explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3250: Flag Design

2026-05-28T16:25:57Z

Velocifyer:

Could there possibly be a reference to New Zealand’s laser kiwi flag? [[Special:Contributions/2A02:6B6F:E226:B00:2D7E:D360:EEA6:2104|2A02:6B6F:E226:B00:2D7E:D360:EEA6:2104]] 22:01, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

Oooh, I like a good Flag comic. Not been one for a while, and I used to use one of them as my xkcd fora avatar. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 22:09, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

what is that animal [[User:Mathmaster|Mathmaster]] ([[User talk:Mathmaster|talk]]) 22:22, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

The inner flag doesn't have its own inner flag... [[User:AoPS is superior|AoPS is superior]] ([[User talk:AoPS is superior|talk]]) 22:43, 25 May 2026 (UTC)
:Which suggests to me is that ''this'' flag is of one nation/entity that incorporates the national flag of another nation (often done... see Hawaii's flag). It only says "National flag" (which, as it happens, has many identical features, just not all), rather than "''this''' nation's national flag", so it needn's necessarily be "The People's Republic of Drosteland" being totally self-referential through infinite recursion. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 23:38, 25 May 2026 (UTC)
:Was I the only one who was disappointed that the inner flag doesn’t have ''different'' strips torn off than the outer flag? [[User:Dúthomhas|Dúthomhas]] ([[User talk:Dúthomhas|talk]]) 16:25, 26 May 2026 (UTC)
:It's just someone who took the [[878|second rule of model train layouts]] seriously. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:A62:5C9:AC01:C7BE:4061:F033:C5C7|2001:A62:5C9:AC01:C7BE:4061:F033:C5C7]] 18:38, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

Isn't the "tribute to topology" a half-turn to make the flag one-sided (Möbius strip)? [[Special:Contributions/130.216.50.126|130.216.50.126]] 00:54, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

Wifi transmitter? it looks liek the contactless icon for cards so i was thinking it'd at least work in that NFC-adjacent way, which needs no power source. [[Special:Contributions/193.61.208.1|193.61.208.1]] 00:56, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

The state flags of Costa Rica, Colombia, and Haiti, and the national flags of El Salvador and Ecuador have themselves on the flag, via the state seals [[Special:Contributions/104.58.95.236|104.58.95.236]] 01:27, 26 May 2026 (UTC)
: Also Bolivia, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela [[User:AdmiralMemo|Admiral Memo]] ([[User talk:AdmiralMemo|talk]])

I think the customize option doesn't refer to customizing the flag itself, but customizing privacy options for the data it collects. It is similar to the options shown on a website when it asks about using cookies. [[User:An architect|An Architect]] ([[User talk:An architect|talk]]) 02:24, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

Is 'beige background' a reference to the 'color of the universe' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_latte ? That struck me especially given the mention of stars [[Special:Contributions/202.80.150.54|202.80.150.54]] 02:56, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

Why is one of the little tear off tabs missing the full phone number? [[Special:Contributions/2401:D005:D402:7A00:A657:9BBB:CD:EF55|2401:D005:D402:7A00:A657:9BBB:CD:EF55]] 03:57, 26 May 2026 (UTC)
: It's a citizenship test - if you take that one, we don't want you. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:32, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

"Customize" does not mean "changing the colour/design of the flag". It is one of the two most common buttons in GDPR (supposedly-) compliant cookie warnings, which allows you to access a very long list of uses to manually give consent to, as well as a link to access a very long list of data vendors to also tweak who you do not mind getting your data. --[[Special:Contributions/94.73.49.13|94.73.49.13]]

Could the rounded corners be a reference to this? https://www.androidpolice.com/2012/05/04/the-samsung-galaxy-s-iii-the-first-smartphone-designed-entirely-by-lawyers/

Can anyone add an explaination of "Every place has a local cryptid"? --[[Special:Contributions/85.159.196.177|85.159.196.177]] 10:49, 26 May 2026 (UTC)
: Well it's something of an exaggeration, but certainly {{w|List_of_cryptids#List|''many'' places do have a cryptid.}} If you allow mythological/folkloric beasts that might once have been considered cryptids (albeit the word itself might not have been coined), then there are many more, many of which do appear on flags. Randall is suggesting that they're so commonplace that they're less interesting than ''real'' animals that we can't identify the representations of. Perhaps even to the extent of advocating that such cases should be deliberately created. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:11, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

The flag of Ukraine has its own in there infinite times in infinite locations and sizes along the centre line {{unsigned ip|115.70.50.83|10:51, 26 May 2026 (UTC)}}

Perhaps the Chromaticity Diagram is meant to render the flag impossible to make. Any pigment used to produce the flag will occupy a point on the diagram, and only points within a polygon defined by those pigments' vertexes could be accurately reproduced by mixing. So the edges would be approximations of the representative colors, making the diagram not "true." {{unsigned ip|2600:387:c:6e14::1|14:48, 26 May 2026 (UTC)}}

"Text on flags is considered bad" - weeeell.... Flags with text are not particularly usual in the "pure symbology" variation of vexilology, given that easy (and potentially illiterate) recognition/reproduction is one thing for which flags were developed (as opposed to, for example, modern day placards with a 'message' of some kind, decorated/illustrated or otherwise). But if the flag contains a full 'coat of arms' in its design then it likely (along with the heraldic 'supporters') has the "motto ribbon" with text set upon it, at its most thorough rendering. The four trigrams on the S. Korean flag might be considered 'text' to some, and there are other flags of the region that contain local glyphs. A number of Islamic country flags have actual arabic text featured on them (yes, to some, such a flag ''might'' be considered "bad", but for different reasons). The "Don't step on me" snake-flag also (and, again, some might consider its use bad, but only because they consider its ''users'' to typically be 'bad', politically-speaking, and it's getting to be more a 'banner' than a flag, anyway). I don't expect that original bald statement to last much longer, but I'm not sure how much I could do to improve it. Making the flag (apparently) interactive seems to be the big issue, IMO, adding label and button widgets (dynamic or otherwise) ''and'' for GDPR-like purposes is the thing. Text, or any kind of more complex glyph, probably should be avoided in a properly designed symbolic flag, but that doesn't mean that one cannot have a flag with (say) "15th <MY TOWN> Cub Scouts" written around/beneath the scouting symbol as a parading banner, alongside the Union Flag which lacks text but has (if anything) stricter positioning of its various more simple coloured swathes and field in order to be correct (and not perhaps even upside-down). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.231.190|82.132.231.190]] 16:37, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

The island looks like Guernsey/ [[Special:Contributions/86.146.156.232|86.146.156.232]] 07:43, 27 May 2026 (UTC)

I dare say the "generic island" concept refers to the European currency "Euro". When the bills were designed, there were supposed to be pictures of European bridges on them, but the commitee could not agree on which specific bridges to choose (the discussion probably going somewhat like "But your Zapatonian bridges are ugly, let's take our famous "Bridge of the 30th February!"). In the end, they put generic drawings of fictitious bridges on them. Because, you know, that's how emotional bonding works. --[[Special:Contributions/2A02:8108:4C96:9700:14A2:B1A0:4439:D1|2A02:8108:4C96:9700:14A2:B1A0:4439:D1]] 08:09, 27 May 2026 (UTC)
: Not quite true. They were always meant to be generic representations of architectural styles* - there was no disagreement over real bridges to be included. The designer was later found to have based the winning designs on actual bridges, so these were then amended to 'genericise' them.
:(* It ''is'' true that this theme was chosen to avoid potentially contentious things like historical figures which had typically appeared on pre-euro banknotes.) [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:39, 27 May 2026 (UTC)

This is in stark contrast with the design here, where the flag might get more and more tattered with time by design.
Fringing a flag can actually increase its resistance to wind damage (though making it out of tearable material probably isn't going to help). [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:43, 27 May 2026 (UTC)

The flag in here does not contain itself recursively. I think that this is caused by the flag previusly not having it and then the new flag having the previus flag, meaning that every generation of flag will have one more level of recursion.
[[User:Velocifyer|Velocifyer]] ([[User talk:Velocifyer|talk]]) 16:25, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3100: Alert Sound

2026-05-25T11:56:27Z

Velocifyer:

https://www.amazon.com/Funny-Pranks-Annoying-Noise-Maker/dp/B08KG6XHN1

The reviews are hilarious. [[Special:Contributions/47.248.235.170|47.248.235.170]] 21:35, 9 June 2025 (UTC)Pat
:Damn, someone beat me to it. If it didn't exist I was gonna make one and call it the "Randall 3100" aka "Black Hat 3100." [[Special:Contributions/70.115.234.146|70.115.234.146]] 23:14, 9 June 2025 (UTC)
:I think the original may be the Annoyatron, from Thinkgeek. I find references from 2007. [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 23:35, 9 June 2025 (UTC)

Most smoke alarms are approximately 3100 Hz (the comic number). I wonder if this comic is a reference to the annoying low battery chirps from smoke alarms that can be difficult to locate. [[Special:Contributions/2A09:BAC3:6227:1232:0:0:1D0:B9|2A09:BAC3:6227:1232:0:0:1D0:B9]] 00:49, 10 June 2025 (UTC)
:Smoke alarms are supposed to be a lifesaving device, so WHY the hell to they chirp at such a wide interval?! If it was once every 10 seconds at least you'd be able to tell where it was coming from. And it gets even worse if you're in a public or apartment building with over a dozen of them. [[Special:Contributions/24.177.125.170|24.177.125.170]] 06:51, 10 June 2025 (UTC)
::But chirping that regularly would deplete the remaining battery much more quickly, potentially leaving the device dead before anyone was around to hear it.[[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:21, 12 June 2025 (UTC)
::Public buildings generally don’t use smoke alarms as they instead have fire alarm systems, and the smoke detectors are powered by the FACP, not batteries. Any problems in the smoke detectors will be reported by the FACP, not random chirping throughout the building. Apartments often have smoke alarms, but they are arranged to only sound in a single unit, so this won’t be a problem. [[Special:Contributions/2A09:BAC3:6289:1250:0:0:1D3:CC|2A09:BAC3:6289:1250:0:0:1D3:CC]] 22:09, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

Devices like this but employing high frequency chirps have been around for at decades, notably from the specialty police and military supplier Shomer-Tec [[Special:Contributions/71.36.121.121|71.36.121.121]] 03:44, 10 June 2025 (UTC)

Could a somewhat ‘living’ well dug on the ground the second best revenge in the joke? [[User:物灵|物灵]] ([[User talk:物灵|talk]]) 10:19, 10 June 2025 (UTC)
:Ni shi zhongguoren ma? Wo shi meiguoren, but I think I misread "living well" the same way as you did. "well" as in "好", not "井". I was imagining some kind of horrifying well made out of meat. [[Special:Contributions/205.185.98.6|205.185.98.6]] 18:05, 14 June 2025 (UTC)

Is this a reference to a previous XKCD? This feels to me strongly like I've seen something similar before, but I can't recall where. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:5080:185D:FD9E:0:0:931:5001|2A02:5080:185D:FD9E:0:0:931:5001]] 11:19, 10 June 2025 (UTC)
:Maybe you’re thinking of [[1241: Annoying Ringtone Champion]]? [[User:Intara|Intara]] ([[User talk:Intara|talk]]) 12:17, 10 June 2025 (UTC)

Shades of the TellTale Heart. [[Special:Contributions/192.183.232.193|192.183.232.193]]

A few years ago, I found that my laptop computer appeared to be beeping for about a minute every midnight. Somebody suggested to me it could be a smoke detector, but I eliminated that. Finally, I discovered that my weather station base station, which was positioned behind the laptop, had an alarm that had got switched on, default time midnight.--[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23C7:6700:9001:48C1:DEA:EA61:D57|2A00:23C7:6700:9001:48C1:DEA:EA61:D57]] 09:40, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

Alternatively, if it is a audio engineer, you could play a fake mains hum.. [[User:Velocifyer|Velocifyer]] ([[User talk:Velocifyer|talk]]) 11:56, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

1755: Old Days

2026-05-23T10:20:13Z

Velocifyer: /* Explanation */ The tooth fairy IS real.

{{comic
| number = 1755
| date = November 4, 2016
| title = Old Days
| image = old_days.png
| titletext = Lot of drama in those days, including constant efforts to force the "Reflections on Trusting Trust" guy into retirement so we could stop being so paranoid about compilers.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic was followed 3 and a half years later by [[2324: Old Days 2]]. It shows a conversation between (young) [[Cueball]] and (old) [[Hairbun]] about computer programming in the past, specifically {{w|compilers}}. Cueball, having a faint idea of just how difficult and byzantine programming was "in the old days", asks Hairbun to enlighten him on the specifics. Hairbun promptly seizes the opportunity to screw with his head. While her initial agreement that code needed to be compiled for multiple architectures is correct, Hairbun's claims rapidly grow ridiculous.

Hairbun tells Cueball a tall tale about how hard it was back in the '''old days''', making it sound like some of the programming languages used today (C, C++) were written on punch cards and that you had to ship your code in the mail to a computer company ({{w|IBM}} in this case) to compile your code, which would take from four to six weeks. If there was a simple error, you would have to ship it again for another compilation.

This is, at best, a wild exaggeration, but is plausible to those who do not have the knowledge or context to challenge it, similar to a {{w|Snipe hunt}}. In some cases, decks of punched cards ''did'' have to be sent in to mainframe computers for processing, by people who didn't own their own machines. This wasn't generally the province of the computer ''manufacturers'', nor were the shipping times usually on the order of weeks, and professional programmers usually had better access to equipment. This can be contrasted with {{w|Kodak#The Kodak camera|Kodak's first mass-marketed cameras}}, in the 1890s. Owners were expected to send their cameras back to the Kodak company for technicians to take out the exposed film, develop it and print off copies, which would be sent back along with the reloaded camera, to simplify the process of film handling in the relatively new consumer market.

It is clear from Cueball's final ''Wow'' that he falls for it. Hairbun then continues to explain more and more implausible so-called facts from the olden days.

What she says is true in that it was tough and slow to program on punch cards, which were actually used for an extended period of time. However, there is very little in the rest of Hairbun's story that is accurate, except that it was a big deal when the floppy disk was invented. The comment about punching holes in floppy disks is true. However, the nature and purpose of the holes punched this way was dramatically different than in punch cards. 5.25" and 3.5" floppy disks had holes or notches in them to indicate the data capacity and it was common to punch additional holes into cheaper, lower capacity floppy disks to trick the computer into writing more data on them than specified by the manufacturer. With punch cards, on the other hand, the holes themselves encoded the data so punching them was itself the act of programming. It is unclear if this was a coincidence, or intentionally included as a humorous aside to the readers who know the history as a misinterpreted truth in a sea of falsehoods.

In the title text, Hairbun continues her musings on the old compiler days, stating that there was ''a lot of drama in those days''. Specifically she references ''[http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/hh/thompson/trust.html Reflections on Trusting Trust]'' a famous 1984 paper by {{w|UNIX}} co-creator {{w|Ken Thompson}} in which he described a way to hide a virtually undetectable backdoor in the UNIX login code via a second backdoor in the C compiler. Using the technique in his paper, it would be impossible to discover the hacked login by examining the official source code for either the login or the compiler itself. Ken Thompson may have actually included this backdoor in early versions of UNIX, undiscovered. Ken Thompson's paper demonstrated that it was functionally impossible to prove that any piece of software was fully trustworthy.

Hairbun claims that one of the dramas she refers to was that people tried to force Ken Thompson to retire, so everyone could stop being so paranoid about compilers. In reality, any coder who created the first version of a compiler (or a similar critical component) could inject a similar backdoor into software, so it would be false safety. Even if no one else had thought of this, Thompson's paper was there for any future hacker to see. However, the problem was (claimed to be) solved in {{w|David A. Wheeler}}'s Ph.D dissertation "[http://dwheeler.com/trusting-trust/ Fully Countering Trusting Trust through Diverse Double-Compiling (DDC)]".

==Table of statements==
{|class="wikitable"
!Statements
!Concepts used
!Explanation
|-
|Compile things for different processors
|{{w|Compiler}}s convert code from a human-readable programming language into a binary code that can be directly executed by computer processors.
|Many popular modern programming languages are either interpreted - meaning that they run directly from source code - or compile to an intermediate bytecode, like Java or common Python implementations. Programs written in such languages are portable across processor architectures - x86 to ARM, for example. {{w|Low-level programming language|Lower-level languages}} must take into account the features available on a given processor architecture and operating system. Before that, programs needed to compile directly into the native machine language for each processor they were intended to run on.
Native {{w|Machine code|machine language}} is dependent on processor architecture. Therefore different processors designed around different architectures will not run the same compiled code (unless the architectures are compatible; AMD64 processors will run i386 code natively, for example.) If the same code needs to be run on multiple architectures, it must be compiled separately for each supported architecture.
|-
|To compile your code, you had to mail it to IBM. It took 4-6 weeks.
|Similar to sending Kodachrome slide film to Kodak to be developed.
|While IBM has released multiple compilers, they sent the compiler to you, you did not send the code to them. There is some kind of truth in the statement, though: when programming on mainframes, programmers submitted their source code in the evening for compilation overnight. When there was an error in the code, they did not get a compiled version of it back, and had to resubmit their code. Sometimes there were time slots available for compilation, and in universities, students would have to wait for their next time slot for another try.
|-
|Before garbage collection, data would pile up until the computer got full and you had to throw it away.
|A {{w|Garbage collection (computer science)|garbage collector}} is a piece of the software that cleans the memory of data that is no longer being used in the execution of a program.
|Garbage collection is a form of memory management that generally destroys objects or frees up memory once a program no longer needs it. In languages without automatic memory management, like C, the program itself must keep track of what memory has been allocated, and free it once it is no longer needed. If the program does not, it can end up trying to use more memory than the computer has, and may crash. This was, however, a ''temporary'' condition. In the worst case, a simple reboot will clear the computer's memory.
|-
|Early compilers could handle code fine, but comments had to be written in assembly.
|A {{w|Comment (computer programming)|comment}} in programming is a text written in natural language that is meant to explain some feature of the source code; it is tagged such that the compiler will discard it to save space. {{w|Assembly language|Assembly}} is a low-level programming language.
|Comments, in code, are portions of one or more lines that are ignored by the compiler. They are commonly used to explain or comment on the code itself. But sometimes the comments are written in a certain way to compile documentation automatically from it. Also, when examining the output of compilers it's a common practice to use assembly code annotated with comments containing the source code of the program from which the assembly code was generated.

Hairbun's comment is thus very strange, implying the compilers of the day could only distinguish between comments and code if assembly was used to insert the separating tags.
|-
|C could only be written on punch cards. You had to pick a compact font, or you'd only fit a few characters per card.
|{{w|C (programming language)|C}} is a programming language. A {{w|punch card}} is a early form of storing data; the pattern of holes and non-holes in a paper or cardboard card represented information.
|Punch cards were used through the late 1970s and early 1980s to enter programs and data in COBOL, FORTRAN and other early languages. Punch cards and punch card machines were being replaced by magnetic storage and {{w|text editor|text editors}} by 1972, when C (or C++) was developed. This site demonstrates a card punch and cards: [http://www.masswerk.at/keypunch/ Keypunch].

Hairbun implies that code was not written using keyboards, but by punching out letter and character shapes in the punch cards, and the computer would read keystrokes that way. Simply put, this was never true. Punch cards store characters in binary; there is no font involved and they store up to a fixed number of characters per card (80 characters in the most common format.)
|-
|C++ was big because it supported floppy disks. It still punched holes in them, but it was a start.
|{{w|C++ (programming language)|C++}} is a programming language. A {{w|floppy disk}} is a form of storing data magnetically. It's way more advanced than punch cards (by several orders of magnitude; a card can store about 80 bytes, vs 1,474,560 bytes of a floppy disk), but it's still obsolete compared to modern storage.
|Hairbun says that the improvement from C to C++ was that C++ finally "supported floppy disks", but then it turns out that in C++ the floppy disks were just used instead of punch cards. So the programming was to make holes in floppy disks rather than punch cards. This would of course not be an improvement as floppy disks store information magnetically, as opposed to physically, as punch cards do. This is likely a play on the concept of punching holes in 5.25" floppy disks to double their storage (see {{w|Double-sided disk}}), or it can also be a reference to the "index hole" of 5.25" floppy disks (see {{w|Floppy_disk#Design|Floppy disk Design}} and the tiny hole at the right of the big central hole in this [https://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/roger.broughton/museum/floppys/images/201041b.jpg image]). A notch in the side of 5.25" floppy disks indicates when the disk could be written. Though many floppy disks were intended to have only a single side with data, many people used a hole punch to notch the opposite side of the disk, allowing a drive to write data to the other side of the disk in a single sided drive. 5.25" floppies also featured a tiny "index hole" near the central hole of the disk.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Hairbun are standing together and Cueball is talking to her.]
:Cueball: What were things like in the old days?
:Cueball: I hear that you had to ... compile things for different processors?
:Hairbun: Yeah

:[Same setting in a slimmer panel, now Hairbun is replying.]
:Hairbun: To compile your code, you had to mail it to IBM.
:Hairbun: It took 4-6 weeks.

:[Close-up of Hairbun from the waist up.]
:Hairbun: Before garbage collection, data would pile up until the computer got full and you had to throw it away.

:[Same setting as in the first panel with Hairbun gesturing toward Cueball raising one hand palm up.]
:Hairbun: Early compilers could handle code fine, but comments had to be written in assembly.

:[In a frame-less panel Hairbun is seen from the front, with both arms out to the side with both hands held palm up.]
:Hairbun: '''C''' could only be written on punch cards.You had to pick a compact font, or you'd only fit a few characters per card.

:[Exactly the same setting as the first panel, but with Hairbun doing the talking.]
:Hairbun: '''C++''' was big because it supported floppy disks.
:Hairbun: It still punched holes in them, but it was a start.
:Cueball: Wow.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Old Days]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Old Days]]

User:FaviFake

2026-05-22T12:49:58Z

Velocifyer: Move the question that I put in the wrong spot.

Score: {{#cscore:FaviFake|score}} ({{#cscore:FaviFake|pages}} pages edited and {{#cscore:FaviFake|changes}} total edits)

{{notice|<big>Since Randall answered my latest questions, I sent him another list of questions, but he hasn't replied as of 24/1/26</big>}}
{{notice|<big>I don't think he'll ever reply again :(</big>}}
'''Hey everyone! I got in touch with [[Randall Munroe]] himself!! Here's what you need to know.'''

<big>{{TOC}}</big>I emailed him to ask for the official release date of [[36: Scientists]] (see [[36: Scientists#Trivia|the trivia for more info]]). Surprisingly, he got back to me! You can read the full conversation below. I'll keep you posted if I receive more messages! You can [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:FaviFake&action=watch add this page to your watchlist] to keep track of it. I haven't received his explicit permission to feature his messages in full, so initially i hid his messages. I've now published the contents of his emails, since he hasn't responded to my request to make them public. My emails have not been altered, but in the copy-pasting, links have been removed. These emails were all hyperlinked, I now added back only a few links.

In his second email, Randall expressed willingness to answer a few more questions, particularly simpler, administrative questions (like the one he answered already), but kindly explained he prefers to avoid too much meta-commentary. Because I didn't want to come up with every question and I wanted to hear everyone, I'll try to send him some that you want, if he agrees to receiving more! You can [[#Your suggestions! What should I ask next?|add your suggestions here!]].

Even if he doesn't answer all these questions, we could also use this page for other things. I'm also planning to create a page on this wiki containing '''everything''' we don't know about xkcd, using these questions. '''So, keep posting your questions!''' In the future, this could become:

*A list of everything we can research extremely in-depth, if someone wants to help the wiki that way.

*A list of quick questions to ask him when someone meets him in person, at a book tour for example.

*A page for people who want to read about things we don't know and is interested in xkcd mysteries.

'''<big><big>  [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title{{=}}User:FaviFake&action{{=}}edit&section{{=}}2 CLICK HERE TO ADD NEW QUESTION''' (scroll to bottom)]
</big></big>

==Email thread==
<div class="plainlinks">
{| class="wikitable"
!Question from the Explain xkcd wiki regarding one of your comics
|-
|Email thread - 4 messages — Here's a [https://imgur.com/a/2StTkvJ screenshot of one of the emails], if you need some sort of proof.
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|'''FaviFake''' <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
!14 February 2025 at 19:16 CET
|-
| colspan="2" |To: Randall Munroe <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |

Hi,
I'm an editor at explainxkcd.com, which you probably know is the wiki that explains all your comics and provides as much info as possible on them.

In pursuit of that goal, we have always had an unsolved mystery only you can solve. Comic [[36: Scientists]] was originally posted as a duplicate of comic [[10: Pi Equals]]. You corrected this sometime between April 23, 2006 and July 5, 2006 , when the current version showed up in the web archive (see the two links). The comic looks like one of your old drawings.

So, explain xkcd thinks that when you realized your mistake (over three months after it was originally posted), you probably found an old unused drawing and posted it, to not make it stand out compared to the other comics from that time. This all means we have no date for this comic, since it could've been posted anytime between the two dates mentioned above. You can read more about this here. (If you're interested, we have a more comprehensive history of your webcomic here.)

Could you kindly help us figure this out by checking when you released comic #[[36]], so we can add an official date to it? This is one of the only official comics which we don't know the date of.

Kind regards, FaviFake editor @ explain xkcd
|}
''[In the copy-pasting, links have been removed. These emails were all hyperlinked, I now added back only a few links.]''
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Randall Munroe''' [Randall's email redacted]
!14 February 2025 at 22:20 CET
|-
| colspan="2" |To: FaviFake <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |
FaviFake,

I had totally forgotten about this! Checking my logs, I believe I swapped it in on April 28th.

Thank you for your tireless documentation effort :)

Warmest wishes, Randall
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|'''FaviFake''' <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
!15 February 2025 at 17:39 CET
|-
| colspan="2" |To: Randall Munroe <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |Hello Randall,

Thank you so much for your response!! I'm certain the rest of the community will be thrilled to have an official answer.

Unfortunately, this is by far not the only "unsolved mystery" we have encountered in our research of your comic. Because we don't get to talk to you very often, I'd like to ask you if you can answer more of our many questions, if you're up for it. Of course, I do not want to annoy you or waste your time, so please let me know if this is something you'd enjoy! I will try to keep the questions entertaining for you.

Kind regards, FaviFake
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Randall Munroe''' <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
!17 February 2025 at 19:02 CET
|-
| colspan="2" |To: FaviFake <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |FaviFake,

You're welcome to send over questions, although I can't promise any answers so please don't put too much time into it!

I've always tried to resist the temptation to do too much explaining or meta-commentary in general, partly because once you start breaking the fourth wall, it can be hard to stop, and partly because I've found those boundaries are helpful for keeping me focused.

But if you want to send over some of your questions, I can see if there are at least a few of them that I can answer—at least some of the simpler, more administrative ones.

And seriously, my heartfelt thanks to you and everyone there. It's such a privilege to make something that people think is worth so much effort to explain <3

—Randall
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|'''FaviFake''' <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
!20 February 2025 at 18:07
|-
| colspan="2" |To: Randall Munroe <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |Randall,

Thank you for the kind words!! I really appreciate the offer. Next time, I'm thinking of asking the community for other simple and administrative questions, because I'm sure I don't represent everyone.

(Also, would it be okay to feature your responses on our wiki?)

I had drafted the paragraphs below in advance and I'm not sure if they fall outside the boundaries you mentioned, but I figured I’d ask anyway since this is a topic the other editors are very curious about. Of course, no worries if you’d rather not get into the details! We have plenty of simpler questions we can't answer ourselves. Here you go:

On June 17, 2009, you released [[Conservation]] (along with IBM's accompanying blog post), the first comic created with IBM for their "A Smarter Planet" blog. You used the filename conservation.png, as usual. On August 11, 2009, the second comic of the series, [[Prescriptions]], was released (with its blog post), but this time you used an unusual filename: ibm_hc_1.png.

We initially believed these were the only comics you created, mainly because they were the only ones featured on your page xkcd.com/asmarterplanet, but a little over a month ago we discovered two additional never-before-seen comics by experimenting with the image URLs for [[ibm_hc_2]].png and [[ibm_hc_3]].png. We believe you created these two comics as part of the IBM partnership, but for some reason they were never released publicly and were only accessible from imgs.xkcd.com. (Interestingly enough, they are still available!)

Any additional info you can give us would help a ton! For example: their titles, when they were drawn or supposed to be released, or why they were never officially published. Thank you!

—FaviFake
|}

''I wanted to also hear what ''you'' wanted to ask! Randall asked for simpler, administrative questions (like the one he answered), and not ones that required too much explaining. Please add your suggestions to the section below! If you have thoughts, [[User talk:FaviFake#Contacting Randall Munroe|send them to me on my talk page]]!''

''Since I still hadn't heard back, I sent another email with a few of the quickest and smaller questions below.]''

{| class="wikitable"
|'''FaviFake''' <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
!13 March 2025 at 19:40
|-
| colspan="2" |To: Randall Munroe <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |Hello Randall,

Hope you're doing well! I'm just following up since it’s been a little while.

In the meantime, we gathered some simpler and more administrative questions from the community—ones that might be easier to answer than the previous one. Below are just a few of them—let me know if you'd be up for answering any!

*When did you release [[Blue Eyes]]: The Hardest Login Puzzle in the World? This is one of the comics that don't have a confirmed release date.

*In comic [[1572: xkcd Survey]], you published a Google Form and said that "everyone's responses will be posted [...] to create an interesting data set for people to play with". However, due to the large number of responses, you encountered technical problems and didn't release the results. Could you confirm the reason for the delay and whether we should expect to see the responses in the future?

*Up until comic #[[1674]], you provided official transcripts for new comics in the JSON interface. In 2016, you stopped. Could you explain why?

*What was/is the purpose of pages such as xkcd.com/yes, xkcd.com/burlap, xkcd.com/dot, and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#List_of_pages others]?

Thanks again for your time, and no worries if you’re too busy! We truly appreciate any insights you can share.

Kind regards, FaviFake
|}
Four months after my last email, '''HE REPLIED!'''
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Randall Munroe''' <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
! 9 July 2025 at 13:34
|-
| colspan="2" |To: FaviFake <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |
FaviFake,

Sorry for the extremely long delay here, but I wanted to send you replies to some of these! <blockquote>In the meantime, we gathered some simpler and more administrative questions from the community—ones that might be easier to answer than the previous one. Below are just a few of them—let me know if you'd be up for answering any!
<blockquote><div style="color:#500050;">On June 17, 2009, you released [[Conservation]] (along with IBM's accompanying blog post), the first comic created with IBM for their "A Smarter Planet" blog. You used the filename conservation.png, as usual. On August 11, 2009, the second comic of the series, [[Prescriptions]], was released (with its blog post), but this time you used an unusual filename: ibm_hc_1.png.

We initially believed these were the only comics you created, mainly because they were the only ones featured on your page xkcd.com/asmarterplanet, but a little over a month ago we discovered two additional never-before-seen comics by experimenting with the image URLs for [[ibm_hc_2]].png and [[ibm_hc_3]].png. We believe you created these two comics as part of the IBM partnership, but for some reason they were never released publicly and were only accessible from imgs.xkcd.com. (Interestingly enough, they are still available!)</div>
</blockquote></blockquote>

I had forgotten about these! These were other draft comics I drew for the project, and I put them in that folder to transfer them, but IIRC the project involved a lot of organizational moving parts, and for administrative reasons those comics didn't end up getting published. I believe I never gave them titles.<blockquote>
* When did you release Blue Eyes: The Hardest Login Puzzle in the World? This is one of the comics that don't have a confirmed release date.
</blockquote>Unfortunately, I don't have an easy way to answer that one!<blockquote>
* In comic [[1572: xkcd Survey]], you published a Google Form and said that "everyone's responses will be posted [...] to create an interesting data set for people to play with". However, due to the large number of responses, you encountered technical problems and didn't release the results. Could you confirm the reason for the delay and whether we should expect to see the responses in the future?
</blockquote>Haha, I got a fun message from the Google Forms administrators that day. Apparently they were in the middle of updating to a new system on the day I posted the comic, and I provided an extremely unexpected—and profoundly unwelcome—load test. But they were very nice about it and we eventually managed to recover most of the data. 
I haven't found a way to release it that I'm comfortable with. I tried to ask about frivolous stuff that wouldn't provide easy fodder for shoddy social science, but I found that for almost any correlation pair in the dataset, you could immediately project a half dozen intriguing, serious, and contradictory theories onto the data. People were incredibly thoughtful and detailed in their responses to my silly questions, which made me want to be very careful with how I used their data. I still might find a way to release selections from it, because it's a fascinating dataset, but only if I'm confident that I'm not enabling bad science or betraying anyone's trust.<blockquote>
* Up until comic #1674, you provided official transcripts for new comics in the JSON interface. In 2016, you stopped. Could you explain why?
</blockquote>The transcripts were initially submitted by readers through Ryan North's OhNoRobot project, moderated and edited by some friends of mine through a custom system they set up. They eventually ended up often simply writing the transcripts themselves. It ended up being a lot of work to ask of volunteers, and eventually infrastructure updates were needed while the people involved were busy with other things, so I let them stop updating rather than trying to recruit more people. 
I'd love to start offering transcripts again, and hope to do so at some point soon, hopefully in a way that indicates they're from a third party without creating too much spam potential. As I'm sure you know from doing transcripts on the wiki, translating a comic to text can involve a lot of additional creative decisions—it's a different medium, after all!—so I want to make them available for accessibility while ideally clarifying that they're written from the point of view of a reader, to avoid making readers feel like they NEED to read both versions to see everything that I meant to include!<blockquote>
* What was/is the purpose of pages such as [https://xkcd.com/yes xkcd.com/yes], [https://xkcd.com/burlap xkcd.com/burlap], [https://xkcd.com/dot xkcd.com/dot], and [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#List of pages|others]]?
</blockquote>Most of those were inside jokes sent to friends, but [https://xkcd.com/dot xkcd.com/dot] is an improvised migraine test! Since I was a kid, I've occasionally gotten the type of migraine that starts with blind spots in the vision. They can be hard to tell apart from sun glare at first, but I found I could tell whether I was having one by looking at a blinking dot to see if it disappeared—which would tell me I needed to take painkillers ASAP. I made that gif and put it on my website for easy access from wherever I was at the time. Thankfully, the migraines have gotten less frequent over the years, but I still have to use that page occasionally.

I hope that's helpful!

Best wishes, Randall
|}

I replied:
{| class="wikitable"
|'''FaviFake''' <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
!3 September 2025 at 11:13
|-
| colspan="2" |To: Randall Munroe <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |Randall,

Thanks so much for responding to these! We've already added them to the wiki. I also apologise for taking so long to reply; I seem to be exceptionally skilled at involuntary procrastination.

You didn’t explicitly say you wanted more questions, but I'll risk asking anyway :)

1. Before xkcd.com, you posted your comics on LiveJournal. When you launched xkcd.com, you uploaded the backlog of 41 comics from LiveJournal in a seemingly random order. Was there a reason for this? For example, did you intentionally assign number 7 to your first comic, Girl sleeping, and number 1 to your fifth comic, Barrel - Part 1?

2. Why was the xkcd warning removed? Four hours after comic Earth Temperature Timeline was released, the warning and footnote disappeared. A new footnote appeared three weeks later, but the warning never came back. We speculated it was related to the comic's sudden surge in popularity, but we're not sure why it wasn't reinstated.

3. The old LiveJournal caption for comic Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey mentioned other comics in the series. Unfortunately, the image and link to the "full series" weren’t archived. Is there more to this comic than what’s now available, or was the LiveJournal version simply an excerpt?

4. Three years ago, Matthew Smoot said that the xkcd store was "closed indefinitely due to supply chain issues", but recently it was announced that it will be opening soon! What happened?

Thank you again for your time and generosity!

Kind regards, FaviFake
|}

I'll update this page if he responds.

==Your suggestions! What should I ask next?==
Remember, he said only simple questions. I'm assuming he'd like questions similar to the ones he replied to (short, sweet, no explaining needed), or questions that shouldn't require him to explain his comic too much. '''What's something relatively important that we don't know and that only Randall can answer?'''{{notice|<big>I don't think he'll ever reply again :(</big>}}

{{Done}}'''[[ibm_hc_2]] and [[ibm_hc_3]] (newly-discovered comics) and comic [[36: Scientists]]''' --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:34, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
:I asked this one already, because I assume it's the most important one right now. You can [[#Email thread|see my question above]].

{{Done}} '''Why were the first comics [[LiveJournal|uploaded seemingly at random]]? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:51, 22 February 2025 (UTC)
:Initially, randall posted his comics to LiveJournal ([[LiveJournal|learn more here]]). The new xkcd website opened on January 1, 2006, and the backlog of 41 comics from LiveJournal from [[1: Barrel - Part 1]] to [[44: Love]] was transferred on the same day, but in a completely different order. The only comic that has the same number on both sites is [[3: Island (sketch)]], while all the other comics were uploaded seemingly at random. Also, only eleven of the original comic titles were reused of the new site, and even among the last eleven comics posted on both sites, only six used the same title.

{{Done}}'''When was [[Blue Eyes]] released? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:01, 23 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:[[xkcd]]'s [[Blue Eyes]] puzzle is a logic puzzle posted around the same time as comic [[169: Words that End in GRY]]. [[Randall]] calls it "The Hardest Logic Puzzle in the World" on its page, but whether it really is the hardest is up to speculation. This is incorrect, as the comic was available long before October 11, 2006. The earliest date we have is [https://web.archive.org/web/20041024201125/http://68.57.186.221:8080/ October 24th, 2004] (see fourth link on the page), and the earliest version of the comic is from [https://web.archive.org/web/20041109034300/http://68.57.186.221:8080/blue_eyes.html November 4th, 2004]. Additionally, both the puzzle [https://xkcd.com/solution.html and the solution] (here's an [https://web.archive.org/web/20061102070433/https://xkcd.com/solution.html earlier version of the solution])were modified and updated several times since its release.

{{Done}}'''What happened to the transcripts in the JSON interface? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:38, 23 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:On the [https://xkcd.com/about/ about] page of xkcd there is a description of where:
Is there an interface for automated systems to access comics and metadata?
:Read more here [[Transcript]]. And on this page there is a [[Transcript#End%20of%20transcripts|description]] about how the json info got messed up after [[1608: Hoverboard]] and how they completely ended after [[1677: Contrails]] which had the transcript of [[1674: Adult]].
:I would like to know if he noticed the messed up order of the transcript and if that was why he choose to end it completely? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:38, 23 February 2025 (UTC)
::This imo is one the best questions we've gotten! Very technical and doesn't require him to explain any of his comics! Thanks [[User:Kynde|Kynde]]! Do you have more questions like this one? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Thanks. I was frustrated about this at some time. Not any other questions right now of this kind. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:54, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Why has there not been any new what if since comet ice? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.44|162.158.41.44]] 17:14, 24 February 2025 (UTC)'''
::Don't really see why we need to ask him this, A. This isn't related to the wiki, and B. They wanted short, administrative questions [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.168|172.71.30.168]] 17:26, 24 February 2025 (UTC)
:::I kinda like this one! A: I think it's partially relevant, we have [[what if? (blog)#Release schedule|and entire section dedicated]] to analysing the release schedule of new articles. B. That's true, but at least it's shorter than most other ones. Not a terrible question imo. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)
::::I feel like the answer would either be unsatisfying, or unsurprising. Releasing too many articles may disincentivize people from buying the books, the YouTube page is better marketing, people aren't asking interesting questions, the increased popularity of the article has led to too many questions being asked and it becomes increasingly unfair to answer one over the other. There's a possible litany of reasons without considering other more personal reasons that Randall may not want to share. Also, (and this is my completely unfair opinion) I personally feel like any question asking "why?" is meta-commentary and out of scope. It also feels like entitlement when you ask why someone isn't giving you even more stuff for free. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.94|172.69.23.94]] 19:25, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:::::Yeah no you're right. Btw, the first part of your answer is great, you should consider adding it to the blog page! (or I can do if you don't mind) [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:47, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
::::::Thank you! I don't mind you adding it, but I also don't want to burden you with it. I'll look the page over and see where it might fit. I appreciate you fielding the brunt of the community in this matter! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.57|172.69.22.57]] 21:16, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:::::::Since you didn't add it, [[what if? (blog)#Sporadic releases|I did]]! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:47, 23 March 2025 (UTC)

:::::::It's because the email that the ''What If?'' suggestions go to is wrong. [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/@bforbrain youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)]) 18:24, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
::::::::Wait what? Please explain, I didn't know about this! What do you mean? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:00, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
:::::::::Try submitting a "What if?" suggestion yourself – you'll get an email from whatever email service you use saying that the email "Doesn't exist". [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/@bforbrain youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)]) 17:35, 24 March 2025 (UTC)
::::::::::Thanks! I didn't know about this. I'll add an incomplete notice. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:41, 24 March 2025 (UTC)

'''Why has the [[Blag]] stopped.? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:11, 26 February 2025 (UTC)
:Seemed like it was a good place to write extra info, but it has been removed from the links on the front page 2023 even though the [https://blog.xkcd.com/ page] still exist.

'''Do you read explainxkcd.com? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.146|172.68.174.146]] 19:01, 27 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:We've probably all wondered: Does he ever read the wiki? if so, there are many directions this could go. Like: Has he ever posted anonymously (this could be asked without necessarily identifying which posts were his)? Ever find a explanation and laugh at how wrong it was? Ever find a explanation that had a funnier interpretation then he intended?
::Discuss it and vote - I doubt that counts as "administrative" but by not referencing any particular comic, we definitely avoid the "questions shouldn't require him to explain his comic more than he has already done." part. Anyway, feel free to reword/add parts/delete parts/hack the question up in whatever way you want. Consider this just me posting the idea for a question, and letting you guys do whatever you want with the idea --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.146|172.68.174.146]] 19:01, 27 February 2025 (UTC)
:::I do not think we should ask this. He has at least once referred to explain xkcd, so he do know of it. But I think that for his own sake, he stays clear of it as best as he can. ;-) -- [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:20, 10 March 2025 (UTC)

{{Done}} '''[[24]]'s original caption claimed to have more to it, but the link isn't archived. Is there more? [[user talk:lett‪herebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 01:23, 4 March 2025 (UTC)'''
::I wonder if he'd want to talk about it, since he's now deleted his LiveJournal reply regarding the broken link. But would be easy to answer if there wasn't more. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:08, 4 March 2025 (UTC)

'''In [[2256: Bad Map Projection: South America]], which eleven islands are representing what I assume are the Philippines and Indonesia? --[[Special:Contributions/104.23.187.145|104.23.187.145]] 13:45, 1 March 2025 (UTC)'''
:Luzon, Samar, Mindanao, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, and New Guinea seem pretty obvious, but what are the other three islands?

'''In [[2951: Bad Map Projection: Exterior Kansas]], assuming you didn't draw the map freehand, what function did you use to convert (actual distance from center point) to (distance from center point in the projection)? --[[Special:Contributions/104.23.187.145|104.23.187.145]] 13:45, 1 March 2025 (UTC)'''
:This information would be helpful for adding more states, territories, countries, and/or landmasses to the map.

'''Does he know that if a=1,b=2,c=3, etc. then x+k+c+d=42?[[User:Thehydraclone|Thehydraclone]] ([[User talk:Thehydraclone|talk]]) 19:49, 2 March 2025 (UTC)'''
:(Answer to life, the universe, and everything)
::[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/xkcd#:~:text=However%2C%20according%20to%20Randall%20himself%2C%20this%20is%20a%20coincidence This might be relevant], if you can find a citation for it...
::Not very important question but very easy to answer and trivial, i like it. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:59, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:::But I think this has already been debated wildly and he has explained why he chose this name extensively, and it seems like it was not for that reason. I find it very interesting though, but it also only works for English alfabet, in Denmark we do not use W when saying the alfabet (although we have it for loan words. We also call it Weekend in Denmark. That is an official Danish word). But the X would thus be one less and the sum 41 ;-) I do realize that he of course would have used the English alfabet, so if he actually looked for this he would also get 42. -- [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:20, 10 March 2025 (UTC)

'''There's a hidden search box in [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]'s source code. --[[User:Bytesizeinfo.com|Bytesizeinfo.com]]'''
:It's commented out, but you can reenable it with your browser's inspect tool, and it still seems to work. (It's in the footer, if you want to try.) Why is it commented out? It seems like a useful tool.
::Interesting! I had noticed it was there on older archives but didn't know it was just commented out. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:08, 4 March 2025 (UTC)

{{Done}}'''What was/is the purpose of https://xkcd.com/yes/ and https://xkcd.com/no/? [[user talk:lett‪herebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 03:32, 5 March 2025 (UTC)'''
::Wait what? I've never seen these pages before! Are there any others? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:30, 8 March 2025 (UTC)
:::When I learnt of them, I tried various others (e.g. ".../maybe"), to no avail. But maybe there's something non-Yes/Noish that goes along with those two, thematically. So far, though, I've not worked out what they might be. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.252|162.158.33.252]] 00:08, 9 March 2025 (UTC)
::::I looked into it! There are other pages, but the xkcd forum link is broken and not archived. (See more info on the two pages, i just created, [[NO]] and [[YES]].) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 12:33, 9 March 2025 (UTC)

{{Done}}'''Are results from the [[xkcd Survey]] ever going to be released? --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.92|172.71.254.92]] 01:53, 9 March 2025 (UTC)'''
:In xkcd.com/[[1572]] there was a survey. Randall said that he would release the data, but it crashed google forms. Is there any way to get it back, and if so, will he finally release it?
::Interesting! I didn't know. Very good question, thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 12:33, 9 March 2025 (UTC)

'''Did you know that the chatroom in [[xkcloud]]; euphoria.io is living and growing under a new domain, leet.nu? [[User:Elaine Roberts|Elaine Roberts]] ([[User talk:Elaine Roberts|talk]]) 19:21, 11 March 2025 (UTC)'''

'''What checkmate did you intend to depict in [[1112: Think Logically]]?''' [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.40|162.158.167.40]] 07:04, 10 March 2025 (UTC)
:We suspect scholar's mate, but there is at least one other possibility, specifically a variant of fool's mate (since Cueball could be moving his pawns towards Knit Cap Guy's king).
::Did he really choose to depict a specific strategy? Is the assumption based on the board pieces at the end, or on the number of moves, or both? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:11, 10 March 2025 (UTC)

'''Is the board setup in [[3045: AlphaMove]] based on playing AlphaMove against a specific chess engine? If so, which one?''' -unsigned!
::Can you elaborate? What's a board setup, what dow e exactly not know? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:14, 11 March 2025 (UTC)
:::Seems to me, it simply means "has that playing position (i.e. the current state) been reached by pitting 'the algorithm' vs. any particular ''genuine'' chess-engine". (Or otherwise. The alternative, presumably, that it was a 'hand-crafted' response on Randall's part... Or possibly a volunteer from amongst his acquaintances, either knowing something of what they'd be pitted against or not.)
:::I suspect the answer will be frightfully unremarkable (if available ''and'' given), but I could also see it being a useful throw-it-in. (Better than [[4: Landscape (sketch)|"why's there a river running through the ocean?"]], anyway ;) ) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.163|141.101.99.163]] 16:49, 11 March 2025 (UTC)
::::Ah gotcha. Doesn't seem interesting imo but is small enough. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:22, 12 March 2025 (UTC)

'''Machine details -- [[User:HyperBirbN3rd|HyperBirbN3rd]]'''
:Is [[Machine]] going to have a finalized state? If so, when?
::Not sure this is easy enough to answer. He'd have to explain his intentions, which i don't think he published --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Does the hexadecimal "pointers" in [[138: Pointers]] mean anything?--[[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 18:07, 29 March 2025 (UTC)'''

'''Why did you rename comic #[[786]]'s image to ''exoplanets_2010.png'' instead of uploading comic #[[1071]]'s image as ''exoplanets_2012.png''?''' --[[User:Winter1760|Winter1760]] ([[User talk:Winter1760|talk]]) 17:11, 5 April 2025 (UTC)
:Is [[2638: Extended NFPA Hazard Diamond]] supposed to represent anything at all? [[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 17:57, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

'''Why were the xkcd [[Forums]] shut down for good? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 07:25, 22 July 2025 (UTC)'''

'''What was/is the purpose of the [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#List of pages|other pages we found]]? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:46, 22 July 2025 (UTC)'''

'''What happened to wiki.xkcd.com'''
:Why is wiki.xkcd.com down? [[User:Velocifyer|Velocifyer]] ([[User talk:Velocifyer|talk]]) 23:17, 21 May 2026 (UTC)


'''<big><big>  [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title{{=}}User:FaviFake&action{{=}}edit&section{{=}}2 CLICK HERE TO ADD NEW QUESTION''' (scroll to bottom)]
</big></big>
----

===Out-of-scope questions===
{{notice|<big><big>These questions are more like interview questions.</big></big> He said he'd answer simple questions. I'm assuming he'd like questions similar to the one he replied to (short, sweet, no explaining needed), or questions that shouldn't require him to explain his comic more than he has already done.}}

'''Why was what if? article ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20161205191559/http://what-if.xkcd.com/153 Peptides] deleted?'' --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:34, 21 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:[[what if? (blog)]] is a blog written by [[Randall]] with entries posted occasionally. On December 5, 2016, the article ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20161205191559/http://what-if.xkcd.com/153 Peptides]'' was published as number {{what if|153|153}}. However, it was [https://web.archive.org/web/20161206171630/http://what-if.xkcd.com/153/ removed the following day] and was replaced by a notice: "''Whoops. This article is still in progress. An early draft was unintentionally posted here thanks to Randall's [http://xkcd.com/1597/ troubled approach to git], and it took a little bit to get everything sorted out and rolled back. Sorry for the mixup!"''. No finished version of the article was ever published, and the URL was later reused for ''{{what if|153|Hide the Atmosphere}}''.
::I this this one is very interesting, but it might not be as administrative and short as Randall wants. He'd need to explain the reason why it wasn't published and why it looks like a complete article, not a "draft". Anyone agree? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:34, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Copy paste from my reply below which I wrote first: "I'm not quite sure he likes questions about things he actually wished to delete... I mean seriously he tried to hide it but we got hold of it anyway?" --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:26, 23 February 2025 (UTC)
::::Yeah you're right, I didn't think about that --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''What happened to [[Five-Minute Comics: Part 4]]? --[[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 17:49, 22 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:A lost xkcd comic. He accidentally posted this instead of [[940]], and then erased all evidence of its existence by redirecting the direct image URL to a notice claiming it was a minor glitch in the universe. I'd get deleting the image outright, but just replacing it with what is essentially a sign to stop looking for it? Kinda weird. Also, how many more of these 5MCs has he made that are potentially lost media?
::I like this one, but I'm not sure if it's as simple as he'd like. He'd need to explain why he created the comic, which he almost never does. But there might be a way to ask it in a way that allows him to reply without revealing too much info. Btw, you seem very active on this wiki, do you have anything else in mind? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:11, 22 February 2025 (UTC)
:::I'm not quite sure he likes questions about things he actually wished to delete... I mean seriously he tried to hide it but we got hold of it anyway? Also we know why he drew these, it was a game he played with family. He just did not mean to post the fourth one. There might be more, but he only posted the three because he could not cope with the cancer of his wife and did not whish to give up his schedule. So as he could not draw three comics fast enough for that week he used these instead. Asking into this would also remind him of his wife's cancer. I vote no to this as an e-mail to Randall! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:24, 23 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Why was [[No One Was Hurt]] replaced? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.71.112|172.68.71.112]] 15:44, 24 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:[[No One Was Hurt]] was a comic that was replaced by Comic 2642, and while it's reasonable to assume that it's probably in response to some... unfortunate irl events, for documentation it would be nice to have an official, confirmed answer
::I'm not sure he'd like it, after all, he deleted it, so he might not want to talk about it more --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Will we get more 5-part sagas? --[[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:44, 23 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:Like [[Choices]], [[The Race]], etc.
:::Not sure about this one, feels like we should be focusing on exclusively wiki data and such, this isn't an interview. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.168|172.71.30.168]] 17:28, 24 February 2025 (UTC)
::::Agree with IP, but it's not the worst question we've gotten. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''What inspired you to make [[Time]]? {{unsigned ip|141.101.109.166}}'''
::Frankly I don't see this one either, see the one above [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.168|172.71.30.168]] 17:26, 24 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Yup, definitely out of scope. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Are there comics you'd like to update in light of recent developments? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.216|172.71.102.216]] 13:52, 25 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:Are there any existing comics you would like to update / sequel in light of recent developments (environmental, political, webtrends, demographic)? :The first thing that comes to mind is that 2024 was the first year above 1.5C over the pre-industrial average. [https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/01/10/0426254/2024-was-the-first-year-above-15c-of-global-warming-scientists-say].
::This is an interview question, not a simple question — read the notice above --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Just wanted to note that some geography comics might be worth asking about [[User:XKCD Teaches Science|XKCD Teaches Science]] ([[User talk:XKCD Teaches Science|talk]]) 03:27, 24 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:I remember browsing pages on this wiki about 6 months ago and noticing that there were many explainations of maps or map like things where editors weren't sure which small islands or small countries since comic drawing is obviously not perfect. I don't remember which comics exactly and don't have time today to investigate, but I figured this observation is worth noting.
::I'm not sure i get what you're saying. What are you suggesting we ask Randall, exactly (if he answers)? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Did they notice?''' -unsigned!
:I noticed that in [[1529: Bracket]] 'Jeff Gordan' was changed to 'Jeff Gordon' but apparently nobody noticed. When was the comic fixed?
:: Who knows! Good catch. This is not the correct page to talk about it, but I have mentioned it in the comic page. You can use the Wayback Machine to check when it was changed [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:56, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

'''Why have you drawn fewer multiple-panel comics recently?''' [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.113|172.70.214.113]] 07:38, 9 March 2025 (UTC)

'''Why are some of the april fools' comics late? - [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.108|172.71.146.108]] 18:55, 22 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:I'm fairly sure we've had this answered already ("things just weren't quite ready/more testing was needed") for some of the more technical ones, in some other place. Whether we can get more detail and for ''every'' not-on-time might be a matter of him having to remember the precise circumstances. And I also would feel uncomfortable if this turned into "why was <random non-April Fool comic> late?". Or early. (When doing Rightpondian book-tours, sometimes surprisingly early, but every now and then it seems he manages to release them from his native Leftpondia even early here in the Rightpondian day.) But this is far too much detail (and far too much expectation), of no importance so long as he continues to average out at three regular comics a week and ''if he wants to'', and ''when he can'', anything a bit more special.
:Consider this a downvote on bothering him with this question, but that's of course only my opinion, in leiu of anything more constructive to add ("What's your favourite cheese..?") [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.190|172.69.79.190]] 19:42, 22 February 2025 (UTC)
::I agree with the second IP on this one! Unless there's a particular comic for which the delay was very important (do you have any in mind?), I don't think this is going to be of much interest to him. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:11, 22 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Why was there no special thing for comic [[3000]]? [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 17:34, 24 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:This is something major as normally he makes special comics for these types of milestones, but the comic proceeded as if nothing happened. Why?
::A fair question, but a bit of a lower priority than anything else we can throw at Randall. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.43|172.71.26.43]] 17:44, 24 February 2025 (UTC)
::I am still curious about this, though. If no other question is deemed as important, this is a good one to ask IMO. [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User_talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 21:32, 24 February 2025 (UTC)

'''In the xkcd email subscription, there is an address at the bottom, it being (68 Harrison Ave Ste 605 PMB 75312, Boston, MA, 02111-1929, US). If it something you are comfortable saying, what is this address? ''' [[User:Little Timmy|Little Timmy]] 1:26, 28 July 2025 (UTC)
:: Seems to just be a mail drop, presumably one he uses for official xkcd business. [https://www.legalzoom.com/business/business-operations/lz-virtual-mail-overview.html] [[Special:Contributions/137.25.230.78|137.25.230.78]] 07:19, 29 July 2025 (UTC)
:::Agreed. Also, if it weren't a mail drop, we really shouldn't know the answer to this question. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:42, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

'''What was channel.html and channel.txt?'''
:For a few years there was a hidden subdomain under xkcd.com/channel.html that provided you with about 600kb of "junk" data but seemed to be organized in some information carrying way (obeyed Zipf's law.) What was it????? this mystery is haunting me so much i wrote this on a mobile device. [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:f:7716::9|2600:387:f:7716::9]] 00:13, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

'''Revised comics'''
:On comic [[851]], he linked to a newer version in the header, saying "I don't get do-overs," but later, in [[1365]] for example, mistakes were fixed and revised. Is there anything that led to this, and can 851 be replaced with the updated version?[[Special:Contributions/174.174.4.79|174.174.4.79]] 17:12, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

'''Re: transcripts'''
:On Randall's bluesky account, the alt-text on the comics provides a transcript. Why is this not in the api?[[Special:Contributions/174.174.4.79|174.174.4.79]] 17:12, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

'''What If? Discontinued?'''
:The last What If? blog article was published on December 6th, 2022. Are there still questions being submitted and will there be new articles in the future? [[User:42.book.addict|tori :3]][[User talk:42.book.addict|talk to me!]] 18:57, 14 May 2026 (UTC)
::I presume that some time was dedicated towards making the 10th Anniversary edition and some more time on uploading all articles onto YouTube, but it would be great if we could look into his head and see a rough timeline at the very least. [[User:42.book.addict|tori :3]][[User talk:42.book.addict|talk to me!]] 18:57, 14 May 2026 (UTC)
:::I'd love to know the answer to this question, but I don't think I'll send him other emails, as he hasn't responded to the previous one. Maybe you could try emailing him yourself! [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:27, 15 May 2026 (UTC)

User:FaviFake

2026-05-21T23:17:59Z

Velocifyer: /* Your suggestions! What should I ask next? */

Score: {{#cscore:FaviFake|score}} ({{#cscore:FaviFake|pages}} pages edited and {{#cscore:FaviFake|changes}} total edits)

{{notice|<big>Since Randall answered my latest questions, I sent him another list of questions, but he hasn't replied as of 24/1/26</big>}}
{{notice|<big>I don't think he'll ever reply again :(</big>}}
'''Hey everyone! I got in touch with [[Randall Munroe]] himself!! Here's what you need to know.'''

<big>{{TOC}}</big>I emailed him to ask for the official release date of [[36: Scientists]] (see [[36: Scientists#Trivia|the trivia for more info]]). Surprisingly, he got back to me! You can read the full conversation below. I'll keep you posted if I receive more messages! You can [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:FaviFake&action=watch add this page to your watchlist] to keep track of it. I haven't received his explicit permission to feature his messages in full, so initially i hid his messages. I've now published the contents of his emails, since he hasn't responded to my request to make them public. My emails have not been altered, but in the copy-pasting, links have been removed. These emails were all hyperlinked, I now added back only a few links.

In his second email, Randall expressed willingness to answer a few more questions, particularly simpler, administrative questions (like the one he answered already), but kindly explained he prefers to avoid too much meta-commentary. Because I didn't want to come up with every question and I wanted to hear everyone, I'll try to send him some that you want, if he agrees to receiving more! You can [[#Your suggestions! What should I ask next?|add your suggestions here!]].

Even if he doesn't answer all these questions, we could also use this page for other things. I'm also planning to create a page on this wiki containing '''everything''' we don't know about xkcd, using these questions. '''So, keep posting your questions!''' In the future, this could become:

*A list of everything we can research extremely in-depth, if someone wants to help the wiki that way.

*A list of quick questions to ask him when someone meets him in person, at a book tour for example.

*A page for people who want to read about things we don't know and is interested in xkcd mysteries.

'''<big><big>  [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title{{=}}User:FaviFake&action{{=}}edit&section{{=}}2 CLICK HERE TO ADD NEW QUESTION''' (scroll to bottom)]
</big></big>

==Email thread==
<div class="plainlinks">
{| class="wikitable"
!Question from the Explain xkcd wiki regarding one of your comics
|-
|Email thread - 4 messages — Here's a [https://imgur.com/a/2StTkvJ screenshot of one of the emails], if you need some sort of proof.
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|'''FaviFake''' <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
!14 February 2025 at 19:16 CET
|-
| colspan="2" |To: Randall Munroe <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |

Hi,
I'm an editor at explainxkcd.com, which you probably know is the wiki that explains all your comics and provides as much info as possible on them.

In pursuit of that goal, we have always had an unsolved mystery only you can solve. Comic [[36: Scientists]] was originally posted as a duplicate of comic [[10: Pi Equals]]. You corrected this sometime between April 23, 2006 and July 5, 2006 , when the current version showed up in the web archive (see the two links). The comic looks like one of your old drawings.

So, explain xkcd thinks that when you realized your mistake (over three months after it was originally posted), you probably found an old unused drawing and posted it, to not make it stand out compared to the other comics from that time. This all means we have no date for this comic, since it could've been posted anytime between the two dates mentioned above. You can read more about this here. (If you're interested, we have a more comprehensive history of your webcomic here.)

Could you kindly help us figure this out by checking when you released comic #[[36]], so we can add an official date to it? This is one of the only official comics which we don't know the date of.

Kind regards, FaviFake editor @ explain xkcd
|}
''[In the copy-pasting, links have been removed. These emails were all hyperlinked, I now added back only a few links.]''
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Randall Munroe''' [Randall's email redacted]
!14 February 2025 at 22:20 CET
|-
| colspan="2" |To: FaviFake <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |
FaviFake,

I had totally forgotten about this! Checking my logs, I believe I swapped it in on April 28th.

Thank you for your tireless documentation effort :)

Warmest wishes, Randall
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|'''FaviFake''' <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
!15 February 2025 at 17:39 CET
|-
| colspan="2" |To: Randall Munroe <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |Hello Randall,

Thank you so much for your response!! I'm certain the rest of the community will be thrilled to have an official answer.

Unfortunately, this is by far not the only "unsolved mystery" we have encountered in our research of your comic. Because we don't get to talk to you very often, I'd like to ask you if you can answer more of our many questions, if you're up for it. Of course, I do not want to annoy you or waste your time, so please let me know if this is something you'd enjoy! I will try to keep the questions entertaining for you.

Kind regards, FaviFake
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Randall Munroe''' <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
!17 February 2025 at 19:02 CET
|-
| colspan="2" |To: FaviFake <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |FaviFake,

You're welcome to send over questions, although I can't promise any answers so please don't put too much time into it!

I've always tried to resist the temptation to do too much explaining or meta-commentary in general, partly because once you start breaking the fourth wall, it can be hard to stop, and partly because I've found those boundaries are helpful for keeping me focused.

But if you want to send over some of your questions, I can see if there are at least a few of them that I can answer—at least some of the simpler, more administrative ones.

And seriously, my heartfelt thanks to you and everyone there. It's such a privilege to make something that people think is worth so much effort to explain <3

—Randall
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|'''FaviFake''' <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
!20 February 2025 at 18:07
|-
| colspan="2" |To: Randall Munroe <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |Randall,

Thank you for the kind words!! I really appreciate the offer. Next time, I'm thinking of asking the community for other simple and administrative questions, because I'm sure I don't represent everyone.

(Also, would it be okay to feature your responses on our wiki?)

I had drafted the paragraphs below in advance and I'm not sure if they fall outside the boundaries you mentioned, but I figured I’d ask anyway since this is a topic the other editors are very curious about. Of course, no worries if you’d rather not get into the details! We have plenty of simpler questions we can't answer ourselves. Here you go:

On June 17, 2009, you released [[Conservation]] (along with IBM's accompanying blog post), the first comic created with IBM for their "A Smarter Planet" blog. You used the filename conservation.png, as usual. On August 11, 2009, the second comic of the series, [[Prescriptions]], was released (with its blog post), but this time you used an unusual filename: ibm_hc_1.png.

We initially believed these were the only comics you created, mainly because they were the only ones featured on your page xkcd.com/asmarterplanet, but a little over a month ago we discovered two additional never-before-seen comics by experimenting with the image URLs for [[ibm_hc_2]].png and [[ibm_hc_3]].png. We believe you created these two comics as part of the IBM partnership, but for some reason they were never released publicly and were only accessible from imgs.xkcd.com. (Interestingly enough, they are still available!)

Any additional info you can give us would help a ton! For example: their titles, when they were drawn or supposed to be released, or why they were never officially published. Thank you!

—FaviFake
|}

''I wanted to also hear what ''you'' wanted to ask! Randall asked for simpler, administrative questions (like the one he answered), and not ones that required too much explaining. Please add your suggestions to the section below! If you have thoughts, [[User talk:FaviFake#Contacting Randall Munroe|send them to me on my talk page]]!''

''Since I still hadn't heard back, I sent another email with a few of the quickest and smaller questions below.]''

{| class="wikitable"
|'''FaviFake''' <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
!13 March 2025 at 19:40
|-
| colspan="2" |To: Randall Munroe <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |Hello Randall,

Hope you're doing well! I'm just following up since it’s been a little while.

In the meantime, we gathered some simpler and more administrative questions from the community—ones that might be easier to answer than the previous one. Below are just a few of them—let me know if you'd be up for answering any!

*When did you release [[Blue Eyes]]: The Hardest Login Puzzle in the World? This is one of the comics that don't have a confirmed release date.

*In comic [[1572: xkcd Survey]], you published a Google Form and said that "everyone's responses will be posted [...] to create an interesting data set for people to play with". However, due to the large number of responses, you encountered technical problems and didn't release the results. Could you confirm the reason for the delay and whether we should expect to see the responses in the future?

*Up until comic #[[1674]], you provided official transcripts for new comics in the JSON interface. In 2016, you stopped. Could you explain why?

*What was/is the purpose of pages such as xkcd.com/yes, xkcd.com/burlap, xkcd.com/dot, and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#List_of_pages others]?

Thanks again for your time, and no worries if you’re too busy! We truly appreciate any insights you can share.

Kind regards, FaviFake
|}
Four months after my last email, '''HE REPLIED!'''
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Randall Munroe''' <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
! 9 July 2025 at 13:34
|-
| colspan="2" |To: FaviFake <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |
FaviFake,

Sorry for the extremely long delay here, but I wanted to send you replies to some of these! <blockquote>In the meantime, we gathered some simpler and more administrative questions from the community—ones that might be easier to answer than the previous one. Below are just a few of them—let me know if you'd be up for answering any!
<blockquote><div style="color:#500050;">On June 17, 2009, you released [[Conservation]] (along with IBM's accompanying blog post), the first comic created with IBM for their "A Smarter Planet" blog. You used the filename conservation.png, as usual. On August 11, 2009, the second comic of the series, [[Prescriptions]], was released (with its blog post), but this time you used an unusual filename: ibm_hc_1.png.

We initially believed these were the only comics you created, mainly because they were the only ones featured on your page xkcd.com/asmarterplanet, but a little over a month ago we discovered two additional never-before-seen comics by experimenting with the image URLs for [[ibm_hc_2]].png and [[ibm_hc_3]].png. We believe you created these two comics as part of the IBM partnership, but for some reason they were never released publicly and were only accessible from imgs.xkcd.com. (Interestingly enough, they are still available!)</div>
</blockquote></blockquote>

I had forgotten about these! These were other draft comics I drew for the project, and I put them in that folder to transfer them, but IIRC the project involved a lot of organizational moving parts, and for administrative reasons those comics didn't end up getting published. I believe I never gave them titles.<blockquote>
* When did you release Blue Eyes: The Hardest Login Puzzle in the World? This is one of the comics that don't have a confirmed release date.
</blockquote>Unfortunately, I don't have an easy way to answer that one!<blockquote>
* In comic [[1572: xkcd Survey]], you published a Google Form and said that "everyone's responses will be posted [...] to create an interesting data set for people to play with". However, due to the large number of responses, you encountered technical problems and didn't release the results. Could you confirm the reason for the delay and whether we should expect to see the responses in the future?
</blockquote>Haha, I got a fun message from the Google Forms administrators that day. Apparently they were in the middle of updating to a new system on the day I posted the comic, and I provided an extremely unexpected—and profoundly unwelcome—load test. But they were very nice about it and we eventually managed to recover most of the data. 
I haven't found a way to release it that I'm comfortable with. I tried to ask about frivolous stuff that wouldn't provide easy fodder for shoddy social science, but I found that for almost any correlation pair in the dataset, you could immediately project a half dozen intriguing, serious, and contradictory theories onto the data. People were incredibly thoughtful and detailed in their responses to my silly questions, which made me want to be very careful with how I used their data. I still might find a way to release selections from it, because it's a fascinating dataset, but only if I'm confident that I'm not enabling bad science or betraying anyone's trust.<blockquote>
* Up until comic #1674, you provided official transcripts for new comics in the JSON interface. In 2016, you stopped. Could you explain why?
</blockquote>The transcripts were initially submitted by readers through Ryan North's OhNoRobot project, moderated and edited by some friends of mine through a custom system they set up. They eventually ended up often simply writing the transcripts themselves. It ended up being a lot of work to ask of volunteers, and eventually infrastructure updates were needed while the people involved were busy with other things, so I let them stop updating rather than trying to recruit more people. 
I'd love to start offering transcripts again, and hope to do so at some point soon, hopefully in a way that indicates they're from a third party without creating too much spam potential. As I'm sure you know from doing transcripts on the wiki, translating a comic to text can involve a lot of additional creative decisions—it's a different medium, after all!—so I want to make them available for accessibility while ideally clarifying that they're written from the point of view of a reader, to avoid making readers feel like they NEED to read both versions to see everything that I meant to include!<blockquote>
* What was/is the purpose of pages such as [https://xkcd.com/yes xkcd.com/yes], [https://xkcd.com/burlap xkcd.com/burlap], [https://xkcd.com/dot xkcd.com/dot], and [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#List of pages|others]]?
</blockquote>Most of those were inside jokes sent to friends, but [https://xkcd.com/dot xkcd.com/dot] is an improvised migraine test! Since I was a kid, I've occasionally gotten the type of migraine that starts with blind spots in the vision. They can be hard to tell apart from sun glare at first, but I found I could tell whether I was having one by looking at a blinking dot to see if it disappeared—which would tell me I needed to take painkillers ASAP. I made that gif and put it on my website for easy access from wherever I was at the time. Thankfully, the migraines have gotten less frequent over the years, but I still have to use that page occasionally.

I hope that's helpful!

Best wishes, Randall
|}

I replied:
{| class="wikitable"
|'''FaviFake''' <[email redacted]@gmail.com>
!3 September 2025 at 11:13
|-
| colspan="2" |To: Randall Munroe <[Randall's email redacted]@gmail.com>
|-
| colspan="2" |Randall,

Thanks so much for responding to these! We've already added them to the wiki. I also apologise for taking so long to reply; I seem to be exceptionally skilled at involuntary procrastination.

You didn’t explicitly say you wanted more questions, but I'll risk asking anyway :)

1. Before xkcd.com, you posted your comics on LiveJournal. When you launched xkcd.com, you uploaded the backlog of 41 comics from LiveJournal in a seemingly random order. Was there a reason for this? For example, did you intentionally assign number 7 to your first comic, Girl sleeping, and number 1 to your fifth comic, Barrel - Part 1?

2. Why was the xkcd warning removed? Four hours after comic Earth Temperature Timeline was released, the warning and footnote disappeared. A new footnote appeared three weeks later, but the warning never came back. We speculated it was related to the comic's sudden surge in popularity, but we're not sure why it wasn't reinstated.

3. The old LiveJournal caption for comic Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey mentioned other comics in the series. Unfortunately, the image and link to the "full series" weren’t archived. Is there more to this comic than what’s now available, or was the LiveJournal version simply an excerpt?

4. Three years ago, Matthew Smoot said that the xkcd store was "closed indefinitely due to supply chain issues", but recently it was announced that it will be opening soon! What happened?

Thank you again for your time and generosity!

Kind regards, FaviFake
|}

I'll update this page if he responds.

==Your suggestions! What should I ask next?==
Remember, he said only simple questions. I'm assuming he'd like questions similar to the ones he replied to (short, sweet, no explaining needed), or questions that shouldn't require him to explain his comic too much. '''What's something relatively important that we don't know and that only Randall can answer?'''{{notice|<big>I don't think he'll ever reply again :(</big>}}

{{Done}}'''[[ibm_hc_2]] and [[ibm_hc_3]] (newly-discovered comics) and comic [[36: Scientists]]''' --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:34, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
:I asked this one already, because I assume it's the most important one right now. You can [[#Email thread|see my question above]].

{{Done}} '''Why were the first comics [[LiveJournal|uploaded seemingly at random]]? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:51, 22 February 2025 (UTC)
:Initially, randall posted his comics to LiveJournal ([[LiveJournal|learn more here]]). The new xkcd website opened on January 1, 2006, and the backlog of 41 comics from LiveJournal from [[1: Barrel - Part 1]] to [[44: Love]] was transferred on the same day, but in a completely different order. The only comic that has the same number on both sites is [[3: Island (sketch)]], while all the other comics were uploaded seemingly at random. Also, only eleven of the original comic titles were reused of the new site, and even among the last eleven comics posted on both sites, only six used the same title.

{{Done}}'''When was [[Blue Eyes]] released? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:01, 23 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:[[xkcd]]'s [[Blue Eyes]] puzzle is a logic puzzle posted around the same time as comic [[169: Words that End in GRY]]. [[Randall]] calls it "The Hardest Logic Puzzle in the World" on its page, but whether it really is the hardest is up to speculation. This is incorrect, as the comic was available long before October 11, 2006. The earliest date we have is [https://web.archive.org/web/20041024201125/http://68.57.186.221:8080/ October 24th, 2004] (see fourth link on the page), and the earliest version of the comic is from [https://web.archive.org/web/20041109034300/http://68.57.186.221:8080/blue_eyes.html November 4th, 2004]. Additionally, both the puzzle [https://xkcd.com/solution.html and the solution] (here's an [https://web.archive.org/web/20061102070433/https://xkcd.com/solution.html earlier version of the solution])were modified and updated several times since its release.

{{Done}}'''What happened to the transcripts in the JSON interface? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:38, 23 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:On the [https://xkcd.com/about/ about] page of xkcd there is a description of where:
Is there an interface for automated systems to access comics and metadata?
:Read more here [[Transcript]]. And on this page there is a [[Transcript#End%20of%20transcripts|description]] about how the json info got messed up after [[1608: Hoverboard]] and how they completely ended after [[1677: Contrails]] which had the transcript of [[1674: Adult]].
:I would like to know if he noticed the messed up order of the transcript and if that was why he choose to end it completely? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:38, 23 February 2025 (UTC)
::This imo is one the best questions we've gotten! Very technical and doesn't require him to explain any of his comics! Thanks [[User:Kynde|Kynde]]! Do you have more questions like this one? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Thanks. I was frustrated about this at some time. Not any other questions right now of this kind. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:54, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Why has there not been any new what if since comet ice? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.44|162.158.41.44]] 17:14, 24 February 2025 (UTC)'''
::Don't really see why we need to ask him this, A. This isn't related to the wiki, and B. They wanted short, administrative questions [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.168|172.71.30.168]] 17:26, 24 February 2025 (UTC)
:::I kinda like this one! A: I think it's partially relevant, we have [[what if? (blog)#Release schedule|and entire section dedicated]] to analysing the release schedule of new articles. B. That's true, but at least it's shorter than most other ones. Not a terrible question imo. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)
::::I feel like the answer would either be unsatisfying, or unsurprising. Releasing too many articles may disincentivize people from buying the books, the YouTube page is better marketing, people aren't asking interesting questions, the increased popularity of the article has led to too many questions being asked and it becomes increasingly unfair to answer one over the other. There's a possible litany of reasons without considering other more personal reasons that Randall may not want to share. Also, (and this is my completely unfair opinion) I personally feel like any question asking "why?" is meta-commentary and out of scope. It also feels like entitlement when you ask why someone isn't giving you even more stuff for free. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.94|172.69.23.94]] 19:25, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:::::Yeah no you're right. Btw, the first part of your answer is great, you should consider adding it to the blog page! (or I can do if you don't mind) [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:47, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
::::::Thank you! I don't mind you adding it, but I also don't want to burden you with it. I'll look the page over and see where it might fit. I appreciate you fielding the brunt of the community in this matter! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.57|172.69.22.57]] 21:16, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:::::::Since you didn't add it, [[what if? (blog)#Sporadic releases|I did]]! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:47, 23 March 2025 (UTC)

:::::::It's because the email that the ''What If?'' suggestions go to is wrong. [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/@bforbrain youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)]) 18:24, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
::::::::Wait what? Please explain, I didn't know about this! What do you mean? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:00, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
:::::::::Try submitting a "What if?" suggestion yourself – you'll get an email from whatever email service you use saying that the email "Doesn't exist". [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/@bforbrain youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)]) 17:35, 24 March 2025 (UTC)
::::::::::Thanks! I didn't know about this. I'll add an incomplete notice. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:41, 24 March 2025 (UTC)

'''Why has the [[Blag]] stopped.? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:11, 26 February 2025 (UTC)
:Seemed like it was a good place to write extra info, but it has been removed from the links on the front page 2023 even though the [https://blog.xkcd.com/ page] still exist.

'''Do you read explainxkcd.com? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.146|172.68.174.146]] 19:01, 27 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:We've probably all wondered: Does he ever read the wiki? if so, there are many directions this could go. Like: Has he ever posted anonymously (this could be asked without necessarily identifying which posts were his)? Ever find a explanation and laugh at how wrong it was? Ever find a explanation that had a funnier interpretation then he intended?
::Discuss it and vote - I doubt that counts as "administrative" but by not referencing any particular comic, we definitely avoid the "questions shouldn't require him to explain his comic more than he has already done." part. Anyway, feel free to reword/add parts/delete parts/hack the question up in whatever way you want. Consider this just me posting the idea for a question, and letting you guys do whatever you want with the idea --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.146|172.68.174.146]] 19:01, 27 February 2025 (UTC)
:::I do not think we should ask this. He has at least once referred to explain xkcd, so he do know of it. But I think that for his own sake, he stays clear of it as best as he can. ;-) -- [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:20, 10 March 2025 (UTC)

{{Done}} '''[[24]]'s original caption claimed to have more to it, but the link isn't archived. Is there more? [[user talk:lett‪herebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 01:23, 4 March 2025 (UTC)'''
::I wonder if he'd want to talk about it, since he's now deleted his LiveJournal reply regarding the broken link. But would be easy to answer if there wasn't more. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:08, 4 March 2025 (UTC)

'''In [[2256: Bad Map Projection: South America]], which eleven islands are representing what I assume are the Philippines and Indonesia? --[[Special:Contributions/104.23.187.145|104.23.187.145]] 13:45, 1 March 2025 (UTC)'''
:Luzon, Samar, Mindanao, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, and New Guinea seem pretty obvious, but what are the other three islands?

'''In [[2951: Bad Map Projection: Exterior Kansas]], assuming you didn't draw the map freehand, what function did you use to convert (actual distance from center point) to (distance from center point in the projection)? --[[Special:Contributions/104.23.187.145|104.23.187.145]] 13:45, 1 March 2025 (UTC)'''
:This information would be helpful for adding more states, territories, countries, and/or landmasses to the map.

'''Does he know that if a=1,b=2,c=3, etc. then x+k+c+d=42?[[User:Thehydraclone|Thehydraclone]] ([[User talk:Thehydraclone|talk]]) 19:49, 2 March 2025 (UTC)'''
:(Answer to life, the universe, and everything)
::[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/xkcd#:~:text=However%2C%20according%20to%20Randall%20himself%2C%20this%20is%20a%20coincidence This might be relevant], if you can find a citation for it...
::Not very important question but very easy to answer and trivial, i like it. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:59, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:::But I think this has already been debated wildly and he has explained why he chose this name extensively, and it seems like it was not for that reason. I find it very interesting though, but it also only works for English alfabet, in Denmark we do not use W when saying the alfabet (although we have it for loan words. We also call it Weekend in Denmark. That is an official Danish word). But the X would thus be one less and the sum 41 ;-) I do realize that he of course would have used the English alfabet, so if he actually looked for this he would also get 42. -- [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:20, 10 March 2025 (UTC)

'''There's a hidden search box in [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]'s source code. --[[User:Bytesizeinfo.com|Bytesizeinfo.com]]'''
:It's commented out, but you can reenable it with your browser's inspect tool, and it still seems to work. (It's in the footer, if you want to try.) Why is it commented out? It seems like a useful tool.
::Interesting! I had noticed it was there on older archives but didn't know it was just commented out. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:08, 4 March 2025 (UTC)

{{Done}}'''What was/is the purpose of https://xkcd.com/yes/ and https://xkcd.com/no/? [[user talk:lett‪herebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 03:32, 5 March 2025 (UTC)'''
::Wait what? I've never seen these pages before! Are there any others? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:30, 8 March 2025 (UTC)
:::When I learnt of them, I tried various others (e.g. ".../maybe"), to no avail. But maybe there's something non-Yes/Noish that goes along with those two, thematically. So far, though, I've not worked out what they might be. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.252|162.158.33.252]] 00:08, 9 March 2025 (UTC)
::::I looked into it! There are other pages, but the xkcd forum link is broken and not archived. (See more info on the two pages, i just created, [[NO]] and [[YES]].) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 12:33, 9 March 2025 (UTC)

{{Done}}'''Are results from the [[xkcd Survey]] ever going to be released? --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.92|172.71.254.92]] 01:53, 9 March 2025 (UTC)'''
:In xkcd.com/[[1572]] there was a survey. Randall said that he would release the data, but it crashed google forms. Is there any way to get it back, and if so, will he finally release it?
::Interesting! I didn't know. Very good question, thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 12:33, 9 March 2025 (UTC)

'''Did you know that the chatroom in [[xkcloud]]; euphoria.io is living and growing under a new domain, leet.nu? [[User:Elaine Roberts|Elaine Roberts]] ([[User talk:Elaine Roberts|talk]]) 19:21, 11 March 2025 (UTC)'''

'''What checkmate did you intend to depict in [[1112: Think Logically]]?''' [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.40|162.158.167.40]] 07:04, 10 March 2025 (UTC)
:We suspect scholar's mate, but there is at least one other possibility, specifically a variant of fool's mate (since Cueball could be moving his pawns towards Knit Cap Guy's king).
::Did he really choose to depict a specific strategy? Is the assumption based on the board pieces at the end, or on the number of moves, or both? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:11, 10 March 2025 (UTC)

'''Is the board setup in [[3045: AlphaMove]] based on playing AlphaMove against a specific chess engine? If so, which one?''' -unsigned!
::Can you elaborate? What's a board setup, what dow e exactly not know? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:14, 11 March 2025 (UTC)
:::Seems to me, it simply means "has that playing position (i.e. the current state) been reached by pitting 'the algorithm' vs. any particular ''genuine'' chess-engine". (Or otherwise. The alternative, presumably, that it was a 'hand-crafted' response on Randall's part... Or possibly a volunteer from amongst his acquaintances, either knowing something of what they'd be pitted against or not.)
:::I suspect the answer will be frightfully unremarkable (if available ''and'' given), but I could also see it being a useful throw-it-in. (Better than [[4: Landscape (sketch)|"why's there a river running through the ocean?"]], anyway ;) ) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.163|141.101.99.163]] 16:49, 11 March 2025 (UTC)
::::Ah gotcha. Doesn't seem interesting imo but is small enough. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:22, 12 March 2025 (UTC)

'''Machine details -- [[User:HyperBirbN3rd|HyperBirbN3rd]]'''
:Is [[Machine]] going to have a finalized state? If so, when?
::Not sure this is easy enough to answer. He'd have to explain his intentions, which i don't think he published --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Does the hexadecimal "pointers" in [[138: Pointers]] mean anything?--[[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 18:07, 29 March 2025 (UTC)'''

'''Why did you rename comic #[[786]]'s image to ''exoplanets_2010.png'' instead of uploading comic #[[1071]]'s image as ''exoplanets_2012.png''?''' --[[User:Winter1760|Winter1760]] ([[User talk:Winter1760|talk]]) 17:11, 5 April 2025 (UTC)
:Is [[2638: Extended NFPA Hazard Diamond]] supposed to represent anything at all? [[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 17:57, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

'''Why were the xkcd [[Forums]] shut down for good? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 07:25, 22 July 2025 (UTC)'''

'''What was/is the purpose of the [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#List of pages|other pages we found]]? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:46, 22 July 2025 (UTC)'''


'''<big><big>  [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title{{=}}User:FaviFake&action{{=}}edit&section{{=}}2 CLICK HERE TO ADD NEW QUESTION''' (scroll to bottom)]
</big></big>
----

===Out-of-scope questions===
{{notice|<big><big>These questions are more like interview questions.</big></big> He said he'd answer simple questions. I'm assuming he'd like questions similar to the one he replied to (short, sweet, no explaining needed), or questions that shouldn't require him to explain his comic more than he has already done.}}

'''Why was what if? article ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20161205191559/http://what-if.xkcd.com/153 Peptides] deleted?'' --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:34, 21 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:[[what if? (blog)]] is a blog written by [[Randall]] with entries posted occasionally. On December 5, 2016, the article ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20161205191559/http://what-if.xkcd.com/153 Peptides]'' was published as number {{what if|153|153}}. However, it was [https://web.archive.org/web/20161206171630/http://what-if.xkcd.com/153/ removed the following day] and was replaced by a notice: "''Whoops. This article is still in progress. An early draft was unintentionally posted here thanks to Randall's [http://xkcd.com/1597/ troubled approach to git], and it took a little bit to get everything sorted out and rolled back. Sorry for the mixup!"''. No finished version of the article was ever published, and the URL was later reused for ''{{what if|153|Hide the Atmosphere}}''.
::I this this one is very interesting, but it might not be as administrative and short as Randall wants. He'd need to explain the reason why it wasn't published and why it looks like a complete article, not a "draft". Anyone agree? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:34, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Copy paste from my reply below which I wrote first: "I'm not quite sure he likes questions about things he actually wished to delete... I mean seriously he tried to hide it but we got hold of it anyway?" --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:26, 23 February 2025 (UTC)
::::Yeah you're right, I didn't think about that --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''What happened to [[Five-Minute Comics: Part 4]]? --[[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 17:49, 22 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:A lost xkcd comic. He accidentally posted this instead of [[940]], and then erased all evidence of its existence by redirecting the direct image URL to a notice claiming it was a minor glitch in the universe. I'd get deleting the image outright, but just replacing it with what is essentially a sign to stop looking for it? Kinda weird. Also, how many more of these 5MCs has he made that are potentially lost media?
::I like this one, but I'm not sure if it's as simple as he'd like. He'd need to explain why he created the comic, which he almost never does. But there might be a way to ask it in a way that allows him to reply without revealing too much info. Btw, you seem very active on this wiki, do you have anything else in mind? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:11, 22 February 2025 (UTC)
:::I'm not quite sure he likes questions about things he actually wished to delete... I mean seriously he tried to hide it but we got hold of it anyway? Also we know why he drew these, it was a game he played with family. He just did not mean to post the fourth one. There might be more, but he only posted the three because he could not cope with the cancer of his wife and did not whish to give up his schedule. So as he could not draw three comics fast enough for that week he used these instead. Asking into this would also remind him of his wife's cancer. I vote no to this as an e-mail to Randall! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:24, 23 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Why was [[No One Was Hurt]] replaced? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.71.112|172.68.71.112]] 15:44, 24 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:[[No One Was Hurt]] was a comic that was replaced by Comic 2642, and while it's reasonable to assume that it's probably in response to some... unfortunate irl events, for documentation it would be nice to have an official, confirmed answer
::I'm not sure he'd like it, after all, he deleted it, so he might not want to talk about it more --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Will we get more 5-part sagas? --[[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:44, 23 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:Like [[Choices]], [[The Race]], etc.
:::Not sure about this one, feels like we should be focusing on exclusively wiki data and such, this isn't an interview. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.168|172.71.30.168]] 17:28, 24 February 2025 (UTC)
::::Agree with IP, but it's not the worst question we've gotten. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''What inspired you to make [[Time]]? {{unsigned ip|141.101.109.166}}'''
::Frankly I don't see this one either, see the one above [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.168|172.71.30.168]] 17:26, 24 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Yup, definitely out of scope. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Are there comics you'd like to update in light of recent developments? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.216|172.71.102.216]] 13:52, 25 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:Are there any existing comics you would like to update / sequel in light of recent developments (environmental, political, webtrends, demographic)? :The first thing that comes to mind is that 2024 was the first year above 1.5C over the pre-industrial average. [https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/01/10/0426254/2024-was-the-first-year-above-15c-of-global-warming-scientists-say].
::This is an interview question, not a simple question — read the notice above --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Just wanted to note that some geography comics might be worth asking about [[User:XKCD Teaches Science|XKCD Teaches Science]] ([[User talk:XKCD Teaches Science|talk]]) 03:27, 24 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:I remember browsing pages on this wiki about 6 months ago and noticing that there were many explainations of maps or map like things where editors weren't sure which small islands or small countries since comic drawing is obviously not perfect. I don't remember which comics exactly and don't have time today to investigate, but I figured this observation is worth noting.
::I'm not sure i get what you're saying. What are you suggesting we ask Randall, exactly (if he answers)? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:31, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Did they notice?''' -unsigned!
:I noticed that in [[1529: Bracket]] 'Jeff Gordan' was changed to 'Jeff Gordon' but apparently nobody noticed. When was the comic fixed?
:: Who knows! Good catch. This is not the correct page to talk about it, but I have mentioned it in the comic page. You can use the Wayback Machine to check when it was changed [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:56, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

'''Why have you drawn fewer multiple-panel comics recently?''' [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.113|172.70.214.113]] 07:38, 9 March 2025 (UTC)

'''Why are some of the april fools' comics late? - [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.108|172.71.146.108]] 18:55, 22 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:I'm fairly sure we've had this answered already ("things just weren't quite ready/more testing was needed") for some of the more technical ones, in some other place. Whether we can get more detail and for ''every'' not-on-time might be a matter of him having to remember the precise circumstances. And I also would feel uncomfortable if this turned into "why was <random non-April Fool comic> late?". Or early. (When doing Rightpondian book-tours, sometimes surprisingly early, but every now and then it seems he manages to release them from his native Leftpondia even early here in the Rightpondian day.) But this is far too much detail (and far too much expectation), of no importance so long as he continues to average out at three regular comics a week and ''if he wants to'', and ''when he can'', anything a bit more special.
:Consider this a downvote on bothering him with this question, but that's of course only my opinion, in leiu of anything more constructive to add ("What's your favourite cheese..?") [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.190|172.69.79.190]] 19:42, 22 February 2025 (UTC)
::I agree with the second IP on this one! Unless there's a particular comic for which the delay was very important (do you have any in mind?), I don't think this is going to be of much interest to him. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:11, 22 February 2025 (UTC)

'''Why was there no special thing for comic [[3000]]? [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 17:34, 24 February 2025 (UTC)'''
:This is something major as normally he makes special comics for these types of milestones, but the comic proceeded as if nothing happened. Why?
::A fair question, but a bit of a lower priority than anything else we can throw at Randall. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.43|172.71.26.43]] 17:44, 24 February 2025 (UTC)
::I am still curious about this, though. If no other question is deemed as important, this is a good one to ask IMO. [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User_talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 21:32, 24 February 2025 (UTC)

'''In the xkcd email subscription, there is an address at the bottom, it being (68 Harrison Ave Ste 605 PMB 75312, Boston, MA, 02111-1929, US). If it something you are comfortable saying, what is this address? ''' [[User:Little Timmy|Little Timmy]] 1:26, 28 July 2025 (UTC)
:: Seems to just be a mail drop, presumably one he uses for official xkcd business. [https://www.legalzoom.com/business/business-operations/lz-virtual-mail-overview.html] [[Special:Contributions/137.25.230.78|137.25.230.78]] 07:19, 29 July 2025 (UTC)
:::Agreed. Also, if it weren't a mail drop, we really shouldn't know the answer to this question. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:42, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

'''What was channel.html and channel.txt?'''
:For a few years there was a hidden subdomain under xkcd.com/channel.html that provided you with about 600kb of "junk" data but seemed to be organized in some information carrying way (obeyed Zipf's law.) What was it????? this mystery is haunting me so much i wrote this on a mobile device. [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:f:7716::9|2600:387:f:7716::9]] 00:13, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

'''Revised comics'''
:On comic [[851]], he linked to a newer version in the header, saying "I don't get do-overs," but later, in [[1365]] for example, mistakes were fixed and revised. Is there anything that led to this, and can 851 be replaced with the updated version?[[Special:Contributions/174.174.4.79|174.174.4.79]] 17:12, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

'''Re: transcripts'''
:On Randall's bluesky account, the alt-text on the comics provides a transcript. Why is this not in the api?[[Special:Contributions/174.174.4.79|174.174.4.79]] 17:12, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

'''What If? Discontinued?'''
:The last What If? blog article was published on December 6th, 2022. Are there still questions being submitted and will there be new articles in the future? [[User:42.book.addict|tori :3]][[User talk:42.book.addict|talk to me!]] 18:57, 14 May 2026 (UTC)
::I presume that some time was dedicated towards making the 10th Anniversary edition and some more time on uploading all articles onto YouTube, but it would be great if we could look into his head and see a rough timeline at the very least. [[User:42.book.addict|tori :3]][[User talk:42.book.addict|talk to me!]] 18:57, 14 May 2026 (UTC)
:::I'd love to know the answer to this question, but I don't think I'll send him other emails, as he hasn't responded to the previous one. Maybe you could try emailing him yourself! [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:27, 15 May 2026 (UTC)

'''What happened to wiki.xkcd.com'''
:Why is wiki.xkcd.com down? [[User:Velocifyer|Velocifyer]] ([[User talk:Velocifyer|talk]]) 23:17, 21 May 2026 (UTC)

1202: Girls and Boys

2026-05-20T22:59:14Z

Velocifyer: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1202
| date = April 22, 2013
| title = Girls and Boys
| image = girls and boys.png
| titletext = To get more knowledge
}}

==Explanation==
This comic and [[2771: College Knowledge]] are plays on the popular [https://onsizzle.com/i/girls-go-to-college-to-get-more-knowledge-boys-go-1121310 school-yard taunt], "Girls go to college, to get more knowledge; boys go to Jupiter, to get more stupider," also commonly heard as "Boys go to Mars, to get more candy bars; girls go to Jupiter, to get more stupider." The words "boys" and "girls" may be interchanged, depending on the gender of the person chanting (or how intelligent they are, for that matter). The schoolyard taunt embodies the competitiveness and separation commonly seen between young boys and girls, and ideas about the superiority of one's gender.

It should be noted that, historically, most higher education was preferentially or exclusively reserved for men, but that changed rapidly over the course of the 20th century. By the late 1970s more women than men were enrolling in college, and that trend has only increased, to the point where women make up nearly 60% of undergraduate students in American colleges and universities. This is an issue of substantial concern, because it reflects national trends in men failing to achieve academically. This comic may be pointing out that this gendered competition, which is often inculcated from an early age, is counter-productive, because it focuses on one gender succeeding at the expense of the other. In truth, human achievement is maximized when both men and women are given opportunities to gain skills and succeed.

The comic subverts the original rhyme by having both girls ([[Megan]]) and boys ([[Cueball]]) go to college to gain knowledge, and then using that knowledge to go to {{w|Jupiter}} as part of a {{w|space program}}, working in cooperation with other men (another Cueball-like guy) and women ([[Ponytail]]).

Going "to Jupiter, to get more stupider" is ironic considering that human beings have not yet even gone to Mars, so to go to Jupiter would take a huge amount of knowledge, investment, and further development of current technology. Likewise, people in space programs going to Jupiter would have advanced degrees, a great deal of knowledge, and a motivation to seek out more knowledge. Space programs and going to Jupiter would require the cooperation of many different people, men and women included, and probably even different countries, rather than the divisive atmosphere of the schoolyard. Additionally it demonstrates that the speaker does not understand grammar because stupider is already a comparative.

The title text points out that by going to Jupiter you would ''get more knowledge'', which is generally the purpose of any space program; that is, the purpose is to advance science, and it wouldn't actually be dumb at all. Therefore, the task of going to Jupiter is absolutely dependent on going to college, cooperation, and getting more knowledge; entirely the opposite of what the schoolyard taunt suggests. However, going to Jupiter would be stupid because it would be a suicide mission because it is a very hot planet and it is made of gas meaning that there is not much of a place to go to.

The rocket in the comic looks to be part of the {{w|Titan (rocket family)|Titan family of rockets}}, probably either the {{w|Titan IIIE}} or {{w|Titan IV}}, possibly as a reference to the launch Vehicles of the {{w|Voyager program}}, and {{w|Cassini–Huygens}}.

==Transcript==
:[Megan facing left is sitting on a stool at a table while studying. She is bent over her paper writing on it, while her laptop is standing open on top of two books lying in front of her. In front of her, just inside the panel to the left is the back and neck of another student sitting on a chair visible, with only the rear leg and back of the chair shown. Behind her just inside the panel to the right is the front end of another table, one leg visible, and here lies a pile of paper, as tall as the two books. Two frames above Megan narrates the poem:]
:Girls go to college
:To get more knowledge

:[Cueball facing right, is sitting on a chair at a table also studying. He is holding a piece of paper up in one hand head turned toward it. His other hand holds a page, with text shown as thin lines, in the open book lying in front of him. His laptop is standing open behind the book. In front of him, just inside the panel to the right is the back and arms of another student sitting on a chair visible, with only the rear leg and back of the chair shown. Behind him just inside the panel to the left is the front end of another table, one leg visible, and here lies a pile of four books. Two frames above Cueball narrates the poem:]
:Boys go to college
:To get more knowledge

:[Space launch control room with Megan and Cueball standing in the middle of the room working together. Megan sitting behind a table with a rectangular item on top, holds a model of the capsule that goes on the top of a space craft in her hand pointing to it with the other hand while Cueball standing to the right gestures at the model as well. To the left sits Ponytail in an office chair, she is wearing a head-set and sits in front of screen, just inside the panel, she seems to be controlling something, but no keyboard is visitable. Above her is another screen attached to the wall (off-panel). On the right there sits a Cueball-like guy on a chair, who is also working on some screen, which is mainly off-panel as is the front of his head. On the wall behind there hangs two pictures. The first shows the curve of a white planet against black space, two continents or clouds visible. There is an insert in the top left corner with a small drawing, and some text or number (unreadable) in the top right corner. The other picture seems to show a space craft with two large solar panels, white on the black black background of space. Has some similarities to the international space station. There are four white lines representing text labels pointing to different parts. One frame at the top narrates the poem:]
:Girls and boys

:[A large gray rocket with two lifter rockets, one on each side, launch into the black night, rising up with white fire out the end on top of a huge pile of gray exhaust smoke, that billows out filling the entire width at the ground level, where gray lines stars out on the black ground. A white rectangle right above the tip of the rocket narrates the poem (which first ends in the title text):]
:Go to Jupiter

==Trivia==

Going to Jupiter was most famously explored in the film {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001}} and its sequel {{w|2010: Odyssey Two|2010}}, where a space ship lands on the moon {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}. The film {{w|Outland (film)|Outland}} is set on a mining operation on Jupiter's moon {{w|Io (moon)|Io}}.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Rockets]]

1202: Girls and Boys

2026-05-20T22:55:00Z

Velocifyer: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1202
| date = April 22, 2013
| title = Girls and Boys
| image = girls and boys.png
| titletext = To get more knowledge
}}

==Explanation==
This comic and [[2771: College Knowledge]] are plays on the popular [https://onsizzle.com/i/girls-go-to-college-to-get-more-knowledge-boys-go-1121310 school-yard taunt], "Girls go to college, to get more knowledge; boys go to Jupiter, to get more stupider," also commonly heard as "Boys go to Mars, to get more candy bars; girls go to Jupiter, to get more stupider." The words "boys" and "girls" may be interchanged, depending on the gender of the person chanting (or how intelligent they are, for that matter). The schoolyard taunt embodies the competitiveness and separation commonly seen between young boys and girls, and ideas about the superiority of one's gender.

It should be noted that, historically, most higher education was preferentially or exclusively reserved for men, but that changed rapidly over the course of the 20th century. By the late 1970s more women than men were enrolling in college, and that trend has only increased, to the point where women make up nearly 60% of undergraduate students in American colleges and universities. This is an issue of substantial concern, because it reflects national trends in men failing to achieve academically. This comic may be pointing out that this gendered competition, which is often inculcated from an early age, is counter-productive, because it focuses on one gender succeeding at the expense of the other. In truth, human achievement is maximized when both men and women are given opportunities to gain skills and succeed.

The comic subverts the original rhyme by having both girls ([[Megan]]) and boys ([[Cueball]]) go to college to gain knowledge, and then using that knowledge to go to {{w|Jupiter}} as part of a {{w|space program}}, working in cooperation with other men (another Cueball-like guy) and women ([[Ponytail]]).

Going "to Jupiter, to get more stupider" is ironic considering that human beings have not yet even gone to Mars, so to go to Jupiter would take a huge amount of knowledge, investment, and further development of current technology. Likewise, people in space programs going to Jupiter would have advanced degrees, a great deal of knowledge, and a motivation to seek out more knowledge. Space programs and going to Jupiter would require the cooperation of many different people, men and women included, and probably even different countries, rather than the divisive atmosphere of the schoolyard. Additionally it demonstrates that the speaker does not understand grammar because stupider is already a comparative.

The title text points out that by going to Jupiter you would ''get more knowledge'', which is generally the purpose of any space program; that is, the purpose is to advance science, and it wouldn't actually be dumb at all. Therefore, the task of going to Jupiter is absolutely dependent on going to college, cooperation, and getting more knowledge; entirely the opposite of what the schoolyard taunt suggests.

The rocket in the comic looks to be part of the {{w|Titan (rocket family)|Titan family of rockets}}, probably either the {{w|Titan IIIE}} or {{w|Titan IV}}, possibly as a reference to the launch Vehicles of the {{w|Voyager program}}, and {{w|Cassini–Huygens}}.

==Transcript==
:[Megan facing left is sitting on a stool at a table while studying. She is bent over her paper writing on it, while her laptop is standing open on top of two books lying in front of her. In front of her, just inside the panel to the left is the back and neck of another student sitting on a chair visible, with only the rear leg and back of the chair shown. Behind her just inside the panel to the right is the front end of another table, one leg visible, and here lies a pile of paper, as tall as the two books. Two frames above Megan narrates the poem:]
:Girls go to college
:To get more knowledge

:[Cueball facing right, is sitting on a chair at a table also studying. He is holding a piece of paper up in one hand head turned toward it. His other hand holds a page, with text shown as thin lines, in the open book lying in front of him. His laptop is standing open behind the book. In front of him, just inside the panel to the right is the back and arms of another student sitting on a chair visible, with only the rear leg and back of the chair shown. Behind him just inside the panel to the left is the front end of another table, one leg visible, and here lies a pile of four books. Two frames above Cueball narrates the poem:]
:Boys go to college
:To get more knowledge

:[Space launch control room with Megan and Cueball standing in the middle of the room working together. Megan sitting behind a table with a rectangular item on top, holds a model of the capsule that goes on the top of a space craft in her hand pointing to it with the other hand while Cueball standing to the right gestures at the model as well. To the left sits Ponytail in an office chair, she is wearing a head-set and sits in front of screen, just inside the panel, she seems to be controlling something, but no keyboard is visitable. Above her is another screen attached to the wall (off-panel). On the right there sits a Cueball-like guy on a chair, who is also working on some screen, which is mainly off-panel as is the front of his head. On the wall behind there hangs two pictures. The first shows the curve of a white planet against black space, two continents or clouds visible. There is an insert in the top left corner with a small drawing, and some text or number (unreadable) in the top right corner. The other picture seems to show a space craft with two large solar panels, white on the black black background of space. Has some similarities to the international space station. There are four white lines representing text labels pointing to different parts. One frame at the top narrates the poem:]
:Girls and boys

:[A large gray rocket with two lifter rockets, one on each side, launch into the black night, rising up with white fire out the end on top of a huge pile of gray exhaust smoke, that billows out filling the entire width at the ground level, where gray lines stars out on the black ground. A white rectangle right above the tip of the rocket narrates the poem (which first ends in the title text):]
:Go to Jupiter

==Trivia==

Going to Jupiter was most famously explored in the film {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001}} and its sequel {{w|2010: Odyssey Two|2010}}, where a space ship lands on the moon {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}. The film {{w|Outland (film)|Outland}} is set on a mining operation on Jupiter's moon {{w|Io (moon)|Io}}.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Rockets]]

Talk:3244: Pullback Drive

2026-05-16T22:05:26Z

Velocifyer:

Is that supposed to be Elon Musk? {{unsigned ip|185.114.120.233|09:24, 12 May 2026 (UTC)}}

There are toy cars that work like this, or that use a flywheel to store energy in a similar way, for example the Fisher-Price Rev 'N Go Stunt Vehicles. The salesman is offering a full sized car on the same principle. The toys don't go very far. Neither will the full sized car, though he implies it will go "far" before stopping. He doesn't offer any practical way to rewind the spring. [[Special:Contributions/2A12:F43:1462:CC00:583C:B3A7:2A0B:2140|2A12:F43:1462:CC00:583C:B3A7:2A0B:2140]] 09:56, 12 May 2026 (UTC) dww
:Pull-back and Rev-up toys work significantly differently (though a pull-back toy ''may'' have a flywheel effect, it doesn't usually rely on this). Both are, of course, ways in which a child puts their effort into a much smaller vehicle that then expends that effort into forward motion (from my childhood, there were 'friction-toys' or even the Evel Knievel Stunt Bike, on one hand, and things like the Penny Racers, on the other).
:The Rev'N'Go type perhaps ''can'' be far more indefnitely charged with energy, upon being released (barring mechanical failures and stripping/melting the plastic cogs), but would not give you the described Clicking that the comic says is happening, which is a sign of a sprung-toy with basic overwind-protection designed in.
:Also, riding a (for example) full-sized Evel Knieval flywheel bike and applying the brakes (assuming they ''could'' stop it in time!) would probably just stop it, and leave no more energy to move off again (unlike the spring-powered car, halted before too unwound). I suppose you ''could'' make the brakes disengage the drive from the still-running flywheel, then 'clutch back on' when you released them again, but still not something that mofe pulling back at the factory is going to help reduce your range-anxiety with. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.221.157|82.132.221.157]] 16:00, 12 May 2026 (UTC)

Energy storage. The devil is in the detail, and the magnitudes. It turns out a rubber spring (aeroplane elastic) stores rather more energy weight for weight than a steel 'clockwork' spring. However batteries, and hydrocarbons, store orders of magnitude more. This subjectwould be good for one of Randall's 2D graphs, plotting use case against energy stored. For instance, a diver's harpoon gun uses a pull-back mechanism quite effectively. {{unsigned ip|82.19.218.32|10:22, 12 May 2026 (UTC)}}

I italicized the "or" in the first section of the transcript [[User:SomebodyElse|SomebodyElse]] ([[User talk:SomebodyElse|talk]]) 11:09, 12 May 2026 (UTC) SomebodyElse 12:08, 12 May 2026 (UTC)
:Isn’t it also bolded?[[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 12:51, 12 May 2026 (UTC)
::Looks like it is. :) [[User:SomebodyElse|SomebodyElse]] ([[User talk:SomebodyElse|talk]]) 18:09, 12 May 2026 (UTC)SomebodyElse 17:08, 12 May 2026 (UTC)

Is the mention of worries about gas prices a reference to Trump's war on Iran? [[User:SectorCorruptor|SectorCorruptor]] ([[User talk:SectorCorruptor|talk]]) 14:52, 12 May 2026 (UTC)
:Almost certainly. I've added it in. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 14:38, 12 May 2026 (UTC)

Does this count as a [[:Category:Tuesday comics|Tuesday comic]]? Not sure when it went live but it hit explainxkcd at 0900 UTC, which was 2AM Tuesday morning California time. It was still Monday in Hawaii (UTC-1000) though. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 15:18, 12 May 2026 (UTC)

Probably the real vehicle getting most close to the pullback drive is the Gyrobus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrobus {{unsigned ip|2a02:3100:8bac:fe00:1e1b:dff:fe9f:401d|20:40, 12 May 2026}}

I'll let another editor handle the writeup and citations, but here are some order-of-magnitude comparisons: The springs actually in your car's engine store a few joules. A garage door spring might store a few kilojoules. An [https://www.shibata-fender.team/files/content/products/SPC-Cone-Fenders/Product_Information_SPC_Fenders.pdf eight-ton chunk of rubber] can absorb 5 megajoules, and a single gallon of gasoline stores >120 megajoules. Even if you have some incredibly machinery to get that energy out, there's several orders of magnitude between (the spring energy you can store inside a car) and (the spring energy needed to make a car go even one mile). {{unsigned ip|206.209.15.112|21:02, 12 May 2026}}
:You can make springs out of petrol? [[Special:Contributions/2001:569:FBCA:1700:986:CE3B:3243:855|2001:569:FBCA:1700:986:CE3B:3243:855]] 00:47, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

Just reading this article and seeing this sentence:

> This is technically true, but cats that run on petroleum or atomicity have the advantage of their energy supply being refillable, while this pullback cat seemingly does not (without another factory-style 'pull back' facility).
[[Special:Contributions/82.196.111.48|82.196.111.48]] 19:06, 13 May 2026 (UTC)
: I think you needed to paws and read those clawses again. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:30, 14 May 2026 (UTC)
: I mean people intentionally misspell cats as cars all the time, maybe this is just the reverse? [[User:RG|RG]] ([[User talk:RG|talk]]) 00:51, 15 May 2026 (UTC)
::It'll be a direct call-back to the comic [[1288: Substitutions]] (and perhaps followups). Which some people have actually installed a filter in their browser to actually make 'work' for all web-browsing, or just some of it (e.g. this site). And I've seen that then cause confusion, but it's often Poe's law whether any particular example of that is real or pretended. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.68|82.132.238.68]] 15:29, 15 May 2026 (UTC)

How are the lights powered?
[[User:Velocifyer|Velocifyer]] ([[User talk:Velocifyer|talk]]) 22:05, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3208: SNEWS

2026-03-01T19:09:01Z

Velocifyer:

The title text SNEWS is a reference to {{w|SuperNova_Early_Warning_System}}. {{unsigned ip|2a09:bac2:3656:ebe::178:123}} 21:58, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
: No, you're wrong. It stands for Southeast, North East West South, since those are the directions where it can detect them. - [[Special:Contributions/45.178.1.151|45.178.1.151]] 01:41, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

F1RST! also i posted this when there was no explanation. please fix this {{unsigned ip|2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:95a1:c5da:4c49:c384|22:55, 16 February 2026 (UTC)}}

Is this my mediocre non-native English, or should the title text read "setting off fireworks indoors"? (Trivia?) --[[Special:Contributions/2001:A62:5F7:FB01:538E:3F07:C9F0:F0C0|2001:A62:5F7:FB01:538E:3F07:C9F0:F0C0]] 23:06, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
:Yeah, 'setting of fireworks indoors, ...' would mean setting them up (i.e., placing them) and not 'setting off', lighting or detonating the fireworks. [[User:Sameldacamel34|Sameldacamel34]] ([[User talk:Sameldacamel34|talk]]) 23:22, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
:You can talk of setting explosives (the setting of them, as passively ready, to make them ready for later "setting them off"), so I expect the "setting of fireworks" is pretty much the same thing, much as with the setting of an alarm clock.
:Though also sounds like a possible americanism, like "lit it on fire" (c.f. my own prefered "set light to it"), if only because the former seem tautilogical; and/or strangely long-winded, such as with "to burglarize" vs. just "to burgle" (both being what a burglar does upon his burglary). But it's not one of those many funny transatlantic dialect things I've noticed previously, so I could be overexplaining what actually ''is'' merely a typo. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.3|82.132.239.3]] 01:33, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
::I could see it as a missing word "setting off of fireworks indoors" seems OK in American to me, though then I'd want a the: "The setting off of fireworks indoors"[[User:Lordpishky|Lord Pishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 05:57, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
::A burglar does not burgle any more than a mother moths or water wats. "Burglar" existed before the verb "to burgle" was mistakenly back-formed by those who thought that the "-ar" ending necessarily indicated that it was an agent noun. A burglar needs a word to describe what they do, so burglarize makes reasonable sense. It could simply be "to burglar", like "to father". We don't say that anyone "fatherizes" a child, but it would make more sense than saying someone "faths" a child. Burglarize is more valid than burgle. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 22:48, 18 February 2026 (UTC)

It snew [[User:Yaokuan ITB|Yaokuan ITB]] ([[User talk:Yaokuan ITB|talk]]) 23:28, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
:Exactly my thoughts, Yaokuan [[Special:Contributions/216.25.182.141|216.25.182.141]] 23:58, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
:Gesundheit! [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 01:35, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

Sorry, it somehow escaped me when editing the explanation that neutrinos have mass!! (even though we've known about this for decades). Does this mean that if the supernova is far away enough, the photons will arrive before the neutrinos? Or is that threshold too far to matter? [[User:Sameldacamel34|Sameldacamel34]] ([[User talk:Sameldacamel34|talk]]) 01:21, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
: Yes, but the threshold is too far away to have happened yet. Supernova neutrinos have [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova_neutrinos 10^10 to 10^20 MeV]. Judging by the table at the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measurements_of_neutrino_speed Overview on neutrino speed], assuming we are about right about the mass of a neutrino, neutrinos that energetic would be traveling within a factor of 10-42 of ''c'', so they would need to have traveled for "a few"×1042 light hours, or a few 1038 years for the photons to catch up. Since the universe is less than 1.4×1010 years old, it'll be another few 1038 years until that happens. [[User:DoSnews|DoSnews]] ([[User talk:DoSnews|talk]]) 03:46, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
::Ah, interesting. And at that distance, the supernova would have to be unimaginably big to even notice/detect? Also, wouldn't it have to be far away enough that it would have traveled for so long the light gets redshifted into oblivion? [[User:Sameldacamel34|Sameldacamel34]] ([[User talk:Sameldacamel34|talk]]) 04:17, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
:::Since SN neutrino detections are tens of neutrinos an increase of even a few times the distances currently detected would render the neutrino pulse undetectable. And the optical event is stretched by time for the photons to migrate to the surface as well as glow from material heated by the explosion and decay heat from ejected material. If we consider only those photons from the explosion "lucky" enough to manage not to hit anything on the way out of the star/remnant they should arrive first by an undetectable time. Also, the explosion itself once triggered has to propagate across millions of miles of the stellar core so the explosion event is at least several seconds long.[[User:Lordpishky|Lord Pishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 05:47, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
::Not 1010–1020, but 10–20. [[Special:Contributions/84.2.109.134|84.2.109.134]] 06:30, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
my first edit in almost 5 months i think lol [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 01:45, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

One of the firework launchers on the device is aimed directly at the bed. [[User:Xkdvd|Xkdvd]] ([[User talk:Xkdvd|talk]]) 03:06, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
:Is it? Hard to tell in a 2d drawing... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:11, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
::By that logic, its also hard to tell if hairy is pointing at the device or not. [[User:Xkdvd|Xkdvd]] ([[User talk:Xkdvd|talk]]) 23:20, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
::: It's hard to tell if it even ''is'' Hairy, and not a cardboard cutout Ponytail happens to keep around the place. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:41, 18 February 2026 (UTC)

"Ponytail is showing Hairy her bedroom." is the most hilariously euphemistic explanation of what's going on. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:24, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
:What is actually going on?[[Special:Contributions/2603:7000:6100:F725:5D4:A938:8CD0:F809|2603:7000:6100:F725:5D4:A938:8CD0:F809]] 19:05, 18 February 2026 (UTC)
::Probably nothing, given the distant possibility of random fireworks from the ceiling possibly spoiling the intended result of random fireworks from under the bedcovers. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 20:19, 18 February 2026 (UTC)

Contrary to the current explanation, a foe is *exactly* equal to 10^44 joules, by definition. 1 erg is 10^-7 J and 1 foe is 10^51 erg. Also, I feel there is a [Citation required] somewhere in the section about the dangers of indoor fireworks. (Not happy about having to run Google's Javascript and helping train their image recognition algorithms on unfamiliar foreign street scenes in order to post here.) [[Special:Contributions/78.33.10.10|78.33.10.10]] 11:22, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
:I took it as being that while a foe is exactly that many joules (being a cm/g/s system derivative, not a m/kg/s one), neither a foe nor the equivalent value in joules are exactly the size of that which we might call a 'foe event', for which it was coined. But might have needed rewriting, as with the whole page (loads of little paragraphs and additions to paragaphs, now, at least needs more sensible reordering/grouping of facts and conjectures). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.216|82.132.239.216]] 11:58, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

I'll take the slightly disturbing take that Ponytail would rather die than miss a supernova, hence the fireworks [[User:SevenTheGamingKitty|SevenTheGamingKitty]] ([[User talk:SevenTheGamingKitty|talk]]) 19:46, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

The combustion number for sucrose is wrong. Heat of combustion is 1350kCal/mole, mass per mole is 342g, so you'd need about 2.5kg of sugar, not 0.6 grams. [[User:Dkfenger|Dkfenger]] ([[User talk:Dkfenger|talk]]) 21:11, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
:Also wrong. 10 kJ divided by 5400kJ/kg ("explosion enthalpy" of nitrocellulose) or 5640 kJ/kg (combustion of sucrose) are both a little under 2 grams. The numbers are pretty close because trinitrocelulose leaves behind 3 equivalents of carbon monoxide on decomposition/explosion. CO has a small formation enthalpy of just -120kJ/mol, CO2 close to -400 kJ/mol. This more than makes up for the explosiveness, so to say. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:CC24:6500:8006:4640:EF9:BBDD|2001:16B8:CC24:6500:8006:4640:EF9:BBDD]] 00:07, 19 February 2026 (UTC)
::No. Sucrose is 342.30 g/mol; std enthalpy of combustion 5,647 kJ/mol per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose. 10 kJ * 342.3 g/mol * 1 mol/5647 kJ = 0.6 g. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07370652.2023.2175393 shows decomposition energy of nitrocellulose ranging from 1.1 kJ/g to 1.9 kJ/g . 10 kJ * 1 g / 1.1 kJ = 9.1 g. 10 kJ * 1 g / 1.9 kJ = 5.3 g. I see that https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulosenitrat#Physikalische_Eigenschaften gives the nitrocellulose decomposition energy as 5400kJ/kg but I trust a paper published in Journal of Energetic Materials more than I trust what's in W'pedia. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 00:43, 20 February 2026 (UTC)
::Also, I'm dubious about the assertion that "A single firework rocket contains about 10 g of gunpowder". There's a ''wide'' range between small "consumer" fireworks and the largest rockets available (which consumers ''shouldn't'' have access to, but that shouldn't be assumed for XKCD personnel). [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 00:53, 20 February 2026 (UTC)

I'm half tempted to mention that it ''might'' not be advantageous to go outside and watch a supernova flare up. It ''shouldn't'' be a problem, as none of the likely candidates are anywhere near close enough to us, but I'm thinking of the story setup for The Day Of Triffids... "Hey, everyone, look up there, where there'll suddenly be a bright light!" ''could'' end up to be not ideal. ;) [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:55, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

Since a supernova, or pretty much any other astronomical phenomenon, will not be seen on Earth until several light-years after it has happened, wouldn't it be correct to remind Ponytail that she HAS already slept through it, and what she and the others are actually seeing is a sort of taoe-delayed broadcast of the event? [[Special:Contributions/96.61.125.76|96.61.125.76]] 17:32, 19 February 2026 (UTC)
:"Light-years" is a distance, not an elapsed time (unless you're in some sort {{w|Inverted World|strange sci-f scenario}}), just like {{w|Millennium Falcon#Kessel Run|parsecs}}. And it's even arguable about whether it's even an {{w|Time dilation|elapsed time}} for the light (or anything else) that went across that distance, with it ever happening 'now' being a {{w|Relativity of simultaneity|troublesome concept}} anyway. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 19:55, 19 February 2026 (UTC)

:This has been discussed countless times, and no, it is customary to NOT speak about something that happens elsewhere in the past tense until light could have travelled the distance. Locality etc. Time's an illusion, lunchtime doublish so. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:CC31:8A00:4965:59FD:4204:21D7|2001:16B8:CC31:8A00:4965:59FD:4204:21D7]] 23:57, 19 February 2026 (UTC)

I wonder why not a single German-speaking reader of XKCD has shown up here yet to point y'all at:
* https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_mu%C3%9F_immer_das_letzte_Wort_haben
* https://webarchive.ars.electronica.art/de/archiv_files/19911/1991_221.pdf
[[Special:Contributions/84.57.184.66|84.57.184.66]] 16:07, 22 February 2026 (UTC)

== Why is some text in qoutation marks? ==

I noticed that in the article “showing Hairy her bedroom'” has quotation marks — Why is that?

Talk:3208: SNEWS

2026-03-01T19:08:32Z

Velocifyer: /* Why is some text in qoutation marks. */ new section

The title text SNEWS is a reference to {{w|SuperNova_Early_Warning_System}}. {{unsigned ip|2a09:bac2:3656:ebe::178:123}} 21:58, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
: No, you're wrong. It stands for Southeast, North East West South, since those are the directions where it can detect them. - [[Special:Contributions/45.178.1.151|45.178.1.151]] 01:41, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

F1RST! also i posted this when there was no explanation. please fix this {{unsigned ip|2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:95a1:c5da:4c49:c384|22:55, 16 February 2026 (UTC)}}

Is this my mediocre non-native English, or should the title text read "setting off fireworks indoors"? (Trivia?) --[[Special:Contributions/2001:A62:5F7:FB01:538E:3F07:C9F0:F0C0|2001:A62:5F7:FB01:538E:3F07:C9F0:F0C0]] 23:06, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
:Yeah, 'setting of fireworks indoors, ...' would mean setting them up (i.e., placing them) and not 'setting off', lighting or detonating the fireworks. [[User:Sameldacamel34|Sameldacamel34]] ([[User talk:Sameldacamel34|talk]]) 23:22, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
:You can talk of setting explosives (the setting of them, as passively ready, to make them ready for later "setting them off"), so I expect the "setting of fireworks" is pretty much the same thing, much as with the setting of an alarm clock.
:Though also sounds like a possible americanism, like "lit it on fire" (c.f. my own prefered "set light to it"), if only because the former seem tautilogical; and/or strangely long-winded, such as with "to burglarize" vs. just "to burgle" (both being what a burglar does upon his burglary). But it's not one of those many funny transatlantic dialect things I've noticed previously, so I could be overexplaining what actually ''is'' merely a typo. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.3|82.132.239.3]] 01:33, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
::I could see it as a missing word "setting off of fireworks indoors" seems OK in American to me, though then I'd want a the: "The setting off of fireworks indoors"[[User:Lordpishky|Lord Pishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 05:57, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
::A burglar does not burgle any more than a mother moths or water wats. "Burglar" existed before the verb "to burgle" was mistakenly back-formed by those who thought that the "-ar" ending necessarily indicated that it was an agent noun. A burglar needs a word to describe what they do, so burglarize makes reasonable sense. It could simply be "to burglar", like "to father". We don't say that anyone "fatherizes" a child, but it would make more sense than saying someone "faths" a child. Burglarize is more valid than burgle. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 22:48, 18 February 2026 (UTC)

It snew [[User:Yaokuan ITB|Yaokuan ITB]] ([[User talk:Yaokuan ITB|talk]]) 23:28, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
:Exactly my thoughts, Yaokuan [[Special:Contributions/216.25.182.141|216.25.182.141]] 23:58, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
:Gesundheit! [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 01:35, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

Sorry, it somehow escaped me when editing the explanation that neutrinos have mass!! (even though we've known about this for decades). Does this mean that if the supernova is far away enough, the photons will arrive before the neutrinos? Or is that threshold too far to matter? [[User:Sameldacamel34|Sameldacamel34]] ([[User talk:Sameldacamel34|talk]]) 01:21, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
: Yes, but the threshold is too far away to have happened yet. Supernova neutrinos have [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova_neutrinos 10^10 to 10^20 MeV]. Judging by the table at the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measurements_of_neutrino_speed Overview on neutrino speed], assuming we are about right about the mass of a neutrino, neutrinos that energetic would be traveling within a factor of 10-42 of ''c'', so they would need to have traveled for "a few"×1042 light hours, or a few 1038 years for the photons to catch up. Since the universe is less than 1.4×1010 years old, it'll be another few 1038 years until that happens. [[User:DoSnews|DoSnews]] ([[User talk:DoSnews|talk]]) 03:46, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
::Ah, interesting. And at that distance, the supernova would have to be unimaginably big to even notice/detect? Also, wouldn't it have to be far away enough that it would have traveled for so long the light gets redshifted into oblivion? [[User:Sameldacamel34|Sameldacamel34]] ([[User talk:Sameldacamel34|talk]]) 04:17, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
:::Since SN neutrino detections are tens of neutrinos an increase of even a few times the distances currently detected would render the neutrino pulse undetectable. And the optical event is stretched by time for the photons to migrate to the surface as well as glow from material heated by the explosion and decay heat from ejected material. If we consider only those photons from the explosion "lucky" enough to manage not to hit anything on the way out of the star/remnant they should arrive first by an undetectable time. Also, the explosion itself once triggered has to propagate across millions of miles of the stellar core so the explosion event is at least several seconds long.[[User:Lordpishky|Lord Pishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 05:47, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
::Not 1010–1020, but 10–20. [[Special:Contributions/84.2.109.134|84.2.109.134]] 06:30, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
my first edit in almost 5 months i think lol [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 01:45, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

One of the firework launchers on the device is aimed directly at the bed. [[User:Xkdvd|Xkdvd]] ([[User talk:Xkdvd|talk]]) 03:06, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
:Is it? Hard to tell in a 2d drawing... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:11, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
::By that logic, its also hard to tell if hairy is pointing at the device or not. [[User:Xkdvd|Xkdvd]] ([[User talk:Xkdvd|talk]]) 23:20, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
::: It's hard to tell if it even ''is'' Hairy, and not a cardboard cutout Ponytail happens to keep around the place. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:41, 18 February 2026 (UTC)

"Ponytail is showing Hairy her bedroom." is the most hilariously euphemistic explanation of what's going on. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:24, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
:What is actually going on?[[Special:Contributions/2603:7000:6100:F725:5D4:A938:8CD0:F809|2603:7000:6100:F725:5D4:A938:8CD0:F809]] 19:05, 18 February 2026 (UTC)
::Probably nothing, given the distant possibility of random fireworks from the ceiling possibly spoiling the intended result of random fireworks from under the bedcovers. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 20:19, 18 February 2026 (UTC)

Contrary to the current explanation, a foe is *exactly* equal to 10^44 joules, by definition. 1 erg is 10^-7 J and 1 foe is 10^51 erg. Also, I feel there is a [Citation required] somewhere in the section about the dangers of indoor fireworks. (Not happy about having to run Google's Javascript and helping train their image recognition algorithms on unfamiliar foreign street scenes in order to post here.) [[Special:Contributions/78.33.10.10|78.33.10.10]] 11:22, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
:I took it as being that while a foe is exactly that many joules (being a cm/g/s system derivative, not a m/kg/s one), neither a foe nor the equivalent value in joules are exactly the size of that which we might call a 'foe event', for which it was coined. But might have needed rewriting, as with the whole page (loads of little paragraphs and additions to paragaphs, now, at least needs more sensible reordering/grouping of facts and conjectures). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.216|82.132.239.216]] 11:58, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

I'll take the slightly disturbing take that Ponytail would rather die than miss a supernova, hence the fireworks [[User:SevenTheGamingKitty|SevenTheGamingKitty]] ([[User talk:SevenTheGamingKitty|talk]]) 19:46, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

The combustion number for sucrose is wrong. Heat of combustion is 1350kCal/mole, mass per mole is 342g, so you'd need about 2.5kg of sugar, not 0.6 grams. [[User:Dkfenger|Dkfenger]] ([[User talk:Dkfenger|talk]]) 21:11, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
:Also wrong. 10 kJ divided by 5400kJ/kg ("explosion enthalpy" of nitrocellulose) or 5640 kJ/kg (combustion of sucrose) are both a little under 2 grams. The numbers are pretty close because trinitrocelulose leaves behind 3 equivalents of carbon monoxide on decomposition/explosion. CO has a small formation enthalpy of just -120kJ/mol, CO2 close to -400 kJ/mol. This more than makes up for the explosiveness, so to say. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:CC24:6500:8006:4640:EF9:BBDD|2001:16B8:CC24:6500:8006:4640:EF9:BBDD]] 00:07, 19 February 2026 (UTC)
::No. Sucrose is 342.30 g/mol; std enthalpy of combustion 5,647 kJ/mol per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose. 10 kJ * 342.3 g/mol * 1 mol/5647 kJ = 0.6 g. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07370652.2023.2175393 shows decomposition energy of nitrocellulose ranging from 1.1 kJ/g to 1.9 kJ/g . 10 kJ * 1 g / 1.1 kJ = 9.1 g. 10 kJ * 1 g / 1.9 kJ = 5.3 g. I see that https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulosenitrat#Physikalische_Eigenschaften gives the nitrocellulose decomposition energy as 5400kJ/kg but I trust a paper published in Journal of Energetic Materials more than I trust what's in W'pedia. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 00:43, 20 February 2026 (UTC)
::Also, I'm dubious about the assertion that "A single firework rocket contains about 10 g of gunpowder". There's a ''wide'' range between small "consumer" fireworks and the largest rockets available (which consumers ''shouldn't'' have access to, but that shouldn't be assumed for XKCD personnel). [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 00:53, 20 February 2026 (UTC)

I'm half tempted to mention that it ''might'' not be advantageous to go outside and watch a supernova flare up. It ''shouldn't'' be a problem, as none of the likely candidates are anywhere near close enough to us, but I'm thinking of the story setup for The Day Of Triffids... "Hey, everyone, look up there, where there'll suddenly be a bright light!" ''could'' end up to be not ideal. ;) [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:55, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

Since a supernova, or pretty much any other astronomical phenomenon, will not be seen on Earth until several light-years after it has happened, wouldn't it be correct to remind Ponytail that she HAS already slept through it, and what she and the others are actually seeing is a sort of taoe-delayed broadcast of the event? [[Special:Contributions/96.61.125.76|96.61.125.76]] 17:32, 19 February 2026 (UTC)
:"Light-years" is a distance, not an elapsed time (unless you're in some sort {{w|Inverted World|strange sci-f scenario}}), just like {{w|Millennium Falcon#Kessel Run|parsecs}}. And it's even arguable about whether it's even an {{w|Time dilation|elapsed time}} for the light (or anything else) that went across that distance, with it ever happening 'now' being a {{w|Relativity of simultaneity|troublesome concept}} anyway. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 19:55, 19 February 2026 (UTC)

:This has been discussed countless times, and no, it is customary to NOT speak about something that happens elsewhere in the past tense until light could have travelled the distance. Locality etc. Time's an illusion, lunchtime doublish so. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:CC31:8A00:4965:59FD:4204:21D7|2001:16B8:CC31:8A00:4965:59FD:4204:21D7]] 23:57, 19 February 2026 (UTC)

I wonder why not a single German-speaking reader of XKCD has shown up here yet to point y'all at:
* https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_mu%C3%9F_immer_das_letzte_Wort_haben
* https://webarchive.ars.electronica.art/de/archiv_files/19911/1991_221.pdf
[[Special:Contributions/84.57.184.66|84.57.184.66]] 16:07, 22 February 2026 (UTC)

== Why is some text in qoutation marks. ==

I noticed that in the article “showing Hairy her bedroom'” has quotation marks — Why is that?

Talk:3074: Push Notifications

2025-06-28T13:41:52Z

Velocifyer: /* Not working */ new section

__NOTOC__
So...this is the April Fool's comic, if I'm not mistaken... Oh ye of little faith! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.106|172.71.26.106]] 20:00, 9 April 2025 (UTC)

I turned this on thinking it would just be a few every so often but I quickly realized how this is xkcd and it doesn't "joke". I had to turn this off because it disrupted my schoolwork by popping up every fricking 5 minutes{{unsigned|Moss|20:22, 9 April 2025 (UTC)}}
: Personally, I'm disappointed by how long I have to wait between notifications. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.32|172.71.178.32]] 15:39, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

Apparently my employer (or ublock) is keeping me from experiencing the full effect of any notifications. All I get is "An *actual* error has occurred. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.173|162.158.91.173]] 20:52, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:Yeah, I'm confused too. I've tried Chrome and got nothing. I've tried Edge and got effectively nothing. I progressed one message further, but nothing showed up. No notifications, popups, or whatever. And I have never installed an add-on for Edge. Edge did give me access to the game over screen by disabling notifications, but when I tried to re-enable them, nothing happened.
:Is this a mobile-only thing? [[User:EebstertheGreat|EebstertheGreat]] ([[User talk:EebstertheGreat|talk]]) 02:51, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:I'm having the same issue. Firefox doesn't work, which I understand, but neither does Safari. I haven't gotten a single notification. [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 06:57, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
::Problem solved! Turns out I *was* getting notifications, I just wasn't seeing them. --[[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 07:07, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
::: Where were you getting them? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.212|172.70.207.212]] 17:08, 20 April 2025 (UTC)

What the heck are the "Zoom Notification" ones, with just a pair of numbers? Now that I've been sitting with this for a little bit, they're by far the most common notifications, and the most mysterious. What is "zoom"ing or should be zoomed-in-on or whatever, and what do the two numbers signify? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.75|172.68.22.75]] 20:35, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:I think they're coordinates. So far (x,y) has had x from 4 fo 73 (that I've seen) and y from 2 to 28. That gives a tad over 2000 possible combinations, but omething tells me there won't be more than 500 or so in total. Quite a few y=24 (not yet adjacent by x), and any given x has 0 to 3 different y partners (so far). They ''do'' repeat (I'm not recording how many times, but I'm scatterplotting what I get). The ones prefixed with "oh look!" are tightly clustered in x=6..13 and y=4..11, so far, with no non-"oh look!" ones there, so I'm plotting them in a different marker. I ''suspect'', after many many more Zoom Notifications, I'll be left with (enough of) a pixelated image's pixels (of two types, background colour excluded), or else I'm doing it wrong and I should be drawing lines between the dots, but I never managed to grab them all, so I'm relying on it being a random "spraygun droplets" sort of image-reveal. (Still some way to go...) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.66|172.71.241.66]] 23:08, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
: Also, Zoom is a video chat app, if you didn't know that. That's the joke. [[User:EebstertheGreat|EebstertheGreat]] ([[User talk:EebstertheGreat|talk]]) 02:53, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:"They're by far the most common" - not for me - I got a couple early on, and nothing since. All I'm getting now (apart from cat ones when I click a cat) is constant 'comment and subscribe' ones.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.28|172.71.178.28]] 16:07, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
::Last night, right from the start (well, as soon as I got around to going through the process, after I started this Talk page off), Zoom stuff was ''the'' most common. The messages would change as I was documenting them, they were more frequent than the "you have clicked N times" ones. This morning, on reconnecting (exactly how much "Push" there is to the Push Notifications, I don't know, I suspect it's more long-polling in the end), I have had zero new Zoom messages, the "clicked N times" had promoted itself to "click Nth away, N+1th pops up immediately" most of the time, with Constants and Leave A Message On This Random Wikitalk and Old Comic Published essentially, tying for next most frequent, except for when the occasional Cat Facts splurge gets mixed in (all this without re-viewing the comic-page's tab).
::Anyway, my "spraygun coordinates" list hasn't been expanded all today. I was wondering if its frequency had been reduced, server-side, ''because'' it was turning out to be the most polled (and/or pushed) bit of information... And that happened while I was asleep anyway.
::Whilst writing this, I only actually got three alerts... Old Comic, Erroneous Error and Have You Seen My Cat? No... now four, just had a Constant Reminder. Earlier today, I'd have had twice as many in merely a few seconds, at times. So maybe (effective) throttling back has happened across the board, one way or another. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.171|172.69.43.171]] 21:16, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

I got multiple "At the tone, your favorite number will be 14", and I don't lnow what to do with that... Is 14 a reference? {{unsigned ip|172.68.234.180|10:00, 24 April 2025}}

; Table of notification
Made a new page called [[3074: Push Notifications/Table of Notifications]], much like [[1506: xkcloud/List of Permalinks]]. I’m hoping that we can put all of the possible notifications into the table, along with any possible images that go along with it and an explanation (if necessary). '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:26, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:I think it might be a good idea to make the table something more like source/name/notification, because there are chains of notifications where the name changes, like the How Many Times Can You Click This? notification. --[[User:Magicalus|Magicalus]] ([[User talk:Magicalus|talk]]) 23:19, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
::Might even want to track the URL that the notification leads to in the cases where it opens a new tab. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.57|172.71.142.57]]
:Did you mean a page much like [[1506:_xkcloud/List_of_Permalinks]]? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.171|162.158.175.171]] 01:25, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:: Weird, someone changed that. I just reverted it. --[[User:Jacky720|Jack]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|t]]|[[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|c]]) 02:07, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:Yes, the user {{diff|371988|behind this change}} appears to have a keyboard->leopard sort of autochanger active (for cloud->butt) (unless they're deliberately doing it alongside deliberate changes to try to get it under the radar?)... I reverted something else they did, with the intention to check everything else (in Right Click's explanation) and unreverting the actually good changes. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.160|172.70.162.160]] 08:39, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

It's like herding LOLcats... anyone else remembering the Secretary arc about now? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.2|172.71.142.2]] 16:12, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

I clicked on the silence notifications at a cost button a lot and it set Cueball's PC on fire?
; Code source
I found what is presumably the source code (?) of the comic through the transcript. It’s all JS pages. No idea what they mean (I’m not good with code), but I’m sure that there are some on here that can help dissect it. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:50, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:https://xkcd.com/3074/marconi/manifest.json
:https://xkcd.com/3074/marconi/static/js/42.4f5b21b3.js
:https://xkcd.com/3074/marconi/static/js/index.js?v=1

: I found this list of states in there, saved to the "iU" variable: intro, wordgame, gameover, biglaptop, boat, default, floating, longdesk, missing, nekotree, nekotree2, nekowater, nodesk, onfire, peek, shark, spinning, squirrel, squirreldesk, squirrelplant, standing, sword, tallchair, tentacle, water, wizard, bigplant, catchair, catonhead, compiling, floor, plant, reverse. Presumably, this is all the images we're looking for. I'll get back to you if I identify what chooses them or all their actual filepaths. --[[User:Jacky720|Jack]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|t]]|[[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|c]]) 00:43, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

: I found more urls:
:https://xkcd.com/3074/marconi/static/js/async/marconi-sw.e9d36d05.js
:https://xkcd.com/3074/marconi/static/js/async/491.7b4e7556.js
:https://xkcd.com/3074/marconi/static/js/async/491.7b4e7556.js --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.45|172.69.23.45]] 03:11, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

I have a sneaking suspicion the Zoom Notifications are sketching out an image of some sort
(Update: after plotting like 60 of them no apparent pattern is to be found) [[User:SkiesShaper|SkiesShaper]] ([[User talk:SkiesShaper|talk]]) 22:24, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
: I've plotted 397 and it seems to be forming some kind of animal. Maybe a cat, given the comic theme? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.119|172.68.35.119]] 23:24, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:That could make sense yeah - there is definitely an organic sort of pattern emerging from the points I've been plotting out [[User:SkiesShaper|SkiesShaper]] ([[User talk:SkiesShaper|talk]]) 00:35, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
: I'm pretty sure it's a turtle. I have 311 points so far and while it isn't clear, it looks like a turtle. [[User:IMW|IMW]] ([[User talk:IMW|talk]]) 01:51, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:: After plotting more I think the "Oh look" coordinates help with drawing out a butterfly sitting on the left side of the turtle. [[User:IMW|IMW]] ([[User talk:IMW|talk]]) 03:36, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:: I also am seeing a turtle after graphing the non-“Oh look” ones (and flipping the image vertically). Could the “Zoom notifications” be a reference to [[1416: Pixels]], which is about “zooming” in on turtles? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.12.119|172.68.12.119]] 12:54, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
::: Is it fractal? If you zoom in, is it turtles all the way down? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.43|172.68.186.43]] 14:15, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:: Once we have enough coordinates, someone should plot them and upload the image. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.56|172.71.142.56]] 23:07, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
: when the image is saved, it appears to have a hex code as a file name. could be some other thing though [[User:Pncak|Pncak]] ([[User talk:Pncak|talk]]) 04:07, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

Apparently one of the notifications is: "The Earth is spinning at a rate of 1 rpd" This is true if you round it, but not exact. The time it takes to rotate is called a sidereal day, and there's one extra sidereal day a year. Basically, there's one solar day removed in a year, because the Earth's motion around the sun cancels it out. Think of it with a tidally locked planet. It spins around once a year, but the sun never moves. Really there's 1.0027379 rotations per day. [[User:DanielLC|DanielLC]] ([[User talk:DanielLC|talk]]) 23:02, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
: then it is rotating at 1 revolution per ''sidereal'' day, which could still be written as 1 rpd [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 05:23, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

This is the most chaotic comic I've seen in a while. Part of me wants to keep notifications on to see what happens, and part of me wants to turn it all off and throw my phone in a lake [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 00:40, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

Should we start uploading different images? [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 03:48, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
: And should we create a new page for the images or put them all on the same page, like with umwelt. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 03:49, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

Underneath the "Silence Notifications at a Cost" button, it says "Temporarily pause your notifications at the cost of notifying two random people". Does anyone know how for how long notifications stay silenced, or if there is a way to "unsilence" notifications? Also, when I click on the cats they just disappear. [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 04:09, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
: When I click on the cats I get a push notification with a cat fact.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.127.58|172.70.127.58]] 05:35, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
Just like any other button, you can click it really fast by clicking the button and then holding "enter" or spacebar. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 04:35, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

Someone should probably comment on "April 1st (observed)". I assume it's a reference to the fact that the comic is late? --[[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 07:53, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:Aye, as in: {{wiktionary|observed}} #2 [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.43|172.71.26.43]] 08:02, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

Is it morally wrong to spam the temporary silence button, just because I want to give other people notifications? [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 08:01, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

Notifications are so 2024. Ever since Trump imposed the penguin tariffs, <tt>dmesg</tt> is where it's at. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.126|162.158.91.126]] 09:07, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

Finally yay!! [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 10:28, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:Where have ''you'' been? ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.160|172.71.178.160]] 10:39, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:Good, we don't have to hear you whine like a baby anymore [[Special:Contributions/172.70.100.202|172.70.100.202]] 18:54, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

I got the file for "Cueball sitting at his desk, with a cat in the foreground near the point of view.", what do I do to add it :⁾ [[User:Toby|Toby]] ([[User talk:Toby|talk]]) 13:24, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:upload it if you can (with the exact file name from imgs.xkcd.com), or copy paste the link here and someone else with uploading rights can upload it. the upload button should be under tools in the left side, under related changes and above special changes. or, you can click this [[Special:Upload|link]] '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:29, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

If you refresh the screen when a clickable cat is on it, it moves. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.173|162.158.62.173]] 14:49, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

; Zoom notification coordinates
I am making a sheet with the cordinates: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/133jGfOM6EVuEco4j2NumOAOv6pEealyZpbDoMkESXvs/edit?usp=sharing [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.81|108.162.216.81]] 01:31, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

I plotted about 1000 turtle points and about 100 "oh look" points, including all the points I could identify from previous images posted on this page, but I am new to the wiki and it says I don't have permission to upload my picture. Do I need to do more contributing first? By the way, the "oh look" points seem to be forming a squirrel! --[[User:SapphireHarmony|SapphireHarmony]] 19:03, 1 May 2025 (UTC)
:There is a threshold for directly uploading, yes. Easiest/quickest thing to do is to put it on some imgur-like site, give the link to it here and then rely on a friendly neighbourhood uploader to scrape it off there and into here. I assume it's a bit more complete than the image already on the comic page? Or would you care to take ''that'' data (and/or all the recoded points in the appropriate sub-page table) and merge it with what you have, to make something that's potentially got more points in it than any of the other collections? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.109|162.158.74.109]] 00:27, 2 May 2025 (UTC)
:: Here's the link to my current image: https://imgur.com/a/R09e5wt. And yes I already added as many points as I could identify from the previously posted images, thank you to the people who posted those (that's how I was able to get enough to identify the squirrel)! --[[User:SapphireHarmony|SapphireHarmony]] 20:23, 2 May 2025 (UTC)
:::Thanks! I updated the image. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:16, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:::I also collected some coordinates a while ago: https://pastebin.com/7G34nwAK. It's not as comprehensive, but it fills some of the holes in SapphireHarmony's [https://imgur.com/a/R09e5wt picture]. [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/4/4a/20250503090605%21zoom_turtle.png This image] and [[3074:_Push_Notifications/Table_of_Notifications#Zoom_notifications|this list]] also seem to fill in some gaps, so it would be great to merge these 4 sources into a single picture. Do we have the data from the two images available in text format? [[User:DarkMatter|DarkMatter]] ([[User talk:DarkMatter|talk]]) 10:45, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
::::That's great! SapphireHarmony said their image was also based on the old black-and-white images, so I think we can mark them as included, unless you found some empty points in the new one that were already included in the previous images. I guess we only need to fill in the gap using the spreadsheet at the top of this topic, by the IP contrinbutor, and your own Pastebin list! It would be great if you could insert any of the coordinates you find in the spreadsheet or your list into [[3074:_Push_Notifications/Table_of_Notifications#Zoom_notifications|this wiki's table]], so we have a single source we can use that contain everything. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 12:32, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
::::I was using Desmos to create the graph, here's a link to the graph if you want to make a copy off it and add more points, or see the list of points I was using https://www.desmos.com/calculator/nzc9jfdvyq. The x1 and x2 lists are the points I personally collected, and x3 and x4 are the ones I didn't already have that I scraped from other sources (though I may have cross-contaminated a few points between lists). I copied as many points from the black-and-white one as I could, but it's possible I missed some. Yes please add more points if you have some! --[[User:SapphireHarmony|SapphireHarmony]] 15:30, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
::::: Thanks for the Desmos link! I've exported your x1 and x2 coordinates and merged them with the data from the other 4 sources. I didn't include your x3 and x4 since those are meant to be duplicates - but I did notice two pixels from there, (73, 21) and (35, 14), that didn't appear in any of the 4 datasets (google doc, wiki's table, wiki's old picture, my pastebin). Did you use another source for those, or might they be typos? I've also uploaded a new image and updated the wiki's table with the combined data. There are still about 15 pixels missing from the turtle, but the squirrel now looks like it might be complete! [[User:DarkMatter|DarkMatter]] ([[User talk:DarkMatter|talk]]) 07:13, 4 May 2025 (UTC)
::::::Like I said, I may have cross-contaminated a few points between lists, since I was keeping an eye on notifications to add new points while also copying over old points. Thanks for making the new picture! --[[User:SapphireHarmony|SapphireHarmony]] 13:51, 10 May 2025 (UTC)

; Notification typos
I revieved two typos in two different notifications:
"Or" is "r" in a message saying that it's confused whether is is fhe server or the client.
"Ratio" is "ration" in the message "At the tone, the Golden Ratio will be equal to one half of 1 plus SQRT(5)".
Does everyone get those typos? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.16|172.70.34.16]]
:I don't know if they're typos or part of the humor. Enjoy your golden ration. :) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.41|162.158.63.41]] 16:33, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

I am not getting any notifications. I have three questions: 1) Does anyone know how long the "temporary silence" button lasts? 2) Does its effect last after you press the emergency stop button and re-subscribe to the nonsense? And 3) Is there just a problem with using Chrome? Thanks, [[User:Xnerkcd|Xnerkcd]] ([[User talk:Xnerkcd|talk]]) 17:49, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:Update, the clickable cats are showing up but not doing anything
::They just sit there unless you refresh the screen. Then they can change where they are.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.108|162.158.62.108]] 17:52, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
::The problem's fixed; my computer had notifications disabled :) [[User:Xnerkcd|Xnerkcd]] ([[User talk:Xnerkcd|talk]]) 17:56, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

Hi, I was able to get one of the currently placeholder images but just made this account to add it, looks like i'm to new to upload it. Is there a good way to get the file to the community? Namely it's the flooded one with the Shark Fin.--[[User:ItemCrafting|ItemCrafting]] ([[User talk:ItemCrafting|talk]]) 19:40, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:Links to both the Shark https://xkcd.com/3074/marconi/static/a592ca.png and the Foreground Cat https://xkcd.com/3074/marconi/static/cb0653.png .--[[User:ItemCrafting|ItemCrafting]] ([[User talk:ItemCrafting|talk]]) 20:23, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:: Also Found: https://xkcd.com/3074/marconi/static/3b9830.png Large Tree, Current version looks to be a broken link. --[[User:ItemCrafting|ItemCrafting]] ([[User talk:ItemCrafting|talk]]) 20:39, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
::: thanks [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 21:20, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
::: Here's the cat version of the tree: https://xkcd.com/3074/marconi/static/8eeb55.png [[User:Rerere284|Rerere284]] ([[User talk:Rerere284|talk]]) 01:10, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

April fools comic!!! LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO - [[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 21:27, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

;Cat reference

The cat image itself and the concept of cats appearing after leaving the page idle for some time are a reference to Neko Atsume --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.82|162.158.103.82]] 21:52, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

I don't seem to ever get more than 2 clickable cats at a time.[[Special:Contributions/104.23.190.37|104.23.190.37]] 18:57, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

;Not working
The page doesn't work for me in Chrome on Google Plxel. I just get a image missing symbol. :( [[Special:Contributions/172.71.98.245|172.71.98.245]] 22:54, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:Same here -- the image loads initially and then real quickly it's replaced by the broken image. This happens using m.xkcd.com, but not the "desktop" site version. Chromebook with ChromeOS: Version 134.0.6998.183 (Official Build) (64-bit); also broken on Pixel 8 Pro, Android 15. [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 23:10, 10 April 2025 (UTC)

;Push Notifications disabled in browser

My browser config doesn't allow sites to request push notifications, and the result is that once I reach the point of enabling them, the laptop immediately blows up. Is this worth mentioning in the summary? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.164.163|162.158.164.163]] 23:37, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
:did your laptop blow up or the one in the comic? --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.114.7|172.71.114.7]] 10:52, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Near the bottom of the current Transcript is the line, '[...something appeared then dissappeared...]'. I saw this too, and on the third time through the game, I did a screen recording. Two messages briefly appeared. [text and background in shades of red, all caps] "Error Sending Push Notifications" and [text in black, background grey, all caps] "OK, You Win. Setting Up Push Notifications. [2nd line] Just Remember, we tried to warn you." [[User:Nekoninda|Nekoninda]] ([[User talk:Nekoninda|talk]])Nekoninda

My word is "battery", I'm sure there are also lots of people who chose "horse" or "staple". Correct? --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.91|172.69.68.91]] 14:27, 11 April 2025 (UTC)
:Bird is the word, man.[[Special:Contributions/104.23.190.37|104.23.190.37]] 18:57, 11 April 2025 (UTC)
::I ''was'' going to try "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch", but accidentally submitted a blank word (it looks like others have too... well, the second part of my situation, I'm still not sure if the first bit even would have been accepted/enterable, never mind how many others would have tried it). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.134|172.68.205.134]] 21:12, 11 April 2025 (UTC)
:::cat --[[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 00:37, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

; Mobile / Desktop behaviour depends on browser

I'm on Firefox for Android, and I got the signup behaviour described for the desktop version (no adfing to home screen; asks for Notification permission.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.95.57|172.71.95.57]] 08:17, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

I made a phone background using an image from this one! https://file.garden/ZXYYgWMYuz15fq8l/export202504102005490721.png [[User:JokinglyEvil|JokinglyEvil]] ([[User talk:JokinglyEvil|talk]]) 11:08, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

; Picture list
Pictures are prefixed by https://xkcd.com/3074/marconi/static/??????.png, from the list :
*Misc : static/ead1d8.png static/59b30d.png static/388e5b.png
*Bkground : static/4ad340.png static/3b9830.png static/2c83c1.png static/9e4fd6.png static/9d658f.png static/83824a.png static/220211.png static/a0314e.png static/e2eca2.png static/d56a28.png static/20b757.png static/226279.png static/1f2fee.png static/0bfd44.png static/20be4a.png static/cb0653.png static/313380.png static/31a492.png static/11a4b5.png static/a592ca.png static/1450b1.png static/e0f706.png static/fa52d2.png static/69af58.png static/a7d30d.png static/3e33fd.png static/da85bd.png static/303e90.png static/6f48dd.png static/342f4d.png
*Messages: static/fc9dfd.png static/8d9c55.png static/aa973f.png static/923036.png static/9141a2.png static/5f9f66.png static/6af293.png static/935279.png static/b286f5.png static/67da67.png static/b9fc1b.png static/7abdee.png static/c2e227.png static/8bdac7.png static/7e02cf.png static/b07329.png static/c6de0e.png static/a464c9.png static/7f6e55.png static/a96735.png static/ff6357.png static/876854.png static/cb5124.png static/2235f1.png static/e01a73.png static/a75f92.png static/f41766.png static/456b99.png static/d3e6db.png static/da4d83.png static/f3de11.png static/867baf.png static/6b2d69.png static/2705b9.png static/bedb72.png static/f9b33d.png static/3e269d.png static/b034f4.png static/eea7ff.png static/e83fd7.png static/8ebf3f.png static/c6ac3d.png static/a9779a.png static/eddb3b.png

There is another list with the same pictures but twice as large (same order) :

"static/0890d4.png static/198d53.png static/bb9aa1.png static/4ad340.png static/cbe58c.png static/b5a217.png static/618dcc.png static/323351.png static/17d10b.png static/6c8053.png static/0690ec.png static/8576c0.png static/2b79e1.png static/a80810.png static/41143b.png static/8eeb55.png static/99bb67.png static/b84fdf.png static/f0de4f.png static/b0cec1.png static/a4158d.png static/dbc071.png static/c969b2.png static/f3b793.png static/0cd47d.png static/8a5b95.png static/2a2199.png static/63ed1d.png static/2a67b6.png static/7ec02f.png static/8e981d.png static/77a1d5.png static/e49d32.png static/fe60e1.png static/dd3fd2.png static/2b8643.png static/017e3a.png static/e46fe0.png static/6ad951.png static/ef2e76.png static/7d6018.png static/905794.png static/52870c.png static/a17724.png static/aa18ad.png static/1094f5.png static/39bffe.png static/8635c4.png static/d63451.png static/f2c3df.png static/5fa4ed.png static/00050e.png static/026b2f.png static/bcd4f8.png static/f777a4.png static/713981.png static/ed794b.png static/b3696b.png static/a2fc4c.png static/f468fd.png static/bc9195.png static/2ef6f1.png static/1682f4.png static/6a6479.png static/9dd25c.png static/a2e92d.png static/442a18.png static/2139a1.png static/5378fa.png static/8edfa4.png static/25c931.png static/91b6d9.png static/eb016f.png static/519d53.png static/554084.png static/301dc6.png static/4bfe91.png static/7b89ac.png"
--{{unsigned|Biem|14:59, 11 April 2025 (UTC)}}
:Hey Biem, could you perhaps use <code>*</code> to make your message into a list? Thanks. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 15:08, 11 April 2025 (UTC)
::I certainly could, but it would take page space with no added value... [[User:Biem|Biem]] ([[User talk:Biem|talk]]) 15:54, 11 April 2025 (UTC)
:::It would (in my humble opinion) make it more readable and easier to copy paste into a url. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:01, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

I enabled notifications, and no more appeared. Maybe it just doesn't work with my browser? Cats keep appearing, but that's all. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.132|162.158.212.132]] 16:39, 14 April 2025 (UTC)
:Came back a while later and the chair was floating, so stuff is happening, but I don't know why it's not saying anything. I hope I don't just have browser notifications shut off completely... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.137.163|162.158.137.163]] 20:54, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

I got multiple "At the tone, your favorite number will be 14", and I don't lnow what to do with that... Is 14 a reference? {{unsigned ip|172.68.234.180|09:59, 24 April 2025}}

; Finishing

- How does the experience conclude if you subscribe and do nothing?

- How do you abort and escape?

- How do you remove traces from your device?

--[[User:Evanwolf|Evanwolf]] ([[User talk:Evanwolf|talk]]) 17:20, 12 May 2025 (UTC)

== Not working ==

On Firefox desktop and Fennec F-Droid (fork of firefox mobile) and android chrome i get ERROR SEDNING PUSH NOTIFICATIONS. [[User:Velocifyer|Velocifyer]] ([[User talk:Velocifyer|talk]])

1892: USB Cables

2025-06-14T22:39:19Z

Velocifyer: Fix spelling and i also meant to use USB-PD

{{comic
| number = 1892
| date = September 20, 2017
| title = USB Cables
| image = usb_cables.png
| titletext = Tag yourself, I'm "frayed."
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Randall]] states the 'Law of {{w|USB}} cables': You will never have more than one which has no problems, no matter how many you get. Now that most devices charge off USB, having a cable (specifically, USB-A (the big end) to Micro-B or USB-C (the small end)) is essential. However, most USB cables are cheaply made, and carrying them around quickly damages them. This comic lists some common (and not so common) problems with USB cables.

* '''Carry power but not data''' - USB cables have separate data and power lines. To save money (and sometimes for security reasons), the data lines can be omitted. This means it can be used for charging, but not data transfer. Two cables are shown with this problem.
* '''Carries data but not power''' - Not typically done, but it could happen if the wires or pins get damaged. While such a cable is theoretically possible, if used with standards-compliant devices, it would appear [https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/313955/does-usb-host-always-supply-power-on-vbus completely broken].
* '''Too short''' - Another money saving wheeze, some devices ship with pathetically short cables.
* '''Charges phone slowly''' - More likely a problem with the charger than the cable, but may happen if the wires are damaged or if it does not have a E-marker chip (if USB-C). Refers to some chargers not delivering more than half an ampere. Could also be caused by thin or very long wires which lead to a significant voltage drop, thereby reducing charging speed. This is also a typical user experience for cables that carry power but not data, as charging current/voltage negotiation typically happens over the data lines.
* '''Won't auto-activate portable charger''' - Most portable chargers (basically big batteries) should activate when the device is plugged in. Something about the cable (possibly the way the data lines are shorted) is interfering with this mechanism.
* '''Has annoying ferrite lumps''' - {{w|Ferrite bead}}s are used to filter out interference from the cable. High-performance applications need these, but on a phone charger you're just adding unnecessary weight and bulk. Two cables are shown with this problem.
* '''Heavy and not very flexible''' - Either a heavy-duty USB cable, with thicker insulation, or a shielded one with a metal sheath inside to keep out interference.
* '''Frayed''' - Cables with improper strain relief experience a lot of bending force at the ends, near the connectors, and these can easily burst the insulation as shown here. Two cables are shown with this problem.
* '''Plug doesn't fit through case''' - Manufacturers don't always follow the standard for what the plastic housing around the USB connector should look like, and sometimes these are molded so they don't quite fit in the phone socket or through the charging port of an external case.
* '''Needs to be twisted to keep working''' - The wires inside are damaged, and only connect when held in just the right way. One step away from total breakage.
* '''Weird shape''' - A normal USB cable but [https://web.archive.org/web/20201112023959/http://read.pudn.com/downloads114/doc/comm/476505/usb_20_040908/usb_20/Micro-USB_final/Micro-USB_1_01.pdf the connector is molded with a 90 degree turn (which is actually specified in the MicroUSB Specification, see pages 28-31)] for no apparent reason and might be not convenient in some situations.
* '''The good one''' - This is the one that really works out of the 15 shown, with 11 different problems. The funny thing is that it looks more or less exactly like at least 6 of the other 14. So it will take some time to find this cable.

The title text refers to the popular meme "[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/tag-yourself Tag yourself, I'm...]" which is used with pictures containing lots of strange objects, phrases or other elements. The phrase prompts people to identify individual elements from the image that they personally feels matches their own identity, usually self-deprecatingly. (The meme stems from Facebook, where people can place tags identifying themselves in photos, but has spread to other websites without an actual tagging system.) Here, Randall suggests that, like a USB cable, he's frayed. "I'm frayed" is also a pun on the sentence "I'm afraid" that is commonly added to the end of a comment which the speaker believes may leave a negative impression on the listener.

==Transcript==
:[15 USB cables are shown lying in a column. They are mostly very similar, with small differences. To the right of the cables there are 12 labels, as three of the labels belongs to three sets of two cables.]
:[2 cables] Carry power but not data
:Carries data but not power
:Too short
:Charges phone slowly
:Won't auto-activate portable charger
:[2 cables] Has annoying ferrite lumps
:Heavy and not very flexible
:[2 cables] Frayed
:Plug doesn't fit through case
:Needs to be twisted to keep working
:Weird shape
:The good one

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The law of USB cables: No matter how many you get, you only ever have one good one.

{{comic discussion}}

1892: USB Cables

2025-06-14T22:37:28Z

Velocifyer: /* Explanation */ USB-C needs a special chip to transfer data

{{comic
| number = 1892
| date = September 20, 2017
| title = USB Cables
| image = usb_cables.png
| titletext = Tag yourself, I'm "frayed."
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Randall]] states the 'Law of {{w|USB}} cables': You will never have more than one which has no problems, no matter how many you get. Now that most devices charge off USB, having a cable (specifically, USB-A (the big end) to Micro-B or USB-C (the small end)) is essential. However, most USB cables are cheaply made, and carrying them around quickly damages them. This comic lists some common (and not so common) problems with USB cables.

* '''Carry power but not data''' - USB cables have separate data and power lines. To save money (and sometimes for security reasons), the data lines can be omitted. This means it can be used for charging, but not data transfer. Two cables are shown with this problem.
* '''Carries data but not power''' - Not typically done, but it could happen if the wires or pins get damaged. While such a cable is theoretically possible, if used with standards-compliant devices, it would appear [https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/313955/does-usb-host-always-supply-power-on-vbus completely broken].
* '''Too short''' - Another money saving wheeze, some devices ship with pathetically short cables.
* '''Charges phone slowly''' - More likely a problem with the charger than the cable, but may happen if the wires are damaged or if it does not have a emarker chip (if USB-C). Refers to some chargers not delivering more than half an ampere. Could also be caused by thin or very long wires which lead to a significant voltage drop, thereby reducing charging speed. This is also a typical user experience for cables that carry power but not data, as charging current/voltage negotiation typically happens over the data lines.
* '''Won't auto-activate portable charger''' - Most portable chargers (basically big batteries) should activate when the device is plugged in. Something about the cable (possibly the way the data lines are shorted) is interfering with this mechanism.
* '''Has annoying ferrite lumps''' - {{w|Ferrite bead}}s are used to filter out interference from the cable. High-performance applications need these, but on a phone charger you're just adding unnecessary weight and bulk. Two cables are shown with this problem.
* '''Heavy and not very flexible''' - Either a heavy-duty USB cable, with thicker insulation, or a shielded one with a metal sheath inside to keep out interference.
* '''Frayed''' - Cables with improper strain relief experience a lot of bending force at the ends, near the connectors, and these can easily burst the insulation as shown here. Two cables are shown with this problem.
* '''Plug doesn't fit through case''' - Manufacturers don't always follow the standard for what the plastic housing around the USB connector should look like, and sometimes these are molded so they don't quite fit in the phone socket or through the charging port of an external case.
* '''Needs to be twisted to keep working''' - The wires inside are damaged, and only connect when held in just the right way. One step away from total breakage.
* '''Weird shape''' - A normal USB cable but [https://web.archive.org/web/20201112023959/http://read.pudn.com/downloads114/doc/comm/476505/usb_20_040908/usb_20/Micro-USB_final/Micro-USB_1_01.pdf the connector is molded with a 90 degree turn (which is actually specified in the MicroUSB Specification, see pages 28-31)] for no apparent reason and might be not convenient in some situations.
* '''The good one''' - This is the one that really works out of the 15 shown, with 11 different problems. The funny thing is that it looks more or less exactly like at least 6 of the other 14. So it will take some time to find this cable.

The title text refers to the popular meme "[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/tag-yourself Tag yourself, I'm...]" which is used with pictures containing lots of strange objects, phrases or other elements. The phrase prompts people to identify individual elements from the image that they personally feels matches their own identity, usually self-deprecatingly. (The meme stems from Facebook, where people can place tags identifying themselves in photos, but has spread to other websites without an actual tagging system.) Here, Randall suggests that, like a USB cable, he's frayed. "I'm frayed" is also a pun on the sentence "I'm afraid" that is commonly added to the end of a comment which the speaker believes may leave a negative impression on the listener.

==Transcript==
:[15 USB cables are shown lying in a column. They are mostly very similar, with small differences. To the right of the cables there are 12 labels, as three of the labels belongs to three sets of two cables.]
:[2 cables] Carry power but not data
:Carries data but not power
:Too short
:Charges phone slowly
:Won't auto-activate portable charger
:[2 cables] Has annoying ferrite lumps
:Heavy and not very flexible
:[2 cables] Frayed
:Plug doesn't fit through case
:Needs to be twisted to keep working
:Weird shape
:The good one

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The law of USB cables: No matter how many you get, you only ever have one good one.

{{comic discussion}}