explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1476: Ceres

2015-01-23T00:03:17Z

Shine:

I'm not sure about Number 6 being a reference to The Prisoner. there's no other context in the comic to suggest that reference. {{unsigned ip|‎173.245.54.180}}

Number 6 could be a Battlestar galactica reference as well, which is again a reference to The Prisoner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_Six_%28Battlestar_Galactica%29 {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.252}}

The novel The WindWalkers (in French "La Horde du Contrevent") from Alain Damasio is the story of the 34th team of people walking against the wind to go past the end of the known world. A group is sent every generation from a starting point and they walk over decades as far as they can go. The team leader is called Golgoth and is the 9th descendant of his family leading a team. He is obsessed with the idea of getting farther than his father (Golgoth 8) and the others Golgoth before them. At one point, while the team thought having been farther than any other, Golgoth 9 finds a sign let by Golgoth 6 (whose team had been thought lost) that demonstrates they were not the first ones reaching this point.
Maybe the comics does not make reference to this event in the novel, but readers of the novel will likely think about it. [[User:Marou|Marou]] ([[User talk:Marou|talk]]) 08:42, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

: Wikipedia has a list of characters in books and/or films named {{w|Number_6#In_the_arts_and_entertainment|Number 6}}, so unless there is a clear reference, I suggest we stick to assuming that Number 6 is simply the identifying number of un-named CERES employee. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 11:16, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Maybe include a picture of Ceres (the dwarf planet) to show the real white spot (not the inspection sticker) [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 09:14, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
: Or a ref to an [http://www.universetoday.com/118358/first-hubble-and-now-dawn-have-seen-this-white-spot-on-ceres-what-is-it/ image/animation] [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 09:16, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
: This image shows it really good: [http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2004HubbleRotation-580x515.jpg] (Images from the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004 of Ceres. Credit: NASA/Hubble) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.134|108.162.254.134]] 09:29, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Ceres is also a brand of vegetable fat manufactured by [http://www.belusafoods.sk/1/index.php?kat=3&ac=5&id_p=170 BELUŠA FOODS s.r.o.] (no english version, sorry). Salmonela in this kind of Ceres would be very interesting but I doubt that Randal refers to this Ceres. [[User:Jkotek|Jkotek]] ([[User talk:Jkotek|talk]]) 09:31, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Earth the planet contains salmonella.
--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.12|141.101.104.12]] 09:45, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
: I agree, in that sense the joke is much funnier and more closely related to the rest of the comic (since (dwarf)planets are tested). -- [[User:Linuspogo|Linuspogo]] ([[User talk:Linuspogo|talk]]) 09:55, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

;German? Number Nein
Unless this German company puts round inspection stickers onto products, '''in English''', then Randall is referring to [http://www.cafepress.com/inspector6 these stickers], which were used by [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=258182 US clothing manufacturers] in the mid-to-late 20th century. -- [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 12:52, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
: I would tend to agree on the stickers themselves, but the mention of salmonella and the fact that CERES is indeed a company which provides certification of agricultural processes and related inspection services across the EU, some sort of link seems patent, and I think a mention of the relationship should remain in some form. -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 13:26, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

: It's Debbie Slade: [http://articles.latimes.com/1990-11-18/business/fi-6997_1_quality-assurance-manager] [http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=110&dat=19910211&id=IA5QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5lUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6542,3176811] --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.134|108.162.254.134]] 14:49, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

I wonder where the high resolution detail came from. I imagine the frames of the animation could be used as sub-sampled images and hence combined to obtain higher resolution, but I should imagine that, had this been done, such images would also appear on the various science sites. So: did Randall one-up the mission handlers, did he fill in some other image or did I simply fail to find the source?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.123|108.162.229.123]] 13:53, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

: I had wondered that too. My guess was that he took an available higher res image of the moon or similar, then added the shadows and bright patches from the low res Ceres image. I can tell from the pixels and from seeing quite a few shops in my time. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 14:02, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

:: I see what you did there. (xkcd#331). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.125|108.162.217.125]] 05:47, 22 January 2015 (UTC)BK201

: I'm pretty sure Randall just took from that one image of six frying pan bottoms.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.101|108.162.221.101]] 17:08, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

I think people are trying too hard to assign meaning to "inspected by number 6" I really think 6 was just an arbitrary number and not a reference to The Prisoner or Battlestar or even Debbie Slade. The lines trying too hard to make "number 6" a reference to something should probably be removed. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.180}}
:I feel that this happens quite a lot here. Not every word and image has to be a reference to something. Even if two things do bear some similarity, it could always be a coincidence caused by a shared culture producing similar ideas. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.73|173.245.50.73]] 15:11, 22 January 2015 (UTC)
:: Especially when the thing in question is a low value integer. Those things pop up all over the place. -Pennpenn[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.205|108.162.249.205]] 22:33, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

What about Futurama? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_Inspection ¬¬¬¬ {{unsigned ip|141.101.106.131}}
:That's what I thought of when I say it and it is a pop culture reference that Randall would surely know, I hope. However, saying that I agree with the Pennpenn and other replies about trying too hard to find a link between subject matter and outside sources. Every time I went into English, people were always trying to find these obscure references and ideas which I'm sure the author/s never intended. -Drcrazy102--[[User:Drcrazy102|Drcrazy102]] ([[User talk:Drcrazy102|talk]]) 00:00, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

::unrelated
What if...temperature did cause deflategate. If the footballs started at 12.5 psi at 72 degrees F...I get negative 13 degrees F to bring pressure down to 10.5 psi. Using ideal gas law. Amiright? [[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 00:03, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1235: Settled

2013-07-08T14:31:30Z

Shine:

I wouldn't be so sure, considering for example the number of times {{w|Loch Ness Monster}} was photographed. Note the case of 2004. On the other hand ... yes, it is going to be harder disprove some sighting if there is 20 videos from it instead of 30 eye witnesses. The secret services probably don't exactly like it - much harder to cover it too. Especially if 5 of those are on youtube before they get there. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 08:20, 8 July 2013 (UTC)
:Assuming within a given timespan a factor of lets say 10000 "ready to use" cameras being around at a given place, we would expect an equal factor of photos. So the only thing speaking agains this is that maybe at the places in question, there are not more people around, but a factor of 10000 less.{{unsigned ip|213.61.9.75}}
::Probably everyone's got their nose burried in their smart-phone, Twittering about what they think of the Haggis they had last night, instead of taking in the view. Thus nobody takes any photos ''at all''... [[Special:Contributions/178.98.181.133|178.98.181.133]] 14:15, 8 July 2013 (UTC)
Unless your phone is equipped with a PPC (protected phenomenon chip), which almost all phones are required to carry by the CIA. Every time someone takes a picture of one of the protected phenomenon the chip recognizes the image and replaces it with a kitten. Why else do you think there are so many pictures of kittens on the internet? --[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 14:31, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1190: Time

2013-03-27T13:11:09Z

Shine: /* Create an animation on this page */

Pretty sure we're just getting trolled with this one [[Special:Contributions/99.108.190.136|99.108.190.136]] 04:48, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Can't tell if this is emo xkcd or trolling xkcd. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 04:53, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Something seems a little fishy because the image url is different than normal. [[User:Bugefun|Bugefun]] ([[User talk:Bugefun|talk]]) 04:55, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
:Maybe the comic slowly changes throughout the day. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 04:56, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
::Oh god, it does. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 04:57, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
:::When uploading different versions of the image, use the naming convention time[iterationNumber].png. We'll compile all the images into one and display them as per [[Traffic Lights]]. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:05, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
::::Alright, so the comic appears to be switching between two states here: between [[media:time2.png|this]] and [[media:time3.png|this]]. If nothing new happens, I'll get to clipping the comics together. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:28, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
:::::Whoop, nope, [[media:time4.png|this]] just came up. Is there more to come? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:34, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
::::::Alright, so a new one is posted every half-hour. Whoopee. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:06, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
:::::::And there's a new one! Megan leaning back and looking up...
::::::::Well, the image changed, who has the time to make a script to catch the new images and compile them into a gif? https://dl.dropbox.com/u/932170/time.png [[User:Statharas.903|Statharas.903]] ([[User talk:Statharas.903|talk]]) 07:14, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/72.21.198.66|72.21.198.66]] 05:11, 25 March 2013 (UTC)It could be a reference to the old proverb " time and tide wait for none" Cueball and the girl could be waiting for the tide in the beach! (Just a guess)[[Special:Contributions/72.21.198.66|72.21.198.66]] 05:11, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

The picture does chance with time. The URL includes a changing timestamp that I can't decipher. Compare these two URLS (which have slightly different images:
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/8eb156cce408df8bb83528382d6a2aa2ce6c74f3c573fd12b058cd1c56420672.png
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/1e349a579b5f9b5ed487ddf7e88244b70330941ddedac9c6abf6ed2e3f589b97.png

Perhaps there is a way to hack the URL to view future images. [[Special:Contributions/199.30.248.121|199.30.248.121]] 05:29, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
: I would also like to add that knowing randall, these are not the only images. For all we know, the image will still be changing in 5 years while a tree grows in front of them. My point is: Are the URLs hackable, or did he encrypt them? [[Special:Contributions/199.30.248.121|199.30.248.121]] 05:33, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Likely there is a way to hack the URLs; they look like some sort of hash, probably a hashed timestamp. Of course, he could easily have added some salt to the hash, making it significantly *harder* to hack. But they're strings of a specific length, so it should be pretty easy to bruteforce it, fetch all the images, and then (maybe) reverse-engineer the sequence. *That* all depends on how many of them there are. [[Special:Contributions/76.90.249.178|76.90.249.178]] 05:44, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
:Good god, do you see how many digits are *in* that hash? The sun'll have burned out by the time we've tested every possible combination of digits. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:47, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

It seems that the image is updated every 1/2 hour. [[Special:Contributions/152.23.97.150|152.23.97.150]] 06:17, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
: Given that the images switch back and forth between other images already seen, and that the comic should be viewable in the future, it seems unlikely that it's any thing like a simple sha256 of part of the timestamp. I think it's more likely a function of half-hours and minutes (assuming we continue to get a new possible image every half-hour). [[Special:Contributions/99.153.248.206|99.153.248.206]] 06:59, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

::: The images do cycle, yes. But for some reason I have never seen the img where Megan is looking behind her. Also wouldn't it be difficult to show a sequential story (like the rising tide) if the previous images keep cycling ?

Hash appears to be SHA-256. I tried some obvious hashes ("1", "11901", "1190_1", "1190.1") to no avail. Maybe this is HMAC-SHA256? Also, I would suggest trying Unix timestamps. [[Special:Contributions/131.156.236.149|131.156.236.149]] 06:19, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
: I've been trying to make educated guesses as to what's being hashed here: http://www.xorbin.com/tools/sha256-hash-calculator ... he could also be using hash(hash2(value)) which would be virtually impossible to crack. [[Special:Contributions/99.153.248.206|99.153.248.206]] 06:59, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

It's entirely possible that the "hash" is actually randomly generated. Just a thought. [[Special:Contributions/129.21.119.153|129.21.119.153]] 07:03, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Alright, this is probably not going to work, but I'm trying to exploit Randall's awesomeness here. Maybe he decided to take the time-stamps from the user? I don't know if that's even possible... That would then allow people in different time zones to obtain different images simultaneously. (What's the corollary of Godwin's law for a bunch of math-and-science nerds and relativity? Is there one?) Clicking the img src url on the comic's html page, give me this: http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/752687b61523144c61736cd89f8c153dc41e19128f72d78d44947ff800f057fa.png : Never mind.. apparently others see the same image too.

Could he be doing this live? Monitoring the discussion on the net? Collaborative, crowdsourced comic-ing? Reminds me of those you-decide-what-the-character-does-next-and-flip-to-appropriate-page parallel plot novels.

[[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 07:14, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Let's just compare the two pictures and see how the bottom right changes, which I believe is water and they are indeed waiting for the tide. [[User:Statharas.903|Statharas.903]] ([[User talk:Statharas.903|talk]]) 07:19, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
:I'm adding urls to pictures bellow, edit freely.
::They change every 5 minutes, will try to keep track.

http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/f8/time.png
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/1e349a579b5f9b5ed487ddf7e88244b70330941ddedac9c6abf6ed2e3f589b97.png
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/752687b61523144c61736cd89f8c153dc41e19128f72d78d44947ff800f057fa.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/932170/timeasdf.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/932170/time6.png

:I have uploaded all the different images onto the wiki, in the order that they were revealed. To avoid needless duplication of effort, I'll put them up in the explanation page. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:44, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

It just went back to the second image... [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 07:59, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
: And now changed to something new. http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/cdcc6b46b32c53f8596cd0106958b42c4260b9cbc022e6d94054147aa6554960.png
:: The images do look alike, but they're all different. Thanks David. [[User:Statharas.903|Statharas.903]] ([[User talk:Statharas.903|talk]]) 08:04, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

::: No..I checked the random string. They're exactly the same. In fact, now it's gone back to the second image. Again. [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 08:07, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Just found this JavaScript code embedded in the comic HTML source (Update: Reformatted to prevent eye-bleeding):

<pre>(function (e) {
"use strict";

function t() {
this.data = {}
}
function n() {
this.listeners = new t
}
function r(e) {
setTimeout(function () {
throw e
}, 0)
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this.type = e
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function s(e, t) {
i.call(this, e), this.data = t.data, this.lastEventId = t.lastEventId
}
function g(e, t) {
var n = Number(e);
return (n < 1 ? 1 : n > 18e6 ? 18e6 : n) || t
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try {
typeof e[t] == "function" && e[t](n)
} catch (i) {
r(i)
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}
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function B() {
L = d, N !== null && (N.abort(), N = null), C !== 0 && (clearTimeout(C), C = 0), S.readyState = d
}
function j(e) {
var t = L === p || L === h ? N.responseText || "" : "",
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if (L === h) {
var r = f ? t !== "" ? N.getResponseHeader("Content-Type") : "" : N.contentType;
if (r && v.test(r)) {
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if (L === d) return
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if (L === p) {
t.length > k && (H = !0, T = !0);
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a = t.indexOf("\r", k),
l = t.indexOf("\n", k);
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k !== t.length && (_.push(t.slice(k)), k = t.length)
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P = 0, j(!1)
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j(!1)
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function q() {
j(!0)
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function R() {
C = 0;
if (L !== c) {
j(!1);
return
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return
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return
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var o = Boolean(a && r && r.withCredentials),
u = g(r ? r.retry : NaN, 1e3),
b = g(r ? r.retryLimit : NaN, 3e5),
w = g(r ? r.heartbeatTimeout : NaN, 45e3),
E = r && r.lastEventId && String(r.lastEventId) || "",
S = this,
x = u,
T = !1,
N = new l,
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k = 0,
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D = !1,
P = 0,
H = !1;
r = null, n.call(this), this.close = B, this.url = t, this.readyState = h, this.withCredentials = o, R()
}
function w() {
this.CONNECTING = h, this.OPEN = p, this.CLOSED = d
}
t.prototype = {
get: function (e) {
return this.data[e + "~"]
},
set: function (e, t) {
this.data[e + "~"] = t
},
"delete": function (e) {
delete this.data[e + "~"]
}
}, n.prototype = {
dispatchEvent: function (e) {
var t = String(e.type),
n = this.listeners,
i = n.get(t);
if (!i) return;
var s = i.length,
o = -1;
while (++o < s) {
var u = i[o];
try {
u.call(this, e)
} catch (a) {
r(a)
}
}
},
addEventListener: function (e, t) {
e = String(e);
var n = this.listeners,
r = n.get(e);
r || n.set(e, r = []);
var i = r.length;
while (--i >= 0) if (r[i] === t) return;
r.push(t)
},
removeEventListener: function (e, t) {
e = String(e);
var n = this.listeners,
r = n.get(e);
if (!r) return;
var i = r.length,
s = [],
o = -1;
while (++o < i) r[o] !== t && s.push(r[o]);
s.length === 0 ? n["delete"](e) : n.set(e, s)
}
}, s.prototype = i.prototype;
var o = e.XMLHttpRequest,
u = e.XDomainRequest,
a = Boolean(o && (new o).withCredentials !== undefined),
f = a,
l = a ? o : u,
c = -1,
h = 0,
p = 1,
d = 2,
v = /^text\/event\-stream;?(\s*charset\=utf\-8)?$/i,
m = /AppleWebKit\/5([0-2][0-9]|3[0-4])[^\d]/.test(navigator.userAgent);
w.prototype = n.prototype, b.prototype = new w, w.call(b), l && (e.EventSource = b)
})(this),
function () {
function e(e) {
(new Image).src = "http://xkcd.com/events/" + e
}
function t() {
location.hash == "#verbose" && console.log.apply(console, arguments)
}
try {
var n = "http://c0.xkcd.com/stream/comic/time?method=EventSource",
r = new EventSource(n);
t("connecting to event source:", n), r.addEventListener("open", function (t) {
e("connect_start")
}, !1), r.addEventListener("error", function (t) {
e("connect_error")
}, !1), r.addEventListener("loadtest", t, !1), r.addEventListener("comic/time", t, !1), r.addEventListener("comic/time", function (e) {
var n = JSON.parse(e.data),
r = document.getElementById("comic").getElementsByTagName("img")[0],
i = Math.round(Math.random() * n.spread);
t("waiting", i, "seconds before displaying comic", n.image), setTimeout(function () {
r.src = "http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/" + n.image
}, i * 1e3)
}, !1)
} catch (i) {
e("js_error")
}
}();</pre>

I'm no programmer but this looks important to me...

:Doesn't really help. The script basically changes the image when something happens (probably some time passes, although it's possible there is more hidden there). WHAT image then appears is not directed by the script, but by the site. Specifically, the image displayed as first is taken from [http://c0.xkcd.com/redirect/comic/time http://c0.xkcd.com/redirect/comic/time], while the script asks for [http://c0.xkcd.com/stream/comic/time?method=EventSource&r=(somenumber) http://c0.xkcd.com/stream/comic/time?method=EventSource&r=(somenumber)] ... which is, if you get correct "r", probably some json containing the image url. So, even if you hack the script, you will not get all possible urls. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:17, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

:: ... actually, given that the script part doesn't seem to do anything just now, it's even possible it's for later (ie, starts producing images when the correct time come). Or maybe there is a bug somewhere in the code :-). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:27, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

:::Thanks for explaining. Why hasn't anyone posted this before? Could "location.hash" possibly have anything to do with the method used to generate the image hash key? Also, why is this code so difficult to follow (Obfuscation?)? So many questions... Sorry if this is just a huge waste of ''Time''.

:::: <code>location</code> is the URI of the page. <code>location.hash</code> is the part of the uri after the ''#'' character. If you go to [https://xkcd.com/1190/#verbose https://xkcd.com/1190/#verbose], you'll see some debugging output in your browser's debugging console (Firefox: Web Console or Firebug, Chrome: Development Tools). But nothing to decode the algorithm... :-( --[[Special:Contributions/83.243.48.2|83.243.48.2]] 10:01, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

::::: Well, I don't know what's doing it, but there's definitely some script (probably this script) that's refreshing the image automatically. I left the comic open for an hour or so and noticed the image had changed. I refreshed with #verbose in Chrome right before the 30 minute mark and got the following in the console.
<pre>
connecting to event source: http://c0.xkcd.com/stream/comic/time?method=EventSource time07.min.js:1
s {type: "comic/time", data: "{"spread":5,"image":"832a7f13ca0fadc46e93475bb617d78211e32c81c3af0e289a51f8f149707759.png"}", lastEventId: "e2992bf0-9557-11e2-8001-1c6f659cb250"} time07.min.js:1
waiting 0 seconds before displaying comic 832a7f13ca0fadc46e93475bb617d78211e32c81c3af0e289a51f8f149707759.png time07.min.js:1
Resource interpreted as Image but transferred with MIME type application/octet-stream: "http://xkcd.com/events/connect_start". time07.min.js:1
s {type: "comic/time", data: "{"spread":5,"image":"847265673986f085460bf1a95b96f7171bcd9a4f1f0a598b2188307d03bcfaa3.png"}", lastEventId: "79580fe8-9558-11e2-8001-1c6f659cb250"} time07.min.js:1
waiting 4 seconds before displaying comic 847265673986f085460bf1a95b96f7171bcd9a4f1f0a598b2188307d03bcfaa3.png time07.min.js:1
connection error i {type: "error"} time07.min.js:1
Resource interpreted as Image but transferred with MIME type application/octet-stream: "http://xkcd.com/events/connect_error".
</pre>
::::: The script seems to poll the server every minute or two. It's different from before, where the image server itself redirected to the correct image. The auto refresh was probably always intended, but not quite ready when the comic went live. It may have turned out to be necessary too, so the image server doesn't have to do all the work. [[Special:Contributions/129.21.119.153|129.21.119.153]] 14:45, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

== Before obfuscation... ==
<pre>
(function (global) {
"use strict";

function Map() {
this.data = {}
}
function EventTarget() {
this.listeners = new Map
}
function throwError(e) {
setTimeout(function () {
throw e
}, 0)
}
function Event(type) {
this.type = type
}
function MessageEvent(type, options) {
Event.call(this, type), this.data = options.data, this.lastEventId = options.lastEventId
}
function getDuration(value, def) {
var n = Number(value);
return (n < 1 ? 1 : n > 18e6 ? 18e6 : n) || def
}
function fire(that, property, event) {
try {
typeof that[property] == "function" && that[property](event)
} catch (e) {
throwError(e)
}
}
function EventSource(url, options) {
function close() {
currentState = CLOSED, xhr !== null && (xhr.abort(), xhr = null), timeout !== 0 && (clearTimeout(timeout), timeout = 0), that.readyState = CLOSED
}
function onProgress(isLoadEnd) {
var responseText = currentState === OPEN || currentState === CONNECTING ? xhr.responseText || "" : "",
event = null;
if (currentState === CONNECTING) {
var contentType = isXHR ? responseText !== "" ? xhr.getResponseHeader("Content-Type") : "" : xhr.contentType;
if (contentType && contentTypeRegExp.test(contentType)) {
currentState = OPEN, wasActivity = !0, retry = initialRetry, that.readyState = OPEN, event = new Event("open"), that.dispatchEvent(event), fire(that, "onopen", event);
if (currentState === CLOSED) return
}
}
if (currentState === OPEN) {
responseText.length > charOffset && (wasAct = !0, wasActivity = !0);
var i = 0,
i1 = responseText.indexOf("\r", charOffset),
i2 = responseText.indexOf("\n", charOffset);
while (i1 !== -1 || i2 !== -1) {
i1 === -1 || i2 !== -1 && i2 < i1 ? (i = i2, i2 = responseText.indexOf("\n", i + 1)) : (i = i1, i1 = responseText.indexOf("\r", i + 1));
var line = responseText.slice(charOffset, i),
oldWasCR = wasCR;
wasCR = responseText.slice(i, i + 1) === "\r", charOffset = i + 1;
if (!oldWasCR || line.length !== 0 || wasCR) {
responseBuffer.push(line);
var field = responseBuffer.join("");
responseBuffer.length = 0;
if (field !== "") {
var value = "",
j = field.indexOf(":", 0);
j !== -1 && (value = field.slice(j + (field.slice(j + 1, j + 2) === " " ? 2 : 1)), field = field.slice(0, j)), field === "data" ? dataBuffer.push(value) : field === "id" ? lastEventIdBuffer = value : field === "event" ? eventTypeBuffer = value : field === "retry" ? (initialRetry = getDuration(value, initialRetry), retry = initialRetry, retryLimit < initialRetry && (retryLimit = initialRetry)) : field === "retryLimit" ? retryLimit = getDuration(value, retryLimit) : field === "heartbeatTimeout" && (heartbeatTimeout = getDuration(value, heartbeatTimeout), timeout !== 0 && (clearTimeout(timeout), timeout = setTimeout(onTimeout, heartbeatTimeout)))
} else {
if (dataBuffer.length !== 0) {
lastEventId = lastEventIdBuffer;
var type = eventTypeBuffer || "message";
event = new MessageEvent(type, {
data: dataBuffer.join("\n"),
lastEventId: lastEventIdBuffer
}), that.dispatchEvent(event), type === "message" && fire(that, "onmessage", event);
if (currentState === CLOSED) return
}
dataBuffer.length = 0, eventTypeBuffer = ""
}
}
}
charOffset !== responseText.length && (responseBuffer.push(responseText.slice(charOffset)), charOffset = responseText.length)
}
wasAct && progressTimeout === 0 && (wasAct = !1, progressTimeout = setTimeout(p, 80)), currentState !== OPEN && currentState !== CONNECTING || !(isLoadEnd || charOffset > 1048576 || timeout === 0 && !wasActivity) ? timeout === 0 && (wasActivity = !1, timeout = setTimeout(onTimeout, heartbeatTimeout)) : (currentState = WAITING, xhr.abort(), timeout !== 0 && (clearTimeout(timeout), timeout = 0), retry > retryLimit && (retry = retryLimit), timeout = setTimeout(onTimeout, retry), retry = retry * 2 + 1, that.readyState = CONNECTING, event = new Event("error"), that.dispatchEvent(event), fire(that, "onerror", event))
}
function p() {
progressTimeout = 0, onProgress(!1)
}
function onProgress2() {
onProgress(!1)
}
function onLoadEnd() {
onProgress(!0)
}
function onTimeout() {
timeout = 0;
if (currentState !== WAITING) {
onProgress(!1);
return
}
if (navigator.onLine === !1) {
timeout = setTimeout(onTimeout, 500);
return
}
if (webkitBefore535 && global.document && (global.document.readyState === "loading" || global.document.readyState === "interactive")) {
timeout = setTimeout(onTimeout, 100);
return
}
xhr.onload = xhr.onerror = onLoadEnd, xhr.mozAnon === undefined ? xhr.onprogress = onProgress2 : xhr.onreadystatechange = onProgress2, wasActivity = !1, timeout = setTimeout(onTimeout, heartbeatTimeout), charOffset = 0, currentState = CONNECTING, dataBuffer.length = 0, eventTypeBuffer = "", lastEventIdBuffer = lastEventId, responseBuffer.length = 0, wasCR = !1, xhr.open("GET", url + ((url.indexOf("?", 0) === -1 ? "?" : "&") + "lastEventId=" + encodeURIComponent(lastEventId) + "&r=" + String(Math.random() + 1).slice(2)), !0), xhr.withCredentials = withCredentials, xhr.responseType = "text", isXHR && xhr.setRequestHeader("Accept", "text/event-stream"), xhr.send(null)
}
url = String(url);
var withCredentials = Boolean(xhr2 && options && options.withCredentials),
initialRetry = getDuration(options ? options.retry : NaN, 1e3),
retryLimit = getDuration(options ? options.retryLimit : NaN, 3e5),
heartbeatTimeout = getDuration(options ? options.heartbeatTimeout : NaN, 45e3),
lastEventId = options && options.lastEventId && String(options.lastEventId) || "",
that = this,
retry = initialRetry,
wasActivity = !1,
xhr = new Transport,
timeout = 0,
charOffset = 0,
currentState = WAITING,
dataBuffer = [],
lastEventIdBuffer = "",
eventTypeBuffer = "",
responseBuffer = [],
wasCR = !1,
progressTimeout = 0,
wasAct = !1;
options = null, EventTarget.call(this), this.close = close, this.url = url, this.readyState = CONNECTING, this.withCredentials = withCredentials, onTimeout()
}
function F() {
this.CONNECTING = CONNECTING, this.OPEN = OPEN, this.CLOSED = CLOSED
}
Map.prototype = {
get: function (key) {
return this.data[key + "~"]
},
set: function (key, value) {
this.data[key + "~"] = value
},
"delete": function (key) {
delete this.data[key + "~"]
}
}, EventTarget.prototype = {
dispatchEvent: function (event) {
var type = String(event.type),
listeners = this.listeners,
typeListeners = listeners.get(type);
if (!typeListeners) return;
var length = typeListeners.length,
i = -1;
while (++i < length) {
var listener = typeListeners[i];
try {
listener.call(this, event)
} catch (e) {
throwError(e)
}
}
},
addEventListener: function (type, callback) {
type = String(type);
var listeners = this.listeners,
typeListeners = listeners.get(type);
typeListeners || listeners.set(type, typeListeners = []);
var i = typeListeners.length;
while (--i >= 0) if (typeListeners[i] === callback) return;
typeListeners.push(callback)
},
removeEventListener: function (type, callback) {
type = String(type);
var listeners = this.listeners,
typeListeners = listeners.get(type);
if (!typeListeners) return;
var length = typeListeners.length,
filtered = [],
i = -1;
while (++i < length) typeListeners[i] !== callback && filtered.push(typeListeners[i]);
filtered.length === 0 ? listeners["delete"](type) : listeners.set(type, filtered)
}
}, MessageEvent.prototype = Event.prototype;
var XHR = global.XMLHttpRequest,
XDR = global.XDomainRequest,
xhr2 = Boolean(XHR && (new XHR).withCredentials !== undefined),
isXHR = xhr2,
Transport = xhr2 ? XHR : XDR,
WAITING = -1,
CONNECTING = 0,
OPEN = 1,
CLOSED = 2,
contentTypeRegExp = /^text\/event\-stream;?(\s*charset\=utf\-8)?$/i,
webkitBefore535 = /AppleWebKit\/5([0-2][0-9]|3[0-4])[^\d]/.test(navigator.userAgent);
F.prototype = EventTarget.prototype, EventSource.prototype = new F, F.call(EventSource), Transport && (global.EventSource = EventSource)
})(this),
function () {
function record(name) {
(new Image).src = "http://xkcd.com/events/" + name
}
function log() {
location.hash == "#verbose" && console.log.apply(console, arguments)
}
try {
var esURL = "http://c0.xkcd.com/stream/comic/time?method=EventSource",
source = new EventSource(esURL);
log("connecting to event source:", esURL), source.addEventListener("open", function (ev) {
record("connect_start")
}, !1), source.addEventListener("error", function (ev) {
record("connect_error")
}, !1), source.addEventListener("loadtest", log, !1), source.addEventListener("comic/time", log, !1), source.addEventListener("comic/time", function (ev) {
var data = JSON.parse(ev.data),
img = document.getElementById("comic").getElementsByTagName("img")[0],
delay = Math.round(Math.random() * data.spread);
log("waiting", delay, "seconds before displaying comic", data.image), setTimeout(function () {
img.src = "http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/" + data.image
}, delay * 1e3)
}, !1)
} catch (e) {
record("js_error")
}
}();
</pre>
[[Special:Contributions/79.180.173.88|79.180.173.88]] 09:48, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/426033682a26a0012a6f8e0c47287af91b7991a852d81c77402c937ffbd650c6.png

http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/1e/f46c6571393bee1ee649a7daae41f6328e63482506aef1e22607d22c47dd7027.png --[[User:Johnsmith|Johnsmith]] ([[User talk:Johnsmith|talk]]) 22:51, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/b/b0/88e3a0c8bba935c669606d9134314f811a0961985f968dd5d329e4695acc67c8.png --[[User:Johnsmith|Johnsmith]] ([[User talk:Johnsmith|talk]]) 23:10, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Is it just me or or did Randall manage to make all of us perform a Denial of Service on xkcd.com, and explainxkcd.com ? xkcd.com seems much slower, and I keep getting "500 Internal server error" when accessing this site (explainxkcd.com). I guess that's the effect of having everybody hit F5 every few minutes :) [[Special:Contributions/193.239.192.194|193.239.192.194]] 11:57, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Earlier today, the server handled all the image redirections. The script you see above went through several mutations (currently at #8), with each mutation it seems that Randall is adding more servers and trying to split the load between them. This is basically how a bot-net works - we all run code written by some evil genius, and he's changing the code as time passes to serve some hidden purpose.
[[Special:Contributions/79.180.173.88|79.180.173.88]] 15:44, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
If he is using us as a botnet, then maybe the next comic will be something alluding to that.
Probably like this: http://xkcd.com/350/

When I saw this comic last night and that there was no explanation up, I thought to myself "How zen." I figured that Randall was going through a calm streak before throwing us the utterly ridiculous April 1st comic. Did it come early, or does he have something even bigger planned for us? [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 07:05, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
:Sorry, did you miss the bit where this comic updates every 30 minutes and all the server error messages being caused by the massive traffic to both the wiki and the main xkcd website? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:08, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
::Well, when I said "last night" and "no explanation", I implied that I wasn't aware of that at the time, which is why I thought what I did. Of course, it is now "now" and there is an explanation, so that should answer your question. Also, since it's not April 1st, and Randall has consistently released something major on that day, the jury is still out, leaving my question quite open (though I was really only asking for opinions). [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 07:20, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

wanted to add an image to the list above, but didn't know at what timestamp to add it, got 69085b480cb82911b19fe8f114909756989eed89b0d227db0f59c1843de7ba24.png at 2013-03-26 09:47 CET (UTC+0100)
/Puggan
:The hours denote the time since the initial release of the comic. The page is still a work in progress, we're going to bring that all into one image file soon. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:13, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

This site should seriously consider cloudflare, it's perfect at times like this and takes minutes to set up. I run all my sites through it and it saves a lot of page huts and bandwidth.
[[Special:Contributions/123.3.136.228|123.3.136.228]]Evan Pyle
:Or at least make the main page a static page that refreshes every so often. I'm guessing that most of the traffic is going to the front page with not as much traffic to the actual comic page [[User:Odysseus654|Odysseus654]] ([[User talk:Odysseus654|talk]]) 15:43, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

Some of the images on the wiki (looks like time38.png through time48.png) are slightly different than what is on the main site. The lines are slightly thicker, as though someone did them based on screen captures.
[[User:Royce|Royce]] ([[User talk:Royce|talk]]) 14:37, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
:Well, at least we have the hashes so they can be re-retrieved, so nothing is really lost, right? Should we add links to the original? [[User:Odysseus654|Odysseus654]] ([[User talk:Odysseus654|talk]]) 15:43, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

:I uploaded two of the "thicker" images and one of the "regular" ones, and I did the same thing for all of them: right-click->save-as. Given that the "thick" ones are all clustered together, I think the files on the xkcd site changed. [[User:Druid816|Druid816]] ([[User talk:Druid816|talk]]) 18:21, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

Story so far: [http://static.odysseus.anderson.name/1190.gif linky] [[User:Odysseus654|Odysseus654]] ([[User talk:Odysseus654|talk]]) 19:30, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

I guess we shall find out in ~10 minutes if Randall is trolling us. [[Special:Contributions/129.138.30.95|129.138.30.95]] 04:20, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

... so that's it?

Did I just miss something or we've all been epically trolled for 48 hours? [[Special:Contributions/189.59.175.92|189.59.175.92]] 04:22, 27 March 2013 (UTC)
:Motherofgod, no, he's *still* going!''' [[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:20, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

What makes you think he's done? [[Special:Contributions/129.138.30.95|129.138.30.95]] 04:25, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

I'm still waiting for the water level to drop precipitously... and then for red spiders to run over everything [[User:Odysseus654|Odysseus654]] ([[User talk:Odysseus654|talk]]) 04:28, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

Well, strip 1191 is up so I assumed it was over. I guess it's not. Until April's Fools maybe? [[Special:Contributions/189.59.175.92|189.59.175.92]] 04:32, 27 March 2013 (UTC)
: It is not over -- the image is still updating, at least it did for me [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]])
:: Yes, it's not over. Last frame shows just a minimal movement of Cueball's head, but no doubt it's still ongoing. [[Special:Contributions/189.59.175.92|189.59.175.92]] 04:49, 27 March 2013 (UTC)
::: Given the fact the strips for the last 2 weeks have been comparatively simple, I expect Randall has been planning this for at least that long. {{unsigned|101.98.156.239}}

Considering the common theme with "today's" strip, anyone wanna guess that he's sending us a hex-encoded file over a really slow modem link, slated to complete April 1? Anyone wanna run "magic" over the hashes and see if they come up with a compression codec or something? [[User:Odysseus654|Odysseus654]] ([[User talk:Odysseus654|talk]]) 04:45, 27 March 2013 (UTC)
:I liked this idea and crunched the hex data for 00:00 to 51:00 into a binary file (http://filebin.ca/bcGyfUvdgBi). Can't see anything resembling a file header, but that doesn't really say much. If this is compressed header-less data there wouldn't likely be any easily discernible patterns. Haven't really tried running the data through anything, zlib was one that came to mind but haven't tried it.

[[Special:Contributions/194.114.62.72|194.114.62.72]] I'm pretty shure it's not the seaside, but a lake - the water level is not changing at all.

Its probably going to loop back on itself, eventually, and repeat this way forever. [[Special:Contributions/113.160.224.209|113.160.224.209]] 07:12, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

For those wondering about the Javascript behind this: I posted my analysis of the Javascript [http://www.echochamber.me/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=101043&start=760#p3303579 on the xkcd forums], and further de-obfuscated and annotated the code over on [https://gist.github.com/cincodenada/5246094 GitHub]. Here's a quick summary though: it holds open a connection to xkcd's servers and listens for instructions and follows them. Those instructions are either "load a new image" or "reload the page". So, you don't have to mash F5, it will automatically update the image when they're available. We have no way to control how fast the images come or when they do, and it's quite possible for them to update forever. --[[User:Fiveofoh|Fiveofoh]] ([[User talk:Fiveofoh|talk]]) 06:41, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

This is a series of animation frames. I suspect they will only ever be shown once (based on the fact you can only get the current image, not previous or future images -- this is in keeping with the title, "Time", which passes and which you can't ever get back]. The filenames are UUIDs too long to guess, so somebody needs to start collecting the filenames here so that a proper flipbook can be assembled. Here's the latest URL: [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/81efa7c4509ac7a329407d9da25d12ec0a3baec50e06588586961575e2d65c2c.png http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/81efa7c4509ac7a329407d9da25d12ec0a3baec50e06588586961575e2d65c2c.png] Go here to collect URLs: [http://c0.xkcd.com/stream/comic/time?method=EventSource http://c0.xkcd.com/stream/comic/time?method=EventSource]
:We've kinda already been doing that. They're the big long filenames next to each timestamp. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:06, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

Oh my god it's game of thrones played out in 2D [[Special:Contributions/123.3.136.228|123.3.136.228]] Evan Pyle

== Create an animation on this page ==
Here's a bit of JavaScript to execute in your browser's JavaScript console. (Cmd+Alt+K on Firefox for Mac, for example.)

/* Collect all frame image URLs */
var images = [];
Array.prototype.slice.call(document.querySelectorAll('a[href*="/time"][href$=".png"]')).forEach(function (a) {
images.push(a.href);
});

/* Create an image in the top-right corner of the screen */
var img = document.body.appendChild(document.createElement('img'));
img.setAttribute('style', 'position: fixed; top: 1em; right: 1em;');

/* Allow removing the image by clicking */
img.onclick = function () {
img.parentNode.removeChild(img);
};

/* Cycle through the frames */
img.onload = function () {
/* Pause a bit longer for the "Later! Bye!" frame */
var delay = img.i === 51 ? 500 : 100;
setTimeout(function () {
img.src = images[++img.i % images.length];
}, delay);
};

/* Start with the first frame */
img.i = 0;
img.src = images[img.i];

— [http://jan.moesen.nu/ Jan!] [[Special:Contributions/94.23.195.79|94.23.195.79]] 09:22, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

---Thanks for the script!. Ctrl+Shift+J on Windows Chrome [[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 13:11, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

The one for the prior half hour (5AM - 5:30AM EST, 27 March 2013) is located at http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/5450bd39ee84a394467fabcaf92f1a5711c2a4eca24c8bd8a8cec829496e3dd7.png
[[Special:Contributions/141.161.133.106|141.161.133.106]] 09:26, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

And the one for the following half hour is located at http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/c2ea85f1ab92f2f80e9c4655c47f5c7effc0a7da01c8a88493864845855b3be8.png
[[Special:Contributions/141.161.133.106|141.161.133.106]] 09:31, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

Leaving

2013-03-14T20:51:45Z

Shine: Redirected page to 791: Leaving

#REDIRECT [[791: Leaving]]

791

2013-03-14T20:46:48Z

Shine: Redirected page to 791: Leaving

#REDIRECT [[791: Leaving]]

Talk:991: Phantom Menace

2013-03-02T05:37:13Z

Shine:

Episode I is so much maligned that some fans have created their own viewing order:

*IV: A New Hope
*V: The Empire Strikes Back
*II: Attack of the Clones
*III: Revenge of the Sith
*VI: Return of the Jedi

Skipping The Pantom Menace entirely. [http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2011/11/11/the-star-wars-saga-suggested-viewing-order/]

[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:26, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

I like to believe that being in line early is a phantom menace.--[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 05:37, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1180: Virus Venn Diagram

2013-03-02T05:27:28Z

Shine: /* Diagram Type */

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)
: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 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:1167: Star Trek into Darkness

2013-02-01T23:06:38Z

Shine:

There has been a considerable amount of debate as to whether the title of this movie should have a colon in it, which would have appeared as "Star Trek: Into Darkness." They eventually decided against the colon, and I wonder if this comic is poking fun at that debate.[[Special:Contributions/169.234.40.187|169.234.40.187]] 00:49, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I suspect an allusion to movie title spellings that can be seen on moviez sites, torrent sites etc. -- [[Special:Contributions/193.174.118.70|193.174.118.70]] 08:20, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

The Associated Press style manual says to capitalize all prepositions that are four letters or more in titles, e.g. Into, Through, etc. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 09:54, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

This could also have to do with WP's MOS of capitalizing "The first word in a compound preposition (e.g. "Time Out of Mind", "Get Off of My Cloud")".

However, you cannot simply change the title of a page on WP. This requires actually moving the whole page. [[Special:Contributions/84.208.51.23|84.208.51.23]] 14:02, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I think there is a capitalization error in the comic. The second to last 's' should be capitalized in order to match the rest of the pattern in "xX_StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNess_Xx". Unless the author is trying to subtly troll us into arguing about that capitalization... [[User:Sayno2quat|Sayno2quat]] ([[User talk:Sayno2quat|talk]]) 14:31, 30 January 2013 (UTC)
:Non-sense, double consonants should never be capitalized! Unless of course you want to use them for structural purposes, like spacing or framing, obviously.--[[User:Pnariyoshi|Pnariyoshi]] ([[User talk:Pnariyoshi|talk]]) 15:05, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I believe Cueball's comment, "I have a new favorite edit war," is refering to the title text in this comic http://xkcd.com/878 about the great debate of HO vs. H0. [[Special:Contributions/206.39.12.245|206.39.12.245]] 15:23, 30 January 2013 (UTC)Pat

"Magnificient"?

The actual [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Star_Trek_into_Darkness#xkcd_Mention Talk Page] of the Wikipedia article in question has an item about this comic. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 16:32, 30 January 2013 (UTC)
:Oh sweet mother of god. Between that and the spam on this wiki, I think I'll take the spam. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:33, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I spent a good portion of last night reading through Wikipedia's talk pages for that. Worth a good laugh. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 16:56, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Well it obviously should be capitalized. --[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 17:43, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

:I tried to make a point on wikipedia that Wikipedia itself went out of its way to create a "lowercase first letter" template so that iPod and things of that nature could be capitalized the way the producer styled it, but there's really nowhere to point it as all discussions have closed and been ground to a halt. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:50, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

But is it really an edit war? Have they been moving the page bach and forth? --[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 00:18, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I still feel the most retarded of discussions on Wikipedia is for the Hentai article, where a disturbing majority demand pornography. --[[Special:Contributions/59.167.191.93|59.167.191.93]] 08:05, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Just a minor matter of correctness... but shouldn't this page be entitled "1167: Star Trek Into Darkness", with a capital I, you know, since that's the way the movie studio is writing it, even though it doesn't follow MOS? I think someone needs to fix it RIGHT NOW! --boB
:Hey boB, you should fix your username! :P I'm kidding. I think the wiki just follows what is on the xkcd website, which has the lower case "i".--[[User:Pnariyoshi|Pnariyoshi]] ([[User talk:Pnariyoshi|talk]]) 22:45, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I wish the Super Bowl Halftime Show could be that talk page being presented in a dramatic on stage performance. wow. Do you think Ian McKellen is available?--[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 19:29, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

It looks like it's been moved to the capital I. I'd say that it's definitely because xkcd mentioned it. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]]

: https://twitter.com/wikisignpost/statuses/297188486421831680 :-) --[[User:Mormegil|Mormegil]] ([[User talk:Mormegil|talk]]) 07:56, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

I wanna be the guy who has to watch the xkcd website for new Wikipedia-related comics and lock the related article as quickly as possible... [[User:Ilinamorato|Ilinamorato]] ([[User talk:Ilinamorato|talk]]) 15:44, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Perhaps it is worth noting that the argument over whether to include a section about the debate and the following xkcd mention is now growing on the talk page and already has a couple thousand words of debate.

:That reminds me of the time that I was reading my Encyclopedia Britannica and happened across the section on the Titmouse and it mentioned the debate the editors were having on whether to include a joke about {{w|Tufted_Titmouse|Titmice}} and {{w|tit_(bird)|tits}} being cousins of sorts. Oh Wait.... --[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 23:06, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1168: tar

2013-02-01T22:41:49Z

Shine:

I thought the title text would be "tar --help"
[[Special:Contributions/123.202.19.132|123.202.19.132]] 06:59, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

The comic is about the difficulty of the tar program options.

Even if his life depended on it and after years of usage, Bob/Randall could not come up with the right parameters without looking them up. So a situation is shown, where Bob's life depends on coming up with the right parameters:

* It shows an atomic warhead
* It has a user interface, which requests any valid tar command
* If it is not entered on the first try within 10s, the bomb is not disarmed and potentially explodes on the spot

Randall has come up with a situation, where the unix guy Bob can be the hero by knowing tar parameters. This is a pipe dream of a geek; nobody cares IRL, if you know tar parameters on the first try.

It is hilarious, that
* the bomb says in full detail the rules including that you should not cheat and it probably has no means to check whether you cheated. This is no game, but feels like one. In war and love every means is allowed - even cheating; it would also be self-defense for disarming the bomb; Bob and his colleagues are not even considering to cheat.
* the user has root access to the bomb, shown by the bomb as ~#, the tilde is the home directory, the # signifies super-user rights; even if the available programs prevent the bomb from being shutdown or disabled by a nonintended way, normally no root access is given for users of linux devices during normal usage; and disarming the bomb with official rules is normal usage of a bomb; a root prompt should not be necessary, if the bomb software is designed and configured well; possibly the unix prompt is a simulation for entering an answer
* Bob shurely needs more than 10s to come. So the bomb will have announced that questions, which require unix knowledge will follow - or has already asked other Unix questions; perhaps after 10s without entering anything a new question comes up
* this bomb can be disarmed with "common knowledge"

Small notes:
* The screen looks to be really grayscale (esp. the inverted "TEN") - not just because of the comic; it has at least 3 colors (black, white, tar gray); it could be that the "TEN" is updated dynamically and is thus inverted
* The comic is quite black: The screen and the bomb; Randall seldomly uses solid black areas; the bomb is a gloomy topic so it is black like "tar" (pun)

Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 07:24, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

I think there is a visual double pun in this strip: the bomb disarmed by a tar command is a reference to the [[wikipedia:Tar (computing)#Tarbomb|tarbombs]], but it also looks like the [[wikipedia:File:Tsar Bomba Revised.jpg|Tsar Bomb(a)]]. --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 08:24, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: I don’t think it looks like Tsar Bomba. If anything, it is much more similar to [[wikipedia:Fat Man|Fat Man]]. --[[User:Mormegil|Mormegil]] ([[User talk:Mormegil|talk]]) 08:38, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
:: Yeah, but "Fat Man" doesn't sound like "tarbomb". --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 10:48, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

I think another joke is in the fact that you don't know which Unix is running on the bomb so you don't actually know which parameter layout is supported. tar --help for example may or may not be valid since -- is a GNU extension.

tar -bvzx for a tar.bzip2 .... wait... no... argh... I've always just trusted my fingers.. --[[Special:Contributions/59.167.191.93|59.167.191.93]] 10:14, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: Will '''tar -?''' be valid everywhere?. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 19:32, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

tar -lvvb archive.tar.bz
File not found. Sorry, you're dead.
~#
[[Special:Contributions/74.82.68.68|74.82.68.68]] 12:35, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Googling tar commands would definitely take more than 10 seconds, especially considering that Rob did not take his computer. (A smartphone is an option, but...)
Then again, why would "ten" be written in letters instead of numerals? [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 13:28, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

I think the current explantion is missing an important point: the tar commands are not that much difficult. What makes tar complicated is that there are many different implementations. The linux guy knows only gnu tar, but some unices have much different implementations and different commands. "tar --help" is certainly not available on an old hpux, for example. '''That''' make is difficult to type a valid tar command – even more if you don't know the implementation.
[[Special:Contributions/212.222.53.78|212.222.53.78]] 10:26, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: Will '''tar -?''' be valid everywhere?. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 19:32, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

I'm a Windows user, so bear with me. Couldn't he type something like "man tar" to get the proper usage of the "tar" command on this particular system? It's a "man" command, so it shouldn't count as a try towards typing a "tar" command. Of course, maybe the bomb would explode if he entered anything else. [[Special:Contributions/70.31.159.230|70.31.159.230]] 13:46, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

:Yeah, all standard Unix installations should have man installed. But many mini installations don't, so these days Google is the standard backup.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 14:58, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Randall's joke is spot on, as usual. I've been using UNIX for nearly 30 years. Windows User's solution is elegant. Before Google there was the <code>man</code> command. In all seriousness, productivity on a UNIX box can be greatly enhanced simply by keeping good notes. I keep patterns of all sorts of UNIX commands handy so I don't have to look them up. As Wikipedia implies, <code>tar -tf</code> (I prefer <code>-tvf</code>) should be memorized because one quickly learns that one should ''always'' inspect tarballs before unpacking them. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 14:11, 1 February 2013 (UTC)''

One of the reasons that tar is so useful is that it can often do exactly what you want when other, more obvious commands cannot. For instance, recursively copying a directory from one place to another (using "cp") can be tricky when symbolic links are involved, and thus people memorize incantations like "tar cf - . | (cd dest; tar xf -)". As well, it's a standard tool that's guaranteed to be found on every Unix installation (unlike zip/unzip).[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 14:58, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

tar --help. Problem solved. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:21, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: Maybe '''tar -?''' is better?. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 19:32, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

What about "tar xf foo.tar"? I always assume options without dash work everywhere because options they are the original scheme. Of course, foot.tar might be absent, but in my view, the command itself remains valid.
As to the time limit: I imagine a countdown starts when the first key is hit - that leaves little time for "man tar". [[Special:Contributions/46.142.35.251|46.142.35.251]] 16:49, 1 February 2013 (UTC) madd

I think the clock is already counting down. So probably they've discovered the bomb with still some minutes on the display. They call Bob when there is a minute left, He arrives with 25 sec's on the display and 15s later the screendump is made... [[Special:Contributions/86.82.116.63|86.82.116.63]] 22:33, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

: This makes sense. --[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 22:41, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1167: Star Trek into Darkness

2013-01-31T19:29:48Z

Shine:

There has been a considerable amount of debate as to whether the title of this movie should have a colon in it, which would have appeared as "Star Trek: Into Darkness." They eventually decided against the colon, and I wonder if this comic is poking fun at that debate.[[Special:Contributions/169.234.40.187|169.234.40.187]] 00:49, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I suspect an allusion to movie title spellings that can be seen on moviez sites, torrent sites etc. -- [[Special:Contributions/193.174.118.70|193.174.118.70]] 08:20, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

The Associated Press style manual says to capitalize all prepositions that are four letters or more in titles, e.g. Into, Through, etc. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 09:54, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

This could also have to do with WP's MOS of capitalizing "The first word in a compound preposition (e.g. "Time Out of Mind", "Get Off of My Cloud")".

However, you cannot simply change the title of a page on WP. This requires actually moving the whole page. [[Special:Contributions/84.208.51.23|84.208.51.23]] 14:02, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I think there is a capitalization error in the comic. The second to last 's' should be capitalized in order to match the rest of the pattern in "xX_StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNess_Xx". Unless the author is trying to subtly troll us into arguing about that capitalization... [[User:Sayno2quat|Sayno2quat]] ([[User talk:Sayno2quat|talk]]) 14:31, 30 January 2013 (UTC)
:Non-sense, double consonants should never be capitalized! Unless of course you want to use them for structural purposes, like spacing or framing, obviously.--[[User:Pnariyoshi|Pnariyoshi]] ([[User talk:Pnariyoshi|talk]]) 15:05, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I believe Cueball's comment, "I have a new favorite edit war," is refering to the title text in this comic http://xkcd.com/878 about the great debate of HO vs. H0. [[Special:Contributions/206.39.12.245|206.39.12.245]] 15:23, 30 January 2013 (UTC)Pat

"Magnificient"?

The actual [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Star_Trek_into_Darkness#xkcd_Mention Talk Page] of the Wikipedia article in question has an item about this comic. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 16:32, 30 January 2013 (UTC)
:Oh sweet mother of god. Between that and the spam on this wiki, I think I'll take the spam. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:33, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I spent a good portion of last night reading through Wikipedia's talk pages for that. Worth a good laugh. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 16:56, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Well it obviously should be capitalized. --[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 17:43, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

:I tried to make a point on wikipedia that Wikipedia itself went out of its way to create a "lowercase first letter" template so that iPod and things of that nature could be capitalized the way the producer styled it, but there's really nowhere to point it as all discussions have closed and been ground to a halt. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:50, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

But is it really an edit war? Have they been moving the page bach and forth? --[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 00:18, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I still feel the most retarded of discussions on Wikipedia is for the Hentai article, where a disturbing majority demand pornography. --[[Special:Contributions/59.167.191.93|59.167.191.93]] 08:05, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Just a minor matter of correctness... but shouldn't this page be entitled "1167: Star Trek Into Darkness", with a capital I, you know, since that's the way the movie studio is writing it, even though it doesn't follow MOS? I think someone needs to fix it RIGHT NOW! --boB

I wish the Super Bowl Halftime Show could be that talk page being presented in a dramatic on stage performance. wow. Do you think Ian McKellen is available?--[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 19:29, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1167: Star Trek into Darkness

2013-01-30T17:43:37Z

Shine:

I suspect an allusion to movie title spellings that can be seen on moviez sites, torrent sites etc. -- [[Special:Contributions/193.174.118.70|193.174.118.70]] 08:20, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

The Associated Press style manual says to capitalize all prepositions that are four letters or more in titles, e.g. Into, Through, etc. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 09:54, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

This could also have to do with WP's MOS of capitalizing "The first word in a compound preposition (e.g. "Time Out of Mind", "Get Off of My Cloud")".

However, you cannot simply change the title of a page on WP. This requires actually moving the whole page. [[Special:Contributions/84.208.51.23|84.208.51.23]] 14:02, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I think there is a capitalization error in the comic. The second to last 's' should be capitalized in order to match the rest of the pattern in "xX_StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNess_Xx". Unless the author is trying to subtly troll us into arguing about that capitalization... [[User:Sayno2quat|Sayno2quat]] ([[User talk:Sayno2quat|talk]]) 14:31, 30 January 2013 (UTC)
:Non-sense, double consonants should never be capitalized! Unless of course you want to use them for structural purposes, like spacing or framing, obviously.--[[User:Pnariyoshi|Pnariyoshi]] ([[User talk:Pnariyoshi|talk]]) 15:05, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I believe Cueball's comment, "I have a new favorite edit war," is refering to the title text in this comic http://xkcd.com/878 about the great debate of HO vs. H0. [[Special:Contributions/206.39.12.245|206.39.12.245]] 15:23, 30 January 2013 (UTC)Pat

"Magnificient"?

The actual [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Star_Trek_into_Darkness#xkcd_Mention Talk Page] of the Wikipedia article in question has an item about this comic. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 16:32, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I spent a good portion of last night reading through Wikipedia's talk pages for that. Worth a good laugh. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 16:56, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Well it obviously should be capitalized. --[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 17:43, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

1147: Evolving

2012-12-17T15:33:32Z

Shine: /* Explanation */ antibiotics don't produce resistance they merely make resistance beneficial

{{comic
| number = 1147
| date = December 14, 2012
| title = Evolving
| image = evolving.png
| titletext = Biologists play reverse Pokémon, trying to avoid putting any one team member on the front lines long enough for the experience to cause evolution.
}}

==Explanation==
In {{w|Pokémon}}, a highly popular game series, the protagonist goes out in search for the eponymous creatures. Many Pokémon can be found directly in the wild, but there are also a lot of Pokémon that require training and growth, to cause them to "evolve" into new Pokémon. "Evolve", the game's term, is a misnomer which [http://www.cephasministry.com/save_our_children_pokemon_booklet.html earned itself quite some controversy in the past]; in reality, Pokémon "evolution" is more akin to puberty or metamorphosis, since, instead of the entire species of Pokémon acquiring changes throughout an extended period of time, one specific member of the species grows instantly to the "higher stage." At that point in the game, the Pokémon glows before transforming into the new form, then stops glowing, and the very same text ''"What? Xxx is evolving!"'' is used (see [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qUwWAMgy3E this video] or {{w|File:Pokemon evolution.png|those screenshots}} for instance). The changes of such a transformation can be [http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/snorunt quite] [http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/froslass dramatic]... [http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/poliwhirl or] [http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/poliwrath not].

This comic depicts the "evolution" of bacteria as observed by a Biologist in the same format as the game Pokémon. Here we have ''{{w|Staphylococcus aureus}}'', which is not a desirable bacterium (it causes {{w|Staph infection}}s) which evolves into {{w|MRSA|"Methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus''"}}. {{w|Methicillin}} is an anti-biotic. If the bacteria becomes resistant, it means the anti-biotic will not kill the bacteria, and infections become harder to treat. Thus, the observer is not pleased with such an evolution.

The title text references this by suggesting that biologists do NOT want bacteria to evolve in this way, as opposed to Pokémon where you put a Pokémon on the "front lines" as much as possible to gain it experience and hope it evolves. [A point of irony is that Pokémon evolution can be prevented (by using an Everstone) or stopped (by pressing the B button in the game controller during evolution) most of the time, especially if there are [http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/vigoroth Pokémon that someone does not want to evolve].] The bit about the front lines is that, if a bacteria colony is exposed sufficiently to an antibiotic, those bacteria with any level of resistance to the antibiotic are less likely to be killed by the antibiotic, and are able to reproduce in spite of the antibiotic. Most future generations of bacteria now have this level of resistance instead of just a small subset. This makes the likelihood of future more resistant and harder to treat mutations even more likely.

''Staphylococcus aureus'' is a very common bacteria (that under an electron microscope looks like the xkcd drawing) and is the major cause of staph infections (there are other types of staph bacteria), frequently found in the nostrils and skin. Hospitals are often plagued with outbreaks of methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA), which is very difficult to treat as the typical antibiotics do not work on it.

==Transcript==
:[Bacterial cell culture]
:What?
:'''''Staphylococcus aureus''''' is evolving!

:...

:Off-screen: Aww, crap.
:'''''Staphylococcus aureus''''' evolved into '''Methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus!'''''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:1143: Location

2012-12-07T21:24:50Z

Shine:

I thought the words "like" and "hang out" were references to facebook's "like" and google's "hang out". What do the native speakers think? {{unsigned|213.252.171.254|07:56, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

: Not in this case- here they're just being used as the everyday terms that facebook and google co-opted. {{unsigned|140.247.0.10|08:12, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

:: I agree. {{unsigned|122.60.40.91|09:28, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

: Native speaker here: there doesn't seem to be anything distinctive about the use of 'like' and 'hang out' in this comic to indicate they might be references. {{unsigned|170.194.32.42|10:33, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

:: The words aren't out of place otherwise, so it just might be a (big) coincidence. I still find it likely to be true. [[Special:Contributions/207.237.164.241|207.237.164.241]] 11:18, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

: Another native speaker here. You typically would not "hang out" – in real life – with people you don't "like" – as in you like your friends. There's nothing in the comic to make me think there's any connection with Facebook or Google+. [[Special:Contributions/24.41.5.167|24.41.5.167]] 11:44, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

: This native speaker agrees. The dialog is ordinary informal American English. That's why facebook and Google hijacked the words. Facebook and Google want to be seen as informal and idiomatic institutions. {{unsigned|174.125.142.147|15:25, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

::They'll be very disappointed when they discover that he just decorated the bushes around his house with green LED lights for Christmas. --Geoff [[Special:Contributions/128.156.10.80|128.156.10.80]] 19:22, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

No explanation for the space noises? [[User:Max Nanasy|Max Nanasy]] ([[User talk:Max Nanasy|talk]]) 21:28, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

: The game literally makes space noises. Like... ''whooosshhshhhssshhoooooshhh.'' Things like that. [[Special:Contributions/138.110.225.187|138.110.225.187]] 22:30, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

::Thank you for that. I had no idea what was being referenced, serves me right for not reading the title text. (This is not sarcasm, it sounded like it was when I read it to myself, so I'm adding this disclaimer) [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 22:33, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

:: But "space noises" is an oxymoron. In space, you can't hear noise. (Oh... you mean bad-sci-fi-movie noises...) [[Special:Contributions/207.225.239.130|207.225.239.130]] 19:16, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

::Another Google closed beta – you get to play by invite only. Meh [[Special:Contributions/24.41.5.167|24.41.5.167]] 23:53, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

I'm trying to find a game that I played on the computer about 2 years ago. I remember that you could see the entire play area the entire time. It was timed. The object was to get to a hole (maybe blue in color) to end the level. There were blocks that often blocked your path, which you needed to push out of your way or more often use them to make bridges to cross water. Some of the levels were very much a timing game where you needed to quickly move a block through a winding path(up, down, left, right only)to avoid being caught by, I believe, moving blocks.The closest screen shot that I've found is Chips Challenge, which is not the game that I played previously. I remember there were many levels, probably between 50 and 100. Ideas?[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 15:33, 6 December 2012 (UTC) RESOLVED : game was called Silversphere[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 21:24, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

: RE: Shine. The game was called Rodent's Revenge. Phenomenal Times, Shine, Phenomenal Times. Glad you reminded me about it!
:::Not the game I was thinking of, but fun game too. No animals of any kind in the game that I'm trying to find [[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 17:13, 7 December 2012 (UTC)
:OK got it. It was called Silversphere. [[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 21:24, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1143: Location

2012-12-07T17:13:40Z

Shine:

I thought the words "like" and "hang out" were references to facebook's "like" and google's "hang out". What do the native speakers think? {{unsigned|213.252.171.254|07:56, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

: Not in this case- here they're just being used as the everyday terms that facebook and google co-opted. {{unsigned|140.247.0.10|08:12, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

:: I agree. {{unsigned|122.60.40.91|09:28, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

: Native speaker here: there doesn't seem to be anything distinctive about the use of 'like' and 'hang out' in this comic to indicate they might be references. {{unsigned|170.194.32.42|10:33, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

:: The words aren't out of place otherwise, so it just might be a (big) coincidence. I still find it likely to be true. [[Special:Contributions/207.237.164.241|207.237.164.241]] 11:18, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

: Another native speaker here. You typically would not "hang out" – in real life – with people you don't "like" – as in you like your friends. There's nothing in the comic to make me think there's any connection with Facebook or Google+. [[Special:Contributions/24.41.5.167|24.41.5.167]] 11:44, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

: This native speaker agrees. The dialog is ordinary informal American English. That's why facebook and Google hijacked the words. Facebook and Google want to be seen as informal and idiomatic institutions. {{unsigned|174.125.142.147|15:25, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

::They'll be very disappointed when they discover that he just decorated the bushes around his house with green LED lights for Christmas. --Geoff [[Special:Contributions/128.156.10.80|128.156.10.80]] 19:22, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

No explanation for the space noises? [[User:Max Nanasy|Max Nanasy]] ([[User talk:Max Nanasy|talk]]) 21:28, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

: The game literally makes space noises. Like... ''whooosshhshhhssshhoooooshhh.'' Things like that. [[Special:Contributions/138.110.225.187|138.110.225.187]] 22:30, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

::Thank you for that. I had no idea what was being referenced, serves me right for not reading the title text. (This is not sarcasm, it sounded like it was when I read it to myself, so I'm adding this disclaimer) [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 22:33, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

:: But "space noises" is an oxymoron. In space, you can't hear noise. (Oh... you mean bad-sci-fi-movie noises...) [[Special:Contributions/207.225.239.130|207.225.239.130]] 19:16, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

::Another Google closed beta – you get to play by invite only. Meh [[Special:Contributions/24.41.5.167|24.41.5.167]] 23:53, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

I'm trying to find a game that I played on the computer about 2 years ago. I remember that you could see the entire play area the entire time. It was timed. The object was to get to a hole (maybe blue in color) to end the level. There were blocks that often blocked your path, which you needed to push out of your way or more often use them to make bridges to cross water. Some of the levels were very much a timing game where you needed to quickly move a block through a winding path(up, down, left, right only)to avoid being caught by, I believe, moving blocks.The closest screen shot that I've found is Chips Challenge, which is not the game that I played previously. I remember there were many levels, probably between 50 and 100. Ideas?[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 15:33, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

: RE: Shine. The game was called Rodent's Revenge. Phenomenal Times, Shine, Phenomenal Times. Glad you reminded me about it!
:::Not the game I was thinking of, but fun game too. No animals of any kind in the game that I'm trying to find [[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 17:13, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1143: Location

2012-12-06T15:33:54Z

Shine:

I thought the words "like" and "hang out" were references to facebook's "like" and google's "hang out". What do the native speakers think? {{unsigned|213.252.171.254|07:56, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

: Not in this case- here they're just being used as the everyday terms that facebook and google co-opted. {{unsigned|140.247.0.10|08:12, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

:: I agree. {{unsigned|122.60.40.91|09:28, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

: Native speaker here: there doesn't seem to be anything distinctive about the use of 'like' and 'hang out' in this comic to indicate they might be references. {{unsigned|170.194.32.42|10:33, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

:: The words aren't out of place otherwise, so it just might be a (big) coincidence. I still find it likely to be true. [[Special:Contributions/207.237.164.241|207.237.164.241]] 11:18, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

: Another native speaker here. You typically would not "hang out" – in real life – with people you don't "like" – as in you like your friends. There's nothing in the comic to make me think there's any connection with Facebook or Google+. [[Special:Contributions/24.41.5.167|24.41.5.167]] 11:44, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

: This native speaker agrees. The dialog is ordinary informal American English. That's why facebook and Google hijacked the words. Facebook and Google want to be seen as informal and idiomatic institutions. {{unsigned|174.125.142.147|15:25, 5 December 2012 (UTC)}}

::They'll be very disappointed when they discover that he just decorated the bushes around his house with green LED lights for Christmas. --Geoff [[Special:Contributions/128.156.10.80|128.156.10.80]] 19:22, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

No explanation for the space noises? [[User:Max Nanasy|Max Nanasy]] ([[User talk:Max Nanasy|talk]]) 21:28, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

: The game literally makes space noises. Like... ''whooosshhshhhssshhoooooshhh.'' Things like that. [[Special:Contributions/138.110.225.187|138.110.225.187]] 22:30, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

::Thank you for that. I had no idea what was being referenced, serves me right for not reading the title text. (This is not sarcasm, it sounded like it was when I read it to myself, so I'm adding this disclaimer) [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 22:33, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

::Another Google closed beta – you get to play by invite only. Meh [[Special:Contributions/24.41.5.167|24.41.5.167]] 23:53, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

I'm trying to find a game that I played on the computer about 2 years ago. I remember that you could see the entire play area the entire time. It was timed. The object was to get to a hole (maybe blue in color) to end the level. There were blocks that often blocked your path, which you needed to push out of your way or more often use them to make bridges to cross water. Some of the levels were very much a timing game where you needed to quickly move a block through a winding path(up, down, left, right only)to avoid being caught by, I believe, moving blocks.The closest screen shot that I've found is Chips Challenge, which is not the game that I played previously. I remember there were many levels, probably between 50 and 100. Ideas?[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 15:33, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1141: Two Years

2012-11-30T20:50:28Z

Shine:

There are no words to convey how awesome you guys are. Thank you.

Also, great Portal reference.

[[Special:Contributions/81.32.87.159|81.32.87.159]] 07:30, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

Like. [[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 12:29, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

Flip cancer. Lost my mother-in-law to it and now my dad is undergoing chemo for stage IV lung cancer.
:Seconded. This strip hits close to home, even years after the fact. And given that of my parents and grandparents only one grandmother was not yet diagnosed with any type of cancer, both frequentist and Bayesian statisticians probably agree I should be cautious myself. [[Special:Contributions/46.142.57.253|46.142.57.253]] 20:01, 30 November 2012 (UTC) madd

Did anyone else think the second to last panel was a couple who were sitting close to ground zero of a nuclear bomb? It took several glances to finally see a tree instead of a mushroom cloud. [[User:Sayno2quat|Sayno2quat]] ([[User talk:Sayno2quat|talk]]) 15:35, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

:When I first saw that panel from my peripheral vision, I also thought it was a mushroom cloud.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 17:46, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

:Now that you mention it - on my monitor, before scrolling, I only swa the upper half of what looked indeed like a mushroom cloud. [[Special:Contributions/46.142.57.253|46.142.57.253]] 19:45, 30 November 2012 (UTC) madd

The language of referring to Randall's girlfriend as "wife" before they were married is awkward.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 17:47, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

Panel 3 is possible reference/inspiration for comic [[1024: Error Code]]--[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 18:56, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

:Given what we know from Randall's past two years, I would rather infer that comic 1024 was inspired by one of these activities as seen in panels 3 and 8. [[Special:Contributions/46.142.57.253|46.142.57.253]] 19:43, 30 November 2012 (UTC) madd

::I was leaning towards the trip in panel 3 inspiring comic 1024 rather than referencing it as well. [[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 20:50, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1141: Two Years

2012-11-30T18:56:45Z

Shine:

713: GeoIP

2012-11-16T01:03:13Z

Shine: ISS

{{comic
| number = 713
| date = March 12, 2010
| title = GeoIP
| image = geoip.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = 'Meet hot young singles in your mom's basement today'? Man, screw you, GeoIP.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Geolocation|GeoIP}} is a service that converts IP addresses to their respective location on the earth. This is done by looking up the IP address in a database maintained by various Internet Service providers. Advertisers often take advantage of the {{w|Keeping up with the Joneses|Joneses effect}} by creating localized ads based on your location. These ads are often highly misleading since the images are often stock photographs with the nearest town superimposed on it.

This is the case with the comic. The {{w|International Space Station}} presumably has a public-facing IP address, which is geolocated to "Low Earth Orbit". [[Cueball]] trolls the advertisers by saying that there are "local girls" in the ISS. Since all members of the ISS know each other, Cueball underlines the flaw in GeoIP-based advertising.

The title text refers to how specific GeoIP can get. However, knowing that someone is in their mom's basement is hyperbole.

==Transcript==
[External view of a satellite orbiting Earth. Dialog comes from within.]
Cueball: Yes!
Ponytail: What?
Cueball: I got our downlink into a GeoIP database.

[Internal view of the satellite, Cueball and Ponytail are floating about, Cueball is at a computer mounted to the wall.]
Ponytail: Why?
Cueball: To mess with our advertisers. Check it out.

[An ad reads "Meet local girls in Low Earth Orbit tonight!" and has two photos of girls in sexy poses, one captioned "Tanya, 18" and the other "Amber, 19". Below them is a button that reads "CHAT LIVE".]

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

988: Tradition

2012-11-16T00:49:36Z

Shine: troops

{{comic
| number = 988
| date = December 9, 2011
| title = Tradition
| image = tradition.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = An 'American tradition' is anything that happened to a baby boomer twice.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic uses the source of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers to say that the 20 most played Christmas songs in the US between 2000 and 2009 were all released between the 1930s and 1970s. It would be interesting to see this research, because the most popular Christmas album of all time was not released until 1994, "{{w|Merry Christmas (Mariah Carey album)|Merry Christmas}}" by {{w|Mariah Carey}}. This album featured what is considered to be the most ubiquitous song around this time of the year which is "All I Want For Christmas Is You" which is also featured prominently in the very popular (and frequently replayed) movie {{w|Love Actually}} from 2003. The song is the only holiday song and ringtone to reach multi-platinum status in the U.S. So, usually the information that Randall presents to us doesn't immediately present itself as egregiously incorrect, but this one just seems to not factor in the popular success of a mid-90s release.

This comic may not be referring to what recording is most popular, but may be speaking of when the song was first written and performed.

The {{w|Post–World War II baby boom|Baby Boomers}} were born in a period of time after {{w|World War II|the second world war}} after the troops came home and, thankful for their lives, went on to produce lots of children.

({{w|Christmas}} is December 25th, for any Americans who have been living under a rock for the past 2 weeks or so and don't own a TV and are somehow able to escape the crushing commercialism of the Christmas season. And "this time of the year" is apparently considered Christmas time despite the fact that not everyone celebrates Christmas in the US and in the world).

The data appears to come from [http://www.ascap.com/press/2009/1123_holidays_songs.aspx here]. An ASCAP survey conducted in 2009.

==Transcript==
The 20 most-played Christmas songs (2000-2009 radio airplay) by decade of popular release

[A bar chart labeled on the X-axis with the decades "1900s" through "2000s" labeled. Each bar has, as one unit, a labeled song.

"1900s", "1910s", "1920s", "1980s", "1990s", and "2000s" are empty.

"1930s" has "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

"1940s" has "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Winter Wonderland", "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire", "Let it Snow", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "I'll be Home for Christmas", and "White Christmas".

"1950s" has "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", "Jingle Bell Rock", "Blue Christmas", "Little Drummer Boy", "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", "Silver Bells", "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", "Sleigh Ride", and "Frosty the Snowman"

"1960s" has "Holly Jolly Christmas" and "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"

"1970s" has "Feliz Navidad"]

Every year, American culture embarks on a massive project to carefully recreate the Christmases of Baby Boomers' childhoods.

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

214: The Problem with Wikipedia

2012-11-15T00:49:59Z

Shine: /* Explanation */ path for batman

{{comic
| number = 214
| date = 2007-01-24
| title = The Problem with Wikipedia
| image = the_problem_with_wikipedia.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = 'Taft in a wet t-shirt contest' is the key image here.
}}

== Explanation ==
This comic illustrates the "problems" of {{w|information explosion|information abundance}} coupled with a dense web of {{w|hypertext}} links. Through most of human history, written media has been both slow and linear. Hypertext allows a new type of information consumption, through small chunks of information linked together in a web of related concepts, and by being digital, each new chunk can be retrieved quickly and effortlessly. Wikipedia applies this principle very strongly, and because it covers so many topics, it is common for a reader to skim an article about a topic they need or want to know about, and end up following a series of links out of curiosity. Since each new page also has several links, the overall navigation pattern resembles a tree that branches out, "exploding" in size with each new level of link-clicking, thus resulting in many wasted hours (three in this case) of reading stuff unrelated to the original goal, and lots of open browser tabs holding a wide variety of articles, which are seemingly unrelated, but have common "ancestors".

All of the articles at the bottom do exist on Wikipedia, although "Fatal Hilarity" has been renamed to {{w|Death from laughter}} and is not linked from Batman. Whether each of these articles can be reached from {{w|Tacoma Narrows Bridge}} is unknown and would make interesting challenges in {{w|Wikipedia:Wiki Game|the Wikipedia game}}.

Path for Batman: Tacoma Narrows Bridge --> Suspension Bridge --> Tower --> Scotland --> Wolf --> Mammal --> Hog-nosed bat --> Bat --> Batman

The title text refers to two of the articles that were supposedly reached at the bottom. {{w|William Howard Taft}} was the 27th President of the U.S., in office from 1909 to 1913, who was notorious for being so overweight that he became stuck in the White House bathtub. A {{w|wet T-shirt contest}} "is an exhibitionistic competition typically featuring young women contestants at a nightclub, bar, or resort." Clearly the combination of these two would be rather bizarre.

This comic is very similar to [[609: Tab Explosion]], which refers to a similar effect caused by another reference site, [http://www.tvtropes.org TVTropes].

== Transcript ==
The Problem With Wikipedia:

{{w|Tacoma Narrows Bridge}}

[Lines Lead to] {{w|Suspension Bridge}} [and] {{w|Structural collapse}}

Three Hours of Fascinated Clicking Later

{{w|William Howard Taft}}

{{w|24-Hour Analog Dial}}

{{w|Lesbianism in Erotica}}

{{w|Batman}} [leads to] {{w|Fatal Hilarity}}

{{w|Taylor Hanson}}

{{w|Cotton}} [leads to] {{w|T-Shirt}} [leads to] {{w|Wet T-Shirt Contest}}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

1116: Traffic Lights

2012-10-04T18:41:41Z

Shine: added length of gif

{{comic
| number = 1116
| date = October 3, 2012
| title = Traffic Lights
| image = traffic_lights.gif
| imagesize =
| titletext = There's an intersection I drive through sometimes that has a forward green arrow, a red light, and a 'no turns' sign all on one pole. I honestly have no idea what it's telling me to do.
}}

==Explanation==
This comics is an animated gif which features an array of {{w|traffic light}}s which are lighted signals posted at intersections to control vehicular traffic. The standard North American traffic light has three solid lights: red, yellow and green (meaning, in simplistic terms, "stop", "stop if you can, the light will be red shortly" and "go" respectively). More complicated lights sometimes have additional signals such as arrows indicating go or stop for a specific direction such as left or right turns.

However, as in the strip, sometimes an intersection has multiple lights with certain of them designated to apply solely to a specific lane or specific direction of travel. A common one is a left-turn light that allows the lights to stop or allow left-turn traffic independent of the rest of the traffic. Another common example is a light that applys only to transit like streetcars which run on tracks on the city streets.

There are also other rules and features that tend to be unique to different localities as noted in The Wikipedia article for {{w|Traffic-light signalling and operation}}.

In this comic, [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] is commenting on the confusion that can be caused by having too many lights with multiple rules attached by creating an over-exaggerated example.

In this strip, the right-hand light has a sign indicating that the light and the right-hand lane are for ''left'' turners, while the 3rd-from-left is a straight or ''right'' turn lane and the 2nd from left is ''right'' turn only. In normal course, right turns would be permitted from the right-hand lane and left turns from the lefthand lanes. The system in this comic would have turning traffic crossing each other, as well as the straight-ahead traffic and would cause chaos (and require very complicated traffic light phases to control). The left-most light on the post has a sign indicating that left, right and straight travel are all prohibited, which is even more confusing.

The comic, as an animated gif, cycles through various phases, at first appearing somewhat normal, but then adding unusual phases. The animated gif takes about 90 seconds to cycle through the 32 discrete panels before repeating. The left-hand post light has (unusually) left ''and'' right arrows, later becoming up and down arrows. At times the light completely shuts off, and at other times, has conflicting signals.

The third-from-left light has red ''and'' yellow, and later all three lights come on at the same time, then all three lights go yellow, and then reverse with green at top and red at bottom. The bottom light then becomes an arrow.

The fourth-from-left traffic light switches from a green light to a purple light at times.

The right-hand light has a red middle light at times.

The second-from-left light and second-from-right lights do not appear to have any quirks other than changing phases in unusual patterns.

==Frame by frame breakdown==
The following is a breakdown of all of the frames of the animated gif comic.

[[File:traffic_lights_list.png]]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Out of the Ordinary]]

Talk:724: Hell

2012-09-22T18:20:11Z

Shine: lest make a game out of this

*That playable version is actually quite fun. My best was 22 pieces on the screen.
[[File:22_pieces.png]]
[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 18:20, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

Talk:1109: Refrigerator

2012-09-18T02:00:01Z

Shine:

I would argue that this is also a reference to {{w|The Incredible Machine}} and friends, where many levels revolve around conveyor belts and things on top of them that stir certain actions. [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 10:46, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

The main problem with this design is that the bad food needs to land softly otherwise it could splash\spatter over the good food. [[User:SaintGerbil|SaintGerbil]]([[User talk:User:SaintGerbil|talk]]) 12:17, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

I thought an alternative design for the fridge could be to have the middle conveyor belt attached to the right, leaving a gap on its left and obviously it would move toward the left. This way we could put food on the topmost belt on its left side and the food would travel along that belt then drop onto the middle one, then travel to the bottom belt and finally fall into the BAD bin. Of course we'd have to relabel all belts accordingly. [[User:DelendaEst|DelendaEst]] ([[User talk:DelendaEst|talk]]) 12:27, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Most of the stuff I find gone bad is in the bottom two drawers where it has become forgotten, like a half bag of lettuce.--[[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 14:19, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Sorry Randall: so much for brilliant... there's a bug in your design. Look at the top rack in the door. There is a chute that would prevent food from falling past when the door is closed. It would need to be rotated 90 anticlockwise in order to work. [[Special:Contributions/207.225.239.130|207.225.239.130]] 21:30, 17 September 2012 (UTC)
*I see a space -[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 02:00, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

The General Problem

2012-09-13T21:43:36Z

Shine: created redirect to 974: The general problem

#REDIRECT [[974:_The_General_Problem]]

974

2012-09-13T21:42:05Z

Shine: created redirect to 974

#REDIRECT [[974:_The_General_Problem]]

974: The General Problem

2012-09-13T21:40:39Z

Shine: created pate with explanation

{{comic
| number = 974
| date = November 07, 2011
| title = The General Problem
| image = the_general_problem.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = I find that when someone's taking time to do something right in the present, they're a perfectionist with no ability to prioritize, whereas when someone took time to do something right in the past, they're a master artisan of great foresight.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic features [[Cueball]] sitting down to a meal and requesting that an off screen person pass him the salt. The off screen person (OSP) then proceeds to solve the problem...generally. Cueball's implied/specific request was "Can and will you pass me the salt immediately?" However the OSP begins to solve the salt problem generally, without regard for time, context, the {{w|specific heat}} of the meal, or what some would call {{w|common sense}}. For the next 20 minutes, while Cueball nibbles at his bland, cooling meal, the OSP works on a device that will pass {{w|condiments}} more quickly than possible by the OSP. The problem, obviously, is that building then using the machine is much slower than just manually passing the salt. This is why in the title-text [[Randall]] states that when someone uses a lot of time to do an easy task when the task is needed to be done quickly he considers them a perfectionist (since they are unable to do something inefficiently even if it satisfies the other person) with no ability to prioritize. Yet if the "perfectionist" were to have completed this machine previously, he would be impressed when the creation passed him the salt. The OSPs argument for taking so much time is that in the end if he were to add up all the time he saved by no longer needing to pass condiments it will equal more time than it took to build the machine, and thus in the long term he will have saved time and solved the general problem of passing condiments.

This situation would be akin to a major website performing maintenance during peak hours instead of waiting till traffic was lower. From the perspective of the person trying to check their email, the upgrade would seem ill-timed and unnecessary. However if the person were to instead log in not till the following day, he would think the upgrade was masterful and full of great insight.

==Transcript==

:[A person sits at a table, eating a meal.]
:Person: Can you pass the salt?

:[The person pauses, a bite of food on his fork, silently.]

:[The person still has fork in mid-air.]
:Person: I said--
:Off-screen Person: I know! I'm developing a system to pass you arbitrary condiments.
:Person: It's been 20 minutes!
:OSP: It'll save time in the long run!

{{comic discussion}}

481: Listen to Yourself

2012-09-13T00:18:57Z

Shine: changed 0481 to 481 so link to xkcd would work

{{comic
| number = 481
| date = September 26, 2008
| title = Listen to Yourself
| image = listen_to_yourself.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Man, I just wanted to know how babby was formed.
}}

==Explanation==

Here [[Black Hat]] asks [[Megan]] what she is doing; to which she replies that she is making a computer virus that can infect Youtube users’ computers. {{w|Youtube}} is a website for video sharing where anyone can upload and view videos. The purpose of the virus, as alluded to by the title, is to convert the comments created by Youtube users to audio before they submit the post to the site. The idea is that upon hearing their own ridiculous comments read aloud to them, they will realize the stupidity of it and not submit the comment.

Youtube is notorious for having some of the most ridiculous, hateful, mean-spirited, nonsensical comments of any mainstream website.

The image text is in reference to a post left on the Yahoo! Answers website in 2006 by a submitter known as “kavya,” who asks “how is babby formed / how girl get pragnent.” The post picked up internet popularity and spawned several flash animations.

{{Comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]

552: Correlation

2012-09-13T00:18:05Z

Shine: changed 0552 to 552 so link to xkcd would work

{{comic
| number = 552
| date = March 6, 2009
| title = Correlation
| image = Correlation.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Correlation doesn't imply causation, but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing 'look over there'.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic focuses on the difficulty of many people to grasp the difference between {{w|correlation}} and {{w|causality|causation}}. When two variables (like death and age) are highly correlated, many often make the assumption that one is leading to the other. However, this is not always the case. Take for example a scenario where the number of people carrying umbrellas and the likelihood of rain are highly correlated. Here it would seem ridiculous to believe that carrying an umbrella makes it more likely to rain. This is because when two variables are correlated it does not provide evidence that one variable has caused the other. They are merely correlated, or their trends move in relation to each other. A positive correlation would mean that as one variable increases so does the other, while a negative correlation means that as one variable increases the other decreases.

In this situation [[Cueball]] is explaining to Megan his realization that correlation is not the same thing as causation. He further explains that his belief changed after taking a statistics class. [[Megan]], however, then makes the seemingly obvious leap and declares that his realization was the result of taking the statistics course. Cueball’s final response of “Well, Maybe.” is fitting because there is no way to know if the statistics class caused his opinion to change or, instead, the two are merely correlated, as many variables would have changed during that semester, each of which could have potentially influenced his view of the topic. In order to determine causation a control group is required, which experiences all of the same variables as the experimental group minus the one variable that you believe is responsible for the change.

The image text is referring to the idea that while {{w|correlation does not imply causation|correlation does not mean causation}}, it does often enough that it makes the distinction blurry for non-scientists. For example, in this case the statistics course is a likely candidate for leading to his change in knowledge. Well, maybe.

{{Comic discussion}}

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

670: Spinal Tap Amps

2012-09-13T00:17:13Z

Shine: changed 0670 to 670 so link to xkcd would work

{{comic
| number = 670
| date = December 2, 2009
| title = Spinal Tap Amps
| image = spinal_tap_amps.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Wow, that's less than $200 per ... uh ... that's a good deal!
}}

== Explanation ==
This comic is in reference to the 1984 mock documentary {{w|This Is Spinal Tap}} about the tour of the fictional rock band Spinal Tap. Here we see lead guitarist Nigel (a character portrayed by {{w|Christopher Guest}}) explaining to [[Cueball]] how the volume dial on his amp can be increased to 11. This is impressive to Nigel since guitar amplifiers generally only go to 10, leading Nigel to believe humorously that his amp is one louder than other amplifiers. In the 3rd panel you see a knowledgeable engineer wasting everyone's time by explaining in boring {{w|jargon}} that the amplifier has no units so 11 only represents a level higher than 1 through 10 on this specific amp. The numbers are not comparable to other amplifiers. This point is lost on confused Nigel. Going back to the 2nd panel we see the actual scene from the movie where the character questions the necessity of going to 11 for the very reasons explained in excruciating detail by the engineer in the 3rd panel. Lastly we come to the final panel, which features the smart engineer who understands that Nigel does not care to understand {{w|arbitrary unit|arbitrary scales}} so he offers to sell him a amp that goes to 12 and Nigel would believe to be one louder more. The humor is that the engineer would simply alter the numbers on an existing amp (that presumably only went to 10) to now read 12 as the highest value. The amp would actually not be louder but the smart engineer would be able to charge more from simple Nigel regardless.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

975: Occulting Telescope

2012-09-13T00:15:27Z

Shine: changed 0975 to 975 so link to xkcd would work

{{comic
| number = 975
| date = November 09, 2011
| title = Occulting Telescope
| image = occulting_telescope.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Type II Kardashev civilizations eventually completely enclose their planetary system in a Dyson sphere because space is way too big to look at all the time.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Cueball]] takes the useful practice of {{w|occulting}} stars beyond its intended purpose. Occulting is often used to block the light from a star so that the surrounding {{w|extrasolar planets}} (planets outside of our solar system) might be more visible and thus can be more clearly examined. Here instead of using the technique to gain access to less visible stars and planets, Cueball proposes blocking the light from all stars. The rationale is that there are just too many stars and he would feel better presumably if he could look at the night sky without being overwhelmed by the great volume of stars visible, each representing its own solar system.
[[File:Dyson Swarm.png|thumb|A relatively simple arrangement of multiple Dyson Rings of the type pictured above, to form a more complex Dyson Swarm. Rings' orbital radii are spaced 1.5 x 10^7 km with regard to one another, but average orbital radius is still 1 {{w|Astronomical unit|AU}}. Rings are rotated 15 degrees relative to one another, around a common axis of rotation.(from Wikipedia Commons)]]
The title text refers to a Type II {{w|Kardashev civilization}} that encloses its solar system in a {{w|Dyson sphere}} not to trap all emitted energy from its star for its own use but because there are just too many stars to look at.
*A type II civilization has trapped all energy from its sun. (Type I has only the energy available from its own planet and a type III would have access to energy from its entire galaxy).
*A Dyson sphere is currently only a theoretical network of satellites that would be designed to orbit and completely surround a star to capture and transmit all of the available solar energy back to a planet.

==Transcript==
:[A person is giving a lecture in front of a white board, pointing to a diagram with a pointer.]
:Lecturer: The occulting observatory consists of two parts -- the telescome and the discs.
:When the telescope sees a star, a disc is carefully steered to block its light.
:[A diagram of a satellite (labeled "telescope") with waves going from it on the left, across to the other side of the diagram (labeled "light from star") on the right. In the middle is a small vertical line (labeled "disc"), stopping some of the light waves from the right traveling to the left of the diagram.]
:This procedure is repeated until all stars are covered.
:[The lecturer looks down at a student.]
:Student (off screen): Wait, all? Why?
:Lecturer: I'll feel better.
:[Close-up on lecturer.]
:Student (off-screen): I thought the point was to image extrasolar planets.
:Lecturer: The point is that there are too many stars. It's been freaking me out.
:Student: What?
:Student#2 (in smaller letters): He has a point...

{{comic discussion}}

975

2012-09-13T00:10:56Z

Shine: created page with redirect

#REDIRECT [[975:_Occulting_Telescope]]

975: Occulting Telescope

2012-09-13T00:08:06Z

Shine: created page with explanation

{{comic
| number = 0975
| date = November 09, 2011
| title = Occulting Telescope
| image = occulting_telescope.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Type II Kardashev civilizations eventually completely enclose their planetary system in a Dyson sphere because space is way too big to look at all the time.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Cueball]] takes the useful practice of {{w|occulting}} stars beyond its intended purpose. Occulting is often used to block the light from a star so that the surrounding {{w|extrasolar planets}} (planets outside of our solar system) might be more visible and thus can be more clearly examined. Here instead of using the technique to gain access to less visible stars and planets, Cueball proposes blocking the light from all stars. The rationale is that there are just too many stars and he would feel better presumably if he could look at the night sky without being overwhelmed by the great volume of stars visible, each representing its own solar system.
[[File:Dyson Swarm.png|thumb|A relatively simple arrangement of multiple Dyson Rings of the type pictured above, to form a more complex Dyson Swarm. Rings' orbital radii are spaced 1.5 x 10^7 km with regard to one another, but average orbital radius is still 1 {{w|Astronomical unit|AU}}. Rings are rotated 15 degrees relative to one another, around a common axis of rotation.(from Wikipedia Commons)]]
The title text refers to a Type II {{w|Kardashev civilization}} that encloses its solar system in a {{w|Dyson sphere}} not to trap all emitted energy from its star for its own use but because there are just too many stars to look at.
*A type II civilization has trapped all energy from its sun. (Type I has only the energy available from its own planet and a type III would have access to energy from its entire galaxy).
*A Dyson sphere is currently only a theoretical network of satellites that would be designed to orbit and completely surround a star to capture and transmit all of the available solar energy back to a planet.

==Transcript==
:[A person is giving a lecture in front of a white board, pointing to a diagram with a pointer.]
:Lecturer: The occulting observatory consists of two parts -- the telescome and the discs.
:When the telescope sees a star, a disc is carefully steered to block its light.
:[A diagram of a satellite (labeled "telescope") with waves going from it on the left, across to the other side of the diagram (labeled "light from star") on the right. In the middle is a small vertical line (labeled "disc"), stopping some of the light waves from the right traveling to the left of the diagram.]
:This procedure is repeated until all stars are covered.
:[The lecturer looks down at a student.]
:Student (off screen): Wait, all? Why?
:Lecturer: I'll feel better.
:[Close-up on lecturer.]
:Student (off-screen): I thought the point was to image extrasolar planets.
:Lecturer: The point is that there are too many stars. It's been freaking me out.
:Student: What?
:Student#2 (in smaller letters): He has a point...

{{comic discussion}}

1103: Nine

2012-09-05T14:00:55Z

Shine: clarified comic reference

{{comic
| number = 1103
| date = September 03, 2012
| title = Nine
| image = Nine.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = FYI: If you get curious and start trying to calculate the time adjustment function that minimizes the gap between the most-used and least-used digit (for a representative sample of common cook times) without altering any time by more than 10%, and someone asks you what you are doing, it is easier to just lie.
}}

== Explanation ==

Most common cook times are given in either whole, half, or quarter minute increments; e.g., 2:00 min. or 1:30 min. Meaning that 1,2,3,4,5 and 0 are the most used digits on the microwave, and to use numbers like 6,7,8, or 9, one would have to cook something for that number of minutes. Cueball, however, feels bad for the under used number '9,' so he microwaves his food for one minute fifty-nine seconds instead of two minutes, as a one second difference is negligible.

Title text is reminiscent of comic [[245: Floor Tiles]].

{{Incomplete|1103: Nine}}

{{Comic discussion}}

Talk:1103: Nine

2012-09-05T10:47:57Z

Shine:

I really find that the hover-over text applies to me more often than not, unless I'm not in mixed company. This reminds me of a time that I was staying with a friend and she walked in on me changing the time on her microwave. When I explained to her that her microwave, stove, and coffee pot were all set to different times and it was bugging me, she just looked at me like I was crazy. --[[User:Grate314|"grate314"]] ([[User talk:Grate314|talk]]) 16:47, 3 September 2012 (UTC)
:I don't think that is what the title text meant. Also, anybody who reads an xkcd comic and remembers that they did that ''is'' crazy. --[[Special:Contributions/98.221.139.80|98.221.139.80]]
:I agree with grate314. I have to fix this every time the power goes out in my house because the stove, microwave, and radio all treat power outages differently. Between different rooms, though, it doesn't bother me. --[[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 19:04, 3 September 2012 (UTC)
::I know that that isn't specifically what the hover-over text was talking about, but I was thinking of it in a more general way. I've just found that whenever someone asks me what I'm thinking about, it's best to say 'nothing'. What I meant by 'mixed company' is a general social gathering, like a wedding or birthday party. I'm an EE student, so when someone asks me that question at school, I answer honestly. The answer is usually 'soldering'. I think about soldering a lot. Thanks, DanB, the clocks were all on top of each other, btw, I'm not sure how she lived in that chaos.--[[User:Grate314|grate314]] ([[User talk:Grate314|talk]]) 21:27, 3 September 2012 (UTC)

Did anybody try doing what the title text is saying? Just wondering. --[[Special:Contributions/98.221.139.80|98.221.139.80]]

When I'm not following written instructions, I tend to use multiples of 1:11, out of laziness. So, if I figure something should take about 2-3 minutes, I'll nuke it for 2:22. That way, I can press one button 3 times without having to move my finger. [[User:MGK|MGK]] ([[User talk:MGK|talk]]) 17:23, 3 September 2012 (UTC)

I'm lazy and like to use repeated digits rather than have to move my finger along to find the next one - thus 33, 55, 66 get used a lot. I also find that for most items, longer time at lower power settings is more effective at even heating, so I do a lot of 66 at 50% rather than 33 at 100%. Our current oven only has 10 power settings, unlike a previous one that had two digit power settings resulting in 66 sec at 55% being a fairly commonly used setup. Interestingly, the logic of every microwave oven I have encountered treats 99 entered in the seconds display the same as if one were to have entered 1minute and 33 seconds. Thus 99:99 would be 100 minutes and 33 seconds. [[User:J-beda|J-beda]] ([[User talk:J-beda|talk]]) 17:31, 3 September 2012 (UTC)

Oddly (apparently) my microwave has only 3 buttons (10 minutes, 1 minute, 10 seconds), though I do feel sorry for the 10 minute button.

I usually just push the "add 30 seconds" button until I reach the desired time (6 pushes for three minutes, 3 for 1:30, etc.). [[User:Erenan|Erenan]] ([[User talk:Erenan|talk]]) 16:06, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

The 9 and 0 button are near each other so I do a lot of 90 (meaning 1 minute, 30 seconds). Sometimes, I'll get lazy<strike>er</strike> and press 99.

'''Quasar '''unit offers the additional accuracy/simplicity/utility of min 10, 1 and sec 10, 1 There are no other numbers on the control face, which has 14 buttons total. hmm, Minimum number of buttons required to accomplish nuking?--[[User:Idkrash|Idkrash]] ([[User talk:Idkrash|talk]]) 01:28, 5 September 2012 (UTC)
:For simplicity I would be in favor of 2 dials and 2 buttons. The dials could serve for power and time, which could output to digital displays. The buttons then could serve as start and stop. Pressing start and stop simultaneously would toggle the clock set function and you could use the dials to set the min and hour.----[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 10:47, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

1104

2012-09-05T10:22:41Z

Shine: created page

#REDIRECT [[1104: Feathers]]

1104: Feathers

2012-09-05T10:21:09Z

Shine: created page ... explanation needed

{{comic
| number = 1104
| date = September 05, 2012
| title = Feathers
| image = feathers.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Click to see a video of a modern bird using stability flapping during predatory behavior. It all fits! Also, apparently Microraptor had *four* wings? The past keeps getting cooler! (And there's more of it every day!)
}}

== Explanation ==

{{Incomplete|1104: Feathers}}

{{Comic discussion}}

File:feathers.png

2012-09-05T10:14:36Z

Shine: image from xkcd.com/1104

== Summary ==
image from xkcd.com/1104
== Licensing ==
{{XKCD file}}

979: Wisdom of the Ancients

2012-09-03T20:03:48Z

Shine: fixed incomplete link (was linking to another comic)

{{comic
| number = 979
| date = November 18, 2011
| title = Wisdom of the Ancients
| image = wisdom_of_the_ancients.png
| titletext = All long help threads should have a sticky globally-editable post at the top saying 'DEAR PEOPLE FROM THE FUTURE: Here's what we've figured out so far ...'
| imagesize =
}}

== Explanation ==

There are so many times that someone can find the exact problem using Google, but see no solution whatsoever.

Often, a bunch of responders make well-meaning but unhelpful suggestions, and a few days later, the original poster writes “Thanks guys, I figured it out.” To which a reader might say "NO, DON’T LEAVE ME!! WHAT DID YOU SEE?! AAAGGGHHHGHGHHH…"

The comic seems to draw on the movie motif of exploring a pyramid or some other ancient structure. The protagonist comes across a skeleton beginning to write “Beware of ” and the writing ends. What did they see? How did they die? How will the protagonist ever escape?

Except that, unlike in the movies, life doesn’t always have a happy ending. Sometimes there isn't a solution to the very thorny problem on Google.

{{Incomplete}}

{{Comic discussion}}

34: Flowers

2012-09-03T19:59:39Z

Shine: moved incomplete template to explanation section

{{comic
| number = 34
| date = November 9, 2005
| title = Flowers
| image = flowers.jpg
| titletext = This is actually pencil on paper, just inverted and colored
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete}}
==Transcript==
[A sketch of flowers, drawn in red and green]
==Trivia==
* Original quote from [[Randall]]: "Original drawing is pencil on graph paper. Bonus points if you can identify the flowers. 'cause I sure can't."
* Original guess on flower identification: "{{w|Trillium}}!"
* This is the thirtieth comic posted to livejournal. The previous was {{explain|30}}. The next was {{explain|29}}

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal]]

1103: Nine

2012-09-03T17:14:41Z

Shine: link to similar comic 245

{{comic
| number = 1103
| date = September 03, 2012
| title = Nine
| image = Nine.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = FYI: If you get curious and start trying to calculate the time adjustment function that minimizes the gap between the most-used and least-used digit (for a representative sample of common cook times) without altering any time by more than 10%, and someone asks you what you are doing, it is easier to just lie.
}}

== Explanation ==

Most common cook times are given in either whole, half, or quarter minute increments; e.g., 2:00 min. or 1:30 min. Meaning that 1,2,3,4,5 and 0 are the most used digits on the microwave, and for one to use numbers like 6,7,8, or 9 he would have to cook something for that number of minutes. Cueball, however, feels bad for the under used number '9' and so he microwaves his food for one minute fifty-nine seconds instead of two minutes, as a one second difference is negligible.

The title text says that if you are trying to figure out the function that tells you how many seconds less/more you need to type in so that all keys are used evenly, and the difference in time is too small to under/over cook something, and somebody asks you what you are doing, it's better just to lie. It will be hard explaining to somebody else what you are doing without scrambling their brains.

Reminiscent of comic [[245]] Floor Tiles.

{{Incomplete|1103: Nine}}

{{Comic discussion}}

245

2012-09-03T17:12:16Z

Shine: Redirected page to 245: Floor Tiles

#REDIRECT [[245:_Floor_Tiles]]

245: Floor Tiles

2012-09-03T17:03:49Z

Shine: created page.. quickly.. short explanation.. please expand

{{comic
| number = 245
| date = April 06, 2007
| title = Floor_Tiles
| image = floor_tiles.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = The worst part is when sidewalk cracks are out-of-sync with your natural stride.
}}

==Explanation==
A neurotic character chooses to lie about an odd game he is playing instead of describing the loonesy.

==Transcript==
:[Two characters walk on a floor tiled in black and white.]
:First: Why are you walking funny?
:[Second panel consists of second character's thought cloud in which the second character points to an easel mounted diagram of the floor tile pattern]
:Second, thinking: Well, my instinct is to step only on black tiles, but they're too far apart. So I'm letting myself walk on the tiles directly in line with the black ones, but that means that when we walk diagonally, I have to step in a pattern where...
:[Returns to situation in first panel]
:Second: I'm not walking funny.

{{comic discussion}}

User:Shine

2012-09-03T16:06:46Z

Shine:

[[{{LATESTCOMIC}}|enter to find latest comic]]

[[Special:Upload|enter to upload an image]]

{{comic discussion}}

1103: Nine

2012-09-03T15:54:31Z

Shine: forgot discussion

File:nine.png

2012-09-03T15:52:27Z

Shine: image from xkcd.com/1103

== Summary ==
image from xkcd.com/1103
== Licensing ==
{{XKCD file}}

1103

2012-09-03T15:51:13Z

Shine: created page

#REDIRECT [[1103: Nine]]

1103: Nine

2012-09-03T15:50:05Z

Shine: created page

1102: Fastest-Growing

2012-08-31T14:25:43Z

Shine: changed 150% to 200%

{{comic
| number = 1102
| date = August 31, 2012
| title = Fastest-Growing
| image = fastest_growing.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = I lead a small but extraordinarily persuasive religion whose only members are door-to-door proselytizers from other faiths.
}}

==Explanation==

{{Incomplete|1102: Fastest-Growing}}

Using percentage of growth can be a misleading value to use for gauging the importance or popularity of something. If you have 5 members and then add 10 more that would mean you have achieved a growth of 200%. However in the case portrayed in this comic the claim appears to be somewhat substantiated as the door-to-door proselytizer claims to have 38,000 members (meaning they would have grew from 20,540 the previous year by adding 17,450 new members).

[[Black Hat]] attempts humorously to show the flaw in using a percentage of growth statistic by growing his group by 100% by increasing his membership from 1 to 2.

It would appear the joke in the title-text is that Black Hat was able to get another door-to-door proselytizer not shown to join his new religion.

==Transcript==
[A man sporting a thinning comb-over is holding a black book and a clipboard]

Person 1: You should check us out. We're the fastest-growing religion in the country.

Black Hat: "Fastest-growing" is such a dubious claim.

Person 1: It's true! We grew by 85% over the past year.

[Black Hat turns to off screen right]

Black Hat: Hey, Rob — Wanna join my religion?

(from off): Sure, whatever.

[Turning back, Black Hat pulls out a steno notebook and pencil]

Black Hat: Well, looks like my religion grew by 100% this year.

Person 1: We have 38,000 members!

Black hat: Hope they're all OK with second place.

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

1102: Fastest-Growing

2012-08-31T13:57:47Z

Shine: removed transcript since image is now loaded

1102: Fastest-Growing

2012-08-31T13:55:58Z

Shine: explanation

{{comic
| number = 1102
| date = August 31, 2012
| title = Fastest-Growing
| image = fastest_growing.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = I lead a small but extraordinarily persuasive religion whose only members are door-to-door proselytizers from other faiths.
}}

==Explanation==

{{Incomplete|1102: Fastest-Growing}}

==Explanation==
Using percentage of growth can be a misleading value to use for gauging the importance or popularity of something. If you have 5 members and then add 10 more that would mean you have achieved a growth of 150%. However in the case portrayed in this comic the claim appears to be somewhat substantiated as the door-to-door proselytizer claims to have 38,000 members (meaning they would have grew from 20,540 the previous year by adding 17,450 new members).

[[Black Hat]] attempts humorously to show the flaw in using a percentage of growth statistic by growing his group by 100% by increasing his membership from 1 to 2.

It would appear the joke in the title-text is that Black Hat was able to get another door-to-door proselytizer not shown to join his new religion.

==Transcript==
[A man sporting a thinning comb-over is holding a black book and a clipboard]

Person 1: You should check us out. We're the fastest-growing religion in the country.

Black Hat: "Fastest-growing" is such a dubious claim.

Person 1: It's true! We grew by 85% over the past year.

[Black Hat turns to off screen right]

Black Hat: Hey, Rob — Wanna join my religion?

(from off): Sure, whatever.

[Turning back, Black Hat pulls out a steno notebook and pencil]

Black Hat: Well, looks like my religion grew by 100% this year.

Person 1: We have 38,000 members!

Black hat: Hope, they're all OK with second place.

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