explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3159: Continents

2025-10-24T15:55:22Z

Solomon: commenting a link to a relevant song

FIRST (ignore the timestamps) --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 13:59, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:More first. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:26, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

hi - [[Special:Contributions/97.64.61.191|97.64.61.191]] 13:40, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

I added a transcription. [[User:Artem|Artem]] ([[User_talk:Artem|talk]]) 14:00, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Related: [https://youtube.com/watch?v=T1-cES1Ekto Continental Drift: Alfred Wegener Song by The Amoeba People] [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 15:55, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3143: Question Mark

2025-09-18T05:48:44Z

Solomon: adding PS

Surely it should read CharlieApostraphe’s Angels, right? [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 02:30, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
:You apostrophe re almast right period. tilde tilde tilde tilde [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB91:7914:D333:3D03:FB75:B160:75F4|2607:FB91:7914:D333:3D03:FB75:B160:75F4]] 03:08, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
::You still have to put the punctuation mark after the word open parenthesis (in this case comma, the apostrophe end parenthesis) btw period. tilde tilde tilde tilde [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 03:20, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
Someone should do a grammar tag or whatever comma, like the citation needed tag comma, that links to this comic period. tilde tilde tilde tilde [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 03:20, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

guys (sorry first time commenting so i know that this is formatted wrong) can we not put the names of the formatting in the discription? i literally came to this page to try to figure out what the titletext was trying to say, only to find just as much (if not more) confusion on a page that was meant to remove confusion.
:Seconded, as fun as it probably is, it's also incredibly difficult to follow. [[Special:Contributions/2601:681:A80:F890:E8FF:E5A3:E698:22CF|2601:681:A80:F890:E8FF:E5A3:E698:22CF]] 04:38, 18 September 2025 (UTC)Bthardamz
:Mhm period. Save the flavored text for titles and the comment section period. very difficult to read ellipsis... tilde tilde tilde tilde [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:22F0:3310:1EB6:FF4:46E:74F5|2605:59C8:22F0:3310:1EB6:FF4:46E:74F5]] 04:49, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
:Even if we decide to keep it in the explanation comma, it definitely shouldn't be in the transcript period. tilde tilde tilde tilde [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 05:33, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

thirding the above. if i'm on this site it's so i can understand the parts of the comic that confused me. the current formatting is directly hostile to that goal. [[Special:Contributions/2600:6C64:64F0:8470:85E0:2F90:F707:90A8|2600:6C64:64F0:8470:85E0:2F90:F707:90A8]] 04:42, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

How about a compromise solution of putting the punctuation labels in small print? Something like [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Small&action=edit this] should work, though it was being screwy when I tested in the preview here: example
[[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 05:46, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
:P.S. On my phone, it seems to only work in Desktop Mode, so maybe it's a problem with the CSS for the mobile layout? [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 05:48, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

== Instances in Media ==

In the Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Line", Gumball refers to "Stellar Odyssey Colon The Force Rehashed". [[User:Vandof|Vandof]] ([[User talk:Vandof|talk]]) 04:11, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3143: Question Mark

2025-09-18T05:46:16Z

Solomon: compromise idea

Surely it should read CharlieApostraphe’s Angels, right? [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 02:30, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
:You apostrophe re almast right period. tilde tilde tilde tilde [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB91:7914:D333:3D03:FB75:B160:75F4|2607:FB91:7914:D333:3D03:FB75:B160:75F4]] 03:08, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
::You still have to put the punctuation mark after the word open parenthesis (in this case comma, the apostrophe end parenthesis) btw period. tilde tilde tilde tilde [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 03:20, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
Someone should do a grammar tag or whatever comma, like the citation needed tag comma, that links to this comic period. tilde tilde tilde tilde [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 03:20, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

guys (sorry first time commenting so i know that this is formatted wrong) can we not put the names of the formatting in the discription? i literally came to this page to try to figure out what the titletext was trying to say, only to find just as much (if not more) confusion on a page that was meant to remove confusion.
:Seconded, as fun as it probably is, it's also incredibly difficult to follow. [[Special:Contributions/2601:681:A80:F890:E8FF:E5A3:E698:22CF|2601:681:A80:F890:E8FF:E5A3:E698:22CF]] 04:38, 18 September 2025 (UTC)Bthardamz
:Mhm period. Save the flavored text for titles and the comment section period. very difficult to read ellipsis... tilde tilde tilde tilde [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:22F0:3310:1EB6:FF4:46E:74F5|2605:59C8:22F0:3310:1EB6:FF4:46E:74F5]] 04:49, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
:Even if we decide to keep it in the explanation comma, it definitely shouldn't be in the transcript period. tilde tilde tilde tilde [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 05:33, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

thirding the above. if i'm on this site it's so i can understand the parts of the comic that confused me. the current formatting is directly hostile to that goal. [[Special:Contributions/2600:6C64:64F0:8470:85E0:2F90:F707:90A8|2600:6C64:64F0:8470:85E0:2F90:F707:90A8]] 04:42, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

How about a compromise solution of putting the punctuation labels in small print? Something like [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Small&action=edit this] should work, though it was being screwy when I tested in the preview here: example
[[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 05:46, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

== Instances in Media ==

In the Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Line", Gumball refers to "Stellar Odyssey Colon The Force Rehashed". [[User:Vandof|Vandof]] ([[User talk:Vandof|talk]]) 04:11, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:2270: Picking Bad Stocks

2025-02-10T23:22:51Z

Solomon: Inverse Cramer ETF

clearly nobody told Randall about shorting stocks [[Special:Contributions/162.158.18.160|162.158.18.160]] 20:57, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

I was going to say that [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 09:29, 20 February 2020 (UTC)

Can someone create a "stock market" category, or "economics"? There are a lot of comics referencing this. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.89|172.69.33.89]] 23:21, 19 February 2020 (UTC)
:You can start by listing these comics here, someone will pick them up to create the category.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.166|141.101.98.166]] 10:35, 20 February 2020 (UTC)
::Yep. General inofficial rule of thumb is, that a new category should have at least 5 comics or consist of a direct series. (the latter doesn't seem to be tha case here.)--[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:41, 20 February 2020 (UTC)
:::Stock market related comics:
:::* [[1570: Engineer Syllogism]]
:::* [[1600: MarketWatch]]
:::* [[2094: Short Selling]]
:::* [[2101: Technical Analysis]]
:::* [[2270: Picking Bad Stocks]]
:::Please add {{unsigned|141.101.104.161}}
::::You mean that there is so few people knowing how to create category that they agreed on some rule? And why didn't they told me? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:27, 20 February 2020 (UTC)
:::::As I said it is an inofficial {{w|rule of thumb}}... discussed e.g. [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Kynde#Category_book_promotion on Kyndes talk page] --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:58, 21 February 2020 (UTC)

When he said "camping" I thought more of snipers in MMFPS games (or gate-campers in Eve) and I was imagining the robot waiting patiently hidden under the sofa until someone dropped a crumb, zipping out and hoovering that crumb up then zipping off back again. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.148|141.101.98.148]] 11:30, 20 February 2020 (UTC)

Shouldn't they be dropping the companies from a basket rather than an index ? From my understanding, indices refer to "official" lists of stocks, and custom ones are more known as baskets. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.28|108.162.229.28]] 12:46, 20 February 2020 (UTC)
:I suspect Cueball is more influential than expected [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.202|108.162.241.202]] 14:02, 20 February 2020 (UTC)

In BBC Radio 4's Dickensian-comedy-spoof series {{w|Bleak Expectations}} (from memory, during the [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00cwgs6/episodes/guide second series/season] - though not available at the time of writing, at least direct from the BBC) at one key point Pip Bin uses his best friend's investment 'recommendations' (Harry Biscuit is also a notoriously bad inventor obsessed with using swans in many of his own Heath Robinson/Rube Goldberg devices) to invest in entirely the opposite manner. Not that I think Randall has heard these programmes (or, indeed, programs), so not an annotatable reference for the comic, but putting it out there as a recommendation in general because there's a good chance of humour(/humor) overlap. And it has Anthony Head in it, if there are any Buffy fans/etc, reading this... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.148|141.101.98.148]] 15:28, 20 February 2020 (UTC)
:Not exactly the same idea, but... in one of Iain Banks novels (Complicity, I think) there's a character who is seriously thinking of setting up as an ''unethical'' investment counsellor, deliberately picking investments that are unethical in one way or another (polluters, products that are damaging in some way, etc.) on the grounds that that's where the money is; ethical investments tend not to make huge profits.--[[User:Marcus Rowland|Marcus Rowland]] ([[User talk:Marcus Rowland|talk]]) 00:00, 27 February 2020 (UTC)

Maybe Cueball is a 21st-Century [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Dexter Timothy Dexter]? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.93|172.69.68.93]] 16:03, 20 February 2020 (UTC)

In the last line of the current explanation, it supposes Cueball is connected to and making changes to the portfolio. I read this more as an ironic counterpoint, indicating that even though he's good at picking bad stocks, he is not infallible. [[User:OhFFS|OhFFS]] ([[User talk:OhFFS|talk]]) 17:18, 20 February 2020 (UTC)

The ads displayed for me on this page suggest investing in Irish Whiskey. Given the context here, would it be better to buy or short now? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 17:40, 20 February 2020 (UTC)
:I'd give a strict buy recommondation. If you loose money on it, you can at least get drunk. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:50, 26 February 2020 (UTC)

Anyone else find the "This is the job I was born for" statement and situation strikingly similar to #408: Overqualified? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.53|108.162.246.53]] 22:00, 21 February 2020 (UTC)

I think the title text intends to say that he's consistently picking good stock now that he's trying to pick bad ones. Murphy's Law.

Company #1434 --> I lost the game [[User:AoPS is superior|AoPS is superior]] ([[User talk:AoPS is superior|talk]]) 09:06, 31 December 2023 (UTC)

There's a real-life version of this: SJIM and LJIM; see "Inverse Cramer ETF: The fund that bets strictly against ‘Mad Money’s Jim Cramer" by Jeremy Salvucci on TheStreet, 2023 Dec 4: https://www.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/inverse-cramer-etf-bets-against-mad-money-jim-cramer

[[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 23:22, 10 February 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3019: Advent Calendar Advent Calendar

2024-12-03T03:31:48Z

Solomon: This reminds me of the Yo Dawg meme.

Would this basically be triangle numbers? So on Christmas Eve you would open 300 windows?[[User:Tommyds|Tommyds]] ([[User talk:Tommyds|talk]]) 16:01, 2 December 2024 (UTC)
:Yes and no. It's not 12 days of Christmas (as mentioned in the title text), so only the overall number of gifts are a triangle number; you open 30 windows on Christmas Day. The 12 days ref is key as the song generates more gifts if taken literally even in 12 days -- 78 on the last day, 66 on the previous day, etc, for a total of 364. [[User:Mneme|Mneme]] ([[User talk:Mneme|talk]]) 16:35, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Notice that this year The Advent calendars are correct. Normally, Advent calendars start at the 1st of December even if the Advent starts at a different day. But this year the Advent also starts at the 1st of December. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.172.40|162.158.172.40]] 16:55, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Donald Knuth wrote a paper for April 1984 Communications of the ACM that included an analysis of the complexity of 12 Days of Christmas. It's in the CACM archive https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/358027.358042. {{unsigned ip|172.70.211.144|16:58, 2 December 2024 (UTC)}}

The explanation currently says "each day, he gets another advent calendar, which each contains 24-25 different items". I don't think that's correct; look at the picture: each day's calendar has one fewer item than the previous one. For example, the 24th only has 2 boxes and the 25th only has one. --[[User:Itub|Itub]] ([[User talk:Itub|talk]]) 17:25, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Perhaps each smaller advent calendar might also contain a smaller advent calendar and so on ...? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.199|172.70.90.199]] 17:51, 2 December 2024 (UTC)
:Since the 1st has a calendar with a 1st, that would mean an infinite number of calendars just on the first day, so probably not. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.225|172.71.154.225]] 18:03, 2 December 2024 (UTC)
::It could work out if you don't open the first window of a new advent calendar on the day that it is revealed. So on day 1, you open the first window revealing an advent calendar that starts on day 2. Then on day 2 you open the second window, revealing a second advent calendar and the first window of the day 1 advent calendar, revealing a third advent calendar. ... and so on. If my mental math on that is right, it's doubling every day, so 2^24 =~ 16M calendars in total? (I could be off by a day) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.69|172.71.147.69]] 19:38, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Can we just take a moment to appreciate whoever named the bot for this page? They wrote as follows: Created by 4 ENVELOPE BACKS 3 NERDS A-EDITING, 2 TURTLE BOTS, AND A FUNNY NEW XKCD. [[User:Willintendo|Willintendo]] ([[User talk:Willintendo|talk]]) 23:26, 2 December 2024 (UTC)
:That note is hand-edited on the first couple of edits. Not sure why that rule exists, though. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 00:50, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

The title text says 'may' twice, "per day may may [sic] seem absurd" --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.236.163|198.41.236.163]] 00:01, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

The German YouTube channel "Malternativ" has actually done this a couple years: Opening one advent calendar every day. He went more and more insane as December went on… [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 00:50, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

Noting that the calendar is entirely correct for the day of publication. Too much to hope for that it is ''kept'' correct for each further day of Advent until (or, rather, 'until and including', as noted at least once above) Christmas Day? Maybe worth checking to see if (at an appropriate time, Randall-time, later today on the 3rd) it hasn't been updated. Or some special sub-page appeared with a revised (Time-like) update. Just in case. And, if Randall doesn't, I'm sure it's not beyond our own wit to make adjustments/animate as a fan-copy. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.214|172.70.91.214]] 01:57, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/xzibit-yo-dawg Yo Dawg], I herd you like advent calendars, so I put an advent calendar in your advent calendar so you can count down while you count down. [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 03:31, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

199: Right-Hand Rule

2024-10-07T08:06:02Z

Solomon: adding another example of RTL books

{{comic
| number = 199
| date = December 20, 2006
| title = Right-Hand Rule
| image = right_hand_rule.png
| titletext = To really expand your mind try some noncartesian porn. Edwin Abbot Abbott has nothing on "Girls on Girls in Tightly Closed Nonorientable Spaces"
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|right-hand rule}} is a mathematics and physics trick to learning how to find the {{w|cross product}} of two Cartesian vectors in three dimensions. First, extend the fingers of your right hand in the direction of the first vector (in the example diagram in the comic, this is to the left). Then, curl your fingers in the direction of the second vector (out of the page/screen, in the example). Now point your thumb perpendicular to the other fingers, and it will point in the direction of the cross product of those two vectors (upwards, in the example). Note that reversing the order of the two vectors also reverses the direction of the cross product.

The book rule is an actual alternative to the right hand rule that might be useful to some physics students doing exercises out of their textbooks. However, it would give incorrect results with books in languages that are read from right to left, such as most Jewish prayer books, Japanese manga, etc.

The gun rule also technically works, but it would be extremely impractical, expensive, and dangerous to use and fire a loaded gun every time you want to find the result vector. It would also be very awkward to hold the gun in line with the vectors. It also assumes that the safety latch is consistently on the same side of all guns; if a gun was made with the safety latch on the other side, then it would give incorrect results.

The body rule is described as for 'males only', which would limit the number of people who are able to use this rule. With the right arm oriented along one vector and the legs along the second, the result vector is found along the penis of a person who has one, which may be conveniently erected by watching porn.

The title text refers to {{w|Edwin Abbott Abbott}}, author of the book Flatland, a story about a two-dimensional world. Flatland is a recurring topic, such as in [[721: Flatland]]. The title text misspells Abbott's name - unlike most typos in XKCD, this has not been corrected by Randall.

{{w|Orientability}} is a property that refers to a space with continuously varying {{w|surface normal}}s, which are essentially just vectors that are perpendicular to the surface of the space. Nearly every space commonly encountered is orientable; this is likely why the porn is referred to as mind expanding and superior to Edwin Abbott Abbott's work.

==Transcript==
:[Picture of a right hand with fingers curved, thumb pointed away, with axes drawn to demonstrate the right-hand rule of physics.]
:Alternatives to the Right-Hand Rule in vector multiplication:
:[A slightly-open book with labeled axes drawn on.]
:Book Rule: Open the front cover along the first vector and the back cover along the second. The result vector is along the spine, out the top.
:[A handgun with axes.]
:Handgun Rule: Point the grip along the first vector and rotate it so that the second vector is on the safety latch side. Fire. The result vector is toward the bullet holes.
:[A person with right arm extended.]
:Body Rule (males only): Point your right arm along the first vector and your legs along the second, then watch some porn.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Flatland]]

Talk:2486: Board Game Party Schedule

2024-05-30T05:52:59Z

Solomon: explaining timing shown in comic

I've done the best I can starting this out. Since it's been years since I did gatherings like this, if someone can suggest more modern examples of complicated tabletop simulation games than the ones I suggested (Squad Leader and SFB started in the late 1970s, for heaven's sake), please do so. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.236|108.162.245.236]] 00:27, 8 July 2021 (UTC)

Diplomacy? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.121|108.162.246.121]] 21:17, 9 July 2021 (UTC)

How about Seven Wonders? [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 04:59, 8 July 2021 (UTC)

This is why we always decide the game before inviting people. Then people can already head home before 11pm. To be more serious, the most complicated game that we played with novices was Eclipse with several expansions in a 9 player setup. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.160|162.158.88.160]] 07:15, 8 July 2021 (UTC)

The classics for my home group with this are Kingmaker and Twilight Imperium. In fact to even suggest those we now have to plan a week or month ahead of time. [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 13:51, 8 July 2021 (UTC)

A "simpler" game, like Catan or Dominion...?
Um. More like Scattergories, Scrabble, Sorry, Yahtzee, Apples to Apples, Uno, even Go Fish. Catan and Dominion might be relatively well known, but they are NOT simple. My experience is that the strategically-minded people who love immersive resource-allocation based games like Catan and Dominion are frequently open to learning new games, while the crowd that opts for "simpler" games typically just want to have fun without having to think too hard about stuff. (I say this as someone who loves immersive resource-allocation games, with a girlfriend who typically prefers the simpler stuff.)
Also, feels like Scythe deserves a mention, as a game that might be pulled out of a cupboard for game night but ends up taking hours to set up and explain. Whereas Warhammer players typically seek out their own, rather than casually springing their hobby on the general public. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.84|108.162.221.84]] 17:05, 8 July 2021 (UTC) mezimm
: Fair, although with my group what usually ends up happening is side games of Magic: the Gathering, and that's not simple, but it's quick to setup and doesn't take super long to complete. [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 13:22, 9 July 2021 (UTC)

Yeah, a not-a-COVID-19 comic. That said, just curious, why don't we include the title text as part of the transcript? Was a decision made some time ago to not include these, or have we just not been doing it for so long and no one questioned this until just now. [[Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1|127.0.0.1]] 19:00, 8 July 2021 (UTC)
:(Nice IP. *cough*) The transcript describes in text that which cannot already be read as text (without OCR, etc). The title-text is already in text form, reiteration would be redundantly repetitive. - Or so I've seen it explained several times before, and it makes perfect sense to me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 03:10, 9 July 2021 (UTC)
::Thanks for the explanation. Also, why are you talking to yourself? [[Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1|127.0.0.1]] 17:12, 9 July 2021 (UTC)
:::Because I'm the last human alive? [[Special:Contributions/10.0.0.1|10.0.0.1]] 23:60, 31 Dec 10,000,034 (UTC)
:Yes, I also believe that the title text should be part of the transcript. I have heard the explanation many times and the explanation makes NO sense to me. First, a transcript should be a full transcript, not just a transcript of what is in the picture. Second, Even if I was using a text reader, I would want to hear the title text after the elements in the picture are described, the same way that I experience the comic when I am reading it. First I process the comic then I hover over and look for the title text. Without the title text, it's like hearing the build up of a multipart joke without hearing the final punch line. So if a vote is ever taken, I would vote to start including the title text in the transcript. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 20:05, 9 July 2021 (UTC)
::If a vote is forced I (not that I would be taken seriously, as an IP) would suggest (and only in this option vote as more preferential than the status quo, if it's a nice sensible a preferential multi-vote voting system) "<IMAGE=autoimported> <TRANSCRIPT=manual> <TITLETEXT=autoimported> <EXPLANATION=manual> <etcs=...>". The problem with <IMAGE> <TITLETEXT> ... <TRANSCRIPT_INCLUDING_TITLETEXT> is that it'll be so easy to make two TITLETEXTs different, either through failure of importing (currently needs correcting or explaining away via hand-edit) or at some time inevitably messing up the repeat-write (if not the straight copypasta) of what is already there in a perfectly accurate version.
::Or just persuade Dgbrt to change DgbrtBOT (or persuade DgbrtBOT directly, if you can and don't have Dgbrt revert whatever it is that you do to do that) to dual-autopopulate. If you have success there, I suppose you don't need to win a vote, just go straight to the "half of the users are mad at the result" stage...
::Prob. not the forum for discussing all this. In fact I'm sure it'll be better somewhere in the Community Portal. I really must catch up on my reading in there. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.122|141.101.98.122]] 23:46, 9 July 2021 (UTC)

I think the explanation is wrong. If you've played table-top games, a semi-complicated game like Catan or Ticket to Ride may seem simple. But the title says "Board Game" so I don't think explanation examples should be table-top games. In terms of "complicatedness", this comic is referring to the middle of the road: e.g. Checkers<Catan<Car Wars. [signature missing]

This timing is primarily because the game takes an hour to set up and an hour to explain, and those aren't being done in parallel. [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 05:52, 30 May 2024 (UTC)

== that was fast ==

this was my first time looking up the most recent comic on here (though it wasn't 'cause [I'm] dumb'... for once), and can I just say you all work really fast at getting a basic explanation written out. Your work is much appreciated by this student software dev :-)--[[User:Twisted Code|Twisted Code]] ([[User talk:Twisted Code|talk]]) 18:56, 8 July 2021 (UTC)

2215: Faculty:Student Ratio

2024-05-30T05:43:24Z

Solomon: citing comic 2319

{{comic
| number = 2215
| date = October 14, 2019
| title = Faculty:Student Ratio
| image = faculty_student_ratio.png
| titletext = They managed to briefly hit the top of the rankings when they rejected everyone except one applicant, published 5 billion research papers that just said "Hi," and hired one of their graduates for $50 trillion/year (then fired them after 10 microseconds.)
}}

==Explanation==
Universities are often rated in various ways to help students/parents pick which one to attend. This comic satirizes the very real culture of schools modifying their actions to artificially inflate their ratings. One metric used in ratings is the {{w|Student–teacher ratio|ratio between the number of faculty members to the number of students}}. Typically this is expressed as the student-teacher ratio, which normally determines how much time teachers get to spend with individual students. The lower the ratio, i.e., the fewer students per teacher, the smaller classes teachers have to teach, and thus the more attention the teachers can give to each student. However, having many more teachers than student(s), as in this comic, is not very beneficial to the student(s). (For context for international readers, high student-teacher ratios are common and expected in the United States, Randall's home country, whereas some nations especially in Asia sometimes report much lower ratios, often close to 1:1 in some areas.)

Another metric commonly used to measure a college's exclusivity and therefore prestige is the college's rejection rate; more prestigious schools get more applicants, and since they can accept only a limited number, they must reject many. Less prestigious schools often accept a higher fraction of their applicants, but some schools will reject students whose test scores, résumé, etc. are much higher than average for the school since it's likely that college is a "safety school" and the student won't actually go there. This rejection can decrease the school's acceptance rate and make it appear more prestigious. However, if the above-average student does want to attend that school, they are unable to, even though it would be good for both the college and the student.

{{w|Proprietary colleges|For-profit universities}} and {{w|diploma mills}} may use techniques like this to artificially boost their ratings or use fabricated metrics and {{w|accreditation mills}} to give an inflated appearance of value. {{w|Predatory publishing|Predatory publishers}} and conferences are other techniques used to inflate the perceived value of a school or to pad curriculum vitae.

In the title text, other metrics are skewed in the school's favor:

*Having a high standard for entry is usually associated with better or high-prestige schools; however, this is subverted by the fact that the school has only one student per class. A class of one would make (at least for most students) for a poor educational experience,{{Citation needed}} especially in this case, where the student is apparently being micro-managed by all of the teachers at once. Even if it were a good academic environment, it could only benefit one student per year, which means the school would only have a very modest impact on the world.

*A high number of research papers would normally indicate a high level of scientific research at the school; however, ''these'' research papers have no real content in them and are all identical, rather missing the point of a research paper - namely, to make the scientific community aware of new research.

*A high hiring rate (percentage of students that have gotten a job after education) and a high average salary after graduation is favorable, as it is one goal for many students attending college. However, the school in question artificially inflates these metrics by having all (one out of one) of their student body be hired by them, producing a 100% hiring rate, and giving them a starting salary that is astronomically high, but not giving them enough employment time to actually gain very much income. $50 trillion/year for 10 microseconds is approximately $15.85 (= $50e12 / (365 * 24 * 60 * 60) * 10e-6 * 10) if pay is assumed to be spread constantly over the full 365 days of the year. Assuming fifty-two 40-hour workweeks would make this <abbr title="$66.77=$50e12 / (52 * 5 * 8 * 60 * 60) * 10e-6 * 10">$66.77</abbr>. Since xkcd originates in the USA, and [[2319: Large Number Formats|a later comic]] describes short scale as "normal" vs long scale as what an "old British person" would use, trillion [[2091: Million, Billion, Trillion|most likely means]] 1e12 (i.e., {{w|Long and short scales|short scale}}), as compared to 1e18 (long scale interpretation).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting hunched over a desk writing while ten people crowd around him, five on each side, all leaning towards him. On the left side, they are Hairbun, a Cueball-like man, Hairy, Megan - who speaks, and another Cueball-like man. On the right are Ponytail, a third Cueball-like man, another Megan-like woman, Blondie, and finally a fourth Cueball-like man.]
:Megan: How's the work going?
:Cueball: Can you all at least stand back a little?

:[Caption below the panel]:
:My school tried to game the ratings by having a 30:1 faculty:student ratio

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]

485: Depth

2024-05-29T17:46:49Z

Solomon: /* Explanation */ adding links to view The Monthly Packet

{{comic
| number = 485
| date = October 6, 2008
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| title = Depth
| image = depth.png
| titletext = The Planck length is another thousand or two pixels below the comic.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is a companion piece to [[482: Height]], which explored a {{w|logarithmic scale}} from the edge of the observable universe down to the Earth's surface. ''Depth'' continues the process, viewing logarithmically smaller scales from Earth's atmosphere down to the interior of a single {{w|proton}}. This combination is reminiscent of Charles and Ray Eames' 1977 short film [http://youtu.be/0fKBhvDjuy0 Powers of Ten].

Here's a walk through the entire comic:

* At the top, we see a cutaway view of a story apartment complex. From left to right, different activities can be seen in the apartments; [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] playing in a ball pit, Megan {{w|exorcising}} {{w|Windows Vista}}, [[Ponytail]] and Megan playing ''{{w|Guitar Hero}}'' or a similar game, Cueball at a desk, and what appear to be some sexytimes.
* The view descends into Cueball's tower PC.
* Entering the computer's internals, we see a mouse plugged into the PS/2 (6-pin mini-DIN) connector. This is a visual pun, since the mouse is an actual rodent and not a handheld device.
* Next, we dive into the CPU. We see a multi-layered pun on the question "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" There may be a pun with a chip's connector pin, but the more obvious reference is Randall's answer of 32,767 = 215 - 1, the largest possible value of a signed 16-bit integer. Adding one rolls back over to -32,768, which is 32,768 devils or "negative angels." (See [[571: Can't Sleep]] for a similar joke and a more elaborate explanation.)
* A blood-sucking mosquito appears to be "leeching" a torrent.
* A {{w|segfault}} is a problem with memory access.
* {{w|Dust mite}}s are small arachnids that feed on house dust and are known to cause allergies. {{w|Rust mite}}s are very small mites that live on plants and cause discoloration of leaves and fruit, or small galls.
* We zoom in on a memory unit on the CPU. Cueball is being {{w|rickrolled}}, as indicated by the label "pixel on {{w|Rick Astley|Rick Astley's}} shoulder."
* A "fork();" command points at one of several unlabeled spermatazoa. Forking and sperm are capable of spawning "child processes."
* {{w|Peter Norton}} is the founder of {{w|Norton Antivirus}}. He is shown fighting a biological virus, rather than informatic malware.
* Showing the relative scale of {{w|carbon nanotubes}}, the suggestion is that these then lead on to a more megastructural {{w|Space Elevator}}, for which carbon nanotubes are often cited as a suitably strong component needed for the cable.
* We soon zoom in on a silicon atom in the CPU. In the {{w|electron cloud}}, the squiggles made out of arrows are {{w|Feynman diagram}}s. A Feynman diagram in the shape of a stick figure is saying "Sup?", a pun on the "Sup" particle (supersymmetric partner 'squark' to the Up quark) and an abbreviation of the greeting "What's up?"
* An 'iPod Femto' is shown, as a pun on the '{{w|iPod Nano}}' (both are {{w|SI prefixes}}), both of which refer to units far smaller than any iPod that has ever, or likely will ever, be created.
* {{w|Brian Greene}} is a theoretical physicist and {{w|Popular science|pop scientist}} who discusses the nature of the universe. The picture of him knitting is a pun on {{w|string theory}} and PBS miniseries {{w|The Fabric of the Cosmos}}. The term 'knitting furiously' shows up in the 1857 Volume 14, page 46 (available via [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x004827161&seq=54&q1=%22knitting+furiously%22 HathiTrust] and [https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/DX1902024403/NCUK?sid=bookmark-NCUK&xid=7a92dc49 Gale] ([https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CDX1902024403 preview])) of {{w|The Monthly Packet}}. Furthermore, Greene doing something furiously references "{{w|Colorless green ideas sleep furiously}}", a correctly-formulated sentence that nonetheless conveys no meaning or logic.
* The {{w|Planck length}} (<big>ℓ</big>P) is the smallest theoretically measurable distance, defined by three fundamental constants in physics: the {{w|speed of light}} in a vacuum (c), {{w|Planck constant|Planck's constant}} (h), and the {{w|gravitational constant}} (G). The Planck length is vastly smaller than any known particle that isn't a point mass, and modern physics is a long way from investigating such a scale.

==Transcript==
:Sizes Accurate on a vertical log scale
:[Series of images of characters doing various things. The things they are doing are listed in left to right order.]
:Cueball and Megan playing in a ball pen
:Megan using witchcraft to ban vista "Out, Vista!"
:Ponytail and Megan play Rock Band
:A couple is having sex under the cover in bed.
:[Below this series of images, an image of a man on the computer.]
:Cueball is on a computer and the image expands as it goes down. Here are the labels from left to right, up to down:
:CD
:DVD
:Case
:North Bridge
:PS/2
:Mouse (rodent)
:RAM
:CPU Socket Pin
:32,767 Angels Dancing (one more and they'd roll over and become {{w|Two's complement|32,768 Devils}}), Rice, Torrent (a bug), CPU, upcoming segfault
:dust mite
:hair
:OVUM
:Data (a pixel on Rick Astley's shoulder), rust mite, fork();
:Peter Norton fighting a bacteriophage
:memory
:carbon nanotubes
:space elevator
:a line of silicon (Si), Electron Cloud, a man made out of arrows saying "sup?"
:silicon nucleus
:IPod femto
:Brian Greene knitting furiously [next to his knitting needles there is text saying ''clink, clink'']

==Trivia==
*The ballpit inside the apartment is a reference to [[150: Grownups]], in which Megan filled her apartment with playpen balls.
*The structure next to the couple in bed could be an elliptical dish to increase the sound from their [[Loud Sex]].
*[[1162: Log Scale]] and [[482: Height]] are other comics about the use of log scales.
*[[271: Powers of One]] mocks the concept of getting cool effects by zooming in/out by, instead of a log scale, using powers of one.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Illustrations of scale]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Rhythm Games]]
[[category:Sex]]

Talk:2228: Machine Learning Captcha

2024-04-29T01:17:56Z

Solomon: Oops, didn't mean to indent

Seems remarkably similar to [https://xkcd.com/1897/ this comic]. Is he running out of ideas? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.166|162.158.146.166]] 00:33, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
: I don't see much connection, other than them both being about CAPTCHAs.--[[User:GoldNinja|GoldNinja]] ([[User talk:GoldNinja|talk]]) 00:54, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
::agree GoldNinja the first is about captchas getting freework done, the second is about that work having potentially malicious consequences [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 04:50, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:::I agree that Randall uses a similar idea, but he uses it in two very different scenarios. The first is a bit scary as it relies on somopne using this captcha before the cat crashes, but this comic is much more sinister, especially the title text. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:10, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
::::I see you're using the car --> cat browser script ([[1288]])... I approve.
::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:08, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
:Actually, I agree on the similarity, both are about CAPTCHAs being used for nefarious purposes other than the supposed intent of identifying humans vs. bots (this explanation is the first I hear that Google openly uses CAPTCHAs to train AI, is that actually confirmed? If I ever saw a Google CAPTCHA I'd make sure not to solve it, LOL!). Just that 1897 is more mildly nefarious, just asking something a self-driving car should already know. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:39, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

A note: [[2227]] isn't connecting to [[2228]] via the Next button; has this happened before? --[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 01:20, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:Fixed now.--[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 02:49, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

Why is this comic listed as a Thursday comic? Isn't it Wednesday in Boston?--[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 02:49, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:Yes. I don't know what time the comic was uploaded, but right now it is 10:34 PM Wednesday in Boston. I changed the date of the comic to today instead of tomorrow. [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 03:34, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:: Well, this site uses UTC time (something I somewhat disagree with, since I think it's a time zone that lands in the middle of the ocean, LOL! But clearly to be fair to people in different time zones, so I can't argue it as being the best choice), so maybe our site got it late enough that in UTC it was already Thursday? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:33, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

I think the upper right picture looks like a cave, but maybe too angular to be natural; maybe a bomb shelter or something like that where those pesky humans might actually try to hide? [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 03:40, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:I was thinking a bomb shelter or bunker as well [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.173|108.162.212.173]] 03:44, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
::That sounds about right; just made it official on the transcript. --[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 04:49, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
::: Bomb shelter or looks more like one of those hanger-in-a-hill things you see in movies. To paraphrase Star Wars, That's no cave. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:33, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
:Looks like a tent to me. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.24|172.68.143.24]] 19:15, 22 December 2019 (UTC)
I wonder if the section on the text case used for CAPTCHA should be moved to a trivia section, since the differences between here and xkcd.com is simply related to standard comic title convention and the font styles applied on each site. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 16:04, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:I agree with that-- or perhaps it should simply be ignored; after all, this wasn't mentioned in KSP 2.--[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 16:23, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:: I indeed find it a rather petty and pedantic point. I really doubt Randall took his all-caps font into consideration, he simply wrote it technically incorrect (it's just a coincidence that the font makes it look almost normal). In the end it's quite common to write an acronym like a word, without capitalization: Scuba, laser, taser, gif, lol (and its variants), etc. Count me as another vote for a Trivia section, it's a nice note to make, but barely worth noting. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:33, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

This wiki uses reCAPTCHA! Run! AAAAAAAA[[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.121|172.68.189.121]] 19:12, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

same hereeeeeeeee [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 04:22, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

The title text reminds me of the video titled [https://youtu.be/RIuf1V1FhpY "Oversight: Thank you for volunteering, citizen."] (subtitled "Or: what happens when you privatize Big Brother.") by [http://tomscott.com Tom Scott] on YouTube, which is a fictional dystopia concept about crowd-sourcing policing with an app made by a Domex company contacted by the government. [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 01:16, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2228: Machine Learning Captcha

2024-04-29T01:16:35Z

Solomon: mention Oversight by Tom Scott

Seems remarkably similar to [https://xkcd.com/1897/ this comic]. Is he running out of ideas? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.166|162.158.146.166]] 00:33, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
: I don't see much connection, other than them both being about CAPTCHAs.--[[User:GoldNinja|GoldNinja]] ([[User talk:GoldNinja|talk]]) 00:54, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
::agree GoldNinja the first is about captchas getting freework done, the second is about that work having potentially malicious consequences [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 04:50, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:::I agree that Randall uses a similar idea, but he uses it in two very different scenarios. The first is a bit scary as it relies on somopne using this captcha before the cat crashes, but this comic is much more sinister, especially the title text. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:10, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
::::I see you're using the car --> cat browser script ([[1288]])... I approve.
::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:08, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
:Actually, I agree on the similarity, both are about CAPTCHAs being used for nefarious purposes other than the supposed intent of identifying humans vs. bots (this explanation is the first I hear that Google openly uses CAPTCHAs to train AI, is that actually confirmed? If I ever saw a Google CAPTCHA I'd make sure not to solve it, LOL!). Just that 1897 is more mildly nefarious, just asking something a self-driving car should already know. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:39, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

A note: [[2227]] isn't connecting to [[2228]] via the Next button; has this happened before? --[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 01:20, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:Fixed now.--[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 02:49, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

Why is this comic listed as a Thursday comic? Isn't it Wednesday in Boston?--[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 02:49, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:Yes. I don't know what time the comic was uploaded, but right now it is 10:34 PM Wednesday in Boston. I changed the date of the comic to today instead of tomorrow. [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 03:34, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:: Well, this site uses UTC time (something I somewhat disagree with, since I think it's a time zone that lands in the middle of the ocean, LOL! But clearly to be fair to people in different time zones, so I can't argue it as being the best choice), so maybe our site got it late enough that in UTC it was already Thursday? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:33, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

I think the upper right picture looks like a cave, but maybe too angular to be natural; maybe a bomb shelter or something like that where those pesky humans might actually try to hide? [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 03:40, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:I was thinking a bomb shelter or bunker as well [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.173|108.162.212.173]] 03:44, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
::That sounds about right; just made it official on the transcript. --[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 04:49, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
::: Bomb shelter or looks more like one of those hanger-in-a-hill things you see in movies. To paraphrase Star Wars, That's no cave. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:33, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
:Looks like a tent to me. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.24|172.68.143.24]] 19:15, 22 December 2019 (UTC)
I wonder if the section on the text case used for CAPTCHA should be moved to a trivia section, since the differences between here and xkcd.com is simply related to standard comic title convention and the font styles applied on each site. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 16:04, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:I agree with that-- or perhaps it should simply be ignored; after all, this wasn't mentioned in KSP 2.--[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 16:23, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
:: I indeed find it a rather petty and pedantic point. I really doubt Randall took his all-caps font into consideration, he simply wrote it technically incorrect (it's just a coincidence that the font makes it look almost normal). In the end it's quite common to write an acronym like a word, without capitalization: Scuba, laser, taser, gif, lol (and its variants), etc. Count me as another vote for a Trivia section, it's a nice note to make, but barely worth noting. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:33, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

This wiki uses reCAPTCHA! Run! AAAAAAAA[[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.121|172.68.189.121]] 19:12, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

same hereeeeeeeee [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 04:22, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

:The title text reminds me of the video titled [https://youtu.be/RIuf1V1FhpY "Oversight: Thank you for volunteering, citizen."] (subtitled "Or: what happens when you privatize Big Brother.") by [http://tomscott.com Tom Scott] on YouTube, which is a fictional dystopia concept about crowd-sourcing policing with an app made by a Domex company contacted by the government. [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 01:16, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2886: Fast Radio Bursts

2024-01-27T07:01:43Z

Solomon: parodying a previous comic

(2) microwave ovens in the observation break room: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1504.02165v1.pdf
:You forgot to sign :)
:{{Quote|text=The detection of radiation from the tower microwave would be very surprising as the tower is shielded on the windows and in the walls and the dish surface blocks the line of sight to the receiver in the cabin at the prime focus. However it was later determined that the Woolshed microwave was also in use at the time, unrelated to these tests, and might potentially have been the source of the peryton.}} [[Special:Contributions/172.68.140.147|172.68.140.147]] 04:57, 27 January 2024 (UTC)
Clearly, one of the LIGO observations was a real gravitational wave while the other was just the microwave door slamming ;) [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 07:01, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

2184: Unpopular Opinions

2023-12-24T07:53:42Z

Solomon: /* Explanation */ updating link

{{comic
| number = 2184
| date = August 2, 2019
| title = Unpopular Opinions
| image = unpopular_opinions.png
| titletext = I wasn't a big fan of 3 or Salvation, so I'm trying to resist getting my hopes up too much for Dark Fate, but it's hard. I'm just a sucker for humans and robots traveling through time to try to drive trucks into each other, apparently.
}}

==Explanation==
Everybody has their own preferences as to what movies they like and dislike, and when your like or dislike of a movie seems to be different than the majority of people, you could call your preference the "unpopular opinion" because your opinion is the less prevalent one. This often takes the form of "I hate this movie and I don't understand why everybody else seems to like it", but this comic is talking about the opposite form, which it categorizes as less common, namely "I like this movie and don't understand why everybody else seems to hate it." The comic points out that it's relatively common to hate movies others appear to like, but the converse, in which you like a movie others seem to hate, is much harder to find. One explanation for this may be that if a movie is already established to be bad, you won't end up watching it anyway.

To illustrate how hard it is to like a movie everyone else seems to dislike, the comic presents a challenge whereby you 1) identify a movie you definitely like, which 2) came out during your adult life (so it isn't tainted by childhood {{w|nostalgia}}), and which 3) the majority of other people don't like, as measured informally by having a popularity rating below 50% on the {{w|Rotten Tomatoes}} website (a website that aggregates reviews of films). Supposedly you will find it hard to find a movie that meets all three criteria. The rules prohibit a movie that the viewer finds {{tvtropes|SoBadItsGood|"So Bad, It's Good"}} - the enjoyment of the movie must be genuine, for its positive qualities, rather than ironic enjoyment of its negative qualities.

The image in this comic gives an example of this effect, namely the movie ''{{w|Terminator Genisys}}'', the fifth in the {{w|Terminator (franchise)|''Terminator''}} series, released in 2015. This series, about time-traveling killer robots, included the highly rated ''Terminator 2'' (93% on Rotten Tomatoes), while ''Terminator Genisys'' is only 26%.

The title text refers to three movies in the ''{{w|Terminator (franchise)|Terminator}}'' franchise, ''{{w|Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines}}'' (2003), ''{{w|Terminator Salvation}}'' (2009), and ''{{w|Terminator: Dark Fate}}'' (due out later in 2019). The ''Terminator'' movie series has featured both time travel and trucks driving or attempting to drive into people, and Randall apparently finds himself drawn to such movies. He hopes that ''Dark Fate'' will be a good movie, but has low expectations, considering the [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/franchise/terminator less than stellar ratings] of the last 3 movies (69%, 33%, and 26%).

A [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/browse/movies_at_home/critics:rotten~sort:populare|Rotten Tomatoes search ordered by release date limited to qualifying movies (except that it goes up to 60%)] can help individuals verify the difficulty of finding such movies for themselves.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail, Cueball, and Megan are all looking at their cell phones. Cueball is in the middle, facing out, holding his phone in both hands, while the two women face towards him with only one hand on their phones. Ponytail is tapping on the phone as shown by small lines over her fingers. they talk to each other, but before that, there is the following text above them:]
:Unpopular ''positive'' opinion challenge:
:Name a movie that...
:(1) you genuinely like (not "so bad it's good")
:(2) came out in your adult life post-2000, and
:(3) is rated below 50% on Rotten Tomatoes.

:Ponytail: Wow, this is harder than I thought.
:Cueball: ...Terminator Genisys?
:Megan: Seriously?!
:Cueball: ''I like time travel, OK??''

[Caption below the panel:]
:When people talk about their "unpopular opinions" about movies, they usually mean hating something everyone likes, but liking something everyone hates is much harder.

==Trivia==
*On xkcd, this Friday comic was replaced already on Sunday by a "disappearing comic", which temporarily was assigned the sequence number 2185. But that was just to prevent the trouble a not numbered comic was having on the xkcd site. It was designed to disappear completely and leave no trace in xkcd's history or archives when the Monday comic, [[2185: Cumulonimbus]], was released. The original comic does also no longer appear in explain xkcd's comic navigation either, and is hence linked here: [[Disappearing Sunday Update]].

{{comic discussion}}
<noinclude> 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Terminator]]
</noinclude>

Talk:2049: Unfulfilling Toys

2023-12-06T05:37:04Z

Solomon: prank gift

The no string attached yo-yo exists and works rather well for those who know how to yo-yo {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.214}}
: Blinking heck, my Lord. I thought you meant one of those yo-yos with a loop at the end, but I've now seen people yo-ing into the air with detached strings and catching them again by whipping the spinning beast. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.158|162.158.155.158]] 16:55, 21 September 2018 (UTC)

Pondy contributed a video for: "This also exists, is rather functional, and is the only way to make fun Rubik's cube shapes such as 1x5x5. See [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x6leUqKbqE this video] for a good example of this."

But this doesn't appear to be a good example at all. Those cubes are most definitely attached and you can see the presenter has to use quite a bit of force at some points to rotate. Can someone find a better example if it exists? [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 16:51, 21 September 2018 (UTC)
: The cubes are only attached magnetically. It takes a lot of force to break a lot of magnetic connections at once. Some of the cubes they actually take apart and you can see it’s just magnets. The video might be longer than ideal, but it does demonstrate the concept. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.94|172.68.141.94]] 11:17, 22 September 2018 (UTC)
: It is theoretically possible to build a cube with arbitrary dimensions without using magnets, though the mechanism required for certain shapes is much more complicated than a standard cube. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 04:40, 23 September 2018 (UTC)

Isn't a wingless sky dancer just an upside down beyblade? {{unsigned ip|172.69.55.166}}

I sometimes find myself smacking my wrist with a comb. I think it's stimming. There might be a market for rigid objects designed for the purpose.

'''Broken toys'''

Toys often don't have a long lifetime, in particular children tend to act not much carefully and sometimes they even destroy them deliberately as a part of their playing. Parents know what I'm talking about. It can be annoying how fast kids are able to destruct things. So literally Randall just sells toys in a state in which they always end up anyway. Worth for the explanation? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:59, 22 September 2018 (UTC)
:I'm sure I still have working toys somewhere that have survived my childhood. :) I think Randall just aims to deprive of the satisfaction of playing with them for children, thus the comic name "Unfulfilling Toys". -[[User:Asdf|Asdf]] ([[User talk:Asdf|talk]]) 14:47, 22 September 2018 (UTC)
::"toys ... have survived my childhood" emphases exactly that what I'm saying. Most of them didn't survive... And try to remember your own annoyance about all those broken ones, there's probably not much in your memory, you just threw them away. But your parents were annoyed about all that waste. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:33, 22 September 2018 (UTC)
::: "Broken" != "Unfulfilling". Over this weekend, my son and I blitzed his dump, sorry, room. There were a large number of broken toys (especially those "Hero Mashers" action figures - lifetime measured in hours...) that I was not allowed to get rid of because he still plays with them. He has some perfectly intact items that are much more unfulfilling - racetracks where the track pieces don't quite match up leading to stuck cars (when new out of the box) being the one most guaranteed to create the disappointed face. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.6|172.68.65.6]] 14:01, 24 September 2018 (UTC)
Wanna nerd-snipe the next commenters? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.130|162.158.78.130]] 20:41, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

Glass glow-sticks? Isn't that the principle behind Mike Thompson's blood lamp. His design, in my opinion, is less fun than the design suggested in the current explanation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.22|162.158.75.22]] 23:41, 27 September 2018 (UTC)

I think you might be able to pull this off if you market it as a prank gifts, for people to buy for their friends as a joke. [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 05:37, 6 December 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2369: All-in-One

2023-12-05T06:15:36Z

Solomon: mention Bill Gates' Personal Super Secret Private Laptop A Microspoof

Is the title text a reference the Librareome project in Rainbow's End (Vernor Vinge)?

See, e.g., [http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=1856]

--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.124|162.158.79.124]] 18:06, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

I wonder if Randall took inspiration from [this Dilbert](https://dilbert.com/strip/1994-04-25). [[User:Moosenonny10|Moosenonny10]] ([[User talk:Moosenonny10|talk]]) 18:52, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

I don't think "eat" and "corrugate" are intended as malfunctions. People sometimes eat paper -- it's a common trope in spy parodies where someone will eat a document to prevent someone from getting access to it. And corrugate just sounds like it's making corrugated cardboard from the input paper. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:22, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
:I changed it. What do you think? ''welp, i'' [[User:Donthaveusername|Donthaveusername]] ([[User talk:Donthaveusername|talk]]) 19:37, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
:I made you a document but I eated it... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.87|108.162.250.87]] 08:13, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

Seems like plagiarize would be somehow related to scan and copy.
: I imagine the internal sub-functions would be: Scan (or read from prepocessed page data from an original document 'sent to printer'), OCR (as necessary - implied in Translate but not mentioned as a function, despite being an actually popular 'one touch' function with appropriate desktop software involved), Comprehend (natural-language processing), De-Source (remove references that indicate the true source, including headers, watermarks, logos), Re-Arrange (optional shuffling/re-wording in places, maybe even synonyms), Re-Source (personalise back up again, for the plagiarist's benefit), then Print (if scan-for-copy/printed) or Save (if scan-for-storage, maybe even 'print'-to-storage via the device). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.52|141.101.98.52]] 00:21, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
: plagiarize seems to be related to summarize. I'd envision the same logic which extracts the meaning from a document to create the summary would take that same meaning and insert it into another document (presumably the user's document).

shred and scan (or scanf) are also unix and C functions. Shred overwrites a file on disk, deleting it and preventing any subsequent recovery of the lost data. scan reads input according to a format string. Should one take a standard file and scan a string per the format '%s', the program will read in the variable until an end-of-line character is encountered. If the file were shredded first, resulting in a random set of bits, this end of line character might never be read. This seems to be more of a memory problem than a CPU problem, thus might not be the full explanation of the alt-text. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.126|162.158.126.126]] 21:10, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

Potentially related fun fact: in the olden days when copiers are slow and generates a lot of heat (the copies would actually be warm to touch), the "copy" function is often referred to as "burn". This is why making CD copies etc. later also used the term "burn". I read somewhere about an IBM intern setting an important document on fire when he was asked to "burn a copy", but can't find the source anymore. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.171|172.68.142.171]] 22:45, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

The incomplete template mentions that there might be a reason for Randall making this topic, but I don't think there is other than just making a funny joke. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.146|172.69.34.146]] 22:42, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

What, it can fold but not spindle or mutilate? :( [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.114|162.158.75.114]] 23:14, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

Is staple removal a real printer feature? [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:17, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
:Doubt it. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.243|172.68.132.243]] 23:39, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
::Staple-detection is (fairly) trivial, but consistently extracting them 'nicely' while preserving the paper as much as possible might be beyond a device (it's tricky enough for a person, sometimes). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.211|141.101.99.211]] 23:51, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
:::It's not beyond a staple remover. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.59|172.69.35.59]] 00:52, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
::::Even for a staple remover, it's sometimes not a trivial task, sometimes requiring some "intelligence". I don't think this feature is available in off-the-shelf tech. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 01:25, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
:::::Back in the 1990s you could buy industrial staple removers which sensed and cut parallel to the paper face, with cutting surfaces that open and move up under the first ten pages or so. Maybe one in 20 times they would mangle the paper. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.56|162.158.255.56]] 13:33, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

I'm disappointed there's no "jam for no particular reason in the most difficult place to access" option. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.184|108.162.216.184]] 23:18, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
: I thought there should be Paper Cranes in the right-hand column... But your suggestion is also an obvious omission. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.211|141.101.99.211]] 23:51, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

Regarding the "possibility that this printer is a complex computer": most printers are. Any printer which can process postscript OR is connected to network obviously contains computer more powerful than first {{w|IBM Personal Computer|IBM PCs}}, not speaking about the computer used in {{w|Apollo Guidance Computer|Apollo}}. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:35, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
:Well, it's ''more'' complex now. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.59|172.69.35.59]] 00:53, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

Is it just me or is this printer not as absurd as the normal XKCD devices (like the phone)? I mean, this printer has no _really_ absurd features... You could say that this printer is almost sane. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:48, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
:Agreed. The most questionable "Crumple and throw at trash like a basketball" feature, while making no sense in a printing context, is perfectly sensible in a scan or feed-through mode and may be useful for those with with bad aim, a distant trash can, and a close printer. Staple removal can probably be done reliably with AI these days. Origami features could be useful in party context. Plagiarism and summarization are 100% useful and doable by GPT-3, even better than an average human would do. Translate would be wonderful, but needs a year or 2 more before we can automate it well. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.148|162.158.186.148]]

I wonder what would happen if you used the Paper Airplane and Origami Flower settings together. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.13|172.69.33.13]] 17:26, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

Could those strips that are fun to tear be {{w|comb binding}} instead of tractor feed strips? [[User:Ehusmark|EHusmark]] ([[User talk:Ehusmark|talk]]) 08:26, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

Notebooks with spiral binding and blank pages can have TWO 'fun-to-tear' actions. The first is the act of tearing the page from the spiral leaving the lumpy, ragged edge. The second is the neat perforations that are seperated to leave the paper at its final width. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 00:34, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

Well, I for one am horrified by a lack of "Laminate" function. Despite that, I'd like to order one. It will need to be a UK edition, running on 240V and fitted with a fused three-pin plug...although having said that, I'm sure I could live with having to use an adaptor, and I'm old enough to know how to wire a plug. I'm afraid I'd need to insist on the correct spelling of "Aeroplane" though.[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 14:15, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

The list of verbs reminds me of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0684854649 '''Bill Gates' Personal Super Secret Private Laptop: A Microspoof ''' by Henry Beard and John Boswell]. [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 06:15, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

== Multi-function machines in pairs ==

I used to work for a temporary services company. At a tech-company, I noticed several instances where there were two multi-function machines close to each other. I asked about that. I was told company security policy forbade having a copier connected to a communications line. So, one machine was used only for copying. The other machine was used as a fax machine. The security police came about because, in the past, some people trying to copy company confidential pages sometimes mistakenly faxed them. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.194|162.158.75.194]] 01:00, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

== Accessibility adjustment ==

I added "(selected)" to all items that are highlighted in green, for the benefit of readers who can't see the green highlight. While one may argue that such readers could refer to the transcript, which has the text "(lit green)," there is no reason to force readers to scroll back and forth between the explanation and transcript sections to discover this, and it would be onerous for those using a screen reader to listen to the page multiple times. [[User:Thisisnotatest|Thisisnotatest]] ([[User talk:Thisisnotatest|talk]]) 08:29, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
:I like that. It was neither green nor annotated when I was last here and I think both elements are nice touches, I'd like you and the greening editor to each know. (I changed "lighted" to "lit" in the transcript version, and it seems nobody has reverted that yet, which was always possible. I'd considered "illuminated", but "selected" is a good one if there remain any future objections.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.225|162.158.158.225]] 09:15, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
Does "fold paper airplane" really need 2 links to the same thing? I think the first link should be removed <shruggie>--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.136|173.245.54.136]] 13:02, 8 October 2020 (UTC)Bumpf

Done. [[User:Unpopular Opinions|Goodbye, world!]] ([[User talk:Unpopular Opinions|talk]]) 02:02, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

== Example for the "fold airplane" function ==

I'm not sure if it's worth mentioning in the article, but Gaston Lagaffe once created [https://img.lemde.fr/2017/07/26/0/0/1509/663/688/0/60/0/a25fc79_8121-c9tyc9.0wlmuqh0k9.jpg a device with this function].

Talk:1959: The Simpsons

2023-11-11T00:42:14Z

Solomon: support being related to Simpson's paradox

Provided an explanation, feels short but I really cant think of any more to say! :) As a Simpsons fan / Harry Potter fan / night owl who's reading this "fresh off the presses", as it were, I felt obligated, LOL! I can't think of any reason / explanation why Bart being born the same year as Harry Potter means he'd automatically be in the HP universe, or automatically magical and accepted to Hogwarts (especially seeing as, as an American, presumably he'd go to some American magic school instead). Going to workup the transcript now. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:49, 23 February 2018 (UTC)

Provided the transcript. Even figured out how to do the gray text, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 07:25, 23 February 2018 (UTC)

The U.S.A school is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Places_in_Harry_Potter#Ilvermorny Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry]. [[User:Andcoz|Andcoz]] ([[User talk:Andcoz|talk]]) 08:09, 23 February 2018 (UTC)
: Ah, yes, thank you. I knew there must be something, though I figured on several, scattered over the continent, not just one. The only extra material I've seen (i.e. beyond the original 7 books and original 8 movies) are the two little Comic Relief books, nothing really from Pottermore. Cursed Child and the Fantastic Beasts movie are still on my to-do list. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:42, 27 February 2018 (UTC)

The modern seasons have 22 episodes, they're currently in season 29. The episodes are usually longer than 20 minutes. That means that there about 9 days of Simpsons so far, little enough to not completely disprove the timeline. If just two episodes on average depict one day, it's reasonable that the characters stay the same age, they would just have an extremely busy year. Yes, many episodes depict multiple days, but nobody said that one episode has to start after the previous one ended. And the other ones could fit more into one day. So Randall's spell theory could be right, but doesn't have to. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 08:22, 23 February 2018 (UTC)
:except that the timing of the setting changes. For example: In the early episodes there wasn't any modern technologies, later episodes focus on wether or not Bart is old enough to have a simple cell phone, in more recent ones he has a smartphone and it is no big deal. Other example: Real people making appereance in the series reflect the age of the real people. Not only age, but also job, etc. E.g. in many episodes you can see who is US-President. [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 19:08, 25 February 2018 (UTC)
:: And except they experience seasons and holidays (most notably Hallowe'en and Christmas) :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:42, 27 February 2018 (UTC)

Kinda funny he posted this in the wake of the whole Ted Cruz saying all the Simpsons except Lisa are Republicans. -[[User:Sensorfire|Sensorfire]] ([[User talk:Sensorfire|talk]]) 14:11, 23 February 2018 (UTC)

It doesn't actually make me feel that old because I remember the Simpsons on the Tracey Ullman Show, which ended in 1990. (And I cannot believe that Tracey Ullman isn't mentioned already.) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.70|198.41.238.70]] 00:10, 24 February 2018 (UTC)

Not related to the Simpsons or Harry Potter, but what the Simpsons underwent was Comic Book Time where the characters, even after a span of years, they will always be as the same age as where they started from. Comics like Foxtrot and Garfield are the best examples of that, since they are still the same age where they debuted from.Boeing-787lover 04:13, 24 February 2018 (UTC)
: Actually, between comic strips and cartoons, the ONLY exception I can think of, where characters actually age, is the Canadian comic For Better Or Worse, which focuses on parenting, and over the decades the 2 kids from the early strips slowly turned into adults by the end (including a third kid being born during the strip becoming a teenager by the end). Helps that the whole family - except the baby born - were based on the author's real-life family. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:42, 27 February 2018 (UTC)The author of "For Better or For Worse" was very clear that by the time the kids were adults, the characters were her own invention, in careers different than her own kids, in her last retrospecive books. But being inspired by raising 2 actual, growing children did contribute to why Mike and Elizabeth grew up. Other characters, like the grandparents, also had different lives than her characters

Pretty sure the transcript is done already, can someone's check? It looks ok to me but I'm not sure if it's finished. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 10:45, 24 February 2018 (UTC)

I'm 85% sure this is a reference to Simpson's Paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson%27s_paradox, which is unrelated to the Simpsons family. The way the table was constructed and highlighted is a giveaway. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.120|162.158.90.120]] 12:54, 24 February 2018 (UTC)
:I think so too. Compare this to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson%27s_paradox#Kidney_stone_treatment, https://mathspp.com/blog/til/030, https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/stor-i-student-sites/katie-howgate/2021/04/16/which-treatment-would-you-prefer-simpsons-paradox/, and http://jse.amstat.org/v21n1/schneiter.pdf. [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 00:42, 11 November 2023 (UTC)

The hover over text is also similar to various theories about why Ash in Pokemon does not age. The theory is typically Ash stays 10 years old because in the first episode he sees Ho-Oh who magically blessed him with eternal happiness and not aging.
: But that doesn't explain all the other characters. Team rocket is the same age. Etc. [[User:Keybounce|Keybounce]] ([[User talk:Keybounce|talk]]) 03:14, 5 March 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1113: Killed in Action

2023-10-31T23:30:57Z

Solomon: related concepts to extra train car

The title text is essentially the beginning of the hanging paradox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexpected_hanging_paradox
:It's not quite the same--[[User:Joehammer79|Joehammer79]] ([[User talk:Joehammer79|talk]]) 17:03, 27 September 2012 (UTC) thing.
:The unexpected hanging paradox only applies when you have a measure of foreknowledge. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 05:50, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

I think there's also a strong indication that this is mocking cop films from the 80's/90's, such as Lethal Weapon, where a character would always die just before retirement.
--[[Special:Contributions/46.246.31.111|46.246.31.111]] 07:08, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

This one is a variant of the old Czech joke: "The study has proved that statistically the most casualties happen in the last car of a train. Therefore the committee suggests to make all trains one car shorter." --[[User:Mity|Mity]] ([[User talk:Mity|talk]]) 09:59, 26 September 2012 (UTC)
:On the other hand, adding a vacant car to the end of the train could be a reasonable approach.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.174|173.245.50.174]] 21:55, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
::Just like DNA telomeres and car crumple zones! [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 23:30, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

This comics's explanation is complete bollocks, I think. Of course it is NOT a "fact that such a room exists". This comics parodies trope often used in cop movies - an elderly cop goes to work for the last time before his retirement, packs things, plans fishing the next day ... only to be called to one more case (possibly with a new, young and brash partner). And despites his efforts not to screw anything and stay clear of danger, he is either mortally wounded or screws big time and is degraded. So much clichè, that if someone says "It's my last day or service", you might be sure one of the two options above happens. See http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Retirony for all the use cases and examples. [[User:Edheldil|Edheldil]] ([[User talk:Edheldil|talk]]) 10:25, 26 September 2012 (UTC)
:I added the tv trope to the explanation. Didn't even see your comment at first, but why didn't you just change and add to the explanation yourself? That would be the whole point of the wiki. --[[User:Buggz|Buggz]] ([[User talk:Buggz|talk]]) 10:34, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

To add a little irony to the irony, the dead cop actually IS in a "locked, heavily guarded room." (There's a Sufi story along those lines.) The real solution to the retirony risk would be for their retirement day to fall within a 12 month window, chosen by some randomly generated number chosen before the shift begins. Thus they could avoid building up a hazardous "retirony field" focused around the point-source retirement day. Sort of like this thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_ring [[User:Noni Mausa|Noni Mausa]] ([[User talk:Noni Mausa|talk]]) 12:11, 26 September 2012 (UTC)
:...But that doesn't eliminate the "retirony field", it only dispurses it over a larger area. The retirony claim would shift to "(s)he was due to retire this year" times the number of retirees within that retirement window. Assuming these tragic events are "uniformly distributed" the probability they'll happen will be present right up to the end of one's active tour of duty, no matter what. Shorten the train, indeed. :) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:29, 26 September 2012 (UTC)
::How about simply not planning your retirement at all, and instead just spontaneously quitting at some point? [[User:Erenan|Erenan]] ([[User talk:Erenan|talk]]) 15:38, 27 September 2012 (UTC)
:::Yeah, that would work. Writing it into a collective agreement might be a bit iffy...[[User:Noni Mausa|Noni Mausa]] ([[User talk:Noni Mausa|talk]]) 11:20, 28 September 2012 (UTC)
::In some (read >=1) US jurisdictions (or maybe all, I just saw one story on reddit where it was explained) there is the possibility for officers who served a certain amount of time to keep working, but they have the right to quit at any time at a moment's notice without repercussions of any kind. Iirc the officers referred to someone in this state as having "pulled the pin", analogous to removing the safety pin on grenades hich would allow you to just drop it and let it blow up. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.61|162.158.89.61]] 07:01, 16 February 2017 (UTC)
:Alternative route: declare someones retirement '''on the day of their retirement'''. Make sure to forbid them in the day of their retirement from taking any missions, no matter how much they need the cop! [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 15:17, 2 November 2012 (UTC)
::But the thing is... At that point, you're just saying, 'hey, you can't retire until we give the say-so, but when we do, you are fired and will just hang around the station till 5, then leave forever.' If the retiree doesn't know about it, then... It's hardly retirement, is it? [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 19:37, 20 December 2018 (UTC)
:That would not work. Working on Dec 30th, you would know for sure that Dec 31st would be your retirement date. So you cannot retire on Dec 31st. With that in mind: working on Dec 29th, you would know for sure that Dec 30th would be your retirement date. With that in mind: working on Dec 28th, you would know for sure that Dec 29th would be your retirement date. With that in mind.... --[[User:Oscar|Oscar]] ([[User talk:Oscar|talk]]) 13:02, 13 November 2012 (UTC)
An unstated but related phenomenon is "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias Confirmation Bias], where something significant stands out in our mind, causing us to overreact or use bad judgement. In this case, the confirmation bias makes it seem like cops are always killed on their last day, so they create such a room.
:Actually, all cops who are killed on the job are killed on their last day!
::Not necessary true in all movies. Detective [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Hopkirk Marty Hopkirk], for example, continued fighting crime after dead. [http://hellsing.wikia.com/wiki/Seras_Victoria Seras Victoria] changed the classical police officer uniform for a special force one but was still reffered as "police girl". I'm sure there are more examples. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 08:16, 5 October 2012 (UTC)
^then show us these other examples if you're so sure. [[Special:Contributions/71.23.180.37|71.23.180.37]] 23:28, 30 December 2012 (UTC)Realist

There is an easy solution: as soon as a cop is "getting too old for this shit", surely he's going to retire soon. So, to avoid the chance of retirony, you fire him immediately. This has the side effect of meaning you no longer need to pay any pensions. And, just as in every other case of "let's run this public service like a for-profit corporation", it can't possibly have any downsides. If people try to point out that such a policy will make it very hard to maintain a loyal and dedicated police force, you just call them socialists and soft on crime. Eventually they'll start gathering statistical proof that it was a bad idea, but all you have to do is maintain that the science still isn't 100% in because this one retired astrophysicist disagrees with all of the economists, so it would be rash to do anything. Keep that up for a decade or two, retire, and then blame all the problems on your successor. Everybody wins! [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 06:01, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

What is the "yet another new idea"? My curiosity has been trolled by this vague statement [[User:SystemParadox|SystemParadox]] ([[User talk:SystemParadox|talk]]) 10:08, 14 November 2018 (UTC)

This happened to a firefighter friend of mine. He died of a heart attack on the day of his retirement! [[User:The Cat Lady|-- The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 13:07, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

Talk:472: House of Pancakes

2023-09-24T00:30:53Z

Solomon: reply with some links

My take on this (probably wrong in so many ways, especially as I'm British and obviously don't get some of the pop references that are obviously there), is that we are seeing this as if converted to a web-page (from a physical example that was scanned, with stains and marks and possibly even graffiti reproduced faithfully) and and given a number of hidden  by successive editors and reviewers of the material, except they're made visible for our benefit. It may even actually be a "wikified". I've seen worse ''actual'' examples. (Although the "Yvette's Bridal Formal", the epitome of bad web pages, had vanished last time I actually went and looked for it.)

"House" being in blue makes me think that this word has been globally 'linkified'.

Does the scribble "International" indicate someone trying to make it relevent outside the US?

This was to have been published on Blogspot, at some point, but some reviewer nerfed that.

Some of the footnotes sound a bit Lovecraftian, others somewhat as if Hunter S. Thompson had written them.

Footnote 19 points out the error (in my opinion, as well as the unknown annotator) of missing out the hyphen in "kids-only". The hyphen makes it a single compound term, which in this context isn't as necessary to remove ambiguity as it could have been, but still ought to be there. The editor concerned thinks this is related to the lack of the Oxford Comma (the one before 'and' in something like "foo, bar, and baz"), although I'm British and personally dislike that form of grammar (prefering "foo, bar and baz", the commas being "chained conjunction" replacers, the last of the conjunctions not being replaced so needing no comma) and don't actually think it's a majority UK grammatical feature. Except where the lack of it produces ambiguity, in which case I'd re-write it so it no longer had such ambiguity.

"The Big Steak Omlette" has been censored of some of its ingredients. Too thoroughly to work out what ''has'' been censored, so the joke may rely on knowledge of what they might have been.

"Mohawk Girls" is a documentary film. I only know that it exists (not even sure that this is the reference intended, rather than both items referencing something else) and have no idea about the relevence.

"Enough with your (God Damn) pancakes" as voiced by the graffiti stick-figures sounds like a meme, but is too obscure for me.

The title-text is the voice of a person unable to handle the mess (figurative and actual) all over the menu and deciding to try another eating-establishment.

I never knew about House Of Leaves, before now. This probably explains why this comic befuddles me. Checking out the description of it I see the stylistic link being made, although can't rule out that I'd remained befuddled (or even become much more so) even if/when I've familiarised myself with the book itself. :-) [[Special:Contributions/178.107.249.215|178.107.249.215]] 22:09, 11 June 2013 (UTC)
:Many thanks IP for your comments. I did start this page exactly because I need hints like that you gave. This comic is still incomplete so me and others have work on it.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:55, 12 June 2013 (UTC)
:"Yvette's Bridal Formal" now exists here: https://yvettesbridalformal.p1r8.net/, archived at http://web.archive.org/web/20230924002149/https://yvettesbridalformal.p1r8.net/ with screenshot at http://web.archive.org/web/20230924002203/http://web.archive.org/screenshot/https://yvettesbridalformal.p1r8.net/. It's a graphic designer's nightmare. [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 00:30, 24 September 2023 (UTC)

Should "House" in alt text really be colored blue? It's definitely not blue in the original, probably just because of HTML limitations, but still. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.11.53|172.68.11.53]] 02:11, 19 February 2017 (UTC)

I think this is the one example of an XKCD comic that had me completely lost. I knew nothing about the book in question, wasn't even able to infer its existence from the cues of the graphic itself. I was speculating that maybe Randall just hated IHoP or something, but that didn't seem right. Usually I come to Explain for some minor detail, or for one I do understand but am curious about others' reaction to. But in this case it was "I have no idea...please help me". I remember similar bemusement when it first came out. But I prefer Waffle House, anyway.
— [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 22:49, 7 August 2017 (UTC)

I guess that this comic is outdated, now that IHOP is IHOb. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.23|172.69.70.23]] 14:43, 14 June 2018 (UTC)
:This comic is from 2008 and has to be read in that historical context. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:11, 14 June 2018 (UTC)
:They changed back soon after: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/07/09/ihop-changes-name-back-ihob/769310002/ [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 00:30, 24 September 2023 (UTC)

Is the Mohawk Girl a reference to #147? The portrayed scene seems similarly surreal and she is mentioned in 147's title text.

There was a serious editing mistake on this page that I fixed. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.125|172.71.254.125]] 01:06, 7 September 2023 (UTC)
:I un'fixed' it. No more useful than the LTR/RTL thing on that comic page, etc. Congratulations on the thorough effort, but sadly more a problem than a solution. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.32|172.71.178.32]] 08:20, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

1474: Screws

2023-09-20T01:56:36Z

Solomon: Frearson rather than Phillips

{{comic
| number = 1474
| date = January 16, 2015
| title = Screws
| image = screws.png
| titletext = If you encounter a hex bolt, but you only brought screwdrivers, you can try sandwiching the head of the bolt between two parallel screwdriver shafts, squeezing the screwdrivers together with a hand at either end, then twisting. It doesn't work and it's a great way to hurt yourself, but you can try it!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic uses a similar structure and is based off of the same idea as [[1714: Volcano Types]] and [[1874: Geologic Faults]]. Appliance makers sometimes use {{w|List of screw drives|strange screw heads}} to hinder attempts from users to remove appliance covers. Users usually have handy {{w|screwdrivers}} for the first two screw types drawn, Phillips and Flat. More advanced users usually have some less standard drivers, such as {{w|Torx}} or {{w|Allen key|Allen}}, however appliance makers keep designing increasingly strange {{w|List of screw drives|screw heads}} and users keep acquiring increasingly strange screwdrivers.

The comic is about the frustration a user may feel when faced with a screw for which they have no screwdriver. Usually the user will try to fit one of the drivers they have handy into the strange screw, leading to damaging the screw and/or the driver and/or the person wielding the tool.

The types of screws listed are the following:

{| class="wikitable"
! style="width: 25%"|Screw type
! Description
|-
| Phillips head
| {{w|List of screw drives#Phillips|Phillips screw drive}} and its corresponding screw head is one of the most recognizable types of screw heads that is commonly used in construction. This type of screw head was named after its inventor, a US businessman {{w|Henry F. Phillips}}. Neither the inventor nor his invention have any relationship to the Dutch electronics manufacturing company with similar, but not exactly the same name {{w|Philips}}. Technically speaking, this is not a Phillips, as a Phillips screw head is rounded at the center; it is actually a {{w|List of screw drives#Frearson|Frearson screw drive}}.
|-
| Flat head
| {{w|List_of_screw_drives#Slot|Slot head screws}} are frequently erroneously referred to as flat heads (a flat head screw refers, in fact, to the shape of the screw head, regardless of the shape of the drive socket). The slot head is also commonly used in construction. Although the diagram shows the slot truncated, the slot almost always runs across the entire head of the screw (as in the case of the "uranium screw" below).
|-
| Uh oh. Maybe it's on Amazon? (pentagram-shaped screw)
| Manufacturers sometimes use screws that require special screwdrivers in order to prevent the customer from opening the product. The reference to Amazon is presumably a suggestion to search {{w|Amazon.com}} for the screwdriver. A number of star-shaped screw heads exist, notably the six-pointed {{w|Torx}}, and {{w|Apple Inc.|Apple}}'s rounded {{w|Pentalobe screw|pentalobe screw}}, although there is no popular design that uses the 5-pointed star shape depicted in the comic. Torx screws are common in automotive applications — Phillips heads are designed to "{{w|cam out}}" at high {{w|torque}} to protect the screw, whereas Torx do not — and on bicycles where a higher tightening torque is needed than hex screws can support. They are also commonly used on {{w|disk brake}} mounts and in {{w|smartphones}}.

|-
| Cursed −1 Phillips head
| The head of a screw can be stripped by overuse, tightening the screw too much, using the wrong size screwdriver, or other misuse. As the driving surfaces wear away, removing the screw becomes more difficult, and the added pressure needed to drive the screw usually damages it further.

The addition of "cursed" and "−1" in the titles is a reference to various role playing games (e.g. ''{{w|Dungeons and Dragons}}''), where magical "cursed" items appear frequently. This often makes the cursed equipment (in the case of armor or weapons) incredibly difficult to remove, as it will cling to the wielder. Similarly, the cursed Phillips Head screw becomes difficult to remove due to the stripped head. Alternatively, this may imply that the damage to the screw head was caused ''because'' the screw is "cursed" and therefore difficult to remove.

The "−1" refers to the damage of the screw head. In role playing games, items such as weapons and armor may have an "enchantment", with a positive enchantment making the item more effective, and a negative enchantment making the item less effective. Negatively enchanted items are often also cursed, as is the case with this screw head. The "−1" does not appear to be a reference to a {{w|List_of_screw_drives#Phillips|Phillips bit-size number}}, as those are always positive.

Notably, the stripped screw bears a resemblance to a {{w|List_of_screw_drives#Pozidriv|Pozidriv head}}, a modified version of the Phillips head designed to resist slipping and subsequent stripping. Using a Phillips head screwdriver in a Pozidriv screw is very likely to damage the screw head and cause a real Pozidriv screwdriver to no longer mate correctly.{{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Crap, it's a ''rivet''.
| A {{w|rivet}} is not a screw — it is a permanent fastener which is secured by deforming the body of the fastener. Rivets cannot be removed with a screwdriver, they must be drilled out. Some bolts also have rounded rivet-style heads, though, which need a {{w|collet}}-style tool to grip and remove.
|-
| Phillips head ruiner ''(actually a hex screw)''
| A reference to the fact that {{w|List_of_screw_drives#Hex_socket|hex socket}} screws can, in a pinch, be removed with a Phillips screwdriver (rather than the intended {{w|Allen wrench}}) but this will likely ruin the screwdriver (and damage the screw) in the process.
|-
| Uranium screw
| Uranium screws were [http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2014/11/10/fat-mans-uranium/ used] in the [http://www.scintillators.ru/booc/criticality/reports/ref_050.pdf construction] of [http://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/purl/769001 nuclear weapons] during the twentieth century. Multiple radially extending short wave-like lines around the screw head symbolize radiant energy output, although real uranium screws were most likely made of {{w|depleted uranium}}, which is [http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/du_ii_tabc.htm 40 percent less radioactive] than naturally-occurring raw {{w|uranium}}.
|-
| Phillip's head
| This is a morbidly literal interpretation of the misuse of an apostrophe in "Phillip's head". This "screw" is actually a bloody bag containing the severed head of someone named "Phillip" (an all too common modern respelling of the more classic "Philip", perhaps in part influenced by the more typical "Phillips" surname), most likely Metacomet, a Wampanoag chief assassinated in 1676, also known as King Philip. Intentionally or otherwise, this last punchline could be described as a "{{tvtropes|MindScrew|mind screw}}".
|-
|Hex bolt (title text)
|A {{w|List_of_screw_drives#Hex|hex bolt}} has six external sides, so it could in theory be held by squeezing two screwdriver shafts together with the bolt in-between, as an ersatz pair of {{w|pliers}}. The amount of force on the two screwdriver shafts needed to turn the hex bolt and maintain the 'grip' will probably exceed the strength of human hands — the attempt would most likely only result in causing your hands to cramp or causing the screwdrivers to slip and cause further injury. The title text is making a play on the phrase "you can try", which normally implies something with a reasonable chance of success, but here is only pointing out "just because you ''can'' doesn't mean you should".
It marks a variation on the idea that "{{w|Law of the instrument|when all you have is a hammer}}, everything looks like a nail", as also exemplified by the common tendency for cutting-pliers to be used to grip things or gripping pliers to be used to try to flex-shear objects, just because one tool is more immediately at hand than a more correct one. But, in this case, it seems that multiple screwdrivers are available. Whether or not any of these are strictly suitable for all actually encountered screw-heads (as above), here something that is definitely ''not'' actually a screw-head still "looks like one" and forces a gross improvisation in leiu of any of the more suitable tools that should really be used — including an ''external'' hex socket of a suitable size.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Eight drawings of different types of heads each with a caption:]
:[Plus sign-shaped screw.]
:Phillips head
:[Minus sign-shaped screw.]
:Flat head
:[Star-shaped screw.]
:Uh oh. Maybe it's on Amazon?
:[Plus sign-shaped screw with worn edges.]
:Cursed -1 Phillips head
:[No screw, just a circle.]
:Crap, it's a ''rivet''.
:[Hexagon-shaped screw.]
:Phillips-head ruiner
:[Minus sign-shaped screw going through the whole circle. Also giving off radiation.]
:Uranium screw (a real thing)
:[A sack with blood oozing out of it.]
:Phillip's head

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with blood]]
[[Category:Comics with cursed items]]

2702: What If 2 Gift Guide

2023-09-06T00:24:36Z

Solomon: fixed link, oops

<noinclude>:''For other instances of this title, see [[What If (disambiguation)]].</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 2702
| date = November 23, 2022
| title = What If 2 Gift Guide
| image = what_if_2_gift_guide_2x.png
| imagesize = 500x878px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = BABIES OR LITERATURE BUT NOT BOTH: Baby shoes
}}

==Explanation==

[[Randall]] is again promoting his new book, ''[https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ What If? 2]'', and starts by explaining the kind of recipient who might appreciate it, basically anyone who is into science or anything in the universe... So basically anyone.

Then he also gives both direct and humorously indirect instructions of how to obtain the book for them, the latter method making a jocular (but not completely wrong) presumption that almost any text-input widget leads to some relevant search-engine result. Also the entire comic is a link to the ''What If? 2'' page on xkcd that's included in the comic. As always, clicking anywhere on the image will take you there (including actually clicking on the link).

He also suggests some other tongue-in-cheek gift ideas for several other subtypes of gift-receiver, most of which are, in keeping with the ''What If'' ethos, somewhat dangerous or impractical. A number directly reference things previously mentioned or depicted by xkcd.

{| class="wikitable"
|+
|-
! Interest !! Gift Idea !! Explanation
|-
| Engineering || The {{w|International Prototype of the Kilogram|platinum cylinder}} formerly used to define the kilogram || This is an object of historical relevance of which only six exist, making it a very expensive or illegal gift. With the {{w|2019 redefinition of the SI base units|redefinition of the SI base units}} in 2019, {{w|2019_redefinition_of_the_SI_base_units#Kilogram|the kilogram}} is now defined using only natural constants rather than a physical standard. It took some time before this last SI unit was redefined, 3 years prior to this comic's release. The old prototypes are no longer as important as they were when they were actually used to define the kilogram. But they are still historical artifacts with enormous value, even apart from the value of a kilogram of platinum (about $32 000 at time of writing).
|-
| Biology || The genomes of the scientists who headed the human genome project || The "International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium," as the {{w|Human Genome Project}} team was known, involved scientists from twenty institutions in six countries. In the US, it was initially led by DNA structure co-discoverer {{w|James Watson}} who was succeeded by {{w|Francis Collins}}. In the UK, the project was led by {{w|John Sulston}}. The teams from other countries' institutions were less prominent and performed substantially less work on the initial sequencing. James Watson's genome was sequenced in 2007. The genome of {{w|Craig Venter}}, the CEO of {{w|Celera Genomics}}, was used as the exemplar for Celera’s sequence. While the “race” between Celera and NIH was declared a tie by then-President Clinton, in actuality, Celera had some 85+% coverage while NIH was about 50%.
|-
| Physics || A beam of neutrinos delivered through the earth by the LHC || {{w|Neutrino}}s interact very weakly with other particles, to the point that they almost always pass straight through matter completely unaffected. This means that particle accelerators (such as the {{w|Large Hadron Collider}}, or LHC) can send neutrinos to any other point on Earth by aiming the particle beam into the ground, and the neutrinos pass straight through the Earth. This point is referenced in the What-If article "{{what if|73|Lethal Neutrinos}}". The low interactivity of neutrinos would also mean that the recipient would be unable to perceive their gift, making this a poor present for anyone except the small proportion of physics aficionados who already have a neutrino detector on-hand.
|-
| Animals || Surprise wildlife encounter (gift-wrapped box with a bobcat inside) || This is a reference to [[:Category:Bobcats|xkcd's rich history of mailing boxed bobcats to people]]. This gift would place the recipient in a perilous situation, and, although definitely a wildlife encounter, is not a good gift.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Law || A vacation to that area of Idaho where you can commit crimes with impunity due to a court district boundary error || This refers to the "{{w|Zone of Death (Yellowstone)|Zone of Death}}", a 50-square-mile area of Yellowstone National Park that is in the physical boundaries of Idaho, but in the legal jurisdiction of Wyoming. Because a jury in the United States must be composed of residents of the same district ''and'' state in which the crime was committed, but no one lives in this small area of a National Park, anyone who committed a crime here could not (according to a legal theory not fully tested in the courts) receive a trial, and thus could not legally be punished for said crime in any circumstance. This is an interesting legal loophole, but going to this area does not provide any more value than hearing about it, and could scare your law-enthusiast friend.
|-
| Chemistry || A necklace of element samples whose symbols spell out the recipient's name (note: names like "Katherine" and "Brandon" may cause radiation accidents.) || Novelty necklaces are a common and innocuous gift. The {{w|Periodic Table}} traditionally represents each of the chemical elements with a one or two letter symbol. Using these symbols to replace letters in a name is a common gimmick (famously used in the title and credits of {{w|Breaking Bad}}). Using real samples of the given elements could be difficult, as elements can be expensive, highly reactive, or toxic, and some are gaseous or liquid at room temperature. Reactivity and toxicity can be dealt with by containing them in well-sealed containers, which would also be necessary for non-solids. Radioactive elements, on the other hand, could be dangerous even if well contained, and some have half-lives too short to make them a practical gift. Spelling "Katherine" entirely with elemental symbols requires using {{W|astatine}} (whose symbol is "At"), and "Brandon" would require {{W|radium}} (with the symbol Ra). Neither of these elements have stable forms, and both would put out dangerous amounts of radiation. If worn as a necklace (and thus constantly near human flesh), even a small sample of either of these would be dangerous. Additionally, the letters J and Q do not appear in the standard periodic table symbols, while M does not appear on its own (only followed by six other characters, with "o" as the only vowel amongst them), so a name like John, Quinn or Mike would be problematic.
|-
| Puzzles || Two goats and a new car || This is a reference to the "{{w|Monty Hall problem}}", in which a game show contestant has to choose between three doors, two of which conceal goats and one of which conceals a car, and wins whatever prize is revealed. (See [[1282: Monty Hall]], for another cartoon inspired by this problem.) This gift places the recipient within a puzzle which is typically discussed hypothetically rather than happening in real life. Although many people would consider a new car a ''great'' gift, those who would appreciate a gift of goats are less common.
|-
| Technology || Cybiko® wireless handheld computer for teens (2000) || This is a direct callback to [[2699: Feature Comparison|one of the previous week's comics]], which humorously suggested that this device is a better option than most of the current popular communication technologies. While an interesting example of the history of communication technology and coming from a time when experimentation was common and standards were few, it isn't very useful now, because it is no longer supported, has a communication range of 100 meters (sending text messages via radio) and one can only use it to communicate with users of the same device. However, technology enthusiasts could find it interesting as a collectors' item, so by all means it is one of the most plausible gift ideas on this list.
|-
| Space || Webb telescope personal photoshoot || The Webb telescope belongs to NASA, the ESA and the CSA, and is currently very far from Earth. It is designed to capture distant space objects in previously unseen detail. If the photoshoot implies photographing a nearby human, it is not designed to do this, even if the difficulties of sending a human about a million miles to its location could be overcome. On the other hand, if it means photographing the recipient on the earth's surface, Webb would have to point at the warm Earth and expose its optics to the Sun, permanently crippling the telescope ([https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/faqs/faqLite.html Which is forbidden by NASA.]) and it would not have sufficient resolution to make out the subject in any case. These circumstances make it a highly impractical gift, to all intents and purposes to the point of impossibility.

On the other hand, a gift experience of being allowed to take your own snapshot of Webb in position, perhaps with a [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10442913/James-Webb-Space-Telescope-seen-Earth-settles-orbit.html robotic telescope], might be an attractive gift to a space enthusiast! So might a chance to use the Webb telescope to take pictures of whatever celestial objects one chooses, as time on the Webb telescope is very carefully allocated.
|-
| Literature || Stephen King's writing desk (he's still using it so you'll have to fight him) || {{w|Stephen King}} is an author lucky enough to have legendary status while still alive. The desk of a famous author who has died would become an object of historic significance and would likely be either kept for exhibition or auctioned by their respective estate, but as Stephen King is still alive, he would probably object to his desk being subjected to the same.
|-
| Philosophy || Out-of-control trolley || This is another gift that places the recipient in the situations that they like discussing hypothetically. The {{w|trolley problem}} is a thought experiment in which one is asked to decide between allowing a trolley to kill five people or taking an action that causes it to kill one. Presenting someone with such a hypothetical problem may or may not be not a good gift, but [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sl5KJ69qiA forcing them to live through it in real life] is a terrible gift. (See [[1455: Trolley Problem]] for another cartoon inspired by this problem.)
|-
| Psychology || A nice gift with a note saying you don't expect anything in return || This unkind attempt at psychological manipulation is intended as a joke, and is not a viable option on this list. Unlike normal gift giving, which could induce the Benjamin Franklin effect, causing the gift giver to like the recipient more, explicitly stating that the giver doesn't expect anything is an attempt to manipulate or guilt-trip the recipient (as is common for people with personality disorders) by increasing pressure to reciprocate. The joke here comes from the idea of giving a psychologist a note relating to the psychology of gift-giving, manipulation, and personality disorders, but this would not be to their enjoyment and should not be done in real life.
|-
| (Title text) Babies or literature but not both || Baby shoes || This is a reference to the six-word story {{w|For sale: baby shoes, never worn}}, sometimes falsely attributed to Ernest Hemingway. Someone involved with babies, such as expecting or new parents, would find baby shoes a valuable gift for their child. Someone interested in literature would see the reference to a famous work. But someone who understands the reference and also enjoys babies might be sad, since the story implies the seller was expecting a baby but something went tragically wrong. This story was previously the subject of [[1540: Hemingway]].
|}

==Transcript==

What If? 2 Gift Guide

What if? 2 makes a good gift for anyone who's into science, absurd ideas, or just the universe in general. To order, go to xkcd.com/whatif2, or just type "what if 2" into some random box on your device; it will probably work.

Here are some other gift ideas for hard-to-shop-for science enthusiasts:

Interest - Gift Idea

Engineering - The platinum cylinder formerly used to define the kilogram 
Biology - The genomes of the scientists who headed the human genome project 
Physics - A beam of neutrinos delivered through the earth by the LHC 
Animals - Surprise wildlife encounter (gift-wrapped box with a bobcat inside) 
Law - A vacation to that area of Idaho where you can commit crimes with impunity due to a court district boundary error 
Chemistry - A necklace of element samples whose symbols spell out the recipient's name (note: names like "Katherine" and "Brandon" may cause radiation accidents.) 
Puzzles - Two goats and a new car 
Technology - Cybiko® Wireless Handheld Computer for Teens (2000) 
Space - Webb telescope personal photoshoot 
Literature - Stephen King's writing desk (he's still using it so you'll have to fight him) 
Philosophy - Out-of-control trolley 
Psychology - A nice gift with a note saying you don't expect anything in return. 

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Book promotion]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Bobcats]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]
[[Category:Photography]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Psychology]]
[[Category:What If?]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

2702: What If 2 Gift Guide

2023-09-06T00:23:38Z

Solomon: mention 1540: Hemingway

<noinclude>:''For other instances of this title, see [[What If (disambiguation)]].</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 2702
| date = November 23, 2022
| title = What If 2 Gift Guide
| image = what_if_2_gift_guide_2x.png
| imagesize = 500x878px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = BABIES OR LITERATURE BUT NOT BOTH: Baby shoes
}}

==Explanation==

[[Randall]] is again promoting his new book, ''[https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ What If? 2]'', and starts by explaining the kind of recipient who might appreciate it, basically anyone who is into science or anything in the universe... So basically anyone.

Then he also gives both direct and humorously indirect instructions of how to obtain the book for them, the latter method making a jocular (but not completely wrong) presumption that almost any text-input widget leads to some relevant search-engine result. Also the entire comic is a link to the ''What If? 2'' page on xkcd that's included in the comic. As always, clicking anywhere on the image will take you there (including actually clicking on the link).

He also suggests some other tongue-in-cheek gift ideas for several other subtypes of gift-receiver, most of which are, in keeping with the ''What If'' ethos, somewhat dangerous or impractical. A number directly reference things previously mentioned or depicted by xkcd.

{| class="wikitable"
|+
|-
! Interest !! Gift Idea !! Explanation
|-
| Engineering || The {{w|International Prototype of the Kilogram|platinum cylinder}} formerly used to define the kilogram || This is an object of historical relevance of which only six exist, making it a very expensive or illegal gift. With the {{w|2019 redefinition of the SI base units|redefinition of the SI base units}} in 2019, {{w|2019_redefinition_of_the_SI_base_units#Kilogram|the kilogram}} is now defined using only natural constants rather than a physical standard. It took some time before this last SI unit was redefined, 3 years prior to this comic's release. The old prototypes are no longer as important as they were when they were actually used to define the kilogram. But they are still historical artifacts with enormous value, even apart from the value of a kilogram of platinum (about $32 000 at time of writing).
|-
| Biology || The genomes of the scientists who headed the human genome project || The "International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium," as the {{w|Human Genome Project}} team was known, involved scientists from twenty institutions in six countries. In the US, it was initially led by DNA structure co-discoverer {{w|James Watson}} who was succeeded by {{w|Francis Collins}}. In the UK, the project was led by {{w|John Sulston}}. The teams from other countries' institutions were less prominent and performed substantially less work on the initial sequencing. James Watson's genome was sequenced in 2007. The genome of {{w|Craig Venter}}, the CEO of {{w|Celera Genomics}}, was used as the exemplar for Celera’s sequence. While the “race” between Celera and NIH was declared a tie by then-President Clinton, in actuality, Celera had some 85+% coverage while NIH was about 50%.
|-
| Physics || A beam of neutrinos delivered through the earth by the LHC || {{w|Neutrino}}s interact very weakly with other particles, to the point that they almost always pass straight through matter completely unaffected. This means that particle accelerators (such as the {{w|Large Hadron Collider}}, or LHC) can send neutrinos to any other point on Earth by aiming the particle beam into the ground, and the neutrinos pass straight through the Earth. This point is referenced in the What-If article "{{what if|73|Lethal Neutrinos}}". The low interactivity of neutrinos would also mean that the recipient would be unable to perceive their gift, making this a poor present for anyone except the small proportion of physics aficionados who already have a neutrino detector on-hand.
|-
| Animals || Surprise wildlife encounter (gift-wrapped box with a bobcat inside) || This is a reference to [[:Category:Bobcats|xkcd's rich history of mailing boxed bobcats to people]]. This gift would place the recipient in a perilous situation, and, although definitely a wildlife encounter, is not a good gift.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Law || A vacation to that area of Idaho where you can commit crimes with impunity due to a court district boundary error || This refers to the "{{w|Zone of Death (Yellowstone)|Zone of Death}}", a 50-square-mile area of Yellowstone National Park that is in the physical boundaries of Idaho, but in the legal jurisdiction of Wyoming. Because a jury in the United States must be composed of residents of the same district ''and'' state in which the crime was committed, but no one lives in this small area of a National Park, anyone who committed a crime here could not (according to a legal theory not fully tested in the courts) receive a trial, and thus could not legally be punished for said crime in any circumstance. This is an interesting legal loophole, but going to this area does not provide any more value than hearing about it, and could scare your law-enthusiast friend.
|-
| Chemistry || A necklace of element samples whose symbols spell out the recipient's name (note: names like "Katherine" and "Brandon" may cause radiation accidents.) || Novelty necklaces are a common and innocuous gift. The {{w|Periodic Table}} traditionally represents each of the chemical elements with a one or two letter symbol. Using these symbols to replace letters in a name is a common gimmick (famously used in the title and credits of {{w|Breaking Bad}}). Using real samples of the given elements could be difficult, as elements can be expensive, highly reactive, or toxic, and some are gaseous or liquid at room temperature. Reactivity and toxicity can be dealt with by containing them in well-sealed containers, which would also be necessary for non-solids. Radioactive elements, on the other hand, could be dangerous even if well contained, and some have half-lives too short to make them a practical gift. Spelling "Katherine" entirely with elemental symbols requires using {{W|astatine}} (whose symbol is "At"), and "Brandon" would require {{W|radium}} (with the symbol Ra). Neither of these elements have stable forms, and both would put out dangerous amounts of radiation. If worn as a necklace (and thus constantly near human flesh), even a small sample of either of these would be dangerous. Additionally, the letters J and Q do not appear in the standard periodic table symbols, while M does not appear on its own (only followed by six other characters, with "o" as the only vowel amongst them), so a name like John, Quinn or Mike would be problematic.
|-
| Puzzles || Two goats and a new car || This is a reference to the "{{w|Monty Hall problem}}", in which a game show contestant has to choose between three doors, two of which conceal goats and one of which conceals a car, and wins whatever prize is revealed. (See [[1282: Monty Hall]], for another cartoon inspired by this problem.) This gift places the recipient within a puzzle which is typically discussed hypothetically rather than happening in real life. Although many people would consider a new car a ''great'' gift, those who would appreciate a gift of goats are less common.
|-
| Technology || Cybiko® wireless handheld computer for teens (2000) || This is a direct callback to [[2699: Feature Comparison|one of the previous week's comics]], which humorously suggested that this device is a better option than most of the current popular communication technologies. While an interesting example of the history of communication technology and coming from a time when experimentation was common and standards were few, it isn't very useful now, because it is no longer supported, has a communication range of 100 meters (sending text messages via radio) and one can only use it to communicate with users of the same device. However, technology enthusiasts could find it interesting as a collectors' item, so by all means it is one of the most plausible gift ideas on this list.
|-
| Space || Webb telescope personal photoshoot || The Webb telescope belongs to NASA, the ESA and the CSA, and is currently very far from Earth. It is designed to capture distant space objects in previously unseen detail. If the photoshoot implies photographing a nearby human, it is not designed to do this, even if the difficulties of sending a human about a million miles to its location could be overcome. On the other hand, if it means photographing the recipient on the earth's surface, Webb would have to point at the warm Earth and expose its optics to the Sun, permanently crippling the telescope ([https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/faqs/faqLite.html Which is forbidden by NASA.]) and it would not have sufficient resolution to make out the subject in any case. These circumstances make it a highly impractical gift, to all intents and purposes to the point of impossibility.

On the other hand, a gift experience of being allowed to take your own snapshot of Webb in position, perhaps with a [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10442913/James-Webb-Space-Telescope-seen-Earth-settles-orbit.html robotic telescope], might be an attractive gift to a space enthusiast! So might a chance to use the Webb telescope to take pictures of whatever celestial objects one chooses, as time on the Webb telescope is very carefully allocated.
|-
| Literature || Stephen King's writing desk (he's still using it so you'll have to fight him) || {{w|Stephen King}} is an author lucky enough to have legendary status while still alive. The desk of a famous author who has died would become an object of historic significance and would likely be either kept for exhibition or auctioned by their respective estate, but as Stephen King is still alive, he would probably object to his desk being subjected to the same.
|-
| Philosophy || Out-of-control trolley || This is another gift that places the recipient in the situations that they like discussing hypothetically. The {{w|trolley problem}} is a thought experiment in which one is asked to decide between allowing a trolley to kill five people or taking an action that causes it to kill one. Presenting someone with such a hypothetical problem may or may not be not a good gift, but [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sl5KJ69qiA forcing them to live through it in real life] is a terrible gift. (See [[1455: Trolley Problem]] for another cartoon inspired by this problem.)
|-
| Psychology || A nice gift with a note saying you don't expect anything in return || This unkind attempt at psychological manipulation is intended as a joke, and is not a viable option on this list. Unlike normal gift giving, which could induce the Benjamin Franklin effect, causing the gift giver to like the recipient more, explicitly stating that the giver doesn't expect anything is an attempt to manipulate or guilt-trip the recipient (as is common for people with personality disorders) by increasing pressure to reciprocate. The joke here comes from the idea of giving a psychologist a note relating to the psychology of gift-giving, manipulation, and personality disorders, but this would not be to their enjoyment and should not be done in real life.
|-
| (Title text) Babies or literature but not both || Baby shoes || This is a reference to the six-word story {{w|For sale: baby shoes, never worn}}, sometimes falsely attributed to Ernest Hemingway. Someone involved with babies, such as expecting or new parents, would find baby shoes a valuable gift for their child. Someone interested in literature would see the reference to a famous work. But someone who understands the reference and also enjoys babies might be sad, since the story implies the seller was expecting a baby but something went tragically wrong. This story was previously the subject of [1540: Hemingway].
|}

==Transcript==

What If? 2 Gift Guide

What if? 2 makes a good gift for anyone who's into science, absurd ideas, or just the universe in general. To order, go to xkcd.com/whatif2, or just type "what if 2" into some random box on your device; it will probably work.

Here are some other gift ideas for hard-to-shop-for science enthusiasts:

Interest - Gift Idea

Engineering - The platinum cylinder formerly used to define the kilogram 
Biology - The genomes of the scientists who headed the human genome project 
Physics - A beam of neutrinos delivered through the earth by the LHC 
Animals - Surprise wildlife encounter (gift-wrapped box with a bobcat inside) 
Law - A vacation to that area of Idaho where you can commit crimes with impunity due to a court district boundary error 
Chemistry - A necklace of element samples whose symbols spell out the recipient's name (note: names like "Katherine" and "Brandon" may cause radiation accidents.) 
Puzzles - Two goats and a new car 
Technology - Cybiko® Wireless Handheld Computer for Teens (2000) 
Space - Webb telescope personal photoshoot 
Literature - Stephen King's writing desk (he's still using it so you'll have to fight him) 
Philosophy - Out-of-control trolley 
Psychology - A nice gift with a note saying you don't expect anything in return. 

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Book promotion]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Bobcats]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]
[[Category:Photography]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Psychology]]
[[Category:What If?]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

2819: Pronunciation

2023-08-23T21:00:50Z

Solomon: added Category:Pet Peeves using HotCat

{{comic
| number = 2819
| date = August 23, 2023
| title = Pronunciation
| image = pronunciation_2x.png
| imagesize = 315x257px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I pronounce the 'u' in 'pronunciation' like in 'putting' but the 'ou' in 'pronounce' like in 'wound'.
}}

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

The comic shows how to pronounce the word "Tuesday", however it does so through the use of ambiguous pronunciation guides. Often these guides are used to tell people how something is pronounced without resorting to the IPA, which most are unfamiliar with. However these guides often have issues with multiple accents, or in this case, words that can be pronounced in multiple ways.

(Note: using General American pronunciations here)

{| class="wikitable"
! Guide !! Correct !! Other !! Notes
|-
| Buffe'''t'''
| /ˈbʌf.ɪ'''t'''/ (strike)
| /ˈbʌ.feɪ/ (silent t) (food)
|
|-
| Min'''u'''te
| /maɪˈn'''(j)uː'''t/ (small)
| /ˈmɪn'''ɪ'''t/ (time)
|
|-
| R'''e'''cord
| /ɹ'''ɪ'''ˈkɔɹd/ (verb)
| /ˈɹ'''ɛ'''k.ɚd/ or /ˈɹ'''ɛ'''k.ɔɹd/ (noun)
| Neither is actually the correct e, the correct e would be silent.
|-
| U'''s'''e
| /juː'''z'''/ (verb)
| /juː'''s'''/ (noun)
|
|-
| Mope'''d'''
| /ˈmoʊ.pɛ'''d'''/ (vehicle)
| /moʊp'''t'''/ (dejected)
|
|-
| B'''a'''ss
| /b'''eɪ'''s/ (guitar)
| /b'''æ'''s/ (fish)
| /æ/ is also correct in New Zealand English.
|-
| G'''y'''ro
| /ˈj'''iː'''.ɹoʊ/, /ˈj'''ɪ'''ɹoʊ/ or /ˈʒ'''ɪ'''ɹoʊ/ (sandwich)
| /ˈd͡ʒ'''aɪ'''.ɹoʊ/ (gyroscope)
| The sandwich can also be pronounced like the gyroscope.
|}

Following this guide, a pronunciation of Tuesday as /ɪɛstæaɪ/ is possible.

The title text references how some people pronounce the word "pron'''u'''nciation" like "pron'''ou'''nce" (with /aʊ/) and others use a different vowel /ʌ/. Here Randall is saying that he pronounces them with the u in putting and the ou in wound. If we take putting to mean /ˈpʌtɪŋ/ (golf) and wound as /waʊnd/ (up), this could mean he pronounces them using common differing pronunciations. However those two words could also be pronounced /ˈpʊtɪŋ/ (placing) and /wund/ (injury), indicating a very non-standard pronunication.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[The word "Tuesday", with each letter labeled by a box with an arrow:]
:T: As in buffe'''t'''
:u: As in min'''u'''te
:e: As in r'''e'''cord
:s: As in u'''s'''e
:d: As in mope'''d'''
:a: As in b'''a'''ss
:y: As in g'''y'''ro

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Pet peeve: Ambiguous pronunciation guides

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Pet Peeves]]

2166: Stack

2023-08-17T18:50:21Z

Solomon: adding separators to transcript

{{comic
| number = 2166
| date = June 21, 2019
| title = Stack
| image = stack.png
| titletext = Gotta feel kind of bad for nation-state hackers who spend years implanting and cultivating some hardware exploit, only to discover the entire target database is already exposed to anyone with a web browser.
}}

==Explanation==

In software engineering, a {{w|Solution stack|tech stack}} is the set of technology platforms and tools that a company or app uses. A common tech stack is {{w|LAMP (software bundle)|LAMP}}, composed of a {{w|Linux}} {{w|Operating system|operating system}}, an {{w|Apache HTTP Server|Apache}} {{w|Web server}}, a {{w|MySQL}} {{w|database}}, and the {{w|PHP}} programming language.

In this instance, all of the layers represent systems which have been subverted or compromised ("hacked") by various entities, instead of various software technologies. The stack resembles an OSI network architecture, with an eighth layer added representing the user itself.

'''Compromised by a customer:''' The user experience, above the OSI layers. Compromised by users doing something wrong or ill-advised.

'''Compromised by a former employee:''' In the OSI model, this would be the application layer. The application may include a hidden spyware in its codebase. Recent examples of compromise: Desjardins Group

'''Compromised by a current employee:''' This is the presentation layer. See above. Probably, that was compromised by a mistake of a current unexperienced employee.

'''Compromised by Bitcoin miners:''' This is the session layer, where SSL historically resided. Cryptographic exploits may cause compromise of whole communication. Examples of compromise: Dozens of bitcoin mining viruses.

'''Compromised by unknown hackers:''' This is the transport layer. IP and port spoofing is a possible compromise.

'''Compromised by our own government:''' This is the network layer. It refers to communication intercepts by governments. Examples of compromise: Cisco (for US citizens)

'''Compromised by a foreign government:''' This is the data link layer. This layer may be compromised by malrouting packets. Examples of compromise: Huawei (for non-Chinese citizens)

'''Massive undiscovered hardware vulnerability:''' This is the physical layer. An undiscovered hardware vulnerability may cause compromises further up in the stack. Examples of compromises:
{{w|Intel Management Engine}}, {{w|Meltdown (security vulnerability)|Meltdown}}, {{w|Row hammer}}

In the title text, Randall expresses sympathy for a situation where someone spends a significant length of time on something that then becomes completely unnecessary. In this case, it's the state-sponsored hackers who develop an exploit of some hardware component, which then becomes completely useless because the target database on that hardware is totally open anyway to anyone with a web browser (which is essentially everyone). While he's not suggesting he agrees with their hacking, he has some sympathy for their wasted effort.

==Transcript==
:[Single-panel with a label at the top and 8 box layers stacked vertically, with in and out arrows at the top representing normal data flow and an arrow out of each box to the left or right representing exploit data flow]
:The Modern Tech Stack
:*Compromised by a customer (arrow to the right)
:*Compromised by a former employee (arrow to the left)
:*(separator)
:*Compromised by a current employee (arrow to the right)
:*Compromised by bitcoin miners (arrow to the right)
:*Compromised by unknown hackers (arrow to the left)
:*(separator)
:*Compromised by our own government (arrow to the right)
:*Compromised by a foreign government (arrow to the left)
:*Massive undiscovered hardware vulnerability (arrow to the right)

==Trivia==
Comic [[1636: XKCD Stack]] also has a hypothetical technology stack, with farcical layers.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Programming]]

2786: UFO Evidence

2023-08-01T01:42:50Z

Solomon: added Category:Cats using HotCat

{{comic
| number = 2786
| date = June 7, 2023
| title = UFO Evidence
| image = ufo_evidence_2x.png
| imagesize = 340x422px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [Decades in the future] "Well, the good news is that we've received definitive communication from aliens. The bad news is that they're asking about Cats (2019)."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ANATOMICALLY INCORRECT CAT WITH A NEED THAT WILL NOT BE SATISFIED. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[White Hat]] (presumably a [[wikipedia:Ufology|ufologist]]) accuses [[Cueball]] of being unwilling to listen to his claims for extraterrestrial life. UFO stands for "unidentified flying object", but has become strongly associated with the belief that alien ships have visited or are visiting earth. People who believe this are likely to take the position that governments are systematically covering up evidence of alien contact, and the scientific community is either complicit or indifferent. Hence, White Hat accuses "you scientists" of refusing to even seriously consider evidence of his beliefs.

This strip was released after a number of news reports and US Senate hearings that reviewed unexplained aerial phenomena. While some of these remain unexplained, the general consensus remains that there is no real evidence that any of these phenomena are of extraterrestrial origin, let alone evidence of alien visitation. A devout UFO-believer is likely to be somewhat disappointed by this, and may take it as evidence that both political and scientific establishments are deliberately ignoring evidence.

Cueball counters this common pushback by admitting that he once spent an entire day trying to confirm the existence of a version of [[wikipedia:Cats_(2019_film)|the 2019 film adaptation of ''Cats'']] which allegedly gave the eponymous anthropomorphic felines anatomically-correct rear ends.

The ''Cats'' movie was widely panned, in part because of the unappealing design of its CGI cat characters. On March 18, 2020, Twitter user @jackwaz claimed a friend of a friend had been hired as a VFX artist to "[https://www.avclub.com/world-unites-over-need-for-cats-producers-to-releaseth-1842396923 remove CGI buttholes]" from the digital cats, meaning that there was a version of the movie where the characters all had anatomically correct feline anuses depicted. This caused social media users to start petitioning for official confirmation of "the butthole cut," which Universal Studios has so far declined to acknowledge.

Cueball's point is apparently that he (like many scientists) is driven by curiosity, and willing to spend a great deal of time and energy to answer questions. His suggestion is that, if he was willing to put effort into investigating such an inconsequential and ridiculous question, based on incredibly flimsy evidence, it's implausible that he would simply ignore actual evidence about something as important as the existence of sentient alien life. The only reason why he (and most scientists) would reject such claims is a total lack of even faintly compelling evidence. If someone ever managed to present evidence of alien life that was even slightly plausible, many scientists would enthusiastically spend a great deal of time and effort trying to verify it, as in [[2359: Evidence of Alien Life]].

This strip continues a common XKCD theme of mocking dubious claims, including [[Alien Observers|UFOs]], [[Health Drink|pseudoscience]], [[The Economic Argument|paranormal phenomena]], and [[Conspiracy Theories]], which are presented without plausible or verifiable evidence. [[Randall]]'s general attitude toward these claims is that, if any of these things were true, we would expect evidence for them by now. Complaints that there is evidence, and scientists won't look at it are utterly implausible, because such evidence would be of enormous interest to scientists, if it was even slightly convincing.

The title text may refer to [https://phys.org/news/2015-01-aliens-tv.html the idea that aliens could be watching our old TV] (previously explored in [[1212: Interstellar Memes]]). Because radio and television signals travel at light speed, aliens light years away could theoretically receive earth entertainment years after it was originally broadcast. The idea that they are learning about us from ''Cats'', which is thought of as {{w|List of films considered the worst#Cats (2019)|one of our worst films of all time}}, is not the view of humanity either most people would want to present or most people would not want aliens to show extreme interest in. Especially since they might ask for the butthole cut....

==Transcript==
:[White Hat, with his finger raised, is talking to Cueball.]
:White Hat: You scientists aren't willing to take my UFO evidence seriously!
:Cueball: I once spent a whole day trying to confirm the existence of a director's cut of ''Cats'' (2019) where the cats had anatomically correct CGI butts.
:Cueball: It's honestly embarrassing how fast I'd do a 180 if your evidence seemed promising.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Cats]]

1050: Forgot Algebra

2023-06-30T03:51:18Z

Solomon: link to Lockhart's Lament

{{comic
| number = 1050
| date = May 2, 2012
| title = Forgot Algebra
| image = forgot_algebra.png
| titletext = The only things you HAVE to know are how to make enough of a living to stay alive and how to get your taxes done. All the fun parts of life are optional.
}}
==Explanation==
[[Megan]], standing with [[Hairy]], is an ex student of [[Miss Lenhart]] and she taunts her old algebra teacher, because she hasn't used algebra since she left school. This is a reflection of a common gripe among students: that they have no need to learn math because they assume they'll never use it after they graduate. [[Randall|Randall's]] argument is that you have the option to use what you learned in school or not. Lots of people use math after they graduate, lots of people use their music lessons, and others don't use anything they learned in school at all. However, Randall doesn't understand why someone would be proud of their own ignorance, especially since people do brag about things like being able to cook and speak other languages, which are also entirely non-essential, perhaps even more so than algebra. See "A Mathematician's Lament" by Paul Lockhart: https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf

However, Megan is also wrong in that she likely does use basic mathematical calculations in everyday life, even if they're not in orderly lists of parameters ending with "solve for x." For example, to turn one's apartment into a ball pit like in [[150: Grownups]], one must calculate or at least estimate (another skill learned in math class) the floor space of the room, the desired depth for the balls to cover, the space occupied by one crate of balls, and the cost of such a crate. While the operations are basic arithmetic, the ability to recognize unknowns and sort them into a meaningful statement comes from algebra.

The title text states that technically you don't "need" to do anything but survive and {{w|Death & Taxes|pay your taxes}} (although, ironically, doing one's taxes can require quite a bit of algebra), and implies that math is one of the optional and fun parts of life.

This is one of the two comics where Miss Lenhart is both drawn and named, the first being [[499: Scantron]].

==Transcript==
:[Hairy is looking on as Megan takes her hands to her mouth and yells after Miss Lenhart who is walking away while looking back at her over her shoulder.]
:Megan: Hey, Miss Lenhart! I forgot everything about algebra the moment I graduated, and in 20 years no one has needed me to solve ''anything'' for x.
:Megan: I ''told you'' I'd never use it!
:Megan: In your ''face''!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:It's weird how proud people are of not learning math when the same arguments apply to learning to play music, cook, or speak a foreign language.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Math]]

Talk:96: Mail

2023-06-15T06:15:00Z

Solomon: cited USPS 526.5 Live Scorpions

How about a bobcat?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.202|108.162.219.202]] 05:57, 30 December 2013 (UTC)

No, but live scorpions are: http://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_007.htm --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.205|173.245.52.205]] 15:36, 20 January 2014 (UTC)
:526.5 explains when they're allowed and how to mail them: https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm#ep184083 [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 06:15, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

I think it's black hat guy on the other end of the phone line. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.45|108.162.221.45]] 20:47, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

: If it were the black hat guy, he'd have something more snarky to say. This cueball's character is more in line with beret guy. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.39|108.162.216.39]] 07:08, 26 February 2015 (UTC)BK201

:: Black hat does have an obsession about these things. see 325. This seems to be likely that it's him. But ill leave the desicion to someone else. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.139|162.158.2.139]] 05:23, 7 June 2016 (UTC)

Did anyone else read it as him not being allowed to mail himself via USPS? --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 17:12, 27 November 2014 (UTC)

A package of time, if it even made sense, would not require time not to be continuous. However I won't remove that paragraph from the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.41|172.68.26.41]] 19:18, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

The second paragraph here is rather unclear and could use some rewriting. Unfortunately, I can't get a good enough grasp of what it's trying to say to do it.
* The first sentence I think is trying to say something like "...time is not continuous - similar to particles in quantum mechanics", but I don't know enough about the subject to know if this makes sense.
* The first part of the second sentence looks like it's trying to say "This is not a widely accepted theory..."
* I don't know what the second part of the second sentence is getting at at all
Can anyone else have a go at it?[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.16|141.101.76.16]] 12:09, 17 January 2018 (UTC)

isn't pi either close to a number with a fixed number of decimals (as before the revision by M), or equal to a number with indefinite decimals (as indicated by the "...")? So that the combination of close to and the "..." makes it at least inaccurate? As I am not 100% familiar with English mathematical writing: Can someone please verify or contradict my statement? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 15:00, 12 March 2019 (UTC)
:You can define a rational number that is arbitrarily close to pi (example: off by no more than 1 in 10 to the tenth power). You can never write down (or digitally store) the '''exact''' value of pi. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:22, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

It could also be a literal no fly list, as in the insect fly. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.141|172.68.110.141]] 12:12, 12 May 2022 (UTC)

2042: Rolle's Theorem

2023-05-31T00:58:05Z

Solomon: add link to https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/pgj3og/are_there_any_theoremsobjects_involving_company/

{{comic
| number = 2042
| date = September 5, 2018
| title = Rolle's Theorem
| image = rolles_theorem.png
| titletext = I mean, if it's that easy to get a theorem named for you ... "a straight line that passes through the center of a coplanar circle always divides the circle into two equal halves." Can I have that one? Wait, can I auction off the naming rights? It can be the Red Bull Theorem or the Quicken Loans Theorem, depending who wants it more.
}}

==Explanation==
In mathematics, a {{w|differentiable function}} is a function that is "smooth" everywhere, without any sudden breaks or pointy "kinks" or similar. The derivative of such a function is a new function that represents the "slope" or "rate of change" of the original. The function in this comic curves up from point (a) until a point above (c), smoothly turns around, and then curves down from (c) to (b). As a result, the derivative of this function is positive from (a) to (c), and then is negative from (c) to (b). At (c) itself, the function is "flat": the more one zooms in, the more horizontal it looks. The function is moving neither up nor down, so the derivative is neither positive nor negative, but zero. This is what ''f'(c) = 0'' means, as ''f''' is a common notation for the derivative of the function ''f'' in {{w|differential calculus}}.

A {{w|theorem}} in mathematics is a statement that has been ''proven'' from former accepted statements, like other theorems or {{w|axiom}}s. This comic references {{w|Rolle's theorem}}. The theorem essentially states that, if a smoothly changing function has the same output at two different inputs, then it must have one or more turning points in between, as the derivative is zero at each one. As a special case, should the function remain flat between the two inputs, then its derivative is actually zero for every point between the inputs. To [[Randall]], this is obvious. However, the proof of this theorem is not as obvious as the result.

The seeming triviality of the theorem, coupled with the honour bestowed on the theorem namer, leads Randall to make a comparison to attendees of art museums who look at abstract art pieces and perceive only an apparent technical simplicity in the work. Such a visitor might exclaim "My child could paint that!". However, such works of art typically are seen as having value from attributes other than the painterly difficulty in achieving the piece. For example, an artist's work in this style may be lauded for its visionary qualities, or the emotions expressed through the choice of colours or textures. One such artist is {{w|Jackson Pollock}}. The 'clueless' visitor does not see these aspects and believes their child could imitate the piece. Randall suggests he experiences a similar feeling looking at Rolle's Theorem and noting only the obvious correctness without acknowledging the complicated nature of the proof, or other hidden aspects of the theorem.

In the title text, Randall mentions a line together with a ''coplanar'' circle. This simply means that both those two-dimensional objects must lay in the same plane in a higher, three-or-more-dimensional space. And by this means, every line drawn through the center of a circle is just a diameter which divides it into two equal parts. Even if this fact is trivial, {{w|Proclus}} says that the first man who proved it was {{w|Thales of Miletus|Thales}}. Auctioning of {{w|naming rights}}, also noted in the title text, refers to the practice of naming entertainment venues for companies which pay for the privilege, such as any of the three {{w|Red Bull Arena}}s or {{w|Quicken Loans Arena}}. (See [https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/pgj3og/are_there_any_theoremsobjects_involving_company/ "Are there any theorems/objects involving company names."] on r/math.) Furthermore, "Rolle's" sounds like "Rolls", a common abbreviation for the {{w|Rolls-Royce Motor Cars|Rolls Royce}} brand implying possible sponsorship by the British car manufacturer. The naming of mathematical theorems (along with lemmas, equations, laws, methods, etc.) is [http://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/devlin_09_05.html not always straightforward] and {{w|List of misnamed theorems|often results in misleading names}}.

Randall implies that there are many seemingly easy theorems like this. For instance the Dirichlet's box principle, also known as the {{w|Pigeonhole principle}}, that states that if you have more objects than containers, you're going to have to put at least two objects in one container.

==Transcript==
:[A single framed picture shows a colored x-y-graph with a text above:]
:'''Rolle's Theorem'''
:From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

:Rolle's theorem states that any real, differentiable function that has the same value at two different points must have at least one "stationary point" between them where the slope is zero.

:[The graph shows a sine like curve in blue intersecting the x-axis at points "a" and "b" marked in red while in the middle a point "c" has a vertical dashed green line to the apex and on top also in green f'(c)=0 is drawn with a horizontal tangent line.]

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Every now and then, I feel like the math equivalent of the clueless art museum visitor squinting at a painting and saying "c'mon, my kid could make that."

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Analysis]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

Talk:128: dPain over dt

2023-05-24T20:30:11Z

Solomon: reply about dimensional analysis

== Explanation ==

: ''Since this is my first real contribution here I'm putting everything on the talk page instead of on the article itself.''

The equation describes Pain as a function of Pain, time, and several constants. This is a [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=dP%2Fdt+%3D+%28-a+*+P+%2B+G%29+%281+%2B+e+%5E+-%28t-b%29%2Fd%29%5E%28-1%29 first-order linear differential equation with possible solution]:

Pain = c_1 (e^k_2 + d e^t)^(-k_1) + (Girl)/k_1

Hopefully, d is relatively small ("days... or weeks"), thereby diminishing the time it takes for Pain to change. Significantly, k_1 needs to be positive, otherwise the first term would grow unbounded and Pain would never decrease. Assuming k_1 is positive, a larger k_2 results in a lower initial state. Again assuming k_1 is positive, the "Girl" term guarantees there will always be a nonzero amount of Pain since Pain approaches Girl/k_1 asymptotically, unless of course "How much she's still in my life" is zero. This probably gives rise to observation "I guess there's some kind of a cutoff after years."

--[[User:Smartin|Smartin]] ([[User talk:Smartin|talk]]) 02:33, 1 January 2013 (UTC)

Applying dimensional analysis suggests the 'How much she's still in my life' has the same units as 'Pain'. This makes no sense.

:Clearly you've not been through this kind of loss. [[User:IdahoEv|IdahoEv]] ([[User talk:IdahoEv|talk]]) 19:23, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

:Are you assuming k1 is dimensionless? AFAICT, k1 is frequency, k2 and d are time, and 'How much she's still in my life' is pain per time.

In addition, the explanation that pain will eventally reach zero after 'how much she's still in my life' reaches zero (either through drifiting apart or death?) 'after a number of years' is contradicted by the text of the comic (...we can be friends). Perhaps the formulation is incorrect?

I would like to suggest that the first term be corrected to : (-k1.pain.(1-megan)) where 'megan' lies between 0 and 1. This makes dimensional sense.
I would also like to suggest that the denominator of the second term be amended to: (1+ e^((K2-t)/d))). By my reckoning this allows a time period approximately equal to K2 where dPain/dt is small, so providing the cut-off period. After this period, dPain / dt gets increasingly negative.

My own experience is that K2, in my terms, is proportionate to the amount of denial you indulge in and inversely proportionate to the presence of someone else to help you pull through! Whatever, the cartoon provided a good amount of laughter which also helps.

--[[User:HandyAndy|HandyAndy]] ([[User talk:HandyAndy|talk]]) 19:36, 20 May 2013 (UTC) HandyAndy 20:35 BST, 2013-05-20 (ref ISO 1806 ;-))
: 'How much she's still in my life' should have dimension Pain/time (the same as dPain/dt) and k1 has dimension 1/time. We don't know for sure, if 'How much she's still in my life' is a constant or a function, but if it is a constant, the solution of the ODE is as follows (Smartin: You forgot a pair of parentheses) [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=dP%2Fdt+%3D+%28-k1*P%2BG%29*%281%2F%281%2Bexp%28-%28t-k2%29%2Fd%29%29%29]:
P(t) = c_1*(e^(k2/d)+e^(t/d))^(-d*k1)+G/k1.
:--[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 14:59, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

I just added the (IMO correct) solution to the ODE and marked the rest as incomplete/incorrect.
First of all, we can't say that less pain is "better". But assuming that, it's not enough that ''dPain/dt'' approaches 0 fast, but that P(t) itself gets smaller or at least does not increase unbounded. --[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 15:47, 22 July 2013 (UTC)
:We still have to figure out about what REAL equation is in the background. It's not relativity, entropy, or thermodynamics. But the picture looks familiar to me, my poor old brain just do not remember.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:47, 22 July 2013 (UTC)
::The first factor alone would describe a shifted {{w|exponential decay}}. The second factor is a scaled and shifted {{w|sigmoid function}}, more precisely the hyperbolic tangent shifted to have its inflection at ''(k2,0.5)'' and vertically scaled by ''d''. I'm not sure if that helps anyone, though ... --[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 08:40, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

This is a Desmos of the pain equation: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/req3jnplsc. Can someone check if my equation is a solution of the equation? When I change d, it seems to be favourable for d to be large. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.88|162.158.165.88]] 00:09, 18 September 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2621: Mainly Known For

2023-02-27T05:52:04Z

Solomon: link to https://mobile.twitter.com/JBK517/status/1629994648528625664 as example

Title text: the movies are Star Wars, 1) Keira Knightly starred as one of the handmaidens of Padme, 2) The Land Before Time had George Lucas as executive producer 3) The guy from Jurassic Park and Ghostwriter is Samuel L. Jackson 4) Billie Lourd's mom is Carrie Fisher.--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.254.121|172.70.254.121]] 04:19, 19 May 2022 (UTC)
:The hard part must have been finding out that she did script work, because she is not credited for this even on IMDb... I would like a citation for that actually, rather than the silly ones that was in the explanation at this time. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:06, 19 May 2022 (UTC)

Re. John Lennon/Ringo Starr: Could one make the argument that the whole Beatles section is further proof of Megan's tendencies because Ringo is widely cited as the least famous and recognisable of the Beatles, meaning that the fact that she mentions him before the probably much more famous Paul McCartney and George Harrison is also misjudging who the Beatles are mainly known for consisting of??
:Agree that this could be mentioned --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:06, 19 May 2022 (UTC)
:Being the "least famous Beatle" still makes him one of the most famous people in the world. You have to go to Pete Best, the original drummer he replaced, to have a Beatle that isn't known by most most people. I also think Ringo may have been more well known during the Beatles' heyday, as he seemed to be more vocal in interviews than George Harrison, who was the "quiet one". He didn't have as big a solo career as the others after the breakup, but that's also a high bar. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 13:13, 19 May 2022 (UTC)
::It's not just whether he's the least well known of the four, though. Apparently, to Megan, he's more well known than Lennon, who is certainly the most well-known of them to the rest of the world. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.44|172.70.86.44]] 13:41, 19 May 2022 (UTC)
:::Without having read the above (Barmar), I recently added in the George detail myself. I mean, personally, I found Ringo more memorable than George (individually, but also a hint of "the Fab four are John, Paul, ummm.... And Ringo!" as Mr Starkey's nick-/stage-name is so much more distinctive).
:::Ringo continued(/ues) to perform beyond the Beatles, and not just as drummer, far more than George who did perform but seemed to move into behind-the-scenes Producer-like and/or financially backing roles for classic/cult-classic projects like Life Of Brian/Time Bandits.
:::I think George's impact on the Beatles, and beyond, was not at all small but was generally less prominent (except maybe for his Bangladesh fundraising/etc) than Ringo who managed to be front-of-house, in various capacities, a lot more. Not quite to the level of Paul (his only current active 'competition', given that the others in the running succumbed to mortality) but his innate firstname-recognition certainly leaves him not far behind. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.237|172.69.33.237]] 15:40, 19 May 2022 (UTC)
:::Paul? George? Put me as another person who knows only Lennon and Ringo. Also note that someone who has interest in movies but much less interest in music, remembering singers by what movies they starred in makes sense. Even remembering Jobs for Pixar would be at least consistent. Of course, then she doesn't know Star Wars by name or by one of most important characters in it ... while knowing someone who played in the last trilogy. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:59, 19 May 2022 (UTC)
::Hang on. Hang ON. Is anybody seriously taking a "Paul McCartney? George Harrison? Yeah...? I've kind of heard of them, I guess?" kind of attitude?
::Like, really? REALLY?!
::Like..."Burger...'King,' I think? MacKenzies for a third-pounder Big Mac? Kentucky Fried Something? I think...or was it Tennessee? No, no, pretty sure it's Kentucky."
::"That dude on the Buck: Jeff Washingburn, right?"
::John, Paul, George and Ringo. Even if you don't care, you can't not know.[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 01:26, 20 May 2022 (UTC)
:::No, I unironically would not be able to tell you the third one. Lennon is The Beatle, McCartney I recognise but didn't realise was a Beatle for years, Ringo at least has a distinctive name but I might mistake him for a Marx Brother. [[User:Noaqiyeum|Noaqiyeum]] ([[User talk:Noaqiyeum|talk]]) 10:06, 20 May 2022 (UTC)
:::Naming all the Beatles for the current generation is like naming all the Marx Brothers for their grandparents' generation. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 20:09, 20 May 2022 (UTC)
:::: ...Zeppo (best known for inspiring the prefix for 10-21 ), ...Gummo (went into confectionary marketting)... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.205|162.158.34.205]] 20:57, 20 May 2022 (UTC)
:::Sorry, Yorkshire, but I swear to God that I actually heard a couple of Gen-Zers talking to one another about Paul McCartney for some reason, and one of them, in all seriousness, said to the other, "Did you know that he was in a band before 'Wings'?" [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 16:46, 21 May 2022 (UTC)
::::Sorry, I heard the "Wings" joke at least twenty years ago and have used it myself in jest. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.163|108.162.221.163]] 23:32, 21 May 2022 (UTC)
::::If that really happened, the Gen-Zers were putting you on. For someone to be more familiar with Wings than the Beatles, they would probably have to have been born between the mid-1960s (and thus been too young to have experienced Beatle fandom while the band was active) and the early 1970s (and thus been old enough to have been aware of Wings while it was an active band). People somewhat younger than that might know McCartney as a solo artist in the 1980s, but as the Beatles had much more of a legacy than Wings, those born in the mid-1970s and after would be much more familiar with the Beatles than with Wings (unless they grew up with an older sibling or parent with unusually pro-Wings musical tastes). Generation Z-ers weren't born before the mid-1990s. Your Gen-Zers would have been at least 25 years too young to know Wings better than the Beatles. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.128|172.70.131.128]] 06:25, 4 June 2022 (UTC)

Question in general, but don't know where to ask: why are panels 1, 2 and 4 boxed off, and is 3 open? Going back in time, the first example I found where a panel is not boxed off, is [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2581:_Health_Stats Health Stats], in which it's also the 3rd one that is open...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.89|162.158.233.89]] 10:00, 19 May 2022 (UTC)
:No it is relatively common, but something that I strive to mention when it happens, as it is a defining characteristic of those comics where it occurs. I'm not sure I have used the same wording every time, but searching for ''[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=500&offset=0&profile=default&search=%22in+a+frameless+panel%22 in a frameless panel]'' I got 35 results from other comics transcripts. So Randall uses this on a regular basis. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:04, 19 May 2022 (UTC)
::I think it's a nice stylistic choice. 'Borderless' frames that are defined by the borders of adjacent frames (usually to left and right, but occasionally above and below rather than the 'virtual' boundary that is the natural continuation of the margin betwixt image-edge and adjacent explicit frame-edges) give a sense of openness where strict 'each cell is bounded' could be seen as claustrophobic and wasteful of actual comic real-estate.
::And it's done quite a bit, yes. Maybe the reason you (162.158.233.89) hadn't noticed it was just that it was so naturally done? Consider it yet another reason to browse back through old comics, just to pick up these little quirks. Like the peculiar "TH"-kerning which is another Randallesque bit of idiosynchratic penmanship, etc. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.237|172.69.33.237]] 15:40, 19 May 2022 (UTC)

;You DO know who Michael Jordan is, right?
:Sure I do! Space Jam. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 19:20, 19 May 2022 (UTC)
::Seconding that. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:03, 19 May 2022 (UTC)
:::He was that guy who's name is like the actor that was in Space Jam 2 for a little bit, right?
::::He's that footwear designer for Nike. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 02:50, 22 May 2022 (UTC)
::::Are you folks talking about that guy who ran a summer basketball camp for Chicago suburban elementary school kids at Elmhurst College around 1990? He tripped over me once while I was working painting dorms.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.237|162.158.106.237]] 20:59, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

I don't follow sports other than baseball. I can recall two actual moments like this in my life. Once was when I was flipping channels and saw footage of Shaq actually playing basketball. The other was connecting the name "Peyton Manning" to that guy I've been seeing in all those commercials. Bonus: My mom picked out a car from a dealership owned by "some baseball player." (Mike Piazza). Being that I actually do enjoy baseball, that seemed silly, but then realized I was just as bad when it came to the other sports! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.103|172.70.134.103]] 15:58, 20 May 2022 (UTC)

This may be too much of a stretch, but calling Samuel Jackson "the guy from Jurassic Park" may be an oblique reference to Epic Rap Battles of History, Steven Spielberg vs Alfred Hitchcock - where at one point, Tarantino's lyrics are "Ask anybody, 'What's your favorite Sam Jackson part?' No-one's gonna say 'What's his name from Jurassic Park?'" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.219.26|172.70.219.26]] 05:40, 20 May 2022 (UTC)

"He in a band with Ringo from Shining Time Station." "Who is John Lennon?" [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 17:24, 20 May 2022 (UTC)

Uh, I never watched Shining Time Station (I'm too old), but I've seen snippets (this is the first I hear Ringo was only one season), as I recall Ringo wasn't merely a voice, he was fully on it, just depicted as tiny, right? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:38, 21 May 2022 (UTC)

This Jobs guy, that’s the dude who helped design NeXTStep right?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.237|162.158.106.237]] 20:59, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

Labyrinth guy. Wait. That’s the guy who sang a duet one time with the guy who played the Javert-inspired cop from Freejack. I think he might have been in a vampire movie once with the chick who was also in that one movie with Barry Bostwick and the guy who also played Poet Man in the second episode of Lexx. You know, the Earth 2 villain. Anyway the movie I mean (not the vampire one) is the one that has basically the same plot as The Black Hole. It had that one guy who did a bunch of songs written by the guy who was executive producer on the Sisters of Mercy Floodland album.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.178|108.162.246.178]] 21:12, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

True story: I just now asked my husband, “Who is David Bowie?” and he replied, “he’s the guy who sang ‘Little Drummer Boy’ with Bing Crosby.” But I shouldn’t make fun of him, I once wanted to refer to Richard Dawson and couldn’t remember his name, so said, “the guy who played the game show host in ‘The Running Man’” [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.111|172.70.230.111]] 14:59, 30 May 2022 (UTC)

How does the Streisand effect relate to this comic? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.195|172.70.130.195]] 06:15, 4 June 2022 (UTC)

I found a perfect example of this online:
{{quote|text=Hold up…you’re excited to meet Martin Short, and your default reference is the Santa Clause 3?!?

That’s like meeting @MarkHamill
and being excited because he was in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (good movie, but still)|sign=[https://twitter.com/JBK517 Jordan Kaplan]|source=https://twitter.com/JBK517/status/1629994648528625664}}
[[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 05:52, 27 February 2023 (UTC)

Talk:896: Marie Curie

2023-01-06T05:24:28Z

Solomon: ask about "Today's comic might be familiar to a few dozen of you. :)"

I miss the days when zombies would just bite you to death. What's with all this talking? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:07, 17 April 2013 (UTC)
: It would probably be better if she came back as a ghost. But radiation poisoning in pop lit only explains physically supernatural stuff, not external consciousness supernatural stuff. Zombies, on the other hand, have been used in pop lit as thinking characters, even though they shouldn't have been. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.31|108.162.216.31]] 16:49, 3 December 2013 (UTC)Dartania

Too bad Marguerite Vogt is not mentioned. She should have shared the Nobel with Renato Dulbecco, as (relatively) recent as 1975. --[[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] ([[User talk:Jkrstrt|talk]]) 20:02, 21 June 2014 (UTC)--[[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] ([[User talk:Jkrstrt|talk]]) 20:02, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

Does it not escape your notice that by simply saying "everything else she says is true as well" you are doing the exact thing that this cartoon is trying to emphasise as unfair? In the last cartoon you guys couldn't say enough about the great Richard Feynman but you have reduced the achievements of two great women down to one simple sentence. Well played, I'm sure Randall's proud that you could so clearly see the point he was trying to make.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.94|141.101.98.94]] 07:37, 2 February 2015 (UTC)

*''You'' have the power, 141...94! {{unsigned|RyanofTinellb}}

Ok,jeez we get your point,and I get the point. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.87|162.158.58.87]] 22:39, 9 September 2017 (UTC)

I used to live in a road, named after Lise Meitner and read a lot about her back then. Really a shame she isn't more well known! --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:51, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

What's up with "Today's comic might be familiar to a few dozen of you. :)" at the top of the page? [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 05:24, 6 January 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2137: Text Entry

2022-12-30T18:50:25Z

Solomon: /* special-purpose keyboard layout */ new section

== Dvorak ==

''Title text: I like to think that somewhere out there, there's someone whose personal quest is lobbying TV providers to add an option to switch their on-screen keyboards to Dvorak.''

Using the Dvorak layout when you have to scroll through letters is particularly bad. Since Dvorak is optimized to alternate strokes between hands (by putting all vowels on one side), you would have to spend even more time navigating between letters. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.102|162.158.106.102]] 16:03, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

:I suspect that's at least part of the joke in the title text, as Randall is likely aware of that fact. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 16:22, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
I of course had to wonder what TV show they were headed for so I started OUR_PL in Google and got "Our Planet Netflix" so now I know . . .I think. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 16:25, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
My Netflix interface takes entries from a keyboard. Found out about 2 weeks ago... It is a Samsung TV and I think the feature was not there from the beginning.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.52|172.68.50.52]] 16:59, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

Should it be clarified that Ponytail and Cueball are sitting in one chair? The drawing seemed unclear to me at first. --[[User:Youforgotthisthing|Youforgotthisthing]] ([[User talk:Youforgotthisthing|talk]]) 18:03, 15 April 2019 (UTC) One chair? Or a sofa or a loveseat?? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 11:18, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
It looks to me like a child standing beside (our perspective: behind) his chair and another person looking over his shoulder. ShawnT [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.33|162.158.74.33]] 23:35, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
I use Dvorak on all my devices when possible and often find myself wishing for Dvorak on-screen keyboards. Sure, there's more absolute distance between consecutive characters on average, but that's offset by me not having to try to remember how QWERTY is laid out. I don't think that the joke here is "Dvorak on-screen keyboards are pointless", I think it's "Dvorak users are such a small percentage of the population that the odds of anyone bothering to cater to them is slim to none, and anyone lobbying for it is wasting their time". [[User:Undergroundmonorail|Undergroundmonorail]] ([[User talk:Undergroundmonorail|talk]]) 18:23, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

== Smart TV Keyboards ==
Randall probably doesn't know / have or use [https://tehnoblog.org/review-wireless-usb-mini-keyboard-for-pc-raspberry-pi-ubuntu-windows-android-xbox-playstation/ these little keyboards] that can literally save you from trouble and excruciating pain from one-by-one letter "typing": {{unsigned|172.68.154.88}}
:This has to be an ad, right? I'm pretty sure Randall "literally" knows about USB keyboards, regardless of form factor.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.172|108.162.216.172]] 22:08, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
::Not necessarily, and since the IP's not blatantly vandalizing pages or spamming links to external sites, and this is the talk page, there's no need to remove it for now. But I've collapsed the URL in case it's an attempt at advertising, as we've seen a lot of (fill in the blank)Review accounts created for that purpose, and some are vandalizing pages. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 07:16, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
:In my case, my smart TV has a remote control app that allows the phone's keyboard to be used. It also provides a trackpad for issuing a cursor more easily. [[User:Baldrickk|Baldrickk]] ([[User talk:Baldrickk|talk]]) 11:07, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
If just all on-screen keyboards were qwerty... Depending on the app some use qwerty and some use alphabetical grids. I'm always struggling to find the right letters in ther latter... It gets worse if alphabetical ordered letters are arranged in a standard keyboard pattern. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:31, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

This got to be so annoying for me that I actually bought Roku streaming boxes for my TV's so that I can use their phone app to replace the remote and can now type on the phone's touch screen instead of going through the usual up-up-left-left-click nonsense. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 14:14, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

== Use Wired Keyboard ==
Any "smart tv", even cheap ones have USB ports, not just for displaying Picture albums, but you can use any USB keyboard and type on the screen. Some of the better streaming boxes such as the FireTv Media Player (discontinued), NVIDIA Shield, and pretty much any Cable box have them so you may type on the screen rather than click each letter. Also All game consoles allow keyboards now, not just in game, but back in the home screen for typing passwords as well.

== Weird lines ==
What are those strange curved lines behind Cueball's head? There are also lines next to his legs that suggest that he's kicking them rapidly. It's unusual to see extraneous stuff like this in an XKCD comic. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 14:16, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
: I think it is being interpreted that Cueball is sitting next to Ponytail and that's her hair. The extra legs would also be hers. But the drawing here is confusing. It looks like a ponytail attached to no actual head. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.28|162.158.78.28]] 17:11, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

== What search? ==

Any thoughts on what Cueball is trying to search for here? [[User:AdmiralMemo|Admiral Memo]] ([[User talk:AdmiralMemo|talk]]) 06:07, 17 April 2019 (UTC)
:As mentioned in the (current) explanation it is likely the recently very popular netflix nature-documentary "Our Planet". --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:37, 17 April 2019 (UTC)

== Donald Trump ==

<blockquote>Although several comics may have relation to Donald Trump becoming president, this is the first time ever, he has been mentioned by his full name (in 1939: 2016 Election Map he is referred to by his surname) in a standard xkcd comic.</blockquote>

Is this significant in some way? Unless Randall has some noted aversion to using Trump's full name, I'm pretty sure this is just standard name usage. In fact, that entire linked [[Sad comics]] page looks rather questionable, too. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 12:28, 17 April 2019 (UTC)
: OMG... This page has grown since the last time I checked. And I agree, many of these "connections" to Trump's presidency are really far fetched at best... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:47, 18 April 2019 (UTC)
:Yes I think it is, as he has been sad over many things that references to something Trump did. And he has references directly to Hillary. And he has mentioned many presidents in his comics. But this time he finally uses his name in a comic that is MAINLY about how weird it is that Americans choose Trump. I think his comics makes it extremely clear that he has an aversion against Trump. If you cannot see this you are either for Trump, or just blind. There are so many hints, and that he is certain about human created global warming is given from his Earth Temperature Timeline, and Trump is going against all attempts to stop this trend. If you still have any doubt Randall is against him, then this is like a religious discussion where I cannot get through to you... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:28, 18 April 2019 (UTC)
::That's not the point. You're right it's absolutely clear that Randall is against Trump. But what remains highly debatable is that all these comics you think/claim to be connected to this fact actually are connected to that fact. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 14:33, 18 April 2019 (UTC)
:::Randall is not a fan of Trump. That is perfectly clear and unobjectionable. However, you (Kynde) are drawing ''specific inferences'' about Randall's feelings for Trump that are not in evidence from the material provided - you are feeding in your own correlations and external facts, and trying to insinuate that this indicates a pattern that everyone should recognize. It does not. While this comic does mention Trump (disparagingly), it is not ''about'' him, nor is it really about Randall's feelings for him. You can tell this because Randall tends to draw stick figures related to what the comic is about. Randall's past history and support of Hillary Clinton is also irrelevant to the understanding of this comic; at best, it is trivia, but I would say it is also irrelevant trivia, since this is not a comic about Randall's political views. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 20:58, 18 April 2019 (UTC)
:::: This is not his first reference to Trump by his full name. He is mentioned in the bottom-left map in https://xkcd.com/2126/
== Text to Speech? ==

perhaps i've been reading too much about voders lately, but may the letters and the <kbd>space</kbd> be being read out via text to speech methods? i distinctly mentally heard it in texas instrument's speak 'n' spell voice. it magnifies the intent of this comic that the text entry system could be generating speech while still requiring as much effort to use as a teletext search page. [[User:Ocæon|ocæon]] ([[User talk:Ocæon|talk]]) 13:27, 21 April 2019 (UTC)
: I see no indication for that... if that was the message behind the comic, I think it would have been made clearer that it is actually spoken. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:53, 22 April 2019 (UTC)
::i can accept that, though i would love to know if there's a style guide (cannon or reverse engineered) on randall's communication indicators; zigzag appears for computers and mobiles, though usually if it's not audio it will have a box, and if it is then there are four extra little radial lines at origin. rarely are they completely ambiguous. [[User:Ocæon|ocæon]] ([[User talk:Ocæon|talk]]) 18:41, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

== special-purpose keyboard layout ==

How about using a keyboard layout that's optimized for this, with more common pairs of letters having closer L1/taxicab distances? What would that end up being?

1026: Compare and Contrast

2022-12-04T18:34:09Z

Solomon: /* Explanation */ clarify usage of thou/thee vs you

{{comic
| number = 1026
| date = March 7, 2012
| title = Compare and Contrast
| image = compare_and_contrast.png
| titletext = Frankly, I see no difference between thee and a summer's day. Only Ron Paul offers a TRUE alternative!
}}

==Explanation==

A reference to the most well-known {{w|sonnet}} in the English-speaking world: {{w|William Shakespeare|William Shakespeare's}} "{{w|Sonnet 18}}", the first line of which is: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?". In this comic [[Randall]] sets about this in a typically goal-oriented chart, as opposed to the rather more romantic poetry of the Bard.

"Thee" is a form of the archaic second-person singular pronoun "thou". In Shakespeare's day, English had more second-person pronouns in common use, thou/thee (informal and singular), and you (formal or plural). This is similar to second-person pronouns in many modern European languages, such as French. {{w|English personal pronouns#Full list of personal pronouns|Wikipedia}} has a nice chart for all of English's personal pronouns, current and archaic.

For both the chart and the original sonnet, whether or not the work is autobiographical is unknown. Also unknown is the identity of the person whom each work refers to. It is believed that Sonnet 18 is addressed to a {{w|Shakespeare's Sonnets#Fair Youth|young man}}.

The lines are:

# The first line is a reference to the sonnet itself, which reads: "Thou art more lovely and more temperate". He considers both thee and a summer's day to be "fair" (this is a pun; depending on context, "fair" can refer to complexion or weather) and "temperate" (meaning "warm", which again can describe a person or the weather).
# "Hot, sticky" also refers to both, in different ways. "Hot" can mean sexually attractive or simply that the temperature is high. "Sticky" refers to either a humid day (for summer day) or to have ejaculated after sex (for "thee").
# "Short" is another pun. "Thee" (the subject of the comparison with the summer's day) is not tall. A summer day is chronologically long (time from dawn to dusk.)
# "Harbinger of hurricane season" is technically accurate; hurricane season does follow the summer.
# "Required for a good beach party" is not a pun, although it is another example of a word with slightly different meanings. The party is required to be held on a summer's day and with "thee" present at the party. The party would not be held on "thee", although some of the other lines suggest that the writer might personally be on top of "thee" during the party.
# Heat stroke is a condition mainly affecting children and the elderly. Heat waves and excessively hot days are highly linked with heat stroke incidence
# "Linked to higher rates of juvenile delinquency" refers to juveniles committing crimes. Apparently, "thee" is either a juvenile delinquent or inspires juvenile delinquency (or both). Summer is also linked to juvenile delinquency. This results, to some degree, from school not being in session, rather than simply as a direct result of the summer weather.
# "Sometimes too stifling" can refer to the weather - oppressive heat and humidity, or a person that is overly oppressive and constraining. It is also unusual in that it expresses a negative feeling about "thee", unlike the other entries which express what the author likes or admires about thee.
# "Arrested for releasing snakes in the library" is a fairly self-explanatory criterion. Apparently "thee" has been caught doing this. A summer's day, on the other hand, cannot be arrested at all, much less for this. This is possibly inspired by the movie ''{{w|Snakes on a Plane}}''.
# The last line "difficult to focus on work while I'm in" is probably a sexual reference, on the "thee" side, not on the "summer's day" side. To be "in" someone refers to the penetrative part of sex, which would occupy a typical person's attention,{{Citation needed}} or that while she is around the house it can be difficult to focus of work. Summer can be distracting from work due to heat, excitement, or just the general feeling of the season.

The title text is a reference to {{w|Ron Paul}}, a 2012 {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republican}} candidate for {{w|President of the United States|President}} who was on top in the {{w|Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012|Republican Primary}} against a few other challengers for the nomination. Ron Paul was frequently represented on the internet using similar language to the title text (with Paul offering an alternative to typical Republican and Democratic candidates). Paul was seen by many as an alternative because of his {{w|Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian}} views.

==Transcript==
:[A checklist comparing "thee" to "a summer's day" for a number of properties, displayed as separate rows in a table with 3 columns. The properties are shown in the first column with no header label, and the second and third columns have a header label of "Thee" and "A Summer's Day" with a checkmark in one or both columns for each row.]

:[Row 1]
:Property: Fair, Temperate
:Thee: Checked
:A Summer's Day: Checked

:[Row 2]
:Property: Hot, Sticky
:Thee: Checked
:A Summer's Day: Checked

:[Row 3]
:Property: Short
:Thee: Checked
:A Summer's Day: Not Checked

:[Row 4]
:Property: Harbinger of Hurricane Season
:Thee: Not Checked
:A Summer's Day: Checked

:[Row 5]
:Property: Required for a Good Beach Party
:Thee: Checked
:A Summer's Day: Checked

:[Row 6]
:Property: Major Cause of Heat Stroke in the Elderly
:Thee: Not Checked
:A Summer's Day: Checked

:[Row 7]
:Property: Linked to Higher Rates of Juvenile Delinquency
:Thee: Checked
:A Summer's Day: Checked

:[Row 8]
:Property: Sometimes Too Stifling
:Thee: Checked
:A Summer's Day: Checked

:[Row 9]
:Property: Arrested for Releasing Snakes in Library
:Thee: Checked
:A Summer's Day: Not Checked

:[Row 10]
:Property: Difficult to Focus on Work While I'm In
:Thee: Checked
:A Summer's Day: Checked

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ron Paul]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Hurricanes]]

Talk:2483: Linked List Interview Problem

2022-12-01T01:34:31Z

Solomon: fix typo

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

This code won't mail the linked list to a museum - it will mail the memory location of the head of the list to a museum.{{unsigned ip|172.70.130.192}}
:I think part of the joke might be that the high-level language being used will actually spit out a representation of the entire list when using the str function. So it actually does all the traversing and abstracts it away, again making the interview question seem redundant! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.48|162.158.159.48]] 10:40, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
::The language looks almost like Python -- the only difference being the keyword ''define'' instead of ''def''. Lisp is the only family of languages I can think of that automatically converts linked lists to a representation of all the elements, since the linked list is its fundamental data structure. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:06, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
:::Haskell too: `headElem:tailList` is cons, https://wiki.haskell.org/How_to_work_on_lists#Notes_about_speed says "Haskell lists are ordinary single-linked lists." [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 01:34, 1 December 2022 (UTC)

just to make sure I get this right.
If I want to save the numbers "1", "2", "3", "4" in an array it could (depending on the programming language) just be "[1,2,3,4]", while a linked list could be "1 (jump to 3rd entry), 4, 2 (jump to 4th entry), 3 (jump to 2nd entry)"?
Then entering 2.5 between 2 and 3 would be complicated in the array as you have to move the 3 and 4 to new places, while in the linked list you just change the direction after to to jump to 5th entry, and add 2.5 and the instruction to jump to 4th entry? While it is of course harder to find a specific entry in the linked list. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:01, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
:At the lowest level of access, such an array would be like the sequence "1234" (analogising to a simple string/char-array), asking for the nth-element quickly gets the nth-character by offset plus suitably multiplied memory reference). Inserting ("12a34") or deleting ("124") needs at least partial shuffling and resizing, while switching ("1324") or other internal re-ordering has widely variable overheads.
:A linked-list could be thought of as defining as "¹" with ¹="1²", ²="2³", ³="3⁴" and ⁴="4∅", taking up more initial memory, and effort to discover the nth item. But, done right and for the right reasons, additions (²="2⁵", ⁵="a³"), removals (²="2⁴", dump/reuse ³) and switches (either ²="3³", ³="2⁴" or ¹="1³", ³="3²", ²="2⁴") can be as efficient as possible once the splice-and-switch process knows which points to work with.
:(A linked-list sorter/editor will probably traverse the list, not worrying what 'offset' it is at, but holding an ⁿ pointer address for at least two adjacent items, ready to alter their ⁿs-as-reference to fulfil the change required, without worrying ''which'' ⁿs they were, and when created in whatever the next memory slot is.)
:Doubly-linked might be list header "¹" where ¹="∅1²", ²="¹2³", ³="²3⁴" and ⁴="³4∅" and is heavier in storage (though often balanced by the "1234" being much more complex as actual data (e.g. multi-word, possibly variable-length records) than the simple ⁿs, that in an array-accessed form would include far too much padding and wasting storage (or too little, requiring optionally-defined ⁿs at the end of each fixed-length record to direct to an 'overflow' memory location, effectively LLing) thus justifying the potential LL packing overheads.
:For further hybrid fun, nothing stops you having a fixed array "¹²³⁴∅∅∅" and define ¹="1", etc, then change the array-of-references accordingly ("¹²⁵³⁴∅∅", "¹²⁴∅∅∅∅", "¹³²⁴∅∅∅" or - if it's sensible - "¹²³⁴³²¹" which actually does something the LL would be hard-pressed to achieve for you without further structural overheads specifically designed for beyond-linear traversal).
:That it potentially becomes spaghetti-data should not concern you so long as you don't have spaghetti-code as well which causes some oversight of data-mangling to mess things up. And you'll probably want to maintain a custom data-dumper/collator/formatter capability to keep an eye on things as you're debugging the inevitably miswritten shuffle-function, and/or do battle with the compiler's garbage-handling insertions when you confuse it beyond reasonable limits. (No, wait, did you do full low-level garbage-handling yourself? Did you do it ''properly''? ;) )
:...but I must say I'm not overly keen to abandon modern inbuilt splice-functions (for arrays/otherwise) doing all this hard work for me. Only if I'm looking at something of more of a net-/tree-like relationship (esp. non-Euclidean), or something with complicated multi-layered disparity of pointed-at data might I design up from such basic foundations. But I can also be nostalgic about when it was far more necessary! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.48|162.158.159.48]] 10:18, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

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

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

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

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

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

Those wondering why linked lists are considered obsolete: insertion and deletion performance is rarely the issue these days. It's the cost of enumerating over all elements in the list. Both arrays and linked lists have O(n) complexity there, but arrays have the lower cost. And that's before we get into stuff like caches liking predictable access patterns (pointer chasing is not predictable) and all those pointers costing precious cache memory space.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 09:45, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
:If the elements are simpler and relatively constant in individual storage demands (regardless of total numbers to store), arrays and bulk-caching work well. If they're more convoluted records (e.g. up to 64 characters as element name, 256 characters for a description, version 'number' that's another string, a notes field that is a pointer to an arbitrary chain of formatted/markupped punctuated character-storing freetext variable slots, any number of other object properties you find useful) then most of the advantages of indexable layout for lookahead loading are lost. If you're writing at significantly low-level of code, already, then you could still possibly see an advantage to implementing linked-list structures and not lose out enough to the advantages you'd get for an array implementation.
:Though these days you're not encouraged to tunnel past the abstractions the higher-level compiler/interpreter will present to you. You could be hard pressed to do anything efficient yourself (like an array-of-pointers approach, or using XOR packing to cut down on memory requirements in a doubly-linked list) and must blindly trust that the original authors of the intermediate builder gave it the wisdom to not be too bad trying to match what you input to a suitably workable pre-anticipated family of data-series methodologies by the time it gets to runtime.
:And there's so much power in a modern computer core that, even with a resource-hogging OS, you're probably not going to break it by manually forcing the worst option, unless you're already in danger of stressing the system even with the truly best one. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.93|141.101.99.93]] 23:44, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
Anyone else think the chosen color might be relevant? We're talking about **link**ed lists and the text is written in blue, the traditional color of hyper**link**s. In any other comic, I might think it a coincidence, but this is a comic that rarely uses color, and never without a purpose. [[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 07:15, 3 July 2021 (UTC)
:Blue whiteboard pens are probably the more used 'not black' (because easier on the eye?) but not specifically hued (red for important/'do not do' information, green for softer suggestions or else with comparative 'do do' positive stuff). From personal experience. Not sure if this is relevent, maybe it's just that blue-on-white is what Randall overwhelmingly experiences when he casually wanders in to NASA, JPL, Cern, NIF, Alphabet Inc, Apple Park, Redmond Campus, etc, and looks for casual inspiration on their various walls. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 18:33, 3 July 2021 (UTC)

I think you're all missing the point of the joke: it's not the ''linked list'' itself but the ''interview question about linked lists'' that should be donated to the museum. A typical interview question is "how do you reverse a linked list?", with the interviewer expecting you to write down the algorithm where you walk down the list while creating a new linked list in the process, wiring up its "next" pointer to the previously visited element. For the first element you traverse, you set the "next" pointer of that element in the reversed list to nil, because it will be the last element in the reversed list. The final result is a pointer to the last visited element, which becomes the head of the reversed list. These kind of questions are stereotypical for programmer interviews (just like "how do you swap to numbers without using a temporary variable?") and therefore Cueball makes a snarky remark that this question is now so archaic that it should be in a historical museum of sorts.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.88|162.158.88.88]] 14:22, 5 July 2021 (UTC)
:The text below the comment ("... donate their linked list ...") suggests the reading others have taken...

Talk:2483: Linked List Interview Problem

2022-12-01T01:34:06Z

Solomon: add signature, oops

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

This code won't mail the linked list to a museum - it will mail the memory location of the head of the list to a museum.{{unsigned ip|172.70.130.192}}
:I think part of the joke might be that the high-level language being used will actually spit out a representation of the entire list when using the str function. So it actually does all the traversing and abstracts it away, again making the interview question seem redundant! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.48|162.158.159.48]] 10:40, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
::The language looks almost like Python -- the only difference being the keyword ''define'' instead of ''def''. Lisp is the only family of languages I can think of that automatically converts linked lists to a representation of all the elements, since the linked list is its fundamental data structure. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:06, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
:::Haskell too: `headElem:tailList` is cons, hhttps://wiki.haskell.org/How_to_work_on_lists#Notes_about_speed says "Haskell lists are ordinary single-linked lists." [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 01:34, 1 December 2022 (UTC)

just to make sure I get this right.
If I want to save the numbers "1", "2", "3", "4" in an array it could (depending on the programming language) just be "[1,2,3,4]", while a linked list could be "1 (jump to 3rd entry), 4, 2 (jump to 4th entry), 3 (jump to 2nd entry)"?
Then entering 2.5 between 2 and 3 would be complicated in the array as you have to move the 3 and 4 to new places, while in the linked list you just change the direction after to to jump to 5th entry, and add 2.5 and the instruction to jump to 4th entry? While it is of course harder to find a specific entry in the linked list. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:01, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
:At the lowest level of access, such an array would be like the sequence "1234" (analogising to a simple string/char-array), asking for the nth-element quickly gets the nth-character by offset plus suitably multiplied memory reference). Inserting ("12a34") or deleting ("124") needs at least partial shuffling and resizing, while switching ("1324") or other internal re-ordering has widely variable overheads.
:A linked-list could be thought of as defining as "¹" with ¹="1²", ²="2³", ³="3⁴" and ⁴="4∅", taking up more initial memory, and effort to discover the nth item. But, done right and for the right reasons, additions (²="2⁵", ⁵="a³"), removals (²="2⁴", dump/reuse ³) and switches (either ²="3³", ³="2⁴" or ¹="1³", ³="3²", ²="2⁴") can be as efficient as possible once the splice-and-switch process knows which points to work with.
:(A linked-list sorter/editor will probably traverse the list, not worrying what 'offset' it is at, but holding an ⁿ pointer address for at least two adjacent items, ready to alter their ⁿs-as-reference to fulfil the change required, without worrying ''which'' ⁿs they were, and when created in whatever the next memory slot is.)
:Doubly-linked might be list header "¹" where ¹="∅1²", ²="¹2³", ³="²3⁴" and ⁴="³4∅" and is heavier in storage (though often balanced by the "1234" being much more complex as actual data (e.g. multi-word, possibly variable-length records) than the simple ⁿs, that in an array-accessed form would include far too much padding and wasting storage (or too little, requiring optionally-defined ⁿs at the end of each fixed-length record to direct to an 'overflow' memory location, effectively LLing) thus justifying the potential LL packing overheads.
:For further hybrid fun, nothing stops you having a fixed array "¹²³⁴∅∅∅" and define ¹="1", etc, then change the array-of-references accordingly ("¹²⁵³⁴∅∅", "¹²⁴∅∅∅∅", "¹³²⁴∅∅∅" or - if it's sensible - "¹²³⁴³²¹" which actually does something the LL would be hard-pressed to achieve for you without further structural overheads specifically designed for beyond-linear traversal).
:That it potentially becomes spaghetti-data should not concern you so long as you don't have spaghetti-code as well which causes some oversight of data-mangling to mess things up. And you'll probably want to maintain a custom data-dumper/collator/formatter capability to keep an eye on things as you're debugging the inevitably miswritten shuffle-function, and/or do battle with the compiler's garbage-handling insertions when you confuse it beyond reasonable limits. (No, wait, did you do full low-level garbage-handling yourself? Did you do it ''properly''? ;) )
:...but I must say I'm not overly keen to abandon modern inbuilt splice-functions (for arrays/otherwise) doing all this hard work for me. Only if I'm looking at something of more of a net-/tree-like relationship (esp. non-Euclidean), or something with complicated multi-layered disparity of pointed-at data might I design up from such basic foundations. But I can also be nostalgic about when it was far more necessary! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.48|162.158.159.48]] 10:18, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

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

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

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

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

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

Those wondering why linked lists are considered obsolete: insertion and deletion performance is rarely the issue these days. It's the cost of enumerating over all elements in the list. Both arrays and linked lists have O(n) complexity there, but arrays have the lower cost. And that's before we get into stuff like caches liking predictable access patterns (pointer chasing is not predictable) and all those pointers costing precious cache memory space.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 09:45, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
:If the elements are simpler and relatively constant in individual storage demands (regardless of total numbers to store), arrays and bulk-caching work well. If they're more convoluted records (e.g. up to 64 characters as element name, 256 characters for a description, version 'number' that's another string, a notes field that is a pointer to an arbitrary chain of formatted/markupped punctuated character-storing freetext variable slots, any number of other object properties you find useful) then most of the advantages of indexable layout for lookahead loading are lost. If you're writing at significantly low-level of code, already, then you could still possibly see an advantage to implementing linked-list structures and not lose out enough to the advantages you'd get for an array implementation.
:Though these days you're not encouraged to tunnel past the abstractions the higher-level compiler/interpreter will present to you. You could be hard pressed to do anything efficient yourself (like an array-of-pointers approach, or using XOR packing to cut down on memory requirements in a doubly-linked list) and must blindly trust that the original authors of the intermediate builder gave it the wisdom to not be too bad trying to match what you input to a suitably workable pre-anticipated family of data-series methodologies by the time it gets to runtime.
:And there's so much power in a modern computer core that, even with a resource-hogging OS, you're probably not going to break it by manually forcing the worst option, unless you're already in danger of stressing the system even with the truly best one. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.93|141.101.99.93]] 23:44, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
Anyone else think the chosen color might be relevant? We're talking about **link**ed lists and the text is written in blue, the traditional color of hyper**link**s. In any other comic, I might think it a coincidence, but this is a comic that rarely uses color, and never without a purpose. [[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 07:15, 3 July 2021 (UTC)
:Blue whiteboard pens are probably the more used 'not black' (because easier on the eye?) but not specifically hued (red for important/'do not do' information, green for softer suggestions or else with comparative 'do do' positive stuff). From personal experience. Not sure if this is relevent, maybe it's just that blue-on-white is what Randall overwhelmingly experiences when he casually wanders in to NASA, JPL, Cern, NIF, Alphabet Inc, Apple Park, Redmond Campus, etc, and looks for casual inspiration on their various walls. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 18:33, 3 July 2021 (UTC)

I think you're all missing the point of the joke: it's not the ''linked list'' itself but the ''interview question about linked lists'' that should be donated to the museum. A typical interview question is "how do you reverse a linked list?", with the interviewer expecting you to write down the algorithm where you walk down the list while creating a new linked list in the process, wiring up its "next" pointer to the previously visited element. For the first element you traverse, you set the "next" pointer of that element in the reversed list to nil, because it will be the last element in the reversed list. The final result is a pointer to the last visited element, which becomes the head of the reversed list. These kind of questions are stereotypical for programmer interviews (just like "how do you swap to numbers without using a temporary variable?") and therefore Cueball makes a snarky remark that this question is now so archaic that it should be in a historical museum of sorts.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.88|162.158.88.88]] 14:22, 5 July 2021 (UTC)
:The text below the comment ("... donate their linked list ...") suggests the reading others have taken...

Talk:2483: Linked List Interview Problem

2022-12-01T01:33:42Z

Solomon: mention Haskell linked lists

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

This code won't mail the linked list to a museum - it will mail the memory location of the head of the list to a museum.{{unsigned ip|172.70.130.192}}
:I think part of the joke might be that the high-level language being used will actually spit out a representation of the entire list when using the str function. So it actually does all the traversing and abstracts it away, again making the interview question seem redundant! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.48|162.158.159.48]] 10:40, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
::The language looks almost like Python -- the only difference being the keyword ''define'' instead of ''def''. Lisp is the only family of languages I can think of that automatically converts linked lists to a representation of all the elements, since the linked list is its fundamental data structure. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:06, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
:::Haskell too: `headElem:tailList` is cons, hhttps://wiki.haskell.org/How_to_work_on_lists#Notes_about_speed says "Haskell lists are ordinary single-linked lists."

just to make sure I get this right.
If I want to save the numbers "1", "2", "3", "4" in an array it could (depending on the programming language) just be "[1,2,3,4]", while a linked list could be "1 (jump to 3rd entry), 4, 2 (jump to 4th entry), 3 (jump to 2nd entry)"?
Then entering 2.5 between 2 and 3 would be complicated in the array as you have to move the 3 and 4 to new places, while in the linked list you just change the direction after to to jump to 5th entry, and add 2.5 and the instruction to jump to 4th entry? While it is of course harder to find a specific entry in the linked list. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:01, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
:At the lowest level of access, such an array would be like the sequence "1234" (analogising to a simple string/char-array), asking for the nth-element quickly gets the nth-character by offset plus suitably multiplied memory reference). Inserting ("12a34") or deleting ("124") needs at least partial shuffling and resizing, while switching ("1324") or other internal re-ordering has widely variable overheads.
:A linked-list could be thought of as defining as "¹" with ¹="1²", ²="2³", ³="3⁴" and ⁴="4∅", taking up more initial memory, and effort to discover the nth item. But, done right and for the right reasons, additions (²="2⁵", ⁵="a³"), removals (²="2⁴", dump/reuse ³) and switches (either ²="3³", ³="2⁴" or ¹="1³", ³="3²", ²="2⁴") can be as efficient as possible once the splice-and-switch process knows which points to work with.
:(A linked-list sorter/editor will probably traverse the list, not worrying what 'offset' it is at, but holding an ⁿ pointer address for at least two adjacent items, ready to alter their ⁿs-as-reference to fulfil the change required, without worrying ''which'' ⁿs they were, and when created in whatever the next memory slot is.)
:Doubly-linked might be list header "¹" where ¹="∅1²", ²="¹2³", ³="²3⁴" and ⁴="³4∅" and is heavier in storage (though often balanced by the "1234" being much more complex as actual data (e.g. multi-word, possibly variable-length records) than the simple ⁿs, that in an array-accessed form would include far too much padding and wasting storage (or too little, requiring optionally-defined ⁿs at the end of each fixed-length record to direct to an 'overflow' memory location, effectively LLing) thus justifying the potential LL packing overheads.
:For further hybrid fun, nothing stops you having a fixed array "¹²³⁴∅∅∅" and define ¹="1", etc, then change the array-of-references accordingly ("¹²⁵³⁴∅∅", "¹²⁴∅∅∅∅", "¹³²⁴∅∅∅" or - if it's sensible - "¹²³⁴³²¹" which actually does something the LL would be hard-pressed to achieve for you without further structural overheads specifically designed for beyond-linear traversal).
:That it potentially becomes spaghetti-data should not concern you so long as you don't have spaghetti-code as well which causes some oversight of data-mangling to mess things up. And you'll probably want to maintain a custom data-dumper/collator/formatter capability to keep an eye on things as you're debugging the inevitably miswritten shuffle-function, and/or do battle with the compiler's garbage-handling insertions when you confuse it beyond reasonable limits. (No, wait, did you do full low-level garbage-handling yourself? Did you do it ''properly''? ;) )
:...but I must say I'm not overly keen to abandon modern inbuilt splice-functions (for arrays/otherwise) doing all this hard work for me. Only if I'm looking at something of more of a net-/tree-like relationship (esp. non-Euclidean), or something with complicated multi-layered disparity of pointed-at data might I design up from such basic foundations. But I can also be nostalgic about when it was far more necessary! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.48|162.158.159.48]] 10:18, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

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

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

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

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

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

Those wondering why linked lists are considered obsolete: insertion and deletion performance is rarely the issue these days. It's the cost of enumerating over all elements in the list. Both arrays and linked lists have O(n) complexity there, but arrays have the lower cost. And that's before we get into stuff like caches liking predictable access patterns (pointer chasing is not predictable) and all those pointers costing precious cache memory space.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 09:45, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
:If the elements are simpler and relatively constant in individual storage demands (regardless of total numbers to store), arrays and bulk-caching work well. If they're more convoluted records (e.g. up to 64 characters as element name, 256 characters for a description, version 'number' that's another string, a notes field that is a pointer to an arbitrary chain of formatted/markupped punctuated character-storing freetext variable slots, any number of other object properties you find useful) then most of the advantages of indexable layout for lookahead loading are lost. If you're writing at significantly low-level of code, already, then you could still possibly see an advantage to implementing linked-list structures and not lose out enough to the advantages you'd get for an array implementation.
:Though these days you're not encouraged to tunnel past the abstractions the higher-level compiler/interpreter will present to you. You could be hard pressed to do anything efficient yourself (like an array-of-pointers approach, or using XOR packing to cut down on memory requirements in a doubly-linked list) and must blindly trust that the original authors of the intermediate builder gave it the wisdom to not be too bad trying to match what you input to a suitably workable pre-anticipated family of data-series methodologies by the time it gets to runtime.
:And there's so much power in a modern computer core that, even with a resource-hogging OS, you're probably not going to break it by manually forcing the worst option, unless you're already in danger of stressing the system even with the truly best one. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.93|141.101.99.93]] 23:44, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
Anyone else think the chosen color might be relevant? We're talking about **link**ed lists and the text is written in blue, the traditional color of hyper**link**s. In any other comic, I might think it a coincidence, but this is a comic that rarely uses color, and never without a purpose. [[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 07:15, 3 July 2021 (UTC)
:Blue whiteboard pens are probably the more used 'not black' (because easier on the eye?) but not specifically hued (red for important/'do not do' information, green for softer suggestions or else with comparative 'do do' positive stuff). From personal experience. Not sure if this is relevent, maybe it's just that blue-on-white is what Randall overwhelmingly experiences when he casually wanders in to NASA, JPL, Cern, NIF, Alphabet Inc, Apple Park, Redmond Campus, etc, and looks for casual inspiration on their various walls. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 18:33, 3 July 2021 (UTC)

I think you're all missing the point of the joke: it's not the ''linked list'' itself but the ''interview question about linked lists'' that should be donated to the museum. A typical interview question is "how do you reverse a linked list?", with the interviewer expecting you to write down the algorithm where you walk down the list while creating a new linked list in the process, wiring up its "next" pointer to the previously visited element. For the first element you traverse, you set the "next" pointer of that element in the reversed list to nil, because it will be the last element in the reversed list. The final result is a pointer to the last visited element, which becomes the head of the reversed list. These kind of questions are stereotypical for programmer interviews (just like "how do you swap to numbers without using a temporary variable?") and therefore Cueball makes a snarky remark that this question is now so archaic that it should be in a historical museum of sorts.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.88|162.158.88.88]] 14:22, 5 July 2021 (UTC)
:The text below the comment ("... donate their linked list ...") suggests the reading others have taken...

Talk:2420: Appliances

2022-11-28T18:23:12Z

Solomon: mention using a mesh to aid in stove-washing

This seems related to [[1890: What to Bring]]. [[User:Bubblegum|bubblegum]]-[[User_talk:Bubblegum|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Bubblegum|contribs]] 02:55, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

I actually disagree with the stove and washing dishes. In a large pot with water and with some stirring one can remove stains from cloths and kill germs. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.28|141.101.96.28]] 07:08, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
:I suppose a mesh with spacing of roughly 1 cm or 1/2 inch placed near the bottom could help filter out any dirt/crumbs/similar that come out. [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 18:23, 28 November 2022 (UTC)

It's interesting that all green squares are mirrored along the diagonal, with one exception, but no yellow ones at all. Usually you would assume that somewhat similar things result in a yellow square on both sides. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 07:35, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

== A washing mashine can (and does) spin-dry clothes ==

A spin-drying program can usually be selected separately without getting the clothes wet. While this is not effective as a dryer, still much better than nothing.
----

I microwave can boil eggs, you just nweed to wrap them in foil and ensure they are covered by the boiling water. The foil acts as a faraday cage and ensures they only cook by conduction from the outside and the water stops arcing.
You cvan also make scrabled eggs and omlettes. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 09:31, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
:You seriously suggest putting foil into the microwave? I guess you don't mean tinfoil/aluminum? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 09:58, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
::yes, read what they said. The aluminium foil happens to be unnecessary because they are immersing the eggs in water which will eventually boil. A fun thing to do is say to put a half a cup of water in the microwave, and listen to the screams from people who don't know that a couple of halved grapes are just fine with that half cup of water. One year old microwaves may not need the water; the half cup of water thing is from the directions for use on a twenty year old microwave. Edit by me[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.140|162.158.75.140]] 05:02, 5 February 2021 (UTC)
:: You can put a foil there IF you know what you are doing. Try dissecting a microwave popcorn bag - its bottom has an aluminium foil inside and acts as a pan. I was surprised by inclusion of egg as okay by Randall though - I thought egg yolks were famous for infrequent but nasty [https://abcnews.go.com/Health/dangers-microwaving-eggs/story?id=51630977 superheating surprises] when microwaved. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.116|162.158.165.116]] 10:41, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
::: You don't even need to know what you are a doing. I often don't bother to heat a skillet and fry two eggs in an oiled ceramic bowl. They don't cook evenly, so you gotta rearrange them.
500watt oven. For a 1500 one use a quarter power. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.52|108.162.216.52]] 05:17, 5 February 2021 (UTC)

I'm a bit weirded out by the idea that the eggs in the grid are specified as being poached. I'd have thought that "eggs in a microwave" meant scrambled, unless otherwise specified. And yes, OK, saying "poached" is specifying otherwise, you're right, thanks for mentioning it, but the implication is that poaching is the way that microwaves cook eggs. I've cooked a lot of eggs, microwave and otherwise, and today is the first day the idea of using a microwave to poach them has come up. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 00:59, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
----
I didn't get this at all until I read the explanation, as I am red-green colorblind and the shades of red and green that Randall chose appear completely identical to me.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.35|141.101.104.35]] 09:47, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
:Oh man, I wonder whether Randall is aware of the difficulty his choice in colors creates for colorblind readers. He's done comics referring to colorblindness before, hasn't he? I wonder if a subtle edit should be in order, on his part. (Alternatively, a confusion map of which vision types perceive differences between which colors, labeled in the same problematic colors, might have a certain apropos irony...?)
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:42, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
----

What a microwave does to bread is very weird. It seems to make the bread tougher (i.e., harder to bite through; in one case of a microwaved sandwich I was totally unable to bite off pieces), but doesn't make it stiffer (it ends up kind of like rubber). It doesn't wind up unevenly toasted like in the picture, but rather cooked in a completely different way. [[User:Magic9mushroom|Magic9mushroom]] ([[User talk:Magic9mushroom|talk]]) 11:22, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

----
Using a microwave to dry clothes is generally a bad idea, there is quite a high chance of burns. The most household appliance to quickly dry clothes beside a dryer is actually the freezer. [[User:Perigril|Perigril]] ([[User talk:Perigril|talk]]) 13:20, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

----
Updated transcript from [[1890: What to Bring]]. Considering the increased size of this table maybe something else is wiser? Does anyone know why the three first items are separate, or why the washing machine appears only to wet parts of the shirt? Should the cited text from the comic be written in all caps to match the comic? Should the "with a" between the pairs be replaced with something better to indicate that unlike What to Bring, Appliances does not have an equivalent to the "Should you bring _____ to ______"-text? --[[User:IonIceXIII|IonIceXIII]] ([[User talk:IonIceXIII|talk]]) 13:22, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

----
Attempting to do as well as possible in each square could make an interesting short video series. Stove/oven could probably achieve 6 greens, at least for quality of results if not for the time required [[User:Jgt|Jgt]] ([[User talk:Jgt|talk]]) 13:41, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
:I love this. Where do I click "Like" & "Subscribe"? [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:06, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
:I agree that the stove/oven deserves more green. I'm using the oven to dry (not just) clothes pretty often ;-) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.82|141.101.96.82]] 21:08, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
----
A classic example of a diagonally dominant matrix. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.41|162.158.62.41]] 18:35, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

----
I'm surprised how many people persist in using "bad" toasters (slot loading). They're terrible at handling pretty much everything except sliced bread, & are completely impractical for more than half the things one might want "toasted". Even a sliced bagel turns out better in a half-decent "toaster oven" than in any slot-loader I've seen; & with a toaster oven you can toast the toppings too. (For instance: peanut butter is better toasted! Warm gooey cream cheese! Reheat muffins with loads of butter on top!) Try making a toasted sandwich in a slot loader; they're a nightmare. Even cleaning them is more effort than a toaster oven. Slot loaders are terrible, obsolete fire hazards, as far as I'm concerned. Yet when you say "toaster", people still visualize a slot loader. It's like if you said "pencil" & everyone visualized a stick of bare graphite. The graphite can conditionally be used for some purposes related to "pencil" but the wood cased design with rubber eraser is far more practical. Same situation with toasters; why use a slot-loader when you can get a good toaster instead?
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:06, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
: It is an American thing. It is just how they believe toasters are supposed to look like. Also try telling them slices of real bread aren't square :D [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.104|172.69.55.104]] 09:28, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

----
I seem to recall a Cutthroat Kitchen episode where one of the chefs was forced to cook eggs with a toaster. I think they turned the toaster on its side, then put the egg in a shallow dish that was placed inside the slot. I don't remember if that chef was cut, though. - [[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.218|162.158.212.218]] 22:28, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

Wait, you can cook fish in a dishwasher? Guess I'm one of today's lucky 10,000. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 01:58, 5 February 2021 (UTC)
: Don't. It is like canning greenbeans with aspirin. The aspirin fucks up the flavor of the greenbeans and with or without the aspirin you must process the greenbeans properly. SDT[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.239|162.158.74.239]] 05:32, 5 February 2021 (UTC)
::Yeah I'm obviously not going to actually do that, but it's fun that I learned it's technically possible to cook fish like this. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 06:08, 5 February 2021 (UTC)

== Washing machine cooking options ==

Some modern dishwashing machines will hit fairly high temperature for part of the cycle.

https://www.reviewed.com/dishwashers/features/dishwashers-with-effective-sanitize-cycles

Our Miele dishwasher tits 65C during part of the washing cycle (not the drying part).

Classic sous vide egg poaching temperature is 64C so it should be able to poach an egg if you like your yolks runny. It's also plenty hot enough to sous vide fish (as long as it is a relatively thin fillet). Here I would be worried about overcooking white fish but firm fish like tuna or monkfish might work well. I'll give it a go tonight and report back!

== Toaster Cooking, etc... ==

Standard Slot toaster with Toaster Bags can cook many things in a toaster, including eggs and fish

My Washing Machine (AEG) has a top temperature of 95 C (washing cycle) so I'm pretty sure I could cook many things in it, if pushed.

Microwave - surely - with the correct setting (low) you could adapt the stove top washing method mentioned above to clean clothes? OH, and you can certainly cook eggs in a MW - Fried, Scrambled, OR Poached (not tried boiled, but can't see why it would be much different from poached, you *may* want to put a hole in the shell though to avoid explosions...)

Shame Freezer isn't on the matrix - supposedly the best way to keep Jeans fresh is to freeze them... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.85|141.101.68.85]] 11:12, 4 November 2021 (UTC)

== Main page error? ==

The main page currently has some sort of welcome template accidentally added to it.

Screenshot: https://ibb.co/F08GNnN

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page&type=revision&diff=205838&oldid=158337

https://web.archive.org/web/20210205200636/https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.244|162.158.238.244]] 20:19, 5 February 2021 (UTC)

1942: Memorable Quotes

2022-11-25T16:00:07Z

Solomon: /* Table of quotes */ mention https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/859:_(

{{comic
| number = 1942
| date = January 15, 2018
| title = Memorable Quotes
| image = memorable_quotes.png
| titletext = "Since there's no ending quote mark, everything after this is part of my quote. —Randall Munroe
}}

==Explanation==

This comic "helpfully" provides random quotes to be used by anyone as {{w|blurb}}s, online reviews, motivational quotes or similar short bits of text. Either the {{w|webcomic}} [[xkcd]] or its creator [[Randall|Randall Munroe]] may be quoted when using any of the provided lines, as stated at the top of the comic.

In particular, their "usefulness" lies in the fact that almost any of them are equally applicable to almost any situation. This is achieved by making each quote not really about anything in particular, aside from the fact that they are quotes. This is in contrast to typical quotes, which are never quite this aware that they will be quoted, but this is to be expected when the lines here were made solely for being quoted.

These self-aware quotes are, on a meta level, jokes about quotations generally. Most of Randall's quotes either sabotage the quoting work, reference some aspect of quotes as used in practice, or both---and it can be both when the aspects referenced are about twisting people's words to look like they agree with you.

The title-text does not have an ending quote mark, so "- Randall Munroe" is part of the quote, and possibly everything in xkcd after that until the next ending quote. Note that the next quote mark in xkcd is in [[1946: Hawaii]].

==Table of quotes==
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
! Quote !! Explanation
|-
|''"I disagree strongly with whatever work this quote is attached to."''
|Quotes are often used in, or on, publications and documents to add weight to them by making it seem like the person being quoted endorses their content or message. This quote would actively undermine the reputation of the work, unless said work advertises itself as a farce.
|-
|''"This quote was taken out of context."''
|Quotes are commonly taken out of context to make it look as though they support a (sometimes fallacious) point, or to falsely imply an endorsement of the work they are attached to. However, since this quote serves no purpose beyond pointing out that it is out of context, there would be no point in trying to use it in this way. In any case, since all these quotes are provided without any real context, it's not clear what taking it out of context would mean.
Alternatively, this quote can be taken out of context to make it seem that Randall is asserting that another quote is out of context.
|-
|''"This quote is often falsely attributed to Mark Twain."''
|Many quotes are misattributed to famous people who are well known for originating a lot of quotes (such as [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mark_Twain#Misattributed Mark Twain], [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss#Misattributed Dr. Seuss], or [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein#Misattributed Albert Einstein]). If this quote was attributed to Mark Twain, however, it would be immediately clear that either it wasn't said by him, or he was lying at the time.
|-
|''"I'm being quoted to introduce something, but I have no idea what it is and certainly don't endorse it."''
|This is likely the case for many famous, widely admired people who are often quoted for all sorts of arguments, even diametrically opposed ones.
|-
|''"This quote is very memorable."''
|This is likely not the case; this quote itself is very forgettable, being very short, and containing no insight on anything meaningful. However, the irony is that this simple quote stating its memorableness may be enough to get it stuck in your head, making it a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. This quote could actually be useful if you were preparing a presentation on how to give presentations, and wanted to illustrate the misuse of quotes.
|-
|''"I wrote this book, and the person quoting me here is taking credit for it."''
|The quote is attempting to sabotage the authorship of the book that uses it. Paradoxically, though, by implying that Randall wrote the book, it also implies that he is the one using the quote, and therefore claiming credit that is not due to him.
|-
|''"This entire thing is the quote, not just the part in quote marks." [Quote marks, brackets, and editor's note are all in the original. —Ed.]''
|Editors sometimes use square brackets within or after a quote in order to make a comment on the quote, such as to note that mistakes or typographical oddities were in the author's original, to correct factual errors, or to provide additional context. Randall is deliberately confusing the issue by including what appears to be an editor's note within the quote itself.

Further confusion would be caused if the quoting author, or their editor, wanted to include a note of their own, such as one noting that this odd construction was in the original quote, because it would be hard to tell what the scope of the claims were, and who wrote each editor’s note. Such problems of clarity can be solved using different formatting or typographical techniques such as footnotes. Programming languages avoid this type of ambiguity by using {{w|escape characters}}.
|-
|''"Websites that collect quotes are full of mistakes and never check original sources."''
|Websites that collect quotes are infamous for not checking sources. This has been parodied in many ways. The implication would be that if you found this quote on such a website, there would be a good chance that it was inaccurate or misattributed.
|-
|''"This quote will be the only part of this presentation you remember."''
|When used effectively in a presentation a quote should succinctly summarize the ideas being presented in a memorable, pithy phrase that helps to bring to mind the rest of the message. However, it is a common experience, especially if the presentation was weak, or the quote was not particularly appropriate, for them to be the only part you remember.
|-
|''"Oooh, look at me, I looked up a quote!"''
|It is sometimes recommended to add quotes to a work or, particularly a presentation, to add weight, wit, or authority. However, it is common for quotes to appear to have been included because the author thought there ought to be one, rather than serving any particular purpose, especially if the quote chosen is of questionable relevance. This quote would make it very clear that this was the case.
|-
|''"If you're doing a text search in this document for the word 'butts,' the good news is that it's here, but the bad news is that it only appears in this unrelated quote."''
|This would probably occur if you decided to follow Randall's advice and include this quote in your work, since this is a fairly infrequently used word in most contexts.
|-
|''"Wait, what if these quote marks are inside out, so everything in the rest of the document is the quotation and ''this'' part isn't? ''Duuuuude.''"''
|The quote imitates the stereotype of hippies, typically ones on drugs, announcing what they believe to be deep insights into reality. If it were true, it would mean that whoever wrote the quoting work would be stealing the entire thing from somewhere, with the exception of these two weird sentences pointing it out.
|-
|''"The editors of ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' are a bunch of cowards who don't have the guts to print this."''
|The author of this quote is apparently making a desperate attempt to get a quote published by challenging the editors of ''{{w|Bartlett's Familiar Quotations}}'', or perhaps is resentful, having attempted to get them to publish his quote(s) and been rejected.
|-
|''"This quote only looks profound when it's in a script font over a sunset."''
|Supposedly inspirational quotes are often set in a fancy font above a picture of a sunset, mountain range, beach, etc. to make them look more profound. However, these are often ridiculed as being trite or vacuous. This quote takes the unusual step of acknowledging that, without such formatting, it looks boring and average.
|-
|''"I don't do a lot of public speaking, so I looked up a memorable quote to start my speech, and this is what I found. OK, you're staring at me blankly, but this whole thing is a quote. I know that sounds confusing, but... you know what, never mind."''
|People often begin speeches with a memorable quote in order to engage the audience. Using this quote would give the impression that the person speaking lacked confidence in their speech and, particularly, the quote they had chosen to introduce it, being interesting enough to get people's attention.
|-
|''"Sent from my iPhone"''
|This is the default email signature on an {{w|iPhone}}. Quoting this might lead the reader to think that you typed the preceding work on your phone, or that Randall sent the quote from his phone, and you lazily copied and pasted the wrong part of the message.
|-
|''"Since there's no ending quote mark, everything after this is part of my quote. —Randall Munroe
|First off." Now that we have that out of the way, this quote appears in the title text. Randall Munroe is saying that because there's no ending quotation mark, the rest of the book this quote is in is part of Randall's quote, including, weirdly, the piece of text, after what should be the quote, specifying that Randall has also said his name.

This is roughly consistent with the formatting required to perform SQL injection referenced in [[327: Exploits of a Mom]]. Because it doesn’t have any punctuation before the first “, it wouldn’t actually perform an injection attack, instead causing an entire query to be part of a single string. This is also similar to [[859: (]], having an opening punctuation mark without the closing.
|}

==Transcript==

:Looking for a quote for something?
:Here are some for general use.

:They can be attributed to xkcd or Randall Munroe as needed.

:"I disagree strongly with whatever work this quote is attached to."
:"This quote was taken out of context."
:"This quote is often falsely attributed to Mark Twain."
:"I'm being quoted to introduce something, but I have no idea what it is and certainly don't endorse it."
:"This quote is very memorable."
:"I wrote this book, and the person quoting me here is taking credit for it."
:"This entire thing is the quote, not just the part in quote marks." [quote marks, brackets, and editor's note are all in the original. -ED.]
:"Websites that collect quotes are full of mistakes and never check original sources."
:"This quote will be the only part of this presentation you remember."
:"Oooh, look at me, I looked up a quote!"
:"If you're doing a text search in this document for the word 'butts,' the good news is that it's here, but the bad news is that it only appears in this unrelated quote."
:"Wait, what if these quote marks are inside out, so everything in the rest of the document is the quotation and ''this'' part isn't? ''Duuuuude."
:"The editors of ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' are a bunch of cowards who don't have the guts to print this."
:"This quote only looks profound when it's in a script font over a sunset."
:"I don't do a lot of public speaking, so I looked up a memorable quote to start my speech, and this is what I found. OK, you're staring at me blankly, but this whole thing is a quote. I know that sounds confusing, but... You know what, never mind!"
:"Sent from my iPhone."

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2154: Motivation

2022-10-17T11:45:23Z

Solomon: add link to "My Alien Roommate: Chores" YouTube video

Playtesters procrastinate too? —NT {{unsigned ip|162.158.63.208}}
: Hey, work is work is work. If you have to do it, it's work. :) I remember one time a bunch of us skipped our lunch break from game testing to huddle around a guy's computer to watch the workprint of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. We were laughing our heads off at the missing special effects. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:41, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

Weeellll - that's not really accurate Mr Munroe. I've worked (as a software engineer) in the video game industry for years. One of the biggest myths is that QA testers get paid to play video games. In fact, they don't REALLY get to play the game much at all. For most of the development cycle, there is only one or two working levels - crap graphics and crash-prone software. So they "play" in a way that is deliberately quirky in order to push the code in directions it wasn't meant to be pushed - so they can see if it crashes. They have to pay careful attention. Then they file a bug report (Oooh! Paperwork! Form filling!) and try to do exactly what they did *again* so they can explain how to make it happen. Then they go off and hunt for another bug. Once a bug is marked as "fixed" by the software team - they have to try to make it happen again - to be sure it was fixed - then do other SIMILAR things that might trigger that bug. Once we all agree that the bug is fixed - it goes on the "regression list" - which means you get to repeat the exact actions you did over and over - maybe once a month - but certainly before each Alpha/Beta/Gold release. Multiply this by hundreds of bugs - and that's what you do all day. Sometimes a software guy will pop their head around the door and say "Could someone pick up that weapon and move it through every single doorway in the entire game and see if you get stuck in any of them! K'Thanks!".

What you DON'T do is play the video game all day...and even if you did - over a typical 3 year development cycle, you'd be SO sick of it.

Hence, it's not at all unreasonable that a play tester would have fun actually playing the game.

No idea whether we should put this into the explanation part.
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.112|172.69.170.112]] 23:39, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

:Let's shorten it: Playtesters would likely procrastinate by playing game which is already finished, unlike the games they work on. ... ... of course, sometimes even games already published feel like not being finished, so ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 04:57, 25 May 2019 (UTC)
:: In online persistent games, new content may be added more or less continuously, so bugtesting & playtesting is ''never'' done.
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:53, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

As someone who worked as a game tester for several years, for various companies, testing games for various other companies, I can concur with much of what Mr(s). 172.69 said in the second comment... Though I've often been assigned to a whole level, just play it all morning, see what you can find (I got a rep for finding oddball things, like if you pass this tunnel entry then turn around, there's a see-through patch in the ceiling). At least with a whole level you get SOME playing. Though there's another downside: "Okay, today you're testing My Little Pony's Fashion Bonanza all day. Try on all the dresses.". Just because you're playing games doesn't mean it's a game you LIKE. :) But as to why I'm commenting...

The issue I found is the title text. It's highly unlikely that Ponytail would be able to choose to play an unreleased game (since it's in testing) in her off/procrastination time, which actually rules out both halves of the title text scenario, except in the second half the first game MIGHT have been released by then. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:37, 25 May 2019 (UTC)
: ''Statistically'' unlikely perhaps, but there ''are'' (a relatively small number of) games that become available to the public well before final commercial release. I suspect that availability of such "open" Betas & Alpha dev-builds is increasingly rare, but they used to be quite common in PC gaming. (Arguably) notable modern games I've played while they were still in early development include Minecraft, Robocraft, & Hawken, among many many others. I usually won't buy a game until I've played someone else's copy, or a demo, or an early build of it. NDAs & private dev builds are one way to go, but they're certainly not the ''only'' path to choose when developing a game.
::Just like Minecraft was, is Factorio now. Almost two million people play it since 2012 like its been released already, while the actual release isn't even in foresight. --[[User:Zom-B|Zom-B]] ([[User talk:Zom-B|talk]]) 15:21, 27 May 2019 (UTC)
::: The thing is, using testers and releasing Alpha / Beta versions are rather mutually exclusive. Testers will give higher quality feedback (being trained on how to analyse, as well as thoroughly explore, describe and report issues, and fully document them in a centralized system, along with Steps To Reproduce. Plus testers can be directed to improve their output, and given tasks: "Drive this racetrack and look for any gaps in the wall"), but need to be paid. Letting the public try the game is more like a shotgun approach to finding problems, but doesn't cost the gamemakers money. As far as I gather, releasing early versions is in an effort to save money, it wouldn't make sense to spend that money. And this comic states outright that this is Ponytail's job. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:35, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

This leads me to a related question:

Isn't there a difference between "bug-testing" a game & "play-testing" a game? I've known people who only evaluated games from a playability & enjoyability perspective, essentially acting as internal reviewers prior to release. Bug-testing was a largely separate activity in those cases. Is the difference usually not so delineated? [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:53, 25 May 2019 (UTC)
:From the ''Portal'' dev commentary, I would imagine that there is a significant difference; they often mention things like "without some serious prompting, players will rarely look up" and "our original final battle didn't really fit in with what came before" without talking about bug testing, like, at all. [[1269: Privacy Opinions|Volleo6144]] ([[Talk:1269: Privacy Opinions|talk]]) 17:53, 26 May 2019 (UTC)
::As someone who worked as a game tester for a few years, we tended to be given both as tasks, but the play-testing angle tends to be more subjective so it was less often assigned and reporting issues of that nature was harder to manage and be allowed. Most of our testing was finding problems, thus "bug-testing". I think it might often be the case that "bug-testing" is done by hired minions at the Alpha stage, while "play-testing" is done by insiders in earlier stages and by the public at the Beta and later stages (early versions being to make sure it's a viable game and things make sense, the public version being to polish it up and fix things like those Portal examples). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:48, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

Related: https://youtube.com/watch?v=UrYoUSRmzAs ("My Alien Roommate: Chores")

2466: In Your Classroom

2022-09-16T13:37:36Z

Solomon: /* Transcript */ Clarify titles/metadata in transcript

{{comic
| number = 2466
| date = May 21, 2021
| title = In Your Classroom
| image = in_your_classroom.png
| titletext = Ontology is way off to the left and geography is way off to the right.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Randall]] has created a thought experiment and corresponding chart about school courses. The idea is, "the subject of the class appears in the classroom" and the chart compares how dangerous and how unusual that would be.

In the title text two points that are off the chart to the left and right are also mentioned. See details about all the subjects in the [[#Table of subjects|table]] below.

Note that Randall uses similar diagrams in each of [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]], [[1242: Scary Names]] and [[1501: Mysteries]], which also contain different items. They also have extra points mentioned in the title text. In the first two comics the points are also off the chart, whereas for the last the description of the point is too long to fit on the chart. Extra info outside the chart is also used in the title text of [[1785: Wifi]], but this is a line graph.

==Table of subjects==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Breakdown of Subjects
|-
!Course Topic
!Weirdness
!Badness
!Explanation
|-

!scope=row|Atmospheric Physics
|0%
|0%
|Absent very strange and unprecedented circumstances, every classroom on Earth has an atmosphere (although going by the exact wording of the starting hypothesis ("The thing you study just showed up in your classroom!"), the implication is that up until that point, the room in which the class is being held contained a vacuum, which in and of itself is interesting to physics students.)
|-

!scope=row|Ethics
|25%
|0%
|Ethical thinking and behavior are widely considered good and should normally be present in education, but are sadly not universal.
|-

!scope=row|Education
|0%
|10%
|Learning usually goes on in classrooms, so education as a concept is both being learned about and present in the form of learning itself.
|-

!scope=row|Bibliography
|25%
|7%
|Bibliography is the study of books, and books are normally present in classrooms, particularly bibliography classrooms. Although, more commonly speaking academically, a bibliography is a list of all sources used to compose a research paper, considered mandatory in all branches of academics but occasionally falsified or written in an incorrect style.
|-

!scope=row|Human Physiology
|0%
|20%
|This comic assumes that there are humans learning in the classroom, which was true at the time this comic was published, although in many places at the time the comic was published, many classrooms were closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
|-

!scope=row|Public Speaking
|25%
|15%
|Some classes require students to present things in front of the class, which is likely a requirement in a public speaking class. Thus, public speaking itself would be present in the class.
Some classes also have a teacher talking or presenting to the students from the front of the class, another form of public speaking.
|-

!scope=row|Architecture
|0%
|30%
|All buildings can be considered architecture, and most classes take place in buildings. This comic also refers to a class''room'', which is a room, and therefore considered architecture.
|-

!scope=row|Library Science
|25%
|25%
|Library science is concerned with the organization of knowledge, and is useful for finding information. Many classes require [https://papersowl.com/pay-for-research-paper research papers] that require the use of books and other sources of information to complete them. This would be even more appropriate for a class actually taught in the school library.
|-

!scope=row|Furniture Design
|0%
|40%
|Most rooms have furniture,{{Citation needed}} so this would probably be present in a classroom. May also be implying the classroom furniture has not been assembled yet, making it not as good and a lesson in furniture design.
|-

!scope=row|Culinary Arts
|40%
|30%
|Most studies of culinary arts include the teacher and/or students preparing food using the tools and/or techniques that have been taught, so it would be fairly normal for food to be a result of classroom activities. How ''good'' it is, however, can be a mixed bag, especially for student cooking attempts.
|-

!scope=row|Ergonomics
|5%
|45%
|Ergonomic equipment and workspaces promote comfort and efficiency, while non-ergonomic ones may be unpleasant, unhealthy, or even immediately dangerous.
|-

!scope=row|Botany
|40%
|40%
|The near-neutral position of botany (aka plant biology) suggests that the most likely reason for plants to be present would be something like a potted plant, which is not uncommon, and usually not unpleasant, but not very noteworthy. There are other potential reasons for plants to be present, but those are generally less likely.
|-

!scope=row|20th Century Authors
|65%
|10%
|Literature classes would benefit greatly from an open discussion or interview with the author themself. Sadly such things are rare, but not unheard of, putting it slightly on the "weird" side of the spectrum. Well-known authors of the 20th century have an increased likelihood of being dead by 2021, but there are still some authors of the 20th century who were well-established enough to be studied and still alive at the time this comic was published.
|-

!scope=row|Exobiology
|100%
|0%
|Exobiology is the study of extraterrestrial life. This would mean that an alien lifeform was in the classroom. This is extremely weird but very good for people to investigate and research the alien.
|-

!scope=row|21st Century Authors
|60%
|20%
|21st century authors have the advantage (over 19th and 20th century authors) of typically being alive and active at the time this comic was published. However, most authors who were primarily active in the 21st century are still developing their body of work, and/or still awaiting the judgment of history. The better availability of such authors, as compared to 20th century author probably explains the slightly lower "weirdness" score, while the limited body of truly prominent authors probably explains the lower "goodness" score.
|-

!scope=row|19th Century Authors
|100%
|15%
|No author who was active in the 19th century was alive at the writing of this comic,{{Citation needed}} hence, having one of them show up in class would be extremely weird. The opportunity to interact with such a person would be utterly unique, meaning that it scores pretty high on the "goodness" metric, though interestingly not as high as a 20th century author. Possibly, the potential "badness" of having a zombie or other reanimated being show up in your class is weighed against the advantage of having a historical figure there in person. It may also be that someone from the 19th century has an increased danger of having outdated ethics, which may result in discomfort on the part of the students.
|-

!scope=row|Paleontology
|100%
|25%
|Paleontology is the study of the history of life on Earth as based on fossils. In geology classes, it would be normal to have some fossils in the classroom. However, fossils are not usually found in other classrooms, and especially below the college level. Randall is also probably implying the weirdness of finding a live ''Jurassic Park''-style dinosaur.
|-

!scope=row|Robotics
|55%
|30%
|A course on robotics would often be expected to have some form of working models of the robots being discussed. However, for it to have "showed up" in your classroom could imply an actual functioning robot prototype walked into the classroom. While not cause for concern (as long as nobody in the class is named Sarah Connor), this would be a bit weird.
|-

!scope=row|Martian Soil Chemistry
|100%
|35%
|Martian soil only reaches Earth in small amounts, so it would be unusual to find a meaningful amount anywhere, except Mars.
|-

!scope=row|Tourism
|75%
|40%
|Tourists coming into an active classroom would be quite unusual; while tourists sometimes visit university campuses, it would generally be rude for a tour guide to lead them into a classroom when class is in progress. This could also refer to the students leaving to become tourists in another location.
|-

!scope=row|Child Psychology
|60%
|45%
|Children are rarely students in classrooms advanced enough to teach child psychology. In order for child psychology to be on display, presumably someone would have to have brought a child (either for a demonstration, or for some other reason), which is slightly weird, but not unheard of. This is considered slightly "good", presumably because it would give students some opportunity for firsthand observation, and because most people like, or at least tolerate, children.
|-

!scope=row|Entomology
|15%
|55%
|Entomology is the study of insects. Insects getting into a classroom is a very common event, even putting aside the possibility of someone bringing insects specifically to study. Most insects that might get in are relatively benign, but some (such as mosquitoes) might sting or bite, and many people simply don't like insects, even when they're not harmful, pushing this slightly into "bad" territory.
|-

!scope=row|Occupational Therapy
|10%
|62%
|Injury, illness or mental health problem that hinder your participation in life/school. Many students who have significant physical injuries and conditions that require occupational therapy would generally not engage in those activities during a class, although volunteers may be brought in as a demonstration of a particular health problem or method of treatment.
|-

!scope=row|Hydraulic Engineering
|40%
|62%
|Likely in the form of flooding or plumbing problems.
|-

!scope=row|Pest Control
|25%
|70%
|This is not dissimilar to entomology, but pest control tends to involve larger infestations, as opposed to individual insects, and also includes non-insect animals, such as rats. Such events in classroom are not as common as individual insects getting in (especially in a well-maintained building), but are far from unheard of, and risk many negative effects, from bug bites to structural damage, and may require evacuation and fumigation to deal with.
|-

!scope=row|Foodborne Illness
|15%
|80%
|Sometimes students in a culinary arts class do not properly observe hygiene standards and the food they present would lead to illness in those that consume the food. Thankfully, this is rare if the teacher is paying enough attention to proceedings. Students could also be ill from food eaten outside of class.
|-

!scope=row|Criminal Law
|45%
|85%
|This might happen if a crime occurs in the class. While an armed robbery is unlikely, incidents involving theft or drug use are not particularly uncommon. Regardless, such an incident would be very bad.
|-

!scope=row|Physiology of Stress
|0%
|90%
|Stress in a classroom, even stress that's bad enough to manifest itself in physical symptoms, is all too common. Stress that bad is very harmful, and a student realizing that they were manifesting the symptoms they're studying should take it as a warning sign.
|-

!scope=row|Oncology
|25%
|100%
|Oncology is the medical practice of treating cancer. For someone in a classroom full of students to have cancer is, unfortunately, not an uncommon event, putting it on the "normal" side of the scale. While not abnormal, it's clearly very bad.
|-

!scope=row|Ornithology
|60%
|55%
|Ornithology is the study of birds. A bird getting into a classroom would be somewhat strange, but there are circumstances under which it would happen. In most cases, that's not especially dangerous, but it would be disruptive, and introduce the possibility of the bird making a mess, and possibly getting hurt (or even hurting others), which makes it slightly bad.
|-

!scope=row|Animation
|100%
|56%
|Presumably Randall isn't referring to examples of animated works being displayed to the students in an animation class, as that would be normal. However, it would be very weird for animated characters to appear physically in the classroom instead of being projected on screens. Possibly a reference to movies such as ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' in which cartoon characters actively interact with the live action cast. As many of the characters abide by different physics, and a couple are depicted as insane, this would be very weird and potentially bad.
|-

!scope=row|Petroleum Geology
|65%
|60%
|Crude oil coming up through the floor of the classroom would be ''very'' weird. Any potential for hands-on learning experience would be limited, and quickly outweighed by classes being disrupted entirely (be it damage to the building, or oil companies trying to negotiate for the land).
|-

!scope=row|Highway Engineering
|75%
|65%
|A highway being built through an active classroom would be very unusual and not that safe.
|-

!scope=row|Toxicology
|55%
|75%
|Most likely, a toxic substance is present in the room. This is not very weird if the room is in a building that has {{w|asbestos}}-containing insulation (typically associated with buildings constructed before the 1990s, although it has not been specifically outlawed in the United States due to industrial lobbying) or lead paint (which was fully outlawed in 1978, so any paint must have been applied prior to that date). However, toxic substances are unsafe for humans.{{Citation needed}}
|-

!scope=row|Hematology
|75%
|70%
|Hematology is the study of blood. Given that there should be blood in each of the students present,{{Citation needed}} we should probably assume Randall means "large quantities of blood outside of one's body", which would indeed be both bad and weird.
|-

!scope=row|Hostage Negotiation
|70%
|85%
|Reasons as to why there would be hostage negotiations taking place at a school have horrifying implications for the students and teacher. The 'weird'ness rating of this occurence would presumably change depending on location, school shootings and hostage situations being (unfortunately) much more 'normal'ised in the USA than any other country.
|-

!scope=row|History of Siege Warfare
|100%
|80%
|This would be an exceptionally strange event. Given that the topic is "history", having it show up implies that either historical figures have the classroom under siege (possibly through time travel or reanimation) or at least that the besiegers are using traditional weapons and methods in their attack. In either case, it would be a very weird event, and also very bad.
|-

!scope=row|Trauma Surgery
|55%
|95%
|An injury severe enough to require trauma surgery would be rare in a classroom, but there are circumstances under which it could realistically happen. Such an injury would be, by its very nature, a very bad thing.
|-

!scope=row|Volcanology
|75%
|95%
|Having a live volcano in one's classroom is both very dangerous and very weird {{Citation needed}}. Volcanoes mature over very long time frames, but even the earliest stages are highly disruptive and potentially deadly, as seen in the {{w|Parícutin#Formation|1943 eruption of Paricutín}} and the {{w|2018_lower_Puna_eruption#Eruption|2018 flank eruption of Kilauea}}. Note this also applies to [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar | baking soda and vinegar volcanoes that are offshoots of much larger vinegar hotspots]].
|-

!scope=row|Quasar Astronomy
|75%
|100%
|{{w|Quasars}} are distant astronomical objects that release large amounts of energy. Not only would the power of a quasar destroy the classroom (as well as the rest of Earth), quasars are too large to fit inside any known classroom. For example, {{w|ULAS J1342+0928}} has a mass of 8*10^8 solar masses. This means the event horizon of the black hole is almost 16 AU in radius, and this size does not include the accretion disk.
|-

!scope=row|Ontology (title text)
|<0%
|?
|Ontology is the philosophical study of existence and being. Since there must be ''something'' learning in the classroom, it is unsurprising that ontology is a normal subject to appear in the classroom. It would, in fact, be more bizarre to have a lack of ontology in the classroom.
|-

!scope=row|Geography (title text)
|>100%
|?
|Geographers study the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of the Earth. While each classroom classroom contains a small portion of the Earth's surface (normally not enough of it to be interesting to geographers), having the ''entire Earth'' appear inside a classroom would likely demand explanation. In particular, if this is an ordinary classroom (i.e. located ''on'' the Earth), the planet's simultaneous appearance within its walls would both defy our current understanding of spacetime, and risk [[1515: Basketball Earth | disastrous consequences at the hands of curious students.]] This could also be implying the classroom is suddenly being located on top of a geographic border, which would be highly unlikely, especially if it happened without warning.

|}

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

:[Caption above scatter plot with labeled axes]
:Caption: The thing you study just showed up in your classroom! That's...
:Top: good
:Bottom: bad
:Left: normal
:Right: weird

Items are listed row by row, left to right, top to bottom.

:[First quadrant (good and weird)]
:20th century authors
:Exobiology
:21st century authors
:19th century authors
:Robotics
:Paleontology
:Martian soil chemistry
:Child psychology
:Tourism
:[Second quadrant (good and normal)]
:Atmospheric physics
:Ethics
:Education
:Bibliography
:Human physiology
:Public speaking
:Architecture
:Library science
:Furniture design
:Culinary arts
:Ergonomics
:Botany
:[Third quadrant (bad and normal)]
:Entomology
:Occupational therapy
:Hydraulic engineering
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{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
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1167: Star Trek into Darkness

2022-07-24T16:39:35Z

Solomon: /* Trivia */ add link to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Star_Trek_Into_Darkness_controversy

{{comic
| number = 1167
| date = January 30, 2013
| title = Star Trek into Darkness
| image = star_trek_into_darkness.png
| titletext = Of course, factions immediately sprang up in favor of '~*~sTaR tReK iNtO dArKnEsS~*~', 'xX_StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNess_Xx', and 'Star Trek lnto Darkness' (that's a lowercase 'L').
}}

==Explanation==

The talk page of a Wikipedia article is used to discuss changes to the article. An {{w|Wikipedia:Edit warring|edit war}} is a dispute about a specific edit to an article, manifesting as a series of edits alternating between making and reverting the change, and usually accompanied by a more-or-less heated debate on the talk page.

Here, [[Randall]] is referring to a dispute on the Wikipedia article about ''{{w|Star Trek Into Darkness}}'' (an upcoming {{w|Star Trek}} film at the time of the comic's posting). On the day before the comic was published, the article name had a lowercase "into", and the talk page looked [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Star_Trek_Into_Darkness&oldid=535542349 like this] (rounded off in a friendly way, with the posting of {{w|User:Frungi/Star Trek Into Darkness capitalization|a summary of the arguments}}, and an exchange of virtual hugs). In summary, the debate centers around whether "Into Darkness" should be treated as a prepositional phrase (as in "Star Trek[king] Into Darkness") or an unpunctuated subtitle (as in "Star Trek[:] Into Darkness"), whether compound prepositions like "into" should be capitalized in titles, and whether the capitalization of the title in the movie's official promotional material is relevant. The intensity and multiple facets of a debate over one tiny letter is apparently entertaining to Randall.

[[Cueball]] changes the title to "~*~ StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNeSs ~*~" so that every other letter is capitalized, and the title as a whole is framed by tildes and asterisks (a common, but childish and ugly way of emphasizing titles online). This is a particularly silly compromise wherein the title is so obviously wrong, both sides will actually agree on something (either agree that Randall's title is wrong or that Randall's title is an acceptable middle ground).

The title text indicates Randall's belief that such arguments are perpetual and will always arise. He suggests that the edit to the Wikipedia page will result in a dispute over variants of Cueballs [[:Category:Compromise|"compromise"]]. One new alternative has the letter cases switched (or shifted, depending on your perspective), one uses a different set of "bracketing" characters (xX_[...]_Xx instead of ~*~[...]~*~), and one uses the original title, but with a lowercase "L" instead of a capital "I" (which appear similar in many fonts).

Alternating-case text later caught on as [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mocking-spongebob an internet meme] in 2017 (four years after this comic strip was published) for representing a mocking tone.

[[Megan|Megan's]] line of "They should have sent a poet." is a quote from the film ''{{w|Contact (1997 American film)|Contact}}''. The quote is also referenced in [[482: Height]]. In the movie, the line was meant to convey that only a poet could adequately capture the beauty seen; here, it indicates that prose is insufficient to capture the ironic beauty of the edit war.

The old "favorite edit war" might be the one referenced in the title text of [[878: Model Rail]] or the one resulting from the addition of the [[739: Malamanteau]] article to Wikipedia

==Transcript==
:[Cueball staring at computer screen.]
:Cueball: Oh, ''wow.'' Look at Wikipedia's Talk page for '''''Star Trek into Darkness.''''' I have a new favorite edit war.
:Megan (off-panel): Oh?

:Cueball: Forty ''thousand'' words of debate over whether to capitalize "into" in the movie's title. Still no consensus.
:Megan: That's ''magnificent''.
:Cueball: It's breathtaking.
:Megan: They should have sent a poet.

:Cueball: Well, I'm making an executive decision. I hope both sides accept this as a fair compromise.

:[A Wikipedia page titled "''~*~ StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNeSs ~*~''"]

==Trivia==
After the publication of the comic, the debate continued with full force, complete with {{w|Talk:Star Trek Into Darkness/Archive 5#xkcd Mention|a section of xkcd-inspired suggestions}}. The article itself was soon protected, so that only administrators could edit it. A day later, the title was changed to one including a capital "Into" by the administrator {{w|User:Mackensen|Mackensen}}. (The debate continued on {{w|User talk:Mackensen/Archive20#Star Trek into Darkness move|his talk page}}.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/~*~_StAr_TrEk_InTo_DaRkNeSs_~*~ was a valid redirect link for quite some time, having not been deleted when {{w|Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2015 January 25#~*~ StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNeSs ~*~|requested in 2015}}, but {{w|Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2016 May 23#~*~ StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNeSs ~*~|2016}}.

{{w|The Independent}} published an article about the "[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/trekkies-take-on-wikis-in-a-grammatical-tizzy-over-star-trek-into-darkness-8475705.html grammatical tizzy]", and the affair as a whole was added to Wikipedia's humorous list of the {{w|WP:Lamest edit wars|lamest edit wars}}.

There is now a whole Wikipedia page about the controversy: {{w|Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness controversy|Wikipedia ''Star Trek Into Darkness'' controversy}}

{{comic discussion 1167}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Star Trek]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Compromise]]

Talk:1172: Workflow

2021-12-19T03:53:01Z

Solomon: add link to "The compatibility constraints of your side effects: Beeping" on Raymond Chen's blog The Old New Thing

It's not a bug, it's a feature! '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:42, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

What? The explanation makes no sense. Where did the user reconfiguring his CPU to overheat upon pressing control come from?[[Special:Contributions/67.5.239.109|67.5.239.109]] 06:27, 11 February 2013 (UTC) Edit: I was referring to the actual explanation which has since been edited, not the comic itself. I understood that, but the explanation was quoting stuff that wasn't in the comic.[[Special:Contributions/70.199.230.162|70.199.230.162]] 18:35, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
:It's not 'from' anything. It's just an extreme and humorously far-fetched example of how a user might put a bug to use. He used the bug so he wouldn't have to reach for his actual control button, a 'horrifying' hack which works for him. [[Special:Contributions/24.105.141.150|24.105.141.150]] 17:21, 12 February 2013 (UTC)

No idea where this coming from, but reminds me [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=656433 this bug] and [http://dmcritchie.mvps.org/firefox/firefox-problems.htm#fx7 this reaction to it]. Firefox is good example in general: about:config was obviously CREATED to make much more settings available that is sane to put in configuration windows. On the other hand, this problem is old, so the comix is probably about some other, more recent problem, possibly in completely different software. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:39, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

I'm constantly running stuff like Folding@Home, but I usually underclock my components to conserve power and lengthen the lifespan. However, I created a macro that overclocks my GPU at the press of a button, and I use it to act as a heater for my room whenever I get cold. It works. Those children could follow my example. [[Special:Contributions/70.31.159.230|70.31.159.230]] 15:05, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

I think this is a jab at Windows 8, only an upside-down one - since the comic is about a lone protester as opposed to the general dissatisfaction with Tile World. Also: Let's wire the computer components (and a heat sink) into an office chair. Would sell like crazy in the North.

I think it would be nice to include in the explanation, for people unfamiliar with Emacs, that most macros require you to type Control something. It's common to remap Ctrl to the Caps Lock position so that it's easier and faster to reach. [[Special:Contributions/189.123.138.144|189.123.138.144]] 17:32, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

I've learned long ago to never assume that my personal expectations will help everybody. To never ignore feedback from your core users (who else would stick around and use such a buggy system?). And that if you taking other's choice away to save them from themselves, try to give a quick alternative, such as a hint on how to modify the script to look for prolonged space-bar commands and engage control button (perhaps that user is disabled?) - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 23:53, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

It's quite possible that this is a reference to [https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=30475 this], which is a relatively famous bug that got an incredibly angry reaction. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.230|199.27.128.230]] 19:29, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Perfect example: [https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20071214-00/?p=24163 The compatibility constraints of your side effects: Beeping] [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 03:53, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

;Horrifying

Doesn't the admin rather mean, that it's horrifying that the user's workaround does not work anymore, and not, that he considers the workaround itself horrible?
--[[Special:Contributions/188.109.179.0|188.109.179.0]] 10:43, 13 August 2013 (UTC)
:No for sure he finds it horrifying that some user would use an error that could overheat the system as a way to "press" ctrl key. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:33, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

"std::cin no longer overheats the CPU when you hold down spacebar" [http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2013/06/28/c-11-14-stl-features-fixes-and-breaking-changes-in-vs-2013.aspx from here]. I chuckled when I was reading this. Maybe there are references buried in the comments, too. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.128|108.162.254.128]] 21:11, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
:It does. A user called JB said "Although please can you implement an option to reinstate the cpu heating when space bar is pressed feature though, as I have code that relies on this feature."
even better one of the MS devs replied "JB: That's horrifying." about half way through one of their replies {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.158}}

==Tone==
Current revision says this: "A similar effect may be caused by other improvements, particularly those which involve changes in the user interface."

However, the changes in question are precisely those ''not'' universally agreed to be improvements. While some cases like the one in the comic are ridiculous, others are emphatically not and are in fact near-universally agreed to be dumb. As such, referring to the general case as "improvements" is not really viable.

I'd have edited to "changes" myself, but that'd create a repeated word so it's kind of clunky. Does anyone have any suggestions for more neutral terms? [[User:Magic9mushroom|Magic9mushroom]] ([[User talk:Magic9mushroom|talk]]) 13:02, 18 August 2020 (UTC)