https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=108.162.215.43&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T17:31:29ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=442:_xkcd_Loves_the_Discovery_Channel&diff=67243442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel2014-05-14T05:39:48Z<p>108.162.215.43: /* Explanation */ changed i to I so link would work</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 442<br />
| date = June 27, 2008<br />
| title = xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel<br />
| image = xkcd_loves_the_discovery_channel.png<br />
| titletext = I love the title-text!<br />
}}<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is a parody of the {{w|Discovery Channel}} commercial showing various clips of people singing a song with the chorus line [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_f98qOGY0 'Boom De Yada']. The comic is divided into a grid of 4 by 6 panels, each depicting a character or situation from a previous xkcd strip. In each panel is written a part of a song similar to the song from the Discovery Channel commercial."<br />
<br />
The campaign from the {{w|Discovery Channel}} was not called "Boom De Yada", but {{w|I Love The World}}. The title "xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel" is in reference to this.<br />
<br />
Most of the panels are references to previous xkcd strips, but some are not.<br />
<br />
;Panel 1 ''I love momentum.'' <br />
:A reference to comic [[162]], where Megan spins in a circle to "rob the planet of angular momentum."<br />
;Panel 2 ''I love to engineer.'' <br />
:A reference to comic [[413]], where Megan and Cueball turn an EEE PC into a household pet.<br />
;Panel 3 ''I love this bakery!'' <br />
:A reference to comic [[434]], where Beret Guy shows his liking for bakeries in first panel. His love of bakeries is a recurring gag in the comic.<br />
;Panel 4 ''I love the blogosphere!'' <br />
:A reference to comic [[239]], where someone from the far future believes many people blogged from high-altitude balloons whilst wearing red capes and goggles. The flying character may be {{w|Cory Doctorow}}, who is mentioned in the comic as the only blogger to actually do this, and who also appeared in comic [[345]] in this guise.<br />
;Panel 5 ''I love the whole world.'' (Cueball running in large hamster ball.) <br />
:Likely a reference to comic [[152]], though there are multiple comics featuring human-sized hamster balls.<br />
;Panel 6 ''And all its messed-up folks.'' <br />
:A reference to the /b/ ("Random") forum on {{w|4chan}}, which is in fact home to plenty of "messed-up folks".<br />
;Panel 7 ''Boom de yada, Boom de yada'' (Cueball and Megan immersed in playpen balls.) <br />
:A reference to comic [[150]], where Megan decides that she has the ability to, and wants to, turn her house into a giant playpen.<br />
;Panel 8 ''Boom de yada, Boom de yada'' (''I put on my robe and wizard hat'') <br />
:A reference to [http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/bloodninja this roleplay chat transcript] (NSFW), which became an Internet meme. A user named bloodninja would roleplay as a wizard during {{w|cybersex}} (saying "I put on my robe and wizard hat" to signal this) and invariably infuriate his unwitting partners with demeaning actions. Other incidents involved him roleplaying as a rhinoceros.<br />
;Panel 9 ''I love your suffering.'' <br />
:The recurring character [[Black Hat]] is being his usual self and causing suffering for his own amusement, as in comic [[72]]. In this panel he is seen either taking a present away from a child, who is upset, or giving the child a package containing a bobcat, like the package in comic [[325]].<br />
;Panel 10 ''I love cryptography.'' <br />
:{{w|Cryptography}} is a subject that comes up often in the comic, notably, in comics [[153]] and [[177]] before this one. The panel shows a flowchart of the kind commonly used to show how a particular cryptosystem works and/or how it can be broken.<br />
;Panel 11 ''I love entangled sheets.'' <br />
:Sexual reference. Also brought up in comic [[230]]. <br />
;Panel 12 ''And kite photography.''<br />
:A reference to Randall Munroe's own hobby of [http://xkcd.com/kite/ kite photography] as well as comic [[235]].<br />
;Panel 13 ''I love the whole world'' (Map of the internet.)<br />
:A reference to comic [[256]], featuring online communities of the time visualised as a world map, with geographic area representing their approximate membership size. There is, more directly, a pun on "internet", namely "outernet". <br />
;Panel 14 ''And all its mysteries.''<br />
:A reference to a series of comics on "red spiders:" [[8|8: Red Spiders]], [[43|43: Red Spiders 2]], [[47|47: Counter-Red Spiders]], [[126|126: Red Spiders Cometh]], and [[427|427: Bad Timing]]. <br />
;Panel 15 ''Boom de yada, Boom de yada'' (Two people sword-fighting on rolling office chairs.)<br />
:A reference to comic [[303]], where two coders battle with fake swords at work, with the excuse that their code is compiling.<br />
;Panel 16 ''Boom de yada, Boom de yada'' (Classroom with two students and Mrs. Lenhart.)<br />
:Nothing too special, but it does embrace the "everybody joins in" theme behind the commercials. Mrs. Lenhart first properly appeared in comic [[263]] but may have made an appearance in comic [[59]].<br />
;Panel 17 ''I love elections'' (''Barack me Obamadeus!'')<br />
:A pun on the song {{w|Rock Me Amadeus}} and US president {{w|Barack Obama}}.<br />
;Panel 18 ''I love transistors.'' <br />
:This panel has Cueball's crotch replaced with the (similar-looking) icon used for a {{w|transistor}} in a circuit diagram.<br />
;Panel 19 ''I love weird pillow talk.'' (''There ''must'' be Taft slash fiction.'')<br />
:"[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pillow+talk Pillow talk]" means intimate conversations between lovers, "{{w|slash fiction}}" is fanfiction with characters of the same sex, and "Taft" is {{w|William Howard Taft}}, a US President mostly remembered for his severe obesity. It appears they are invoking {{w|rule 34 of the Internet}}. Weird pillow talk is also the subject of comic [[69]], while the Taft reference comes from comic [[214]].<br />
;Panel 20 ''I love your sister.''<br />
:A reference to xkcd's recurring joke of dating the female character's sister, which spans several comics including [[49]], [[279]], [[317]], and [[408]].<br />
;Panel 21 ''I love the whole world'' (Roller coaster with Cueball holding chess board)<br />
:A reference to comic [[249]] which inspired an internet meme.<br />
;Panel 22 ''The future's pretty cool!'' (Beret Guy in a forest.)<br />
:Possible reference to comic [[167]], where Cueball and Beret Guy make observations about the future while climbing a tree. Later, in comic [[1322|1322]], the two are seen walking through a forest very similar to the one shown here.<br />
;Panel 23 ''Boom de yada, Boom de yada'' (Megan doing the MC Hammer slide towards Cueball.)<br />
:A reference to comic [[108]], where Hairy falls in love with "a girl whose only mode of transportation is the M.C. Hammer Slide." <br />
;Panel 24 ''Boom de yada, Boom de yada'' (Cueball and Megan on an electric skateboard.)<br />
:A reference to comic [[409]], where Megan and Cueball go on an electric skateboard ride.<br />
<br />
The title text continues the song, self-referentially. Self-reference is a reoccurring theme in Douglas Hofstader's books, notably Gödel, Escher, Bach, which have been referenced in other comics, such as [[472]] and [[917]]. Self-reference as a form of humor has also been explored in comics such as [[33]] and [[688]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[The comic is in parody of the Discovery Channel commercial showing various clips of people singing a song with the chorus line "Boom De Yada."]<br />
:[The comic is divided into a grid of 4 by 6 panels, each depicting a character or situation from a previous xkcd strip.]<br />
:[In each panel is written a part of a song similar to the song from the Discovery Channel commercial.]<br />
<br />
:Panel 1: (Reference Comic 162)<br />
:[Megan spinning around.]<br />
:I love momentum.<br />
<br />
:Panel 2: (Reference Comic 413)<br />
:[Megan laying on floor tinkering with EEE PC hamster ball robot.]<br />
:I love to engineer.<br />
<br />
:Panel 3: (Reference Comic 434)<br />
:[Beret Guy standing in bakery holding a loaf of bread in each hand, sign with "PIE!" in background.]<br />
:I love this bakery!<br />
<br />
:Panel 4: (Reference Comic 239)<br />
:[Cory Doctorow in goggles and red cape flying superman-style.]<br />
:I love the blogosphere!<br />
<br />
:Panel 5: (Reference Comic 152)<br />
:[Cueball running in large hamster ball.]<br />
:I love the whole world<br />
<br />
:Panel 6:<br />
:[Depiction of internet sludge (4chan b-Random)]<br />
:And all its messed-up folks.<br />
<br />
:Panel 7: (Reference Comic 150)<br />
:[Cueball and Megan immersed in playpen balls.]<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
<br />
:Panel 8:<br />
:[Mass of playpen balls with speech "I put on my robe and wizard hat" originating from it.]<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
<br />
:Panel 9: (Reference Comic 72)<br />
:[Black Hat taking gift away from kid with party hat.]<br />
:I love your suffering.<br />
<br />
:Panel 10: (Reference Comic 153)<br />
:[Diagram showing RSA fingerprint authentication between two people.]<br />
:I love cryptography.<br />
<br />
:Panel 11: (Reference Comic 230)<br />
:[Cueball and Megan in bed covered by red sheet.]<br />
:I love entangled sheets.<br />
<br />
:Panel 12: (Blag)<br />
:[Cueball hanging from kite string holding camera.]<br />
:And kite photography.<br />
<br />
:Panel 13: (Reference Comic 256)<br />
:[Map of the internet.]<br />
:I love the whole world<br />
<br />
:Panel 14: (Reference Comic 8)<br />
:[Cube with red spider on top.]<br />
:And all its mysteries.<br />
<br />
:Panel 15: (Reference Comic 303)<br />
:[Two people sword-fighting on rolling office chairs.]<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
<br />
:Panel 16: (Reference Comic 263)<br />
:[Classroom with two students and Mrs. Lenhart.]<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
<br />
:Panel 17:<br />
:[Cueball saying "Barack me Obamadeus!" to another man speaking energetically at a podium.]<br />
:I love elections.<br />
<br />
:Panel 18:<br />
:[Cueball holding schematic diagram of a transistor in front of his crotch.]<br />
:I love transistors.<br />
<br />
:Panel 19: (Reference Comic 69)<br />
:[Cueball and Megan in bed, Cueball saying "There ''must'' be taft slash fiction."]<br />
:I love weird pillow talk.<br />
<br />
:Panel 20: (Reference Comic 49, 279, 317)<br />
:[Cueball speaking to Megan.]<br />
:I love your sister.<br />
<br />
:Panel 21: (Reference Comic 249)<br />
:[Roller coaster with Cueball in front car holding chess board and thinking about a move.]<br />
:I love the whole world.<br />
<br />
:Panel 22: (Reference Comic 167)<br />
:[Beret Guy standing in the midst of leafless trees.]<br />
:The future's pretty cool!<br />
<br />
:Panel 23: (Reference Comic 108)<br />
:[Megan doing the MC Hammer slide towards Cueball.]<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
<br />
:Panel 24: (Reference Comic 409)<br />
:[Cueball and Megan on an electric skateboard.]<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
:Boom De Yada<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*This comic was enacted by Olga Nunes and various famous people as [http://www.olganunes.com/xkcd ''We Love xkcd''].<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Playpen balls]]<br />
[[Category:Red Spiders]]<br />
[[Category:Songs]]<br />
[[Category:Electric skateboard]]<br />
[[Category:Cryptography]]<br />
[[Category:Hamster Ball]]</div>108.162.215.43https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1354:_Heartbleed_Explanation&diff=662611354: Heartbleed Explanation2014-04-28T04:03:19Z<p>108.162.215.43: /* Explanation */ comment that it's not realistic to show a hacker using old fashioned pen and paper</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1354<br />
| date = April 11, 2014<br />
| title = Heartbleed Explanation<br />
| image = heartbleed_explanation.png<br />
| titletext = Are you still there, server? It's me, Margaret.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The {{w|Heartbleed bug}} has received a lot of news coverage recently and was also the topic of the previous comic [[1353: Heartbleed]]. This comic explains how the bug may have been discovered and can be exploited to reveal a server's memory contents. A hypothetical cracker [[Megan|Meg]] sends heartbeat requests to the server, the server responds to the heartbeat request by returning the contents of the body of the request up to the number of letters requested. The first two requests are well formed, requesting exactly the number of characters in the request body. The server's memory is showing Meg's request with many other requests going on at the same time.<br />
<br />
The last request asks for "HAT" but requests that it be 500 letters long; the server&#8202;—&#8202;not checking if or simply unaware that 500 letters is larger than the request body&#8202;—&#8202;returns "HAT" plus 497 letters that happened to be next to the word "HAT" in its memory. Included are many sensitive bits of information, including a master key and user passwords. One of the passwords shown is "CoHoBaSt", a reference to [[936: Password Strength]], which suggests using "<u>co</u>rrect <u>ho</u>rse <u>ba</u>ttery <u>st</u>aple" as a password.<br />
<br />
Often popular explanations of security bugs require the issue to be simplified a lot and to leave out a lot of details. In this case Randall didn't have to do much simplifying; the bug is actually that simple. Also, it should be noted that any client which can connect to the server typically can exploit this bug in the underlying OpenSSL software&#8202;—&#8202;the use of the term "User Meg" does not imply that Meg had to authenticate first. <br />
<br />
Although Randall shows Meg recording the data by hand, on paper, it is more likely that a person exploiting the bug would have a computer record the data, perhaps on its hard drive or on a flash drive.<br />
<br />
The title text is a reference to ''{{w|Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.|Are you there God? It's me, Margaret.}}'', a novel by Judy Blume, and plays off of the "server, are you still there?" line in every panel where she did start a request. ''Meg'' can be a nickname for ''Margaret'' as well as ''Megan'', which perhaps explains why the character's usual name, Megan, is abbreviated here.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:How the Heartbleed bug works:<br />
<br />
:Megan: Server, are you still there? If so, reply "POTATO" (6 letters).<br />
:The server's memory is shown: ...<tt>wans pages about "boats". User Erica requests secure connection using key "4538538374224". '''User Meg wants these 6 letters: POTATO.''' User Ada wants pages about "irl games". Unlocking secure records with key 5130985733435. Maggie (chrome user) sends this message: "Hi</tt>...<br />
<br />
:Server shows the same memory content but POTATO is highlighted.<br />
:Server: <tt>POTATO</tt><br />
<br />
:Megan: Server, are you still there? If so, reply "BIRD" (4 letters).<br />
:The server's memory is shown: ...<tt>User Olivia from London wants pages about "man bees in car why". Note: Files for IP 375.381.283.17 are in /tmp/files-3843. '''User Meg wants these 4 letters: BIRD.''' There are currently 348 connections open. User Brendan uploaded the file selfie.jpg (contents: 834ba962e2ceb9ff89bd3bff8c</tt>...<br />
<br />
:Server shows the same memory content but now with BIRD highlighted.<br />
:Server: <tt>BIRD</tt><br />
:Megan: ''Hmm...''<br />
<br />
:Megan: Server, are you still there? If so, reply "HAT" (500 letters).<br />
:Server memory: ...<tt>a connection. Jake requested pictures of deer. '''User Meg wants these 500 letters: HAT.''' Lucas requests the "missed connections" page. Eve (administrator) wants to set server's master key to "14835038534". Isabel wants pages about "snakes but not too long". User Karen wants to change account password to "CoHoBaSt". User</tt>...<br />
<br />
:Server shows the same memory content, highlighting the first 500 letters of the memory beginning at HAT.<br />
:Server: <tt>HAT. Lucas requests the "missed connections" page. Eve (administrator) wants to set server's key to "14835038534". Isabel wants pages about "snakes but not too long". User Karen wants to change account password to "CoHoBaSt". User Amber requests pages</tt>...<br />
:Megan writes this all down.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>108.162.215.43https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=951:_Working&diff=65822951: Working2014-04-22T04:57:36Z<p>108.162.215.43: /* Explanation */ this isn't as simple as it seems</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 951<br />
| date = September 14, 2011<br />
| title = Working<br />
| image = working.png<br />
| titletext = And if you drive a typical car more than a mile out of your way for each penny you save on the per-gallon price, it doesn't matter how worthless your time is to you--the gas to get you there and back costs more than you save.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is a jab at price-gouging shoppers who spend large amounts of time checking multiple shopping outlets for the best deals. The minimum wage is the lowest possible wage that a person could legally be paid, usually only targeted at providing unskilled laborers with an equitable level of income. Using simple math, the caption states that a person is effectively working below the minimum wage when they spend their time looking to save a few cents on their purchases.<br />
<br />
Of course if you are unemployed and cannot expect to get any wages - it could still be worth your time.<br />
<br />
The title text, however, then goes on to talk about how the extra fuel consumption involved in finding cheaper gas leads to more extra money being spent on gas than is actually saved at the cheaper outlet.<br />
<br />
This problem has also been examined in [http://what-if.xkcd.com/22/ ''What if?'' - Cost of Pennies].<br />
<br />
However, Randall neglects to consider the effect that customers have on prices. If customers consistently go out of their way to get the lowest prices, then sellers will be motivated to lower their prices to attract customers. On the other hand, if customers consistently purchase from the most convenient seller, then sellers can raise prices without losing business.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Ponytail is standing next to Cueball filling his vehicle with petrol. Ponytail is pointing off-screen.]<br />
:Ponytail: Why are you going here? Gas is ten cents a gallon cheaper at the station five minutes that way.<br />
:Cueball: Because a penny saved is a penny earned.<br />
<br />
:If you spend nine minutes of your time to save a dollar, you're working for less than minimum wage.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>108.162.215.43https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1358:_NRO&diff=658211358: NRO2014-04-22T04:53:36Z<p>108.162.215.43: pointed out that they don't need a camera and would do better with a scanner</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1358<br />
| date = April 21, 2014<br />
| title = NRO<br />
| image = nro.png<br />
| titletext = 'DISPATCHING DRONE TO TARGET COORDINATES.' 'Wait, crap, wrong button. Oh jeez.'<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
''Where's Waldo?'' (the North American renaming of the British ''{{w|Where's Wally?}}'') is a children's puzzle book in which you have to locate 'Waldo', a character with a distinctive striped shirt and hat, in a picture crowded with hundreds of characters. This is harder than it sounds, since the characters are both very small and quite densely packed on the page, and the pages (especially in later books) are often littered with "decoy" characters wearing similar articles of clothing to Waldo's.<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] and his friend are using satellite imaging to find Waldo, by holding the book up to the sky and viewing it on the computer, presumably using some advanced image processing software to identify Waldo among the crowd. This would require a very advanced camera, as resolutions are usually much lower than would be necessary to resolve the characters in a Where's Waldo book. But since Cueball works at the {{w|National Reconnaissance Office}} (NRO), he probably has access to some powerful satellites and image processing software.<br />
<br />
The humor in this being, while he could be using that power for much more important things, he's instead trying to solve a simple game. Further, Cueball and his friend could probably hook up the image parsing software to a smaller camera on the ground, rather than a satellite-mounted camera. They would get even better results by scanning the image and running it through the same image processing software (without using a camera).<br />
<br />
The title text is implying that Cueball has accidentally launched a drone at the co-ordinates, which would be where he and his friend are standing.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Cueball and a friend are in a remote area. The friend is holding a ''Where's Waldo?'' book towards the sky.<br />
:Laptop: [Target located]<br />
:Cueball: Got him. Left edge, two inches down.<br />
:The National Reconnaissance Office has an unusual approach to ''Where's Waldo''.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*A [http://what-if.xkcd.com What If] comic examining the use of the {{w|Hubble Space Telescope}} for the purpose of taking photos from the earth's surface can be found here: [http://what-if.xkcd.com/32/ Hubble].<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>108.162.215.43https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1305:_Undocumented_Feature&diff=627921305: Undocumented Feature2014-03-16T23:19:50Z<p>108.162.215.43: /* Explanation */ fixed an error in the incompleteness notice. Should be another, not an other.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1305<br />
| date = December 18, 2013<br />
| title = Undocumented Feature<br />
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]<br />
| image = undocumented_feature.png<br />
| titletext = And it doesn't pop up a box every time asking you to use your real name. In fact, there's no way to set your name at all. You just have to keep reminding people who you are.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Some layout issues, still too many adds after this tag was removed. Language is another issue}}<br />
An {{w|undocumented feature}} is a part of a software product that is not explained in the documentation for the product. [[Cueball]] has found such a feature, a chat room intended to ask for help, accessible through the help page of some unnamed old Windows utility. The people who found the chat room started out using it for its intended purpose (helping users of the utility by contacting other users), however as time has passed they have become friends and enter the chat only to talk to each other, with no relation to computer problems.<br />
<br />
A {{w|virtual machine}} (or VM) is a computer program designed to emulate the hardware of a full computer. In this case, users of the old chat room create VMs only to have the old operating system installed which included the utility program. They use this setup only to access the old chat room. This is shown in the third panel where [[Cueball]] is using a modern laptop to enter the chatroom (presumably by means of a VM), whereas [[Ponytail]] is still using an old computer (as evidenced by the CRT monitor).<br />
<br />
A chat room like this must be hosted on some outside server, so the narrator of the comic wonders who runs this server. An obvious thought about this is if and when the server will be shut down, effectively cutting all communication among chat users. Another obvious thought is why the utility author is still maintaining the chat server, since its original purpose (allowing communication between users with problems with the utility program) is no longer an issue as everybody has migrated to more modern systems. The comic suggests that the reason for doing this can be a bored {{w|System administrator|sysadmin}}, who is just reading the messages of the chat users and following their lives but never writing anything. This would turn the chat room in to a soap opera for the sysadmin.<br />
<br />
The {{w|Deep Web}} is a term used to refer to any information which is available online, but is hard to find (usually because there are no links to that information in web pages). The chat room described would be an example of this. From this point on, the comic takes an existentialist turn (a frequent xkcd trait), talking about how life is short, everything has to end, etc.<br />
<br />
The last panel is a reference to [http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304403804579263371125671670 Facebook's recent announcement] that it would start autoplaying video ads, and the title text refers to YouTube requiring its users to use their real-life identities instead of just nicknames. These last parts of the comics somehow reveal that the point of the whole comic is just to complain about aggressive money-driven policies used by modern social networks in general and Facebook in particular. It is hinted that [[Randall]] would prefer older technologies, where limited resources would forbid autoplaying videos or huge databases with every detail of every user's life.<br />
<br />
It's possible that the comic is about an actual chat room, but more likely it is a complete invention, since if it were real someone would have been able to trace its origin. However if it is real, the participants would not want to confirm this in order to protect their privacy.<br />
<br />
The title text mentions the simplicity of this chat; even user names do not exist and other users could only be identified by their behavior because the user names are random and can change on every login.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A support window is shown.]<br />
:An old Windows utility has an undocumented feature. If you open "help" and click on the background, you get dropped into a "support" chat room.<br />
:Support Window: Launching support forum...<br />
<br />
:[An active conversation between two people is shown.]<br />
:Only a few of us ever found it. But we became friends.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail are at computers.]<br />
:We kept launching the program to check in. Eventually some of us were running VMs just to keep accessing it.<br />
<br />
:[Another conversation.]<br />
:As the Internet aged, so did we.<br />
<br />
:[Three question marks.]<br />
:We don't know who runs the server. We don't know why it's still working so many years later. Maybe we're some sysadmin's soap opera.<br />
<br />
:[A group of people are shown in a bubble.]<br />
:It will probably vanish someday, but for now it's our meeting place. Our hideaway.<br />
<br />
:[The bubble is now smaller, and some parts of a web are shown.]<br />
:A life's worth of chat,<br />
<br />
:[More of the web is shown.]<br />
:Buried in the deep web.<br />
<br />
:[A flat landscape is shown with the sun at the horizon.]<br />
:But even if it lasts forever, ''we'' won't. When we're gone, who will remember us?<br />
<br />
:[Cueball and Hairy are shown standing together in a bubble.]<br />
:Who will remember this strange little world and the friendships we built here?<br />
<br />
:Nobody.<br />
<br />
:[An empty bubble is shown.]<br />
:This place is irrelevant. Ephemeral. One day it will be forgotten.<br />
<br />
:[The bubble starts to fade away.]<br />
:And so will we<br />
<br />
:[The bubble has almost completely faded away.]<br />
<br />
:[The bubble is now completely gone.]<br />
<br />
:But at least it doesn't have fucking video ads.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
There are many examples of undocumented features in programs written for old versions of Windows, for example:<br />
* When playing {{w|Solitaire (Windows)|Windows Solitaire}} with the "draw three" option, one can [http://www.eeggs.com/items/42178.html draw single cards] by holding <Ctrl+Alt+Shift> while clicking on the card to draw cards.<br />
* When playing {{w|Microsoft Minesweeper|Windows Minesweeper}} in pre-Windows-95 versions, typing "{{w|xyzzy}}" followed by <Enter> and then <Right-shift>, will [http://www.eeggs.com/items/49964.html turn the top left pixel] of the windows background black or white to indicate if the mouse is over a mine or not.<br />
* The first releases of {{w|Windows 95}} allowed one to see the "credits" for Win95 by creating a folder in the desktop and then [http://www.eeggs.com/items/478.html renaming it several times].<br />
* {{w|Microsoft word|Word}} 97 has an embedded pinball game, accesible by a [http://www.eeggs.com/items/763.html weird sequence of strange actions].<br />
* {{w|Microsoft Excel|Excel}} 97 has also an embedded game of a spaceship floating over a planet, accessible by another [http://www.eeggs.com/items/718.html weird sequence of actions].<br />
* {{w|Microsoft Excel|Excel}} 2000 has an embedded [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGZfuwsvIFQ car racing game].<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Internet]]<br />
[[Category:Philosophy]]<br />
[[Category:Social networking]]<br />
[[Category:YouTube]]</div>108.162.215.43https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1193:_Externalities&diff=59559Talk:1193: Externalities2014-02-07T05:06:01Z<p>108.162.215.43: </p>
<hr />
<div>Any chance we can convince Randall to let other universities in: the Canadian ones only work if they have a .edu, so uwaterloo.ca and sfu.ca are out.<br />
: As are [schools].ac.in<br />
: I can't get my university (PUC-Rio, in Brazil) too... =/ [[Special:Contributions/139.82.240.51|139.82.240.51]] 18:28, 1 April 2013 (UTC) etandel<br />
: It looks like he may have lifted the restriction, considering all the different urls such as google.com, reddit.com, and even what I have to assume is a porn website. --[[User:LRFLEW|LRFLEW]] ([[User talk:LRFLEW|talk]]) 03:46, 3 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/137.147.40.248|137.147.40.248]] 13:53, 1 April 2013 (UTC) For an easier time spotting the changes, go to [http://xkcd.com/1193/#verbose] and open your web console<br />
<br />
[[Special:Contributions/199.48.226.89|199.48.226.89]] 10:18, 1 April 2013 (UTC) I put in "caltech.edu" and hashed a lot of words, and "Twilight Sparkle is best pony." was the best result I managed, only off by 496 bits.<br />
: Lol, "only". The results should be binomially distributed, with a mean of 512, so 496 isn't even close to the scores in the ranking. [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 12:44, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I noticed when looking at the list of scores that a large number of universities have a best score at 420. According to my calculations, the amount of universities with this score is 2516 out of the 2824 universities listed. Is there any reason that so many universities have the exact same score? --[[User:LRFLEW|LRFLEW]] ([[User talk:LRFLEW|talk]]) 03:38, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: +1! A few hours ago this wasn't the case... What's up with all the 420's?? [[Special:Contributions/108.218.230.91|108.218.230.91]] 03:42, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
:People keep posting hash values on the internet. Those universities are dirty cheaters, and they're all just entering the 420 hash in for their university without actually calculating it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:05, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: While this copy-cattism might be the reason for the proliferation of 420s (which, in India, is slang that, funnily enough, refers to a confidence-trickster) - note that at the beginning of the contest, a lot of different domain names all had 'scores' between 400-500. Now, if I'm not wrong, the hash contains 1024 bits. So you could be off by 1024 in the worst case, and 0 in the best case. But the spread was very narrow. Admittedly, you wouldn't notice the higher numbers, because only the best case scenario has been published, but from the clustering of the different universities (with respect to their scores), as well as the fact that it's taking this long for even ONE clear best score to emerge, seems to suggest that there IS something special about the 400-500 score band. Does anyone have any layman-level information on the statistics of the entropy of the Skein hash function? And the statistics of what error figure for random hash compared to given hash is most frequent? [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 18:26, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::a hash is, at best, very close to a random number. Here, we have two 1024-bit random numbers. It makes sense that most commonly, two such random numbers differ in about half of the bits - for each bit, there's a 50% probability that the bits will be the same and 50% that they will differ. Therefore the spread centers on 512, but of course we just see the lower part of the spread here. [[Special:Contributions/2.223.68.79|2.223.68.79]] 23:46, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: My test here shows that the 420s is that 420 Bits wrong is about what a single computer can get to within a few hours. So its no wonder that 420s are common for a lot of universities. Its just someone there who is running a little script to break the hash. <br />
[[Special:Contributions/91.214.44.212|91.214.44.212]] 23:34, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::: Although it's true that if you run a PC for a couple of hours, you're very likely ending up somewhere between 415 and 425, this does not explain such a peak at 420. If you consider the probability function for a PC's best result within a day, then maybe 420 is the most likely outcome, but you should see a lot of 421s, 419s, 418s and so on: Seeing a number in 419...415 before you see a 420 should have a chance > 0.5. [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 11:47, 3 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::: 420 is stoner slang for marijuana. Evidently someone (or many someones) thought it would be funny to have that number associated with their school. {{unsigned|69.180.123.64}}<br />
<br />
All I see is a blank white 780x969 image. Nothing appears when I hover over stuff. [[Special:Contributions/109.65.100.208|109.65.100.208]] 09:04, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Sometimes it does that. It takes a while to generate, and it doesn't always render correctly. Try updating your browser or refreshing. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:06, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
The person who provided the shopped image either isn't using a modern browser or is using IE. The font is supposed to be "xkcd-Regular", which I assume is a font that gets downloaded from XKCD's server. Loading the same page in IE 9 gave me that Times New Roman-esque font instead (Chrome, Firefox, and Opera use the special font, although it's rendered a little fuzzy in Firefox). [[Special:Contributions/129.21.119.153|129.21.119.153]] 09:25, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The dog part now shows "FREEPRIME@AMAZON.COM" underneath the sliders for me. --[[User:Gefrierbrand|Gefrierbrand]] ([[User talk:Gefrierbrand|talk]]) 09:50, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
:I think it matches the company in the first panel? (Currently CAREERS@XLINX INC for me.) --[[Special:Contributions/81.138.95.57|81.138.95.57]] 10:53, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The page where the company name is supposed to be fetched from is "Sith" now, but I checked and the company is not there. I think this will take some time to decipher ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:12, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: .... uh, remember few pages ago where we JOKED about being used as distributted computer? Now we ARE used to crack the provided hash ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:15, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: It's April 1st. Maybe the idea that the company is sourced from a Wikipedia page is not true. That would explain the link to the Wikipedia fund raising page as an apology for the fact that there will be many XKCD readers vandalising the Sith page [[User:Jeremyp|Jeremyp]] ([[User talk:Jeremyp|talk]]) 11:38, 1 April 2013 (UTC).<br />
<br />
:: ... AND it's [wikipedia:Jean-Luc_Picard|Jean Luc Picard] now. AND there is actually Apple linked from it. While the Google is company doing recruiting now ... hmmm ... but Google actually IS mentioned in one of previous version of page ... damn vandals. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:35, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::WAIT. Randal now mentioned "... Final Fantasy Tactics. But link on Jean Luc Picard could beat it". So either it's something like "taken from last edited page" or he is doing it manually. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:42, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::"Microsoft Corporation is the first NASDAQ-100 company mentioned on the wikipedia page 'IBM'. But a link on 'Oprah' could beat it." -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:05, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::::... AND wikipedia editors started observing the comics to edit-protect wikipedia entries BEFORE the vandals strike, as shown [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elixir_%28comics%29&action=history here]. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:49, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The top of the page for the comic now mentions this: "You can change the company in this comic. Mouse over its name in the first panel. The schools are selected by a hash breaking competition." Don't think that was there before. More interesting is the first sentence. Do we have a list of wikipedia pages that he's tracking for the first company mentioned in the page? [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 17:52, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
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<br />
Ignorant question: What is this hash finding competition? Was it announced somewhere? [[Special:Contributions/129.67.199.117|129.67.199.117]] 11:56, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Click that panel: http://almamater.xkcd.com/ [[User:Jeremy1026|Jeremy1026]] ([[User talk:Jeremy1026|talk]]) 12:05, 1 April 2013 (UTC).<br />
<br />
:: Looking in the [http://c7.xkcd.com/stream/comic/externalities?method=EventSource&lastEventId=&r=362667083523542 externalities file], another usefull link is "... full standings at [http://almamater.xkcd.com/best.csv http://almamater.xkcd.com/best.csv]" -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:24, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:<br />
The sad thing is that people are probably only donating to a good cause to see the dog-drawing get bigger. [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 14:11, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:In that case it's good Randal used GOOD cause. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:24, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Actually, the sad thing is taht people are vandalizing Wikipedia. --[[Special:Contributions/189.61.0.28|189.61.0.28]] 19:26, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can anyone explain what, if anything, the name/email/education values (fifth panel) refer to? [[Special:Contributions/108.36.128.122|108.36.128.122]] 19:34, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:Looks like one random string and one random pair of strings. [[Special:Contributions/178.238.159.109|178.238.159.109]] 20:12, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Has anyone been able to reproduce the 1024-bit Skein hash values that he is generating at http://almamater.xkcd.com/? The hashes that he shows don't match the ones I'm getting from my Skein hash calculator (using 1024 bit output and 1024 bit internal state size). I tried feeding the same string into the hash function both with and without a trailing null character and neither matches. For example, if I type abc into the form, he shows 35a599...1f1f (edited for brevity), but I calculate that a hash of the 3-byte message "abc" should be 10a866...035c.[[User:Theodric|Theodric]] ([[User talk:Theodric|talk]]) 22:03, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I'm getting completely different values also. [[Special:Contributions/173.22.172.7|173.22.172.7]] 22:57, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I have the same problem as you. I'm thinking that Xkcd is using an older standard of the encryption. I'm currently trying out the php versions of the code to see if I can get it to work. --[[User:LRFLEW|LRFLEW]] ([[User talk:LRFLEW|talk]]) 23:16, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Nope. Tried all I could and still couldn't figure it out. My guess is that he's using a secret salt. --[[User:LRFLEW|LRFLEW]] ([[User talk:LRFLEW|talk]]) 23:37, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::'''Solved!''' :) I was originally using version 1.2 of the Skein hash function. Version 1.3 uses different constants and yields different results. The almamater page seems to be using version 1.3 -- my calculator now matches Randall's hashes.--[[User:Theodric|Theodric]] ([[User talk:Theodric|talk]]) 03:34, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::Where are you getting the implementation? I can't seem to get it to work even with v1.3. --[[User:LRFLEW|LRFLEW]] ([[User talk:LRFLEW|talk]]) 04:42, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::I'm using source code from here: http://www.skein-hash.info/sites/default/files/NIST_CD_102610.zip. I'm using the code in the Optimized_64bit directory. All C files were compiled with gcc as well as http://theodric.com/test_skein.c --[[User:Theodric|Theodric]] ([[User talk:Theodric|talk]]) 10:00, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::::Thank you for the example code. I had two errors in how I was implementing it. The interesting problem I ran into was that the string to hash needs to be formatted for the web (so space becomes '+', ext.) --[[User:LRFLEW|LRFLEW]] ([[User talk:LRFLEW|talk]]) 17:02, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::: Confirmed, xkcd uses skein 1.3. Did anyone find another implementation (besides the reference implementation)? I wasted an hour starting with the Java impl, before I decided to re-fresh my C, but now I am running roughly 7 million tests per minute on my poor notebook ;) Still way too slow to catch up with the current leaders. My best score is 415. [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 12:26, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"Wikipedia article on {hint: The perpetrators of the largest extinction in Earth's history}" Would this be humans? I'm afraid to get in on the Wikipedia editing since I'm already in so-so standing due to some childishness in 2006... [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 21:54, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The opening line of the first panel has changed. It's now "Ahoy, Carnegie Melonites!" (for the current school) rather than "Hey, [university] students!" (as listed in all the current entries for the changing first panel text). The question and response seem to be the same as before.<br />
And the fifth panel now has "if they're clever with their applications" instead of "provided any of them manage to fill out the application correctly". So showing the text as static in the comic image is no longer accurate.<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/50.0.108.18|50.0.108.18]] 23:00, 1 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
If I visit http://xkcd.com/1193/ then the font is xkcd-Regular, whereas if I visit http://www.xkcd.com/1193/ then the font is the default serif font… (Iceweasel with NoScript) [[Special:Contributions/178.238.159.109|178.238.159.109]] 02:44, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: The font is loaded from [http://xkcd.com/fonts/xkcd-Regular.otf], regardless of where you see the comic from. However, Iceweasel (and presumably Firefox) dissallow cross-site access. For this reason, https://xkcd.com/1193/ also gets the default serif font. [[Special:Contributions/128.211.198.17|128.211.198.17]] 22:24, 3 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Someone, please explain what hash breaking is. [[User:Jackdavinci|Jackdavinci]] ([[User talk:Jackdavinci|talk]]) 04:00, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:A cryptographically-secure hash function maps a set of numbers onto another set of numbers in such a way that converting forwards is easy, but converting back is difficult. The idea is that given a key and a lock, you can check the key against the lock by hashing the key and seeing if it maps to the lock. But given just the lock, you can't generate the key (easily). Randall gave us a lock, and the competition is to find the closest key. This is basically a competition to see who has the most computing power to generate lots and lots of keys. Keep in mind, I've glossed over a lot of technical details here. --[[Special:Contributions/173.162.57.51|173.162.57.51]] 15:22, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: There should be some cleverness involved in addition to access to computers. It all comes down to who can generate the most hashes in the time available, because as a good cryptographic hash Skein gives you no hint about how to change your input to get a result closer to your target, you just have to keep making guesses. But that is not just a matter of how many computers you have. For example, Googling around for implementations of Skein I didn't find any ready to run libraries for GPUs of Skein 1024 1024. A team at a university could have stuck with an existing C implementation running on an available set of computers, or taken the time to get it running on GPUs and get quite a bit of extra speed. Also, I haven't experimented with it, but a hash function should be faster if you give it a smaller input. The current best result from CMU would take on the average about 1 quadtrillion (1e15) trials to find. Given that the input to the hash has to be in the form of URL-safe printable characters, if you assume that your team will not have time to generate more than, say 1e16 hashes and the character set you have to work with is 100 characters (my guess from looking at my keyboard) then your test input strings do not have to be longer than 8 characters. Anyone who is generating test input for the hash that is any longer, for example if they are, as a really bad example, converting 1024-bit numbers to 256 ASCII character hex, is doing at least 32 times too much work for each hash calculation. [[User:Bugstomper|Bugstomper]] ([[User talk:Bugstomper|talk]]) 00:37, 3 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
:The time it takes to compute a Skein hash depends only on the number of bits of internal state, not of the input. This is intentional; if the execution time were dependent on input length, an attacker could execute a timing attack on the hash. AES is known to be sensitive to such attacks, but Skein is resistant. [[Special:Contributions/140.254.153.76|140.254.153.76]] 04:14, 3 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is it over now that it's after midnight? When I moused over the school name, it didn't give me a pop-up showing the next hint. [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 06:06, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I would assume so. The wikipedia challenges needed to be done manually, automatic ones would be blocked by wikipedia staff (see my point about Elixir page). Also, making people vandalize wikipedia is not exactly nice. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 08:52, 3 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Do you suppose the "Needs more Bob" possibility in the second panel is a reference to Microsoft Bob (an absolutely and justly reviled Microsoft product from the 90's)? [[Special:Contributions/66.140.241.100|66.140.241.100]] 11:25, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Scary Thought #392:<br />
'Time' and 'Extenalities' are giving Explainxkcd heavy loads. This may be on purpose. Randall might upload yet another 'heavy' comic. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 14:05, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
:It does feel like he sometimes just releases comics that do unusual edge-casey things, just to see us wiki editors struggle with handling the comic. Then again, it might just be Randall trying to make a really dynamic and novel webcomic. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:28, 2 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
:At the moment, xkcd.com seems to be down. Coincidence? --[[User:Johnsmith|Johnsmith]] ([[User talk:Johnsmith|talk]]) 06:49, 3 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I'm surprised no one had added the Activision/Blizzard versions. I know it wasn't up for long, but I expected we'd have a ton of gamers jumping at the chance to add that version of the comic. (Good thing I screen-captured it so I had a reference to work from!)<br />
<br />
Did anyone try using http://xkcd.com/936/ as a method of generating hash inputs? --[[User:Theodric|Theodric]] ([[User talk:Theodric|talk]]) 13:18, 6 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
: Someone reported the [http://echochamber.me/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=101147&start=160#p3314970 horse (plus salt)] as a (at this time: rather good) try, provoking a bunch of copycats. However, as was pointed out in the discussion, since we weren't looking for ''the'' correct hash, but merely a good ''approx'', brute force remained the method of choice (at least within the Top10, I'd say)... Still, maybe some regular could properly include the x-ref to the strip; after all, it ''could'' have been Randall "only" making his point. [[Special:Contributions/134.61.103.44|134.61.103.44]] 10:57, 7 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
You're missing one of the dog panels: http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/externalities/65668a72a3705ffc90ac924e7d5e2a3b75c2419886474fef2f0937dc96f2f3f1.png. --[[Special:Contributions/71.193.152.91|71.193.152.91]] 21:14, 6 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Baidu references:<br />
<br />
:Baidu is a large Chinese Internet services company that employs thousands, whose shares are publicly traded on world stock exchanges. It's the predominant Internet search provider of China, and is sometimes called the "Google of China". It offers parallels for the Chinese market of many of the services that Google provides and offers its own encyclopedic wiki with a restricted edit policy to serve as a replacement for Wikipedia. <br />
<br />
:Wikipedia reports that Baidu's search engine handled 56% of Chinese internet search queries in Q4 2010. and that in October 2012, Baidu ranked 5th overall in the Alexa Internet rankings.<br />
<br />
:Given that explanation for the Baidu references in #1193 is still solicited for explainxkcd, Baidu apparently is not well known yet among savvy XKCD readers.<br />
<br />
:Baidu Search results reputedly follow the censorship dictates of the Chinese authorities, causing it to return censored responses to searches for politically sensitive terms like "Tianamen Square massacre" or "Falun Gong" when executed by web browsers that are connected via Chinese ISPs. <br />
<br />
:When you execute such searches via Baidu in the US, the top links returned for these topics do seem to reflect Chinese government sensibilities although the uncensored English language Wikipedia articles for these topics are listed high in the query results. <br />
<br />
:Baidu's reputation for censorship provides background for Megan's reply "but nothing about Tianamen Square" in response to the "Come and find your future at Baidu" employment enticement of panel one and also provides the background to understand the "It takes great minds to stifle other great minds" slogan of the second panel.<br />
[[User:DLuebbert|DLuebbert]] ([[User talk:DLuebbert|talk]]) 04:42, 2 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Today's incomplete explanation (November 30, 2013)<br />
I have done some layout changes and I did add the final transcript. Please check if it is correct to all countries.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:22, 30 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The comic isn't on xkcd anymore. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.43|108.162.215.43]] 05:06, 7 February 2014 (UTC)</div>108.162.215.43