeJw these]? [http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2009/05/21/paris-experimental-high-speed-moving-walkway-is-abandoned/ Here]'s a news article saying it got canceled due to constant technical problems. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 02:06, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

I know what I'm building this weekend... [[Special:Contributions/207.237.164.241|207.237.164.241]] 06:22, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
:I just wonder if it is possible to remove these stupid posts and the panel on top of them from my treadmill without breaking it... {{unsigned|89.174.214.74}}

Isn't "of" suppose to be "off" in the title text? {{unsigned|67.161.114.84}}

Do anybody know examples of such belts. The ones I recall has all one-speed-only [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 10:43, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
: At Toronto Airport they have double speed moving sidewalks, that accelerate by stretching the panels. --[[User:Johnsmith|Johnsmith]] ([[User talk:Johnsmith|talk]]) 08:43, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
:: Here's a video. Pretty neat concept! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9k1K5M2Mkw --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 02:06, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

I was under the impression (from the alt-text), that they would take the belts inward traveling faster until they hi-five. Then, as they sped away, they would change sides and repeat the process. 10:56, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

I don't see why they are positioned as they are. If they were taking the belts inward, they would take advantage of the momentum imparted by the belts and be going much faster than their stride would normally take them. The way they are positioned, they would have to be running to just catch up to each other in the middle. [[Special:Contributions/64.121.163.170|64.121.163.170]] 11:06, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

:This is surely the point. They have to run faster as they get closer. [[Special:Contributions/77.99.26.23|77.99.26.23]] 12:00, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
:: Has the picture changed? Now it seems as if they where going faster to the middle. --[[User:Johnsmith|Johnsmith]] ([[User talk:Johnsmith|talk]]) 08:48, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

There doesn't appear to be any 'trick' to this one. Like the commenter above, I initially thought they were being taken towards each other by the conveyors. I thought the joke was that they would be accelerated to a ridiculous speed which would make it impossible to high five without obliterating each other, but the alt text didn't indicate anything like this and I looked again and realised I had read way too much into it. It's probably most sensible to interpret the speed multiples as relating to the first belts, not the last one you were on. This makes the difference between the '5x' belts going at 5x the speed of the outer ones, instead of 100x if each was the specified multiple of the last. If this alternative situation were the case, the outer belts would have to be going very slowly (of the order of 0.1m/s) for them to ever be able to high five. [[Special:Contributions/77.99.26.23|77.99.26.23]] 12:00, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

The appears reminiscent of Improv Everywhere's prank, "High-Five Escalator" http://improveverywhere.com/2009/02/09/high-five-escalator/ [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]])

I'm sure I would fall over trying to use this one. --[[Special:Contributions/173.49.75.121|173.49.75.121]] 14:09, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

Randall updated the comic, explaining that he meant to draw the arrows going the way Cueball and Megan are facing, not opposite. I'd change the wiki, but I don't get it now. :) [[User:Zpletan|Zpletan]] ([[User talk:Zpletan|talk]])

The Comic has been changed: "Oops! I originally put up a version with backward sidewalk arrows. I should know better than to edit and post comics while sleep-deprived. Sorry!" [[Special:Contributions/86.32.218.17|86.32.218.17]] 14:28, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

I don't think they're going a multiple of the previous belt, but a multiple of base speed. Just my 2 cents :) Also, I think the belts are moving toward each other to get the ultimate "high five" in terms of velocity of the impact. {{unsigned|161.31.32.81}}

I don't see why anyone would think the "5x speed" etc would mean 5 times the previous tile. Seems obvious to me that the first tile is moving at some speed, the second tile is moving twice that base speed, the third moving 3x that base, etc. So when the pass each other their moving at 10x the base speed. Assuming the base speed is something reasonable, something near a typical walking speed, the high five would take place at a speed similar to if they were just sprinting past each other. Hardly a "ridiculous speed which would make it impossible to high five without obliterating each other." [[Special:Contributions/67.51.59.66|67.51.59.66]] 16:58, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

:As you'll see from my comment, I only thought something like this might be implied on first glance before I looked at it properly. Honestly it just doesn't seem that awesome to have a series of conveyor belts that allow you to high five a person at sprinting pace. I briefly suspected Randall might have been getting at some feature of physics or mathematics, like the story of the guy who asked for payment for something in grains of rice placed on a chessboard, starting with one grain in the corner and doubling for each square. But no. It's just two people high fiving each other. [[Special:Contributions/77.99.26.23|77.99.26.23]] 17:43, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

Does anyone think this may be a reference to "The Caves of Steel" a novel by Isaac Asimov? As I recall there was a global system of moving belts of various speeds that were used for transportation.
: That's what I thought of immediately. [[Special:Contributions/128.84.127.95|128.84.127.95]] 19:17, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
: Or Heinlein's "The Roads Must Roll". [[Special:Contributions/173.8.183.86|173.8.183.86]] 19:41, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
:: Also Clarke's ''The City and the Stars'', for the {{w|Big Three}} trifecta. But in those stories, the different-speed belts were arranged in parallel, like lanes of a highway, rather than in series. So you'd accelerate by stepping sideways from belt to belt.
::[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 20:30, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

Seriously, they're playing a game of Robo Rally[[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 04:48, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

I would love to see this sidewalk placed in a Bison habitat.[[Special:Contributions/94.191.187.81|94.191.187.81]] 05:04, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

Is it just me - or was this comic fixed after it was initially uploaded? I could've sworn the original had either the arrows backwards or the people on the wrong sides - They would've been fighting the sidewalk. 09:59, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
:As an edit to this, I was correct. This is a mirror of the comic on Gizmodo, showing the error. http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18f07q9hveoaepng/xlarge.png {{unsigned|‎77.98.193.149}}
:And it seems that when fixing it, Randall changed all the arrows, rather than moving the people. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]])

I wonder, what is the pace of the centerbelt? Is it 5x, 6x or maybe about 5x where that belt start, accelerating to 7x (or even more?) at the high five location and then slowing down till about 5x at the end? [[Special:Contributions/86.82.116.63|86.82.116.63]] 16:30, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

User:Schmammel

2013-02-21T04:46:54Z

Schmammel:

Hi I'm Kirk - an obsessive follower of xkcd. Before explain xkcd, I understood about 72% of the comics. Thanks to explain xkcd that is now up to at least 75%

I am a nut about taxes, economics and travel. I write compulsively, for the sheer joy of it. I recently stopped writing a food blog, and now write a tax blog. It is focused on the regular tax payer, not big business.

[[www.supertaxgenius.blogspot.com|super tax genius]]

Talk:1176: Those Not Present

2013-02-20T15:23:10Z

Schmammel:

Seems pretty straight forward. The more a group talks badly of a person who's not present, a bad habit, the less Munroe wants to be associated with it. Therefore, he slowly scoots away, until he eventually reaches an other group, who, hopefully, won't have said bad habit. [[Special:Contributions/95.35.63.88|95.35.63.88]] 05:28, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
:I don't think there's much more to say about this one. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 06:39, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
One can make assuptions about the age of those in the first group because of the shape of the beverage vessels. A wine or champaigne glass might be used for it's name sake. Suggesting that they are older than the legal drinking age. Though the conversation seems like one expected in high school or college.{{unsigned|74.215.40.250}}
Is this actually this simple or are we missing something? Maybe it's just a bit crappy? [[Special:Contributions/134.226.83.27|134.226.83.27]] 14:03, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
:I was actually expecting it to proceed to some sort of equilibrium situation where the various groups slowly force him into some stationary position at a distance from each group relative to their various levels of behind the back talking.[[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 15:22, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1176: Those Not Present

2013-02-20T15:22:33Z

Schmammel:

Seems pretty straight forward. The more a group talks badly of a person who's not present, a bad habit, the less Munroe wants to be associated with it. Therefore, he slowly scoots away, until he eventually reaches an other group, who, hopefully, won't have said bad habit. [[Special:Contributions/95.35.63.88|95.35.63.88]] 05:28, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
:I don't think there's much more to say about this one. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 06:39, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
One can make assuptions about the age of those in the first group because of the shape of the beverage vessels. A wine or champaigne glass might be used for it's name sake. Suggesting that they are older than the legal drinking age. Though the conversation seems like one expected in high school or college.{{unsigned|74.215.40.250}}
Is this actually this simple or are we missing something? Maybe it's just a bit crappy? [[Special:Contributions/134.226.83.27|134.226.83.27]] 14:03, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
:I was actually expecting it to proceed to some sort of equilibrium situation where the various groups slowly force him into some stationary position at a distance from each group relative to their various behind the back talking.[[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 15:22, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

User talk:Schmammel

2013-02-20T03:20:37Z

Schmammel:

==Turing Test==
We're having spam problems right now, and your userpage seems spam-like. Your edit history bears evidence of sentience though, could you respond to this message to prove that you're not a spambot? Thanks. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:50, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

:I am a human being!! (Who sucks at this wiki stuff...) {{unsigned|Schmammel}}

::Please indent your responses so we know you are responding to a comment and not starting a new conversation. Please sign your comments on talk pages with four tildes (there's a big sign at the top of every Editing Talk page to remind you).

::On another side note, please include more content on your user page rather than looking like a link farm trying to boost your site's google ranking. We do not exist to allow you to shamelessly self-promote.

::If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask someone who looks like they know what they are doing.

::--[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:23, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

:::Understood. I really am not trying to be a link whore - I plan on learning more about doing this right, but as a tax guy, I have no time right now - probably shouldn't be wasting time reading xkcd either.[[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 03:15, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

:::Is a blog link okay on my user page. I don't have ads and do provide very useful tax info. If it's not cool I'll leave it off, that's not why I'm here anyway.[[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 03:20, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

User:Schmammel

2013-02-20T03:18:56Z

Schmammel: Created page with "Hi I'm Kirk - an obsessive follower of xkcd. Before explain xkcd, I understood about 72% of the comics. Thanks to explain xkcd that is now up to at least 75% I am a nut abo..."

Hi I'm Kirk - an obsessive follower of xkcd. Before explain xkcd, I understood about 72% of the comics. Thanks to explain xkcd that is now up to at least 75%

I am a nut about taxes, economics and travel. I write compulsively, for the sheer joy of it. I recently stopped writing a food blog, and now write a tax blog. It is focused on the regular tax payer, not big business.

Not sure if a link is okay here, so I'll leave it out for now.

User talk:Schmammel

2013-02-20T03:15:07Z

Schmammel:

User talk:Schmammel

2013-02-20T03:14:34Z

Schmammel:

User talk:Schmammel

2013-02-19T04:54:10Z

Schmammel:

User talk:Schmammel

2013-02-19T04:53:45Z

Schmammel:

User talk:Davidy22

2013-02-19T04:52:19Z

Schmammel:

Hi Davidy22,

Just a quick thanks for helping roll back so much of the vandalism. Per your recent log comment, yes, there has been a recent spate of vandalism; before yesterday, it was the odd spammer that I've had to remove. But with the advent of ''Click and Drag'', there's also been an insurgence of ip-based vandalism. I'm hoping this is just a spike owing to the popularity of the comic, but I'm with you; if it doesn't die down, something more drastic is going to have to be done.

But again, thanks for helping...

-- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:17, 21 September 2012 (UTC)

== Please don't ==

Please don't create the redirects to explanations that haven't been created yet. It breaks the next and previous buttons, and gives people that are browsing through the explanations the false impression that the site is more complete than it is. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:41, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

:Ah, I'll stop then. Didn't know that. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 07:17, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

==Davidy22, the spam connoisseur==
Congratulations on transcending from being annoyed at all spam to recognizing the truly beautiful works of spammage from the rest of the cruddy heap. We should throw a party, lol. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:33, 1 November 2012 (UTC)
:Hey, it *was* a well written bit of spam. It was one of those copy/paste types of spam, except it was nicely formatted and coherent all the way through. It was informative too. A great change from the mindless template drivel or gibberish that we usually get. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 23:11, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

== Just asking ==
Was there a reason you deleted most of the List of all comics? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:21, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

:What on- shi-
:I was adding comic number 1132, and the preview was really slow, so I copied everything in the edit box and refreshed the page. I think half of the page hadn't finished loading in the edit box, and I only copied the first half. Derp [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 08:21, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

::I figured it was something like that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 04:56, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

Just so you know, it happened again. But SlashMe fixed it. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:07, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

:Mother of fracking- I'm going to figure out what's causing this and I'm going to fix this. Godammit. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 23:20, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

:Durr dee-durr, and now I've done it. Thanks for spotting that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 07:22, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

== Ahem... You gonna finish that? ==

Have you taken a look at the front page recently (say within since you created the [[1134]] redirect)? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:42, 14 November 2012 (UTC)
:I have it open right now. Please don't ninja me again. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 05:44, 14 November 2012 (UTC)

::<nowiki>*Sits tight and twiddles thumbs*</nowiki> Actually, if you've got this I'll go back to the pitiful bit of literature I'm calling this year's NaNo. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:53, 14 November 2012 (UTC)

== The Anonymous editor of 1132 ==

Has been 50.0.38.245 all along. For a while he changed his signature to be a userpage that didn't exist, and wasn't a registered user. He has now changed it back to being the IP address again. Just thought I should do some out-of-band communication about that. If you want to change your last comment about the anonymous user, that would be good. (I almost offered to edit it for you, but then realized the subject we're talking about, and decided that if 50.0 ever learns about looking at the edit history and diffs, I don't need to be called a hypocrite as well as a banhammer wielding {{w|BOFH}}) [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:35, 15 November 2012 (UTC)

== Broken mirror... ==

Sorry for the "ninja"... I guess we probably don't need 2 versions of the image though... Feel free to distill the explain part...--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 07:15, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
:Godammit, I even had the window open waiting for the article. The definitions can be merged into one paragraph, and wiki magic will explain how the comic works. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 07:20, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

== Fooooooooor He's a Jolly Good Fellow... ==

You are the man, man. Keep it up! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:50, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

:Seconded. Great work, you deserved the milestone! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:26, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

== Please take a look ==

...at [[User talk:Lcarsos#Deletion|this]]. Nothing new to you, I suppose (spam fighting can be quite hard if we're overly cautious on every step), but I'm dropping the note just in case :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:52, 25 November 2012‎ (UTC)

== autoblocking suspicious users ==

Once again, it looks like auto-blocking users that have suspicious usernames would require someone with more power than we have.

However, I very nearly blocked those three when I noticed the account creation. But, I didn't because I thought they might be legitimate users with stupid usernames. But now I've read up on {{w|Wikipedia:New_admin_school/Blocking|Wikipedia's block policy}} and from now on I'll be posting {{tl|uw-blockindef}} (which I've bungled fantastically right now, but shortly should be working) which should allow the rare legitimate user (with bad taste in usernames) to reclaim their good account, but allow us to block bad people.

You're ever friendly, massive toddler of an admin, [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:41, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

:I've also just found this page {{w|Wikipedia:Administrators' how-to guide}} which I will be reading very thoroughly and beginning to use this blacklist. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 04:16, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

::Hum. A great many of these templates could be condensed into a few bigger ones, but at least the documentation links are there for us to use. Also, you do know that Template:UserBox already exists, right? [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:55, 4 December 2012 (UTC)
:::Well, crud. You switched, I switched. I do like the one we had better, mostly because of the descriptive labels and the nice thick borders. The name's in convenient CamelCase too. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:18, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

::::As a general rule I loathe my shift key, using more keys to achieve the same goal is wasted time, and I could be called ruthless about wasted time. Saving a single keypress seems petty. But I had a CS professor point out that by specially crafting what you have to type (creating shortcuts) saving a keypress here and there can add up to saving several thousand keypresses every 8 hours, which over a long enough quantity of time can equal hours and days. That's my long winded explanation for why I like using {{tl|userbox}} instead of {{tl|UserBox}}.

::::Also, I like the wikipedia userboxen, it's more flexible. And that allows anyone who comes over from Wikipedia to know how to work userboxen here too. That's my case for it. I hope you agree because I don't want to have to push my shift key, but I'll take your input, and if we end up in a tie, we might ask Waldir to tie break for us, as he'd be a neutral third party. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:44, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

:::::In CS, I learned that descriptive variable names and easy to recognize naming conventions can save heaps of debugging time. I personally like the CamelCase version better because it uses variable names like left-bg instead of id-c for the background color in the box on the left, which makes the template self-documenting and easier to grok for a new user who's just reading the source. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:58, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

:::::: I was asked to comment. Here are my thoughts:
::::::* Regarding CamelCase, it is indeed a neat convention but we don't use it elsewhere on the wiki. In fact, MediaWiki itself, in its early versions, used to rely on CamelCase for linking, but moved to the free-form, space enabled link syntax, which is better in many cases. Not everything converts nicely into CamelCase. So while I appreciate the argument to use CamelCase as the template name, I think the regular case version fits the wiki better. Besides, redirects are cheap and work well, so if the CamelCase title redirects to the lowercase one, whoever wants to use the CamelCase version can still do so seamlessly. Not an issue, therefore.
::::::* I agree with Davidy22 on the parameter names. In fact, the code of the template can be arranged in a more readable form (using whitespace and indentation) so not only its uses can be deciphered, but the template itself too. Renaming parameters is a simple matter, especially for templates with not many uses as these are, which means there isn't a lot of replacements to perform.
:::::: In summary, I think the two templates should definitely be merged and the best features of each kept in the final version: the title being [[Template:userbox]] (with redirects from [[Template:UserBox]] and [[Template:Userbox]]), and the parameters using intuitive names as {{tl|UserBox}}.
:::::: --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:06, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

::::::: Sounds good to me. The wikicode looks god-awful ugly though, who's up for cleaning that thing up? [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:03, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

:::::::: If you guys do the merge, I can clean it up afterwards :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 01:14, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

== separate section for title text ==

I agree that in the two instances you removed the section header for the title text, it wasn't justified, but in some cases it does make sense. See [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Subsection for title text explanation|here]]. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 15:27, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

== No more imagesize ==

I made a comment on [[Template Talk: comic#Imagesize]], essentially imagesize isn't necessary, and I've changed the {{tl|create}} template to not include it. So rejoice, and forget imagesize ever existed (until the bug gets fixed). [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:02, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
: Bah, what was that parameter good for anyways? Clicking on the image should take you to the XKCD site anyways. What user cares about the image pages that the template currently takes you to? [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:20, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
:: That's an interesting point. It's technically doable. But I think there should be a way to access the comic images (granted, I'm not sure why exactly, but I'm not comfortable leaving them "orphans" —linkless— either) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:08, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
::: There's the list of all comics page, and we could make the titletext link to the image page or something. I dunno, any excuse to kill imagesize. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 12:16, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
:::: To clarify, linking the image directly to xkcd has nothing to do with killing imagesize. That, for what I understand, has already been done. Good point about the list of comics page. I'll wait for more comments before implementing the change in the image link target. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:35, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
::::: Imagesize isn't *quite* dead yet. There's still four or five comics that still use it. Permission to upload the thumbnail versions of those comics, as we do with the other large comics, and end that broken thing once and for all? [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:05, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
:::::: I don't like the idea of uploading smaller versions of images. We ought to be able to use mediawiki's own image scaling abilities as soon as we can do some [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#We need more maintainers|testing in the wiki setup]] and make the image scaling issue go away. Apart from that, what exactly are the problems of imagesize, again? I haven't followed the discussions about it, sorry. Feel free to give me pointers to the appropriate places where the issues have been discussed. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 13:17, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

== Please move pages ==

I'm noticing that when someone creates a new page with the wrong title you're just copy/pasting the content onto the new page. Please don't do that. Please use the move page feature on the drop down of the page, that way we can keep the edit history for the page intact, and that way it doesn't look like you created these oddly poor quality pages. Thanks much. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 00:49, 6 January 2013 (UTC)
:Righty ho. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:09, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

== Sorry ==

I have been working contra u by routinely adding a white line above the categories. I instantly raise white flag! And say good night! -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 00:40, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

== Trivia placement ==

Cheers mate! Please check the comment I made some time ago in the section you started, [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Section style and usage|"Section style and usage"]] on the Proposals community page. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:10, 27 January 2013 (UTC)

== Jurassic Park category ==
Hi, you wrote you don't like how I created a new category for Jurassic Park. I thought it appropriate: there's a *lot* of references to Jurassic Park and/or velociraptors in the comics. And not all reference are to both... But what did you not like? Thanks for enlightening me! [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 09:07, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

:There's a lot of categories on this wiki. When adding categories to a page, it can get extremely difficult to make sure that you've gotten every category that applies to the comic. For regular editors, the amount that we have to remember when maintaining pages is already quite onerous; more categories hurt our dinky heads. If you're willing to steward that category, go ahead, but you'll have to remember to put in the explanation pages yourself when you find a comic that it applies to. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:36, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

:: OK. [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 08:26, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

==[[220: Philosophy]]==

Actually, what happened was: This being my first new page edit, I copy-pasted the format from another page, and then edited all the information to fit the correct comic. Then I realized I'd forgotten to remove the date of the original page's comic, so I did so. *blushes* No trolling intended, just a newbie mistake. Is 2/7/07 the correct date for this comic? [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 11:23, 28 January 2013 (UTC)
:Oooh. I thought you had gotten the date then removed it after seeing earlier rants concerning omitted dates. You can check a comic's date by clicking on the "All Comics" button in the sidebar on the left. All dates are in YYYY-MM-DD format. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:37, 28 January 2013 (UTC)
::Yep. I see that now, and now that I know it's there, I create new pages straight from [[List of all comics]]. No offense taken. Thanks for the useful advice! [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 05:52, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

== Character names in transcripts ==

Ah, I see now that you've been cleaning up after me, adding character names to transcripts instead of "Man", "Woman", et cetera. Now realizing that's the wiki's standard, I'll endeavor to do that myself from now on. Thanks for your patience with the new guy. [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 07:40, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

:It's k, just doing maintenance. You're really prolific, do you write all of those yourself or are you getting those explanations off the forums somehow? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:38, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

::I write them all myself. It's been some time since I've looked at the xkcd forums, actually. Sometimes I get a little help from Wikipedia when a particular detail escapes me. But you'll notice I don't make an attempt to explain the math ones. *laughs* [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 02:16, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

== My unexplained hobbies. ==

I just want to make sure that you are getting this, but I restored "My Unexplained Hobbies." You can now explain them. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 14:47, 11 February 2013 (UTC)
:Shweet. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:44, 12 February 2013 (UTC)

I suck at wiki stuff but am a real human - sorry for the confusion.

Talk:1175: Moving Sidewalks

2013-02-19T04:50:56Z

Schmammel:

Talk:1175: Moving Sidewalks

2013-02-19T04:49:35Z

Schmammel:

Talk:1175: Moving Sidewalks

2013-02-19T04:44:50Z

Schmammel:

Talk:1156: Conditioning

2013-01-06T19:21:11Z

Schmammel:

... the main problem with this idea is that the probability of any particular driver to driver repeately around that place is not so high. Of course, if similarly conditioned animals would be on multiple places ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 08:48, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
:Depending on the animal (species), and assuming a stable or growing "local wildlife" population, the conditioned ones may 1) eventually fan out (including migration) and teach other individuals or 2) breed, teach their offspring, and the offspring will fan out. Eventually -- we can only hope -- the average density EVERYWHERE per square mile of individuals would be above a given threshold to be effective 24/7. Problem solved! --BigMal27 / [[Special:Contributions/192.136.15.177|192.136.15.177]] 12:19, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

Up the ante in rural areas by using not crumbs, but bacon, or deer musk ... nah, that would be evil.[[Special:Contributions/24.79.11.46|24.79.11.46]] 13:18, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

If anything this would just get drivers to close their windows and not solve the problem because loud bass still penetrates car windows. {{unsigned|12.235.98.130}}
:If I were a bass-loving driver, I still wouldn't want birds and squirrels (et cetera) coming at my car! Better to kill the "music" or avoid the area. But it appears to be a hollow victory due to the comment below. --BigMal27 / [[Special:Contributions/192.136.15.178|192.136.15.178]] 20:50, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

The general problem I see: once drivers get educated, animal conditioning has to be kept up, or animals will forget about basses, which would be the exact same nuisance it is trying to address. Otherwise, wildlive would forget to associate basses with food, and thus fail to educate drivers. Kind of a Volterra cycle. Edit: the paragraph before is not mine, someone forgot to sign.[[Special:Contributions/46.142.12.21|46.142.12.21]] 18:59, 4 January 2013 (UTC) madd

Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but wouldn't attracting lots of animals towards cars with thumping bass lead to a lot more road kill? Which wouldn't really be a desired side-effect of the machine... [[Special:Contributions/46.142.12.21|46.142.12.21]] 18:59, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Of course the conditioning has to be kept up! That's why you run the machine while you are AT WORK! --Schmammel

Talk:1156: Conditioning

2013-01-06T19:18:49Z

Schmammel: