https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=108.162.216.166&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T10:32:54ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2053:_Incoming_Calls&diff=163501Talk:2053: Incoming Calls2018-10-01T16:54:44Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
The "other scammers" section is far too small. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 16:54, 1 October 2018 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1971:_Personal_Data&diff=1547521971: Personal Data2018-03-23T05:50:57Z<p>108.162.216.166: re-adding discussion which it seems I accidentally deleted. At least, hopefully re-adding it....</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1971<br />
| date = March 23, 2018<br />
| title = Personal Data<br />
| image = personal_data.png<br />
| titletext = Do I just leave money in my mailbox? How much? How much money do they need, anyway? I guess it probably depends how the economy is doing. If stocks go up, should I leave more money in my mailbox or less?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Oh, neat! It has not been edited yet, except by me! Who is me? Such an abstract concept...<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Panel 1: Cueball talking to Ponytail and White Hat. Both of them are looking at Cueball. <br />
Cueball: Everyone keeps talking about "personal data." To be honest, I don't really know what it ''is''. <br />
Cueball: I mean, I understand the idea and know it's a thing I should protect. But it's so ... abstract.<br />
<br />
Panel 2: Closeup on Ponytail<br />
Ponytail: Yeah.<br />
Ponytail: It's like "The Economy." I don't really know what the economy is, if we're getting specific. I know stocks going up is good. For people who own stocks, at least.<br />
Ponytail: Whatever "stocks" are. <br />
<br />
Panel 3: White Hat responds. Both Ponytail and Cueball are looking at him.<br />
White Hat: Yeah, or taxes. Everyone talks about taxes. What '''''ARE'''''' they? Do '''''I''''' have to pay them? And to who? [sic] <br />
Cueball: Ok, wait, you definitely need to learn about that one.<br />
Ponytail: Yeah, Ideally sometime in the next few weeks. [tr note: in the US, the last day to file taxes (or request an extension?) is April 15th. The comic was released 23 March.] <br />
<br />
Title Text: [Presumably a continuation of White Hat's conversation] Do I just leave money in my mailbox? How much? How much money do they need, anyway? I guess it probably depends [on] how the economy is doing. If stocks go up, should I leave more money in my mailbox or less?<br />
<br />
==Discussion==<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1971:_Personal_Data&diff=1547511971: Personal Data2018-03-23T05:46:16Z<p>108.162.216.166: /* Transcript */ Eh, good enough to start with, right? I don't understand this "editing" thing.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1971<br />
| date = March 23, 2018<br />
| title = Personal Data<br />
| image = personal_data.png<br />
| titletext = Do I just leave money in my mailbox? How much? How much money do they need, anyway? I guess it probably depends how the economy is doing. If stocks go up, should I leave more money in my mailbox or less?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Oh, neat! It has not been edited yet, except by me! Who is me? Such an abstract concept...<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Panel 1: Cueball talking to Ponytail and White Hat. Both of them are looking at Cueball. <br />
Cueball: Everyone keeps talking about "personal data." To be honest, I don't really know what it ''is''. <br />
Cueball: I mean, I understand the idea and know it's a thing I should protect. But it's so ... abstract.<br />
<br />
Panel 2: Closeup on Ponytail<br />
Ponytail: Yeah.<br />
Ponytail: It's like "The Economy." I don't really know what the economy is, if we're getting specific. I know stocks going up is good. For people who own stocks, at least.<br />
Ponytail: Whatever "stocks" are. <br />
<br />
Panel 3: White Hat responds. Both Ponytail and Cueball are looking at him.<br />
White Hat: Yeah, or taxes. Everyone talks about taxes. What '''''ARE'''''' they? Do '''''I''''' have to pay them? And to who? [sic] <br />
Cueball: Ok, wait, you definitely need to learn about that one.<br />
Ponytail: Yeah, Ideally sometime in the next few weeks. [tr note: in the US, the last day to file taxes (or request an extension?) is April 15th. The comic was released 23 March.] <br />
<br />
Title Text: [Presumably a continuation of White Hat's conversation] Do I just leave money in my mailbox? How much? How much money do they need, anyway? I guess it probably depends [on] how the economy is doing. If stocks go up, should I leave more money in my mailbox or less?</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1971:_Personal_Data&diff=154745Talk:1971: Personal Data2018-03-23T05:35:40Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
To _whom_...[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 05:35, 23 March 2018 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1966:_Smart_Home_Security&diff=154214Talk:1966: Smart Home Security2018-03-12T16:50:10Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
When I went to explainxkcd right after the comic posted, I saw this in the incomplete tag: "Created by ORGANIZED CRIME". Today is the day this website has officially swallowed its own tail. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 15:50, 12 March 2018 (UTC)<br />
:Oh no! We must eradicate this enemy- We must start violent purging- No one can be trusted! [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 16:46, 12 March 2018 (UTC)<br />
::(We are talking about McCarthyism right now in class while I write this... heh.) [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 16:46, 12 March 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Hmm. Isn't the concern for smart appliances usually that since they're internet-connected, they can be used to for DDoS and other nefarious purposes? I mean, a smart thermostat doesn't really have the capability to spy on its owners, right?</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1888:_Still_in_Use&diff=145244Talk:1888: Still in Use2017-09-11T18:58:04Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Just for all writers: The {{w|Garbage collection (computer science)|Garbage collection}} prominently belongs to {{w|Java (programming language)|Java}}. Microsoft had adopted this only in C# and it's NOT used in file systems.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:47, 11 September 2017 (UTC)<br />
Note: Java adopted garbage collection over 30 years after it had been used in Lisp. I would question the use of 'prominently belongs'. Any user of Gnu Emacs will be aware of what happens when garbage collection hits unexpectedly... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.112|141.101.98.112]] 16:13, 11 September 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Seams like a pretty clear reference to not being able to empty the computers Trash because files are in use. Normally files in the Trash can't be opened, and files can't be moved to the Trash if opened but weird things can happen. The real rub here is that the computer does know '''exactly''' what process has each file open and is intentionally designed and told not to tell you the user the remedy that it already knows nor to show an option to remedy the problem itself leaving you in the lurch. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.58|172.68.206.58]] 15:37, 11 September 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It could be that another user is the one that used the paper towel last. I was actually running into an issue where I couldn't delete a file from a network share that I had used last. The dialog would tell me what program was still using it (Source Tree, which had unceremoniously crashed and didn't close out properly) but my coworker simply got the "Is in use by another program" message. [[User:Bpendragon|Bpendragon]] ([[User talk:Bpendragon|talk]]) 15:43, 11 September 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I've also come across the issue where the process using the file is the file manager utility itself; I opened the trash to see what was in there, it started trying to make preview images of all the items, and of course when you close the window it doesn't release whatever filehandle it was currently trying to make a preview for. -- [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 16:12, 11 September 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
You could always power the house down and restart it! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.28|162.158.78.28]] 16:37, 11 September 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Part of the joke is how unhelpful windows tend(ed/s) to be in helping you identify the application that is still hanging onto the file.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 17:08, 11 September 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is problem only on MS Windows, where most file-access is '''blocking'''; Linux allows deleting file even if some process is accessing it - said process would see old version of the file, while all other would see it deleted. This has its own problems (you delete files, but you don't recover free space), but I think it is less annoying. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 18:03, 11 September 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
*More specific, Windows tracks open files through their pathname, linux tracks open files through their numeric ID. This means that you could create file A, open it, delete the file, create another file B with the same filename, open it, delete the file, create another file C with the same filename, open it, delete the file. Those three files would still be present on the disk, each of the apps that has the file open would see different contents (which they could write to and change), but you would never see any of the files through a directory listing (but it would take up disk space until the files were closed). I believe linux viruses delete themselves to make them more difficult to discover, this also explains why linux system updates don't require rebooting the computer afterwards (although if you just changed the system kernel it's likely recommended)[[User:Odysseus654|Odysseus654]] ([[User talk:Odysseus654|talk]]) 18:26, 11 September 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
No one though about Docker? That was lit(t)erally my first thought: He must be talking about Docker. --[[User:AndreKR|AndreKR]] ([[User talk:AndreKR|talk]]) 18:30, 11 September 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I figured this was about program removal (i.e. "uninstall"). Sometimes one file is still in use (sometimes the program's folder instead of a file), but the rest are deleted as expected. -- '''BigMal''' // [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 18:58, 11 September 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:781:_Ahead_Stop&diff=143736Talk:781: Ahead Stop2017-08-07T12:45:32Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>Reminds me of something I saw in San Diego on a pedestrian/bike path: PED TO YIELD. At first I thought it meant that pedestrians are to yield to bicyclists. But then I remembered my highway grammar. <br />
<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/98.203.241.55|98.203.241.55]] 21:49, 1 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
:"highway grammar" that's a good one! [[User:Saibot84|Saibot84]] ([[User talk:Saibot84|talk]]) 05:25, 19 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
::"grammar highway" [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.166|173.245.53.166]] 19:50, 10 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The phrase suffers from parallax. Being near the first words you can't read the phrase in the correct order but the words further away make more sense, so you read:<br />
"HIGHWAY ENGINEERS THINK BACKWARD I READ".<br />
<br />
[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 17:23, 26 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In Idaho you can see signs which say:<br />
GUBERIF<br />
BE A<br />
DONT<br />
<br />
So theyre not only downside-up and backside-front, there ungrammaticle. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.36|173.245.54.36]] 22:18, 13 May 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Please do not reenact the title text. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.44}}<br />
<br />
To save you the bother, I googled guberif and found it is firebug spelt backwards, which I should have realised for myself, and comes from a 70+ year old marketing campaign. So now you know. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.70|108.162.245.70]] 22:55, 22 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Sometimes the result is poetic. Last weekend I saw "BRIDGE LOW TRUCKS NO" on a highway. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 00:00, 29 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
How can someone say there is not many periods on the highway, has anyone done a study of how many woman are not menstruating while in a vehicle compared to those that are? I would think that at any one time there is a significant amount of periods on any given roadway.</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:743:_Infrastructures&diff=143597Talk:743: Infrastructures2017-08-04T13:44:00Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>The link inside "arrogance that crowds out perspective" is merely an example of a situation in which someone with the same ideology that Cueball has can declare that proponents of free software have arrogance instead of perspective. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 14:23, 12 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
How do we know that professor is going to do anything with the document other than read it? I remember electronic submission back in the Word 6 era (and probably earlier) as a direct replacement to handing over pieces of paper. Doesn't affect the joke, but is rather an unsubstantiated and unnecessary part of the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/178.98.192.132|178.98.192.132]] 00:02, 5 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This could use some serious style editing. I have a bad habit of using parentheses, and find that forcing myself not to use them can actually improve my writing (kowabunga! - oh shit). Whoever put in the large parenthetical expressions here may need to learn that as well. Or learn LISP, where they'll realize that parentheses are not always your friends. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 02:13, 20 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This seems a bit painted to me, sure its a comic in favor of open source but the explanation doesn't have to sound like it was written by a snob. --[[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 23:22, 5 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Diaspora seed: a personal web server that stores all of your information and shares it with your friends<br />
<br />
"Seed" is not used in the torrent sense (of a running client, seeding a file to other clients), but as a "personal web server that stores all of your information and shares it with your friends" via the http protocol. See [https://wiki.diasporafoundation.org/Federation_protocol_overview] and [http://p2pfoundation.net/Diaspora].<br />
Here is the text I replaced:<br />
<br />
:The "seed" to which the fellow mentioned is a reference to the {{w|BitTorrent}} protocol, an infrastructure that allows users to share files for others to download directly from them (rather than from a server). Essentially, the user packs a description of the files in a torrent file, then "seeds" the torrent file using a program made for torrenting (for example, {{w|μTorrent}}). People who want to download the files would first download the corresponding torrent file, and open it in a torrenting program to "leech" (download) the original files. After the files referred by the torrent file are downloaded, the "leechers" can "seed" them too, so that more people can download the files from them in turn. Since the user is in control of the upload and download, torrenting is an option of choice for those in support of free software.<br />
<br />
[[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 16:46, 5 July 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Since when does most of the open source word processors not save in .DOC as well, just because it is saved in that format does not mean it had to be made with MS Word. Most of the time unless I am sending a .PDF I save a copy of what I am working on in .DOC just to be sure the receiver can open it as most programs can. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 13:44, 4 August 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:743:_Infrastructures&diff=143596Talk:743: Infrastructures2017-08-04T13:43:07Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>The link inside "arrogance that crowds out perspective" is merely an example of a situation in which someone with the same ideology that Cueball has can declare that proponents of free software have arrogance instead of perspective. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 14:23, 12 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
How do we know that professor is going to do anything with the document other than read it? I remember electronic submission back in the Word 6 era (and probably earlier) as a direct replacement to handing over pieces of paper. Doesn't affect the joke, but is rather an unsubstantiated and unnecessary part of the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/178.98.192.132|178.98.192.132]] 00:02, 5 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This could use some serious style editing. I have a bad habit of using parentheses, and find that forcing myself not to use them can actually improve my writing (kowabunga! - oh shit). Whoever put in the large parenthetical expressions here may need to learn that as well. Or learn LISP, where they'll realize that parentheses are not always your friends. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 02:13, 20 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This seems a bit painted to me, sure its a comic in favor of open source but the explanation doesn't have to sound like it was written by a snob. --[[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 23:22, 5 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Diaspora seed: a personal web server that stores all of your information and shares it with your friends<br />
<br />
"Seed" is not used in the torrent sense (of a running client, seeding a file to other clients), but as a "personal web server that stores all of your information and shares it with your friends" via the http protocol. See [https://wiki.diasporafoundation.org/Federation_protocol_overview] and [http://p2pfoundation.net/Diaspora].<br />
Here is the text I replaced:<br />
<br />
:The "seed" to which the fellow mentioned is a reference to the {{w|BitTorrent}} protocol, an infrastructure that allows users to share files for others to download directly from them (rather than from a server). Essentially, the user packs a description of the files in a torrent file, then "seeds" the torrent file using a program made for torrenting (for example, {{w|μTorrent}}). People who want to download the files would first download the corresponding torrent file, and open it in a torrenting program to "leech" (download) the original files. After the files referred by the torrent file are downloaded, the "leechers" can "seed" them too, so that more people can download the files from them in turn. Since the user is in control of the upload and download, torrenting is an option of choice for those in support of free software.<br />
<br />
[[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 16:46, 5 July 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Since when does most of the open source word processors not save in .DOC as well, just because it is saved in that format does not mean it had to be made with MS Word. Most of the time unless I am sending a .PDF I save a copy of what I am working on in .DOC just to be sure the receiver can open it as most programs can.</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:713:_GeoIP&diff=143518Talk:713: GeoIP2017-08-03T13:38:55Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>The title text is more than hyperbole: In the United States, if someone is "living in their mom's basement", it implies they can not or will not get a job allowing them to move out. i.e.: they are a loser. The resultant weak response "Screw you, GeoIP" seems to push that depiction even further. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.186|173.245.56.186]] 23:11, 16 July 2014 (UTC)<br />
: I don't get this. The title text goes "Meet hot young singles in <i>your</i> mom's basement today?" Not <i>their</i>. Isn't this another "yo' mama" joke, simply implying that your mama has hot young singles in her basement?[[User:Mumiemonstret|Mumiemonstret]] ([[User talk:Mumiemonstret|talk]]) 08:02, 20 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
:: I think it just means that you can do the same trick on *your* IP, just replacing the string "low earth orbit" with "your mom basement". [[User:MGitsfullofsheep|MGitsfullofsheep]] ([[User talk:MGitsfullofsheep|talk]]) 17:12, 24 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
:: I think this means that your mum is the hot young single in her basement... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.241|141.101.98.241]] 12:27, 18 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::Yes nothing hyperbole here. It is just another of Randall's many your mom jokes and can be insulting in almost anyway you think about the sentence. Have tried to change the explanation of the title text according to this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:28, 13 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
::::I don't think this is a "Your Mom" joke. I agree with the first comment. It is simply that GeoIP has gotten so accurate that it can now pinpoint the user's location to his Mom's basement. An adult living in his parent's house is termed shameful in US as it means that the adult does not have a job and cannot support himself/herself. That is why he's hiding in the basement in the first place, instead of it just being 'Mom's house'. The ad is usually like this -- "Meet hot young singles in <user's location>" where the <user's location> part is filled in from GeoIP. Clearly, there are no "hot young singles" in his Mom's basement and it feels like GeoIP is unknowingly shaming the user by reminding him that he is in his mom's basement, and hence the "Screw you" response. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 00:54, 14 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::::But it's ''your'' mom's basement, so that suggests you are online dating with a close relative? I don't understand it. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 20:30, 12 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::::: No that is simply GeoIP being fooled just like the ISS entry being put in. If someone living his his/her mom's basement got that ad, they already know there is no hot young girls in that area otherwise he would not be online trying to find close hot young girls. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 13:38, 3 August 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:678:_Researcher_Translation&diff=143451Talk:678: Researcher Translation2017-08-02T12:06:08Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>This does explain a lot, doesn't it? --[[User:Jolbucley|Jolbucley]] ([[User talk:Jolbucley|talk]]) 03:40, 29 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Why is this explanation so pessimistic, I don't think this is what Randall was trying to get at. -Vctr<br />
<br />
By 2001, we should have lunar colonies and manned missions to the outer planets... [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 01:07, 17 December 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
No in 2001 we should have had Spaceships capable of committing murder and regular flights to the moon. Not sure if you would consider that mission to Europa/Jupiter successful. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 12:06, 2 August 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:676:_Abstraction&diff=143450Talk:676: Abstraction2017-08-02T11:52:29Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>Seriously what is the minimum Linux OS that I need for an oldish box (that has applications.) Most of the miniature OSs I have tried are ludicrously skank. I need it for a modernish office that can convert stuff to Word, for a publisher who has never heard of Linux.<br />
<br />
[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 21:32, 27 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
It's not the most minimal, but have you tried xubuntu? It's working for me so far. <br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.118|108.162.245.118]] 19:23, 15 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
When even Adobe stops supporting Flash in the next 3 years, this will need an incomplete tag put back to explain what Flash is. Hell some now may not know as is it not as heavily used as it was just a few years ago. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 11:52, 2 August 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:619:_Supported_Features&diff=143284Talk:619: Supported Features2017-07-28T13:33:55Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>Note that the major reason why is easier for Linux to supports 4096 CPUs than smooth flash playback is that flash is proprietary format and without cooperation from Adobe very little can be done with it. For example, most of Adobe products, flash player included (since version 11), are now compiled with SSE2 support in a way which makes them not work at all on CPUs which don't have such capability. Noone except Adobe can do anything with it, and Adobe apparently don't consider it problem. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:05, 27 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
Who is this we that he refers to in the title-text. Is it him and his Intel card, him and his fiance, is he royalty, or does he simply have a tapeworm with good taste in political comedy? [[Special:Contributions/66.249.85.193|66.249.85.193]] 21:50, 23 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
http://asset.soup.io/asset/0453/8747_0991_800.png (Changelog for xorg; "Fixes XKCD #619")<br />
Sudofox (I haven't made an account. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.31|108.162.216.31]] 19:13, 29 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The commit that added 4096 CPUs support was [https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/1184dc2ffe2c8fb9afb766d870850f2c3165ef25 1184dc2] by Mike Travis from SGI (which sells systems with that many CPUs); see also [https://events.linuxfoundation.org/slides/lfcs09_travis.pdf this presentation] by him. <br />
However, that commit was soon reverted in [https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/d25e26b61d59370eee8b7f2634641eb0fa76e952 d25e26b] because it caused too many problems (big CPU mask → some huge stack frames), with a comment that “Some day we'll have allocation helpers that allocate large CPU masks dynamically, but in the meantime we simply cannot allow cpumasks this large.”<br />
Today, [https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/1e3827bf8aebe29af2d6e49b89d85dfae4d0154f/arch/x86/Kconfig#L778 up to 8192 CPUs are supported], so presumably they do have these helpers now :) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.230.95|108.162.230.95]] 09:03, 28 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I put some paragraph spacing in your comment because it is difficult to follow on the edit page.<br />
:The problems of computer engineering mirror the difficulties faced by producers of machinery everywhere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_calculator<br />
:It doesn't matter what level of technical genius their builders attain nor in which field they exert their energy, Linux machines will be cold-shouldered because Microsoft's is the only code that allows users to work with a cludge like Flash.<br />
:This sort of thing will continue as long as vested interests allow such indecencies to exist. Blaise Pascal never had the luxury of working in tens. It took a famine, an egregious tax system (rather similar to that of the USA's) and a revolution to improve things. Perhaps we can learn something from history?<br />
:<br />
:In 2009, when this comic was published, most computers being sold were 4 cores. The problem was the dissipation of heat and incidental costs of electricity used. Manufactures could see the wall presented by frequency oscillations. Having 4000 CPUs/cores/threads/whatever just meant you had a hotter frying pan.<br />
<br />
[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 08:18, 29 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So when is Linux going to follow the others AGAIN, had to wait til the rest did flash, before they discontinue flash support like MS and Mozilla, and all. This is why there never be a year of the linux desktop as they do not care about desktop users. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 13:33, 28 July 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:611:_Disaster_Voyeurism&diff=143283Talk:611: Disaster Voyeurism2017-07-28T11:49:45Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>For reasons expounded here, I have given Black Hat my own name. "Mac" for Machiavell, a character who delights in playing the system, often to the detriment, intentional or otherwise, of others. In Mac's case, he plays the system to cause detriment. In a similar vein, Danish is "Sadie" for sadist, the literal, as opposed to literary, version of a Machiavell, and who more often causes others pain. I'm not saying these should be their names, and I will still refer them to as "Black Hat" and "Danish" on site, but I am putting my view out there. Anonymous 07:36, 4 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
:That's very clever. [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 12:59, 4 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
:: That he or she managed to circumvent the IP address monster or the revelation of the world of their own?<br />
::Can someone please upgrade this Wikipedia entry for the likes of us dyscalculics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_vorticity so that I can look cool on "Hurricane forums"?<br />
<br />
[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 08:45, 29 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Surprised nobody thought to explain 'caltrop'. Sure, you can go and look it up for yourself, but doesn't that also apply to just about everything else that is 'explained' here, too? Anyway, in my experience, it's one of those words a substantial majority of folk don't know, having never heard it at all, or having not bothered to look it up. Do I just move in ignorant circles? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.161|108.162.246.161]] 11:37, 5 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
You must not be a Dungeons & Dragons[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons] player or at the least watched the original A-Team [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_A-Team] on TV as both in the early days Caltrops were required equipment. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 11:49, 28 July 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:605:_Extrapolating&diff=143245Talk:605: Extrapolating2017-07-27T19:25:44Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>If I post a comment on this page, this page will someday consume all the bandwidth of the world. Eh, what the heck.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.158|108.162.216.158]] 02:45, 1 September 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Don't worry. That's not how bandwidth works. And even it was, its growth can also be extrapolated. [[User:Flewk|flewk]] ([[User talk:Flewk|talk]]) 09:59, 8 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What is we extrapolate at the time point just before she has one husband? {{unsigned ip|108.162.222.75}}<br />
<br />
Why does doing this with my paycheck / payday never work? Though it seems this is the logic bills follow. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 19:25, 27 July 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:596:_Latitude&diff=143240Talk:596: Latitude2017-07-27T12:01:34Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>I thought the sex toy shops were unrelated to the last two shops - that she just did something ''re-e-e-eally'' stupid with the gizmos and power tools that landed her in the burn ward. Also, who's to say Robert didn't turn off Latitude? His schedule has some pretty big blanks. Anonymous 06:51, 4 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:If Megan was buying a drill so she could put up shelves, that kind of destroys the joke. Why should she need to be discreet about that? <br />
<br />
:Also, I think that Robert's simple schedule of home / school / subway is a small joke about reversed expectations. A usual joke about how men spend their time (while on the internet, for example) might show a preponderance of sexually-related activity. Here, Randall has attributed the sexual experimentation to Megan instead. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 00:48, 24 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
My take on this is that Megan went to the two last stores to improve her toys, as several xkcd comics deal with DIY stuff. {{unsigned ip|108.162.254.163}}<br />
<br />
:I was thinking that as well: she was trying to {{w|Home Improvement (TV series)|"Tim Taylor"}} her sex toys, and got about the same results ''he'' would. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 10:59, 21 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Perhaps the title text is a reference to the previous comic about the android girlfriend?[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.84|173.245.50.84]] 21:29, 13 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Fortunately for him, Black Hat knows how to avoid SQL injection, so he didn't lose his database when he added [[Little Bobby Tables]] ;-)<br />
:--[[User:Lou Crazy|Lou Crazy]] ([[User talk:Lou Crazy|talk]]) 09:39, 7 September 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Probably this did not happen because there is no real reason to assume it is Bobby, rather Cueball and Robert in this comic is the same and thus making Cueball here = [[Rob]]. But that is also just guess work. Have corrected explanation and removed Bobby category. (But not added Rob) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:26, 26 July 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
According to the explanation (and logical spelling), Robert's schedule is clearly "Home, School, Subway". So why does the explanation say "Home, Schoo, Subwa"? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 17:48, 12 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
:And yes, before you say it, I know that's where it ends in the comic, but still. Oversight, I guess? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 17:50, 12 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
::I'm not sure if you mean in the transcript, because in that only what is actually written should be there. The full words are used above in the explanation, but should still be cut off as they are in the transcript. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:16, 30 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I added this comic to Category:Comics featuring Rob because it mentioned Robert in the app. Undo this if it should not be. [[User:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8]] ([[User talk:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|talk]]) 22:41, 7 March 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Why is it assumed he was at a Subway Sandwich shop and not an actual subway, which would also give reason why the time after is blank for a longer time as especially back then signals in underground Subways were non existent, not that they are any better now especially for GPS. Even the transcript on the original xkcd.com page does not specify which it is. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 12:01, 27 July 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:528:_Windows_7&diff=143017Talk:528: Windows 72017-07-21T12:18:24Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>Is this a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law Godwin's Law]? [[User:Saibot84|Saibot84]] ([[User talk:Saibot84|talk]]) 21:59, 13 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
:An ironic one, possibly. --[[User:Qwach|Qwach]] ([[User talk:Qwach|talk]]) 13:54, 31 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
::A second opinion: No. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 19:30, 10 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think the title-text joke is mainly in the word "hardly" instead of "not" when describing the hitler-y-ness of the beta. {{unsigned|Gigahertz}}<br />
<br />
;Hitler-y<br />
I don't know but look at this: [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hitlery hitlery]. It really seems that it belong to Hillary Clinton. Look at Goooogle: [https://www.google.com/#q=Hitler-y Hitler-y]. This has to be explained, even for non US citizens. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:03, 3 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
:I added some description clarifying the implied Hitler reference. I believe it has to do with Adolf Hitler because it has a hyphen before the "Y" implying a general characteristic description rather than a nickname. --[[User:themacman33|themacman33]] ([[User talk:themacman33|talk]])<br />
:I can't imagine the use of "Hitler-y" here, especially with the hyphen, is used to mean anything other than "Hitler-like". --[[User:Alex|Alex]] ([[User talk:Alex|talk]]) 23:09, 24 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The entry given was created by author "anti-communist/anti-fascist" who also wrote definitions for the terms "kkk" and "gay marriage." Not only were the entries written eight years ago, they were also written down the same day. It seems obvious that said author took that day to spread his own personal political views, and should not be treated as normal day-to-day speech. Furthermore, there is no other reference to Hilary Clinton in this strip. I am removing the incomplete tag from this explanation. If the need is felt to restore it, please give a more justifiable reason. [[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 02:13, 30 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
:I think it's pretty clear that Hitler-y is simply the way Randall adjectived Hitler. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.87}}<br />
I'm pretty sure that this is a reference to a German play called The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui). It's a satirical allegory about Hitler, where Hitler's name in the play is Ui. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Resistible_Rise_of_Arturo_Ui [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.173|108.162.221.173]] 12:04, 21 September 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Sorry, but there's no way this is the case. It's too much of a stretch for an incredibly obtuse visual pun. Hitler was just chosen because he's probably the worst thing you could have stuck on your monitor forever. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.134|108.162.242.134]] 09:08, 11 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Worse then the original goatse.cx? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 12:18, 21 July 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:509:_Induced_Current&diff=142974Talk:509: Induced Current2017-07-20T19:16:19Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>I slightly disagree with the run-through of the "hopes to see it tested on mythbusters, and then scaled up to astronomical proportions" bit. Perhaps refine the first part by ending with something like "...in order to give them enough myths to be worth filming another series". The latter (a reference to the title-text, I assume) should then be dealt with in a separate para by explaining that Mythbusters ''tests'' myths experimentally, but that even the basic "use an LHC to get black holes" idea isn't going to be practically replicatable by them, let alone being able to replicate the possibility (or impossibility) of said black holes consuming the Earth. Unless TV budgets and resources are somewhat more capable than I imagine they are... [[Special:Contributions/178.107.63.150|178.107.63.150]] 21:41, 5 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think the title text is also referring to the second half of the Mythbusters’ “replicate the circumstances, then duplicate the results” method. Basically, the Mythbusters would see what it ''would'' take to destroy the world (and, in the process, actually do so). Maybe they could get help from [http://qntm.org/destroy Sam Hughes] [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.87|199.27.128.87]] 08:14, 20 July 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Two interesting historical examples are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859 the solar flare of 1859] in which telegraph wires had enough induced voltage to cause sparks on the telegraph poles, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm the geomagnetic storm of 1989], which caused the power grid in Quebec, Canada to fail. The latter demonstrates that in this modern era we are certainly not immune to such "outlandish" scenarios.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.160|108.162.219.160]] 01:16, 16 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Wait. If you tell Beret Guy that doesn't that make it more likely to happen since physics conforms to his simplistic understanding of it around him?<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.75|108.162.221.75]] 14:18, 13 August 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think that the solar flares may be a reference to the BOFH's "SOLAR FLARES" excuse in the original series.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.124|108.162.242.124]] 10:53, 3 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It didn't work. The Mythbusters are gone :( [[User:Lionside|Lionside]] ([[User talk:Lionside|talk]]) 20:15, 14 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
White Rabbit Project on Netflix has the best of the show back together, at least for I think it was 10 episodes not sure if more are planned. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 19:16, 20 July 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:500:_Election&diff=142966Talk:500: Election2017-07-20T12:17:52Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>Is this genuinely a thing that Americans do during election years? '''[[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>]] 22:49, 10 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
:They have only voted for a chimpanzee twice. That's not a bad score in 400 years.<br />
:Of course you could say that voting for chimpanzees has only ever been a colonial occupation after they declared independence. So that's about twice as often, isn't it?<br />
:In fact, if you admit that it only happened after Texas was granted statehood, it narrows it down a lot.<br />
<br />
[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 20:43, 30 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I was not aware the admins allowed such bigotry on the page as long as it was in the discussion and not in the main page. Such hatred actually surprised me being here when I read it, almost enough to wish there was a way to block certain users comments from appearing at all. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 12:17, 20 July 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:498:_Secretary:_Part_5&diff=142965Talk:498: Secretary: Part 52017-07-20T11:40:53Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>The Tron video game was based on the movie Tron, not the other way around. Tron the movie was inspired by the video game Pong, but only in a general, Oooh -- computers! sense. (From Wikipedia: "Development of Tron began in 1976 when Lisberger became fascinated with the early video game Pong."){{unsigned|64.20.186.2}}<br />
:You're quite correct: the game was, indeed, based on the movie. Made the necessary changes. [[User:Thokling|Thokling]] ([[User talk:Thokling|talk]]) 08:17, 25 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The Light Cycles though were most likely based in part on the game Blockade which was released in October 1976 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_(video_game)] 6 years before the movie was released so I would doubt they never ran across some copy of it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 11:40, 20 July 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:477:_Typewriter&diff=142938Talk:477: Typewriter2017-07-19T16:44:26Z<p>108.162.216.166: </p>
<hr />
<div>The spaces are because he's trying to alt-tab. [[Special:Contributions/98.201.111.246|98.201.111.246]] 22:21, 31 January 2013 (UTC)mr<br />
:You are absolutely correct, and the is much more missing. So I did tag this as incomplete.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:31, 19 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Ctrl+Tab, next tab in tab bar. Alt+Tab, next top level window on desktop. If he uses a browser based email program it could be either [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.117|108.162.249.117]] 01:44, 30 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::Ctrl+Shift+Tab is back a tab. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.40|108.162.245.40]] 20:08, 16 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don't know you , but it looks like a "Madlibs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madlibs) meets Firefox tabs" kind of letter to me. {{unsigned ip|141.101.103.206}}<br />
<br />
Technically it's the carriage that holds the type hammers for the letters. The platen is the rubber cylinder that holds the paper in place for the hammers. The ribbon is between the hammer and paper. -gateway mike {{unsigned ip|173.245.55.119}}<br />
<br />
The platen is indeed the rubber cylinder. The carriage, though, is the larger piece the platen is part of, which moves back and forth as you type. Hence "carriage return" at the end of a line. Either one works in this case, since the position of the next character is determined by moving the paper, not the hammers. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.64}}<br />
<br />
Unless there was a change in the way a browser worked between then and now, Ctrl-tab is not something you would type an URL into after hitting as it switched between already open tabs. You would need to use Ctrl-T to open a new tab where the cursor would then be in the address bar to type an URL to go to. CTrl-Tab with only 1 tab open does nothing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 16:44, 19 July 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.166