explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2016: OEIS Submissions

2018-07-10T15:26:54Z

Tbc: (1) answer a Q (2) update on my sequence

"All integers which do not appear in the example terms of another OEIS sequence" there is no paradox: it's pecified *another* sequence
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.133|162.158.154.133]] 17:52, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

I am so sorry that this comment is not related to the strip, but is the scaling for the explanation way off? Previously the scaling of the whole website was stretched, but now it is a bit too cramped for me. It happens to the previous strips too.Boeing-787lover 18:10, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

Is it too much of a stretch to mention that Chris Hemsworth stars in the movie ''Blackhat'', which is also a nickname for an XKCD character? [[User:John at work|John at work]] ([[User talk:John at work|talk]]) 19:31, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

The Sub 59 one is also a paradox, it specifies that it should include all of the author's accepted submissions, so it would have to be on it's own list itself in order to be accurate? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.233|172.68.58.233]] 19:47, 6 July 2018 (UTC)
:No, it would not be paradoxical. If it is accepted, then the sequence contains its identification number. If it is not accepted, that number is not in the sequence. The sequence changes depending on its own status, but there is no contradiction. This is different from e.g. the set of sets that don't contain themselves. If that set contained itself, it shouldn't contain itself, and if it didn't contain itself, it should contain itself. Both alternatives are logically impossible, so the set itself is impossible. There is nothing impossible about submission 59. [[User:Howtonotwin|Howtonotwin]] ([[User talk:Howtonotwin|talk]]) 20:15, 6 July 2018 (UTC)
:If OEIS would bend their own rule and allow a sequence of one number, they could accept SUB[59] , and it will never be out of date as long as they never accept another RM submittal.[[User:GODZILLA|GODZILLA]] ([[User talk:GODZILLA|talk]]) 00:49, 8 July 2018 (UTC)
:Do the OEIS rules specify that a finite set of numbers can not be expanded later? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.112|172.68.50.112]] 14:42, 9 July 2018 (UTC)
::Finite sequences are permitted. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 15:26, 10 July 2018 (UTC)''

The Westside IRT stops sequence is a wonderful piece of trivia. I found [https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/27/science/in-a-random-world-he-collects-patterns.html the NYT article], which gives as its reason that at that time only infinite sequences were included. I have failed to find the necessary third-party reference to the inclusion of the sequence in OEIS (this, being an open wiki, is unacceptable) to include the point in {{w|IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line|the Wikipedia article on the West Side IRT}}. Can anybody supply one? [[User:Yngvadottir|Yngvadottir]] ([[User talk:Yngvadottir|talk]]) 20:35, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

I'm wondering about the comment "In UTF-16, a 9 takes up 2 bytes," about the 2 TB of 9s. Does OEIS store numbers in UTF-16 format? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.94|172.68.174.94]] 21:01, 6 July 2018 (UTC) nprz
: It seems unrelated to me, the comic says 2 terabytes of 9s not 2 terabytes of 9s in a string (UTF-16 or otherwise). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.33|162.158.158.33]] 12:49, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

Helvetica seems to be one of the fonts where all digits have the same width (so that columns of numbers line up). Strangely, there seems to be a kerning pair for "11" that some Software uses. "Helvetica Neue" does not seem to have that kerning pair. (Tested using the simple HTML page in https://gist.github.com/hn3000/bec217afe666b0ee0a0430e976df4d22#file-numbers-by-width-in-font-html ).
[[User:Hn3000|Hn3000]] ([[User talk:Hn3000|talk]]) 11:04, 7 July 2018 (UTC)

Such a coincidence! I've been working on my first submission all week and wrote an Emacs Lisp program that discovered the third integer pair the day this came out! You get to see it now that I have a number allocated ([https://oeis.org/draft/A316587 A316587]): 12, 34, 56, 78, 6162, 7879. Can you find the next number in the sequence? Hint: my sequence is a proper subset of A001704. Still editing before I submit for approval. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:11, 7 July 2018 (UTC)''
: I withdrew my sequence. I learned from the OEIS editors that my sequence is "the juxtaposition of terms from [https://oeis.org/A116163 A116163] and [https://oeis.org/A116294 A116294]." The next pair after 6162, 7879 is 6547965480, 8091980920. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 15:26, 10 July 2018 (UTC)''

Digits do not have the same width in Helvetica, at least not in the version of Helvetica I have. Using the PHP function [http://php.net/imagettfbbox imagettfbbox] (part of the GD library), here is the bounding box width of single digits in 12pt size:
5 points: '1'. 8 points: '4', '7'. 9 points: '0', '2', '3', '5', '6', '8', '9'.
With a very large size (480pt) the differences ar more notable:
166 points: '1'. 302 points: '9'. 307 points: '6'. 308 points: '2', '8'. 309 points: '0', '5'. 311 points: '7'. 313 points: '3'. 318 points: '4'.

For 2-digit numbers in 480pt size I find: 522 points: '11'. 559 points: '61', '71'. 560 points: '91'. 562 points: '21'. 563 points: '51', '81'. 566 points: '41'. 568 points: '31'. 620 points: '19'. 623 points: '13'. 624 points: '10', '15', '18'. 625 points: '12'. 626 points: '16'. 629 points: '14', '17'. The rest range from 657 to 675 points.

In short, sub[44] makes sense, with all the caveats mentioned in the explanation. The phrases `1 to 9 in no particular order, 11, 10 and 12 to 19 in no particular order and so on' are exaggerated IMHO, the order within these subsets is not completely arbitrary.
Zetfr 10:22, 8 July 2018 (UTC)

I think that all nines sequence can be reference to Dilbert strip about random number generator which always returns 9 http://dilbert.com/strip/2001-10-25
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.77|141.101.104.77]] 19:41, 8 July 2018 (UTC)qbolec

Talk:2016: OEIS Submissions

2018-07-07T21:24:32Z

Tbc: it was already allocated; link will track its status

Talk:2016: OEIS Submissions

2018-07-07T18:11:51Z

Tbc: add my signature

Talk:1809: xkcd Phone 5

2017-03-12T04:32:12Z

Tbc: phoning in the comic

Darn, I was almost fast enough to get the cot-caught merger explanation in there. That being said, now I really want a phone with a Zelda style hook shot. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 14:02, 10 March 2017 (UTC)
--I just came to say the same. I want the hookshot! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.100|172.68.78.100]] 14:05, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

It's way more likely that this refers to the Zelda hook shot, as it looks like a little tube where some sort of grappling hook could potentially shoot out from. It doesn't look like it could shoot out basketballs, though. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.17|108.162.238.17]] 15:28, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

It looks like "Hook Shot" is a clever suggestion for a feature name: the lens attaches to the camera with a 'hook' so you can take great 'shot's. [[User:Schnitz|Schnitz]] ([[User talk:Schnitz|talk]]) 18:01, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

It's worth noting that most of the Loran-C system (which presumably is what would be used on a phone) has been decommissioned in the last decade or so, including all the stations operated by the US and Canadian governments. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.201|162.158.62.201]] 15:52, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

'''Notice''' the new [[what if?]] ''{{what if|156|Electrofishing for Whales}}'' released the day before this comic! Only 9 days between releases... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:33, 10 March 2017 (UTC)
:OFF TOPIC: Can you imagine how much Randall must have been laughing while looking at all those funny electrofishing sources he is citing... ROFL--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:44, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

LORAN -- I was under the impression that the US LORAN base stations were turned off in 2010. Perhaps a few years later in some other parts of the world. So a LORAN reciever is of less use than a chocolate teapot.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.21|162.158.62.21]] 18:08, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

I understand "Can Feel Pain" as the next step up for Siri (or Google or Alexa or...) to become conscious. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.160|108.162.219.160]] 18:18, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

The phone is slightly round. What could this mean? It's not like Galaxy Edge.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:44, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

I think part of the joke of "Squelch knob" is that a lot of people simply don't know what a squelch knob does. May as well put this mysterious knob on a phone, too. Does anyone else agree? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.18|162.158.106.18]] 01:36, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

;Layout question
We have five xkcd phone explanations. Three of them are using a bullet list and two (including this) use a table. I prefer the bullets, not only because it's easier for editors. A table cell where the text needs a couple of lines is either bad text or bad layout. I think it's the layout. What do you think?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:57, 10 March 2017 (UTC)
:I like the table but I do not wish to use the time to change any of these explanations. Also it is not important to me but I would prefer the five explanations used the same layout. So I would not object if all where made into bullets lists. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:14, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

It was really funny for me personally that this comic came out this Friday as right before I came home and saw the new xkcd phone I had just picked up my new smartphone. It was "just" a Samsung so great I didn't see this first because then I would have been disappointed by the few features my new phone has. But at least it is now easier to make such a comment like this on the phone --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:17, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

Pokemon spoiler inside (rot 13): Va rcvfbqr 16 bs gur Cbxrzba bevtvany frevrf, Nfu, Zvfgl, Oebpx, Wrffvr, naq Wnzrf, nybat jvgu gurve znal Cbxrzba, ner genccrq ba n obng. Orvat irel uhatel, gurl pbafvqre rngvat Wnzrf'f Zntvxnec, hagvy Zrbjgu ovgrf Zntvxnec...naq oernxf uvf grrgu.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.208|162.158.78.208]] 21:05, 11 March 2017 (UTC)
:Vf vg ernyyl n fcbvyre gb erirny n cybg cbvag 18+ lrnef nsgre gur bevtvany nve qngr?[[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]]) 03:14, 12 March 2017 (UTC)

Every time I see another one in this lame series I get a stronger impression that this is Randall's way of "phoning in" a comic when his creative well goes dry. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 04:32, 12 March 2017 (UTC)''

Talk:1774: Adjective Foods

2016-12-23T15:09:43Z

Tbc: OSASCOMP?

Nobody has edited since I started this? Wow. I must have been ''early''. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 15:23, 19 December 2016 (UTC)
:Nice to see somebody helping out! Thanks! [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 15:41, 19 December 2016 (UTC)

This looks just like all the food in my supermarket. I'm not even sure if I'm buying food or the best adjectives sometimes XD [[User:Fox Holmes|While most people have mass on Saturday, I have mine relative to my inertia]] ([[User talk:Fox Holmes|talk]]) 15:59, 19 December 2016 (UTC)

The can of Lite is a real thing, of course, and trademarked, which is why other beers can call themselves "light" but not "Lite". [https://www.beeradvocate.com/mag/2627/lite-beer-vs-light-beer/ This article has more on that.] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.4|162.158.75.4]] 16:05, 19 December 2016 (UTC)

Italics is totally fine, and Glazed and Lite ''are'' in white. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 16:13, 19 December 2016 (UTC)
:First off, I would like to apologize, my reason for changing the text to normal could be seen as inflammatory, and that was not my intention. As for my actual reason, it's that while you may be able to read it fine, many people can't read text like that. In the comic, it's large and capital letters, but the wiki has small text. Adding all that guff makes it hard to read. For example, my mom has awful eyes, and text like that would be virtually unreadable to her. It was not for my sake, but rather for the sake of others. [[User:Fox Holmes|While most people have mass on Saturday, I have mine relative to my inertia]] ([[User talk:Fox Holmes|talk]]) 16:18, 19 December 2016 (UTC)
::It's not hard to increase the font size on a computer -- just ctrl and + (or ctrl and =). ctrl and - to turn it back down. The transcript is mainly there for search engines anyway, I imagine; after all, the comic is directly above it on the same page.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.178|108.162.237.178]] 17:29, 19 December 2016 (UTC)
:::it isn't hard to increase font size, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about how busy the text is. There is no reason for it to have that much. It distracts from the real purpose and decreases readability. Also, they want it edited as well. Note the box above the transcript about format. This is not about you. It needs to change for other people who cannot read this stuff as well. What makes you think everyone knows how to increase font size? I honestly didn't until now. You need to do something about it, I'll do it for you, which you may not like.[[User:Fox Holmes|While most people have mass on Saturday, I have mine relative to my inertia]] ([[User talk:Fox Holmes|talk]]) 17:48, 19 December 2016 (UTC)

Is "artisenal" even a word? Is that a purposeful misspelling of "artisanal"? (Like "lite" is a purposeful misspelling of "light".) [[User:Imperpay|Imperpay]] ([[User talk:Imperpay|talk]]) 16:42, 19 December 2016 (UTC)

The "artisenal" error has now been fixed in the updated comic. [http://xkcd.com/1774/]. --[[User:Esterhazy|Esterhazy]] ([[User talk:Esterhazy|talk]]) 17:42, 19 December 2016 (UTC)

The 'p' by a "kosher mark" indicates that it is kosher for Passover. It will say 'pareve' outright if the food is pareve. --Hamotron[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.28|172.68.54.28]] 18:24, 19 December 2016 (UTC)

Who cares what foods ''might'' be in each of the packages? It has nothing to do with the comic and are generally speculation anyway. I'd disagree with most of what's written, but it doesn't matter. I would argue for removing the entire table/section. [[User:SeanAhern|SeanAhern]] ([[User talk:SeanAhern|talk]]) 18:58, 19 December 2016 (UTC)
:I'd generally agree. If we are to list them, the 'sack' should probably designate it as 'Flour or meal,' as cereals are sometimes steel-cut, but not usually stone-ground, and stone-ground wheat is flour. Also, while there are lots of kosher foods here, I've never seen kosher eggs. Rule seems to be it must come from a live kosher chicken, but I think all chickens are kosher while they are alive, & 'kosher chicken' refers to the manner of their slaughter. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 23:07, 19 December 2016 (UTC)
:I don't think you are meant to be able to tell what is in the package as some of it makes no sense. Why would "cage free" be applied to flour or wheat? That is typically applied to chickens and their eggs to indicate the chicken/hen isn't trapped in a cage. But I have never heard of someone grinding a chicken. The only thing I can think of all those adjectives actually referring to would be ground up chicken such as for fertilisers. I think it is just a collection of adjectives which make no sense.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.160|108.162.249.160]] 00:00, 20 December 2016 (UTC)
Hear, hear; in fact I think the explanation should note that part of the joke is that no product could be described as cage free and stone-ground. similarly, fire-roasted and flambé are inconsistent. Also, smoked, sun-dried, and barrel-aged are very nearly mutually inconsistent. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.29|162.158.79.29]] 01:41, 20 December 2016 (UTC)
:: Disagree, fois gras could be made from cage free ducks and then ground with stone implements. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.64|108.162.221.64]] 14:36, 20 December 2016 (UTC)
:: It could refer to some baked good that uses stone-ground flour and eggs from cage-free chickens.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.5|172.68.46.5]] 17:05, 20 December 2016 (UTC)
`

This is the opposite of 993: Brand Identity. {{unsigned ip|162.158.62.75}}

"Stune-ground" might reffer to a "Ground stone" so its probably Flour. (PS hope i edit this correctly) {{unsigned ip|172.68.34.106}}

;Lite

The contents of the Lite can could also be soda, as it's well possible to produce a lite soda (though I don't think anyone has). {{unsigned ip|172.68.34.106}}
:Coca Cola has a Lite variety, so it certainly could be. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.219|141.101.104.219]] 14:10, 20 December 2016 (UTC)

;Original flavor

'Original flavor' actually isn't a noun phrase (in context). It's an adjectival phrase, which is why Randall has used it as he has. I'd suggest deleting this sentence in the explanation. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.162}}

;Trivia
The link in the trivia section seems to point to the current comic image, not the older version.---- {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.100}}

Is it just me or is "original flavor" not an adjective? It seems to act as a noun, "flavor", being modified by an adjective "original", not as a phrase.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.88|108.162.215.88]] 21:18, 22 December 2016 (UTC)

It's hard to read it as a noun phrase in context. In another context it could be, for example if a soda-can were a likely container for flavoring. Here it reads most naturally as an adjectival phrase: imagine 'Original flavor Coca Cola'. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.126|141.101.107.126]] 05:47, 23 December 2016 (UTC)Adam

;OSASCOMP
At first glance not all of these adjective orderings look natural. Has anyone checked? Opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 15:09, 23 December 2016 (UTC)''

Talk:1701: Speed and Danger

2016-07-01T15:29:46Z

Tbc: sarcasm?

== Worst Comic ==
I think this might be a strong contender for worst comic on xkcd. Although [[1384: Krypton]] definitely makes for stiff competition. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.102|108.162.216.102]] 14:28, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Is there something this is referencing? [[User:Saklad5|Saklad5]] ([[User talk:Saklad5|talk]]) 14:41, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

The worst? Have you looked at the first few hundred? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 15:09, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

== Sarcasm ==
Is sarcasm to be encouraged in explanations? “Here, Randall makes the '''truly astounding''' observation that the danger of a crash is directly proportional to its speed….” [Emphasis mine.] ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 15:29, 1 July 2016 (UTC)''

Talk:1698: Theft Quadrants

2016-06-24T12:27:24Z

Tbc: Don't do porn

Come to think of it, I haven't accidentally hit a porn site in years. Is Randall even referring to a real problem? Anyone remember whitehouse dot com? And for the record, kids, [http://purl.net/net/tbc/writing/xxx.htm don't do porn]. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 12:27, 24 June 2016 (UTC)''

1657: Insanity

2016-03-18T12:43:17Z

Tbc: /* Explanation */ the n Me

{{comic
| number = 1657
| date = March 18, 2016
| title = Insanity
| image = insanity.png
| titletext = I looked up "insanity" in like 10 different dictionaries and none of them said anything like that. Neither did the DSM-4. But I'll keep looking. Maybe it's in the DSM-5!
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic Whitehat quotes to Cueball the "definition of insanity", which is, according to that quote, to do the same thing repeatedly while expecting a different outcome, to which Cueball responds by applying the quote to the action of quoting that quote. Whitehat seems to have quoted that quote quite a few times already, expecting people to change their behaviour which hasn't happened so far. So according to that definition of insanity, it is insane to keep quoting the definition of insanity, expecting people to change their behaviour because of that.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1650: Baby

2016-03-02T14:50:03Z

Tbc: My reaction

In second sentence, it says bobble instead of bubble. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.233|162.158.252.233]] 10:08, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

"Good job getting it outside" ... Talking to people about their baby is basically something like talking with collector about his hobby you don't share. Well ... at least they can't show you two things looking exactly same and talk about how they differ. Unless they have twins. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:35, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
:the pressures of a new baby are such that it's very tempting just to stay inside and deal with them. having to gather up all the stuff you think is essential to take them outside and then actually do it is absolutely a big deal. if you see people with a newborn, congratulate them, they'll appreciate it. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.153.29|162.158.153.29]] 13:06, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Say something creepy, maybe they'll keep the baby away from you... [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 11:48, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

How about introducing a category "Small talk"? Containing e.g., [[222]], [[1640]] (I didn't do an exhaustive search) --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.240|198.41.242.240]] 12:43, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
:Could be interesting. Would that then also include all those where two people walk together, or should it specifically be when it is a subject like the weather he cannot find out to discuss like people expect? (There is also one like that with the weather... [[1324: Weather]] ) But it is difficult to search for this I think? If anyone care to list anyone they can think of here it would be interesting. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:48, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
:I would find that appealing. The focus should be the socially awkward smalltalk, like just lately [[1643]] --[[User:TheHolgi|TheHolgi]] ([[User talk:TheHolgi|talk]]) 13:10, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

in answer to the question posed in the title text, you can't generalise about children. but it's mostly true that they alternate between putting on weight and using that weight to get taller. so they'll get chubbier and chubbier and then suddenly lose the weight and get tall and thin. or, if they don't eat, they stay small. or, if you feed them sugary crap, they stay fat. but not necessarily. each one is different. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.153.29|162.158.153.29]] 13:06, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

In an earlier comic RM outright trashed the idea of humans reproducing. I'll link to it if I can find it. As a father of two I was outraged, but I was over it until the comic today raised his prejudice against parents again. Today he's oblique, but still reprehensible. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 14:50, 2 March 2016 (UTC)''

User talk:Davidy22

2016-01-22T19:23:22Z

Tbc: /* Please don't */ glad I'm not the only one

Hi Davidy22,

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

But again, thanks for helping...

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

== Please don't ==

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

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

::Glad I'm not the only one who didn't know. Sorry about [[1633]] this morning. /.\ — ''[[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 19:23, 22 January 2016 (UTC)''

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

== Just asking ==:::Mostly cuz that didn't work when it was on the main page, and calling attention to specific comics has worked exceedingly well. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:57, 11 February 2014 (UTC)
Was there a reason you deleted most of the List of all comics? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:21, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== The Anonymous editor of 1132 ==

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

== Broken mirror... ==

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

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

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

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

== Please take a look ==

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

== autoblocking suspicious users ==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== separate section for title text ==

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

== No more imagesize ==

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

== Please move pages ==

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

== Sorry ==

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

== Trivia placement ==

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

If you disagree with the trivia placement between explanation and transcript, why don't you say so, and explain why? –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 14:50, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

I made a section for discussion of this, so that we can come to some agreement: [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Trivia and transcript]]. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 15:18, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
:Moved to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Coordination#Trivia and transcript placement]] –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:05, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

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

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

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

==[[220: Philosophy]]==

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

== Character names in transcripts ==

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

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

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

== My unexplained hobbies. ==

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

I suck at wiki stuff but am a real human - sorry for the confusion. {{unsigned|‎Schmammel}}
:No matter. Also, see the blue box above the talk page edit box for instruction on how to sign your posts. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:55, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

== About your new admin powers ==

Actually just the rollback hammer. I've learned this after being burned a few times.

Rollback will actually not revert just the one edit you are looking at, but will go back until it hits a revision that wasn't done by that user, so its useful for pure spam accounts, but if you're just undoing a single edit, you may still want to use the undo tool.

Also, once or twice I actually had it revert all the way back to the last patrolled edit, which meant it actually got rid of the edits of a few anonymous editors too.

Just a caution that with great power comes great responsibility.

--[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 04:11, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

:Oh damn, did I do that? Welp. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:28, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

== Removed Level 2 headings from Discussion page ==

Hi, I noticed you removed the level 2 headings in the discussion of comic 1188. I'm guessing it's the application of some formatting rule established on this wiki, so I'm curious where I can find a list of these standards that I should adhere to, so I don't make such a mistake again in the future. [[User:Jfresen|Jfresen]] ([[User talk:Jfresen|talk]]) 15:10, 20 March 2013 (UTC)

:It's not really a formatting convention, more of a workaround to technical limitations of the wiki. The way discussion pages are embedded into comic pages, headings in talk pages cause breakages when tables of contents are spawned. It's ugly and bad and it's the reason why we delete discussion page headers. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:33, 20 March 2013 (UTC)

== Captcha help ==

:''This thread was moved to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#Captcha help]].''

== RE: Signature ==

Sweet, thanks David. {{User:Omega/sig}} 14:51, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

== Time is hard... ==

... and not only that, she also is, just like her sister Gravity, a heartless b**** :D
Thanks for taking care! :) [[User:Caranhyas|Caranhyas]] ([[User talk:Caranhyas|talk]]) 09:41, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

== Feedback ==

Hey David. It's nice that you're so responsive to requests such as those at [[Mediawiki talk:Sitenotice]] (or [[explain_xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#Captcha help|this one]]), but please take also a moment to report the request as completed, as that not only provides feedback to the requester, but is also a reference for the future (which removes the need to dig through the relevant page's history if, for example, one decides to check whether a request ever got implemented), and exemplifies desired behavior for future administrators. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 21:53, 6 April 2013 (UTC)
:Alright. Was just trying to get through everything quickly, and forgot to reply to those requests. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:55, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

== 262 correction: Thanks! ==

Hi there!

Unfortunately, I was not aware that I had incorrectly created the page for xkcd 262. Thanks for fixing that. My only question is whether the page "262" should be redirected to xkcd 262 rather than just showing the deletion template.

Thanks,

[[User:Milar Kayne|Milar Kayne]] ([[User talk:Milar Kayne|talk]]) 07:02, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

:The page "262" and all other pages consisting of only numbers are used internally to handle page linking. You don't really need to worry about them, you just need to know that making explanation pages in those numbered pages is baaad and that the create templates in the [[List of all comics]] will set up everything relevant for you. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:14, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

::So all of the xkcd comic pages theoretically "exist" on the site, but not all have connected pages? Also, how do I create a new page from the "All comics" page? Thanks for being so patient--I really want to be able to contribute meaningfully here. [[User:Milar Kayne|Milar Kayne]] ([[User talk:Milar Kayne|talk]]) 20:27, 7 April 2013 (UTC)
::No, we just link to the xckd comic pages. The numbered pages handle links between explanation pages. On the "List of all comics" page, there are (create) buttons next to all the red links; click those to start explaining those comics. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:12, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

:::OK thanks for explaining! I'll try to do better next time :). [[User:Milar Kayne|Milar Kayne]] ([[User talk:Milar Kayne|talk]]) 01:36, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

== List of unexplained comics ==

Thanks for the vote of confidence - hoping it'll encourage more contributors! [[User:Sean|Sean]] ([[User talk:Sean|talk]]) 21:50, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

== New sections in comic talk pages ==

Re [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:277:_Long_Light&curid=8457&diff=35146&oldid=35143 this correction] (especially your edit summary!): while there is the "Add topic" tab at the top of talk pages, you'll get new sections added to comic talk pages too.

Perhaps reducing them to ; headings is a better alternative that still marks a new topic.

;Just testing that I have the right formatting character
Yes.

Of course this won't fix the automatically supplied heading from the "Add topic" tab, but then we do still want that functionality in other talk pages, like here...
[[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 03:25, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

:Ooh, the semicolon does that? You learn something new every day. Noted. There might be a way to change those controls at the top, I'll look into that. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:50, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

== Time frames 1008-1014 have an artefact in your upload ==

In your uploads "under the ground" between frames 1008 and 1014 there is a grey horizontal line with unmoving "ticks" while the terrain does change above. This is not reflected in the live hash for the only hash in this range recorded so far. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 10:55, 1 May 2013 (UTC)
:Hrm, I've just been pulling the images from the xkcd site and uploading them straight. Imma check on this. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:29, 1 May 2013 (UTC)
::Yeah, it's not just you, the [http://geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190/?frame=1014&framediff=1007 geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190] has it too. Randall must have had a snafu that he's fixed. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 12:47, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

== Time1190 - but sometimes I also have NO time ==

I did register in here mainly for 1190, I am sure you did see this.
This weekend I will work on a script giving me an easy update for the next day template, for now I am doing manual.

THANKS for your great job on all the other comics!

I just do need more TIME...

And I am not native English, so I am still happy about everyone correcting me.

Archive discussion I did start here [[Talk:1190:_Time]]

--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:29, 10 May 2013 (UTC)
:I actually already have a script to do that. I thought you had made one of your own though when you were filling in for new days, so I was just letting you go ahead with that. Here's my script: [http://pastebin.com/RQGGia3L]. Change the variables at the top of the script, run it and copy/paste the output into the page for time. The fields should be self-evident, but ask me if you have any questions. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:38, 11 May 2013 (UTC)

:: Oh, PYTHON - I prefer Perl or just a simple bash script.
:: So I will ask Randall for a translator for Python to Perl ;)
:: And tomorrow I hopefully will have some more time, your script is helpful.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:53, 11 May 2013 (UTC)
:::Just for fun I did the script in PERL. Here is the link: [http://pastebin.com/PG5j56Nv template]--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:29, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

== And sometimes I do have time ==
Just tell me what I did do wrong (I will follow you...). I am still new to WIKI syntax, it is still new to me. But I am learning as you can see.
And after all that I will write a Perl Script with a missing close paren...

I like jokes but I also like a clean Wiki here!

--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:38, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
:Uh, the explanation for that page is a wee bit thin for the size and complexity of the comic, and it uses terms like the hibbert curve without defining them. It's not enough of an explanation to cover the whole comic. Also, there were a few missing categories and a bunch of trailing spaces in the transcript. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:46, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
::"a wee bit thin for the size and complexity of the comic" so sure this is still incomplete (I just did forget to add that template). Oh, and we have so many more complex comics with a need for more explanations. And while I am still not native English, which does mean I have to goooogle fore many memes, I am hoping I can support this wiki. I just try to do my best - any help on me is welcome! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:12, 24 May 2013 (UTC)
:::And I'm pretty sure they're all tagged as incomplete too, so all is well. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:17, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

== User talk page deleted? ==

Hey there, apparently my talk page was deleted because the only content on it was "buttsex", which is fine, but I just thought I should let you know that I did not add that ;). Can I restore my talk page blank? --[[User:Mynotoar|Mynotoar]] ([[User talk:Mynotoar|talk]]) 11:39, 25 May 2013 (UTC)
:Yeah, sure, I saw the edit log when I deleted it. Do whatever you want with your user page. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:50, 25 May 2013 (UTC)

== Incomplete explanations ==
Hello [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]], I will stop creating incomplete new pages even when I think it's good idea to have a page for each comic here and work afterwards on all those incomplete ones. The pages [[Help:How to add a new comic explanation]] and [[List of unexplained comics]] should clarify this issue. Furthermore there are many more incomplete comics here not marked as incomplete so you can't find them here: [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Incomplete explanations]]. I am trying to give my best to support this wiki--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:44, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

:One add: I am not a youngster, my first computer was a C64 and the next one was a IBM compatible PC 286 (512 KByte main memory, 20 MByte hard drive). And right now I'm just trying to encourage other people to help here. But I don't want to fight against windmills.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:24, 3 June 2013 (UTC)
::I wasn't making any implication as to your age. It is actually harder to track incomplete articles than nonexistent ones - the wiki has no way of automagically detecting them the way it automatically provides red links for missing explanations. We have the incomplete tag, but people delete it from pages that still haven't quite been explained completely, and I sometimes forget to tag a new incomplete explanation as incomplete. Also, the fact that some incomplete articles exist that are not tagged as incomplete does not justify the creation of more stubs; if you find an unsatisfactory explanation, mark it as incomplete yourself. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:15, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

== Various requests ==
Could you delete the spam page [[User:Inkovic]] and block the user who created it? And delete [[Talk:283: Projection]] as well, since it was apparently created by mistake?

Also, [[1225: Ice Sheets]] is still missing a transcript. Could you help add it? And [[266: Choices: Part 3]] and [[267: Choices: Part 4]] lack explanations, but have been removed from the [[List of unexplained comics]]. Should we re-add them to that page, or create some basic explanations for them? --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 20:19, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

:Incomplete articles are marked as incomplete, we'll deal with all the unsatisfactory articles on this wiki after we have a page for every comic. Still not an excuse to make more stubs, mind you. Did all the rest though. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:08, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

Please block spammer 70.50.106.152, he did kill 1190 Time.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:53, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
:Looks like a mistake. Not ban-worthy. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:24, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
::This was the only edit he/she ever did. I am hoping this will not happen again, that big page was really hard to load.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 10:32, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

The main page needs to be edited, as the recent deletion of the [[List of unexplained comics]] was recently deleted, making the wiki comic count one less than the actual number. Also, could you delete [[Talk:List of unexplained comics]] and [[:File:a matter of some gravity.jpg]]? The former is an orphaned talk page, and the latter was superseded by [[:File:A Matter of Some Gravity.png]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 20:19, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
:Done. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:08, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

I created an explanation for 1228 (Prometheus). What I wrote didn't appear for a few minutes and then when I tried to check why, I found you'd deleted a page, but the text I wrote then appeared where I was expecting it. Your comment on the deletion referred to "a thing on the front page" I should have read. I looked for this "thing", but I've still no idea what I did wrong, or what happened with all the page creation / deletion jiggery pokery. I created the explanation after clicking a box which told me to do so if I wanted to provide / improve the explanation. I apologise for my mistake, but perhaps it would be better not to put boxes on the main page which invite edits if those edits end up in the wrong place? [[Special:Contributions/87.115.172.168|87.115.172.168]] 08:55, 21 June 2013 (UTC)
:I manually create the comic page and set it to show up on the front page usually within an hour of every new xkcd comic. The explanation pages for every comic follow a naming convention, with the comic number followed by the comic name. We also make a few redirects for the wiki to use to make the back/forwards buttons work. In addition to that, every explanation page has a template; note how every other page on this site has a particular look to it. The page that you created didn't follow any of that, so I deleted it and copy/pasted it to the correct location. The thing on the front page that I was referring to was the correct explanation page location that I had created 21 minutes earlier. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:06, 21 June 2013 (UTC)
::Thanks for the explanation - quite a manual process! I didn't realise I was creating a page - it looked to me like the page had already been created (which it had, it seems) and I would just be editing the empty section for the explanation. Now I realise that the "please edit" box should have shown up in the editor, perhaps alarm bells should have wrung. Nevertheless, I'm still wondering if it would be better, if possible, to somehow remove or modify the "please edit" box when it appears on the main page so it doesn't create an incorrect new page when one already exists! [[Special:Contributions/87.115.172.168|87.115.172.168]] 09:29, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

Thank You,

[[User:Hopiakuta|hopiakuta DonFphrnqTaub Persina hopiakuta]] ([[User talk:Hopiakuta|talk]]) 09:03, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

There are a couple of xkcd comics that link to an extra image on the site when they are clicked. On this wiki, most of the time, the explanations just contain a direct link to this image. However, sometimes, users upload the secondary images and link to those. This is rather inefficient, especially since some images are too large to be displayed directly after they are clicked on the wiki. So, I was wondering if you could delete the few secondary images from the wiki. They are: [[:File:lakes and oceans large.png]], [[:File:na make it better.png]], [[:File:subways large.png]], and [[:File:lojban translated.png]].

In addition, I suggest that some [[Special:UnusedFiles|unused files]] also be nuked. [[:File:combination vision test fullcolor.jpg]] was superseded by [[:File:combination vision test fullcolor.png]]. [[:File:22 pieces.png]] was uploaded by a user who apparently just wanted to show off his Tetris skills. [[:File:2008 christmas special original.png]] is an xkcd comic before it was updated, which I doubt is necessary to include on the wiki. [[:File:starsmove.png]] doesn't seem to serve any useful purpose. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 23:50, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

Na make it better and the translated lojban do add to the comic. The two larger versions of comic images and the junk files have been deleted. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:12, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

I think you might have forgotten to delete [[:File:22 pieces.png]]. And [[404: 404 Error]] was created by mistake and also needs to go.

Also, could some admin tackle the issue that involves thumbnails not displaying properly? Dgbrt suggested [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Errors_and_symptoms#Image_Thumbnails_not_working_and.2For_appearing this fix]. Perhaps it could be tried? --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 16:00, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

:The 404 page needs to exist for the previous/next comic buttons to work properly. It also explains why comic 404 is missing, which may be confusing to some xkcd readers. Mostly the forward/backwards buttons though. The scrap image is gone, and I'm looking into the proposed fix. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 12:21, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
::Nope. The page [[404: 404 Error]] is a duplicate to [[404: Not Found ]]. I just did a redirect there because I can't delete it.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:58, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
:::Whoop, deleted. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:08, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
::::Thanks, but there is still the discussion page. I did the same redirect there.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:26, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

== Spam at 1190 Time ==

Hi, IP 68.100.149.94 is still doing annoying edits here. I do not like that.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:38, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

== Su Doku ==
Hi Davidy22, I'm trying to enhance explains. People do read and understand shorter explains more easy, but the link to the details must be always included. I just did add the incomplete tag because my edit is maybe not complete. Everyone is welcome to help. But please keep short as possible, otherwise people won't read.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:19, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
:That explanation is hardly too long. Our explanations should be self-sufficient, with the links there just to provide further context on things that we talk about in the explanations. A description of the format of sudoku is an important part of the explanation for comic 74, as the comic deviates from it in a notable way that not all visitors may recognize, be it because they haven't heard of sudoku before or because they aren't particularly familiar with the puzzles. There's a wee difference between cutting information and condensing the wording of a passage, and what you did with that explanation leads further towards cutting content. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:45, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
::I prefer explains people will read. The wiki link for Su Doku is already there but I will work on a small explain soon.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:07, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
:::What, three full paragraphs is too much for people to read? Three full paragraphs of a complete explanation are better than a paragraph and two sentences of incomplete description? I'd rather we follow the name of the wiki and actually explain the comics. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:41, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
::::Read my version completely, I did adopt your hints on explain Su Doku and did some more polish. PLEASE just read before you undo! Tell me what's missing but I still prefer a more simple explain. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:10, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
:::::You made a complete explanation incomplete in the name of simplicity. At least you bothered re-adding the relevant information back in post-hoc this time. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:03, 3 July 2013 (UTC)

== 1190 Time pictures after major changes ==

Hi,
any ideas to get new file uploads here? After your change we have some silence...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:55, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
:Geekwagon, Aubronwood and many other sites keep archives of past frame hashes. We can look up our last hash and upload all proceeding images here. I did that for the first 500-odd frames, until people started doing it faster than me. I'll probably start again since other editors seem to be on holiday. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:43, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
::You did upload all the images manual, is this the new way to do this? I thought your scripts don't like file names like 1234a, 1234b..., so do you not use a bot to upload the images? Further more: Since hashes from other sites do not map to the new naming here I think we have to document them here. But it seems I'm just running against windmills.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:01, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
:::Post-hoc scripts; instead of an image archive littered with special cases, scripts need only iterate in numerical order. It's slightly more difficult to upload, but it's a consistent naming scheme for future use. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:03, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

== 1190 Time pictures - Do you use a bot or not... ==

...it seems not - why?
Lazy as I am! You're not like this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:27, 12 July 2013 (UTC)
:I have a script to help with backlog uploads, but then I also manually upload new images while I'm awake and am near my computer. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:14, 13 July 2013 (UTC)
::What do you think about a bot? My computer is downloading the images by 24/7 so an upload here should be possible. But first I will start some tests at my local MediaWiki installation.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:56, 13 July 2013 (UTC)
:::A bot would be nice. Slashme's Slashbot actually did time image uploads, but he stopped cuz electricity bills or something. We could ask him if he's willing to share. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:31, 13 July 2013 (UTC)
::::I am thinking about a bot like ''DgbrtBot''. I never have done this before (WikiBot) but I know the fucking manuals and while Randall does not like Perl I will use this language ;). Tomorrow I will start some tests at my local MediaWiki and then I will need an account for a bot.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:53, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

== Outage from Friday to Saturday ==

Did you recognize this, every error was just a "access denied for user ... on database ...". This board was dead for 24 hours.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:32, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
:Yep, purged cache to fix it. Not currently in a place with perfect access to internet though, so I'm not quite as fast with that as I usually am. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:33, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
::The same happened yesterday. Do you have chronic disk space/quota shortage? --[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 13:13, 25 July 2013 (UTC)
:::Yep. We added a donate button and the sidebar ads when these issues started happening - a few days after time - to buy better hardware. Money comes slow. We could probably stand to upgrade mediawiki and PHP too sometime. Sometime. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:43, 25 July 2013 (UTC)
::::Hi - I'm wondering if there has been any traction or progress in upgrading mediawiki - I was thinking especially with the recent comic [http://www.explainxkcd.com/1434 comic 1434] - but also historic comics like [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/826:_Guest_Week:_Zach_Weiner_(SMBC) 826] - that an [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ImageMap imagemap] would be useful in the explanation, which is apparently bundled with [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.21#Bundled_extensions mediawiki 1.21], but also available as a extension(?) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 16:24, 16 October 2014 (UTC)
:::::Imagemap seems to be compatible with our version of Mediawiki. I'll get to adding it. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:58, 16 October 2014 (UTC)
::::::Done. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:40, 18 October 2014 (UTC)
:::::::Thanks! -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 11:28, 29 October 2014 (UTC)
:::::::I tried to create an imagemap for [[1434]] on a separate page, but any attempt to include the imagemap caused the submission to hang (sitting showing only a blank page whether I tried to submit for a preview or to actually edit) - I believe it was Friday, but might have been Thursday if you're looking for error logs. This is in contrast to the behavior when I tried to use wiki image maps before you said you added the extension (it would:::::::: simply strip out the tags and show the text content). I don't know how much time you have to contribute to this site every day, or how high a priority fiddling with this extension would be, but I'd appreciate anything you can do to look into this. Specifically, I used the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:where_do_birds_go_clips_only.png cropped image I uploaded] and the [http://www.maschek.hu/imagemap/imgmap Online image map editor] markup generator, which was linked from the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ImageMap#See_also MediaWiki:ImageMap page] as it "supports all shapes, [and is] Extension:ImageMap compatible".
::::::::Alrighty, I'll get on it. Do you have the imagemap markup you were trying to use saved somewhere? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:42, 3 November 2014 (UTC)
::::::::Tested it, the error appears to be an old friend of mine. All the more reason to try and resolve it. Disabled the extension in the meantime, but it's still installed. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:22, 3 November 2014 (UTC)
:::::::::I don't have the markup handy, but it's pretty easy to create sample markup (which is why I included the links for errythang) - I'm not even sure how to escape it in a wiki to make it postable here, since it doesn't even commit the change - I appreciate your efforts! Do you get more money if I ''click'' on Ads? :-) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 19:18, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
::::::::::The way our pricing works, ad clicks don't directly translate to income, but they make the ad space more attractive to potential buyers which leads to them bidding up the price. Our base prices are rock bottom though to encourage our own users to advertise with us, and we wouldn't mind if you pointed your boss/marketing dept at work towards our bargain bin ad space. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:01, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
:::::::::::A long-time friend has been dealt with, the plugin is now re-enabled. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:11, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

== User RouterIncident and a bunch of templates ==

Hi, I'm hoping you have had nice holidays. We all do need recovery. But it's bad when no active admin is available here.

Please delete that citation template, or just enter a link to [[285: Wikipedian Protester]]. Please delete also this categories: "All articles lacking reliable references" and "Articles lacking reliable references". We still have the incomplete category, that should be enough.

BTW: RouterIncident is maybe also on holiday, no action the last days.
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:04, 28 July 2013 (UTC)

:I could not find these categories you speak of in the page creation log, but citation needed is gone now. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:01, 29 July 2013 (UTC)

== Please move some pages and edit the "List of all comics" ==

I can't move pages here, but this should work:

<nowiki>{{comicsrow|1245|2013-07-31|10 Day Forecast}}</nowiki>
*the correct page must be: "1245: 10 Day Forecast"
*the ''title'' must be: "10 Day Forecast"

So I did not save this update because it would result into corrupt links:

<nowiki>xkcd.com/1245 | 10 Day Forecast (create) | number / title / talk | 10_day_forecast.png | 2013-07-31</nowiki>

Please help, or give me the power to do this on my own.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:03, 1 August 2013 (UTC)
:Ooor instead of deviating from the title on xkcd, we could use an excellent feature to the comicsrow template put in by Waldir. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:20, 1 August 2013 (UTC)
::Uh, I didn't know this feature.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:03, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

== Template:Verification needed ==
This template is unnecessary, please delete it.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:03, 2 August 2013 (UTC)
:Please also delete the templates behind this non existing categories:
:*Wikipedia pages with incorrect protection templates‏‎ (2 members)
:*Wikipedia protected templates‏‎ (2 members)
:--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:07, 2 August 2013 (UTC)
::Holy dependency hell. Purged the lot. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 12:42, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

Can you nuke [[Talk:404: 404 Error]]? You forgot to delete it when you got rid of [[404: 404 Error]].

Also, any update on the thumbnail issue? They are still not displaying correctly See [[Special:UnusedFiles|unused files]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 22:03, 9 August 2013 (UTC)
:Deleted. Thumbnails are a bit trickier, seeing as Jeff is the only one who has direct access to the server. Still plugging. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:08, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

For some reason, the wiki places the [[Main Page]] in the same categories as the current comic. This should be fixed, as the only category it should belong to is the [[:Category:Root category|root category]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 16:30, 17 August 2013 (UTC)
:FYI I have answered [[User:Oneforfortytwo]] on [[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|his talk page]]. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 19:01, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

One more thing: Can you edit [[1190: Time]] and remove all links to images after 2973:00? Seeing as there will not be any more of them uploaded, and some of them are showing up on the [[Special:WantedFiles|wanted files page]]. Also, can you restore the deleted image [[:File:starsmove.png]]? Originally, I thought there was nowhere to put it, but I realized that I can link to it at [[1190: Time/Pictures]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 06:04, 20 August 2013 (UTC)
:Done. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:51, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Oh, can you delete [[1360: Old Files/info]]? Also, could we possibly get a page where people can post pages to be deleted? That would make it easier to report them. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 19:47, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

:Can do. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:59, 29 June 2014 (UTC)
::Mkay, deleted the page, was in the process of making the page when I recalled that [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests]] and [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals]] tend to be the pages used for proposing deletion of pages. Page deletion doesn't come up incredibly often, although I could create the page if people really want it. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:25, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

I found [[:Category:Pages to delete]]. Although you can't explain why to delete a page. Perhaps a template would be more appropriate. Speaking of which, can you delete [[:Category:Commissioned]], [[:File:16px-BlackHat head.png]], [[:File:spirit rewrite unknown author.png]], [[:File:tongue awareness.jpg]], [[Special:ListFiles/ImVeryAngryItsNotButter|all of these uploads]], and [[Special:ListFiles/Spongebog|the Lorenz uploads here]]?

By the way, [[User:DgbrtBOT]] is not selecting the xkcd.com licensing choice when uploading new comic images, causing all of them to show up in [[:Special:UncategorizedFiles]]. And [[User:Dgbrt]] appears to have gone AWOL. Is there any way we can contact him and get him to change his bot?

Finally, I think there should be a category for the pages listed [[:Special:UncategorizedPages|here]]. Maybe helper comic pages, seeing as there is a helper comic images? Or comic subpages? --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 23:47, 3 August 2014 (UTC)
:The template [[template:spam]] automagically includes the delete template. We used to have a delete template, but it literally saw no use. The black hat head is the site favicon and the tongue awareness image is used in an explanation. The others seem justifiable though. I'll submit a patch to dgbrt that oughta fix the image categorization thing. Comic subpages oughta be a fine name. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:19, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

== Time animation—a little help maybe? ==

About the animated Time GIF, I actually prepared one right away at the end, but I haven't been able to get it to upload here, even though it's rather less than the stated size limit, 12 MB out of I think 40 MB. If anyone can suggest what might be going on, I'll be happy to try it out. I did ask in the XKCD forum, but didn't get any help there. Just in case it was a temporary thing, I'll go give it a shot here again after I post this. Wouldn't want to save face or anything if it actually works all of a sudden, after all.—[[User:KarMann|KarMann]] ([[User talk:KarMann|talk]]) 20:03, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

== Clean explains ==

Oh, I did some reverts (undo) today again, I'm not happy:
*Ninja Turtles still belong to NASA
*Bullsh.. sorry
*Duplicate on some chess jokes
*Math
*And math again at some statistics (Increased Risk). <- ok, or (Increased Risk.)
While you do fight against spam, I simply do fight against some similar windmills. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:04, 27 August 2013 (UTC)
:Many of these were hamfisted ones that were targeted at one change, and reverted everything else contained in the same edit. Some of them were legitimate, some of them seem to show minimal effort to look at context before you edit. It's getting to the point where it's actually kind of disruptive now. If something is not in your area of expertise, don't revert like you do currently. There's a reason why rollback privileges are not given to all users. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:37, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

== 1269: Privacy Opinions‎ ==

This edit war is useless. The add is just '''TL;DR'''. And I'm sure even you did not read it all. Please keep explains as short as possible, otherwise people don't read. For understanding my post read this (read it all, there is a final statement at the bottom):
According to the title, the comic is about “opinions on internet privacy” in general. Six positions are offered as options. Four of the positions are tagged negatively by the author by their subtitles alone: the Crypto Nut, the Conspiracist, the Nihilist, and the Exhibitionist, all of which have negative valences in contemporary English. That the viewer is encouraged to identify negatively with these four positions is further encouraged by the content of the panels, as those characters are depicted either as having such boring lives that they have no need for privacy (the Crypto Nut, the Nihilist), or as being crazy (the Conspiracist, the Exhibitionist).
A fifth position, the Philosopher, is tagged somewhat ambivalently by the author: Megan is depicted as boring her interlocutor, yet in the title text, the author admits that he is usually the Philosopher. Also, “Philosopher” in vernacular English is neutrally valenced, potentially having the ability to expound either wisdom (sophia) or sophistry. It is also a synonym for Sage, the sixth position. As the author condones his own movement from Philosopher to Sage, he thus indicates that the Philosopher is to be viewed negatively, even if it is a tempting position to hold.
The title of the sixth position, the “Sage”, is positively valenced in contemporary English, and the author in the title text states that once he obtains a “burrito” – i.e., a “real” thing, he switches from the Philosopher to the Sage. The internal evidence presented thus far therefore is entirely consistent; the author encourages the reader to identify with the Sage.
By presenting five negatively tagged positions followed by a positively tagged sixth and final one, the author follows a rhetorical commonplace of listing and refuting a number of positions one by one, concluding with the favored and best one, which is not refuted and should be accepted both on its own merits and by virtue of being the last one standing. The comic therefore implies that no other (significant) positions exist.
Having completed the rhetorical analysis of the comic, we are now in a position to understand the meaning of “Internet Privacy”.
Panels #3 and 5 directly reference the American NSA. Panel #5’s “exhibitionist” also references Google, but the characters in the panel appear to be NSA agents (one wears an official cap and they are viewing the exhibitionist on an official, government-looking monitor). Likewise, the focus of the “Nihilist” is that the joke is on the people who gather the data, rather than those who are subsequently able to make use of it (such as Facebook’s users rather than "Facebook" itself; i.e., Facebook's employees and, by extension, its advertisers). The content of the actual data is only mentioned in panels #2, 4, and 5, and in each panel, it is suggested that it is meaningless or trivial. The Sage underscores the notion that any data known about him does not bother him, and therefore must be meaningless or trivial. The reader is thus encouraged to believe that it does not actually matter whether others discover personal data abou t him/her.
The comic is therefore what social theorists call *reductive*, because it reduces the range of possibilities of “Opinions on Internet Privacy” to an artificially and simplistically narrow subset; in this case, individuals concerned with government or corporate agencies using data that they have gathered on individuals, and the futility of worrying about such things. The comic does not admit the possibility of other “opinions on internet privacy” – namely, that individuals might have legitimate concerns with governmental or corporate uses of their data, let alone other individuals’ access to data that is assembled and distributed by corporations such as Facebook. The comic likewise does not consider the possibility of individuals having more interesting lives than the characters depicted, and therefore very real concerns about their privacy due to the activities that they engage in that are potentially more career limiting (should they be discovered) than obsessing about cryptography or eating a burrito.
The comic is “functionally” reductive, as opposed to “intentionally” reductive, because the reduction is the function or effect of the comic for readers who read it straightforwardly (such as the poster who claimed it was “about” Edward Snowden), whether or not the author intended this reduction to occur. There is not enough internal evidence in the literary text (i.e., the comic) to maintain that the author intentionally excluded other viable opinions on internet privacy; it could be that they are just not on his radar. For example, we do not have enough information in the comic to claim that the author is against civil rights; it could be simply that he doesn’t often think about them. Likewise, it would exceed the evidence of the comic to claim that the author believes that schoolteachers who use the internet to facilitate legal but frowned-upon sexual behaviors should lose their jobs if they are found out due to internet privacy breaches; it could be that the author simply hasn’t bothered to worry about these matters if they don’t affect him personally. This adjudication – whether the comic is “intentionally” reductive or not – may only be made on the basis of external evidence; that is, data known about the author from sources beyond this comic.
Use of such external evidence – historical, personal, psychological information about an author – is valid in determining the meaning of an author’s text, and is increasingly viable due to the accessibility of information about an individual on the internet today.
Additional observations about the comic follow.

And when you did complete all that readings maybe you can summarize it, just in a way a reader would read.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:15, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
:PRO TIP: explainxkcd is not guessxkcd.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:19, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
::I did actually read it, and goes well past merely defining words in the comic. It covers writer's craft and all of it is derived from valid analysis of text from the comic. There's maybe a couple of excess words that I edited out, but length is not a bad thing. I read it the first time, and it was a valuable analytical contribution to the explanation; I question the value of flat-out reverting major edits that significantly improve pages. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:33, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
:::First sentence is mapped to the title, the TL;DR section is at the bottom. OK?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:10, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
::::Uh, you cut the passage in half and split it up when it was referring back on itself? And you're accusing me of not bothering to read it? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:26, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
:::::Uh, Oh, Ahh, I did not delete any content, I just asked about improvements. Read my comments, still much smaller than this adds.
:::::Are you happy when people do not visit this site again because the explain is bullshit? TL;DR... I still prefer articles people will read.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:49, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
::::::I know you didn't delete anything. You cut it down the middle and pasted half the passage at the end of the article, with little regard for flow or structure. That's not a valuable edit, even if it's a smaller change than the initial passage addition. Having short explanations is not worth cutting out valuable information. Cutting out content that's irrelevant to the comic, yeah. Cutting out false relations and waffle, that's fine. Don't cut out well-written analysis.
::::::Also, I'm noticing concurrent issues being raised against your edits again. Consider editing and working on top of edits instead of straight reverting them, and avoid antagonistic language. You already have one warning from the last time this happened. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:59, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
:::::::I still disagree. The list of panel explains is overruled by a massive amount of text before. This is still not a helpful explanation.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 06:58, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
::::::::It's not a helpful explanation for those incapable of reading or scanning a sizeable passage of text. It contains all the relevant information in a coherent and laid-out manner, with a bullet pointed list to draw attention to the frame-by-frame explanations for those who want to skip the intention and analysis. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:26, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

== Advertising ==

My Firefox AddOn NoScript did block the external page "projectwonderful.com". The untrusted picture [http://www.projectwonderful.com/img/uploads/pics/91967-1378268302.png] does not belong to "explainxkcd.com". Then clicking the picture brings me to this link: [[explain_xkcd:Advertise_Here]]. But, I still do not see any advertisement here at all, only this "wonderful project world", what's wrong?

I would like to pay here for a link to Randall's store (he doesn't know), but it has to be an internal picture to an external link. A user action is required, ask Randall about this security. External clicks do count, embedded content to external sites is a real insecure solution. Many modern browsers will not allow this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:51, 1 October 2013 (UTC)
:The image does belong to us, it's just served by project wonderful when no advertisers are currently bidding on us. The word "advertise" used in the link title is in the verb form, not the noun; that page describes how to advertise on our site. That page contains our advertising guidelines and a few links to our project wonderful bidding page. There, you can create an account and bid on any of the four regions we have on offer. Our minimum rate is USD$3.8 per day, and they let you link any image to any site. If you still can't advertise with us, post imgur links to screenshots to show me what you're doing.
:Have you not said in the past that you are an employed software developer? Instead of advertising a site wholly unaffiliated to you, why not ask your boss to try his hand at advertising on explain xkcd? It's cheaper than most advertising outlets, and we have a large and valuable audience for your average technology company. Your company can probably easily muster the ~$15 per day needed to advertise in all our available regions, and the process takes about as long as creating an account on any other site on the internet. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:13, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

== A database error has occurred... ==

I did clean the cache, it seems no admin is required to fix this damn problem. Site was down but available now again. I will also talk to JEFF about this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:54, 3 October 2013 (UTC)
: New server coming soon. Hopefully these DB issues will stop... forever. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:39, 25 October 2013 (UTC)

== IP Users ==

I still do not like this mess: [[User:108.162.216.45]] and [[User:50.151.2.168]]. Users have to register for this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:18, 8 November 2013 (UTC)
:No they don't? {{w|User:70.21.5.28}}. The page takes up so little space, it's not worth forcing them to do something they may not want to do. When our IP friend wants an account, they will make that choice on their own. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:35, 8 November 2013 (UTC)
::Someone else will use the IP 50.151.2.168 in the future. If that user also likes xkcd and explainxkcd he will find a history he never has done. Still a mess. Nevertheless you can be sure that I never will edit this without admins permission.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:39, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

== Question: — or - ==

You're changing — to -, even while it looks to me like a (typical American) loooong dash at the picture. Original transcript by Randal on [[752]] is "Do you--", so I don't understand some of your latest edits. I'm changing &mdash to — ( on Linux). I did opt for removing the double spaces after a sentence, but is this dash also history? Like miles... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:01, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
:Eh, I just do it because it's only one character in the original comics. I don't actually have easy access to an mdash on my keyboard when I'm editing, I'll probably bind that to a key for future use. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:12, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
::My question was just: Is "—" wrong or not. You know I am German, but my OS and much more programs are running on English. That's because all that translations are just annoying. Nevertheless, at [[752]] the original transcript shows this: "Blonde: Do you--". this should be a long dash. And you did change many &mdash to "—", I just want to understand how to behave on this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:17, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
:::There isn't really a codified grammatical rule for the length of a dash. It's mostly stylistic, but it seems to be a rather common convention that a short dash is for joining words, and a long mdash is for punctuation dashes. Again though, it's not on the keyboard and the vast majority of people probably don't pay attention to dash length when reading. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:41, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
::::You did introduce this in the past, my keyboard gives me on "ALT GR + SHIFT + -" just a "—". but we still have to decide about a rule on this. "-"--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:22, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

== Extension:Comments ==

Have you thought about trying [[mw:Extension:Comments|Extension:Comments]]? It was recently updated (July 2013) and looks like it would make commenting the explanations much more user-friendly. Could you make a little experiment to see if it works well? Say, install it so we can test and see if it works well? I'd be willing to help in the conversion of current comments to the new format, and we could even make it a long-term goal to eventually bring back all the comments from the blog :D --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:24, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
: I did edit the incomplete template, ERROR is not correct. But a hint to the missing reason is great.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:24, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
: From prior experience, the comments plugin does generate a lot of meta-pages with scrambled names that made me prioritize other things over it, but I can totally run it for a few days to see how things go. In a few weeks, my free time will skyrocket and I should be able to install and monitor the plugin then. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:40, 24 November 2013 (UTC)
:: Hey Davidy. I wonder if you're able to try this out. If so, let me know how I can help!
:: On the other hand, I am disappointed to hear that the comments extension doesn't integrate neatly with mediawiki. Are you aware of any similar choice that may be better-behaved? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:33, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

== New comics BOT ==

I think that BOT is doing the job right now. Maybe there is a possibility to install it on this server, not much but some PERL modules are required, it should work on any OS. Nevertheless since I could see the updates in general did happen at 04:00 UTC I will implement a new script starting at 04:00 UTC, polling again after that again. But since I don't want to poll xkcd too much that poll would stop after fifteen minutes. Then there will be just a five minute schedule, until a new comic is found.

BTW: <nowiki>$text .= "{{comicsrow|$comic_num|$date|$comic_name|$picture_name}}\n"; </nowiki> means I will always add the optional parameter for the picture. Not all picture did work properly in the past, so I decided to include this parameter to get a working picture link on the main page. Any suggestions are welcome. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:50, 26 November 2013 (UTC)
:I have an idea for that, but I have a metric buttload of things that I need to do by the end of this week. I've seen comics come out several hours late so I think polling for four hours would still be apt, and I'm sure Randall's server could handle us polling him a little faster. Having a explanation page up at the same time as a new comic is really huge. I believe I have a solution for the comicsrow problem, but I also don't know Perl. I could probably figure it out in a weekend though. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:19, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

== Incomplete tag at main page ==

Am I wrong, or is every new comic complete at the main page in the future? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:16, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
:When we include a comic page on the main page, templates and categories are preserved. While that's good for page layout and the like, it's not so good when we have templates that impart their categories upon the inheriting page, like the incomplete template did. It was tagging the main page as incomplete whenever the newest comic was marked as incomplete. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:27, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
::Yezzz, I understand. But presenting a new incomplete page in this way is not good. The counter has to be adjusted. But I'm serious on this and maybe some ''noinclude'' tags may help. While the main page should not be counted, the page it presents, if incomplete or not (<-the problem), should presented at the proper state. My bot will cover any solutions for further uploads. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:40, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
:::What counter? The counter on the main page doesn't take into account the main page itself, and the transcluded page is shown in its entirety, save for the discussion page and one category. What's the problem here? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:37, 10 December 2013 (UTC)

== I don't mind about a 24 hour ban... ==

...but after that I did try to do some more talks here:
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Mrarch&curid=13771&diff=55110&oldid=55109
DELETED!
I'm still the pest here, or what? I'm still hoping you will understand my actions here. I'm working much on the health of this board, talking to Jeff and many more here. And Mrarch just did delete my message. I'm German, so it could happen that I do use a sentence which could be interpreted different to my meanings. BUT: I just want to support this site as much I can do. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:49, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
:Oh nuts, didn't see that. I though he was just setting up his own user and talk pages. I'll leave a notice. Also, try to cooperate, and practice your English. There ''are'' a few naunces in his arguments that you're gliding over. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:45, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
::And oh nuts, we need some more people to review all the updates here. We have many new people here, doing great edits, but sometimes a correction is needed. I will still do this here, but you can be sure I will be much more polite when an edit-war does happen. I don't mind - xkcd is just fun. That counts! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:26, 14 December 2013 (UTC)

== BOT uploads at the comic list ==

Hi,
I can remove that "Picture.png" add, but I think it's more safe to use this optional parameter. Sometimes upper case and lower case did cause some problems. I'm trying to prevent this by providing the image link my BOT did upload here.

On January 1 my BOT did fail because the picture was not accepted at this Wiki, and my BOT stops on every unexpected error. The BOT doesn't understand Randall and so, when the BOT is running on problems it simply does nothing.

I've had serious problems to connect this site since a few deys, I don't understand why, but my BOT is doing it's job as planed.

Looking forward to some translations...

--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:04, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
:Hm? What cases cause it to fail? Imma make this work. In cases of ambiguity, we could always err on the side of caution and include the parameter. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:54, 7 January 2014 (UTC)
::The BOT did fail on January 1. because the "PNG" was in fact an "Adobe XMP" format and the upload was rejected by this site. A BOT barely can't handle this unexpected mess. This requires human action and the BOT stops further actions. The optional parameter will be posted anyway; if BOT doesn't fail.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:13, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

== Incompleteness Tag. ==

My browser (Chrome) is showing that 137: Dreams is the incomplete comic of the day. I used the tags there as the page instructed. Did I use them incorrectly? (possibly it was supposed to be in the main page edit instead of the discussion? I am fairly new here)This is the algorithm now. 19:10, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
:The explanation page is already tagged. Tagging the discussion page marks the discussion page as incomplete. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:31, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
::I did edit this discussion page with a nowiki marker. And ‎Anomulus please sign your comments in the proper way, it's much more easy to discuss with an user instead of just a date. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:41, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

I did move some comics back to the incomplete section, a full explain is still more worth than a 0% ratio here. Nevertheless I am still thinking, not really working, on a German translation. But just because the ratio looks great here I will focus on that translation soon. Stay tuned...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:18, 2 February 2014 (UTC)
:If our numbers are right, a very healthy portion of our visitors should be German and you shouldn't have to be concerned with taking on the entire burden of translation. It's probably good to be conservative with the incomplete tag, it reduces the burden on of research on translators if they only have to change the language. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:33, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

== Incomplete Explanation of the Day ==

Some thoughts:
*[[explain xkcd:Incomplete Explanation of the Day]]: No need for the daily update, it's also still at the top.
*[[MediaWiki:Sitenotice]] should contain a link to this: [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Incomplete explanations]].
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:43, 8 February 2014 (UTC)

:It takes very little extra effort to also update the project page, so I just do it anyways. The incomplete explanation of the day is supposed to be a focusing effort, to finish off one comic at a time. A link to the list of all the incomplete comics wasn't working, which is why I started drawing attention to individual comics in the sitenotice. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:55, 8 February 2014 (UTC)
::So tell me what's wrong with this link: [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Incomplete explanations]]. In my opinion this could be still placed at the top.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:26, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
:::Mostly cuz that didn't work when it was on the main page, and calling attention to specific comics has worked exceedingly well. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:57, 11 February 2014 (UTC)
::::I don't understand, there was a similar link in the past.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:13, 11 February 2014 (UTC)
:::::And in the past, that link had almost no effect on the incomplete pages count. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:54, 11 February 2014 (UTC)

===I just did remove a typo===
<code>:"1930s" has "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". a</code>

If you can not accept my typo correction on that simple damn "a" I will give up here. And I'm not sorry. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:40, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
:In the same edit I removed whitespace from the page, as is not immediately obvious from diffs but can be seen from the edit size numbers. The "a" has been gone in each of my proceeding edits, as you can see in the revision log if you would care to read it. Autoreverting is bad. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:57, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

== 1037: Umwelt ==

Hi, I'm sorry. But as my comments did say, some texts maybe helpful; but I can't fix all that layout issues. The individual pictures are still great, some ideas on that edits are nice, but it does not work in the full context. And those massive edits don't give both of us a way to review them all. I just did that revert because it doesn't work. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:09, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
:The layout is still broken... I don't like edits without using a preview to verify a proper layout — and I do not like massive edits no one can follow.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:22, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
::Image resizing will be fixed soon. Give it at most three weeks. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:37, 1 March 2014 (UTC)

== New admin proposal ==

Please take a look [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#New admin|here]]. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:36, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

== Template:comic ==

Isn't this just a revert and a freeze to a former revert done by me? Others did play then again on the main page appearance, but changes at this should be only possible for people not experimenting. The entire main page has to be protected. That page isn't a playground.

And on that admin discussions on me: My most posts are related to language, layout, and something — and I still don't like all those esoteric explains on ASSes, PENISpumps, ... But an admin has to work mostly on different issues.

Randall does primarily focus on "romance, sarcasm, math, and language.". Randall does more, so the SEX category is here, but I think we have to focus on the "primarily focus" at the headlines on explain pages first.

My advice here: Do NOT try to enhance well working templates, other statements are much more important.

--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:18, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

:It's not quite a revert, he changed how linking works for the first comic page, added jump links to the first and last pages and attempted a few fixes. I just fixed a few omissions that he made. Admin work usually tends to be focused on non-content stuff, yeah, but I feel like those people maybe probably might be right. Innuendo in comics not explicitly mentioning sex exist. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:03, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

== Mail send ==

It's still not easy to find important mails, I nearly lost yours but now you got a reply. Your issues needs a test, I will do that soon. And sorry for this three month late reply. Maybe I have been blind, I just found your message today.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:46, 17 March 2014 (UTC)
:The site GitHub.com did send a message to me from "David ???(possibly your surname)" but the address was in fact <nowiki>notifications@github.com</nowiki>. So this reply was stupid by me because that mail will never reach you.
:Please send me a notification here because I don't visit that GitHub site on a regular base. Last visit was two or three months ago. It's just a backup for myself and available to everyone who likes.
:Your request could remove links to GIF or JPG files, so I decided to include the picture link always because it does work on that template. Dynamic comics are much more complicated and my BOT stops to post any update here if something went wrong. I'm still thinking about a better logging on that, My idea is still: If the BOT decides not to post chaos here it should save any content for later manual analysis. But that's a big deal because Randall's comics are so different...
:Nevertheless the BOT covers most comics just in time, I know people are happy on this — and when the comic is too sophisticated, it just stops to prevent chaos here.
:--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:41, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

== File:lorenz-new.png ==

Moving this to File:lorenz.png does not work like my former updates, maybe it's some cache on the server. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:31, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:Huh. I'll have to take a look at that. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:45, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:The file on the server looks right. It'll probably update itself on the caching servers in good time. The distortion is annoying though. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:49, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
::Can you clear the cache? The page [[1350]] still looks bad like my former reverted updates. But maybe we use this just a test for the servers. Uploads are easy, but updates are the hell. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:08, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:::Eff it, let's wait on it. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:17, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
::::One idea: Try "Lorenz.png" instead of "lorenz.png". While WIKI is mostly case insensitive the servers maybe are. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:20, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

== German page ==

Is it still possible to create a German page here? I'm complete (honestly mostly) on my investigations for presenting a proper German page. On a positive reply I will present some more details (maybe screenshots) of my local wiki and a plan on how to bring it up to public. And consider, this would not only be for German readers, we have Austria, Switzerland, and many other parts in Europe. I would be happy to support this, and my BOT would be too. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:37, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

:It's still possible, gonna do it after we clear out all the incomplete pages as promised.'''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:44, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

::So then this never would be happen. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:50, 30 April 2014 (UTC)
:::No, because we'll eventually clear out our backlog of old, incomplete articles. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:24, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

== /r/xkcd sitenotice ==

May I ask why you've added a sitenotice about /r/xkcd? The /r/xkcd sub is controlled by /u/soccer, who links to racist, xenophobic and misogynistic content regularly. Randall has even spoken in support of a petition for /u/soccer to be removed as a mod (which of course didn't happen because reddit doesn't do that). /r/xkcdcomic is a non-hateful alternative, one that Randall supports, and it has more users than /r/xkcd. [[User:LadyMondegreen|LadyMondegreen]] ([[User talk:LadyMondegreen|talk]]) 13:19, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
:If you look closely at the text and click on the link, you'll see that it actually says and links to xkcdcomic. Also, /r/xkcd is currently at 40000 subs and hit 10000 a few years ago. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:38, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
::Hmmm, yeah, I'm not sure how I got that backwards, but I did. Someone pointed it out to me on IRC and I guess I didn't look closely enough. Sorry about that. [[User:LadyMondegreen|LadyMondegreen]] ([[User talk:LadyMondegreen|talk]]) 19:35, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

== Any idea on this: [[A Smarter Planet]] ==

This should be mentioned here, but that article doesn't represent a comic from the main page. Maybe it should be merged to [[Randall]]? What do you think? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:17, 6 May 2014 (UTC)
:That's not a bad idea. I'll put that on the list of things to do. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:56, 10 May 2014 (UTC)
::Sorry, I've forgotten to post a reply here. I did put in a new template for this special issue because it's different to a common comic from xkcd. A standard comic template never can cover this. And when this template is complete it should be protected, but the resulting category page is still bad and I need help on this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:55, 28 May 2014 (UTC)
:Yeah, I figured that when I tried it myself. It might be a bug with parserfunctions though. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:17, 29 May 2014 (UTC)

== Do we have active admins here? ==

This site seems to be running into chaos. The former approved admins do not work that much here; and now I'm even missing you.

Maybe you are on holidays; if so, I'm just greeting with "Happy holiday". BUT this site still needs an admin.

You know I'm still looking forward on a German page for this, but this English page is still on my main focus. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:16, 9 May 2014 (UTC)
:The image caching issue is caused by Cloudflare not refreshing the image that it serves as fast as we'd like it to. Outstanding admin requests and unsigned messages were left for one day. That's not inactivity. The only thing I saw being raised was the admin request, which was closer to a progress update to which you butted in with an irrelevant remark. The only conflict I see in talk pages is between you and other editors, and it's only mild disagreements and mostly civil discussion at the moment, so I'm pretty fine with it. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:56, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

== Minor edits ==

Hi, you are often doing minor edits like fixing some syntax or missing parentheses. If you would mark them as "minor edits" it could be ignored at the "Recent changes" page. Major changes could be found much more easier. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:29, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

== Incoming confirmation email: Domain of sender address expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com does not exist ==

Since the email address of incoming confirmation emails come from a non-existing domain, they are bounced so never reach me.

From the mail logs:

<code>
2014-05-30T08:36:21.455368+02:00 snap sendmail[12564]: NOQUEUE: connect from vps.lunarpages.com [67.210.100.50] (may be forged)
2014-05-30T08:36:22.049902+02:00 snap sendmail[12564]: s4U6aLdn012564: ruleset=check_mail, arg1=<expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com>, relay=vps.lunarpages.com [67.210.100.50] (may be forged), reject=553 5.1.8 <expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com>... Domain of sender address expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com does not exist
2014-05-30T08:36:22.219369+02:00 snap sendmail[12564]: s4U6aLdn012564: from=<expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com>, size=2306, class=0, nrcpts=0, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=vps.lunarpages.com [67.210.100.50] (may be forged)
</code> {{unsigned|Jeroenp}}

:You shouldn't need a confirmation email to contribute and use the site. Uh, that feature'll probably be turned off; how did you request the email that generated the above error? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:21, 31 May 2014 (UTC)

::Because at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Preferences it says:

<blockquote><blockquote>E-mail address is optional, but is needed for password resets, should you forget your password.You can also choose to let others contact you by e-mail through a link on your user or talk page. Your e-mail address is not revealed when other users contact you. 
E-mail confirmation: Your e-mail address is not yet authenticated. No e-mail will be sent for any of the following features. 
[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ConfirmEmail Confirm your e-mail address] 
* Enable e-mail from other users
* Send me copies of e-mails I send to other users
* E-mail me when a page on my watchlist is changed
* E-mail me when my user talk page is changed
* E-mail me also for minor edits of pages
</blockquote></blockquote>
::So I used this to send a confirmation email: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ConfirmEmail
::[[User:Jeroenp|Jeroenp]] ([[User talk:Jeroenp|talk]]) 19:13, 31 May 2014 (UTC)

The lunarpages do not know to set up a proper Mail Server. My Mail Servers also would never accept this until I whitelist them. Sadly I still have to do this for some customers — also big customers in the US. Reasons because this mail isn't valid:
*dig vps.lunarpages.com:
;; ANSWER SECTION:
vps.lunarpages.com. 3600 IN A 80.156.86.78
vps.lunarpages.com. 3600 IN A 62.157.140.133
*whois 67.210.100.50:
The answer belongs to LunarPages.
*But 67.210.100.50 isn't a registered MX entry for the domain "lunarpages.com":
lunarpages.com. 300 IN MX 0 sharpmail-new.lunarpages.com.
*which is:
sharpmail-new.lunarpages.com. 300 IN A 74.50.25.50

I'm sorry, but fighting against SPAM is important and a proper Mail and DNS configuration is mandatory. Maybe those admins at LP do need some help and advise.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:06, 2 June 2014 (UTC)
:If you don't have anything useful to say, don't say it. You don't have to be in on every single conversation on the wiki. The issue is being dealt with. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:45, 3 June 2014 (UTC)

== "Feeling old" category ==

Hello, Davidy22. I noticed that you deleted the "Feeling old" category I made a while ago due to being "tenuous, not significant enough." In the interest of becoming a better contributor to the wiki, could you explain further on significance for a new category?

I realize that there are various qualifications that a category has to fulfill, lest it only add clutter to the wiki. A category ought to be simple, memorable, and concise. It should refer to something within or about the strip, be deliberate, and be objective. And, ideally, it should apply to a fair number of strips. I figured that the four strips that included the motif of "character/Randall reflects on how distant the seemingly-recent past is" all used it significantly, as a central theme or as a punchline. I personally feel that Randall hasn't exhausted his use of this motif, and therefore it warrants its own category for future comics, saving time in future explanations and aiding readers of past explanations.

(My one personal issue with it is that the phrase "feeling old" does not feel concise or specific enough, but I couldn't think of a single word or a better two-word phrase to describe it.) -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.21|108.162.216.21]] 18:18, 12 August 2014 (UTC)

:I hope you (Or Davidy22) don't mind me starting off this conversation. Categories are not meant to be used as a tag cloud. Categories are a concrete thing in the comic such as [[:Category:Comics with color]], [[:Category:Red Spiders]]. They are not motifs or feelings about the comic. We don't have categories for happy comics and sad comics, and I can't think of a persuasive enough argument to allow them. Until there's a significant number of comics with "I feel old" or "I'm getting old" or "#FeelingOld" (eww) in the text, I'd hold off on trying to push this one through. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:55, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
::Part of the deletion ''was'' because it only had four comics under it. The only times I've allowed categories with that few comics behind them was when they were put forward by registered users who I could make promise to maintain them. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:51, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
::: Okay, so ''feeling'' old is a bad category name. Categories that sound subjective in general are bad. Perhaps "Aging" could work? And also, courtesy of two particular xkcd blogs, I know of at least 10 comics that would belong to it: [[218]], [[354]], [[447]], [[493]], [[647]], [[891]], [[973]], [[1093]], [[1393]], and the recently posted [[1408]]. - [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.21|108.162.216.21]] 03:38, 16 August 2014 (UTC)

== Weird formatting bug ==

I remember back when I had asked about skins you had told me to mention if there was anything off. Well, it's nothing major, but [http://puu.sh/ceEv7.png this] seems to happen on the Main Page alone on the monobook skin. I can't say I've ever seen this before... [[User:Schiffy|Schiffy]] ([[User_talk:Schiffy|Speak to me]]|[[Special:Contributions/Schiffy|What I've done]]) 16:55, 16 October 2014 (UTC)
:Mmmm, testing does not give me the same bug, but that part of the page is still malformed. I'll get on that. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:58, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

== Dont change other peoples comments ==

When the user clicks "add a topic" in the comments block a new section is added. When a user does this you modify it to a heading style you prefer. This is against every design principal I know of. You have 3 legitimate choices: remove the button, style the header so it pleases you more, or let it be. Since this is a standard part of the wiki and updading versions would likely undo your changes, I would sugest that you simply learn to live with it, as it is not objectivly ugly.
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 13:10, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

:It's not actually done because the header is ugly, it's done because of an error case that occurs when the discussion page is transcluded onto the main explanation page, that came up a while back. It would probably be better to remove that button instead of having to manually change every discussion page header, and I'll get to that when I have the time. Also, note how I only modify headers in explanation talk pages, where the error can occur; headers in user talk pages and the community portal are unchanged. Also, updating between mediawiki versions does not change the contents of (most) pages, so it wouldn't actually undo what I'm doing. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:54, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

::Am I allowed to undo other peoples comments when they include blatant racism? See Weatherlawyer's comments on [[500: Election]] and [[522: Google Trends]]. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:28, 31 January 2015 (UTC)
:::No. You are not the judge of what other people are allowed to say. If other people say something questionable, they will be warned and/or banned. On the subject his his specific comments, they doesn't seem overtly racist in 500, just heavily politically skewed, but 522 seems pushing it. I'll warn him for now. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:32, 31 January 2015 (UTC)
::::With respect, referring to 'Only having voted for a chimpanzee twice' is (to me at least) an obvious racial slur aimed at Obama. I have no issue with anyone posting inflammatory comments with regard to his politics/policy/decisions as President/what he stands for etc etc etc, but racism is not ok. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 21:10, 31 January 2015 (UTC)
:::::Chimp in the general lexicon is used to describe someone mentally challenged, not black. I must say it's quite hard to discern exactly who or what he's talking about because it feels like he's just making comments for the sake of making lots of comments. His statement about texas being granted statehood probably doesn't support the idea that he's talking about Obama, since they're not very supportive of him to begin with. Texas to my knowledge has been a republican state, so unless he really doesn't know what he's talking about, I'd say it's more likely that he's talking about one or more of the recent Republican presidents. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:47, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

== Other explanations ==

What if we tried to include explanations for the What if? portion of xkcd? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 19:26, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
{{Color|#AAA|(p.s. - I'm not sure how to get my question to look like it's written on graph paper)}}
:That question comes up every once in a while. My response to the first one was that those things tend to be self explanatory and that the wiki is for the comic, but this'll be the fourth time it's been suggested. I dunno, how would it be formatted on the main page? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:01, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
::Format indeed... also I understand what you mean about self explanatory - I'd say at least 85% of each entry is quite plain, simple, and straightforward. Most of the humor of the feature is not traditional "ah-ha!" humor (that comes from revelation of a twist on assumptions, or which might benefit from explanation). Every once in a while, though, that remaining 15% (often from the images, but sometimes from a {{w|factlet}} or two) contains a few nuggets of knowledge that make me yearn for discussion or comment, and occasionally clarification to one degree or another. In addition to possible issues of cherry-picking what's explained, and questions on how to format it, there's the question of the variability in release date of the comics (used to be every Tuesday, then Thursday and, if I'm not mistaken, the last two(?) have been on Friday, with a few weeks missed (sometimes with and sometimes without notice or explanation) - so how to catalog that? I'll append to this conversation whenever I get that feeling of "if only there was" and we'll keep it open for discussion, if that sounds good to you(?) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:33, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
:::Probably just note the release date of each article, although I don't fancy to task of cataloging that. I dunno, drop me a message whenever you want. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:37, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

== Template:i ==

I created that template for a reason. Unicode doesn't work right in many circumstances, especially on phones. Now people without Unicode support will see incorrect equations. Plus typing in a Unicode character is not easy, and not having an easy way to do it will guarantee it won't be used. That's why character templates exist on other wikis.

I copied the way of making the imaginary constant from Wikipedia. That's how the math template works. The Unicode version doesn't even look like an i in many fonts--the dot is missing. It looks like a weird squiggle that people won't recognize.

I really wish you would have done like other wikis and had a discussion (and let me know) before just deleting something. I'm lucky I happened to leave the tab open and happened to see it was deleted.

--[[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 22:54, 23 November 2014 (UTC)
:Huh, tested and it does seem to be broken on phones. I'll get restoring that. A lot of these templates don't tend to end up being used though, past their creation. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:33, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

== Strong Language ==

Hey - I find it interesting that someone chose to create the category about "strong language" or something that you chose to delete because it had one comic. There are countless examples of "strong language", pretty much irrespective of what you consider to be "strong" (just search for one of the various "strong" words) but it's fascinating noone has felt strongly enough about it to make a category until 2015 -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 15:04, 26 January 2015 (UTC)
:It's also that "Strong language" is a really subjective category name that doesn't hold the same boundary for everyone, and is gonna be tough to populate to a degree that satisfies everyone. Although the person who made the category still frequents the wiki, so maybe he's capable of maintaining it. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:36, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

== Delete a page ==

I created a page [[Test Page]] to test a potential feature. I intended to delete it afterwards, but it seems I don't have permission to delete it. Could you do so? Alternatively, make it into a sandbox [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 03:28, 1 March 2015 (UTC)
:Yeah, sure. In the future, use [[explain xkcd:Sandbox]]. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:33, 1 March 2015 (UTC)
::K [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 05:45, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

== Comic template ==

I made an upgraded version of the comic template that'll deal with [[Radiation]]'s broken navigation bar for once and for all. Could you please look over it to make sure it's all working fine, then replace the current template with it? Updated template is over [[User:Pixali/comictemplate/|here]] and can be viewed in action [[User_talk:Pixali/comictemplate/|here]]. [[User:Pixali|Pixali]] ([[User talk:Pixali|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Pixali|contribs]]) 02:54, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

:Tested, this implementation seems to break the back button. Documentation is incomplete and may need usage examples for the new parameters, but I can probably write that when this makes it to the actual implementation. When I'm free, I'll try and get it to work, there's a good start here. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:52, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

::Got there before ya. I effectively rewrote the entire experimental template, fixing formatting & the broken back buttons while keeping the support for undefined numbers. I still have the examples up over at [[User_talk:Pixali/comictemplate/|the talk page]] for the new template so you can check it out there. I also tried to document it a bit better (inc. explaining the sort key better), but I'm not sure if it's satisfactory yet. [[User:Pixali|Pixali]] ([[User talk:Pixali|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Pixali|contribs]]) 04:51, 6 March 2015 (UTC)
::Seems pretty solid. I'll fold it into the main template. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:42, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

== Advertising? ==

Check the recent changes log. A page appears to have been made for the purpose of advertising or political rant or something (I didn't read much, it's long).

In any case, it's not relevant to this wiki. {{unsigned ip|Mikemk}}
:Yeah, it happens. Looks like another admin got to it before I came home. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:46, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

== dgbrtBOT Problems ==

While I did update my OS to CentOS 7 this weekend I did some tests on my bot. But it seems that problem doesn't belong to my update because I can't get this site via https - only http works.

Broken: [https://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php https://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php]

Working: [http://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php http://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php]

My bot requires a secure login via https so I don't know how to fix this.

Browser request gives me "Error 521" and my bot is "Error code 2: 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable".

Even [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page] doesn't work for me.

Unless this is fixed my bot will not work.
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:57, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
:On it. Would it be possible for you to fall back on http while we work on that? xkcd comics aren't hugely security sensitive, so it should be fine. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:13, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

::I'm glad to reach you so soon. And sadly this WIKI requires HTTPS for a bot to login. My attempts on plain HTTP did fail, I do need SSL. Did you change something here? On Friday my bot did work. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:28, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
:::What's the error message with HTTP? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:04, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
::::"Logging in over plain HTTP is a bad idea, we would be sending secrets (passwords or cookies) in plaintext over an insecure connection. To protect against eavesdroppers, set protocol => 'https'..."
::::I do accept this restriction; using https should be possible here for BOTs because a BOT can do many. If someone missuses my BOT account it would be bad for this site.
::::Maybe I have to import a non trusted certificate (costs money to make it public), but I want still to be on a save path.
::::--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:30, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
:::::Hum, it would be bad if another party got your address. In other news, have you tried it again recently? It should work, I believe. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:58, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
::::::PROBLEM SOLVED! And the secrets are reset, just in case...
::::::I got an expected error message while trying to update the LATEST COMIC. Not allowed because it just exist. Looks good...
::::::Next BOT run should work until it's an unexpected dynamic one done by Randall. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:24, 10 March 2015 (UTC)
Bad news: Picture upload did work but then my bot failed. Error messages are not very helpful but I'm sure I'll figure it out. So I will do some tests tomorrow on that damn API changes. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:57, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:Oof. If there's anything you need server side, tell me. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:48, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
More BAD news: I still have to figure out the reason for error messages like this: "Error code 0: at /opt/xkcd/xkcdtest.pl line 104." What the hell is "Error code 0"??? Sadly it seems I have to work on this a little bit more. AND gooooogle doesn't help me... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:06, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
:Error code 0 is the default exit value in perl. It seems like you're terminating the script at line 104. It's a natural exit though, so it's probably part of your error checking. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:51, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

== Request for help ==

I'm in the midst of a [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob disagreement]] with another user about some general stylistic issues and I'd like to solicit broader input from the wiki community. Do you know a mechanism by which I can request such input? Thanks! [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 00:04, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Davidy22&action=edit&section=77

:The community portal would be the place to do it. People don't usually frequent there, but you'll get input over an extended period of time. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:24, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

::Thanks. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 15:29, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

== List of all comics broke recently ==

Thanks for adding "For comics from 1001-1500, see [[List of all comics (1001-1500)]]" to http://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/List_of_all_comics_(full)
But now links are being added in the wrong place. I'm just not sure why/how. [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 18:44, 23 March 2015 (UTC)
:There's a couple of things I did wrong. Fix'd '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:40, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

== The "incomplete explanation of the day" doesn't seem to be updated daily... ==

Should this be the case?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 08:06, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
:Currently, it's whenever the current one is completed. It used to be per day, but we don't have as many incomplete comics left to cycle through, and the ones that are left, are difficult to fix and don't get frequent changes. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:12, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

==What Ifs taken down? ==
Hey man, I saw you took down the 'Short Answer Section', 'Alternate Universe Whatifs' and the 'Growth Rate' page. Is this because of the Creative Commons license, because you maybe don't want whatif-pages on this wiki or is it of something else? I really spent some time working on those two and maybe a genuine reason for taking them down would be appreciated [[User:Nk22|Nk22]] ([[User talk:Nk22|talk]]) 19:55, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
:The what if pages were literally just the contents of the main articles transferred over to here. Those articles are already Randall's answers to questions, well explained in-of themselves. They don't need any further assistance from us, and we're not providing a lot of value by just copying the text of his articles. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:02, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
::OK, I see the point you're making. Most of those don't go as deep as some of the comics and are basicly explinations themselves. I might as well just add links to the what-if.xkcd.com website for more info. [[User:Nk22|Nk22]] ([[User talk:Nk22|talk]]) 20:05, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

== You're a hero ==

I don't know how often you're told that. But you're a hero, and you're my hero. Keep doing an amazing job and avoid burn out. I'll be coming back in 2 weeks. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:07, 28 April 2015 (UTC)
:Being able to just set up pages and let users fill everything in really helps with the load. Makes it much less work than it may seem. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:19, 28 April 2015 (UTC)

== Green Hat ==

If Green Hat's one appearance is not sufficient for his own page, why does [[Brown Hat]] have his own page with only one appearance in [[399: Travelling Salesman Problem]]? --{{User:17jiangz1/signature|12:46, 05 May 2015}}
:I was not a part of making that, and am not a huge fan of the existence of that page because of the precedent set. Weak precedent doesn't really justify making more though, as there are enough one-off characters to easily make the characters navbox very cluttered and unusable while providing little real value to visitors. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:22, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

== Unicode Theme ==

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand how unicode wasn't a significant theme in xkcd. It has been mentioned directly and indirectly, from the past into the present. Compared to "no title text", it seemed at least as significant of a category. What kinds of categories are considered significant? (It was significant to me.) {{unsigned|Azule}}
:Hum, looking back, it *is* a central point of all four comics included. Might be more justifiable than the typical marginal category page. Just remember to maintain it. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:10, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

==Bot Problems==
Can you see anything at the log files why my BOT can't create/edit a simple page here? Since I still get only "Error code: 0". I maybe have to debug the API itself. Picture upload should be fixed now. Someone did beautify the LATESTCOMIC template my bot didn't expect this and did a save STOP at that point. Let's see if the picture works again tomorrow, but I want to do the entire comic again. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:23, 26 May 2015 (UTC)
:I'll check soon, wee bit busy at the moment '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:28, 27 May 2015 (UTC)
::Thanks for help. Picture upload works again since I adopt the beautified LATESTCOMIC page - I need that number to verify a new comic. My bot is doing nothing if that test fails.
::But when I try to create a new page I still get NO information about the error. And I did many investigations so far. It's frustrating... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:01, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

:::Please delete this:
:::2 June 2015
:::: (diff | hist) . . Nb Test 000001‎; 20:23 . . (+33)‎ . . ‎DgbrtBOT (Talk | contribs)‎ (Created by dgbrtBOT)
:::: (diff | hist) . . Nb 000001: Test 000001‎; 20:23 . . (+288)‎ . . ‎DgbrtBOT (Talk | contribs)‎ (Created by dgbrtBOT)
:::Bullshit... downgrading my BOT API to the former version did solve the problem. The documentation for the current MediaWiki:Bot is WRONG!!! I don't know why I haven't had this idea before.
:::If my bot works again I will update the dgbrtBOT page on that status tomorrow. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:34, 2 June 2015 (UTC)
::::Huh. It might be that we're out of date, and you upgraded to a version incompatible with our mediawiki version. I'm gonna have to get on that eventually. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:53, 2 June 2015 (UTC)
:::::I don't think it's your MediaWiki version, my BOT API was just crap. Let's see if it does work again tomorrow. Picture uploads are already done by my bot again - even when people overwrite it. But maybe I've to do some minor fixes tomorrow, let's see. May the SCHWARTZ be with my MOG... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:12, 2 June 2015 (UTC)
::::::I suspect your newer version wasn't trying to break things, we *are* very out-of-date. The only way to really know is by upgrading the wiki and seeing if it breaks the bot again, I guess. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:20, 2 June 2015 (UTC)
:::::::My latest API client was corrupt, not the wiki here itself. Your guess sounds a little bit like the test was done in "2001: A Space Odyssey" on HAL. But since my BOT can't talk like HAL I have to check the log-files afterwards. Today there was only ONE PROBLEM: An user here was faster than my BOT within just 2 minutes - should not happen very often.
:::::::But if this happens again my BOT will get a new enhancement: If my BOT finds a just a few minutes old upload here it will override them all and create all the edits needed here. Nobody can write an explain by that time but my BOT would ensure all the proper changes would be done here. What do you think? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:16, 3 June 2015 (UTC)
::::::::Sounds good. I could also restrict page creation to certain groups, so that an anonymous user doesn't pull the trigger so fast either. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:58, 3 June 2015 (UTC)
:::::::::Let's see first if my BOT works again. But restricting page creation should not affect/effect the creation of TALK pages. Maybe overwrite this posts by my BOT would be the better option. Everything wrong would be cleaned up. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:09, 4 June 2015 (UTC)
The problems are '''solved''' and I'm happy about that. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:40, 5 June 2015 (UTC)
:I noticed. Good stuff. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:04, 5 June 2015 (UTC)
::Thanks. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:10, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

==Bad uppercase==
Please delete this: [[:File:Antique_Factory.PNG]]. The correct lowercase picture is done by me. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:10, 5 June 2015 (UTC)
:Done '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:47, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

==Please delete==
Please delete this [[:File:1540.jpg]] because it's the wrong name. I did change [[1540: Hemingway]] to the correct file uploaded by my BOT.
For the first time my BOT reverted an existing page because some standards did miss. My BOT was late (13:35 Nk22 vs. 13:48 dgbrtBOT) but my BOT was still acting correct and did all the further actions needed. [[User:Nk22|Nk22]] got a message by me. My BOT acts every 2 minutes so it seems I have to solve a cache problem, maybe at Randall's cloud... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:03, 19 June 2015 (UTC)
:Dunnered '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:00, 20 June 2015 (UTC)
::Thanks. A new upload on the correct image did last more than three hours for me to see. My BOT suffers on the same Cloud Cache problems. I've no idea to solve this damn clod cache. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:54, 20 June 2015 (UTC)

== BOT problems, CLOUD problems ==

My BOT still got the old comic while other people did upload the new one in a corrupt way. So let's define some rules for my BOT to be slightly more violent. For now I'm only checking if also the comic-name redirect exists. But I think that my BOT should test all required updates here, and if something is missing it would do a clean job here. Wrong picture uploads and more will still have to be solved manually. It will only a few minutes and I don't think that it will delete many essential contents, and even if it does it will be available at the history.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:11, 22 June 2015 (UTC)

User:Tbc

2016-01-22T17:01:54Z

Tbc: still here

I normally use my full name on MediaWikis, but here it seems apt to abbreviate. I'm also tbc0 around the Web and am Googleable.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

FWIW, I use PGP. :)
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iEYEARECAAYFAlWuhWoACgkQHkr3KdXO/9A/ZACeM5Oho5XEDZnjo2q4yZBTqABo
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'''22 Jan 16''' Still here. Enjoying the community. Wondering why [[1633]] is late.

'''21 Jul 15''' About a year ago I switched from iPad and have been reading xkcd here using my G3 phablet.

'''13 Apr 13''' Milestone. I read xkcd on my iPad, which doesn't show hover text. Today I decided to switch. I updated my bookmarks. Now I read it here.

Talk:1633: Possible Undiscovered Planets

2016-01-22T16:58:22Z

Tbc:

Why is it late? — ''[[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 16:57, 22 January 2016 (UTC)''

Talk:1633: Possible Undiscovered Planets

2016-01-22T16:57:49Z

Tbc: why?

Why is it late? – ''[[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 16:57, 22 January 2016 (UTC)''

1573: Cyberintelligence

2015-09-06T13:34:55Z

Tbc: /* Explanation */ use possessive

{{comic
| number = 1573
| date = September 4, 2015
| title = Cyberintelligence
| image = cyberintelligence.png
| titletext = We had gathered that raw information, but had yet to put it all together.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Ponytail]] presents her company's FY2015 ({{w|Fiscal Year}} for 2015) budget for [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cyberintelligence cyberintelligence]. But is then interrupted with a snide remark about the prefix ''{{w|cyber}}''.

This comic illustrates that some organization spends obscene amounts of money on their "cyberintelligence" budget, yet all that spending appears not to have informed them that the prefix "cyber-" fell out of fashion years ago. (That the prefix could annoy experts were already used in the title text of [[1084: Server Problem]].)

The prefix "cyber" is derived from "{{w|Cybernetic}}," which comes from the Greek word {{w|Cybernetics#Etymology|κυβερνητικός}}, meaning skilled in steering or governing. Cyberintelligence could also be called {{w|cyber spying}} i.e. spying in the digital world, one of many "new" [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_words_prefixed_with_cyber- words with the cyber- prefix]. Many were invented in the 1980s and 1990s, following the example of "{{w|cyberspace}}", popularized by {{w|William Gibson}} in 1982.

If cyberintelligence departments were given names today, they might be called Internet Intelligence, Virtual Intelligence, Data Intelligence or Online Intelligence departments.

This may be due to the fact that government organizations are typically named by middle-aged or senior officials who are generally less likely to be familiar with the current trends in technology language. They are more likely to stick to the words that were used when they first learned about the technology.

The title text continues the joke by implying the organization learned about the demise of "cyber-" yet failed to process or analyze that data. It may be a reference to 9/11 and how the CIA and FBI had data on the pending attacks but failed to properly analyze it. It may also be a reference to the previous comic, which was a link to a survey for xkcd readers.

"Cyberspace" and "{{w|cybernetics}}", illustrated [https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=cyberspace%2Ccybernetics&year_start=1990&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=0&direct_url=t1%3B%2Ccyberspace%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ccybernetics%3B%2Cc0 here], are two of the most common words with that prefix (Cyberspace 6 times as prelavent as cybernetics at their peaks). "Cyberintelligence" is shown [https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=cyberintelligence&year_start=1990&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=0 here]. (Cyberspace was used 4000 times more often, although the more common spelling splitting it in two words "Cyber intelligence" was 1.35 times more [https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=cyber+intelligence&year_start=1990&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=0 used] than in one word. But even combining these two versions cyberspace is still used more than 1700 times as often...)

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail, pointing at a chart to her left, with text and two curves on a graph, is talking to someone off-screen to the right.]
:Ponytail: Our overall FY2015 cyberintelligence budget was $8.1 billion-
:Off-screen voice: -Yet it wasn't enough to pick up on the fact that no one else had used the prefix "cyber-" for like a decade?
:Ponytail: Shut up.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Charts]]

Talk:1557: Ozymandias

2015-07-29T12:34:58Z

Tbc: The song that doesn't end

Look upon this comment and despair! {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.164}}

So... [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Planepacked Planepacked]? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.145|173.245.50.145]] 05:44, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

The page seems to give a description, but not an explanation of the joke. I still don't get it! Why has Ozymandias been singled out for this treatment? Is there some way in which recursion is particularly appropriate or inappropriate in this case, or has it just been selected arbitrarily? Is the whole joke that recursion is inherently funny? Normally when recursion is used in XKCD it's making a larger point, or cleverly riffing on something in particular. This isn't just Describe XKCD, so I'd love to see an explanation of this comic. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.47|141.101.99.47]] 09:35, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

:May it be that Ozymandias is chosen because of Smith’s poem, where at last London has vanished, suggesting that Shelley’s poem is the last remains of British civilization? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.193|162.158.91.193]] 10:04, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

In Germany, we have a childrens’ song „Ein Mops kam in die Küche“, which translates as follows (there are slightly different versions, though):

A pug came into the kitchen / and stole an egg from the chef. / Then the chef took his knife / and mashed the pug. // Then many pugs came / to his grave / and set a memorial for him, / where these words were written: // “A pug came into the kitchen …”

Maybe something similar exists in English? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.193|162.158.91.193]] 10:04, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

:We have:

: This is the song that doesn't end, / Yes, it goes on and on, my friend, / Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, / And they'll continue singing it / Forever, just because [repeat]

:''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 12:34, 29 July 2015 (UTC)''

Note that the recursion doesn't necessary be infinite. The list of travelers who met each other can have fixed length, for example 10. Imagining that the list is infinite is the joke. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:06, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

Should we mention [[:en:quine]]s, which occur when lists like this end after two iterations, as "Yo, I'm MC Quine and I'm here to say/'Yo, I'm MC Quine and I'm here to say'!"

Talk:1553: Public Key

2015-07-21T18:17:44Z

Tbc: I use PGP.

I'm assuming he's referring to the GPG/PGP Key. Basically you have a key pair, one private that you use to sign/encrypt and one public, which can be used to verify your private key was used to sign. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography Wikipedia] for more information. If you posted your private key, anyone could sign as if they were you. I sign pretty much everything (not to mailing lists though), but don't think I've seen anyone else ever do so, even those I know have keys. See [[1181: PGP]] for more. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.35|198.41.235.35]] 04:59, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

:Don't believe everything certification authorities are telling you. X.509 SSL certificates works exactly same. Certificate is just a public key signed by certification authority. And yes, you can sign email with X.509 certificate. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:54, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

This comic should be added to [[:Category:Cryptography]], but I'm not sure how to do that or whether I can do that. [[User:Nick818|Nick818]] ([[User talk:Nick818|talk]]) 07:06, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

:{{u|Nick818}}—Someone did this today, but for your future reference, you just need to add <tt><nowiki>[[Category:Cryptography]]</nowiki></tt> to the page that needs to be categorized. It's helpful and customary to add the code to the bottom of the page. Cheers, [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 10:21, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

This explanation completely misses the point that the PGP workflow is fundamentally flawed which has been stated by more than one expert, e.g. famously last year by Matthew Green, leading to demands to "let it die" and be replaced by something workable. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.190|108.162.254.190]] 11:21, 20 July 2015 (UTC)
:The problem is, that there isn’t anything more “workable” at the moment. BTW: 7CD1E35FD2A3A158. --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 11:27, 20 July 2015 (UTC)
::Well, I don't want to solve the problem of front-end cryptography here, and this site won't either. But the comic appeared in a climate of a quite general consensus and acceptance of the failure of PGP/GPG, and not technically but because of social and usability reasons. This explanation letting out that is quite comically in itself. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.190|108.162.254.190]] 13:12, 20 July 2015 (UTC)
:::The main problem of end-to-end email cryptography is serious lack of companies who would actually WANT to do it properly. Most companies are directly interrested in violating your privacy. Keeping hard-to-work-with PGP is in their benefit. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:10, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

Remember Responsible Behavior? https://xkcd.com/364/ [[User:Xquestion|Xquestion]] ([[User talk:Xquestion|talk]]) 13:03, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

But did the author post his public key anywhere ? :v [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.166|141.101.104.166]] 17:29, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Worth noting that posting his private key actually would be crowdsourcing his signing decisions, since anyone could do it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.102|108.162.221.102]] 04:57, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

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FWIW, I use PGP. :)
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''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:17, 21 July 2015 (UTC)''

User:Tbc

2015-07-21T18:17:32Z

Tbc: Switched to G3. Also, I've since decided not to change the spelling of "read" to "reed" under most circumstances. Left a PGP crumb, and I don't plan to write more later.

I normally use my full name on MediaWikis, but here it seems apt to abbreviate. I'm also tbc0 around the Web and am Googleable.

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Hash: SHA1

FWIW, I use PGP. :)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1

iEYEARECAAYFAlWuhWoACgkQHkr3KdXO/9A/ZACeM5Oho5XEDZnjo2q4yZBTqABo
ET0Ani928heXg9aHmju0e0aK8JV7pvxH
=CsEo
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

'''21 Jul 15''' About a year ago I switched from iPad and have been reading xkcd here using my G3 phablet.

'''13 Apr 13''' Milestone. I reed xkcd on my iPad, which doesn't show hover text. Today I decided to switch. I updated my bookmarks. Now I read it here.

Talk:1552: Rulebook

2015-07-17T12:48:06Z

Tbc: Fruits and abundance

Doesn't ''the law'' forbid harming another's domestic animal? --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 05:20, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:Yes. Yes it does. So, basically, the rulebook of the country says they cannot do it. It could have been a great cartoon if he had picked an example that was actually legal. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.239.32|198.41.239.32]] 05:50, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
::Well, technically ([[1475: Technically]]) the law isn't part of any rule book... Unless there is a law (or rule) which says otherwise. (edit: That doesn't mean the law wouldn't apply nevertheless!)[[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 06:15, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:Does this law exist in every country? The dog is on property owned by the sports venue in an unspecified country.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 08:23, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

Amusingly, Air Bud is also wrong because the basketball rules say that a team consists of five men, and dogs are not men. --[[User:AndyZ|AndyZ]]
:That can be argued, if Air Bud is a male dog. Besides, "baseball is a game of two teams of 9 players each", but then they go and use the Designated Hitter. So Air Bud is just the Designated Dog. [[User:PsyMar|PsyMar]] ([[User talk:PsyMar|talk]]) 07:22, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

I'm reminded of what Paul said to the Galatians: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law." Life is meant to be lived in this positive way, where the more of these "fruits" we express, the better we make the world. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 12:48, 17 July 2015 (UTC)''

Talk:1501: Mysteries

2015-03-20T18:41:12Z

Tbc: /* Carly Simon */ no need for explanation

Here's a list of wikipedia links I compiled that will be useful for anyone wanting to update this page. http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/2zog5d/xkcd_1501_mysteries/cpktray {{unsigned ip|‎141.101.106.155}}

And I've got a solar eclipse to see (explainable, but weird!) but I started to compile things. Haven't got any links sorted yet, and percentages are (badly) done by eye. If someone does it better, ignore it.


[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 09:33, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

:(Whoops, pasted the flatfile format version by accident, in my rush, rather than the more Wikifriendly one that I discarded. Commenting it out until/unless I redo it. But you should still be able to see the details via the Talk Edit pages if you're bothered. Oh, and there was really too much cloud to see the eclipse for what it was. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 10:29, 20 March 2015 (UTC))

::I dropped the image into our CAD system and plotted the point co-ordinates. I've filled in the resulting percentages, which should be somewhere about right with a little rounding. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 10:35, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

:::Exactly right. (Although I didn't read the zero/zero crossing point is supposed to be maybe 50% on both scales, but instead ±zero. Still, doesn't matter. And perhaps displays/sorts better.) And looks like I don't need to recover my formatted notes after all. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 11:19, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.176|199.27.128.176]] 09:49, 20 March 2015 (UTC) XKCD has explained the Voynich Manuscript before: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/593:_Voynich_Manuscript

:XKCD has also 'explained' DB Cooper before ([[1400: D.B. Cooper]]) if that is worth mentioning. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.167|108.162.250.167]] 12:06, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

I have to wonder if Randall has ever seen http://keithledgerwood.com/post/79838944823/did-malaysian-airlines-370-disappear-using and if so, whether he simply doesn't believe it. Not to sabotage his 100%-100% example if he wants to keep it there, but I'd put it at only 50% weird and 10% unexplainable. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.27|199.27.133.27]] 14:02, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

== Carly Simon ==

The Carly Simon explanation includes the text "This sets up a paradox in which the song is and isn't about the vain person." This isn't correct. The song is definitely about the person. Carly is thus asserting that the subject's vanity will lead him to a correct interpretation of the song. Going to change the explanation. [[User:EverVigilant|EverVigilant]] ([[User talk:EverVigilant|talk]]) 14:51, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

I don't see why this is on Randall's chart. The Wikipedia article is all the explanation the world needs. And Warren Beatty's reaction to the song simply seals it for me. No Big Deal. Move On. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:41, 20 March 2015 (UTC)''

== WOW signal ==

It now says "This is the strongest evidence to date of extraterrestrial radio signals.", which is technically incorrect. We observe radio signals from outer space all the time, they originate from young stars, Big Bang, active galaxies, and so on. This should probably be rephrased to something about extraterrestrial intelligence, but I'm not sure if it deserves to be called "evidence". [[User:Jolindbe|Jolindbe]] ([[User talk:Jolindbe|talk]]) 16:18, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

== Dyatlov Pass ==

Um, Wikipedia regards avalanche as most plausible explanation of the Dyatlov Pass incident, and it appears to be most widespread and down-to-earth explanation that doesn't involve the supernatural or secret soviet weapons test, things like that. Shouldn't we include mention of the avalance then, perhaps? I mean, with such high "explainability" rating it's pretty clear that Randall probably assumes avalanche, since if he assumed other, less widespread theory he probably would downgrade the "explainability" to account for the fact that it's more disputed version. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.222|141.101.89.222]] 18:13, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

== Off the chart up and to the right ==

How the Universe came into existence (the physics and math behind "Why is there something rather than nothing?") is far weirder with less of an explanation than anything on Randall's chart – scientists' claims, which redefine "nothing," notwithstanding. And then how life started and evolved (the chemistry and biology – and quantum physics? – at the transition point between inanimate amino acids and cells and the subsequent arrival of ''homo sapiens'') is almost as strange as the Big Bang. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:34, 20 March 2015 (UTC)''

Talk:1501: Mysteries

2015-03-20T18:34:43Z

Tbc: /* Off the chart up and to the right */ new section

Here's a list of wikipedia links I compiled that will be useful for anyone wanting to update this page. http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/2zog5d/xkcd_1501_mysteries/cpktray {{unsigned ip|‎141.101.106.155}}

And I've got a solar eclipse to see (explainable, but weird!) but I started to compile things. Haven't got any links sorted yet, and percentages are (badly) done by eye. If someone does it better, ignore it.


[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 09:33, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

:(Whoops, pasted the flatfile format version by accident, in my rush, rather than the more Wikifriendly one that I discarded. Commenting it out until/unless I redo it. But you should still be able to see the details via the Talk Edit pages if you're bothered. Oh, and there was really too much cloud to see the eclipse for what it was. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 10:29, 20 March 2015 (UTC))

::I dropped the image into our CAD system and plotted the point co-ordinates. I've filled in the resulting percentages, which should be somewhere about right with a little rounding. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 10:35, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

:::Exactly right. (Although I didn't read the zero/zero crossing point is supposed to be maybe 50% on both scales, but instead ±zero. Still, doesn't matter. And perhaps displays/sorts better.) And looks like I don't need to recover my formatted notes after all. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 11:19, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.176|199.27.128.176]] 09:49, 20 March 2015 (UTC) XKCD has explained the Voynich Manuscript before: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/593:_Voynich_Manuscript

:XKCD has also 'explained' DB Cooper before ([[1400: D.B. Cooper]]) if that is worth mentioning. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.167|108.162.250.167]] 12:06, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

I have to wonder if Randall has ever seen http://keithledgerwood.com/post/79838944823/did-malaysian-airlines-370-disappear-using and if so, whether he simply doesn't believe it. Not to sabotage his 100%-100% example if he wants to keep it there, but I'd put it at only 50% weird and 10% unexplainable. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.27|199.27.133.27]] 14:02, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

== Carly Simon ==

The Carly Simon explanation includes the text "This sets up a paradox in which the song is and isn't about the vain person." This isn't correct. The song is definitely about the person. Carly is thus asserting that the subject's vanity will lead him to a correct interpretation of the song. Going to change the explanation. [[User:EverVigilant|EverVigilant]] ([[User talk:EverVigilant|talk]]) 14:51, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

== WOW signal ==

It now says "This is the strongest evidence to date of extraterrestrial radio signals.", which is technically incorrect. We observe radio signals from outer space all the time, they originate from young stars, Big Bang, active galaxies, and so on. This should probably be rephrased to something about extraterrestrial intelligence, but I'm not sure if it deserves to be called "evidence". [[User:Jolindbe|Jolindbe]] ([[User talk:Jolindbe|talk]]) 16:18, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

== Dyatlov Pass ==

Um, Wikipedia regards avalanche as most plausible explanation of the Dyatlov Pass incident, and it appears to be most widespread and down-to-earth explanation that doesn't involve the supernatural or secret soviet weapons test, things like that. Shouldn't we include mention of the avalance then, perhaps? I mean, with such high "explainability" rating it's pretty clear that Randall probably assumes avalanche, since if he assumed other, less widespread theory he probably would downgrade the "explainability" to account for the fact that it's more disputed version. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.222|141.101.89.222]] 18:13, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

== Off the chart up and to the right ==

How the Universe came into existence (the physics and math behind "Why is there something rather than nothing?") is far weirder with less of an explanation than anything on Randall's chart – scientists' claims, which redefine "nothing," notwithstanding. And then how life started and evolved (the chemistry and biology – and quantum physics? – at the transition point between inanimate amino acids and cells and the subsequent arrival of ''homo sapiens'') is almost as strange as the Big Bang. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:34, 20 March 2015 (UTC)''

1499

2015-03-16T12:57:47Z

Tbc: /* Explanation */ curse auto correct

{{comic
| number = 1499
| date = March 16, 2015
| title = Arbitrage
| image = arbitrage.png
| titletext = The invisible hand of the market never texts me back.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Very early draft.}}
In economics and finance, arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets. Some place is giving away unlimited free chips while Cueball and Buzzcut are eating there. Buzzcut is taking advantage of this fact to turn a profit for himself. In the real world one wouldn't be allowed to carry bags full of chips out of the restaurant, nor is one expected to try to do this.

Title text

In economics, the invisible hand is a metaphor used by Adam Smith to describe unintended social benefits resulting from individual actions.

==Transcript==
[Cueball and Buzzcut are sitting at a table with a bowl of chips in the middle. Buzzcut has one hand in the bowl of chips, and the other hand behind him in a large bag marked "Chips".]

Buzzcut:
:'''They're''' the ones giving chips away!
:If they don't see the arbitrage potential, sucks for them.

[Below the main frame]: In a deep sense, society functions only because we generally avoid taking these people out to dinner.

[Title Text]: The invisible hand of the market never texts me back.

{{comic discussion}}

1499

2015-03-16T12:57:07Z

Tbc: /* Explanation */ fix name

{{comic
| number = 1499
| date = March 16, 2015
| title = Arbitrage
| image = arbitrage.png
| titletext = The invisible hand of the market never texts me back.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Very early draft.}}
In economics and finance, arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets. Some place is giving away unlimited free chips while Cueball and Buzzcut are eating there. Buzzer is taking advantage of this fact to turn a profit for himself. In the real world one wouldn't be allowed to carry bags full of chips out of the restaurant, nor is one expected to try to do this.

Title text

In economics, the invisible hand is a metaphor used by Adam Smith to describe unintended social benefits resulting from individual actions.

==Transcript==
[Cueball and Buzzcut are sitting at a table with a bowl of chips in the middle. Buzzcut has one hand in the bowl of chips, and the other hand behind him in a large bag marked "Chips".]

Buzzcut:
:'''They're''' the ones giving chips away!
:If they don't see the arbitrage potential, sucks for them.

[Below the main frame]: In a deep sense, society functions only because we generally avoid taking these people out to dinner.

[Title Text]: The invisible hand of the market never texts me back.

{{comic discussion}}

1499

2015-03-16T12:55:43Z

Tbc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1499
| date = March 16, 2015
| title = Arbitrage
| image = arbitrage.png
| titletext = The invisible hand of the market never texts me back.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Very early draft.}}
In economics and finance, arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets. Some place is giving away unlimited free chips while Cueball and Hair Guy are eating there. Hair Guy is taking advantage of this fact to turn a profit for himself. In the real world one wouldn't be allowed to carry bags full of chips out of the restaurant, nor is one expected to try to do this.

Title text

In economics, the invisible hand is a metaphor used by Adam Smith to describe unintended social benefits resulting from individual actions.

==Transcript==
[Cueball and Buzzcut are sitting at a table with a bowl of chips in the middle. Buzzcut has one hand in the bowl of chips, and the other hand behind him in a large bag marked "Chips".]

Buzzcut:
:'''They're''' the ones giving chips away!
:If they don't see the arbitrage potential, sucks for them.

[Below the main frame]: In a deep sense, society functions only because we generally avoid taking these people out to dinner.

[Title Text]: The invisible hand of the market never texts me back.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:256: Online Communities

2015-01-06T16:14:28Z

Tbc: Map of the Internet

I'm gonna try and put together some sort of explanation at all for this one. A couple of things I could use help on in terms of location if people want to chip in: series of tubes within myspace; the Icy North; the islands bounded by the Ocean of Subculture, Sea of Memes, and P2P Shoals; and the location of some of the tiny islands around the map (e.g. why is the Lonely Island near friendster, Google's Volcano Fortress off the IRC Isles, etc.). Thanks in advance!! [[User:Amurfalcon|Amurfalcon]] ([[User talk:Amurfalcon|talk]]) 20:30, 10 December 2013 (UTC)
:I've found Googling some of the more obscure things and half-readable things helps a lot. It's how I got Xu Jinglei. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.219|141.101.99.219]] 17:03, 20 December 2013 (UTC)

;bay of trolls

Might this be a reference to bay of pigs? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.135|173.245.48.135]] 03:58, 31 December 2013 (UTC)
:Possibly, but, well, it'd be rather speculative to include it, and there's [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3APrefixIndex&prefix=Bay+of&namespace=0 lots] of other "Bay of X" places, e.g. Bay of Fundy. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.235|141.101.99.235]] 05:46, 16 January 2014 (UTC)

; Map of the Internet

I don't know if or how much this art was inspired by this comic, but if you like 256 you'll love the [http://jaysimons.deviantart.com Map of the Internet]. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 16:14, 6 January 2015 (UTC)''

Talk:1444: Cloud

2014-11-08T13:21:10Z

Tbc: I couldn't care less

Is this the normal American way to phrase this sentence: ''Cloud computing has a ways to go.'' Since I'm not a native English speaker I'm not sure - but would have expected the phrase to go like this ''Cloud computing has a long way to go.'' If I'm wrong then maybe other could misunderstand is? If I'm correct, then there may be a meaning by the different way to say it? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:02, 7 November 2014 (UTC)
: It's a colloquial way to say it. See http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/ways . I don't think there is any special meaning to saying it this way. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.33|141.101.98.33]] 11:20, 7 November 2014 (UTC)

:As I understand it, its an american bastardisation of the english language. Alongside others such as 'Can I get a...', 'I could care less', 'Do the math', and 'Legos' --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 12:25, 7 November 2014 (UTC)
::The English language is more flexible than Her Royal Highness' Loyal Subject Pudder implies. I am a native speaker of the American dialect. "A way to go" and "a ways to go" both sound alright to me, but I prefer the latter. If anyone wants to go all dilettante or get priggish about it, I recommend looking up what Grammar Girl has to say. I've learned quite a lot from her. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 12:46, 7 November 2014 (UTC)''
:::I agree, language is incredibly flexible, and the language and phrases you are around regularly always have a big impact on what you percieve as 'correct'. My examples were mostly tongue in cheek (I'm no language pedant), and I know that the majority of this sites visitors are probably going to be american! However, I will never understand how anyone could deny that 'I could care less' is grammatically the opposite of what is usually being implied. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 13:00, 7 November 2014 (UTC)
::::Thanks for the insight. Do you agree (for my understandings sake) that the sentence has the same meaning as my suggestion "Cloud computing has a long way to go"? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:04, 7 November 2014 (UTC)
:::::Yes indeed - those mean pretty much exactly the same thing, Knyde. [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 14:16, 7 November 2014 (UTC)
:::::I agree, though the inclusion of the word "long" in my mind makes that phrase imply a possibly longer timeframe than the "ways" phrase, where the length is less defined. That would fit in with "a ways" being a more relaxed/colloquial/less specific way of saying "a long way".[[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 14:23, 7 November 2014 (UTC)
::::::"...a way to go...", without the "long" is a thing, and of equivalent lack-of-definition. Including "long" may have confused matters, methinks. (Also can I submit "Write me!" instead of "Write ''to'' me!" as an Americanisation I understand but dislike. While "I could of done something" (also he/she/they should/would/might, etc) is sheer laziness that I actually detest, because it is not anywhere near as legitimate, w.r.t. the natural evolution of English language. (Comes from badly misunderstanding of "X have"->"X've"->"X of".) But that one seems to exist in Ol' Blighty as a homegrown corruption, without necessarily being an import. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 14:46, 7 November 2014 (UTC)
::::I've always taken 'I could care less' to be a sarcastic phrase. True, it is opposite, but the precise meaning is not meant. As long as the message is understood, we're fine. [[1028: Communication]][[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.173|199.27.128.173]] 04:38, 8 November 2014 (UTC)
::::I do not deny it is illogical, Pudder. But it's an idiom. Idioms are illogical. Consider ‘head over heels’ and ‘have your cake and eat it too.’ I perused ''Yes, I Could Care Less'' by Bill Walsh, [http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/could-care-less as excerpted by Mignon Fogarty, aka Grammar Girl], to come to that conclusion. I was also amused to find this snobbish quote from Isaac Asimov in that excerpt: “I don’t know people stupid enough to say [I could care less].” Meh. I couldn't care less, dead professor. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:21, 8 November 2014 (UTC)''
Does anyone else see this as related to 1263: Reassuring? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 02:25, 8 November 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1444: Cloud

2014-11-07T12:46:53Z

Tbc: Grammar Girl

Talk:1424: En Garde

2014-09-22T12:29:15Z

Tbc: link on-site

So, what's up. I expected an explanation for this. WHERE IS IT?

:Remember to sign your posts with four tildes (~).
:The explanation will be up when it's up. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.72|108.162.216.72]] 04:52, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

:Someone, somewhere on Earth, has to be awake, see the comic, come to this page, and write something. Automatic explanations are a long way out of our technological reach. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.169|108.162.216.169]] 05:21, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

This reminds me of [[1146|Honest]]. [[User:Cheeselover724|Cheeselover724]] ([[User talk:Cheeselover724|talk]]) 05:37, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

----

I've seen it. :)

For me it describes how in a relationship one person (Fencer 1) wants to engage ("What are you thinking?") but the other person (Fencer 2) sees it as an attack and is guarded and unwilling to engage (hence they never raise their foil). As Fencer 2 says 'No matter how long we know each other', I'd guess that this pattern of behaviour is often repeated and that they are destined to continue, because neither are willing to change their 'engagement' strategy; i.e. Fencer 2's defensiveness and Fencer 1's direct approach. Perhaps they should play chess? :)

The 'Touch!' is Fencer 1 saying "well, if you don't play, I've won!", but it is hollow and 'Nope, I sighed and stared...' reminds me of how some people use silence / brevity of response to avoid talking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alogia (specifically "People can revert to alogia as a way of reverse psychology, or avoiding questions.").

It's a beautiful cartoon, so melancholic and kinda sad.

[[User:The4thv|The4thv]] ([[User talk:The4thv|talk]]) 06:36, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1363: xkcd Phone

2014-05-02T12:22:46Z

Tbc: this is lame

Where can i get one of these? :D [[User:UniTrader|UniTrader]] ([[User talk:UniTrader|talk]]) 04:11, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure the "scream when falling" thing and the "flightaware" stuff can be done somehow with Tasker. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.103.206|141.101.103.206]] 04:23, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

;Designer?

I suspect it was either Black Hat or Beret Guy, but I'm not sure which. A collaboration? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.45|173.245.54.45]] 04:47, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

This sounds like something straight out of aperture. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.55}}

;Simulates alternate speeds of light

Yes, useless as a feature on all the time; but it would be a cool app. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 05:57, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
:Absolutely. Where can I get an app like that?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.157|108.162.225.157]] 06:22, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

'''Changed the speed of light to 2.99x10^8'''

Yeah sorry forgot to login. does anyone know how to do the indices formatting other than eg 2.99x10(littlex) rather then 2.99x10^x? [[User:Jonv4n|Jonv4n]] ([[User talk:Jonv4n|talk]]) 06:29, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
: Whassup? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.220|141.101.89.220]] 07:43, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

About the attracting insects ... I would expect this to be normal feature in night. Trapping, however ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:08, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

'''Siri'''

Could the Siri bit be a reference to Portal? When I first read it, I remembered this GLaDOS quote: "Your Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube will never threaten to stab you, and in fact cannot speak. If your Weighted Companion Cube does speak, please disregard its advice." Could be completely wrong; just a thought. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.51|173.245.54.51]] 10:09, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
:Perhaps Siri is beling likened to the "ATMOS" device in the Doctor Who episode "The Sontaran Stratagem" [[User:Esp666|Esp666]] ([[User talk:Esp666|talk]]) 11:20, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

Lamest. Comic. Ever. And I'm not just saying that because he doesn't mention the Ubuntu Touch OS. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 12:22, 2 May 2014 (UTC)''

Talk:1362: Morse Code

2014-04-30T13:04:44Z

Tbc: distinguish between my comments (2 paragraphs) and the unrelated paragraph that precedes it

Does the way the panels of the comic go 0101 mean anything, being more code and all? [[User:Cheeselord99|Cheeselord99]] ([[User talk:Cheeselord99|talk]]) 06:58, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

: The Morse sequence · – · – (dot dash dot dash) corresponds to letter Ä (A umlaut), also æ and ą, outside US-ASCII. – · – · is C. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:52, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

It seems to translate in the question mark. --07:11, 30 April 2014 (UTC)[[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.205|141.101.96.205]]

Randall mentioned in one of the "what ifs" that when he sees 1010 he involuntarily thinks "ten." So I guess it's "five?" Or an extended-Morse "a-umlaut" or "a-ogonek" or "ae digraph." Or a wild goose chase, maybe...[[User:Taibhse|Taibhse]] ([[User talk:Taibhse|talk]]) 07:25, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Can someone explain the livejournal? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:59, 30 April 2014 (UTC)
:And it is still a nice and a quiet place for people devoted to their interests,[http://raskalov-vit.livejournal.com/130686.html like urban exploration,etc.]Contrasted with Tumblr or Facebook,which are often drama-filled.[[User:Guru-45|Guru-45]] ([[User talk:Guru-45|talk]]) 11:03, 30 April 2014 (UTC)
livejournal is a website that was popular with the "goth" subculture way back in the day where people would post similar things to the last morse message.
:It's commonly used by Russians nowadays.[[User:Guru-45|Guru-45]] ([[User talk:Guru-45|talk]]) 11:05, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

"Cueball and Megan are 'lying' in a grassy, lonely plain." "Laying" has quite a different connotation. Ahem. [unsigned]

I was looking at one of my livejournal entries just yesterday. I left it for Posterous. Then Twitter bought that and shut it down. I thik Wordpress will be around for a while. http://purl.net/net/tbc/blog/about

To the subject at hand. 'I Googled and found a 1999 article about Morse code in ''The Economist'' that is fascinating. I Instapapered http://www.economist.com/node/183572 ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:03, 30 April 2014 (UTC)''

Talk:1362: Morse Code

2014-04-30T13:03:06Z

Tbc: on livejournal and The Economist

Does the way the panels of the comic go 0101 mean anything, being more code and all? [[User:Cheeselord99|Cheeselord99]] ([[User talk:Cheeselord99|talk]]) 06:58, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

: The Morse sequence · – · – (dot dash dot dash) corresponds to letter Ä (A umlaut), also æ and ą, outside US-ASCII. – · – · is C. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:52, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

It seems to translate in the question mark. --07:11, 30 April 2014 (UTC)[[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.205|141.101.96.205]]

Randall mentioned in one of the "what ifs" that when he sees 1010 he involuntarily thinks "ten." So I guess it's "five?" Or an extended-Morse "a-umlaut" or "a-ogonek" or "ae digraph." Or a wild goose chase, maybe...[[User:Taibhse|Taibhse]] ([[User talk:Taibhse|talk]]) 07:25, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Can someone explain the livejournal? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:59, 30 April 2014 (UTC)
:And it is still a nice and a quiet place for people devoted to their interests,[http://raskalov-vit.livejournal.com/130686.html like urban exploration,etc.]Contrasted with Tumblr or Facebook,which are often drama-filled.[[User:Guru-45|Guru-45]] ([[User talk:Guru-45|talk]]) 11:03, 30 April 2014 (UTC)
livejournal is a website that was popular with the "goth" subculture way back in the day where people would post similar things to the last morse message.
:It's commonly used by Russians nowadays.[[User:Guru-45|Guru-45]] ([[User talk:Guru-45|talk]]) 11:05, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

"Cueball and Megan are 'lying' in a grassy, lonely plain." "Laying" has quite a different connotation. Ahem.

I was looking at one of my livejournal entries just yesterday. I left it for Posterous. Then Twitter bought that and shut it down. I thik Wordpress will be around for a while. http://purl.net/net/tbc/blog/about

To the subject at hand. 'I Googled and found a 1999 article about Morse code in ''The Economist'' that is fascinating. I Instapapered http://www.economist.com/node/183572 ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:03, 30 April 2014 (UTC)''

Talk:1210: I'm So Random

2014-04-30T02:22:22Z

Tbc: add headings

== Random ==
Are the numbers in the speech bubble truely random (as in is there a real pattern)? Can someone check?
--[[User:Charlesisbozo|Charlesisbozo]] ([[User talk:Charlesisbozo|talk]]) 08:54, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

:I was wondering that myself. I did a quick tally of the digits and for 0..9 I have frequencies of {24,9,18,18,14,17,14,8,9,14} respectively for the readily identifiable digits (YMMV, and while I counted the probable 5 behind Hairy's left ear, I didn't count the ''possible'' five behind his left knee, for example.) It doesn't seem to have fallen for the "too many 3s and 7s" trap, nor "too ''few'' 3s and 7s, because I know I'll pick them if I try to be random" one, because one is 'high' and one is 'low'. Ditto the "avoiding zero and using nine a lot", says I, vaguely half remembering something from the New Scientists a decade or two ago... While it's not a ''flat'' distribution, I'd also suspect it as 'constructed' if it ''was'' nearly equal tallies. Someone else can probably tell me if this sample of 145 is within variation limits but I'm still going on intuition.
:What I was originally going to do is also go so far as to compare neighbours-on-neighbours. It appeared to me that there were two many like-like neighbours. It's not as easy as in if a grid-system (without holes, etc), but I trivially count a couple of dozen (probably more) and even some 'triples' and that 'stripe' of zeros (from top down to his right knee) is interesting.
::That's a sign that it probably is random. Over 100 digits, let's say average 5 neighbours (in a hex grid the internal ones would each have 6 but the ones on the edge fewer), there must be close to 300 or more pairs of neighbours. One-tenth of those would be identical. Truly random sequences have far more identical neighbours than sequences that seem random to us. [[User:MGK|MGK]] ([[User talk:MGK|talk]]) 10:44, 10 May 2013 (UTC)
:::Yup, that's where I was heading with that fact (see "Preliminarily", below). Also, I don't have much more free time today, but if you're interested the ''corrected'' frequencies are {24,9,19,19,14,17,14,8,9,15} (I'd missed some!) and the guide to which marks I counted as which numbers is at http://i43.tinypic.com/awc602.png if anyone wants to do the more aesthetic job, like I was originally planning on doing... [[Special:Contributions/178.98.253.89|178.98.253.89]] 10:54, 10 May 2013 (UTC)
:Preliminarily, I choose to believe that Randall used a PRNG or even a noise source and stuck to it (''even when'' patterns may have become apparent). Also that, on examining the image closely, he pasted Hairy's anti-aliased image over the top of the numbers then did a little extra editing. ;) [[Special:Contributions/178.98.253.89|178.98.253.89]] 10:24, 10 May 2013 (UTC)
:They are all copied directly from the first few lines of [http://www.amazon.com/Million-Random-Digits-Normal-Deviates/dp/0833030477 A Million Random Digits (and 100000 Normal Deviates)] [[Special:Contributions/87.64.94.247|87.64.94.247]] 14:26, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

The irony though, is that for a human being to be able to ''create'' truly random content, is indeed interesting. We are pattern forming machines [[User:Boxy|Boxy]] ([[User talk:Boxy|talk]]) 11:10, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

This is Black Hat. I'd personally believe he'd have an (unhackable) /dev/random stream personally available on tap for whenever he needs some significant entropy. Although I imagine he'd use the /dev/urandom one in this instance, knowing that the 'fuller' randomness wouldn't be appreciated enough...

Anyway, I found some free time, and ''this'' is the result: http://i39.tinypic.com/nm13dc.png If there's nothing better and it helps at all then anyone please feel free to tidy up (or correct?) and I naturally grant the whole Creative Commons doolally (i.e. to the extent that came with the original source material and what I can personally grant by dint of it being a derivative work by myself) to anyone with a Wiki account who thinks its worthwhile to officially upload it. Or just do it better yourself.

I decided to plump for what another few part-hidden numbers were, as well, while I was at it. Some 9s and a 4, in particular. Now all that is left uncoloured is one possible 5/possible 6 number at the knee area, one that ''might'' be a zero behind the head and a smaller fragment behind his lower leg that I imagine is either a 6 ''or'' 0, due to the hint of a curve emerging the other side. The 5 behind the left ear is now coloured, but it's possible you might disagree and think it's a 6. (However, I believe Hairy's hair was drawn on ''after'' his general bodyplan was moved into position over the numbers, and there is a possible hint of the top-stroke for the 5 emerging from behind the head's anti-aliasing.)

So, while doing this I additionally quanitified the frequencies of neighbouring numbers as I had originally intended.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! # !! Freq !! ->0 !! ->1 !! ->2 !! ->3 !! ->4 !! ->5 !! ->6 !! ->7 !! ->8 !! ->9 !! ->?
|-
| 0 || 24 || 20 || 8 || 16 || 11 || 11 || 16 || 11 || 4 || 10 || 19 || 4
|-
| 1 || 9 || 9 || 4 || 3 || 3 || 3 || 7 || 5 || 1 || 1 || 9 || -
|-
| 2 || 19 || 15 || 3 || 12 || 13 || 11 || 12 || 8 || 7 || 5 || 13 || 1
|-
| 3 || 21 || 9 || 2 || 12 || 18 || 8 || 8 || 12 || 10 || 8 || 6 || 5
|-
| 4 || 15 || 11 || 3 || 14 || 8 || 6 || 10 || 10 || 6 || 8 || 11 || -
|-
| 5 || 17 || 16 || 9 || 11 || 7 || 10 || 10 || 10 || 7 || 3 || 11 || 4
|-
| 6 || 15 || 10 || 4 || 10 || 11 || 12 || 11 || 9 || 4 || 4 || 7 || -
|-
| 7 || 10 || 5 || 1 || 8 || 9 || 6 || 8 || 5 || 3 || 5 || 3 || 2
|-
| 8 || 9 || 8 || 1 || 5 || 9 || 8 || 4 || 4 || 5 || 3 || 7 || -
|-
| 9 || 18 || 19 || 8 || 13 || 7 || 13 || 10 || 8 || 3 || 6 || 12 || -
|}

(That came out better than I expected. Not used Wiki table markup for a ''long'' time...)

Not included, but analysed, is that average neighbours ranged from 4.67 for 3s to 6.00 for 8s. I'm not sure if that helps any though.

Note that it isn't ''perfectly'' symmetrical around the x=y line. I used a strict, but entirely visual, method for deciding whether A neighboured B, and sometimes it did by that measure and yet B did not really neighbour A when later assessed in return. Or vice-versa. Digit size differences and packing of nearby neighbours may have been the prime cause. Input errors also possible of course.

Taking into account the differing frequencies of the (known) numbers, I came up with following table of "actual / theoretical" pairing frequency ratios:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! # !! Dif !! ->0 !! ->1 !! ->2 !! ->3 !! ->4 !! ->5 !! ->6 !! ->7 !! ->8 !! ->9
|-
| 0 || || 1.01 || 1.08 || 1.02 || 0.63 || 0.89 || 1.14 || 0.89 || 0.48 || 1.35 || 1.28
|-
| 1 || || 1.21 || 1.44 || 0.51 || 0.46 || 0.65 || 1.33 || 1.08 || 0.32 || 0.36 || 1.61
|-
| 2 || || 0.96 || 0.51 || 0.97 || 0.95 || 1.12 || 1.08 || 0.82 || 1.07 || 0.85 || 1.1
|-
| 3 || || 0.52 || 0.31 || 0.87 || 1.19 || 0.74 || 0.65 || 1.11 || 1.38 || 1.23 || 0.46
|-
| 4 || || 0.89 || 0.65 || 1.43 || 0.74 || 0.78 || 1.14 || 1.29 || 1.16 || 1.72 || 1.18
|-
| 5 || || 1.14 || 1.71 || 0.99 || 0.57 || 1.14 || 1.01 || 1.14 || 1.2 || 0.57 || 1.04
|-
| 6 || || 0.81 || 0.86 || 1.02 || 1.02 || 1.55 || 1.25 || 1.16 || 0.78 || 0.86 || 0.75
|-
| 7 || || 0.61 || 0.32 || 1.22 || 1.25 || 1.16 || 1.37 || 0.97 || 0.87 || 1.61 || 0.48
|-
| 8 || || 1.08 || 0.36 || 0.85 || 1.38 || 1.72 || 0.76 || 0.86 || 1.61 || 1.08 || 1.26
|-
| 9 || || 1.28 || 1.44 || 1.1 || 0.54 || 1.4 || 0.95 || 0.86 || 0.48 || 1.08 || 1.08
|}

The highest values are 1.72 more frequent than ought to be by chance (4<->8, with others not far behind), the lowest is 0.31 what should have occured by chance (3->1, 1<->7 next, 1<->8 then 1->3), and it seems to be an unremarkable progression, end-to-end with no surprising leaps and jumps that grossly disobey any 'meta-frequency' distribution expectations. Note that the 0<->0 value (which stood out on visual inspection) is 1.01, with the median being 1.02, on what should have normalised somewhere around 1.00 anyway. I find the higher frequency not too large for belief, and the lower can be explained by disconnectedness (hole and edge-effect, which wouldn't have occured on a larger, or infinite, array without gaps) but I really should have quantified "missing/unknown neighbours" (after actually excluding the remaining unknowns from analysis), perhaps something like weighting each neighbour's significance according to rarity for the original number to ''have'' neighbours, rather than just straight tallying. Too late now without redoing the count from scratch. I'd also considered weighting every instance against ''every'' other by inverse-square of distance, or similar, to be somewhat immune from the larger effects, but I'll leave that as an exercise for someone else who wishes to look into it...

Does someone want to calculate P for all of this, anyway? ;)

Finally, I also attempted to discover any embedded steganography. Odd numbers vs even numbers, for a start, but then looking for how "XKCD" or smiley faces or heart-shapes could be marked down in patterns. There are several non-linear sequences of sequential numbers, I noted (can't find anything longer than 4..8 now that I look for them again), but nothing stands out particularly as being above and beyond chance. Yet something might still exist that is far simpler but I managed to overlook it... Unless Black Hat(/Randall) has been so ub3r-1447 as choose such 'randomness' as to encode something into the ''derivative'' data!

Anyway, that's it. HTH, HAND, and I'm not spending any more time on this analysis from now on. Probably... [[Special:Contributions/178.98.253.89|178.98.253.89]] 15:54, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

== I'm so Random ==
Is it just me, or does this sound like those people at parties who drink a tiny bit, and then spend the whole party saying, "oh my Julia I'm soooo drunk right now!"
[[Special:Contributions/99.237.74.83|99.237.74.83]] 11:13, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

I would argue that if Google finds the phrase, it's not random enough. Monkey tacos fails miserably by that measure. It took me several tries [1], but I came up with platypus vindaloo. You have to google with quotes around it to get no matches. Many pages have those words, but none have the phrase. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 11:34, 10 May 2013 (UTC)'' (Practicing structured procrastination. I have code to write! But this is so fun.)

[1] kitten cupcakes, kitten falafel, snail falafel, snail corn, aardvark corn, aardvark baklava, aardvark vindaloo

:Of course, now that you've written it here, that is no longer the case. Although surprisingly, the only result that came up was an unrelated Italian blog with a generic link back to this wiki. For the time being, however, you are the proud owner of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googlewhack Googlewhack]. --[[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 18:08, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

::Haha. I don't think any googlewhacks have been discovered in years. A true googlewhack must be found without quotes. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 16:32, 11 May 2013 (UTC)''
:::if you count antewhacks, then zwoddery aphasia counts {{unsigned ip|108.162.218.101}}

:::How about this, without quotes: "w10: brcms_c_radio_timer: dead chip". Got this message from my netbook, which I failed to handle properly a few times in the last few years. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.252|108.162.210.252]] 02:37, 6 April 2014 (UTC)

== lexical white noise ==
Interesting, since Black Hat speaks only digits! No letters, words, diacritical marks, silly unicode characters, or Fred Flintstone outbursts. The blast of numbers seems to come out in a 2D bubble, yet speech is strictly sequential (each character can have at most two neighbors). The noise is uninteresting at best and likely unwanted, but not unnecessary (sic). It did seem to do the trick. The pesky kid was squelched, Black Hat resumed his work (or whatever).[[User:Galois|Galois]] ([[User talk:Galois|talk]]) 14:45, 10 May 2013 (UTC)
In fact randomness contains more information as it can't be compressed; I have no idea what Randall means by saying that in information theory randomness is uninteresting.[[User:Yehoshua2|Yehoshua2]] ([[User talk:Yehoshua2|talk]]) 17:11, 10 May 2013 (UTC)
...'mean and []bullying'? I find this an appropriate response/retribution towards all those proles who think that being random is a viable source of humour. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 23:01, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

=== Odd things that have results ===

:Endothermic Zymurgy
:Syzygy Chimneysweep
:Thermobaric CheeseGrater (???) {{unsigned ip|108.162.218.101}}

=== Is it random ===

GOOOGLE is still prove (every law is wrong):

Search 1954678
About 57,600 results (0.09 seconds)

Search 2954678
About 83,300 results (0.10 seconds)

Search 3954678
About 497,000 results (0.24 seconds)

Search 4954678
About 451,000 results (0.24 seconds)

Search 5954678
About 359,000 results (0.25 seconds)

Search 6954678
About 46,300 results (0.40 seconds)

Search 7954678
About 348,000 results (0.24 seconds)

Search 8954678
About 45,400 results (0.24 seconds)

Search 9954678
About 287,000 results (0.23 seconds)

So this law is not valid according to my investigations above:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford%27s_law]

And I am also random...
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:30, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

: Just for understanding: I should get get a peak at 1xxxxxx and the lowest result at 9xxxxxx. Just changing the first number.
: According to Benford it should be look much different, and my first test on Gooo a few weeks ago did match. Maybe my 7-digit test is not random or it's just a mystery...
:--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:47, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

:: Maybe the second digit z9xxxxx is my problem. Still strange, Ask Benford...
::--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:56, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

::: Seven digit is too low. Telephone numbers may have 7 digits (up to 10 actually) and they are not random (at least not in a way Benford's law need). And multiple entries in that google search ARE related to telephone numbers. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:02, 11 May 2013 (UTC)

== Trochees ==
You sure "tacos" is a trochee? Seems more like a spondee to me. [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 01:44, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

That's some stealth nerd sniping there, Randall. I sincerely did not expect to read someone suggesting that he could've encoded data in the derivative data. Even after reading 1210 comics. Also, it's been two of those in the last three comics. Damn. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.37|108.162.229.37]] 04:18, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1359: Phone Alarm

2014-04-23T13:32:48Z

Tbc: wpitw

See also [[479: Tones]]. [[User:B jonas|B jonas]] ([[User talk:B jonas|talk]]) 06:06, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

I was just about to go hunt that one down for the explanation. Thanks B Jonas! [[User:Mrmakeit|Mrmakeit]] ([[User talk:Mrmakeit|talk]]) 06:13, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

I think it's safe to say that alarms give you some really weird dreams when you're too tired for them to actually wake you up. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.218|108.162.237.218]] 06:24, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

How do I keep screwing up his name. I guess that's what I get for writing an explanation at 2 in the morning. I'll get it right next time. [[User:Mrmakeit|Mrmakeit]] ([[User talk:Mrmakeit|talk]]) 07:03, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

I think I understand the title text -- the "worst person in the world" is a reference to the fact that when he picks up the phone to talk to whoever's "calling", all he gets is beeping in his ear, which makes for an awful "conversation".
:I red it as the caller being the wpitw because they called while Randall was trying to sleep. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]])''

However, I don't understand the "???" box or the reason why one of the arrows keeps looping in on itself, unless it's to show an eventuality where Randall doesn't wake up or ignores the phone?

Sometimes I think Randall likes to mess with us with obscure, trippy comics just so he can see us scramble to explain them using logical thought progressions. [[User:Enchantedsleeper|Enchantedsleeper]] ([[User talk:Enchantedsleeper|talk]]) 10:32, 23 April 2014 (UTC)
:I feel confident the "???" is referring to the initial confusion of any dream world (the first time around), followed by continued confusion of things "not working like they're supposed to" (which often happens in a dream world), especially when you hang up the phone and it keeps ringing but nobody's on the other side - [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:20, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1352: Cosmologist on a Tire Swing

2014-04-07T14:24:26Z

Tbc: theories of time

See this TED talk for clue: http://www.ted.com/talks/allan_adams_the_discovery_that_could_rewrite_physics
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.101|108.162.218.101]] 07:54, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

The question "what lies outside our observable universe?" is pretty easily answered with a "the same stuff as inside it, we just can't observe it". The more poignant question is whether the universe as a whole (not just its observable part) has an edge and if so, what lies beyond it. --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 08:09, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

:The parts of universe which are not observable due to speed of light looks the same as the ones we can observe, sure. Just bigger. But there is nothing in physics saying there can't be something even more "outside". In fact, some theories consider it probable. And what can be THERE? Anything. Dragons. Possibly literally. Unfortunately, according to current physic, we can't PROVE something outside exists, much less look at it. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:21, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

What's the setting of the first panel? Given the cosmological context, could it be a reference to the {{w|Wood between the Worlds}} from the ''Narnia'' series? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.29|108.162.219.29]] 10:57, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Someone please rewrite my shunted in assertion about the aforementioned wood. There's a reason for the setting in the first panel, I just can't think of a better place to put it in the explanation.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.244.6|108.162.244.6]] 11:43, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

The tire swing also evokes the cosmology field in itself; accepted theories keep changing like the swing, endlessly being replaced by the next one. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 14:19, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Seems to me Randall is referring to the the A and B theories of time. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 14:24, 7 April 2014 (UTC)''

Talk:1350: Lorenz

2014-04-02T13:15:04Z

Tbc: this was colossal waste of time

I've had the story loop back to the first frame, so it wouldn't surprise me if this could go on infinitely if it had the available dialogue options.

This is going to be a hell of a thing. Good luck... [[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 15:39, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:I think this is one of those times when the custom field might come in handy. Duplicating Randall's code seems like it might be difficult, and it might just be easier to link to the original page. Probably. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:47, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
::I think it should just show a screenshot of the initial image and options [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.61|173.245.50.61]] 02:49, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

There's always new story lines, even when you think you've read them all, new ones appear to replace them. I don't think it'll ever be possible to record them all. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.192|108.162.212.192]] 15:55, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:The text changes, but there are recurring themes with the panels. The rocket, the big hole, the little hole, Dinosaurcomics, pokemon, waking up, stranded swimming.........[[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 18:03, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

When I go to XKCD, all I see is the comic from Monday... weird. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:45, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Same here... and a lot of space below it. [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 17:43, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: I think that happens when you have refreshed the page too many time -- kind of an anti spam for user submissions. I simply create an anonymous browser window and I got back to the real page once xkcd was not able to track me as a returning user. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 17:59, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Currently there appears to be a bug. Instead of the evolving, crowd-sourced comic, I just see an off-center copy of the previous comic, 1349: Shouldn't Be Hard. [http://i.imgur.com/pw2OfOL.png Screenshot here].
UPDATE: it appears to be a bug in the XSRF-blocking code. Chrome console shows me the error "XMLHttpRequest cannot load http://c1.xkcd.com/graph/1/. The 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header has a value 'http://xkcd.com' that is not equal to the supplied origin. Origin 'http://www.xkcd.com' is therefore not allowed access."
FURTHER UPDATE: you can work around this bug by going to http://xkcd.com instead of http://www.xkcd.com!
It also doesn't work if you have HTTPS Everywhere enabled.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.38|108.162.216.38]] 16:46, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

** I can confirm this bug in Firefox. Weirdly, the work-around functioned one time for me, but now going to "xkcd.com" rather than "www.xkcd.com" just gives me a copy of 1349 as well. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 17:40, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:The workaround didn't work for me, I still got monday's comic on either URL. (Chromium 36.0.1919.0 (260611), Mac OS 10.9.2) [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 17:45, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Same here. Used IE and Firefox. Removed the "www." and haven't. (Never used https:// at all.) Tried InPrivate (and FF equivalent) browsers. Gone into the code and can't even fudge it manually from ''<nowiki><div id="comic"><img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/shouldnt_be_hard.png" title="Every choice, no matter how small, begins a new story." alt="Lorenz" /> <script type="text/javascript">Bernardo.comic({el: $('#comic')})
</script></div></nowiki>'', and the rest, manually. (Indeed, that shows why I get 1349's "shouldn't be hard" image, by default.) Pity. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.224|141.101.89.224]] 02:25, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

This comic introduced(?) a font of its own of Randalls comic type. I don't know if it has been sitting there for long, but I just noticed it: http://xkcd.com/fonts/xkcd-Regular.eot -- phiarc [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.12|108.162.219.12]] 17:20, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Is it the same as was used in Externalities? [[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 18:00, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Does everyone have these options in some order for the first tile?
*Refresh... No New Email... Refresh .. No New Tweets... Refresh...
*These Stupid Tiles... I'll Just Play One More Game
*Oh. Hey. There's Some Kind Of Politicial Thing Going On.
*Let's See If BSD Is Any Easier to Install Nowadays
--[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:54, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

:If so, we can begin to build a map of at least the first set of options before the crowd-sourced ones. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:56, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
::Yes, though the second-tier options have changed [[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 18:00, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:::The first level options may be constant (Im seeing the same as Jeff), but I suspect that the following options is based on some sort of ckick though statitics / machine learning -- which means that the will continue to change until Randall closes off the 'voting' -- if [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1193:_Externalities 1193: Externalities] is anything to go by that should be within the next 24-48 hours, at which point automating the collection of story lines may be possible. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 18:11, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:::: I'm going to transcript some of what I get at least through the first few levels and then we can start with a list of options for those who don't want to go through them all. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 18:37, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
::::: I have no idea how one would do this, but it would be cool to render the transcript as a tree of some sort; having one vertical list will be hard to follow for more than a few decisions. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 00:14, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Ohh, this comic is buggy and the link here at the top gives just the page from Monday, showing errors on debuggers. But removing the WWW from URL helps. Further more I can't see that the result of the choices is dynamic. So let's prove this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:33, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
: Have a look at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/2b/lorenz_combination1.png and http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/9a/lorenz_combination2.png and you can see the option orders are changing -- this is a typical artifact of A/B testing where randomization of options is needed to avoid selection bias. I have futher observed "your car is on fire" instead of the "dinosaur" option, hence not only the orders are channging but the content as well -- maybe somebody else can capture this. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:08, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

How are new dialogue suggestions approved? Are they random, by popular vote (unlikely, not very many people would suggest the same thing), or is Randall approving them one by one? [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 20:26, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
: They may not need to be explicitly approved at all -- one of the beutiful things about click though measures is that the public '''votes''' for what is good by clicking -- this is also a factor in search ranking by your favorite search engine where statistics are driving the entire show -- in a search engine some input to the statistical process comes from the web pages, but other comes from what people are actually clicking [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:14, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

What is this a screenshot of? It's zoomed out so far. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:5b5bd04e-b9d6-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd [[User:Haithere|Haithere]] ([[User talk:Haithere|talk]]) 20:39, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
: you mean this : http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a1-2014/Rl92nFEWd9huvXABNkHKHg.png ? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:20, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: It appears to be a screen shot from a flight simulator program of some sort, however im not able to tell which, and since it is most likely an 'in-game' screen short we will never find out unless somebody else is playing this precises flight simulator program [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:37, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: I am not certain, but I strongly suspect that is Kerbal Space Program {{unsigned ip|108.162.242.111}}
::: it really is Kerbal Space Program, or KSP for short {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.65}}
:::: found this image from KSP http://i.imgur.com/UofvQ.png [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 09:07, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

A transcript is going to be futile. It appears as though the comic may go on indefinitely (I've definitely had some branches continue extending until I've seen frames that were present in other branches). I suspect what's happening here is that... options are "suggested", and those suggestions are displayed at random to people. The ones with the most clickthroughs begin to appear more often, until eventually the top 4 are "locked in" and no more suggestions can be made. Very creative! But I'm not convinced that Randall is making frames in near-real-time, nor am I even convinced he's part of the approval process at all. I suspect it's all automated. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.28|108.162.215.28]] 00:29, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

It seems it is possible to have the same option appear twice in the first panel. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:be7a3304-b685-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.48|173.245.54.48]] 10:27, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Is it still supposed to work or was it turned off? All I see is Monday comics ... and no errors in firebug console. Oh, wait, there is javascript error:
Timestamp: 04/02/14 12:56:21
Error: TypeError: this.$lastPanel is null
Source File: http://xkcd.com/1350/bernardo.min.js
Line: 2 -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:03, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

tl;dr, but I applaud Randall's creativity. Added to the Colossal time sinks category. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:15, 2 April 2014 (UTC)''

1110: Click and Drag

2014-04-02T13:08:50Z

Tbc: fix category capitalization

{{comic
| number = 1110
| date = September 19, 2012
| title = Click and Drag
| image = click_and_drag.png
| titletext = Click and drag.
}}
To experience the interactivity, visit the [http://xkcd.com/1110/ original comic].
<div style="float:right"> __TOC__ </div>

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Some of the jokes in the larger world might benefit from an explanation.}}
This comic is a take on how vast and rich the world is, and on the thrill of exploring it. The world can be described as sad, as well as it can be described as wonderful, even if this seems a bit contradictory, just because there are so many different things happening in it.

[[Cueball]] comments about this, and the title text invites the reader to, with their mouse, click and drag the inside of the last panel, and by dragging and dragging, explore what is hidden outside that panel. The image displayed at first turns out to be part of a huge landscape, filled with big or small things, humorous details, people here and there, cave mazes, things floating in the air, jokes and references, unexpected things, relaxing views, etc.

The fact that we only see a small part of the landscape at once refers to the idea that we cannot in real life comprehend the whole world altogether, but only what is around us and/or in the range of our understanding at the time. The click-and-drag process, in which it is impossible to go as fast as we would want to, also draws a parallel with the fact that exploration is always done gradually, step by step, and trying something (i.e. here dragging in a certain direction) always has a cost. This click-and-drag exploration reproduces the thrill of discovering new horizons, getting lost sometimes, finding unexpected things, seeing beauty, humor, desolation or happiness here and there... which can easily captivate an xkcd reader for a looong time (and as such qualifies as [[356: Nerd Sniping|nerd sniping]]).

==Transcript==
This transcript will only cover the first 3 panels.

:Cueball [narration]: From the stories
:Cueball [narration]: I expected the world to be sad
:[Cueball is floating by holding onto a balloon with one hand.]
:Cueball [narration]: And it was

:Cueball [narration]: And I expected it to be wonderful.
:[Cueball has grabbed hold of the balloon with both hands.]

:[The wind picks up and blows Cueball eastward.]
:Cueball [narration]: It was.

:[Full width panel, initial view of the world. Part of tile 1n1e.]
:Cueball [narration]: I just didn't expect it to be so ''BIG''.
:[Scene opens up. You see Cueball is about a tree's-height from the ground. To the right there is a tall tree with no leaves on it and a broken limb.]

==Viewers==
*http://xkcd.com/1110/ (native zoom, click-and-drag)

'''''Warning:''' there are cheating possibilities, people have implemented ways to explore that world more easily, but the best way to enjoy this comic is to play the game, explore the comic's world the way you're supposed to, get lost in the caves or in the sky, be startled by unexpected things or happy when finding some people after lengthy click-and-dragging through a repetitive landscape... So if you didn't do that already, '''reading any below will spoil you from truly enjoying the comic.'''''

Though you can download the full view, the easiest way to browse it is through a {{w|Zooming user interface}}.

*http://victorz.ca/xkcd_map/ '''[recommended]''' (all features of following viewer plus: content highlighted, minimap, less memory and bandwidth, goes to infinity)
*http://xkcd-map.rent-a-geek.de/ (zoom controls, scroll-zoom, click-and-drag, hash permalinks, full-screen)
*http://clickanddrag.azurewebsites.net/ (zoom controls, scroll-zoom, click-and-drag)
*http://sumamimasen.com/xkcd/1110/ (native zoom, keyboard controls, Flash-only)
*http://xkcdmap.webege.com/ Google-maps-style navigation and zooming, with tiles with content highlighted in black or white, allows easy finding of interesting tiles with small things hidden in the ground and sky

==Trivia==
*The click-and-drag portion of this comic is divided up into 2592 sections of 2048x2048 pixels.
*There are 225 separate 2048x2048 PNG files (plus the PNG container with the first panels). The other 2337 sections are simply filled black (in the south) or white (in the north) with HTML.
*The populated area is 81 frames wide (33 West - 48 East) and 32 frames tall (13 North - 19 South)
*According to [[Randall]] in #xkcd on the night this was released, a full size image of this comic, leaving out the blanks would be 60 gigapixels, a true single rectangular image would be close to a terapixel. The online version is 1 gigapixel without the blanks and 10 gigapixel as rectangular image (2048x2048x225 = 943,718,400 and 2048x2048x2592 = 10,871,635,968).
*Based on the height of figures as well as the "two mile" figure given on the left-hand side, the scale should be approximately 32 pixels per 5 feet, making the entire map 25920 feet wide (4.9 miles or 7.9 kilometers) by 10240 feet tall (1.9 miles or 3.1 kilometers). If it were an overhead area, it would be about 9.5 square miles (6093 acres or 24.7 square km), roughly the size of Block Island, Rhode Island, USA. Just the POPULATED area (225 tiles with something drawn on them) would be 529 acres, or 0.826 square miles — about the size of Princeton University.
*If the 2048x2048 PNGs were to be printed out as a single poster at 300 dpi, the poster would be 15.36 yards (14.05 meters) long and 6.07 yards (5.55 meters) tall. Most of the detail would be invisible, as these PNGs are optimized for ~72 dpi screens.
*There is one (dark dark) green pixel in {{1110|9|s|7|e}} at 1643,1165. The remainder is all grayscale.
*At the end of the right side it shows Cueball pondering where he'll float next.

==Whole Image==
[[File:1110 full tiny.png|none|frame|Whole Image at 0.5% Zoom. The part visible at the beginning is marked red.]]

==List of details and references==

The 225 existing tiles are sorted by columns from West to East and from North to South in each column.

{| class="wikitable" |
! width="130px" | Grid coords
!Explanation and Transcript
|-
|{{1110|1|n|33|w}}
|[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] reach the western edge of the image and decide to live there. This is a reference to the last line in the film ''{{w|Groundhog_Day_(film)|Groundhog Day}}''.
;Transcript
:[Cueball and Megan are in a valley at the western edge of the world. Megan is checking their distance traveled with a {{w|GPS}} device. Cueball is looking behind them (eastward).]
:Cueball: We've walked pretty far. We must be on the other side of the world by now.
:Megan: Let's see, we've gone... Two miles.
:Cueball: Darn. You know, this is a nice spot. Let's just live here.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|32|w}}
|Just terrain, no activity.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|31|w}}
|Just terrain, no activity.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|30|w}}
|Just terrain, no activity.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|29|w}}
|Just terrain, no activity.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|28|w}}
|The hillocks in this panel appear to be the face and belly of a giant sleeping on its back. The feet extend into the next panel to the east. Possibly a reference to the giant's drink from {{w|Ender's Game}}. '''Check this is in the right section, I don't see it'''
|-
|{{1110|1|n|27|w}}
|The westernmost hillock appears to be the feet of a giant sleeping on its back, continued from the next panel west. {{w|Velociraptor}}s in the high grass.
;Transcript
:[Rolling hills with tall grass.]
:[On the left there are two Velociraptors. The east-facing one looks to be a modern interpretation of the raptor, the west-facing is more Jurassic Park like.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|26|w}}
|Just terrain, no activity.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|25|w}}
|A large {{w|radio telescope}} with a female listening for a signal. Possibly a reference to the movie {{w|Contact (film)|Contact}}.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|24|w}}
|Just terrain, no activity. Very nice trees though.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|23|w}}
|More nice trees.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|22|w}}
|The top of a large rocket that looks similar to the {{w|Saturn V}} rocket (the base is in {{1110|1|n|22|w}}).
;Transcript
:[A Launch Tower with a waiting Saturn V rocket look-alike attached by the umbilical lines. There are two Cueball-type characters standing on the top.]
:Person 1: So why did we build this? There have ''got'' to be other ways to get to space.
:Person 2: Believe it or not, this is the ''least'' crazy one anyone has come up with.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|22|w}}
|The base of the {{w|Saturn V}} rocket on a launchpad.
;Transcript
:[A Launch Pad and Tower with a waiting Saturn V rocket attached by the umbilical lines. There is a person scaling the rocket. They are at the base of the Second Stage.]
:[A military guardsman is walking the grounds unaware of the person on the rocket.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|21|w}}
|[[Cueball]] asks Jesus why his footprints look like tire tracks. This is a reference to the inspirational text ''{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}'' as well as a reference to the {{w|Transformers}}.
;Transcript
:[Two characters stand on the shore by the sea. One has unkempt hair, the other is a Cueball character.]
:Cueball: Jesus, why do your footprints change to tire tracks whenever I was threatened by Decepticons?
|-
|{{1110|1|n|20|w}}
|Water
|-
|{{1110|1|n|19|w}}
|Water
|-
|{{1110|1|n|18|w}}
|Water
|-
|{{1110|1|n|17|w}}
|The scruffy character beneath the {{w|palm tree}} might be a reference to {{w|Desert Island Discs}}, a BBC radio program in which a celebrity chooses the records they would like to be stranded with if castaway. The hatch is a reference to {{w|Lost (TV series)|Lost}} in which the passengers on board a flight over the Pacific Ocean find themselves stranded on a strange island. Their first clue that they stumbled on something out-of-the-ordinary is the hatch.
;Transcript
:[An island in the middle of the sea. On its westward side is a hatch that leads down deep underground. A person is looking at the hatch. Meanwhile a person quietly climbs up a ladder built into the wall of the tunnel inside of the hatch.]
:[On the other side, a scruffy man is looking at a disc while being shaded by a tall coconut palm tree.]
|-
|{{1110|1|s|17|w}}
|A miner. The sliding stone walls behind him (to keep back the water if he digs too far) are a reference to Ted Chiang's "Tower of Babylon".
|-
|{{1110|2|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft gets wider the deeper you go.]
|-
|{{1110|3|s|17|w}}
|A reference to the game {{w|AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!_–_A_Reckless_Disregard_for_Gravity|AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!}}, where the game play consists of falling down while avoiding objects.
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft gets wider the deeper you go. A man wearing a headband has set up a lemonade stand on a plank stuck into the wall. There are people falling down the shaft right next to him.]
:Falling people: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
:Lemonade man: Lemonade? ...Aww, OK. Lemonade? ...Aww, OK. Lemonade?
|-
|{{1110|4|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft gets wider the deeper you go.]
|-
|{{1110|5|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft gets wider the deeper you go.]
|-
|{{1110|6|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft.]
|-
|{{1110|7|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft.]
|-
|{{1110|8|s|17|w}}
|An {{w|X-Wing}} fighter flies up a vertical shaft, its pilot communicating over radio. The quote is a reference to a scene of the {{w|Star Wars}} movie ''{{w|Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi|Return of the Jedi}}'', with an X-Wing piloted by {{w|Wedge Antilles}} escaping from inside the {{w|Death Star}} ([http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000060/quotes]):
:{{w|Lando Calrissian}}: "All right, Wedge. Go for the power regulator on the north tower."
:Wedge Antilles: "Copy, Gold Leader. I'm already on my way out."
;Transcript
:[Deep underground, in a vertical shaft. There is an X-Wing fighter running along the shaft.]
:X-Wing pilot [over radio]: Copy that, Gold Leader. I'm already on my way out.
|-
|{{1110|9|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft gets slimmer the deeper you go.]
|-
|{{1110|10|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft gets slimmer the deeper you go.]
|-
|{{1110|11|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft.]
|-
|{{1110|12|s|17|w}}
|Cueball and Megan looking up from the bottom of the shaft.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|16|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A calm day out at sea.]
|-
|{{1110|12|s|16|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a tunnel comes from the west. A few feet before the end of it a vertical shaft goes down, just about wide enough for a single person to go down. It stops in a man-made cavern, then a tunnel continues eastward.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|15|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A calm day out at sea.]
|-
|{{1110|12|s|15|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a tunnel comes from the west and meets a tall cavern, buts keeps going all the way to the east. Cueball has dug up from the ceiling tunnel and is shoveling out a little cavern.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|14|w}}
|People today can't seem to turn off their phones, unplug and just be by themselves. It has become a societal expectation that every person is constantly connected to the world and is there to respond at any moment. The idea of being indisposed has become a foreign concept.
;Transcript
:[To the west is a sea. There is a beach. Further in-land there are lots of trees with park benches under them.]
:[Cueball and White Hat are walking towards the benches.]
:White Hat: Do you ever put your phone away and just take a moment to breathe and be alone with your thoughts?
:Cueball: Yeah, once. It was ''terrifying''.
|-
|{{1110|12|s|14|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a tunnel with a very rough ceiling goes all the way from west to east.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|13|w}}
|A rocky hill with a {{w|lighthouse}}. [[Megan]] and [[Ponytail]] sit atop the hill. A half-buried {{w|Statue of Liberty}} is on the other side in reference to ''{{w|Planet of the Apes(film)|Planet of Apes}}'' with [[Cueball]]'s "You Maniacs!" line parodying the final line from the film. Another western shore makes this a very small landmass.
;Transcript
:[Cueball shaking his fist at the half-buried Statue of Liberty.]
:Cueball: You ''maniacs!''
:Cueball: That sand sculpture trophy was supposed to be ''mine!''
|-
|{{1110|12|s|13|w}}
|Someone in a straw hat saying "Becky?". He is carrying either a grappling hook or the end of a rope. Probably a reference to {{w|The Adventures of Tom Sawyer}} in which the title character rescues his sweetheart, Becky Thatcher, from a cave.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|12|w}}
|Water
|-
|{{1110|12|s|12|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a two distant tunnels run from west to east connected by a thin vertical shaft. The lower tunnel has a man-made cavern dug out.]
|-
|{{1110|11|n|11|w}}
|An empty white tile with symmetric coordinates (11 North, 11 West).
|-
|{{1110|1|n|11|w}}
|{{w|Marco Polo (game)|Marco Polo}} is a game similar to tag but played in a swimming pool. The person who is "it" closes their eyes, or is blind-folded and calls out "Marco". All the other players must respond "Polo". The person who is it then tries to find the people by a sort of echo-location. It is a reference to {{w|Marco Polo}} the Venetian merchant who was the first European to make it to Central Asia and China.
;Transcript
:[Out at sea. A blindfolded character playing Marco Polo alone.]
:Blindfolded man: ...Marco? ...Marco?
|-
|{{1110|11|s|11|w}}
|A black tile with symmetric coordinates (11 South, 11 West).
Note, that this PNG file contains an ICC section which means that the blackness in this image is properly {{w|Color correction|color-corrected}}.
|-
|{{1110|12|s|11|w}}
|Deep underground, a cavern opens up to reveal trees, grass, rocks, and a lake. A bird flies toward the trees. A person sits on a rock thoughtfully gazing into the water.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|10|w}}
|Water.
|-
|{{1110|12|s|10|w}}
|A tunnel runs across the top of the tile. It grows rougher on the east side.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|9|w}}
|{{w|Bitcoin}} is a peer-to-peer currency, making it more difficult to trace than traditional currency. It is also difficult, if not impossible, for governments to confiscate. {{w|Peter Thiel}} is a co-founder of {{w|Seasteading#The_Seasteading_Institute|The Seasteading Institute}} that promotes permanent, autonomous ocean communities (similar to a {{w|micronation}}), enabling innovation with new political and social systems. Peter Thiel is also a co-founder of {{w|PayPal}}, a global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Peter Thiel and other co-founders' original vision for PayPal was to have an online payment service that enabled account holders to send money to anyone in the world with just an e-mail address. xkcd also supports [http://xkcd.com/bitcoin bitcoin donations]. This might be a reference to the unspent bitcoins from a recent [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19633980 $250,000 theft]. If they don't have any internet access they might find it hard to spend their loot.

{{w|Edwin S. Shneidman}} was a pioneer in the field of suicide prevention. He published 20 books on suicide and its prevention, one of which, ''A Commonsense Book of Death'', defines most people to be death-postponers. A death-postponer hopes that death will not occur in anything like the foreseeable future; the event must be staved off for as long as possible. The reference to a "death-postponer" is also the literal opposite to the actual name of the item Cueball throws, a {{w|life preserver}}.
;Transcript
:[Out at sea. There is an anti-aircraft platform with four people aboard, and one person in the water.]

:[On the west side of the aircraft a man with hair is speaking to a bearded man half a head taller than the haired man.]
:Man with hair: I'm not saying our bitcoin-only island nation was a bad idea, but we really should've secured Internet access ''before'' we left.

:[On the east side of the platform a man wearing a sailor's hat walking toward the control tower. Cueball is on the edge holding a lifebuoy.]
:Cueball: Hey, you in the water! Hang on-
:Cueball: I'm gonna throw you a death postponer!
|-
|{{1110|2|s|9|w}}
|Jellyfish playing some sort of console game.
|-
|{{1110|12|s|9|w}}
|A rocky tunnel descends unevenly from the west, growing wider to the east. In the middle, a curving roof with two pointed recesses, together with the upward arching tunnel on either side, is reminiscent of the shape of a bat with wings spread.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|8|w}}
|{{w|Poop deck}} is the nautical term for the deck that forms the roof of a cabin built in the rear of the ship.

The character climbing the rigging is apparently {{w|Elizabeth Warren}}, who said at the {{w|2012 Democratic National Convention}}, "People feel like the system is rigged against them. And here's the painful part: They're right. The system is rigged."

The {{w|pirate}} onboard is shouting "{{w|Glossary of nautical terms#Avast|Avast!}}" (meaning stop), but no one is apparently listening. Possibly a reference to the comic being released on {{w|International Talk Like a Pirate Day}}.

The three-masted sailing ship with the pirate could be a reference to {{w|Monty Python}}'s short film {{w|The Crimson Permanent Assurance}} in which rebellious office clerks turn their office building into a pirate ship, raiding financial districts in numerous big cities, before falling off the edge of the world.
;Transcript
:[Out at sea. There is a three-masted sailing ship at full sail with a healthy wind billowing the sails. There are five crew out on deck, four are aloft, and one on watch in the bowsprit.]

:[A girl is seated on the spanker.]
:Girl: Haha, "Poop Deck."

:[Aloft on the mizzen-mast a woman is standing talking to another woman climbing the rigging between the mizzen and main masts.]
:Mizzen-mast woman: Elizabeth, why are you climbing the rigging?
:Elizabeth: Forget ''this'' rigging. The whole ''system'' is rigged against the middle class and families trying to ''climb'' out of poverty.
:Mizzen-mast woman: ...Ok, but for real, what are you doing on this boat?

:[Fore of the mizzen-mast a classic bearded pirate stands with his sword drawn.]
:Pirate: Avast! Avast! ...Avast?

:[Fore of the main-sail, a Cueball-type character looks over the railing.]

:[Aloft a man is swinging around the fore-mast pretending to be Spiderman.]

:[Lower on the fore-mast a Cueball-type character is adjusting the rigging. On the deck another is adjusting more rigging.]

:[Out on the bowsprit Megan is keeping watch, and telling the runner Ponytail what is ahead.]
:Megan: We should go slow -
:Megan: That water up ahead looks pretty deep.
|-
|{{1110|12|s|8|w}}
|A wide rocky tunnel slopes from the west off the bottom of the tile.
|-
|{{1110|13|s|8|w}}
|An opening from above narrows and flattens out as the rough tunnel turns eastward.
|-
|{{1110|7|n|7|w}}
|A {{w|Boeing 717}} in landing configuration.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|7|w}}
|Water
|-
|{{1110|13|s|7|w}}
|A tunnel descends unevenly from the west, opening up somewhat in the bottom corner to the east. [[Megan]] and [[Ponytail]] are climbing a near-vertical section of the rocky wall.
|-
|{{1110|14|s|7|w}}
|Loose stones form the bottom of a small cavern that extends upward out of the tile. A tunnel runs out of it to the east.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|6|w}}
|Water
|-
|{{1110|1|s|6|w}}
|Jellyfish
|-
|{{1110|13|s|6|w}}
|Mostly solid rock; the east side and roof of a cave is in the lower westward corner.
|-
|{{1110|14|s|6|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking. There is a hint that the ceiling draws away from the floor to the west. Cueball is walking east along the tunnel.]
|-
|{{1110|6|n|5|w}}
|Red spiders from earlier comics falling from the sky
|-
|{{1110|1|n|5|w}}
|"{{w|I'm on a Boat}}" is a single from {{w|The Lonely Island}}'s debut album {{w|Incredibad}}.
;Transcript
:[Out at sea. On the west side are two buoys, on the east is only one, in the center there is a sailboat. Cueball and another person wearing a beanie are on the small sailboat.]
:Beanie: I'm on a boat! I expected more from the experience! Instead, all I can think to do is tell people where I am! ...I'm on a boat!
|-
|{{1110|14|s|5|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking.]
|-
|{{1110|2|n|4|w}}
|An {{w|Embraer E-Jet family|Embraer E-190}}
|-
|{{1110|1|n|4|w}}
|The coast of the body of water at a beach with some sea birds and beachgoers.
|-
|{{1110|14|s|4|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking. The shaft grows in diameter as it goes eastward.]
|-
|{{1110|3|n|3|w}}
|
; Transcript
:[High in the sky.]
:[Cueball is sitting in a swing attached to the end of a crane, and is swinging.]
:Cueball: WHEEE!
|-
|{{1110|2|n|3|w}}
|An empty white tile.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|3|w}}
|The west wall of a large building which staircases narrower as it rises.
|-
|{{1110|14|s|3|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking. A small vertical shaft goes up to a very small cavern.]
|-
|{{1110|8|n|2|w}}
|This seems to be the peak of the {{w|Burj Khalifa}} to which {{1110|6|n|27|e}} refers.
|-
|{{1110|7|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{1110|6|n|2|w}}
|[[Black Hat]] is seen in the picture with a {{w|gatling gun}}, probably the Imperial cannons referred in {{1110|8|n|6|e}}. Also at bottom, a cueball is flying a paper airplane off the building.
;Transcript
:Ponytail: We're so high up that if you threw a penny off the edge, inflation would reduce its value to 0.00999999975 by the time it landed.
:[Further south, on a balcony]
:Megan: The Wikipedia article on this balcony says the view is nice.
:Cueball: I thought so.
|-
|{{1110|5|n|2|w}}
|A construction crane lifting another, smaller, construction crane. Possibly a reference to the [http://vimeo.com/46359692 Truck Truck Truck] gag from the Simpsons. Also, self-erecting {{w|tower crane}}s do usually not lift {{w|crawler crane}}s
|-
|{{1110|4|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{1110|3|n|2|w}}
|On the west side, the top of a (different) construction crane. On the east side, Cueball is firing a clay pigeon launcher while Ponytail fires a shotgun at the target. Meanwhile, someone else (Danish?) comes up from behind with CDs.
;Transcript
:Danish: I found some more CDs
:Ponytail: PULL!
|-
|{{1110|2|n|2|w}}
|On the west side, the bottom of the construction crane. On the upper eastern side, a person is laid back, relaxing in a chair while using a laptop. On the next step down, a party crowd is out on a balcony.
;Transcript
:Person: I'm working at a small startup. Our business model is 'taking free drinks from industry events and reselling them.'
:Person: Oh, hey, I should get going...
|-
|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}
|The bulk of the base of the building with one terrace visible on either side. Megan says "I came here to chew bubblegum... And I'm all out of bubblegum" is a reference to the movie {{w|They Live}} in which the character Nada famously says "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I'm all out of bubblegum". That line is also used in the game {{w|Duke Nukem 3D}} by Duke himself, when Shrapnel City (Episode 3) starts. Also, Cueball says "That's a shame" a line popularised by Jerry in the sitcom {{w|Seinfeld|Seinfeld}}. Pool line is a reference to "pool on the roof" prank from the movie {{w|Hackers (film)|Hackers}}.
|-
|{{1110|14|s|2|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking. There is a single vertical shaft that would have gone down. The ceiling above the shaft has crumbled, and the rubble has filled in the shaft.]
|-
|{{1110|8|n|1|w}}
|An empty white tile.
|-
|{{1110|5|n|1|w}}
|The tail of the crawler crane lifted at {{1110|5|n|2|w}}.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|1|w}}
|An empty white tile.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}}
|The western wall at the base of a large building including its {{w|portico}}, a remote control rocket-powered bicycle attempting to launch from the first terrace, a balcony on the second terrace and a {{w|satellite dish}} and other exhausts on the third. Trees with squirrels stand in front of the building leading to a parking lot with cars and one {{w|Wienermobile}}
|-
|{{1110|14|s|1|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking. There are two rough cut vertical shafts going down, there is a rock pile on the ground between the two. A small vertical shaft goes up to a very small empty cavern.]
|-
|{{1110|15|s|1|w}}
|This is a sad statement about where the Internet is right now. The Internet should be a vast and diverse place filled with new and exciting content that breaks the mold of already established media. But instead, everyone on the Internet has become a shill for their Facebook page and their Twitter stream. It feels like everything links back to these two sites. Even stuck at the bottom of a shaft, these two people care more for how many Facebook likes and twitter followers they have, than for their own lives and safety.
;Transcript
:[Deep underground. There are two shafts, the western one ends abruptly with a pile of rubble at the bottom. The other changes direction and becomes a tunnel to the east.]
:[Cueball and Megan are stranded at the bottom of the western shaft.]
:Cueball: Is anyone up there? If you can hear us, ''friend us on Facebook!''
:Megan: ''Follow us on Twitter! Please!''
|-
|{{1110|13|n|1|e}}
|Two whales is possibly a reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the planet [http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Magrathea Magrathea], where (improbably) two incoming missiles are turned into a whale and a bowl of petunias. It may also be a reference to the album From Mars to Sirius by the French heavy metal band Gojira, specifically the track, "Flying Whales." A third possibility is a reference to Respighi's "The Pines of Rome" from Fantasia II.
|-
|{{1110|6|n|1|e}}
|A {{w|hot air balloon}} is the oldest form of human-carrying flight.
;Transcript
:[High in the sky. Cueball and Megan are in a hot air balloon.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|1|e}}
|The {{w|Origin (mathematics)|"center"}} of the world; the default loaded image with Cueball floating by balloon. The balloons may be a reference to comic [[1106]]. This may also be a reference to {{w|Winnie The Pooh}}. The parking lot to the west ends to a grassy/rocky field with a tree. A hill runs up to the east with a fountain.

; Transcript:
:[Open scene.]
:[To the extreme left there is the end of a parking lot. Right from that Cueball is holding onto a balloon several feet from the ground.]
:Cueball [narration]: I just didn't expect it to be so ''BIG''.
:[About 50 feet east of Cueball there is a lone tree with no leaves on it. Cueball is approximately parallel to with the top of it.]
:[Farther east and much higher up is a single balloon floating away.]
:[More east and on the ground Beret Guy is waving a butterfly net, chasing an RC Helicopter.]
:[Two girls, one blonde and one darker, are walking away from Beret Guy.]
:[On the extreme right is a fountain spraying water.]
|-
|{{1110|14|s|1|e}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking. A single vertical shaft extends southward, rough cut all around.]
|-
|{{1110|15|s|1|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|16|s|1|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|17|s|1|e}}
|Alaska at the bottom of the shaft.
At the lowest level of the cave, a fish leaps from water.
|-
|{{1110|9|n|2|e}}
|A reference to the {{w|Apollo 13}} manned mission to the moon in 1970. Two days after launch, en route to the moon, an oxygen tank exploded. Astronaut Swigert [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo13-wehaveaproblem.ogg reported] the incident to Mission Control in Houston saying 'Houston, we've had a problem.' The 1995 movie {{w|Apollo_13_(film)|Apollo 13}} deliberately misquoted Swigert's famous statement as 'Houston, we have a problem' because the original made it seem that the problem had already passed.

The response is a parody of the inspirational quote 'There are no problems, only opportunities.'
;Transcript
:[The Apollo 13 mission is en route to the moon. An astronaut on board the craft informs Mission Control of an incident.]
:Astronaut: Houston, we have a problem.
:Mission Control: That's a negative, Apollo. There are no problems - only opportunities. Over.
|-
|{{1110|3|n|2|e}}
|A reference to the {{w|Greek myth}} of {{w|Icarus}} and his father's escape from {{w|Crete}} by building wings of feathers and wax. The joke is that, the incredible part of the story, the fact that Icarus and his father actually flew with simple wax and feathers, is downplayed to try to give children an object lesson about {{Wiktionary|humility}} and {{Wiktionary|hubris}}.
;Transcript
:[High in the air. There are feathers floating gently down. Below them is Icarus falling head first, he has the remains of wax and feather wings strapped to his arms.]
:Icarus: I only hope the story of how ''building wax wings enabled me to fly'' teaches everyone a lesson about hubris.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|2|e}}
|
;Transcript
:[To the left, Ponytail is climbing up while Cueball has second thoughts.]
:Cueball: We should turn back.
:Ponytail: Wimp.
:[In the middle, Cueball and Megan seem to be soaking in some sort of pond.]
:[To the right, Ponytail is standing on top of a castle while Megan pushes a boulder and Cueball is playing some music.]
|-
|{{1110|14|s|2|e}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking.]
|-
|{{1110|17|s|2|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|3|n|3|e}}
|[[Megan]] is surfing on a {{w|Boeing 767|Boeing 767-300W}}
|-
|{{1110|2|n|3|e}}
|[Ground slops uphill, left-to-right (West to East). Close to the far right boundary is the Christmas Tree from {{w|A Charlie Brown Christmas}}. In the middle is an electronic listening station. Left and Up-slope of the listening station, Megan and Cueball are lying on the ground, talking. Near bottom left is Ponytail, wearing sunglasses, roller-skiing off a ski jump. Top left are four birds in the sky.]
;Transcript
:Megan: Ever wonder if there's life up there ''beyond'' the stuff we're covering up?
:Cueball: Nah.
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|3|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|14|s|3|e}}
|
;Transcript
:[The tunnel opens up to a small cavern. The ground of the cavern is grass covered, and there is a tree growing in the center. Cueball is lounging near the tree.]
|-
|{{1110|17|s|3|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|18|s|3|e}}
|{{w|Minecraft}} reference: Someone escapes a creeper, running deeper into the cave he just fell in.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|4|e}}
|The {{w|Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory}} as seen in [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Great_Blue_Hill_Weather_Station_Milton_MA_01.jpg this particular photo]. The radio tower depicted shows the antennas for the {{w|WGBH (FM)|WGBH}} and {{w|WKAF}} FM stations.
A reference to George Mallory's famous response to the question: "Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?".
;Transcript
:[Megan seems to be helping Cueball climb the hill.]
:Megan: "Because it's there" is more poetic than "I'm rich enough that my goals are arbitrary."
|-
|{{1110|1|n|4|e}}
|A black empty tile (required because unspecified North tiles are automatically filled with white).
|-
|{{1110|18|s|4|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|19|s|4|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|2|n|5|e}}
|Cueball can't get cellphone reception, while two wingsuit flyers are leaping off a cliff above him.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|5|e}}
|A black empty tile (required because unspecified North tiles are automatically filled with white).
|-
|{{1110|17|s|5|e}}
|Possibly The {{w|Nautilus (Verne)|Nautilus}}, the submarine from Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) and The Mysterious Island (1874) Also, possibly an allusion to {{w|Schwa (art)|Schwa}}.
|-
|{{1110|19|s|5|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|8|n|6|e}}
|{{w|Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope|Red Five}} is both Anakin and Luke Skywalker's call sign. Anakin uses the sign in the Battle of Coruscant and Luke uses it in the Battle of Yavin. Also note the use of "{{w|cannon}}" and "{{w|Canon (basic principle)|canon}}."
;Transcript
:Red Five to Red Leader - I'm out of range of any Imperial cannons or canons.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|6|e}}
|Giant airborne jellyfish.
;Transcript
:[Two birdwatchers with binoculars walk on the slope of a hill, one with her back to the giant jellyfish and the other one staring at it]
:Birdwatcher#1: Ooh, a {{w|yellow warbler}}!
:Birdwatcher#2: Cool.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|6|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|16|s|6|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|17|s|6|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|19|s|6|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|7|e}}
|Level 1-1 of the original {{w|Super Mario Bros.}} This is confirmed by text on {{1110|3|s|7|e}}. Compare with [http://www.mariowiki.com/images/e/e4/World_1-1_SMB.png screenshot]. The level's "bottomless pits" continue downward.
|-
|{{1110|1|s|7|e}}
|Two people climbing up/down the holes, and one falling.
|-
|{{1110|2|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|3|s|7|e}}
|Two people are talking next to a "bottomless pit" from the Mario level, one is saying: "The walls... worn smooth by billions of tumbling Mario corpses".
|-
|{{1110|4|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|5|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|6|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|7|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|8|s|7|e}}
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_game RPG] style pit trap
|-
|{{1110|9|s|7|e}}
|Another {{w|Minecraft}} reference. Cueball standing while a girl swings a pickaxe to further dig out a tunnel. Farther down, part of the mine shaft has collapsed and sealed the hole.
|-
|{{1110|10|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|11|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|12|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|13|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|14|s|7|e}}
|A cane is wedged in the right hand mine shaft. Likely a reference to the first {{w|Where's Waldo}} book, where Waldo loses his walking stick (and other items) and readers must scour the detailed illustrations to find Waldo and each of the items he drops.
|-
|{{1110|15|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|16|s|7|e}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep below the surface, the two boreholes finally end. The bones of the unfortunate ones to have fallen down the holes are scattered. A single man-made shaft is covered by a plug of some kind. The shaft goes down to supported deck {{w|arch bridge}} spanning a large chasm, the bottom of which is not shown.]
|-
|{{1110|17|s|7|e}}
|
;Transcript
:[A Pyramid in a cavern. Most likely a reference to Neon Genesis Evangelion's [http://evangelion.wikia.com/wiki/GeoFront NERV HQ], which is also located in a deep underground cavern. Most of a thatch-roof gazebo can be seen to the east of the pyramid.]
|-
|{{1110|19|s|7|e}}
|Horizontal tunnel
|-
|{{1110|1|n|8|e}}
|Four wind turbines
|-
|{{1110|16|s|8|e}}
|Mostly solid rock; the roof of a cave is in the bottom corner to the west.
|-
|{{1110|17|s|8|e}}
|A small graveyard.
|-
|{{1110|18|s|8|e}}
|There are tentacle-like objects restricting the passing of objects through this tunnel, the art of which closely resembles the Xbox Live Arcade game {{w|Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet}}, and also bears a resemblance to the mouth of a {{w|Sarlacc Pit}} from Star Wars.
|-
|{{1110|19|s|8|e}}
|A tunnel from the west intersects with a vertical passage from above. To the east of the intersection the tunnel dead ends, and the opening downwards is filled with rocks and impassable.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|9|e}}
|Reference to the first line of "{{w|99 Problems}}" by {{w|Jay-Z}} ("If you're having girl problems I feel bad for you son. I've got 99 problems but a <rhymes with "witch"> ain't one."). Just left of the fence is a small cleared area with what appears to be a frog in the center. Frog Prince? Also a reference to {{w|Off-by-one_error#Fencepost_error|fencepost error}}. Ironically, there may be an off-by-one error in the joke, since it would only take 100 fenceposts to cover 99 problems, not 101.
|-
|{{1110|3|n|10|e}}
|The outline of the {{w|Bombardier Dash 8}} Q400 aircraft shown in Wikipedia.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|10|e}}
|Hilly terrain with a tree, and a [[Cueball]] standing on a rock.
|-
|{{1110|11|n|11|e}}
|An empty white tile with symmetric coordinates (11 N, 11 E).
|-
|{{1110|1|n|11|e}}
|A {{w|sine}} curve {{w|oscillate}}s between -1 and 1.
;Transcript
:[A bridge begins. The land falls down to meet the water with an almost sinusoidal curve.]
|-
|{{1110|11|s|11|e}}
|An empty black tile with symmetric coordinates (11 N, 11 E).
Note, that this PNG file contains an ICC section which means that the blackness in this image is properly {{w|Color correction|color-corrected}}.
|-
|{{1110|5|n|12|e}}
|This is a re-enactment of one of the last scenes in {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}, in which Dave Bowman shuts down {{w|Hal 9000}} by one-by-one pulling out processor modules. Hal eventually regresses to his first programmed memories, the song {{w|Daisy Bell}} which he sings for Bowman.
;Transcript
:[High above the ground. Cueball has scaled the outside of a hot air balloon and is using a knife to cut it open while the gondola sings Daisy Bell.]
:''RIIIP''
:Gondola [singing, getting slower]: Daiiisyyy... Daiiiiiiisy...
|-
|{{1110|1|n|12|e}}
|{{w|Bourne Bridge|Bourne}} or {{w|Sagamore Bridge}}
;Transcript
:[The bridge continues.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|13|e}}
|The bridge is either the {{w|Bourne Bridge|Bourne}} or {{w|Sagamore Bridge}}.

The {{w|covered wagon}} was popularized during the {{w|American Frontier|American expansion west}}, as a good way to bring goods along with as a family journeyed from the crowded eastern states out west (usually to Oregon or California).
;Transcript
:[Center of the bridge.]

:[A covered wagon is crossing east, there is a person driving driving, and a person poking out the back. A footman is walking quite a ways ahead of the carriage.]

:[On top of the bridge structure, Megan and Ponytail are sitting and eating some kind of picnic.]
:Megan and Ponytail: Nom nom nom

:[A tank, vaguely resembling a {{w|Sherman Firefly}}, is crossing west, possibly in a reference to the WWII film {{w|A Bridge Too Far}}. Ponytail is sitting on the turret. Cueball is being more daring and is balancing with arms outstretch on the end of the gun.]

:[Underneath the tank a two-masted junk rigged sailboat is resting with sails furled. Megan and Cueball are fore standing at the railing looking out over the sea.]
:Megan: So, um, here's the thing—
:Megan: I'm married to the sea, but it's a very ... ''open'' marriage.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|14|e}}
|{{w|Bourne Bridge|Bourne}} or {{w|Sagamore Bridge}}
;Transcript
:[Land again.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|15|e}}
|[[Cueball]] is singing the chorus to the song "{{w|Flagpole Sitta}}" by {{w|Harvey Danger}}. The characters in the wagon reference the {{w|Oregon Trail (computer game)|Oregon Trail}} computer game.

[[Black Hat]] seems to be up to his usual shenanigans.

;Transcript
:[The bridge meets land again, and at the western foot of the bridge is a cannon. Black Hat is sitting behind the cannon, and has lit its fuse.]
:[Where the river meets the land there are stairs leading up to a landing.]

:[The covered wagon has made it across the bridge. Everything is drooping, now. The horse is not walking as upright, the driver is slouching, the person out the back is now lounging on the back with a gun clearly visible.
:Someone inside wagon: You brought no food but ''how'' many boxes of bullets?

:[Farther east Cueball is sitting on top of a flagpole singing. Just northwest of him, a leaf spins through the air.]
:Cueball [singing]: I'm not sick, but I'm not wellll
|-
|{{1110|2|n|16|e}}
|Top of VLF antenna.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|16|e}}
|A cabin which appears to be hooked up to a VLF antenna.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|17|e}}
|Top of VLF antenna.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|17|e}}
|VLF antenna and a steep cliff dropoff to water. Cueball watches a butterfly flit around as they did in the {{w|Peanuts}} comic strip.
The VLF antenna is likely to be a representation of the [http://www.stormfax.com/wireless.htm Marconi Station] on Cape Cod as it existed in the early 1900's. This station transmitted the first trans-Atlantic wireless telegram in 1903. It had the same four towers and steep drop-off to the beach as depicted in this comic with possible original photo [http://capecodhistory.us/Wellfleet-records/pictures/Marconi-pc.jpg here].
|-
|{{1110|3|n|18|e}}
|A {{w|Boeing 717}} with landing gear deployed. Caption: "Folks, this is your captain speaking. I need you all to turn on every electronic device your have. There's no time to explain." (a reference to {{w|No Time To Explain|the game with the same name}}?)
|-
|{{1110|1|n|18|e}}
|Two swimmers in the ocean saying "Stupid {{w|FreeBSD}}...". FreeBSD is a Unix-like operating system. A reference to [[349: Success]].
|-
|{{1110|1|n|19|e}}
|A {{w|humpback whale}} breaching.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|20|e}}
|A rocky shore. The uppermost rock formation in this panel appears to be a laughing face in profile.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|21|e}}
|A fin-shaped object protrudes from the ground.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|22|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|22|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s. To the east of the anchor, a very small Cueball and an equally tiny Megan can be seen in the grass.
|-
|{{1110|3|n|23|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|2|n|23|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|23|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|4|n|24|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|3|n|24|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|2|n|24|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|24|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|5|n|25|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|4|n|25|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|3|n|25|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|2|n|25|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|25|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|6|n|26|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|5|n|26|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|4|n|26|e}}
|Black Hat is hanging from one of the wire supports.
|-
|{{1110|3|n|26|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|2|n|26|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|26|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|7|n|27|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|6|n|27|e}}
|This appears to be the former record-holder for the tallest man-made structure, the {{w|KVLY-TV mast}} in {{w|North Dakota}}. It was surpassed by the {{w|Burj Khalifa}} (829.84 m (2,723 ft)) located in Dubai (also included in the comic).
;Transcript
:[Top of a radio tower. There are four guy-wires that connect to the tower, two on each side. A woman is standing on the top, holding onto the antenna for stability.]
:Woman: Dubai may have taken the record for "Tallest Manmade Structure," but North Dakota still has "[http://www.realnd.com/jamestownbuffaloindex.htm Largest Buffalo Monument]," "[http://heritagerenewal.org/bigthings/hamburger.htm Biggest Hamburger]," and "[http://www.realnd.com/casseltoncanpileindex.htm Tallest Pyramid of Oil Cans]." So ''there''.
|-
|{{1110|5|n|27|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|4|n|27|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|3|n|27|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|2|n|27|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|27|e}}
|The base of a {{w|radio tower}}.
|-
|{{1110|6|n|28|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|5|n|28|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|4|n|28|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|3|n|28|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|2|n|28|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|28|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|5|n|29|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|4|n|29|e}}
|Someone is sliding down the wire. Possibly a reference to the game {{w|Infamous (video_game)|Infamous}}.
|-
|{{1110|3|n|29|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|2|n|29|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|29|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|4|n|30|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|3|n|30|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|2|n|30|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|30|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|3|n|31|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|2|n|31|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|31|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|32|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|32|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|33|e}}
|A tree with a tractor.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|34|e}}
|A rolling grassy landscape with a fence. Some of the fence posts are topped with bluebird boxes, and birds sit on the fence wires.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|35|e}}
|a {{w|barn}} and some trees.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|36|e}}
|Reference to the original Pokémon games. When Prof. Oak tells you not to go into the tall grass without a Pokémon.
;Transcript
:[There is a large hill with very tall grass (taller than any character in this section).]
:[Left-most is some structure of some kind.]
:[West of the structure is Cueball shouting to Megan, who is running into the long grass.]
:Cueball: Don't go into the long grass! (Line from Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World which precedes the velociraptor attack.)
:Megan: Pikachu, I choose ''DEATH''—
:Megan: And with it immortality.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|37|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|38|e}}
|Grass with a short rectangular structure.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|39|e}}
|The top of a water tower. Cueball and Megan on the catwalk at the top. Cueball looking out. Megan using some mounted device (maybe a telephone?, or some controls?).
|-
|{{1110|1|n|39|e}}
|The base of a water tower.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|40|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|41|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|42|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|43|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|44|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|45|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|46|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|47|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|48|e}}
|[[Cueball]] with a balloon in his hand, flying towards the image border. He says "I wonder where I'll float next". This is a reference to [[1|the very first xkcd comic]]. It may also be a reference to {{w|World of Goo}}, a computer game, where at the end of level 1 the goo balls leave the screen carried by balloons, wondering what will be next. Alternatively, this may be a reference to the detail and variety of earlier panels.
;Transcript
:[Grassy hill slowly rolls until the extreme right which ends in a much larger drop-off. This is the end of the world.]
:[Cueball is still floating holding his balloon, heading further east.]
:Cueball: I wonder where I'll float next.
|-
|}

==References by Category==
===Vehicles===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|covered wagon|Covered wagons}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|e}} {{1110|1|n|14|e}}
|[[File:covered-wagon.png]] [[File:covered-wagon-2.png]]
|-
|Remote-controlled rocket-powered bicycle
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}}
|[[File:rocket-powered-bicycle.png]]
|-
|{{w|Sailboat}}
|{{1110|1|n|5|w}}
|[[File:sailboat.png]]
|-
|{{w|Sailing ship}}
|{{1110|1|n|8|w}}
|[[File:sailing-ship.png]]
|-
|{{w|Junk-rigged Sailboat}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|e}}
|[[File:junk-rigged-sailboat.png]]
|-
|{{w|Hot air balloons}}
|{{1110|6|n|1|e}}
|[[File:hot-air-balloon-1.png]] [[File:hot-air-balloon-2.png]]
|-
|{{w|Cars}}
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}} {{1110|1|n|1|e}}
|[[File:cars-sedans-1.png]] [[File:cars-sedans-2.png]] [[File:cars-sedans-3.png]] [[File:cars-sedans-4.png]]
|-
|{{w|Wienermobile}}
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}}
|[[File:wienermobile.png]]
|-
|{{w|Tractor}}
|{{1110|1|n|33|e}}
|[[File:tractor.png]]
|-
|{{w|Tank}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|e}}
|[[File:tank.png]]
|-
|{{w|Submarine}}
|{{1110|17|s|5|e}}
|[[File:submarine.png]]
|-
|{{w|Boeing 717}} Jet airliner
|{{1110|7|n|7|w}} {{1110|3|n|18|e}}
|[[File:boeing-717-jet.png]] [[File:boeing-717-jet-landing.png]]
|-
|{{w|Embraer E-Jet family|Embraer E-190}} Jet airliner
|{{1110|2|n|4|w}}
|[[File:embraer-e-190-jet.png]]
|-
|{{w|Boeing 767|Boeing 767-300W}} Jet airliner
|{{1110|3|n|3|e}}
|[[File:boeing-767-300w-jet.png]]
|-
|{{w|Bombardier Dash 8|Bombardier Dash-8 Q400}} turboprop airliner
|{{1110|3|n|10|e}}
|[[File:bombardier-dash-8.png]]
|-
|{{w|Saturn V}} Rocket
|{{1110|1|n|22|w}} {{1110|2|n|22|w}}
|[[File:saturn-v-rocket.png]]
|-
|{{w|Apollo 13}} spacecraft
|{{1110|9|n|2|e}}
|[[File:apollo-13-spacecraft.png]]
|-
|{{w|X-Wing fighters}}
|{{1110|8|n|6|e}} {{1110|8|s|17|w}}
|[[File:x-wing-fighter-1.png]] [[File:x-wing-fighter-2.png]]
|-
|}

===Man-made Structures===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|Burj Khalifa}}
|{{1110|8|n|2|w}}, {{1110|6|n|27|e}}
|[[File:burj-khalifa.png]]
|-
|{{w|Statue of Liberty}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|w}}
|[[File:statue-of-liberty.png]]
|-
|{{w|Pyramid}}
|{{1110|17|s|7|e}}
|[[File:1110-pyramid.png]]
|-
|Bridges (Suspension bridge, Arch bridge)
|{{1110|1|n|12|e}} {{1110|1|n|13|e}} {{1110|1|n|14|e}}
|[[File:arch-bridge.png]]
|-
|{{w|Lighthouse}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|w}}
|[[File:lighthouse.png]]
|-
|Water tower
|{{1110|1|n|39|e}} {{1110|2|n|39|e}}
|[[File:water-tower.png]]
|-
|Mine shafts
|{{1110|1|s|17|w}}
|[[File:mine-shafts.png]]
|-
|Graveyard / cemetery
|{{1110|17|s|8|e}}
|[[File:graveyard-cemetary.png]]
|-
|Parking lot
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}} {{1110|1|n|1|e}}
|[[File:cars-sedans-1.png]] [[File:cars-sedans-2.png]] [[File:cars-sedans-3.png]] [[File:cars-sedans-4.png]]
|-
|Fence posts
|{{1110|1|n|34|e}}
|[[File:fenceposts.png]]
|-
|Bluebird boxes
|{{1110|1|n|34|e}}
|[[File:bluebird-boxes.png]]
|-
|Barn
|{{1110|1|n|35|e}}
|[[File:barn.png]]
|-
|Tire Swing
|{{1110|2|n|4|e}}
|[[File:tire-swing.png]]
|-
|Fountain
|{{1110|1|n|1|e}}
|[[File:1110-fountain.png]]
|-
|Park benches
|{{1110|1|n|14|w}}
|[[File:park-benches.png]]
|-
|Buoys
|{{1110|1|n|5|w}}
|[[File:buoy-1.png]] [[File:buoy-2.png]] [[File:buoy-3.png]]
|-
|Beach Umbrella
|{{1110|1|n|4|w}}
|[[File:beach-umbrella.png]]
|-
|Butterfly Net
|{{1110|1|n|1|e}}
|[[File:butterfly-net.png]]
|-
|}

===Technology===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|Construction Cranes}} (Tower crane, Crawler crane)
|
|
|-
|Anti-aircraft platform
|{{1110|1|n|9|w}}
|[[File:anti-aircraft-platform.png]]
|-
|Wind turbines
|{{1110|1|n|8|e}}
|[[File:wind-turbines.png]]
|-
|{{w|Meteorological Observatory}}
|{{1110|2|n|4|e}}
|[[File:meteorological-observatory.png]]
|-
|{{w|Radio station}}
|{{1110|1|n|16|e}} {{1110|2|n|16|e}} {{1110|1|n|17|e}}
|[[File:marconi-station.png]]
|-
|{{w|Radio mast}}
|{{1110|2|n|16|e}}
|[[File:kvly-tv-mast.png]] [[File:guy-wires-with-mast.png]]
|-
|{{w|Radio Telescope}}
|{{1110|1|n|25|w}}
|[[File:1110-radio-telescope.png]]
|-
|{{w|Satellite Dish}}
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}}
|[[File:1110-satellite-dish.png]]
|-
|{{w|GPS}}
|{{1110|1|n|33|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Bitcoins}}
|{{1110|1|n|9|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Game Console}}
|{{1110|2|s|9|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Guns}} (Gatling Gun, Shotgun)
|{{1110|6|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Laptop}}
|{{1110|2|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Cellphones}}
|{{1110|2|n|5|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|FreeBSD}}
|{{1110|1|n|18|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Facebook}}, {{w|Twitter}}
|{{1110|15|s|1|w}}
|
|-
|}

===Games===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity|AaAaAA!!!}}
|{{1110|3|s|17|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Clay pigeon}}
|{{1110|3|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Duke Nukem 3D}}
|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Marco_Polo_(game)|Marco Polo}}
|{{1110|1|n|11|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Super Mario Brothers}}
|{{1110|1|n|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Minecraft}}
|{{1110|18|s|3|e}} {{1110|9|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Oregon Trail}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|inFamous}}
|{{1110|4|n|29|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Pokémon}}
|{{1110|1|n|36|e}}
|
|-
|}

===Movies===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}
|{{1110|5|n|12|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|A Bridge Too Far (film)|A Bridge Too Far}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}}
|{{1110|9|n|2|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Contact (film)|Contact}}
|{{1110|1|n|25|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day}}
|{{1110|1|n|33|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Hackers (film)|Hackers}}
|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}}
|{{1110|1|n|36|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Planet of the Apes (1968 film)|Planet of the Apes}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi}}
|{{1110|8|s|17|w}} {{1110|18|s|8|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|The Crimson Permanent Assurance}}
|{{1110|1|n|8|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|They Live}}
|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Transformers}}
|{{1110|1|n|21|w}}
|
|-
|}

===Television Shows===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|Lost_(TV_series)|Lost}}
|{{1110|1|n|17|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|The Simpsons}}
|{{1110|5|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Seinfeld}}
|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|A Charlie Brown Christmas}}
|{{1110|2|n|3|e}}
|
|-
|}

===Books===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|Ender's Game}}
|{{1110|1|n|28|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Footprints_(poem)|Footprints}}
|{{1110|1|n|21|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Tower of Babylon}}
|{{1110|1|s|17|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|The Adventures of Tom Sawyer}}
|{{1110|12|s|13|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|A Commonsense Book of Death}}
|{{1110|1|n|9|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}
|{{1110|13|n|1|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Where's Waldo}}
|{{1110|14|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|}

===Music===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|99 Problems}}
|{{1110|1|n|9|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Daisy Bell}}
|{{1110|5|n|12|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Flagpole Sitta}}
|{{1110|1|n|15|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|I'm on a Boat}}
|{{1110|1|n|5|w}}
|
|-
|}

===Radio Programs===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|Desert Island Discs}}
|{{1110|1|n|17|w}}
|
|-
|}

===Flora and Fauna===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|Trees}}
|{{1110|1|n|14|w}} {{1110|14|s|3|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Squirrels}}
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Velociraptors}}
|{{1110|1|n|27|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Seabirds}}
|{{1110|1|n|4|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Jellyfish}}
|{{1110|2|n|6|e}} {{1110|2|s|9|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Humpback_whale|Whales (Humpback)}}
|{{1110|13|n|1|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Fish}}
|{{1110|17|s|1|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Yellow Warbler}}
|{{1110|2|n|6|e}}
|
|-
|[[:Category:Red Spiders|Red Spiders]]
|{{1110|6|n|5|w}}
|
|-
|}

===People===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! width="256px" | Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|Peter Thiel}}
|{{1110|1|n|9|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Elizabeth Warren}}
|{{1110|1|n|8|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Icarus}}
|{{1110|3|n|2|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|George Mallory}}
|{{1110|2|n|4|e}}
|
|-
|}

===Places===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|Dubai}}
|{{1110|6|n|27|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|North Dakota}}
|{{1110|6|n|27|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Alaska}}
|{{1110|17|s|1|e}}
|
|-
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Velociraptors]]
[[Category:Wingsuit]]
[[Category:Firefly]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Red Spiders]]
[[Category:Colossal time sinks]]

1350: Lorenz

2014-04-02T13:07:40Z

Tbc: fix category capitalization

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

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

==Explanation==
This comic is an April fools comic with crowd sourced content. Since April 1st 2014 was a Tuesday, this comic is not in the normal sequence Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

This comic is dynamic and needs interaction by the viewer. Initially there was a bug when using the URL <nowiki>http://www.xkcd.com/</nowiki> or even <nowiki>https://xkcd.com/</nowiki> and only <nowiki>http://xkcd.com/</nowiki> did work. <nowiki>http://xkcd.org/</nowiki> and <nowiki>http://www.xkcd.org/</nowiki>, don't seem to work.

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

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

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

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

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

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[A transcript will be difficult to create due to the branching nature of the comic.]

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

'''First Pane:'''([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:be7a3304-b685-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 permalink])
* Hat Guy: Refresh... No New Email... Refresh .. No New Tweets... Refresh...
* Hat Guy: These Stupid Tiles... I'll Just Play One More Game
* Hat Guy: Oh. Hey. There's Some Kind Of Political Thing Going On.
* Hat Guy: Let's See If BSD Is Any Easier to Install Nowadays

'''Second Pane: Stupid Tiles Branch''' 
Option 1: ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:79f036ac-b9a0-11e3-9003-94de80a03a39 permalink])
* Dave: There's something weird out on the lawn.
** Hat Guy: This is an apartment. We don't have a lawn.
**: [A moat appears.]
*** Dave: OK, two weird things.
**** Dave: Who tiled the moat?
**** Dave: Why is there a gap here?
**** Dave: I count three.
*** Dave: Is this 1-1 from Mario?
***: [They pass by a tree.]
**** Dave: Why does that tree look fake?
***** Narrator: A wild Pikachu appeared!
****** Narrator: Enemy Pikachu used "Theft"!
******* Narrator: It's not very effective...
******** Narrator: ...
********* Pikachu: Um...
**** Dave: It's over this way.
**** Dave: Actually, it's the final castle. Grab your fire flower!
**** Dave: I've never been this far before.
***** Hat Guy: Are you going insane again?
*** Dave: I can see a Creeper down there.
**** Hat Guy: Damn Griefers.
*** Dave: See? It's like a glitch in the Matrix.
**** Hat Guy: How far can we go?
**** Hat Guy: What the fuck?!
**** Hat Guy: How... How do we get everything back?
** Hat Guy: I have a lawn?
**: [A moat appears.]
*** It looks like I can see Moria from here.
**** You see Moria from everywhere, Dave.
***** A wild Pikachu appeared! Enemy Pikachu used "Ink Cloud"! It's not very effective...
****** Google Maps didn't warn me of this.
******* It's not very effective...
******** Enemy Pikachu used "Uplift!"
********* It's not very effective...
********** Enemy Pikachu used "Cute Face!"
*********** It's not very effective...
************ Enemy Pikachu used "Faceless"!
************* It's not very effective...
************** Where's Twitch when I need help?
*************** It's not very effective...
**************** Enemy Pikachu used "Abandonment"!
***************** It's not very effective...
****** Enemy Pikachu used "The Discrete Metric"!
******* It's not very effective...
******** Enemy Pikachu used "Extrude"!
********* It's not very effective...
********** Pikachu: Um...
******** What is even going on here?
******** Pikachu: Now I only have Struggle left. Tie?
********* No fair!
******** We are the knights who say Ni!
****** Gathered the Ink!
******* It's not very effective...
******** Enemy Pikachu used "Granite"!
********* It's not very effective...
**** Yeah, who did you think gave them a balrog?
**** Moria is an anagram of Mario!
****: [They pass by a tree]
***** Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall.
*** Hmm, did you order a moat?
*** Look how deep it goes!
*** I don't remember this being here.
** Hat Guy: I hope it's not a bobcat this time.
*** [A giant hole appears and they fall into it.] Aaaaa... [Hat Guy wakes up.] Gasp [Goes to his desk.] Yawn [Sits at his desk.]
**** Thank God it wasn't a bobcat.
****: [Dave comes.]
***** There's somewhere [sic] weird out on the lawn.
*****: [They go.]
****** I hope it's not a giant hole.
******: [They go outside. They pass a tree.]
******* How disappointed are you?
*******: [They stop and argue.]
******** I was expecting a bobcat
******** Oh? That's the other tree.
******** Eh, not that much
****** I have a bad feeling about this
******: [They go outside.]
****** Hold up. I need to get my wingsuit first.
******: [They go outside.]
****** This seems familiar.
******: [They go outside.]
******* I hope it's not a velociraptor.
***** Why is there a bobcat on your lawn?
*****: [They go.]
***** Hey do you know why there's a giant hole in the yard?
*****: [They go.]
****** I swear if it's a bobcat
******: [They go outside.]
******* Why did you bring me here?
******* This dream has been looping for years, and yet we never tire of it. Why is that?
*******: [There is a gap in the ground. Hat Guy jumps over it, Dave looks into it.]
**** Hmmm... I should buy a shovel.
****: [He looks at his screen wondering.]
***** Shovels can't be actually made out of two sticks and a row of rocks?
*****: [He's wondering more. Dave comes. They connect their laptops. Dave is wondering. Hat Guy tries something at Dave's laptop. Dave says:]
***** Wow! Shovels sure are expensive!
***** How can there be 36 types of shovel??!
***** These prices are insane! I wonder if you can rent a shovel...
**** Might as well clear more tiles
**** Definitely not going outside today.
** Hat Guy: If you reprogrammed the squirrel laser to target hipsters again...
*** Let's just say we won't have to worry about parking.
*** No, now they're just wearing wigs ironically
*** At least it improved their haircuts.
*** Things may have gotten out of control a little.
* I heard Home Depot has 1024 bathroom tiles
* There's a dinosaur at the door
** T-Rex: Self-doubt crippled my arms. Can I have yours?
*** T-Rex: Never answer your mobile phone while I am addressing you!
***: [T-Rex is going to step on a house.]
**** T-Rex: I think you just entered a dead zone.
****: [Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, goes outside and finds a boomerang.]
**** T-Rex: Kids these days.
****: [Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, and goes back to his computer.]
**** T-Rex: Die you monster.
****: [Dave is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream, and starts singing.]
**** [Singing] ''I woke up like this.''
*** T-Rex: Also, have you heard about Tumblr?
*** T-Rex: Also I have some trenchant observations on language and philosophy to make.
***: [T-Rex is going to step on a house.]
**** Also, your brain is like this house.
****: [Hat Guy is inside the house. He wakes up from a dream and goes back to his computer.]
*** T-Rex: It's not like you're using them.
***: [T-Rex is going to step on a house.]
** T-Rex: I need a hand!
** Did you think he was joking?
** Sorry for just barging in, I couldn't reach the doorbell.
* I think I saw a "4096" tile outside somewhere.

'''Second Pane: Refresh Branch''' 
Option 1: ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6479d184-b9a0-11e3-b947-94de80a03a39 permalink])
* So you're still refusing to use Facebook?
* Wanna build a snowman?
* Hey. I hear Godot is in town. Wanna try to meet him?
* You know. Your car's on fire.

'''Second Pane: Political Thing Branch''' 
The laptop says: "...and let's go live to the debate."
* Continue

'''Second Pane: BSD Branch''' 
The character has ?? next to his head to signify confusion.
* Continue

* Now I just need to look up what a "beard error" is...
: The character has ??? next to his head to signify confusion. [[Dave]] walks in. (continue)
: Dave is on the other side of the desk with his own laptop computer. Both the computers are connected through Ethernet cable. The two characters are typing on the computer. (continue)
: The two stop typing. Dave has ??? next to his head. (continue)
: Dave had stepped back while the character is checking on Dave's laptop computer. The character is holding something rectangular. Dave is speaking.
:* The USB cable appears to be mono-directional.
:* Kernel mites?
:* I'm not sure rubbing butter on it will help
:: Dave and the character are handling their computers more aggressively. The Character says "ARGH"
:: They both stop. The character walks away, his chair turned 180 degrees.
:: Pushing aside the chair, the character returns with a fiery blowtorch while wearing goggles. Dave, holding up a finger, says "Um."
:: The character's computer was so burned, not only steam is coming out of the computer, but even the desk is noticeably burnt. The cable (apparently also burned) hangs from Dave's laptop computer. The used blowtorch is clumsily laid sideways be the side of the desk. Both the character (whose goggles are pushed off his eye) and Dave are looking at the calamity. The chair is almost out of view.
:: The goggles are on the floor while the chair is nowhere to be seen. Dave and the character are walking away from the scene. Dave is speaking.
:: * Are you all of a sudden in the mood for Thai food?
:: * Let's try OpenBSD next time...
::: The panel is of a panned view. Dave and the character are walking on a path away from a house.
::: The panel is back to a "normal camera view". Dave and the character are speaking.
::: * Guess not
::: * Let's go exploring!
::: * Okay then
:: * Let's try Linux next time...
:* Yep. It's haunted.
* Why is Python importing Skynet?
* Wait. What's on this other partition?
: The character has ??? next to his head to signify confusion. [[Dave]] walks in. (continue)
: Dave is on the other side of the desk with his own laptop computer. Both the computers are connected through Ethernet cable. The two characters are typing on the computer. (continue)
: The two stop typing. Dave has ??? next to his head. (continue)
: Dave had stepped back while the character is checking on Dave's laptop computer. The character is holding something rectangular. Dave is speaking.
:* Maybe if you cross connect the serial port to video port you'll be able to send the video directly in as an input for the password
:: The character and Dave are at sea, both emitting ripples. A shark's fin can be seen close to Dave.
::* It worked fine for the shark
::* We're definitely getting closer though
::* That didn't work!
:* What's a segfault?
:* I think the cameras need to face each other.
:* I'm not sure spaghetti works as a USB cable...

* My keyboard has to support SSH over USB?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:April fool's comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Google Maps]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Colossal time sinks]]

1350: Lorenz

2014-04-02T13:06:29Z

Tbc: Category:Colossal Time Sinks

1110: Click and Drag

2014-04-02T13:05:51Z

Tbc: Category:Colossal Time Sinks

1340: Unique Date

2014-03-10T13:35:33Z

Tbc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1340
| date = March 10, 2014
| title = Unique Date
| image = unique_date.png
| titletext = If our current civilization lasts another 8,000 years, it's probably fair to assume the Long Now Foundation got things right, and at some point we started listening to them and switched to five-digit years.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The existing explanation has been updated with wiki links etc. But is the 10,000 year clock relevant at all? Should it maybe just be a trivia item?}}

Some people make a big deal about special dates such as 2000-01-01 or 2011-11-11. Many people for instance chooses these more "unique" days to get married, even though the day do not fall in a weekend. For instance 2007-07-07 - a summer day was very popular.

This comic, however, points out that every date is equally unique.

The Mayans had a repeating circle of years, which made it very difficult to record the dates of events far into the past as a given date was not unique! To prevent this, the {{W|ISO 8601}} states that the {{W|Gregorian calendar}} should be used (i.e. our system), which has no limit on years - but "only" uses four digit years.

Cueball thinks it's interesting that we have an infinite number of years; it never starts over again. This means that today's date will never be applicable again. It is one of his many [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:My_Hobby hobbies] to point this out every day. This would be incredibly annoying to Megan and everyone else!

The title text is referring to the {{W|Long Now Foundation}} who uses five digit year (the date of this comic would be written as 02014-03-10 by the foundation). They are for instance designing a [http://longnow.org/clock/ 10,000-year clock] that should be able to run for this long - and in principle it could display every date up to 99999-12-31 with its five digits.

As we currently use four-digit years this may cause a {{W|Year 10,000 problem|Y10K problem}}. Randall remarks that by the year 10,000, we will probably have switched over to a larger number of digits realizing that 'the Long Now Foundation got things right'.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball speaking to Megan and another person.]
:Cueball: Whoa, it's 2014-03-10! Under our system, this day will ''NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!!''
:My Hobby: Pointing this out every day.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]

Talk:1339: When You Assume

2014-03-08T15:31:04Z

Tbc: assert, Dgbrt

This explanation is most certainly correct. A quick google search will prove as much. [[User:ImVeryAngryItsNotButter|ImVeryAngryItsNotButter]] ([[User talk:ImVeryAngryItsNotButter|talk]]) 15:19, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

[[User:Tesshavon|Tesshavon]] ([[User talk:Tesshavon|talk]]) 09:11, 7 March 2014 (UTC) this is a direct reference to the popular saying 'When you ASSUME, you make an ASS out of U and ME'.

I'm not a native English speaker, and I'm just curious. Is there any popular saying about ass-ass-inating someone? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.161|173.245.53.161]] 10:25, 7 March 2014 (UTC)
:To the best of my knowledge, there is no such saying, but I'm sure it's a spelling mnemonic used by many. [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 14:18, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

:I have read of badly programed profanity filters that change "assassin" to "buttbuttin". It's a clbuttic mistake. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.220|108.162.250.220]] 13:22, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

Assert is also used in programming (c and such) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.11|108.162.241.11]] 13:35, 7 March 2014 (UTC)
::And Python, which I was hacking in yesterday, so that came to my mind. But Randall isn't distracting us with any assert + throw unhandled exception jokes today. — ''[[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 15:31, 8 March 2014 (UTC)''

Thank goodness for the 'ERT' explanation; I had terrible notions of a [[739: Malamanteau|portmanteau]] involving 'insert'. [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 14:16, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

If Megan was going to phrase it like "You know what happens when you assume something? You make an ass out of you and me.", then she wouldn't be assuming anything. Of course, in spoken English, you could determine which one it is through inflection. Maybe Randall could start making voice-overs for the comics. [[Special:Contributions/103.22.200.80|103.22.200.80]] 18:33, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

Strictly speaking, Megan is asking a rhetorical question; one that she intends to answer herself. However, I once had a dickhead manager try this one on me, so I fully support this comic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.56|108.162.215.56]] 20:32, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

;This comic explain needs some enhancements!!!
xkcd is a webcomic "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and '''language'''." There is definitively no ASS here, or ERT... That could be mentioned at trivia, not more. This is all about language — assuming vs. asserting — not more or less. Everything more interpretations are like hearing a message by playing a song backwards. This explain isn't incomplete — it's incorrect! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:21, 7 March 2014 (UTC)
:Um, the explanation is fine. The cheesy "ass" + "u" + "me" pun is well-known, and the comic is quite specifically riffing on it. No pareidolia here. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.72|199.27.128.72]] 23:20, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

I saw it as that Megan was on an ERT and that Cueball's assumption was about the emergency (e.g. "The building must be safe by now,") hence the comment about an ERT (although I now also see and agree with the explanation of the play on words). [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 23:32, 7 March 2014 (UTC)
::WOW: Neil Armstrong was just a movie star (I will not talk about 911) or what??? Look at the picture, look at the comic; I'm pretty sure Randall is giggle about all the comments here. I'm pretty sure you can find a ERT at the bible many times; but this isn't that Randall talks about!!!--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:36, 8 March 2014 (UTC)
:::Dgbrt, are you rejecting the simple ass-u-me explanation? — ''[[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 15:31, 8 March 2014 (UTC)''

Talk:1306: Sigil Cycle

2014-02-18T17:13:08Z

Tbc: fix typo

Shouldn't it be QBASIC$ (or QBASIC%), since in Basic the sigil is attached to the end of variable names? --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.108|173.245.53.108]] 13:19, 20 December 2013 (UTC)

Could not find where categories can be added, here's a list of suitable categories: Charts, Computers, Comics presenting a compromise Internet, Programming [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.180|173.245.53.180]] 13:32, 20 December 2013 (UTC)

This comic de-emphasizes the value of sigils. It's very ironic that Randall chose C++, a language with symbols, to exemplify plain words. And C is a reason for not naming technologies after letters. Same with X. You have to search for "C programming language" or "X window system." It's very helpful to distinguish things with unique sigils, especially in this current age where we depend on full-text search. Just look at my login ID, tbc. I have been tbc on the Internet since 1981. But I eventually had to go by tbc0 (e.g. on Twitter) because tbc isn't unique enough. Google was named after 10^100 (an incomprehensibly large number reflecting their ambition). But that number is spelled googol. They own their spelling. Brilliant. Consider examples: iMac, iPhone iPad, Yahoo (a little weak), Facebook (they own that word). It's all about branding. Google Kleenex or Xerox and you'll see that they're excellent sigils. The problem is, those terms have become generic. Their brand is a little weaker for it. Finally, on Twitter, @ and # unleash powerful features. — [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 15:01, 20 December 2013 (UTC)
:C++ uses symbols, but it doesn't use one to denote that an identifier is a variable (like PHP) or the type of an identifier (like early BASIC, Perl, and arguably Twitter). And when I search for X, it's either X11 (the protocol) or Xorg (the widely used server implementation). And [[wikipedia:Barney_Google_and_Snuffy_Smith|Barney Google]] had it first. --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 15:55, 20 December 2013 (UTC)

Any way we can expand on the history of programming (if applicable)? Did these languages become popular in a certain order, or were they developed as a response to one another? Or is this comic simply Randall's journey through programming, not specifically tied to the popularity (or development) of certain coding languages? -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.227|108.162.216.227]]
:They pretty much appeared in the order listed. I don't think they represent Randall's experience (or really anything else); the differences in how they handle variable names/types is mostly a function of their different purpose, and Randall picked those specific examples simply to fit the timeline (e.g. sh and ksh have the same syntax as bash, but since they came before QBasic they would break the pattern). {{unsigned ip|108.162.236.13}}

The google mentioning isn't explained well enough imo. Instead if just saying "they have a service called google plus", it should be told how the + sign is used throughout the service, like every other instance in the article. I may do the edit myself, but it's not likely. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.237|141.101.98.237]] 15:26, 20 December 2013 (UTC)

"Ironically, it is the name if the language itself that includes symbols."

It's not very ironic. Variable names don't include symbols, but commands do. This statement should be rewritten.

int c = 0;

c++;

c += 1;

c = c + 1; {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.215}}

:I find it ironic that "C++" in a statement would be interpretted as "C" and only ''post''-incremented (i.e. only incremented when ''next'' referenced). Meaning "C++" is effectively the same as "C", in its own context. They should have named it "++C", if they wanted to indicate that it was ''itself'' improved upon the original value of C. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.229|141.101.99.229]] 16:37, 20 December 2013 (UTC)

::This is an incorrect interpretation of the statement c++. c++ as a standalone statement, on a line by itself, will result in c being exactly one greater than before the statement (the value stored in that memory location will indeed be one greater); using prefix or postfix ++ in this context is functionally equivalent and most people just prefer using the postfix version. Where the distinction between the prefix and postfix versions come into play is in more complex statements where the operator's return value is not ignored. For example,

::int c = 1;
::int x = c++;

::x will be initialized to 1 because the postfix ++ operator returns the value of c before it was incremented, but the value stored in c will be 2 regardless of further reference. If, instead you initialized x using the prefix version, ++c, x would be 2 because the prefix version of ++ returns the incremented result. (Side note: it's often considered bad practice to rely on the return value of the increment and decrement operators.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.227|108.162.219.227]] 20:58, 20 December 2013 (UTC)
:::No, I stand by what I say. I actually agree with your code, but freely parsing "I will use C++ for this project", as a phrase (at least the first time you utter it) might so easily be a statement that gives a direct result equal to "I will use C for this project". (It helps to have just the right geeky sense of humour, of course.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.229|141.101.99.229]] 21:56, 20 December 2013 (UTC)
::::Oh, I assure you, I am quite geeky. I could, for instance, argue that you're mixing the grammars of English and C++, a natural language and context sensitive language. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.227|108.162.219.227]] 22:21, 20 December 2013 (UTC)

:::::Personally, I see no problem. When you start programming in C++, you are writing code which is effectively C. Only when you program in C++ longer time, the code will improve. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:13, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

::::Wrong, as "I will use C++" actually does mean "I will use C++", because the moment you finished uttering it (command break), C indeed becomes one point greater ;) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.43|108.162.222.43]] 06:29, 24 December 2013 (UTC)

:::::Regarding the name of the language, Bjarne Stroustrup himself [http://www.stroustrup.com/bs_faq.html#name has said], "Connoisseurs of C semantics find C++ inferior to ++C." [[User:Elsbree|Elsbree]] ([[User talk:Elsbree|talk]]) 07:03, 26 December 2013 (UTC)

:It's still not ironic that the name includes symbols. I removed the word 'ironically', it doesn't make sense. {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.215}}

Extending the first comment above: Since the strip is known for being rather technically strict, it's odd that it says "word ... will START with", yet QBASIC variables END with symbols, and Google+ ENDS with a symbol.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.216|108.162.216.216]] 18:11, 20 December 2013 (UTC)

: That's not a problem with Google, because the ''sigil'' comes at the beginning there. But it's a problem with QBASIC, all right. —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 05:01, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

Although C++ doesn't force you to use sigils, by convention programmers would still use sigils. Conventionally, variable names were named nCount, or fCost. The first character in the variable name indicated the data type. This convention was extended by Visual C++, and it started naming interfaces starting with I. Eventually, this convention fell by the wayside because IDEs started getting smarter and you would get code complete and some sort of information via a tooltip that eliminated the need for the Sigil --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.24|173.245.56.24]] 18:16, 20 December 2013 (UTC)
::{{w|Hungarian Notation}} (and similar schemes) aren't "sigils" (according to [[wikt:sigil|wiktionary]], a sigil in this context is non-alphanumeric, and the comic would seem to imply this also). --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.186|108.162.219.186]] 22:45, 20 December 2013 (UTC).

I think this explanation could do with some better explanation of the programming concepts it describes. Not every xkcd reader will be familiar with programming languages. --[[User:Mynotoar|Mynotoar]] ([[User talk:Mynotoar|talk]]) 21:20, 20 December 2013 (UTC)
: I've expanded the introduction for now to more fully explain programming languages and variables - it wasn't very clear to non-programmers - but I think the rest could use some work too. --[[User:Mynotoar|Mynotoar]] ([[User talk:Mynotoar|talk]]) 18:29, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

If "C++" "started" with a symbol, then I would agree that it is ironic that it appears in the graph in the position that it does. Since it does not, however, I must dispute your use of the word "ironic". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.117|108.162.238.117]] 03:14, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

How could 'see plus plus' be pronounced any other way? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.239|141.101.98.239]] 11:15, 23 December 2013 (UTC)
: 'see add add'? --[[User:Mynotoar|Mynotoar]] ([[User talk:Mynotoar|talk]]) 22:33, 26 December 2013 (UTC)
:'sea-cross squared'? {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.215}}

;Dispute about the explanation
The explanation is very misleading. Why on earth does the explanation begin with a big chunk of talk about variables?
The comic strip is entirely about probability that a word you encounter will begin with some sigil. Therefore, the explanation should be about WHY the chart is plotted the way it is -- why does QBASIC have such a high probability, and why C++ does not. Everything else will just confuse anyone who comes to this page.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.238|108.162.231.238]] 15:36, 8 January 2014 (UTC)
:I did move this discussion to the bottom where it belongs to; new statements should not be posted at the top. And back to your comment: {{w|Sigil (computer programming)}} is very well explained at the beginning, read the Wiki article. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:21, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1330: Kola Borehole

2014-02-14T14:01:19Z

Tbc: Dante on Hell

Reminds me of the title text in #[[1218]]: Doors of Durin. [[User:Whimsye|Whimsye]] ([[User talk:Whimsye|talk]]) 06:21, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Surely this is a Dwarf Fortress reference. The Soviets breached the Happy Fun Stuff! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.5|108.162.250.5]] 06:42, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

:Well, DF ''has'' that connotation, but both the [[wikipedia:Kola_Superdeep_Borehole|real thing]] and the [[wikipedia:Well_to_Hell_hoax|hoax]] are older than Toady's game, so perhaps not so much a reference to DF (although Black Hat does propose a typically DF-player solution... I hope he's prepared for [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/FPS FPS Hell] from the flowing liquids). Randall ''[[1223|knows]]'' about DF, of course.
:(BTW, from that (first, factual event) page: "In 1983, the drill passed 12,000 m (39,000 ft), and drilling was stopped for about a year to celebrate the event." ...Russians!) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.176|141.101.98.176]] 08:18, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Lakes and Oceans #[[1040]] also mentions the Kola Borehole.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.70|199.27.128.70]] 09:03, 14 February 2014 (UTC)Nix

If Hell would be a physical place, I don't think {{w|Lucifer}} would still be ruling there. In next war between Heaven and Hell, the winners will be anime and/or computer games nerds. Both Heaven and Hell will lose. :-) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:06, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

One may recall from the ''Divine Comedy'' that Dante's imagery of Hell is a negative-mountain-shaped abyss that starts widest at the surface of our allegorical planet and ends at a point far below the surface where Satan resides. The deeper you go, the narrower the abyss gets, like a cone, and the more heinous the sinners. On the other side of the planet there is a mountain made from all that earth God removed to dig the Inferno. The Saints (all those who are saved by faith from the other fate) progress up the mountain through Purgatory to reach Paradise. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 14:01, 14 February 2014 (UTC)''

Talk:1329: Standing

2014-02-13T13:31:02Z

Tbc: risks of sitting

Yesterday I ran across this article that summarizes the finding Randall is referring to: http://www.mayoclinic.org/sitting/expert-answers/FAQ-20058005 ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:31, 13 February 2014 (UTC)''

I was bold, and made a start on the page. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.6|141.101.98.6]] 10:08, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

Note that the part which is really bad about "sitting" work is being in same position all day. I'm sure standing all day would be just as unhealthy (and more tiring), while the deer would be even more tiring and probably lower productivity. Even walking is not as ideal if you walk on treadmill, because it's too flat. So, real solution is having desk which would automatically (so you don't forget) change height periodically, forcing you to spend part of work sitting, part standing and part searching for repairman to fix the desk after it will get stuck again. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:41, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
:The research conclusion is simple: The more you sit the earlier you die. True, there are no conclusions on those who stand most of the day. I mix sitting and standing at work. My adjustable height desk works fine. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:20, 12 February 2014 (UTC)''

PS: The argument of "we are not built" is flawed. Humans are built to be mostly dead in thirty, forty if they are lucky. The reason cavemen were healthier that we are is not because of healthy exercise. It's because if he developed back pain problems, something eated him soon. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:48, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

:Humans were living 70 or 80 years several millennia ago. True, most died by age 40 from a variety of hazards modern humans don't face. The theoretical maximum age hasn't changed. It's been stuck at 120 for millennia. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:20, 12 February 2014 (UTC)''
::"Theoretical maximum" and "observed median" are probably different numbers. The second one seems like it would be more relevant to the discussion of general health trends over time.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 15:58, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

Anyone notice that it's a part of the My Hobby series? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.30|108.162.219.30]] 11:46, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
:Somebody has - it is now part of that category as seen at the bottom of the page. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:31, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

"In the comic, Cueball tells Megan that standing desks are still not the apex of innovation"
Where exactly "in the comic" does he do this? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.196|173.245.53.196]] 19:23, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
:Presumably that's what "one-upping" entails. We can't see the whole discussion in one frame, so we have to fill in the details. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.64|108.162.237.64]] 02:55, 13 February 2014 (UTC)
:The word "apex" was mine, as a replacement for a grammatical slip in a turn of phrase that appeared to mean that. However, replacing the "standing desk" with the "running desk" at least relegates the former to "non-apex" status, on the assumption that the move was an improvement. (Not sure if the deer-desk is apex, itself... How about tied to the back of a velociraptor, Randall? How much exercise (physical ''and'' mental) would you be getting then! ;)
:But, anyway, I feel no heartfelt desire to retain that phrasing, if anyone wants to (re-)rewrite it. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.177|141.101.99.177]] 10:50, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1329: Standing

2014-02-12T13:20:49Z

Tbc: my $0.02

I was bold, and made a start on the page. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.6|141.101.98.6]] 10:08, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

Note that the part which is really bad about "sitting" work is being in same position all day. I'm sure standing all day would be just as unhealthy (and more tiring), while the deer would be even more tiring and probably lower productivity. Even walking is not as ideal if you walk on treadmill, because it's too flat. So, real solution is having desk which would automatically (so you don't forget) change height periodically, forcing you to spend part of work sitting, part standing and part searching for repairman to fix the desk after it will get stuck again. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:41, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
:The research conclusion is simple: The more you sit the earlier you die. True, there are no conclusions on those who stand most of the day. I mix sitting and standing at work. My adjustable height desk works fine. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:20, 12 February 2014 (UTC)''

PS: The argument of "we are not built" is flawed. Humans are built to be mostly dead in thirty, forty if they are lucky. The reason cavemen were healthier that we are is not because of healthy exercise. It's because if he developed back pain problems, something eated him soon. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:48, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

:Humans were living 70 or 80 years several millennia ago. True, most died by age 40 from a variety of hazards modern humans don't face. The theoretical maximum age hasn't changed. It's been stuck at 120 for millennia. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:20, 12 February 2014 (UTC)''

Anyone notice that it's a part of the My Hobby series? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.30|108.162.219.30]] 11:46, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1306: Sigil Cycle

2013-12-20T15:01:01Z

Tbc: my thoughts on sigils

1306: Sigil Cycle

2013-12-20T14:09:30Z

Tbc: /* Explanation */ elaborating

{{comic
| number = 1306
| date = December 20, 2013
| title = Sigil Cycle
| image = sigil_cycle.png
| titletext = The cycle seems to be 'we need these symbols to clarify what types of things we're referring to!' followed by 'wait, it turns out words already do that.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This is just a skeleton, every detail is missing and probably some parts are inaccurate or plain wrong}}

In computer programming, a {{w|Sigil (computer programming)|sigil}} is a symbol attached to a variable name, showing the variable's datatype or scope, usually a prefix, as in $foo, where $ is the sigil.

;{{w|QBASIC}}
:Variables of type string end with the $ symbol. Other symbols are used (% for integers, ! for single-precision, # for double-precision and, in some versions of BASIC, & for long integers), however the usual QBASIC program will use only the $ symbol and not any of the others, as the default type if no symbol is used is double-precision and that's OK for most numeric uses.

;{{w|C++}}
:Pronounced "see plus plus." Variables are just words with regular letters. Ironically, it is the name if the language itself that includes symbols.

;{{w|bash (Unix shell)|bash}}
:This is not typically thought of as a full-featured programming language, but a Unix shell. However, the shell command syntax is rich enough to be able to write simple (and sometimes really complex) programs called shell-scripts. In this language, all variables start with the symbol $.

;{{w|Perl}}
:In Perl, variables of simple types, and references to items in arrays and hashes, start with $. Arrays start with @. Hashes start with %.

;{{w|Python (programming language)|Python}}
:Variables are just words with regular letters.

;{{w|Google}}
:In the beginning, Google was only a search engine. However, it now includes many things, in particular a social network called Google+ (pronounced "google plus").

;{{w|Twitter}}
:Twitter account IDs are identified by the leading symbol @. When an account is "mentioned" in a tweet using @, it triggers smart behavior. For example, account owners can configure Twitter to forward tweets that mention them. This feature was not present in the early days of Twitter.

;{{w|Hashtag}}s
:In Twitter, a # sign (the octothorpe) can be prepended to words to mark them as keywords. Twitter can then be searched for those words. Some other microblogging services followed suit. Google+ eventually added hashtag support. Facebook followed with support later.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
*Y axis: Odds that the words I type will start with some weird symbol
*X axis: Time
*Data labels: $QBASIC, C++, $BASH, @$PERL, PYTHON, +GOOGLE, @TWITTER, #HASHTAGS

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Comics presenting a compromise]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Social networking]]

User talk:Jeff

2013-11-08T05:32:41Z

Tbc: /* Please remove subaddressing from my account email user:tbc */

{{notice|This is the talk page of Jeff, the creator of Explain XKCD. If you have a comment about the wiki, please use the [[Explain XKCD:Community portal]]. Use this page only for personal messages to Jeff, of for requests that require server access.}} 

== ParserFunctions ==

Hi Jeff,

Just thought I'd run this up the flagpole... any thought about installing the ParserFunctions extension? I think this site could benefit from a few templates that would aid in indexing/categorizing the entries as content is migrated, and ParserFunctions would make some really impressive things possible... but installing any extension or not would be up to you.

Also, do you have any feelings about us users creating templates in the Template namespace, which we could use to maintain the content? Just wanted to get your thumbs-up before/if I did something like that. Just want to play nice. Love the site, and the new wiki format.

- PT [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 03:05, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
:ParserFunctions are awesome, yup! --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 06:56, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
::{{done}} Yes to both. I have enabled ParserFunctions and Templates sound like a great idea. IronyChef, please send me an email at the address on the blog and I'll make you an admin if necessary to edit templates. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 08:03, 1 August 2012 (EDT)

== Extension:Variable ==
Just wondering what you thought about adding the [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Variables Variables extension]. I'm toying with revising {{tl|LATESTCOMIC}} to not be so expensive (both in terms of template expansion, and ongoing maintenance.) I could do that now, but the wiki would have to re-expand and re-evaluate the same expression about six times, being slightly counter-productive. -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:54, 25 August 2012 (UTC)
:: any thoughts ... up, down, sideways? Thanks! -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 15:34, 1 September 2012 (UTC)
::: I'm up for it... Let me get it installed on the wiki side when I get a chance. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 23:13, 3 September 2012 (UTC)

== Bugging you again.... ==

Could you take a look at [//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?limit=10000&tagfilter=&title=Special%3AContributions&contribs=user&target=Philosopher&namespace=8&year=&month=-1] and tell me if I'm thinking in about the same way as you are here? Also, I've brought up [[MediaWiki:Tagline]] and [[Explain XKCD:Community portal]], as it'd be cool to have a tagline. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 10:46, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
:With you 100% on the File Delete reasons. Thanks. I agree also about having a tagline. What do you think it should be? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 11:13, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
::Nothing's coming to mind right now. Perhaps someone else will think of something. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 17:54, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
Discussion continued at [[Explain XKCD:Community portal/Proposals#Tagline]].

== Automatic Import ==
Moved to [[Explain XKCD:Community portal/Proposals#Automatic Import]]. (Header left to avoid breaking links.) --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:30, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Please watch [[Explain XKCD:Community portal/Administrators' noticeboard]] ==

I'd like to ask that the admins consider adding [[Explain XKCD:Community portal/Administrators' noticeboard]] to their [[wikipedia:Help:Watching pages|watchlists]]. On a similar note, I've just started a discussion there about spammers. -''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 02:02, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Images from Wikimedia Commons and SVG ==
Please set <code>$wgUseInstantCommons = true;</code> in the wiki's LocalSettings.php, so we can use images from Wikimedia Commons without having to reupload them here.
Also, I'd be neat if you could [[mw:Manual:Image Administration#SVG|enable svg images]]. Thanks! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 04:20, 4 August 2012 (EDT)
: {{done}}, Instant Commons is on. Will need a little more work to get SVG images to work. What renderer to do you suggest I use? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 12:05, 6 August 2012 (UTC)
:: That'll depend on what you have available in your server. They say there that ImageMagick seems to be an acceptable choice, but rsvg seems to be the best one if the dependencies can be sorted out. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 13:20, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

== Search suggestions ==

Hi,

could you please set $wgEnableMWSuggest [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgEnableMWSuggest] to true? This enables search suggestions for the search field, and often this helps you to skip the search results. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 09:10, 4 August 2012 (EDT)
:{{done}} OK, this is has been added to the LocalSettings. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 12:06, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

== Time zone ==

Please set the wiki to UTC (<tt>$wgLocaltimezone = "UTC";</tt> in LocalSettings.php), as it's the most neutral option for our international community. In any case, each user can choose their time zone in their preferences.
:{{done}} Ok, set. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 12:07, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

== Short urls, site logo, lowercase xkcd ==

Hi,
I'm not sure if you tried it but http://shorturls.redwerks.org is a great (and simple :D) tool to implement clean urls with mediawiki. That would make urls much nicer around here.

Also, if you could, please take a look at [[Explain XKCD:Community portal/Proposals#Naming conventions]], where your assistance is needed for some server changes. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 15:31, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

:Hi again :) just to remind you about the short urls thing. I think it would be great if we could have wiki links in the form "explainxkcd.com/wiki/link_title". It might be necessary to move the wiki into a different folder name than "wiki", but that's just a matter of renaming the folder and changing <code>$wgScriptPath</code> in LocalSettings.php accordingly. The link above makes things really straighforward, it should really only take you a few minutes to set everything up.
:Another cool thing that could be done is set up a server redirect so that links in the form of explainxkcd.com/number would point to the comics in the wiki instead of returning a 404 error (for instance, http://explainxkcd.com/123 would point to http://explainxkcd.com/wiki/123). That way, we could replicate xkcd's own url system for comics and people could simply type explainxkcd.com/123 and get the explanation for the corresponding comic. This redirect can probably be set up in the hosting company's web interface, but in case it can't, let me know if you need any help. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 22:03, 11 August 2012 (UTC)
::Hi Waldir - I'll work on the short URL thing. I want that to work for sure. With regards to the redirect, I have been working on it for a while and I have a few .htaccess files and etc that don't work. I'll be grateful for the help on it. Please send me an email if you know how to get it done. This would also allow anyone from xkcd.com/435 to just add explain and go to the comic explanation. Very helpful. Been working on it unsuccessfully for a while. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 01:41, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
:::Ugh, it must be my hosting because I did all of the shorturls correctly it just sent it to a 404 page for the site over and over again. The url seemed to be the right one, but didn't send it to the right location. It should NOT be this difficult. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 02:25, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

== wgCapitalLinks ==

Hi Jeff! When you have a few spare minutes, please add the following to LocalSettings.php:
$wgCapitalLinks = false;
This allows page titles not to be automatically capitalized by the software, which is important for filenames and for some comic titles such as [[s/keyboard/leopard/]]. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 21:34, 11 August 2012 (UTC)
:{{done}} --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 01:37, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
::...and this broke our templates (and maybe [[Special:RecentChanges]]?). See [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests]]. Can't we just style the page titles so they appear as though they aren't capitalized when they really are? (As done at [[wikipedia:Xkcd]], using the DISPLAYTITLE magic word (called through [[wikipedia:Template:DISPLAYTITLE]]).) --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 04:42, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
:::Looks like transition pains would be inevitable. I think everything is sorted out for now. See the Admin requests thread for details. As for using DISPLAYTITLE, I understand the rationale, but this is xkcd and attention to capitalization is necessary in several pages, and I believe we'd rather use a complete solution (so that pages actually have the correct title) rather than hacking what is shown to viewers. In any case, we shouldn't have many problems in the future because of this; People will only capitalize the first letter of a title when it's actually necessary; otherwise, lazyness/convenience makes us all use lowercase everywhere (besides, redirects can be used just in case, such as {{tl|yesno}} → {{tl|YesNo}}. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 09:06, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

== External Images ==

Has there actually been a decision on external images? Or is it just to be decided later?  [[User:Grep|grep]][[User_talk:Grep|talk]] 
: No decision yet. What do you think? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 21:16, 28 August 2012 (UTC)
::Well, the whitelisting seems an OK idea. This would help you save space on the servers that you are hosting on, so that's a plus. I say go for whitelisting.  [[User:Grep|grep]][[User_talk:Grep|talk]]  Mostly I am wondering because I created a PHP script that creates an image to display the results of a poll (like on the Moving the Wiki topic in Proposals). For my situation any method of something external being placed on this site will work.
::'''I just''' got an idea... what if there was a group of moderators that check external images and approve them. The more approvals a person gets, the more "reliable" they are considered to be... ?  [[User:Grep|grep]][[User_talk:Grep|talk]] 

== Short Link Problem Fix? ==

Is <code>mod_rewrite</code> installed and enabled? 
[https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL/Apache MW ShortURL] 
Are all of the config files (including the wiki one) set up?

 [[User:Grep|grep]][[User_talk:Grep|talk]] 

== New admin please? ==

This is a bit forthright of me, but nothing appears to be being done about it. Would you read this [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Spampage Rampage]] and comment on it? Thanks, [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] and the community 17:47, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

== Small change ==

Hi Jeff! Long time no see. Look, could you add
:<code>$wgGroupPermissions['autoconfirmed']['autopatrol'] = true;</code>
to LocalSettings.php? That will allow edits by [[mw:auto-confirmed|auto-confirmed]] users not to be marked with a red exclamation mark in recent changes so we can more quickly spot edits that might need reviewing. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 02:16, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

:Btw while you're at it, please also add
::<code>$wgAllowUserJs = true;</code>
::<code>$wgAllowUserCss = true;</code>
:So users can make their own scripts and styles to enhance the wiki (I need that, for instance, to test stuff without affecting anyone else, before integrating them on site-wide javascript/css pages) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:52, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

{{done}} and {{done}} --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:55, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

:Thanks! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 19:57, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

:: Sorry, I forgot a small detail: it is necessary to set up the following so that "auto-confirmed" doesn't mean "any registered user":
:: <code>$wgAutoConfirmAge = 60*60*24*3 // accounts become auto-confirmed after 3 days</code>
:: <code>$wgAutoConfirmCount = 10 // ...and 10 edits</code>
:: Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 21:32, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

::: {{done}} --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 21:49, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

:::: Thanks, again. Also, since the wiki didn't break, I take it that you noticed the missing semicolons which I stupidly forgot to include at the end of the lines, and added them. Sorry for the slip-up. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:31, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
::::: No worries, I know that much at least! :) --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:36, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

Did you by any chance write "auto patrol" instead of "autopatrol"? [[Special:ListGroupRights]] suggests so, and if that's the case, that explains why the changes don't seem to have had the effects I expected from them (edits by auto-patrolled users still marked with the red exclamation mark in Special:RecentChanges). Could you check that the line reads exactly <code>$wgGroupPermissions['autoconfirmed']['autopatrol'] = true;</code>? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:54, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
: That's what I thought I put even though autocorrect wanted to change it. Can't look now, will have a look when I get home. ---[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:55, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
:: Any news? No pressure, I'm just curious :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 15:34, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
::: Bah - I keep forgetting when I get home. I'll try to get it done this weekend. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:35, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
:::: Much delayed, but {{done}} --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 02:50, 4 December 2012 (UTC)
::::: Thanks, Jeff. I'll let you know if there's any further issues, but I believe everything should be working now. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 03:34, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

== Links to category pages ==

I couldn't help but notice the number of your edits to your page. You can link to category pages by putting a colon in front of "Category". <code><nowiki>[[:Category:Pages to delete]]</nowiki></code> produces [[:Category:Pages to delete]]. It also doesn't add the category to that page, it just links to it. Cheers, [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:30, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
: Oh geez. You saw that? That's a little embarrassing with not knowing what to do, I kept trying to figure out how to put the link there. Thanks for the help! I couldn't find that information anywhere. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:31, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

::When I had to learn about that trick the edits on that page looked fairly similar. I eventually found the right page [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Links] (ctrl+f "category", it's buried) and managed it. I have the Recent Changes page set to auto-refresh every minute. I see a few things. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:43, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

== Your opinion? ==

Please comment [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#We need more maintainers|here]]. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:21, 5 December 2012 (UTC)
:Update: we've been offered help by [[mediawiki:User:Dantman|an experienced MediaWiki developer]], I think we can finally solve the server-side issues now! Please take a look at the thread linked above. [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 20:07, 23 March 2013 (UTC)

== I am really dumb ==

and this morning, while creating a user name, I goofed it and wrote .mau, (with a trailing comma) instead of .mau. (with a trailing dot, which is my trademark). I know that a bureaucrat on MediaWiki can change a username which had few edits (my own edits are three including this one): could you do this, or at least delete this username so that I may recreate it without leaving a dead one? TIA, [[User:.mau,|.mau,]] ([[User talk:.mau,|talk]]) 15:09, 16 January 2013 (UTC)
:You can actually change your signature to .mau. if you want, to mask that for now. Just make a page called User:.mau,/sig and craft your signature to your liking, then go to my preferences at the top and set your sig to <nowiki>{{SUBST:User:.mau,/sig}}</nowiki>. If you want an example, [[User:Lcarsos/sig]] is a near-vanilla and quite clean example of a custom sig, while [[User:Omega/sig]] and my sig, [[User:Davidy22/sig]] are slightly more tricked-out options. Wikipedia's guidelines to signature crafting are {{w|Wikipedia:Signatures#Customizing_your_signature|here.}} '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:53, 16 January 2013 (UTC)
::ok, thanks! [[User:.mau,|.mau.]] ([[User talk:.mau,|talk]]) 09:55, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
:::Aw, that's it? No bling or anything? Meeehhh. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:16, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
:(to Jeff) I believe user renaming is not possible in vanilla mediawiki. An extension is required: [[mw:Extension:Renameuser]] --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:21, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
::I find a bit disturbing to have a "wrong" username, especially because I may not remember it somewhen (yes, the word does not exist, but I like its sound); but I don't need any flashy signature, so I just changed the traling comma to a dot. --[[User:.mau,|.mau.]] ([[User talk:.mau,|talk]]) 14:09, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

==/wiki/==
Now that the site apparently redirects to the wiki, could the entire wiki URL just be explainxkcd.com, without the trailing wiki? It's mostly for cleanliness, but also to throw off the spambots for a while. Those accursed spam happy bots. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:29, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
: Sounds good, I'm working on that part next. It is next on my "to-do" list complete some URL work like that. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 18:05, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
::''nag''. Also, the spam is becoming an issue. A pretty big issue. Time to switch captchas? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:04, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
::: OK - sounds good to me, any ones you recommend? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 13:33, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
:::: I don't remember which captcha the wiki uses, but I know securimage and recaptcha are two very competent options. Alternately, you could use [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ConfirmEdit ConfirmEdit] to screen anon edits. Much of the spam seems to be automated, so questycaptcha should screen out most of the chaff. Just simple questions, like "What webcomic does this site explain" or "Who created XKCD" should be sufficient to screw up our current spammers. Also, rm /wiki/ plx. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:41, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
:::::Confirm edit is in and Recaptcha is out. Let's try that. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 14:11, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
::::::The questions appear to be case-sensitive. To avoid frustration, could you add a notice to every question saying that the answers have to be in all lower/upper case? I got "What's the name of this wiki" wrong a bunch of times, and I think it's due to capitalization. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:30, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
:::::::Ok - cool. I changed it to $wgSitename instead of just writing it out. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 14:32, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
::::::::If we get no spam tomorrow, I will hold a party in your talk page. Oh, and /wiki/. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:38, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
:::::::::I'll just hijack this thread and ask: Isn't it time Davidy22 got admin tools? It's long overdue. And please promote Lcarsos‏‎ to bureaucrat, so he can make new admins if needed. And seconded: <code>/wiki/</code> ! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 02:39, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
::::::::::Could you also put confirmEdit in general page creation for anonymous users? There's still a couple of spam pages being made that don't actually advertise anything. There hasn't been an account creation in a long time, so I think we've killed off the spam accounts. The rate of spam has definitely dropped significantly ever since we switched to confirmEdit. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:42, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
::::::::::We've just had a surge of pure griefer spam. Anons who don't insert any links, they're just throwing spam at us out of malice. Could you make anonymous users have to pass through confrimEdit to create pages? Thanks. On a side note, what's the ratio in terms of file size between current explanation pages to logs and diffs? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:53, 22 February 2013 (UTC)
:::::::::::Wow those suck. Wiping out whole pages with anon edits. I can't change the settings from here, but I'll do it when I get home. Also, I'm not sure what you mean by filesize? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 15:51, 22 February 2013 (UTC)
::::::::::::Eh, how much space do explanations and images take up on your hard drive when compared to the space that log files and diffs take up? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:01, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

== Promote Davidy22 ==

:''Breaking this discussion out from where it was, because it merits its own section. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]])''
I'll just hijack this thread and ask: Isn't it time Davidy22 got admin tools? It's long overdue. And please promote lcarsos‏‎ to bureaucrat, so he can make new admins if needed. And seconded: <code>/wiki/</code> ! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 02:39, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

:'''Heartily Agree''' on promoting Davidy22, he's almost always more on top of spam patrol than I am these days (burn-out for the lose). I'm not sure I can speak for my own promotion without sounding self-serving and power-hungry. However, in my few spare moments this semester I am looking closely at getting a bot up and running to automate the clean up of spam (mostly because manual spam patrol is the most soul-sucking and disheartening activity I've ever done), so it would be nice to be able to get a bot account promoted to bot status without misrepresenting it as my account. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:13, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
:: Davidy22 is up to admin (honestly, I thought he was already one, so no issue there on my end.) and lcarsos has been updated to bureaucrat because we should have more redundancy there. Also, create a bot account and let me know what it is and i'll give it bot rights. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 18:36, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
:: Or now, you can do it! :) --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 18:41, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
:::WOO, power! '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:42, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

== Small ConfirmEdit change ==

Can you change the line:
<pre>$wgCaptchaTriggers['create'] = false;</pre>
to true? I think this would solve most of our bot vandalism/griefing problems. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 21:19, 22 February 2013 (UTC)
:: {{done}} I changed 'edit' to true as well since we've seen a bunch when editing user's talk pages. We will see if I have to move that back to false. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:16, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

== DeleteOldRevisions ==

There's a script built into mediawiki called DeleteOldRevisions.php that seems to have deprecated the deletehistory plugin. A link to the [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:DeleteOldRevisions.php manual page.] A hard drive upgrade would be apt for the future though. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:15, 20 March 2013 (UTC)
: I'm looking into it. I'm not sure how the wiki got back up and running without me running the update. I'll try the [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:DeleteHistory] and see if that can help in the meantime. The expanded HD might be a no-go, but I'll see on that too. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 01:27, 20 March 2013 (UTC)

==Server Hardware==
The website is getting really slow and throwing internal errors all over the place, and it looks like both the main page and the page for the newest comic [[1190: Time]] are climbing rapidly in views. If one ambiguous comic is hitting us like a DDoS, we're going to get it in the shorts if Randall ever actually acknowledges our existence directly, or some other geeky media outlet posts a link to us. Is there a donate button anywhere? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:18, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
: We certainly can get a Donate button. We may need to migrate the server to get it upgraded. This is one of those big days, I guess. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 12:39, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
:: How about a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:37, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
:::Kickstarter and Indiegogo are one-time things. No good for this. I recommend modifying the donate button so that there is a PayPal "Subscribe" button near it so people can also do small monthly subscriptions. I recommend a dropdown with $1, $2, $5, $10, $20 options.
:::Does 1&1 give you stats like how much bandwidth (or rather how much data) you are using. That could have an effect on where is best to get the new hosting; Rackspace Cloud, Linode, AWS, or even a real server with access to other network options like paying for actual Mbps bandwidth with unlimited data.
:::When you get a server I'd like to properly set it up with varnish, nginx, apc (or Zend_Optimizer+ considering it's going to be part of php 5.5), memcached, and perhaps php-fpm instead of mod_php. Varnish will allow anonymous pages to be cached hopefully reducing the load issues. And nginx should serve out static things better than Apache. [[User:Dantman|Dantman]] ([[User talk:Dantman|talk]]) 05:23, 27 March 2013 (UTC)
:::: Regarding the Paypal button, besides the subscribe option, I would recommend removing the credit card logos, as they make it too wide for the sidebar and not fit the design well. Besides, I personally think they give it kind of a corporate feel; instead, a simple "donate" button, while still recognizable as paypal's, feels simpler and more "personal", for lack of a better word.
:::: Also, I think you should place it above the AdSense block, since that makes it more visible, and prioritizes a form of supporting the site that people have direct, active control over, rather than the passive, choice-less (modulo AdBlock) AdSense.
:::: And also capitalize "donate" in the section title, to match the other titles ("Navigation", "Toolbox", etc.)
:::: Since we're at it: maybe more donation options would make sense: [//flattr.com Flattr], [//gittip.com Gittip], [//tiptheweb.org/ TipTheWeb], and possibly [//bitcoin.org/ Bitcoins].
:::: Finally, is it possible to make the AdSense background transparent, or at least the same as the site background of #F3F3F3? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 14:15, 27 March 2013 (UTC)
:::::Is it possible to add the ad and donate buttons without including a section title? Minimizing unused space is gooood. Also, I noticed that you installed the deletehistory plugin, but it's trying to use another version of PHP that's installed on the server. deleteoldrevisions.php in the maintenance folder oughta work fine, though it'd probably be apt to run it over the weekend when we're not expecting absurd floods of visitors like we are now. We may need it too, after we've filled up the hard drive again with archives of Time.'''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:39, 27 March 2013 (UTC)
:::::: Yes, it is possible for me to edit, I will have to go into the settings for each since I used extensions for them. I hate the credit card things too. Will take a look at all options tonight.
:::::: The Deletehistory plugin doesn't work, sadly because of the PHP version. Hopefully, when we migrate, it will be on a newer version and that will work. Hopefully, we will have more disk space too... --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]])
::::: Hey Jeff. Could you change the width of the paypal donate button so that it matches the google ads and the bitcoin donate button? Maybe using a custom button rather than the paypal-provided one?
::::: Also, any news regarding the possibility of changing the background of the google ads? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:21, 8 April 2013 (UTC)
:::::: It did not work out with Google ads for a reason they will not disclose to me, but I'll work on the buttons and the banner ad. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:11, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

== Everything's good ==

Except for the (currently) occasional server error, I have no problems.

I've turned on HotCat and Popups, imported wikEdDiff and my HideTopContribs, all of which make me fairly efficient at watching changes.

A minor request would be the Redirect toolbar button.

[[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 17:13, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

:When you turn off enwiki's "Enable enhanced editing toolbar" all of the toolbar buttons explainxkcd has are in the same order (it skips Math) and the very next one is Redirect #R. It seems to be defined at http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Common.js/edit.js&action=edit
:I've tried adding just Redirect #R myself [[User:Markhurd/common.js|here]], but something's going wrong. (And I should be sleeping!)
::Seeing as it is only one button I wanted, I simplified the code down to calling addButton directly and it is now working fine. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 13:07, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

:Re being an Admin: Yes, please, as long as you note this would be my first actual Admin bit. (I'm a Bureaucrat on another MW wiki so I could give myself Admin rights whenever I wanted.) [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 19:39, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

== Sidebar ads ==

Hi, we're having a discussion about the sidebar ads on [[Talk:Main Page#sidebar ads?]]. --[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 08:42, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

== Economic transparency ==

Hi! I made a request on economic transparency on the proposals page. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 22:05, 27 May 2013 (UTC)

==Thumbnails are not working==
I'm relatively new here but I think each picture should get it's proper thumbnail when the original is to large to embed. Mediawiki is using some applications in the background maybe not available here. But there are some workarounds. And since "onlinehome.us" is well secured I still do even not know what OS is running in the background. But whatever the OS is, it should be solvable.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:13, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

== Last missing page ==

Hi, I'm hoping you don't mind about my adds to Natalie Dee. I was working on that at the same time.
BTW: Can I help you on that thumbnail issue? I really would be happy if it could fixed here.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:42, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
:: No problem on the Natalee Dee comic, I was just working on it because it was the last one, edit away. What's the thumbnail issue? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 21:43, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
:::Thanks for your reply. I am still talking about this: [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Errors_and_symptoms#Image_Thumbnails_not_working_and.2For_appearing Image_Thumbnails_not_working]. I am sure there is a need to fix the [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/LocalSettings.php LocalSettings.php]. Maybe some paths are wrong or it's just using wrong image tools. I can help on any OS except Apple computers.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:07, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

== Congratulations! ==

You just created the last unexplained comic of ''xkcd''! [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 23:38, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
: Thanks Greyson! --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 03:04, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

==Math==
A lot of comics have formulae in them. Could you set $wgUseTeX = true in LocalSettings.php? That lets us use latex in pages. It'd be useful for comics like yesterday's. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:12, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
:Yeah, this would be nice. But you have to install an extension, LaTex must be available, then compile something, and at least adjusting the LocalSettings.php config file. We also sill do not have all image features here. But I can help, Windows or Linux.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:55, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
:: I'll look into it. Let me know if you find an extension that will do the trick. Send me some links to anything that would help and I can get them set up. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 14:44, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
:::Go here [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Math Extension:Math] and read the installation instructions first, it's not easy. For Fedora (Linux) there is a package called "mediawiki-math.x86_64" available. I will test this at my own computer.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:57, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
::::It's the hell, but I got a first crappy version at my local installation. I have had to install ''latex'' and ''ocaml'' packages and now its working, but it still renders many lines before the <nowiki><math></nowiki> tag, So it's still not usable for this site.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:35, 13 July 2013 (UTC)
===Seeing injected banner ads?===
I'm seeing banner ads (viewing on my iPad) that cover the actual banner of the site and never scroll out of view. It's as if they've been infected by a downstream server (ISP?). Anybody else? I'm in Wisconsin using TDS. Jeff M.
: That's terrible, I've got to fix that. bah. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 18:36, 2 August 2013 (UTC)
:: Is there a place I can email some screenshots? Jeff M.{{unsigned ip|69.130.242.120}}

== Full cache kills this page ==

Hi, it seems this page was not reachable for 15 hours again. The cache here has to be cleared sometimes, but since I can do it with my account I will create a script running once per day. 15 hours outage are bad, I try to avoid this in the future. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:50, 3 October 2013 (UTC)
:Which page was dead? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:11, 3 October 2013 (UTC)
::The entire site was dead. Look here: [[Special:RecentChanges|Special:RecentChanges]]. My last post was at 23:44 yesterday, no actions here after my reset at 14:54 today. The site was dead. I'm not a hacker, but I'm a programmer and I used this base of knowledge to fix this problem. If you do need more details, please send me an email. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:25, 3 October 2013 (UTC)
::: Agreed. Tried to visit yesterday PM, but a lot of pages were spilling guts: user pages, category pages, no comic explanations (as far as I could tell with my limited browsing.) A chron-job script to keep that at bay would be good medicine, assuming it didn't have other side effects. [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 03:19, 4 October 2013 (UTC)
I will set up a cron job running once per day. Maybe this entry at the config file [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:LocalSettings.php LocalSettings.php] would be the better solution:
$wgMainCacheType = CACHE_NONE;
I'm using the MidnightCommander (Linux) for editing this file.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:11, 4 October 2013 (UTC)
:::: Cache_None is already set in the LocalSettings. I believe this is usually a database error that we are getting. It usually resolves itself as I'm not able to resolve it myself. I believe that we are getting hit with a brute force attack at our database during those times because the database is totally unreachable. I'm working on moving to a new host where the database will be better protected. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 12:16, 4 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::Cache_None or CACHE_NONE? This should be case sensitive. Nevertheless I did purge the cache and the site was instantly available again (after approx. 15 hours). Also Davidy22 explained that he did clear the cache to bring the site back. The error messages are misleading and not showing the real problem.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:43, 4 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::: Yes, CACHE_NONE, sorry, I was typing fast. I've ran my clear cache script a few times when I've had that same problem and haven't seen results, so I'm glad we at least have something that's working. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 15:18, 4 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::::You are doing a great job, I feel I just have to say thanks! When the next outage does happen I will activate a small script, but for now I just try to avoid unnecessary traffic to this server.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:15, 4 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::::: Thanks Dgbrt! --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 18:07, 4 October 2013 (UTC)

== New host ==

Great job, but please check this link: <code>/wiki/</code>. I can browse the entire folder and more. It seems that "htaccess" should be renamed to ".htaccess".--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:32, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
: Oh geez. That's bad. Thanks! --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 12:02, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
:: Should be good now. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:45, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

I found an other serious issue belonging to DNS entries:
Name: explainxkcd.com
Address: 108.162.198.131
Name: explainxkcd.com
Address: 108.162.199.131
This works fine because 108.162.'''198'''.131 is correct. But most DNS servers showing up with this result:
Name: explainxkcd.com
Address: 108.162.199.131
Name: explainxkcd.com
Address: 108.162.198.131
This just leads to the old server at 108.162.'''199'''.131. Check Google DNS server 8.8.8.8 with nslookup, the wrong IP is shown first.
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:34, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
: Weird... I'll research. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:35, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
::Yes, it's weird. After I discovered this I did enter an entry for this at my local "/etc/hosts" file. But it seems most people can not access the new site.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:20, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
::One more: The logo on the left top is broken. ''style="background-image: url(/wiki/skins/common/images/explainxkcd.png)'' does not exist.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:53, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
::: Yea, what happened to that logo... it was there this morning. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 20:56, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
::::Oh, after a computer crash I'm back. Right now even the editor is broken here. I don't know if I can send this message. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:22, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::Ok, it does work, but all images for short cuts on top of the editor are also broken now. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:26, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::: The editor works fine for me, I'll research the images. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 21:27, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::::It seems all links like "/wiki/skins/common/images/button_bold.png" are gone. Additionally I'm getting an JavaScript error "TypeError: document.getElementById(...) is null". http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/skins/common/images/button_bold.png redirects me to http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page. Maybe you still get some content, maybe cache, from 108.162.199.131? Or is the real site now on that IP? Remember, I have had to restart my computer; most of my cache is gone and I'm just seeing the real page.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:48, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::::: I fixed the images. I did that stupidly through the htaccess page. I've got to figure a better solution for what I'm trying to do to solve another problem. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 21:58, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::::::Looks great right now. So that DNS glitch seems to be the most worse problem right now.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:08, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::::::: I think DNS is still propagating with the updates from yesterday. Not every one has the correct information yet... those two DNS IPs are the load balancers, I believe. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 22:09, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::::::::Strange "load balancers", but it's working now on both IPs. Many thanks again for your hard work, you must have invested many hours on this migration. Let's see tomorrow if other users will be able to find this site again.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:30, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

== Please remove subaddressing from my account email [[user:tbc]] ==

Hi Jeff,

I requested a password reset, but I forgot that my account still has an old email registered: timc+explainxkcd@divide.net. My ISP, pcisys.net née divide.net, disabled subaddressing during an email upgrade earlier this year. If you will update that email to remove the plus sign so my account email is timc@divide.net, I will be able to reset my password. I was logged in from my iPad to write on the [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#Please_remove_subaddressing_from_my_account_email_user:tbc|community portal]] page, but since I needed my password, which I have forgotten, to change it, I got stuck. – ''[[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 30 Oct 2013''
: You should be good to go now. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:07, 31 October 2013 (UTC)
:: I am. Thank you! – ''[[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 05:32, 8 November 2013 (UTC)''

== Forbidden ==

You don't have permission to access /wiki/ ([http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/ http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/]) on this server. I think a simple redirect would be a better solution.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:45, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
: Yup, that's on my list to work on. If you are knowledgable about htaccess files, feel free to send me an email. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 13:48, 5 November 2013 (UTC)
::The first great point is: The error doesn't show the server, version, etc... A hacker can't figure what exploits are available.
::At my local test installation (Apache, Linux) it's covered by the general server configuration. And each folder simply does contain a proper "index.php" file from mediawiki doing the correct redirects.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:19, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

== Re: the latest puzzle ==

I don't know how to contribute in the discussion section on the page, so I'm throwing ideas at you.

Just quick thoughts.
I feel like Cpl klinger and the water type kingler is too solid a connection to ignore even though I can't really use it.
Kingler was owned in the series by Ash.
Ash is a three letter word and the last three letters of the phrase monstermash.
Monsterm=8 letters so the first block ash=3 letters in the second block.
Monsterm is about the monster.com thing, therefore purloined. It's a double reference, the .co has been purloined from the purloined website.
Then blastoise -3, or rather blastois3 - 3 (mocking the common password meme of replacing letters with numbers)
So the last password, which is super hard to guess and well chosen even with the clue is, blastoisash? It's a feasibly memorable password that would not be quickly forgotten by a pokemon fan while still being hard to guess.
Can you think of a way to check it? Maybe go into the old command line xkcd and try it as a password?

Talk:1266: Halting Problem

2013-09-18T12:30:15Z

Tbc: You keep using that phrase, but it doesn't mean what you think it means.

I wrote an explanation for the body of the comics, but I believe there are aspects of the title I'm still missing, so I left the incomplete tag in place. [[User:Shachar|Shachar]] ([[User talk:Shachar|talk]]) 07:52, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

Isn't google already running applications designed to continue running even if some of nodes they run on have a fatal hardware failure? Also, even if the claim would be true in "practical" sense, it would not solve the problem, because as you said, the stopping would be because of reasons external to the actual program. In other words, program running on turing machine will never stop by hardware failure, because turing machine BY DEFINITION doesn't have any. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 08:57, 18 September 2013 (UTC)
:Remembered this is wiki and added it to the actual explanation :-) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:10, 18 September 2013 (UTC)
:Several systems are running with redundant nodes. They will not run forever. They are in for example extremely unlikely to outlive the sun. [[Special:Contributions/85.19.71.131|85.19.71.131]] 11:29, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

"For all practical purposes, this is the correct solution"
:No, it's not. A very practical purpose would be "have my OS kill processes that won't stop". Other one would be "reject installing apps that contain algorithms that don't halt". If the OS assumes "every app will eventually halt" it would kill every process and reject every app. [[User:Osias|Osias]] ([[User talk:Osias|talk]]) 12:15, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

Google "halting problem" and do a little reeding so you are in the same mindset as Randall. This is a famous computer science problem. You aren't talking about the same thing in comments above. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 12:30, 18 September 2013 (UTC)''

Talk:1257: Monster

2013-08-28T13:23:22Z

Tbc: previous edit wikified links, this one fixes a typo in a link

My first contribution, woo! I'm writing the transcript now. If there's an official one, please throw mine out and let me know :) [[User:Matega|Matega]] ([[User talk:Matega|talk]]) 06:13, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

I think it's done. Is it okay to refer to person 2 as Cueball and person 4 as Ponytail? As far as I know, Cueball is identified by not wearing anything... [[User:Matega|Matega]] ([[User talk:Matega|talk]]) 06:28, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
:Official transcripts tend to be days behind us. And yeah, we usually follow that naming convention for characters. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:49, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
This comic should be based on Pacific Rim(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1663662/) and the dictionary of numbers(http://blog.xkcd.com/2013/05/15/dictionary-of-numbers/) [[User:Tianshuo|Tianshuo]] ([[User talk:Tianshuo|talk]]) 08:07, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
: I've not seen Pacific Rim so I may be missing something obvious, but why? I don't see any obvious references to either. It's certainly in someways a continuation of the dictionary of numbers, but it looks at it from the other direction as a too often used cliche. [[Special:Contributions/131.123.61.160|131.123.61.160]] 10:51, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

I like to relate this to [[1047: Approximations]] and [[526: Converting to Metric]] [[User:Theo|Theo]] ([[User talk:Theo|talk]]) 12:43, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
:Your links appear to be broken [[Special:Contributions/131.123.61.160|131.123.61.160]] 12:48, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1257: Monster

2013-08-28T13:21:19Z

Tbc:

My first contribution, woo! I'm writing the transcript now. If there's an official one, please throw mine out and let me know :) [[User:Matega|Matega]] ([[User talk:Matega|talk]]) 06:13, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

I think it's done. Is it okay to refer to person 2 as Cueball and person 4 as Ponytail? As far as I know, Cueball is identified by not wearing anything... [[User:Matega|Matega]] ([[User talk:Matega|talk]]) 06:28, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
:Official transcripts tend to be days behind us. And yeah, we usually follow that naming convention for characters. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:49, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
This comic should be based on Pacific Rim(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1663662/) and the dictionary of numbers(http://blog.xkcd.com/2013/05/15/dictionary-of-numbers/) [[User:Tianshuo|Tianshuo]] ([[User talk:Tianshuo|talk]]) 08:07, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
: I've not seen Pacific Rim so I may be missing something obvious, but why? I don't see any obvious references to either. It's certainly in someways a continuation of the dictionary of numbers, but it looks at it from the other direction as a too often used cliche. [[Special:Contributions/131.123.61.160|131.123.61.160]] 10:51, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

I like to relate this to [[1047: Approximations]] and [[526:_ onverting to Metric]] [[User:Theo|Theo]] ([[User talk:Theo|talk]]) 12:43, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
:Your links appear to be broken [[Special:Contributions/131.123.61.160|131.123.61.160]] 12:48, 28 August 2013 (UTC)