https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=108.162.216.226&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T17:27:08ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1417:_Seven&diff=202966Talk:1417: Seven2020-12-10T16:12:38Z<p>108.162.216.226: </p>
<hr />
<div>Guacamole = 7-layer dip ingredient<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.81|108.162.215.81]] 05:08, 5 September 2014 (UTC)Anonymous XKCD reader<br />
<br />
Seventh Seal more likely to be a reference to Book of Revelation (I think he's brought it up before?) or the film? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.96|199.27.133.96]] 05:17, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Arctic Ocean is one of the modern Seven "Seas" of the world.<br />
Green is the 4th color of seven in the Arthur Hamilton song "I Can Sing a Rainbow". {{unsigned ip|108.162.249.212}}<br />
<br />
I guess the title text is a play on the fact that the dwarves in the new {{w|Snow White (2001 film)}} are called Monday, Tuesday, ... That is the connection between Snow White dwarves and days of the week. The filmmakers decided to intermix sets of seven in the first place. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.90|108.162.254.90]] 06:27, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
There could be a pattern with order.<br />
<br />
*Sneezy: 1st dwarf of the seven dwarves in Snow White.<br />
*Phylum: 2nd rank in the Seven Taxonomic Ranks<br />
*Europe: 3rd continent of the world <br />
*Sloth: 4th sin of the Seven Deadly Sin<br />
*Guacamole: 5th Layer in a 7 Layer Bean Dip<br />
*Data Link: 6th Layer in the OSI Model<br />
*Collosus of Rhodes: 7th Wonder of the Ancient World<br />
<br />
Y’all missed one way to list the continents that also puts Europe in third: by location. A lot of people list the continents from north south west east, in which case Europe is usually third. The order usually goes like this (assuming we’re going with the model of seven continents): 1. North America, 2. South America, 3. Europe. Fourth and Fifth in this ordering are Asia and Africa, but there is no consensus on which comes first. After those two, next is 6. Australia/Australasia/Oceania (whichever one you recognize), and 7. Antarctica. This is used especially in resources for young children, who may not understand things like population and size, and this provides a simple and easy order. <br />
<br />
*Monday: 1st Day of the Week (American).<br />
*Arctic: 2nd ocean in the modern Seven "Seas" of the world.<br />
*Wellesley: 3rd college of the Seven Sister colleges<br />
*Green: 4th color in the Arthur Hamilton song "I Can Sing a Rainbow".<br />
*Electra: 5th sister of the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters.<br />
*Synergize: 6th Habit in the Stephen R. Covey self-help book "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People".<br />
*Seventh Seal: 7th Seal of the Seven Seals in the Book of Revelations<br />
<br />
“Monday: 1st day of the week (American)”. I live in the US and most people say Sunday is the first day of the week. However, many people recognize it as Monday, and it is also the first day of the work week.<br />
<br />
{{unsigned ip|108.162.249.212}}<br />
<br />
:The list on the page needs to be fixed to show Europe third. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.213|141.101.99.213]] 11:15, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The Pleiades is Randall's favorite constellation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 08:40, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:It says so [http://xkcd.com/about/ here]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 20:16, 6 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
::This could mean that Electra is the fifth star in the Pleiades cluster. If counting from the 12 o'clock position clockwise on a diagram of the Pleiades cluster the order would be Sterope, Maia, Taygeta, Caleano, Electra, Merope, and Alcyone (for the sisters), with Atlas and Pleione rounding out the named stars in the cluster.[[Special:Contributions/188.114.106.173|188.114.106.173]] 20:40, 8 December 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It sure is nice seeing the explanation getting more refined and complete every time I visit... [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.168|103.22.201.168]] 10:37, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
::There is not pattern like the one mentioned above. The first dwarf in Disney is always the leader Doc! even alphabetically. There is no reason to put Europe third, Arctic 2nd, Electra 5th or the Colossus 7th. Data Link is the 2nd although you usually put them in reverse making it the 6th (and in America first day is Sunday!). This I have corrected and made a table more for the Title text [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:35, 8 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::Doc may be the leader, and (hierarchically) first of the seven, but in my experience it's Doc who is often the forgotten one (unless remembered ''specifically'' for being forgotten) when someone is challenged to name the seven dwarves... E.g. "Happy, Sleepy, Dopey, Sneezy, Grumpy... erm... Bashful... oh... don't tell me..." (Bashful being the one those who specifically remember Doc tend to forget, unless they've got over this alternative memetic stumbling block.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.233|141.101.98.233]] 23:58, 8 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
::::In the Disney (1937) version, Snow White guesses the names of the dwarves in the following order: Doc, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Happy, Dopey, and Grumpy. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.25|173.245.55.25]] 17:00, 18 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I've always been told there are only six continents. North America and South America are one continent. The seventh continent sometimes refers to this gigantic area filled with plastic rubbish in the Pacific Ocean. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.143|108.162.229.143]] 11:47, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
: See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uBcq1x7P34 But no one talks about the Great Pacific garbage patch as a continent. 7 continents is the most common model, with some (mainly Latin Americans) considering the Americas a single continent. Some others consider Eurasia a single continent (personally that's what I prefer, it makes the most sense). --[[User:Zagorath|Zagorath]] ([[User talk:Zagorath|talk]]) 12:12, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
: I've only ever heard folks say there are seven continents. By strict definition of the word, North and South America do form a single continent (at least did prior to the Panama Canal cutting them apart) the vast majority of people see then as two separate continents. Dividing the Eurasian landmass in two, however, that one never made much sense. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.117|199.27.128.117]] 16:53, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: I think the garbage patch confusion stems from the mislabeled picture of a bunch of floating garbage. In fact it's very spread out and in no way possible to confuse with a landmass. See [http://io9.com/5911969/lies-youve-been-told-about-the-pacific-garbage-patch http://io9.com/5911969/lies-youve-been-told-about-the-pacific-garbage-patch] --[[User:JSekula71|JSekula71]] ([[User talk:JSekula71|talk]]) 08:46, 6 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Personally, I think the number of continents depends on what you are using it for. For strictly geographical purposes, then clearly Europe and Asia are the same continent. However, if you’re talking about continents in a cultural, political, historical, climate, or ecological context, the argument can be made for classifying them as separate continents. <br />
<br />
Guacamole may also be a reference to a famous joke which made the rounds about 15 years ago, where somebody had compared the 7 layers of the OSI network model to Taco Bell's 7-layer burrito. Guacamole was the 5th layer, which lends credence to this idea. It's still available on the WayBack Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/19990826193318/http://www.europa.com/~dogman/osi/ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.151|108.162.219.151]] 11:59, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I suspect Electra is from the list of extant complete plays of Sophocles: Ajax, Antigone, The Women of Trachis, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. [[User:Besimmons|Besimmons]] ([[User talk:Besimmons|talk]]) 13:42, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I find it interesting that although Randall is American he lists Monday as the first day of the week. That's where it's positioned in most cultures outside the USA, but Americans normally consider Sunday to be the first day. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 13:51, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
: I can't speak for anyone outside the US, but as someone who has spent 99.9% of my life within US borders (few weeks in Canada, if you think that should essentially count...), I only acknowledge that the first day listed on any monthly calendar I see around here is most often Sunday. If you were to ask me what the first day of the week is, I would very quickly and easily say "Monday". That is what I'm teaching my 4- and 2-year olds... There are a few reasons I would give to explain that other than "I think of it as the first day of the week". It's the first work day of the "work week", and since life is for most people centered around one form of work or another, that gives the "work week" high importance. By extension, Sunday is the last day in the "weekend". By Judeo-Christian beliefs, God rested on the "seventh" Day - most Christians believe that to be Sunday; others (I believe mostly Jewish) believe it to be Saturday - I think, though that even those who consider Saturday to be a holy day, if you were to ask them in casual conversation what the first day of the week is (I may be wrong, but), I think they would say "Monday"... (?) Any other "Americans" or "Non-Americans" (I'd ask for you to clearly identify with one or the other) want to weight in on this? - [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 15:51, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
::I wouldn't make any guesses about what "most Christians" believe, but scholars clearly agree that Saturday (beginning sundown on Friday evening) is the seventh day, and Sunday is the first day (the "Lord's Day"). The reason for the shift isn't so clear, but they generally agree with the Jews about the numbering of the days, and even that the boundary between days happens at sunset: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbath_in_Christianity [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.11|108.162.241.11]] 14:39, 9 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::The reason claimed for the shift is because Jesus rose on the first day of the week, though the only thing that's made explicit is that the tomb was discovered empty on that day. But even at that, He made no command to change Sabbaths or replace it with a Sabbath equivalent. There are scriptures which many Christians often claim indicate that the disciples changed it -- one about a collection being taken up then and one about them meeting then -- but nothing clarifying that that was the intent. By the by, "The Lord's Day" is used once in the Bible, in Revelation, but left undefined. It is most commonly interpreted as Sunday for the earlier reason, but it could as easily be interpreted as the already-existing Sabbath, as He'd said He's "Lord of the Sabbath", or even equivalent to "The Day of the Lord", an eschatological term, which would be appropriate considering the book in which it appears. Also, having read up on the ISO standard week, the new numbering -- as in, only a few decades old -- is to make the week "labor-oriented", i.e., put the working days first. And since the majority of people treat Sunday as the weekly day of rest, people moved it to last. But before people started treating it as such, the numbering was already labor-oriented, with Saturday, the Sabbath, as the seventh day. [[User:Nyperold|Nyperold]] ([[User talk:Nyperold|talk]]) 18:14, 24 July 2015 (UTC)<br />
::I can't really comment on anything talked about by Brettpeirce, but I can say a few words about the "first day of the week" problem as seen by a computer programmer. It causes huge problems when your program displays a calendar because you have to take into account that Americans want it one way and most other people want it a different way. And supposedly simple things like scheduling an appointment "first work day next week" has a completely different result if it is done on a Sunday in the USA or on a Sunday in Europe. And then there's the problem of week numbers (used a lot in Europe but not so much in the USA). Week numbers depend on which week is designated as the first week of the year, which in most countries is defined as the first week with at least 4 days in the year. Now if January 3rd is Sunday, then in the USA it is the start of week 1, while in Europe it is the last day of the last week of the previous year (week 52 or 53). It's enough to drive you to drink (which is OK on Sunday some places but not others). --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 20:36, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::Oh, and then there are the incompatibilities in programming languages. American-developed computer languages like C and Basic and C++ and C# number the week days 0 - 6 meaning Sunday - Saturday. Meanwhile Java numbers week days 1 - 7 meaning Sunday - Saturday, except that the newest version, Java 8, has improved date/time facilities, and if you use them then week days are numbered 1 - 7 meaning Monday - Sunday. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 20:52, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Contrary to ISO 8601, I think the week should start on Sunday for the sake of symmetry. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.99.189|188.114.99.189]] 01:18, 25 November 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I find instead interesting that he makes no mention of the seven notes, while mentioning other sets less ubiquitous --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.163|108.162.229.163]] 14:13, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
OMFG, the second picture of a dwarf in the list is Dopey, why the hell did somebody say it's Fievel!? http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=seven+dwarfs+dopey&qpvt=Seven+Dwarves+Dopey&FORM=IGRE<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.40|108.162.216.40]] 19:44, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The Dwarfs here are drawn somewhat off-model, with bigger noses than in Disney artwork. Perhaps someone is confusing the second figure's nose, which is drawn much larger than Dopey's, with Fievel's other ear. It's similar to the [http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/1543622/Gardevoir/ Gardevoir nose illusion]. --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 20:16, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
::To be fair, the dwarves are more on-model than the people. -[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.186|173.245.56.186]] 03:09, 6 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Arctic is the second ocean alphabetically. Someone should change the list to reflect that, I think. [[User:Zweisteine|Zweisteine]] ([[User talk:Zweisteine|talk]]) 19:53, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Re the "trivia" note suggesting Arctic is a deliberate mistake for Antartica in the list of continents: Even if I thought Randall might be including deliberate mistakes, it is unlikely he'd use the continents as a list in the title. He already used them in the main comic, and he didn't repeat any other sevens. [[User:MGK|MGK]] ([[User talk:MGK|talk]]) 14:12, 6 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Did anyone else come here because the one thing they didn't get was guacamole? And now feel like, "duhhh?" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.199|108.162.212.199]] 16:36, 6 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So how many continents are there really https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uBcq1x7P34 [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 23:54, 6 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The stated order of 7-layer dip in the table is all wrong. Cheese goes on top, then sour cream, and the rest doesn't matter. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.183|199.27.128.183]] 03:50, 9 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The Fields medallist Vladimir Voevodsky used this in a recent talk on the foundations of mathematics https://github.com/vladimirias/2014_Paul_Bernays_Lectures/blob/master/2014_09_Bernays_3%20presentation.pdf, to illustrate the abstract concept of set. {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.219}}<br />
<br />
<br />
''"This leads him to exchange the items in the sets without noticing, to the point where, when attempting to list a single set, each item mentioned actually belongs to a different set."''<br />
[[1475: Technically|Technically]], they also belong to the same set- in fact, there are infinitely many sets that contain any subset of those listed. So saying "they all come from different sets" isn't quite correct. [[User:Hppavilion1|Hppavilion1]] ([[User talk:Hppavilion1|talk]]) 04:43, 26 October 2016 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1417:_Seven&diff=202965Talk:1417: Seven2020-12-10T16:08:59Z<p>108.162.216.226: </p>
<hr />
<div>Guacamole = 7-layer dip ingredient<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.81|108.162.215.81]] 05:08, 5 September 2014 (UTC)Anonymous XKCD reader<br />
<br />
Seventh Seal more likely to be a reference to Book of Revelation (I think he's brought it up before?) or the film? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.96|199.27.133.96]] 05:17, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Arctic Ocean is one of the modern Seven "Seas" of the world.<br />
Green is the 4th color of seven in the Arthur Hamilton song "I Can Sing a Rainbow". {{unsigned ip|108.162.249.212}}<br />
<br />
I guess the title text is a play on the fact that the dwarves in the new {{w|Snow White (2001 film)}} are called Monday, Tuesday, ... That is the connection between Snow White dwarves and days of the week. The filmmakers decided to intermix sets of seven in the first place. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.90|108.162.254.90]] 06:27, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
There could be a pattern with order.<br />
<br />
*Sneezy: 1st dwarf of the seven dwarves in Snow White.<br />
*Phylum: 2nd rank in the Seven Taxonomic Ranks<br />
*Europe: 3rd continent of the world <br />
*Sloth: 4th sin of the Seven Deadly Sin<br />
*Guacamole: 5th Layer in a 7 Layer Bean Dip<br />
*Data Link: 6th Layer in the OSI Model<br />
*Collosus of Rhodes: 7th Wonder of the Ancient World<br />
<br />
Y’all missed one way to list the continents that also puts Europe in third: by location. A lot of people list the continents from north south west east, in which case Europe is usually third. The order usually goes like this (assuming we’re going with the model of seven continents): 1. North America, 2. South America, 3. Europe. Fourth and Fifth in this ordering are Asia and Africa, but there is no consensus on which comes first. After those two, next is 6. Australia/Australasia/Oceania (whichever one you recognize), and 7. Antarctica. This is used especially in resources for young children, who may not understand things like population and size, and this provides a simple and easy order. <br />
<br />
*Monday: 1st Day of the Week (American).<br />
*Arctic: 2nd ocean in the modern Seven "Seas" of the world.<br />
*Wellesley: 3rd college of the Seven Sister colleges<br />
*Green: 4th color in the Arthur Hamilton song "I Can Sing a Rainbow".<br />
*Electra: 5th sister of the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters.<br />
*Synergize: 6th Habit in the Stephen R. Covey self-help book "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People".<br />
*Seventh Seal: 7th Seal of the Seven Seals in the Book of Revelations<br />
<br />
“Monday: 1st day of the week (American)”. I live in the US and most people say Sunday is the first day of the week. However, many people recognize it as Monday, and it is also the first day of the work week.<br />
<br />
{{unsigned ip|108.162.249.212}}<br />
<br />
:The list on the page needs to be fixed to show Europe third. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.213|141.101.99.213]] 11:15, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The Pleiades is Randall's favorite constellation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 08:40, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:It says so [http://xkcd.com/about/ here]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 20:16, 6 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
::This could mean that Electra is the fifth star in the Pleiades cluster. If counting from the 12 o'clock position clockwise on a diagram of the Pleiades cluster the order would be Sterope, Maia, Taygeta, Caleano, Electra, Merope, and Alcyone (for the sisters), with Atlas and Pleione rounding out the named stars in the cluster.[[Special:Contributions/188.114.106.173|188.114.106.173]] 20:40, 8 December 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It sure is nice seeing the explanation getting more refined and complete every time I visit... [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.168|103.22.201.168]] 10:37, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
::There is not pattern like the one mentioned above. The first dwarf in Disney is always the leader Doc! even alphabetically. There is no reason to put Europe third, Arctic 2nd, Electra 5th or the Colossus 7th. Data Link is the 2nd although you usually put them in reverse making it the 6th (and in America first day is Sunday!). This I have corrected and made a table more for the Title text [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:35, 8 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::Doc may be the leader, and (hierarchically) first of the seven, but in my experience it's Doc who is often the forgotten one (unless remembered ''specifically'' for being forgotten) when someone is challenged to name the seven dwarves... E.g. "Happy, Sleepy, Dopey, Sneezy, Grumpy... erm... Bashful... oh... don't tell me..." (Bashful being the one those who specifically remember Doc tend to forget, unless they've got over this alternative memetic stumbling block.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.233|141.101.98.233]] 23:58, 8 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
::::In the Disney (1937) version, Snow White guesses the names of the dwarves in the following order: Doc, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Happy, Dopey, and Grumpy. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.25|173.245.55.25]] 17:00, 18 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I've always been told there are only six continents. North America and South America are one continent. The seventh continent sometimes refers to this gigantic area filled with plastic rubbish in the Pacific Ocean. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.143|108.162.229.143]] 11:47, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
: See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uBcq1x7P34 But no one talks about the Great Pacific garbage patch as a continent. 7 continents is the most common model, with some (mainly Latin Americans) considering the Americas a single continent. Some others consider Eurasia a single continent (personally that's what I prefer, it makes the most sense). --[[User:Zagorath|Zagorath]] ([[User talk:Zagorath|talk]]) 12:12, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
: I've only ever heard folks say there are seven continents. By strict definition of the word, North and South America do form a single continent (at least did prior to the Panama Canal cutting them apart) the vast majority of people see then as two separate continents. Dividing the Eurasian landmass in two, however, that one never made much sense. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.117|199.27.128.117]] 16:53, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: I think the garbage patch confusion stems from the mislabeled picture of a bunch of floating garbage. In fact it's very spread out and in no way possible to confuse with a landmass. See [http://io9.com/5911969/lies-youve-been-told-about-the-pacific-garbage-patch http://io9.com/5911969/lies-youve-been-told-about-the-pacific-garbage-patch] --[[User:JSekula71|JSekula71]] ([[User talk:JSekula71|talk]]) 08:46, 6 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Guacamole may also be a reference to a famous joke which made the rounds about 15 years ago, where somebody had compared the 7 layers of the OSI network model to Taco Bell's 7-layer burrito. Guacamole was the 5th layer, which lends credence to this idea. It's still available on the WayBack Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/19990826193318/http://www.europa.com/~dogman/osi/ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.151|108.162.219.151]] 11:59, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I suspect Electra is from the list of extant complete plays of Sophocles: Ajax, Antigone, The Women of Trachis, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. [[User:Besimmons|Besimmons]] ([[User talk:Besimmons|talk]]) 13:42, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I find it interesting that although Randall is American he lists Monday as the first day of the week. That's where it's positioned in most cultures outside the USA, but Americans normally consider Sunday to be the first day. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 13:51, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
: I can't speak for anyone outside the US, but as someone who has spent 99.9% of my life within US borders (few weeks in Canada, if you think that should essentially count...), I only acknowledge that the first day listed on any monthly calendar I see around here is most often Sunday. If you were to ask me what the first day of the week is, I would very quickly and easily say "Monday". That is what I'm teaching my 4- and 2-year olds... There are a few reasons I would give to explain that other than "I think of it as the first day of the week". It's the first work day of the "work week", and since life is for most people centered around one form of work or another, that gives the "work week" high importance. By extension, Sunday is the last day in the "weekend". By Judeo-Christian beliefs, God rested on the "seventh" Day - most Christians believe that to be Sunday; others (I believe mostly Jewish) believe it to be Saturday - I think, though that even those who consider Saturday to be a holy day, if you were to ask them in casual conversation what the first day of the week is (I may be wrong, but), I think they would say "Monday"... (?) Any other "Americans" or "Non-Americans" (I'd ask for you to clearly identify with one or the other) want to weight in on this? - [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 15:51, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
::I wouldn't make any guesses about what "most Christians" believe, but scholars clearly agree that Saturday (beginning sundown on Friday evening) is the seventh day, and Sunday is the first day (the "Lord's Day"). The reason for the shift isn't so clear, but they generally agree with the Jews about the numbering of the days, and even that the boundary between days happens at sunset: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbath_in_Christianity [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.11|108.162.241.11]] 14:39, 9 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::The reason claimed for the shift is because Jesus rose on the first day of the week, though the only thing that's made explicit is that the tomb was discovered empty on that day. But even at that, He made no command to change Sabbaths or replace it with a Sabbath equivalent. There are scriptures which many Christians often claim indicate that the disciples changed it -- one about a collection being taken up then and one about them meeting then -- but nothing clarifying that that was the intent. By the by, "The Lord's Day" is used once in the Bible, in Revelation, but left undefined. It is most commonly interpreted as Sunday for the earlier reason, but it could as easily be interpreted as the already-existing Sabbath, as He'd said He's "Lord of the Sabbath", or even equivalent to "The Day of the Lord", an eschatological term, which would be appropriate considering the book in which it appears. Also, having read up on the ISO standard week, the new numbering -- as in, only a few decades old -- is to make the week "labor-oriented", i.e., put the working days first. And since the majority of people treat Sunday as the weekly day of rest, people moved it to last. But before people started treating it as such, the numbering was already labor-oriented, with Saturday, the Sabbath, as the seventh day. [[User:Nyperold|Nyperold]] ([[User talk:Nyperold|talk]]) 18:14, 24 July 2015 (UTC)<br />
::I can't really comment on anything talked about by Brettpeirce, but I can say a few words about the "first day of the week" problem as seen by a computer programmer. It causes huge problems when your program displays a calendar because you have to take into account that Americans want it one way and most other people want it a different way. And supposedly simple things like scheduling an appointment "first work day next week" has a completely different result if it is done on a Sunday in the USA or on a Sunday in Europe. And then there's the problem of week numbers (used a lot in Europe but not so much in the USA). Week numbers depend on which week is designated as the first week of the year, which in most countries is defined as the first week with at least 4 days in the year. Now if January 3rd is Sunday, then in the USA it is the start of week 1, while in Europe it is the last day of the last week of the previous year (week 52 or 53). It's enough to drive you to drink (which is OK on Sunday some places but not others). --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 20:36, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::Oh, and then there are the incompatibilities in programming languages. American-developed computer languages like C and Basic and C++ and C# number the week days 0 - 6 meaning Sunday - Saturday. Meanwhile Java numbers week days 1 - 7 meaning Sunday - Saturday, except that the newest version, Java 8, has improved date/time facilities, and if you use them then week days are numbered 1 - 7 meaning Monday - Sunday. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 20:52, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Contrary to ISO 8601, I think the week should start on Sunday for the sake of symmetry. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.99.189|188.114.99.189]] 01:18, 25 November 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I find instead interesting that he makes no mention of the seven notes, while mentioning other sets less ubiquitous --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.163|108.162.229.163]] 14:13, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
OMFG, the second picture of a dwarf in the list is Dopey, why the hell did somebody say it's Fievel!? http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=seven+dwarfs+dopey&qpvt=Seven+Dwarves+Dopey&FORM=IGRE<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.40|108.162.216.40]] 19:44, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The Dwarfs here are drawn somewhat off-model, with bigger noses than in Disney artwork. Perhaps someone is confusing the second figure's nose, which is drawn much larger than Dopey's, with Fievel's other ear. It's similar to the [http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/1543622/Gardevoir/ Gardevoir nose illusion]. --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 20:16, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
::To be fair, the dwarves are more on-model than the people. -[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.186|173.245.56.186]] 03:09, 6 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Arctic is the second ocean alphabetically. Someone should change the list to reflect that, I think. [[User:Zweisteine|Zweisteine]] ([[User talk:Zweisteine|talk]]) 19:53, 5 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Re the "trivia" note suggesting Arctic is a deliberate mistake for Antartica in the list of continents: Even if I thought Randall might be including deliberate mistakes, it is unlikely he'd use the continents as a list in the title. He already used them in the main comic, and he didn't repeat any other sevens. [[User:MGK|MGK]] ([[User talk:MGK|talk]]) 14:12, 6 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Did anyone else come here because the one thing they didn't get was guacamole? And now feel like, "duhhh?" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.199|108.162.212.199]] 16:36, 6 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
So how many continents are there really https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uBcq1x7P34 [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 23:54, 6 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The stated order of 7-layer dip in the table is all wrong. Cheese goes on top, then sour cream, and the rest doesn't matter. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.183|199.27.128.183]] 03:50, 9 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The Fields medallist Vladimir Voevodsky used this in a recent talk on the foundations of mathematics https://github.com/vladimirias/2014_Paul_Bernays_Lectures/blob/master/2014_09_Bernays_3%20presentation.pdf, to illustrate the abstract concept of set. {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.219}}<br />
<br />
<br />
''"This leads him to exchange the items in the sets without noticing, to the point where, when attempting to list a single set, each item mentioned actually belongs to a different set."''<br />
[[1475: Technically|Technically]], they also belong to the same set- in fact, there are infinitely many sets that contain any subset of those listed. So saying "they all come from different sets" isn't quite correct. [[User:Hppavilion1|Hppavilion1]] ([[User talk:Hppavilion1|talk]]) 04:43, 26 October 2016 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2138:_Wanna_See_the_Code%3F&diff=1728072138: Wanna See the Code?2019-04-17T15:31:34Z<p>108.162.216.226: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2138<br />
| date = April 17, 2019<br />
| title = Wanna See the Code?<br />
| image = wanna_see_the_code.png<br />
| titletext = And because if you just leave it there, it's going to start contaminating things downstream even if no one touches it directly.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a DEAD BODY. There is no explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2137:_Text_Entry&diff=1727762137: Text Entry2019-04-16T23:06:06Z<p>108.162.216.226: /* Explanation */ fix</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2137<br />
| date = April 15, 2019<br />
| title = Text Entry<br />
| image = text_entry.png<br />
| titletext = I like to think that somewhere out there, there's someone whose personal quest is lobbying TV providers to add an option to switch their on-screen keyboards to Dvorak.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a idiot. Explanation could be made way smarter, so just fix it. You MUST NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
dat boi is say on da stupi thingz aboot tha dis yaar he sayz is trump HA LOL XD RAWR k meh dun<br />
<br />
da comicz aboot da 2 waard thin n dz yaar, whitch s tvs stal exizttt WAT DEH DOOOOOOO?????<br />
<br />
<br />
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA<br />
<br />
wat meh doo</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2137:_Text_Entry&diff=1727752137: Text Entry2019-04-16T23:05:10Z<p>108.162.216.226: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2137<br />
| date = April 15, 2019<br />
| title = Text Entry<br />
| image = text_entry.png<br />
| titletext = I like to think that somewhere out there, there's someone whose personal quest is lobbying TV providers to add an option to switch their on-screen keyboards to Dvorak.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{info|Created by a idiot. Explanation could be made way smarter, so just fix it. You MUST NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
dat boi is say on da stupi thingz aboot tha dis yaar he sayz is trump HA LOL XD RAWR k meh dun<br />
<br />
da comicz aboot da 2 waard thin n dz yaar, whitch s tvs stal exizttt WAT DEH DOOOOOOO?????<br />
<br />
<br />
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA<br />
<br />
wat meh doo</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2137:_Text_Entry&diff=1727742137: Text Entry2019-04-16T23:04:19Z<p>108.162.216.226: /* Transcript */ ha</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2137<br />
| date = April 15, 2019<br />
| title = Text Entry<br />
| image = text_entry.png<br />
| titletext = I like to think that somewhere out there, there's someone whose personal quest is lobbying TV providers to add an option to switch their on-screen keyboards to Dvorak.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{warning|Created by a idiot. Explanation could be made way smarter, so just fix it. You MUST NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
dat boi is say on da stupi thingz aboot tha dis yaar he sayz is trump HA LOL XD RAWR k meh dun<br />
<br />
da comicz aboot da 2 waard thin n dz yaar, whitch s tvs stal exizttt WAT DEH DOOOOOOO?????<br />
<br />
<br />
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA<br />
<br />
wat meh doo</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2137:_Text_Entry&diff=1727732137: Text Entry2019-04-16T23:03:21Z<p>108.162.216.226: /* Explanation */ 😂 OMG WHO DID THIS? 😂</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2137<br />
| date = April 15, 2019<br />
| title = Text Entry<br />
| image = text_entry.png<br />
| titletext = I like to think that somewhere out there, there's someone whose personal quest is lobbying TV providers to add an option to switch their on-screen keyboards to Dvorak.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{warning|Created by a idiot. Explanation could be made way smarter, so just fix it. You MUST NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
dat boi is say on da stupi thingz aboot tha dis yaar he sayz is trump HA LOL XD RAWR k meh dun<br />
<br />
da comicz aboot da 2 waard thin n dz yaar, whitch s tvs stal exizttt WAT DEH DOOOOOOO?????<br />
<br />
<br />
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Ponytail and Cueball are sitting on a couch, with Megan standing behind them. Cueball is pointing a remote at a television. The word space is written inside a frame.]<br />
:Television: O...U...R...SPACE...P...L...<br />
:Remote: Click Click Click<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:The weirdest thing about 2019 is obviously that Donald Trump is president, but I think the second weirdest is that you sometimes ''still'' have to type stuff in by picking letters on a screen one at a time with a cursor like you're entering a high score in a 1980s arcade game.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]<br />
[[Category:Politics]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]<br />
[[Category:Dvorak]]</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2136:_Election_Commentary&diff=172615Talk:2136: Election Commentary2019-04-12T21:19:56Z<p>108.162.216.226: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
A lot of election commentary falls under the category of Bayesian inference. The various news agencies have prior distributions for the votes from all of the precincts, and update their estimates of the final total votes based on the precincts that have reported so far. Thus, "Candidate X is leading Candidate Y in votes received, but since only the precincts that previously have favoured X-like candidates have reported in so far, and they aren't giving X as much a lead as expected, we think this means Y will win overall." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.208|162.158.63.208]] 18:11, 12 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Anybody else getting tired of whiny Californicators and New Yorkers trying to use their superior population to dictate to the rest of the country how to live? [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 20:12, 12 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
:No, I'm tired of small communities trying to use "oh but added up we have a larger population than you!" to try and justify insulting California and New York.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.144|172.68.143.144]] 21:12, 12 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
::Except for they don't, because they still don't. You can add together the populations of all the other states combined and not have a majority of voters.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 21:14, 12 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
::: California population: 40 million. New York population: 20 million. US population: 330 million. Please check your sources next time.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.144|172.68.143.144]] 21:18, 12 April 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Someone do a left-brained election night show, try to hide who you personally favor even though the other candidate sucks, do the digit lead thing and put it on Youtube. Please! But not monotone, make it sound like CNN. Preferably taped on election night so the lack of foreknowledge is real. Like someone could type updates as they come in, give them to the "newscasters" and they'd take the page and be like "this just in, Trump's millions digit in Pennsylvania is now 3, this completely eliminates Bernie's advantage in the other digits, if he doesn't increase this digit (points at digit) to 3 his chances of becoming president drop from 60 to 20 percent. What do you think the chances of that are Bob? Well, since the last time we've analyzed it the chance of that digit exceeding 2 has decreased slightly, to 70%, and even if he wins that digit the battleground just returns to lower digits, his chance of winning the state is still only 50%. The state most likely to vote for the election winner is PA so we'll be watching the shit out of it, even more than Michigan and Wisconsin (the chance of Trump and Sanders becoming president updates)" Even if it's just 2 suits changing cards on a wall with digits and states names on them and a cardboard red and blue map I'd totally watch that the day after.</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1965:_Background_Apps&diff=1540521965: Background Apps2018-03-09T16:11:51Z<p>108.162.216.226: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1965<br />
| date = March 9, 2018<br />
| title = Background Apps<br />
| image = background_apps.png<br />
| titletext = My plane banner company gets business by flying around with a banner showing a &lt;div&gt; tag, waiting for a web developer to get frustrated enough to order a matching &lt;/div&gt;.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Written by a pilot - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
A person goes to the trouble of renting a banner plane just to dispense some trivial advice. Then a second person goes to the same amount of trouble just to make a judgmental statement against the first person, seemingly unaware that they themselves are chartering a plane for an equally (if not more) inane reason. The first person rents yet another plane just to apologize to the second person and explain their actions.<br />
<br />
In the punchline, the second person rents another plane to respond to the first person's response, being no less smug or hypocritical than before. Meanwhile, four more people have chartered planes: one to urge the first two people to have their conversation somewhere private, another to comment on how surprisingly cheap the banners are to rent, a third just to show off their own banner, and a fourth simply displaying a blank template.<br />
<br />
The title text is spoken by a plane banner company owner, who uses the insidious tactic of flying around with a banner of an unmatched HTML, just to compel obsessive people into renting banner space to make it syntactically correct.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1961:_Interaction&diff=1533701961: Interaction2018-03-02T14:33:19Z<p>108.162.216.226: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1961<br />
| date = February 28, 2018<br />
| title = Interaction<br />
| image = interaction.png<br />
| titletext = [They do not move.]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete| Needs to be expanded with regards to social anxiety.}}<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] and [[White Hat]] are making small talk. White Hat begins the conversation with a typical greeting, asking, "How are you doing?" Normally this is a habitualized greeting pattern, where the person being greeted would respond with a generic positive like, "Good," "Okay," "Can't complain," etc. Instead, Cueball answers with a very open and honest statement about the {{w|social anxiety}} he thinks he is successfully dealing with. White Hat then admits that he is experiencing the same thing, and the two congratulate each other for having a "normal" conversation with another human. After that, there is an awkward silence where neither knows what to talk about next. Finally, White Hat makes note of the awkwardness and Cueball suggests they stop before it gets worse. <br />
<br />
The scene is ironic because their dialogue mirrors the common pattern of typical minor daily interactions, but also differs greatly from anything "normal." White Hat & Cuteball are being really weird here, specifically because their dialogue is inappropriately open & honest. The literal semantic content of their dialogue is probably more accurate & meaningful than the usual pleasantries people exchange, but the effect is very different.<br />
<br />
So basically they have not managed to behave like regular human beings, and thus have nothing to congratulate each other for. Except for White Hat's opening line nothing in the conversation has in any way resembled normal behavior. Due to their serious issues with small talking and interacting with other people, even this simple '''interaction''' fails completely, hence the title of the comic.<br />
<br />
The title text states that, after saying goodbye, they don't move away, keeping up the uncomfortable silence, continuing to display their problems. Neither of them wish to be the first to turn away, or one or both are locked in the situation and has no clue how to finish it, even though they are both obviously aware of their problems and what makes them anxious. This may be a reference to the final stage direction "''They do not move.''" in {{w|Samuel Beckett|Samuel Beckett's}} play ''{{w|Waiting for Godot}}'', where the protagonists frequently discuss leaving, but do not move.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[White Hat and Cueball have just met and begins an interaction.]<br />
:White Hat: How are you doing?<br />
:Cueball: Really excited to be confidently handling this extremely basic social interaction!<br />
<br />
:[White Hat holds is arms slightly out.]<br />
:White Hat: Same here!<br />
:Cueball: Hey, congrats!<br />
:White Hat: You too!<br />
:Cueball: Thanks!<br />
<br />
:[In a frame-less beat panel, they just stand still.]<br />
<br />
:[Same setting as in the first panel.]<br />
:White Hat: And now it's falling apart before my eyes.<br />
:Cueball: I'm gonna quit while I'm ahead.<br />
:White Hat: Same.<br />
:Cueball: See you later!<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] has previously made several comics with a similar theme, showing Cueball's (or his own) problems with several social situations / interactions / small talk, especially this comic [[222: Small Talk]]. There are several more examples in this list, (please feel free to add more here):<br />
*[[1324: Weather]]<br />
*[[1640: Super Bowl Context]]<br />
*[[1643: Degrees]]<br />
*[[1650: Baby]]<br />
*[[1917: How to Make Friends]]<br />
<br />
He made the last of those type of comics more than two yeas ago. It seems that Randall returned to his [[1960:_Code_Golf#Revitalizing_old_themes|old themes]] this month.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Social interactions]]</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1957:_2018_CVE_List&diff=1530441957: 2018 CVE List2018-02-24T19:03:45Z<p>108.162.216.226: /* Table of possible CVE */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1957<br />
| date = February 19, 2018<br />
| title = 2018 CVE List<br />
| image = 2018_cve_list.png<br />
| titletext = CVE-2018-?????: It turns out Bruce Schneier is just two mischevious kids in a trenchcoat.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
{{w|Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures|CVE}} (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) is a standardized format for assigning an identity to a cybersecurity vulnerability (similar to the way that astronomical bodies are assigned unique identifiers by committees). Giving vulnerabilities a unique identifier makes them easier to talk about and helps in keeping track of the progress made toward resolving them. The typical format of a CVE identifier is '''CVE-[YEAR]-[NUMBER]'''. For example, the CVE identifier for 2017's widespread {{w|Meltdown (security vulnerability)|Meltdown vulnerability}} is [https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2017-5754 CVE-2017-5754]. CVEs also contain a short description of the issue.<br />
<br />
In this comic (released in February 2018), Randall presents a number of spurious predicted CVEs for later in 2018. Each CVE identifier is given as "CVE-2018-?????", reflecting the fact that they have not yet happened so we don't know exactly what their CVE identifier will be.<br />
<br />
==Table of possible CVE==<br />
{|class="wikitable"<br />
! style="width: 30%;" | Security Vulnerability<br />
! style="width: 70%;" | Notes<br />
|-<br />
|Apple products crash when displaying certain {{w|Telugu language|Telugu}} or {{w|Bengali language|Bengali}} letter combinations.<br />
|This refers to a real vulnerability in iOS and MacOS publicized a few days before the comic was released,<ref>https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/15/iphone-text-bomb-ios-mac-crash-apple/</ref> as well as past similar iOS vulnerabilities<ref>https://thenextweb.com/apps/2017/01/18/iphone-ipad-apple-text-ios-bug/</ref><ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/01/18/apple-text-bomb-can-crash-iphones-single-message/</ref>.<br />
|-<br />
|An attacker can use a timing attack to extploit [''sic''] a race condition in {{w|Garbage collection (computer science)|garbage collection}} to extract a limited number of bits from the Wikipedia article on Claude Shannon.<br />
|The reference to using a Timing Attack to exploit a race condition in garbage collection refers to Meltdown and Spectre CPU flaws that can be exploited in a cloud server like the ones in Wikipedia. {{w|Claude Shannon}} was an early and highly influential information scientist whose work underlies compression, encryption, security, and the theory behind how information is encoded into binary digits - hence the pertinence of extracting just some of the bits from his Wikipedia entry. This is not really a security problem, since all the bits of the article are publicly available.<br />
|-<br />
|At the cafe on Third Street, the Post-it note with the WiFi password is visible from the sidewalk.<br />
|Cafés often offer free access to WiFi as a service to patrons, as a business strategy to encourage said patrons to remain in the building and buy more coffee. Some use a password, so that only patrons can use the WiFi, and may display the password on signage inside. Since anybody could go into the cafe to read the post-it, and then use the network from nearby, the ability to read it from outside is, at most, a trivial problem. For systems that are supposed to be secure, writing passwords in a visible place is a major security flaw. For instance, following the [[wikipedia:2018 Hawaii false missile alert|2018 Hawaii false missile alert]], the agency concerned received criticism for a press photo showing a password written on a sticky note attached to a monitor.<ref>http://uk.businessinsider.com/hawaii-emergency-agency-password-discovered-in-photo-sparks-security-criticism-2018-1?r=US&IR=T</ref> <br />
|-<br />
|A remote attacker can inject arbitrary text into public-facing pages via the comments box.<br />
|Describes a common feature on news sites or social media sites like Facebook. The possibility for users to "inject" text into the page is by design. This is a humorous reference to the relatively common security vulnerability "[[Wikipedia:Cross-site_scripting|persistent cross-site scripting]]", where input provided by a user, such as through a comment section, can result in dangerous content containing arbitrary HTML or Javascript code being displayed to other users. <br />
|-<br />
|MySQL server 5.5.45 secretly runs two parallel databases for people who say "S-Q-L" and "sequel."<br />
|Some people pronounce "{{w|SQL}}" like "sequel", after SQL's predecessor "SEQUEL (Structured English Query Language)". The standard for SQL suggests that it should be pronounced as separate letters; however, the author of SQL pronounces it "sequel", so the debate is persisting (with even more justification than arguments about how to pronounce "GIF"). MySQL is an open-source relational database management system. The latest generally available version (at the time of writing) is MySQL 5.7.<br />
|-<br />
|A flaw in some x86 CPUs could allow a root user to de-escalate to normal account privileges.<br />
|{{w|Privilege escalation}} refers to any illegitimate means by which a system user gains greater access than they are supposed to have, and most hackers will seek to achieve this if they can. The most highly-sought privilege is that of the root user, which allows complete access to an entire system.<br />
<br />
This CVE, however, presents the reverse situation: that a flaw can allow a root user to ''de-escalate'' to a less privileged user. This would have no obvious benefit, since anything the user could do in the new mode, they could have done before anyway. In any case, the root user can always de-escalate manually if they so choose, as they have complete control.<br />
|-<br />
|Apple products catch fire when displaying emoji with diacritics.<br />
|This is a reference to a common problem of modern gadgets catching fire (usually related to flaws in lithium-ion batteries), as well as to Apple products crashing when attempting to display certain character sequences. Diacritics are the accents found on letters in some languages (eg. č, ģ ķ, ļ, ņ, š, ž). These would not normally be found on emojis.<br />
|-<br />
|An oversight in the rules allows a dog to join a basketball team.<br />
|This probably refers to the movie {{w|Air Bud}}, about a dog playing basketball. This has been a common theme in xkcd comics: see [[115: Meerkat]], [[1439: Rack Unit]], [[1819: Sweet 16]], [[1552: Rulebook]].<br />
|-<br />
|Haskell isn't side-effect-free after all; the effects are all just concentrated in this one. computer [''sic''] in Missouri that no one's checked on in a while.<br />
|{{w|Haskell (programming language)|Haskell}} is a functional programming language. Functional programming is characterized by using functions that don't have side effects (can't change things which would be accessible in other parts of the program), as in [[1312: Haskell]]. The joke here is discovering that it does indeed have side-effects, but for some unknown (and highly absurd) reason they only manifest on a specific computer in a nondescript location, but no one has noticed.<br />
|-<br />
|Nobody really knows how hypervisors work.<br />
|[[wikipedia:Hypervisor|"Hypervisors"]] are a tool for computer virtualization. Virtualization is complex to implement, as it requires a computer to completely simulate another computer, with its own unique hardware and software. Many IT professionals and businesses rely heavily on various forms of virtualization, but most of the individual employees would be hard-pressed to explain how it works. Programs running on other virtual computers, or on the real computer, may be able to access information on a virtual computer in ways which would not be possible with a single real computer. Consequently, understanding how the hypervisor works is important to assessing the security of a virtual server. Meltdown and Spectre are related to this.<br />
|-<br />
|Critical: Under Linux 3.14.8 on System/390 in a UTC+14 time zone, a local user could potentially use a buffer overflow to change another user's default system clock from 12-hour to 24-hour.<br />
|This joke is about arcane systems that are running Linux in exceedingly rare situations, meaning that reproducing errors would be incredibly difficult or inconvenient, and would only affect a very tiny user base (if any at all). {{w|IBM System/390 ES/9000 Enterprise Systems Architecture ESA family|System/390}} is an IBM mainframe introduced almost 30 years before this comic, which has a version of Linux. UTC+14 is a time zone used only on some islands in the Pacific Ocean (Primarily [[Wikipedia:Line_Islands|the Line Islands]]) and is also the earliest time zone on earth. Even if all of these absurd conditions were met, the resulting vulnerability would still be relatively benign: simply changing a user's preferred clock display format. Other xkcd comics make references to such obscure computer-time issues relating to time zones and time conversions, and how many programmers find these issues frustrating or even traumatizing. <br />
|-<br />
|x86 has way too many instructions.<br />
|The x86 architecture (used in many Intel and AMD processors) is very complicated. Processors typically implement such a complex architecture using programs (microcode) run on a set of hidden, proprietary processors. The details of these hidden machines and errors in the microcode can result in security vulnerabilities, such as Meltdown, where the physical machine does not match the conceptual machine.<br />
<br />
A more complicated instruction set is more complex to implement.{{Citation needed}} The x86 architecture is considered "CISC" (a "{{w|Complex instruction set computer}}"), having many instructions originally provided to make programming by a human simpler; other examples include the 68000 series used in the first {{w|Apple Macintosh}}. In the 1980s, this design philosophy was countered by the "RISC" ("{{w|Reduced instruction set computer}}") design movement - based on the observation that computer programs were increasingly generated by compilers (which only used a few instructions) rather than directly by people, and that the chip area dedicated to extra instructions could be better dedicated to, for example, cache. Examples of RISC style designs include {{w|SPARC}}, {{w|MIPS}}, {{w|PowerPC}} (used by Apple in later Macintoshes) and the {{w|ARM architecture|ARM}} chips common in mobile phones. Historically, there was considerable discussion about the merits of each approach. At one time the Mac and Windows PC were on different sides; owners of other competing systems such as the Archimedes and Amiga had similar arguments on usenet in the early 1990s. This "issue" may be posted by someone who still recalls these debates. Technically, the extra instructions do slightly complicate the task of validating correct chip behaviour and complicate the tool chains that manage software, which could be seen as a minor security risk. However, the 64-bit architecture introduced by {{w|AMD}}, and since adopted by {{w|Intel}}, does rationalise things somewhat, and all recent x86 chips break down instructions into RISC-like micro-operations, so the complication from a hardware perspective is localised. Recent security issues, such as the speculative cache load issue in Meltdown and Spectre, depend more on details of implementation, rather than instruction set, and have been exhibited both by x86 (CISC) and ARM (RISC) processors.<br />
<br />
This explanation has way too many words.<br />
|-<br />
|NumPy 1.8.0 can factor primes in ''O''(log ''n'') time and must be quietly deprecated before anyone notices.<br />
|NumPy is the fundamental package for scientific computing with the programming language Python. ''O''(log ''n'') is [[wikipedia:Big_O_notation#Infinite_asymptotics|Big O notation]] meaning that the time it takes for a computer algorithm to run is in the order of log ''n'', for an input of size ''n''. ''O''(log ''n'') is very fast and is more usual for a search algorithm. Prime factorization currently is ''O''(''2''<sup>''n''</sup>n)). If something can find the prime factors of a number this quickly, especially a [[wikipedia:semiprime|semiprime]] with two large factors, it will enable attacks to break many crypto functions used in internet security. However, prime numbers have only a single factor, and "factoring primes" quickly is a simpler problem, that of [[wikipedia:Primality test|proving that a number is in fact a prime]]. <br />
|-<br />
|Apple products grant remote access if you send them words that break the "I before E" rule.<br />
|Another joke on the first CVE and [[wikipedia:I before E except after C|a common English writing rule of thumb]], which fails almost as often as it succeeds. Possibly a jab at Apple's image, portraying their software as unable to handle improper grammar or spelling.<br />
|-<br />
|Skylake x86 chips can be pried from their sockets using certain flathead screwdrivers.<br />
|Skylake x86 chips are a line of microprocessors made by Intel. Some processors are soldered directly to a system board or daughter board, while others are attached to boards that plug into the system board by means of a socket (pins or connectors that make physical contact with receptacles or connectors on a system board). Some sockets, especially older ones, require force to insert or remove, and often require the use of a flat blade screwdriver or a specialized tool, but most modern ones use ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) techniques, often involving a lever or similar to tighten or loosen the friction/tightness of the contacts. No screwdriver is needed in this case. However, any processor ''can'' be forcefully removed from its socket with a screwdriver.{{Citation needed}}<br />
|-<br />
|Apparently Linus Torvalds can be bribed pretty easily.<br />
|{{w|Linus Torvalds}} is the benevolent{{Citation needed}} dictator of the Linux kernel codebase. Normally it is hard to make changes because he has the last word, and because the kernel is replicated in all Linux installations. Linus made the news in January 2018 when, having looked at one of Intel's proposed fixes for the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, he declared "the patches are COMPLETE AND UTTER GARBAGE".<ref>https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/22/linus-torvalds-declares-intel-fix-for-meltdown-spectre-complete-and-utter-garbage/</ref> Presumably, it may be found that he may be successfully bribed to be less blunt and/or less critical of vulnerability fixes that are complete and/or utter garbage. If this were the case, this would be a severe critical vulnerability to all Linux servers and machines.<br />
|-<br />
|An attacker can execute malicious code on their own machine and no one can stop them.<br />
|The point of an attack is to make someone else's machine perform actions against the owner's will. Anyone can make their own machine execute any code if they have root access and the necessary tools, but this would usually not be described as an attack, except in the case of a locked-down appliance, such as a video game console, a John Deere tractor, or pay TV decoder.<br />
|-<br />
|Apple products execute any code printed over a photo of a dog with a saddle and a baby riding it.<br />
|This could refer to a CVE vulnerability of JPG files where JavaScript embedded within the image file is executed by some application. In this case, though, the code is visible on the image instead of invisibly encoded within the image file. The code is also only executed if the image contains a photo of a baby in a saddle riding a dog. It's unclear whether the photo would be a digital photo, a printed photo (i.e. as taken using a digital camera), or maybe both. This "bug" would not only require the device to figure out specifically what the photo contains image-wise (something that's REALLY HARD for computers to do reliably), but would also require OCR (optical character recognition) code to convert the text superimposed on the photo into executable code. In other words, it's hard to believe in 2018 that such a bug could exist. Maybe in the future when such things are more routine...? As an example, OCR used to be hard to do reliably, but now it's a lot more routine and built into a lot of devices.<br />
|-<br />
|Under rare circumstances, a flaw in some versions of Windows could allow Flash to be installed.<br />
|Flash has been an integral browser plugin for decades, but has fallen out of favor in the 2010s, and eventually discontinued because of its notoriously abysmal security record. All security experts advise against installing it. Preventing installation of Flash would make systems more secure, but most versions of Windows do not prevent Flash installation. The joke here relates to the difficulty of keeping Flash up to date, or even installed properly to begin with. A common user experience, which is the subject of numerous jokes and memes, is the constant nagging notification to install or update Flash in order for web pages to display properly. Many IT professionals will bemoan the trouble they have experienced in the workplace due to these notifications and problems related to them.<br />
|-<br />
|Turns out the cloud is just other people's computers.<br />
|This refers to a meme that demands that "cloud" be replaced with "other people's computers" in all marketing presentation to CEOs and non-computer literate persons evaluating the security impact of using cloud services. Part of the humor here is that "the cloud" is, in actuality, simply a term for hosted services, or in other words computers being run by other people (typically businesses that specialize in this type of "platform as a service" or "PAAS" service model). Referring to "the cloud" as "other people's computers" is, at its core, entirely accurate, though it takes away the business jargon and simplifies the situation in such a way that it might cast doubt on the security, reliability, and general effectiveness of using "cloud" solutions.<br />
|-<br />
|A flaw in Mitre's CVE database allows arbitrary code insertion.[[779|[~~CLICK HERE FOR CHEAP VIAGRA~~]]]<br />
|Mitre's CVE database is where all {{w|Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures|CVEs}} are stored. This log message forms the punchline of the comic, as it implies that all of the exaggerated error messages above might have been inserted by hackers exploiting the vulnerability. To pour salt in the wound, they then included in a typical spam link purporting to offer inexpensive {{w|Viagra|brand-name Sildenafil}}.<br />
|-<br />
|It turns out Bruce Schneier is just two mischevious kids in a trenchcoat.<br />
|Appears in the title text. {{w|Bruce Schneier}} is security researcher and blogger. The "two kids in a trenchcoat" is a reference to the {{tvtropes|TotemPoleTrench|Totem Pole Trench}} trope. Shortly before this comic was posted, a [https://rare.us/rare-humor/two-kids-dressed-as-a-tall-man-to-get-into-black-panther-is-caught-on-video story went viral] in which two kids were photographed attempting this for real to get into a screening of ''Black Panther''.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A heading is centered above a list of 21 vulnerabilities]<br />
:<big>Leaked list of major 2018 security vulnerabilities </big><br />
<br />
:CVE-2018-????? Apple products crash when displaying certain Telugu or Bengali letter combinations.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? An attacker can use a timing attack to extploit a race condition in garbage collection to extract a limited number of bits from the Wikipedia article on Claude Shannon.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? At the cafe on Third Street, the Post-it note with the WiFi password is visible from the sidewalk.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? A remote attacker can inject arbitrary text into public-facing pages via the comments box.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? MySQL server 5.5.45 secretly runs two parallel databases for people who say "S-Q-L" and "sequel."<br />
:CVE-2018-????? A flaw in some x86 CPUs could allow a root user to de-escalate to normal account privileges.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? Apple products catch fire when displaying emoji with diacritics.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? An oversight in the rules allows a dog to join a basketball team.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? Haskell isn't side-effect-free after all; the effects are all just concentrated in this one. computer in Missouri that no one's checked on in a while.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? Nobody really knows how hypervisors work.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? Critical: Under Linux 3.14.8 on System/390 in a UTC+14 time zone, a local user could potentially use a buffer overflow to change another user's default system clock from 12-hour to 24-hour.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? x86 has way too many instructions.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? NumPy 1.8.0 can factor primes in ''O''(log ''n'') time and must be quietly deprecated before anyone notices.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? Apple products grant remote access if you send them words that break the "I before E" rule.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? Skylake x86 chips can be pried from their sockets using certain flathead screwdrivers.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? Apparently Linus Torvalds can be bribed pretty easily.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? An attacker can execute malicious code on their own machine and no one can stop them.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? Apple products execute any code printed over a photo of a dog with a saddle and a baby riding it.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? Under rare circumstances, a flaw in some versions of Windows could allow Flash to be installed.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? Turns out the cloud is just other people's computers.<br />
:CVE-2018-????? A flaw in Mitre's CVE database allows arbitrary code insertion.<span style="color:blue">[~~Click here for cheap viagra~~]</span><br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
<br />
Randall has previously referenced diacritics in [[1647: Diacritics]].<br />
<br />
Bruce Schneier was previously mentioned in the title texts of [[748: Worst-Case Scenario]] and [[1039: RuBisCO]].<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1958:_Self-Driving_Issues&diff=1529541958: Self-Driving Issues2018-02-22T17:48:05Z<p>108.162.216.226: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1958<br />
| date = February 21, 2018<br />
| title = Self-Driving Issues<br />
| image = self_driving_issues.png<br />
| titletext = If most people turn into murderers all of a sudden, we'll need to push out a firmware update or something.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] explains being worried about {{w|autonomous car|self-driving cars}}, noting that it may be possible to fool the sensory systems of the vehicles. This is a common concern with {{w|AI|AIs}}; since they think analytically and have little to no capability for abstract thought, they can be fooled by things a human would immediately realize is deceptive.<br />
<br />
However, Cueball quickly assumes that his argument actually doesn't hold up when comparing AI drivers to human drivers, as both rely on the same guidance framework. Human drivers follow signs and road markings, and must obey the laws of the road just as an AI must. Therefore, an attack on the road infrastructure could impact both AIs and humans. However, humans and AIs are not equally vulnerable. For example, a fake sign or a fake child could appear to a human as an obvious fake but fool an AI. A creative attacker could put up a sign with CAPTCHA-like text that would be readable by humans but not by an AI.<br />
<br />
Cueball further wonders why, in this case, nobody tries to fool human drivers as they might try to fool an AI, but [[White Hat]] and [[Megan]] point out the obvious sociological answer; that most {{w|Road traffic safety|road safety systems}} benefit from humans not actively trying to maliciously sabotage them simply to cause accidents. <br />
<br />
The title text continues the line of reasoning, noting that if most people did suddenly become murderers, the AI might be needed to be upgraded in order to deal with the presumable increase in people trying to cause car crashes by fooling the AI - a somewhat narrowly-focused solution given that a world full of murderers would probably have many more problems than that. As Megan sees humans as a 'component' of the road safety system, it might also be suggesting a firmware update for the buggy people who have all become murderers, one that would fix their murderous ways. We are not currently at a point where we can create and apply instantaneous firmware updates for large populations; even combining all the behavioral modification tools at our disposal -- {{w|psychiatry}}, {{w|cognitive behavioral therapy}}, {{w|hypnosis}}, {{w|mind-altering drugs}}, {{w|prison}}, {{w|CRISPR}}, etc. -- is not enough to perform such a massive undertaking.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is speaking while standing alone in a slim panel.]<br />
:Cueball: I worry about self-driving car safety features.<br />
<br />
:[In a frame-less panel it turns out that Cueball is standing between White Hat and Megan, holding his arms out towards each of them, while he continues to speak.]<br />
:Cueball: What's to stop someone from painting fake lines on the road, or dropping a cutout of a pedestrian onto a highway, to make cars swerve and crash? <br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on Cueball's head as he continues to contemplate the situation holding a hand to his chin, while looking in White Hat's direction. Megan replies from off-panel behind him.]<br />
:Cueball: Except... those things would also work on human drivers. What's stopping people '''''now? '''''<br />
:Megan (off-panel): Yeah, causing car crashes isn't hard.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom back out to show all three of them again.]<br />
:White Hat: I guess it's just that most people aren't murderers?<br />
:Cueball: Oh, right. I always forget.<br />
:Megan: An underappreciated component of our road safety system.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
The [[title text]] was published with a typo: "murderers" was misspelled as "muderers."<br />
<br />
The theme of human fear and overreaction to the advent of more or less autonomous robots also features in [[1955: Robots]].<br />
<br />
Self-driving cars is a [[:Category:Self-driving cars|recurring subject]] on xkcd.<br />
<br />
A variation on the idea that humans are mentally "buggy" is suggested in [[258: Conspiracy Theories]], though in that case divine intervention is requested to implement the "firmware upgrade".<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Self-driving cars]]</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1957:_2018_CVE_List&diff=1528041957: 2018 CVE List2018-02-20T00:02:28Z<p>108.162.216.226: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1957<br />
| date = February 19, 2018<br />
| title = 2018 CVE List<br />
| image = 2018_cve_list.png<br />
| titletext = CVE-2018-?????: It turns out Bruce Schneier is just two mischevious kids in a trenchcoat.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by HACKING THIS WIKI VIA THE EDIT BOX - The explanation looks like a list. Explain the comic and put the security vulnerabilities in a table. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
{{w|Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures|CVE}} (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) is a standardized format for assigning an identity to a cybersecurity vulnerability (similar to the way that astronomical bodies are assigned unique identifiers by committees). Giving vulnerabilities a unique identifier makes them easier to talk about and helps in keeping track of the progress made toward resolving them. The typical format of a CVE identifier is '''CVE-[YEAR]-[NUMBER]'''. For example, the CVE identifier for 2017's widespread {{w|Meltdown (security vulnerability|Meltdown vulnerability}} is [https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2017-5754 CVE-2017-5754]. CVEs also contain a short description of the issue.<br />
<br />
In this comic (released in February 2018), Randall presents a number of spurious predicted CVEs for later in 2018. Each CVE identifier is given as "CVE-2018-?????", reflecting the fact that they have not yet happened so we don't know exactly what their CVE identifier will be.<br />
<br />
{|class="wikitable"<br />
! style="width: 30%;" | Security Vulnerability<br />
! style="width: 70%;" | Notes<br />
|-<br />
|Apple products crash when displaying certain Telugu or Bengali letter combinations.<br />
|This refers to a real vulnerability in iOS and MacOS publicized a few days before the comic released <ref>https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/15/iphone-text-bomb-ios-mac-crash-apple/</ref>, as well as past similar iOS vulnerabilities<ref>https://thenextweb.com/apps/2017/01/18/iphone-ipad-apple-text-ios-bug/</ref><ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/01/18/apple-text-bomb-can-crash-iphones-single-message/</ref>.<br />
|-<br />
|An attacker can use a timing attack to extploit [''sic''] a race condition in garbage collection to extract a limited number of bits from the Wikipedia article on Claude Shannon.<br />
|Timing Attack to exploit a race condition in garbage collection refers to Meltdown and Spectre CPU flaws that can be exploited in cloud server like the ones in Wikipedia. {{w|Claude Shannon}} was an early and highly influential information scientist whose work underlies compression, encryption, security, and the theory behind how information is encoded into binary digits - hence the pertinence of extracting just some of the bits from his Wikipedia entry.<br />
|-<br />
|At the cafe [''sic''] on Third Street, the Post-it note with the WiFi password is visible from the sidewalk.<br />
|Generally speaking, writing passwords in a visible place is a major security flaw. For instance, following the [[wikipedia:2018 Hawaii false missile alert|2018 Hawaii false missile alert]] the agency received criticism for a press photo showing a password written on a sticky note attached to a monitor.<ref>http://uk.businessinsider.com/hawaii-emergency-agency-password-discovered-in-photo-sparks-security-criticism-2018-1?r=US&IR=T</ref> That said, if a WiFi network is meant to be used publicly in the first place, making the password public is a courtesy, not a security flaw. Cafés in particular will usually offer free WiFi service to patrons, as a business strategy to encourage said patrons to remain in the building and buy more coffee. Such WiFi networks also have limited range, and at worst can only be accessed a stone's throw away from the place of business, making it difficult for people to leech off the WiFi without patronizing the establishment and avoid being caught.<br />
|-<br />
|A remote attacker can inject arbitrary text into public-facing pages via the comments box.<br />
|Describes a common feature on news sites or social media sites like Facebook. The possibility for users to "inject" text into the page is by design. This is a humorous reference to the relatively common security vulnerability "[[Wikipedia:Cross-site_scripting|persistent cross-site scripting]]", where input provided by the user is displayed to other users in a dangerous fashion that allows attackers to inject arbitrary HTML or Javascript code into e.g. a comment section. It might also be a humorous reference to the events before, during and after the 2016 US Presidential elections where Internet Research Agency employees based remotely in St. Petersburg, Russia, but disguised as US citizens, "injected" arbitrary text in the form of political propaganda into comments on multiple web sites, according to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury on February 16, 2018.<br />
|-<br />
|MySQL server 5.5.45 secretly runs two parallel databases for people who say "S-Q-L" and "sequel."<br />
|Some people pronounce "{{w|SQL}}" like "sequel", after SQL's predecessor "SEQUEL (Structured English Query Language)". The standard for SQL suggests that it should be pronounced as separate letters; however, the author of SQL pronounces it "sequel", so the debate is persisting (with even more justification than arguments about how to pronounce "GIF"). MySQL is an open-source relational database management system, the latest GA version (at the time of writing) is MySQL 5.7.<br />
|-<br />
|A flaw in some x86 CPUs could allow a root user to de-escalate to normal account privileges.<br />
|{{w|Privilege escalation}} refers to any illegitimate means of giving a system user greater privilege than they are supposed to have, and most hackers will seek to achieve this if they can. The most highly-sought privilege is that of the root user, which allows complete access to an entire system.<br />
<br />
This CVE, however, presents the reverse situation; that a flaw can allow a root user to ''de-escalate'', the exact opposite of what a hacker would want to achieve.{{Citation needed}} (In any case, the root user can always de-escalate manually if they so choose, as they have complete control).<br />
|-<br />
|Apple products catch fire when displaying emoji with diacritics.<br />
|Diacritics are the accents found on letters in some languages (eg. č, ģ ķ, ļ, ņ, š, ž). These would not be found on emojis. It is also a reference to a common problem of modern gadgets catching fire (usually related to flaws in Lithium-Ion batteries).<br />
|-<br />
|An oversight in the rules allows a dog to join a basketball team.<br />
|This likely refers to the movie {{w|Air Bud}}. It is a movie about a dog playing basketball. This has been a common theme in xkcd comics, see [[115: Meerkat]], [[1439: Rack Unit]], [[1819: Sweet 16]], [[1552: Rulebook]]<br />
|-<br />
|Haskell isn't side-effect-free after all; the effects are all just concentrated in this one. computer [''sic''] in Missouri that no one's checked on in a while.<br />
|{{w|Haskell}} is a functional programming language, functional programming is characterized by using functions that don't have side effects in other parts of the program, as in [[1312: Haskell]]. The joke here is discovering that indeed it does have side-effects, but for some unknown (and highly absurd) reason they only manifest on a specific computer in a nondescript location, but no one has noticed.<br />
|-<br />
|Nobody really knows how hypervisors work.<br />
|[[wikipedia:Hypervisor|"Hypervisors"]] are a tool for computer virtualization. Virtualization is an extremely complex topic, as it requires a computer to completely emulate a different computer with its own unique hardware and software. Many IT professionals and businesses rely heavily on various forms of virtualization, but the individual employees would be hard-pressed to explain how it works. Meltdown and Specter are related to this.<br />
|-<br />
|Critical: Under Linux 3.14.8 on System/390 in a UTC+14 time zone, a local user could potentially use a buffer overflow to change another user's default system clock from 12-hour to 24-hour.<br />
|This joke is about arcane systems that are running Linux in exceedingly unique situations, such that reproducing the error would be incredibly difficult or inconvenient, and would only affect a very tiny user base (if any at all). Other xkcd comics make references to such obscure computer-time issues relating to time zones and time conversions, and how many programmers find these issues frustrating or even traumatizing. UTC+14 is a time zone used only on some islands in the Pacific Ocean, i.e., [[Wikipedia:Line_Islands|the Line Islands]], and is also the earliest time zone on earth. The joke continues by stating that even if all of these absurd conditions were met, the resulting vulnerability would still be relatively benign: simply changing a user's preferred clock display format.<br />
|-<br />
|x86 has way too many instructions.<br />
|The x86 architecture is considered "CISC" (a "complex instruction set computer"), having many instructions originally provided to make programming by a human simpler; other examples include the 68000 series used in the first Apple Mac. In the 1980s, this design philosophy was countered by the "RISC" ("reduced instruction set computer") design movement exemplified by SPARC, MIPS, PowerPC (previously used by Apple) and the ARM chips common in mobile phones - based on the observation that computer programs were increasingly generated by compilers (which only used a few instructions) rather than directly by people, and that the chip area dedicated to extra instructions could be better dedicated to, for example, cache. At the time, there was an internet war about the merits of each approach (with the Mac and PC being on different sides, at one time; owners of other competing systems such as the Archimedes and Amiga had similar arguments on usenet in the early 1990s); this "issue" may be posted by someone who still recalls these debates. Technically, the extra instructions do slightly complicate the task of validating correct chip behaviour and complicate the tool chains that manage software, which could be seen as a minor security risk; however, the 64-bit architecture introduced by AMD and since adopted by Intel does rationalise things somewhat, and all recent x86 chips break down instructions into RISC-like micro-operations, so the complication from a hardware perspective is localised. Recent security issues such as the speculative cache load issue in Meltdown and Spectre depend more on details of implementation rather than instruction set, and have been exhibited both by x86 (CISC) and ARM (RISC) processors.<br />
|-<br />
|NumPy 1.8.0 can factor primes in ''O''(log ''n'') time and must be quietly deprecated before anyone notices.<br />
|NumPy is the fundamental package for scientific computing with Python. If something can find the prime factors of a number this quickly, especially a [[wikipedia:semiprime|semiprime]] with two large factors, there are attacks to break many crypto functions used in internet security. However, prime numbers have only a single factor, and "factoring primes" quickly is a simpler problem, that of [[wikipedia:Primality test|proving that a number is in fact a prime]]. <br />
|-<br />
|Apple products grant remote access if you send them words that break the "I before E" rule.<br />
|Another joke on the first CVE and a common English writing rule of thumb, which fails almost as often as it succeeds. Possibly a jab at Apple's image, portraying their software as unable to handle improper grammar or spelling.<br />
|-<br />
|Skylake x86 chips can be pried from their sockets using certain flathead screwdrivers.<br />
|Skylake x86 chips are a line of microprocessors made by Intel. Some processors are soldered directly to a system board or daughter board, while others are attached to boards that plug into the system board by means of a socket (pins or connectors that make physical contact with receptacles or connectors on a system board). Some sockets, especially older ones, require force to insert or remove and often require the use of a flat blade screwdriver or a specialized tool to remove, but most modern ones use ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) techniques, often involving a lever or similar to tighten or loosen the friction/tightness of the contacts. No screwdriver is needed in this case. Yes, you can forcefully remove any processor from its socket with a screwdriver.{{Citation needed}} There are many reports from people not using common sense. <br />
|-<br />
|Apparently Linus Torvalds can be bribed pretty easily.<br />
|{{w|Linus Torvalds}} is the benevolent dictator of the Linux kernel codebase. Normally it is hard to pass a change because he has the last word about what merge to the code base because that code is replicated in all Linux installations. Linus made the news in January 2018 when, having looked at one of Intel's proposed fixes for the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, he declared "the patches are COMPLETE AND UTTER GARBAGE"<ref>https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/22/linus-torvalds-declares-intel-fix-for-meltdown-spectre-complete-and-utter-garbage/</ref>. Presumably in the future they will successfully bribe him to be less blunt and/or less critical of vulnerability fixes that are complete and/or utter garbage. If this were the case, this would be a severe critical vulnerability to all Linux servers and machines.<br />
|-<br />
|An attacker can execute malicious code on their own machine and no one can stop them.<br />
|The point of an attack is to make someone else's machine perform actions against the owner's will. Anyone can make their own machine execute any code{{Citation needed}}, but this would usually not be described as an attack except in the case of a locked-down appliance, such as a video game console or pay TV decoder.<br />
|-<br />
|Apple products execute any code printed over a photo of a dog with a saddle and a baby riding it.<br />
|This could refer to a CVE vulnerability of JPG files where javascript embedded within the image file is executed by some application, only this time the code is visible on the image instead of invisibly encoded within the image file, however such code is only executed if the image contains a photo of a baby in a saddle riding a dog. It's unclear whether the photo would be a digital photo, a printed photo (i.e. as taken using the digital camera), or maybe both. This "bug" would not only require the device to figure out specifically what the photo contains image-wise, something that's REALLY HARD for computers to do reliably, it would also require OCR (Optical Character Recognition) type code to convert the text superimposed on the photo into executable code. In other words, it's hard to believe in 2018 that such a bug could exist. Maybe in the future when such things are more routine...? As an example, OCR used to be hard to do reliably and now it's a lot more routine and built into a lot of devices.<br />
|-<br />
|Under rare circumstances, a flaw in some versions of Windows could allow Flash to be installed.<br />
|Flash was discontinued because of its notoriously abysmal security record. All security experts advise against install. The joke here relates to the perceived difficulty with keeping Flash up to date or even installed properly to begin with. A common user experience which is the subject of numerous jokes and memes is the constant nagging notification to install or update Flash in order for web pages to display properly. While anecdotal, many IT professionals will bemoan the trouble that Flash has given them in the workplace due to these notifications and problems related to them.<br />
|-<br />
|Turns out the cloud is just other people's computers.<br />
|This refers to a computer meme where replace "cloud" with "other people's computers" must be used in all marketing presentation to CEOs and not computer literate persons to evaluate the security impact of using "Cloud services". Part of the humor here is that "the cloud", in actuality, is simply a term for hosted services, i.e., computers being run by other people (typically businesses that specialize in this type of "Platform As A Service" or "PAAS" service model). Calling "the cloud" as "other people's computers" is, at its core, entirely accurate, though it takes away the business jargon and simplifies the situation in such a way that it might cast doubt on the security, reliability, and general effectiveness of using "cloud" solutions.<br />
|-<br />
|A flaw in Mitre's CVE database allows arbitrary code insertion.[[779|[~~CLICK HERE FOR CHEAP VIAGRA~~]]]<br />
|Mitre's CVE database is the database where all CVE are stored. This log message forms the punchline of the comic, as it implies that all of the exaggerated error messages above were inserted by hackers exploiting the vulnerability. To pour salt in the wound, they then included in a typical spam link purporting to offer cheap viagra.<br />
|-<br />
|It turns out Bruce Schneier is just two mischevious kids in a trenchcoat.<br />
|Appears in the title text. {{w|Bruce Schneier}} is security researcher and blogger. He was mentioned in the title texts of [[748: Worst-Case Scenario]] and [[1039: RuBisCO]]. The "two kids in a trenchcoat" is a reference to the {{tvtropes|TotemPoleTrench|Totem Pole Trench}} trope.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
LEAKED LIST OF MAJOR 2018 SECURITY VULNERABILITIES<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? Apple products crash when displaying certain Telugu or Bengali letter combinations.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? An attacker can use a timing attack to extploit a race condition in garbage collection to extract a limited number of bits from the Wikipedia article on Claude Shannon.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? At the cafe on Third Street, the Post-it note with the WiFi password is visible from the sidewalk.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? A remote attacker can inject arbitrary text into public-facing pages via the comments box.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? MySQL server 5.5.45 secretly runs two parallel databases for people who say "S-Q-L" and "sequel."<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? A flaw in some x86 CPUs could allow a root user to de-escalate to normal account privileges.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? Apple products catch fire when displaying emoji with diacritics.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? An oversight in the rules allows a dog to join a basketball team.<br />
<br />
CUE-2018-????? Haskell isn't side-effect-free after all; the effects are all just concentrated in this one. computer in Missouri that no one's checked on in a while.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? Nobody really knows how hypervisors work.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? Critical: Under Linux 3.14.8 on System/390 in a UTC+14 time zone, a local user could potentially use a buffer overflow to change another user's default system clock from 12-hour to 24-hour.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? x86 has way too many instructions.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? NumPy 1.8.0 can factor primes in ''O''(log ''n'') time and must be quietly deprecated before anyone notices.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? Apple products grant remote access if you send them words that break the "I before E" rule.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? Skylake x86 chips can be pried from their sockets using certain flathead screwdrivers.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? Apparently Linus Torvalds can be bribed pretty easily.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? An attacker can execute malicious code on their own machine and no one can stop them.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? Apple products execute any code printed over a photo of a dog with a saddle and a baby riding it.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? Under rare circumstances, a flaw in some versions of Windows could allow Flash to be installed.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? Turns out the cloud is just other people's computers.<br />
<br />
CVE-2018-????? A flaw in Mitre's CVE database allows arbitrary code insertion.<span style="color:blue">[~~CLICK HERE FOR CHEAP VIAGRA~~]</span><br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1954:_Impostor_Syndrome&diff=1523181954: Impostor Syndrome2018-02-12T15:55:40Z<p>108.162.216.226: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1954<br />
| date = February 12, 2018<br />
| title = Impostor Syndrome<br />
| image = impostor_syndrome.png<br />
| titletext = It's actually worst in people who study the Dunning–Kruger effect. We tried to organize a conference on it, but the only people who would agree to give the keynote were random undergrads.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Impostor_syndrome|Impostor syndrome}} is a common psychological phenomenon where successful individuals are unable to internalize their success and fear being exposed as a "fraud" or "impostor." Events and accomplishments that would seem to be evidence of competence, skill, intelligence, and so forth, are instead viewed (by the person) as luck, timing, and the ability to appear more confident/competent than they actually are.<br />
<br />
Dr. Adams is introduced by Megan as "the world's top expert in ..." Dr. Adams herself almost certainly recognizes that a large part of her success is due to the opportunities she had (for example, she probably had good mentoring as a graduate student and as a postdoc), plus some luck and good timing (perhaps she wrote a paper that received much more impact than she feels it merited). She has also met other experts in her field and knows (from the outside) how intelligent, hard-working, and brilliantly creative they are. She begins to tell Megan and Cueball about how much better they are than she is, then suddenly realizes that she is (from the outside) every bit as intelligent, hard-working, and brilliantly creative. She is realizing that she herself is experiencing impostor syndrome.<br />
<br />
The {{w|Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect|Dunning–Kruger effect}} is a cognitive bias where people who are less intellectually capable are more likely to inflate their level of expertise in a given subject, while those that actually are highly intelligent (and especially experts on the topic at hand) are likely to downplay their level of expertise. The cognitive bias is caused by the fact that people of low metacognitive ability lack the intellectual tools to validly assess their competence. While this effect primarily refers to cognitive ability, it is also sometimes used to refer to people who are competent in one area (and thus not lacking metacognitive skills) believing that their abilities grant them unusually-high aptitude in another area.<br />
<br />
In practice, more expertise still largely correlates to a higher confidence in one's expertise—that is to say that competence remains positively correlated with the perception of competence—but the lack of the appropriate cognitive skills means that perception starts at a higher level and increases at a slower rate. However, in popular usage, the Dunning–Kruger effect is used to claim that a negative correlation exists, and that non-experts will claim expertise and confidence at a higher overall level than actual experts.<br />
<br />
In the title text, a conference for the Dunning–Kruger effect was having trouble, presumably because the actual researchers were downplaying their knowledge and expertise to the point where they refused to be the keynote speaker, while the random undergrads, who lack experience in the topic, feel sufficiently confident in their knowledge of it to give the keynote. This more closely matches both the secondary usage (as undergrads are unlikely to lack metacognitive skills, but may inflate their understanding) and the popular usage (as the confidence is inverse to the actual competence) than the primary and in-practice observance made in the original research.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is addressed by Megan and another woman.]<br />
:Megan: This is Dr. Adams. She's a social psychologist and the world's top expert on imposter syndrome.<br />
:Dr. Adams: Haha, don't be silly! There are lots of scholars who have made more significant…<br />
:Dr. Adams: … Oh my God.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:745:_Dyslexics&diff=146265Talk:745: Dyslexics2017-10-04T18:10:56Z<p>108.162.216.226: </p>
<hr />
<div>Can someone explain this sentence: "I kept doing 'doing 'doing it wrong' wrong' wrong."? Other than the 3 nested quotes, I don't get the point. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 16:10, 3 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
He's expanding the "it" in "doing it wrong." The joke of the comic itself is that the dyslexics are having difficulty making a mistake--they're doing "doing it wrong" wrong. In the title-text, Randall reveals he was having difficulty doing that wrong--he was doing "doing "doing it wrong" wrong" wrong. --[[User:Hatkirby|Hatkirby]] ([[User talk:Hatkirby|talk]]) 07:17, 4 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It's a nested statement. Perhaps made clearer with parenthesis. He's {doing [doing (doing it wrong) wrong] wrong}. In other words. He's incorrectly executing the incorrect execution of "doing it wrong" [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.112|199.27.128.112]] 03:27, 2 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<p>A := "doing it wrong"<br/><br />
This is referring to the mispelling of 'unite' as 'untie' by the dyslexic designer of the T-shirt.</p><br />
<p>B := "doing A wrong" == "doing 'doing it wrong' wrong"<br/><br />
This refers to Randall's purposefully mispelling 'untie' as 'unite' to parody the The Far Side comic (which spelled 'unite' as 'untie').</p><br />
<p>C := "doing C wrong" == "doing 'doing 'doing it wrong' wrong' wrong"<br/><br />
This refers to Randall getting confused and writing out 'untie' instead of 'unite'. He is messing up his parody of the The Far Side joke.</p><br />
Steven Chartis [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.124|108.162.237.124]] 22:48, 26 December 2014 (UTC)<br />
:I think you meant to say "doing B wrong" at the end instead of C. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.232|108.162.210.232]] 18:41, 9 May 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"an invresion" is likely a typo but it's on-topic so I'm totally leaving it there [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.133|188.114.97.133]] 00:54, 22 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I actually saw "untie" on first glance... that sukcs... [[User:Flewk|flewk]] ([[User talk:Flewk|talk]]) 10:09, 9 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
: Same here, it took me a few times to get it straight. [[User:Dontknow|Dontknow]] ([[User talk:Dontknow|talk]]) 05:09, 7 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Once when Thelonius Monk wanted a retake during a recording session of one of his compositions he explained, "I played the wrong wrong notes."</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1789:_Phone_Numbers&diff=134099Talk:1789: Phone Numbers2017-01-23T22:14:12Z<p>108.162.216.226: </p>
<hr />
<div>Shouldn't this explanation mention the reason for this comic? Google updating Google Voice for the first time in 5 years? [https://blog.google/products/google-voice/ringing-2017-updates-our-google-voice-apps/] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.226|108.162.216.226]] 22:14, 23 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I've definitely seen this comic before. Deja vu? [[User:OfftheRails|OfftheRails]] ([[User talk:OfftheRails|talk]]) 20:56, 23 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
[http://www.xkcd.com/1254 #1254] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.219|162.158.74.219]] 21:44, 23 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
“Also White Hat never actually answers the question originally posed by Cueball.” – AFAIS he should use the #2 (the Google voice one). --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 20:58, 23 January 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.226https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1773:_Negativity&diff=132638Talk:1773: Negativity2016-12-19T02:38:23Z<p>108.162.216.226: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
<br />
Any chance that 'the pain and negativity of the internet' is a reference to [http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-talk-4 this recent SMBC comic] where SMBC's artist Zach challenges Randall to 'out-nerd him now' (seen when you click the red button just below the comic).<br />
I've been wondering whether the first XKCD after that (that is: today's XKCD comic) would refer to it.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.173|141.101.104.173]] 14:55, 16 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
: I kinda doubt it. SMBC wasn't being "negative" or objectionable - if anything it was a challenge - and even a kind of complement. An adequate response to that kind of a challenge might take longer than a few days to prepare. If we're going to see anything in response, I suspect it'll be more obvious. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 14:02, 17 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
:: We better be seeing a string theory joke sometime in the next week... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.226|108.162.216.226]] 02:38, 19 December 2016 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.226