https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=108.162.245.58&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T08:35:26ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2503:_Memo_Spike_Connector&diff=3169382503: Memo Spike Connector2023-07-04T16:30:49Z<p>108.162.245.58: Replaced content with "Hey,explainxkcd.com Admin As a small business owner, “be a graphic design expert” probably wasn’t what you signed up for. AdCreative.ai takes this process off your..."</p>
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Do we need a reason to do things other than the fact it is freaking awesome? [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 17:42, 14 November 2018 (UTC)<br />
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Ok, I'll setup the google alert: https://www.google.com/alerts/feeds/03781144062642195102/9931051611942254792 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.58|108.162.245.58]] 18:17, 14 November 2018 (UTC)</div>108.162.245.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2072:_Evaluating_Tech_Things&diff=165920Talk:2072: Evaluating Tech Things2018-11-14T18:17:11Z<p>108.162.245.58: </p>
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Do we need a reason to do things other than the fact it is freaking awesome? [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 17:42, 14 November 2018 (UTC)<br />
Ok, I'll setup the google alert: https://www.google.com/alerts/feeds/03781144062642195102/9931051611942254792 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.58|108.162.245.58]] 18:17, 14 November 2018 (UTC)</div>108.162.245.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2066:_Ballot_Selfies&diff=165069Talk:2066: Ballot Selfies2018-11-01T01:40:58Z<p>108.162.245.58: </p>
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What harm do laws banning ballot selfies do? [[User:Ryanker|Ryanker]] ([[User talk:Ryanker|talk]]) 15:51, 31 October 2018 (UTC)ryanker<br />
: You're coming at it from exactly the wrong direction. What harm does taking a ballot selfie do? {{unsigned ip|40.57.163.322}}<br />
: I'm thinking the flavor text is talking as if from the point of view of someone who has grown used to sharing photos of themselves with others, to communicate, encourage, feel connected. Depicting their own behavior so directly might even seem a valid way to sway someone's opinion to such a person. I guess when thinking about it, it would support democracy better to share the act of voting rather than the actual vote made. Curious regarding other opinions. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.83|162.158.91.83]] 16:09, 31 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
:: yes, fully agree with this. Just take all the selfies you want on the way there, in front of the place where you vote, on the way back. Just not during that one minute you spend inside the booth, and not showing your actual ballot. If you absolutely want to disclose what you actually voted for, you can still do so by writing a caption. It's that simple, and probably legal in most places around the world.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.140|141.101.77.140]] 16:22, 31 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
: Thought of another reason: if the government were to hack or misrepresent the vote, the people could use proof of voting to prove the fraud. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.136|172.68.50.136]] 16:12, 31 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
:: If a government can hack your vote, couldn't they hack your phone? ;-) [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 16:28, 31 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
::: But you could just print out the photo, and it becomes physical, unhackable proof. {{unsigned ip|162.158.79.101}}<br />
::: Additionally, to fake your vote, all they need to do is lie. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.27|162.158.93.27]] 00:55, 1 November 2018 (UTC)<br />
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In the United kingdom it is illegal to take a phtograph of the ballot paper even if no vote is recorded - as such an image could reveal the mark used to authenticate the ballot paper. <br />
Until recently this was a pattern of holed stamped into the paper as it is issued, though now printed bar codes are used. Theoretically if you know the mark, you could then stuff a ballot box. Although if the number of papers does not match that recorded by the returning clerk then the entire box would be declared invalid and the election rerun. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 16:45, 31 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
: I think you're saying that in states where vote selfies are legal, somebody might be able to use such a selfie to produce counterfeit ballots, and submit them. Also that the ballots are counted and a vote is rerun whenever the count is wrong, to additionally deter this. It's hard to believe that count is always correct for such huge numbers of physical objects each handled by a human being: does this rerun happen commonly? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.27|162.158.93.27]] 00:55, 1 November 2018 (UTC)<br />
:: Why would someone need to look at someone else's selfie to produce counterfeit ballots? Seems like a very round about way when it's easy enough to get an actual ballot yourself. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.58|108.162.245.58]] 01:40, 1 November 2018 (UTC)</div>108.162.245.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1920:_Emoji_Sports&diff=148411Talk:1920: Emoji Sports2017-11-27T18:50:39Z<p>108.162.245.58: </p>
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It seems like in addition to the destructive sports thing, he's also playing on the emojis made from other emojis in multi character Unicode, but as it's 3 in the morning and I can't even remember what things are called I'm not gonna even try to edit right now. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.33|162.158.62.33]] 07:50, 24 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Hey! An early published comic! 3AM Me And Randall time Thursday night right now. Fun since I only read on Monday and Thursday nights. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 08:14, 24 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Actually candle eating isn't so far out there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXg3l_Lnmdo<br />
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It seems like the joke in the title is about the fact that a horse winning a HorseHole race wouldn't actually be able to compete anymore (dead or hurt). Which would explain why no horse ever won the 4 different races. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.40|162.158.150.40]] 09:58, 24 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
:The horse can easily do the HorseHole last. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:49, 25 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Re. " the mailbox seems to be missing mail" - If there was mail in there, there wouldn't be room to stuff the owl in.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.239|141.101.104.239]] 11:22, 24 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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What a dumb idea for a comic. It's kinda like comedy central when they run out of ideas, they run South Park day and night, or TruTV running Impractical Jokers episodes because they ran out of other remotely funny stuff. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.113|172.68.58.113]] 11:52, 24 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
: What a dumb idea for a comment. It's kinda like a kid in the playground who doesn't have the imagination to join in with the other kids' games, so decides to just try to spoil them instead.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.239|141.101.104.239]] 09:24, 27 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Is it worth mentioning that a version of Alligator Jumping appears in the Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album? As befits MP, the sport involves running at a crocodile, then diving into its mouth. There is controversy in the sport regarding whether or not to coat yourself with a marinade. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.85|162.158.111.85]] 12:28, 24 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
: Alligator jumping sort of reminds me of the old [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitfall! Pitfall] series of games. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 15:33, 24 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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I vaguely remember that "Consequence XXXXX" is a thing; finding a reference for that would be helpful. Also, any way to increase the size of the emojis? They're pretty hard to read at the usual font size. -- [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.145|173.245.52.145]] 15:15, 24 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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I don't think the ball in Fancyball is supposed to be giant; they are just emoji and I don't think they're representative of the sizes of the participants/objects in the game. After all, I don't think there is a man the size of a volcano... Also, water-skiing is a sport - is the person jumping over the alligator necessarily confined to snow? Although the person in the emoji does have ski poles so perhaps that is the case. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.76|162.158.34.76]] 15:31, 24 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Multiplayer 🥑 Might be a reference to polygamy, as there is an app called avocado that is supposed to be a safe app for couples to share within.<br />
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I wonder if it might be possible to have a fallback for Emoji that aren't as well supported. I note a few that don't work on my Firefox version. I also wonder how useful the transcripts are with the emoji: do screen readers properly handle them? [[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 22:12, 25 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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:I have all on palemoon, which makes me thinking it's not related to browsers, just what font you have installed. Try [https://github.com/eosrei/twemoji-color-font/releases twemoji]. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:49, 25 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Originally though that the consequence archery is supposed to be about shooting down satellites from orbit while standing on earth, but that would be very hard to do with conventional bow (or, frankly, anything else except rocket). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:49, 25 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Regarding the Tinkerball, it can be dangerous for players too, especially if the Fae notices what they plan to do before is too beaten to cast spells. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:49, 25 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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couldn't disagree more with this explanation [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.157|173.245.52.157]] 01:37, 27 November 2017 (UTC)...<br />
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How so? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.6|172.68.47.6]] 06:34, 27 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Can we not hedge our bets with "rarity" of mermaids? I'm pretty sure that everyone on this site can agree that mermaids do not exist. Really. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.177|162.158.74.177]] 14:50, 27 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Eggs most certainly are found in nature, in bird's (or reptile's) nests.</div>108.162.245.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1882:_Color_Models&diff=1446971882: Color Models2017-08-28T20:42:40Z<p>108.162.245.58: Used "and" instead of "as". Corrected.</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1882<br />
| date = August 28, 2017<br />
| title = Color Models<br />
| image = color_models.png<br />
| titletext = What if what *I* see as blue, *you* see as a slightly different blue because you're using Chrome instead of Firefox and despite a decade of messing with profiles we STILL can't get this right somehow.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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Randall is describing how his level of understanding of colors has changed by age. The chart starts with two tracks of understanding color.<br />
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In grade school he learned about the primary colors, and the very simple model of colors, as shown in the left track. Mixing of color solids, as in painting (or finger painting being probably the earliest exposure to color mixing), is intuitive for a child. The process is subtractive, and the more colors you mix the darker and closer to black you get. Color is seen by the eyes when light bounces off the solid colors and becomes light of different wavelengths that the eye can then see. However at this level, things just "look" like different colors without understanding light's role.<br />
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The right track is mixing of color light, as in prisms and light waves, where mixing colors is additive and the more you mix the lighter and closer to white you get. But this is without a real understanding of light bouncing off surfaces, and is limited to an understanding of different colors of light and how they mix. The first exposure in grade school is usually by shining white light through a prism to separate it into the different visible colors.<br />
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The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opponent_process opponent color model] connects these two models, by explaining how different wavelengths of light are absorbed by different rods and cones in the eyes.<br />
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The "complex multidimensional gamut" mentions two more models: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIE_1931_color_space CIE 1931] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lab_color_space L*a*b*]. These are more detailed models based on the opponent color model, which precisely define how a particular color maps to the different channels that our eyes see.<br />
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However, understanding how the eye sees color ''still'' isn't enough, because not every device can display all the colors your eye can see. Your laptop might have a different [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamut color gamut] than your phone, and if you printed the page out, you might see yet another color. To handle this issue, web browsers use "color profiles", so that an image can be tagged with the color space it uses and the browser can handle it appropriately. Unfortunately, browsers do this inconsistently and not very well. The title text expands on this joke, implying that the reason for the "unknowable" answer above is that everyone's browser shows colors slightly differently.<br />
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The "hyperdimensional four-sided quantum Klein manifold" is probably a joke. A "Klein manifold" is a Klein bottle. Randall is here projecting a "abstract multidimensional gamut" onto an even more complicated surface, presumably in order to eliminate the errors in color rendering caused by previous attempts to eliminate the errors in color rendering. The Klein bottle has to be projected into 4-D space for this to work, as it would otherwise intersect with itself. As the 4th dimension is time, the color space would probably change all the time. This seems to actually be "a thing" in that you could do it, but not a "thing" in that nobody has done it. A "Klein Quantum" is a bicycle.<br />
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Eventually it appears Randall has given up, hoping he won't have to deal with the difficulty in describing and understanding the concept of colors.<br />
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The title text indicates that, despite the complexity and thoroughness of color models, the most common software on Earth can't get it right.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Needs arrows like a flowchart}}<br />
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:Evolution of my understanding of color over time:<br />
<br />
:Grade school<br />
:|<br />
:| "Color" is...<br />
:| ...three primary colors mixed together<br />
:| ...a rainbow, and each color is a wavelength<br />
:| ...unknowable ("maybe what ''I'' see as blue, ''you'' see as...")<br />
:| ...three-ish primary colors mixed together (RGB/RYB/CMYK)<br />
:| ...a mix of infinite wavelengths filtered through three eye pigments<br />
:| [something about the opponent color model]<br />
:| ...an abstract multidimensional gamut (CIE 1931, L*a*b*, etc)<br />
:| ...an abstract multidimensional gamut filtered through inconsistently-implemented device color profiles<br />
:| ...a hyperdimensional four-sided quantum Klein manifold? Is that a thing?<br />
:| ...hopefully somebody else's problem.<br />
:|<br />
:Now<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.245.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1105:_License_Plate&diff=1304151105: License Plate2016-11-09T07:47:19Z<p>108.162.245.58: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1105<br />
| date = September 7, 2012<br />
| title = License Plate<br />
| image = license_plate.png<br />
| titletext = The next day: 'What? Six bank robberies!? But I just vandalized the library!' 'Nice try. They saw your plate with all the 1's and I's.' 'That's impossible! I've been with my car the whole ti-- ... wait. Ok, wow, that was clever of her.'<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] has obtained a new {{w|Vehicle registration plate|license plate}}. The license plate number one receives is often the next in sequence, available at the time and place of registration. However, in many localities, for an additional fee one can select his or her own "personalized" license plate number (called a {{w|vanity plate}}), subject to certain criteria, and availability.<br />
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In this comic, Cueball has elected to purchase the personalized license plate number "1I1-III1" or "one, letter I, one, dash, letter I, letter I, letter I and one". He believes the ambiguity between the letter I and the digit 1 on the plate will make it very difficult for anyone to correctly identify his vehicle if he commits a crime. Some localities have more distinct "1" and "I" characters in their license plate font than others, but often when a crime is committed witnesses only has a short time to look at the plate, and will then be confused.<br />
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In principle his idea did work, because when the police end up interviewing a witness of a crime scene in the end of the comic, he can only say that it ''The thief's license plate was all "1"s or something''. What Cueball does not count on is that there are no other license plates made up entirely of the letter I and the digit 1. Thus, when witnesses report a vehicle with a license plate of either/or I's and 1's, the police know exactly who the perpetrator is. <br />
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Given the fact that the police still haven't caught him even though they have his address written on a {{w|Post-it note}} in their car, it seems like they had already though of the same idea, and when Cueball registered such a license plate they put up the address in the police cars, as they expected him to begin committing crimes. He may already have committed more than one, but they would soon stop him before it turned into a crime spree.<br />
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[http://imgur.com/jaiblHk Someone in New Hampshire appears to have done this in real life.]<br />
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The title text appears to be a conversation between Cueball and the police the next day when they show up at his address. It turns out that the the police suspect Cueball of six bank robberies. Cueball responds that "all" he did was vandalize the library. But the police disregards this as a ''nice try'' to avoid being arrested because witnesses saw a his license plate with all 1's and I's was used. Cueball does not understand this because he was with his car the entire time since he got the license plate. And just as he says this, he has an epiphany and states ''wait. OK, wow that was clever of her''. It is thus clear that he suspects that [[Megan]] have made a false license plate also with only a combination of I's and 1's. And then she has robbed six banks knowing that the police would be sure to suspect Cueball, who was so foolish to show his criminal intent by registering such a plate in the first place. <br />
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Knowing that the police will assume the car is his she has thus {{w|frameup|framed}} him. Hopefully for Cueball he can prove he was not involved in the robberies, but the polices certainty that they knew who the stupid guy was that committed the crimes, they may not have taken so much care in collecting evidence the first day of the crimes, and this will have given Megan time to run away with all the money, as no one was looking for her. So she may well have left the country with no one looking for a woman. This will make it more difficult for Cueball to avoid the blame.<br />
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It is clear that Megan would not be so stupid as to register another plate, because then they would know that there could be more than one criminal person. Also she would not have had time to get it, if the crime spree began soon after Cueball showed the plate to her. But if the fake plate makes people tell about the 1s and Is then the police would not ask further and maybe discover that the plate might have looked fake.<br />
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Note the yellow police line seems to say ''Police strip do not cross'', where ''Police line do not cross'' seems to be the only sentence used normally (unless it is ''crime scene do not cross'', but that also does not fit).(Of course, this could be a pun about the fact that this occurance is a comic ''strip''.)<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is walking in from the right holding a license plate up with both hands for an off-panel Megan to see. It is possible to see the plate, but here it looks like all I's (or 1's).]<br />
:Cueball: Check out my personalized license plate!<br />
:Megan (off-panel): <nowiki>"1I1-III1"?</nowiki><br />
:Cueball: It's perfect!<br />
:Plate: III-IIII<br />
<br />
:[In this frame-less panel Megan is sitting in an office chair holding and looking at the plate while Cueball stand next to her rubbing his hands together in front of him.]<br />
:Cueball: No one will be able to correctly record my plate number!<br />
:Cueball: I can commit any crime I want!<br />
:Megan: Sounds foolproof.<br />
<br />
:[A man with hair only around his neg and glasses holds out a hand towards a bald male police officer with a black peaked cap with white emblem on the front. The police man interviews their witness holding a notepad and a pen. Another likewise caped female officer is Ponytail who walks to the left arm pointing left. There is a line of yellow police tape behind them with text partially obscured by the characters. At the top left of the panel there is a small frame with a caption:]<br />
:Soon:<br />
:Witness: The thief's license plate was all "1"s or something.<br />
:Police officer: Oh. ''That'' guy.<br />
:Ponytail: His address is on a post-it in the squad car.<br />
:Yellow strip (text not visible in brackets): Poli(ce strip) do not cross (poli)ce stri(p do not) cross.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]</div>108.162.245.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1421:_Future_Self&diff=77390Talk:1421: Future Self2014-10-16T20:28:02Z<p>108.162.245.58: </p>
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<div><nowiki>#</nowiki> Dear Future Editor<br /><br />
<nowiki>#</nowiki> As author of the first explanation, I know of what I write. Perhaps minus the snarky code-commenting.<br /><br />
<nowiki>#</nowiki> But I've a feeling there's a better way of writing it, and possibly a different context that I've missed.<br /><br />
<nowiki>#</nowiki><br /><br />
<nowiki>#</nowiki> ...so over to you.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 08:20, 15 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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The last paragraph was written with assumption no other content is here yet (because there wasn't) - can someone incorporate it correctly with the rest, please? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.217|141.101.89.217]] 08:19, 15 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:(Dealing with edit conflict) Let me check what you mean. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 08:20, 15 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Ahah! Yes, we were ''both'' dealing with edit conflicts, only in different orders (me in here, you in the main article). I think I'm going to let a third party resolve the explanation, it'd probably be best.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 08:23, 15 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
::aaaand dodged by yet another editor [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.206|108.162.249.206]] 08:47, 15 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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I'm not sure I totally agree with the sentence: "The parsing function seems to have lasted one year longer than expected by the younger Cueball." Younger Cueball expected that the parsing function would fail on or after 2013, which is pretty accurate if it failed in 2014. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 14:22, 15 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:"It's at least 2013" parsed to me as "this will certainly work until part-way through 2013", so the fact that the message in a bottle is uncovered in 2014 says a year longer than worst expectations. OTOH, an alternate interpretation would be "this can't fail before 2013". Maybe, just maybe, Past Cueball (and we don't know how long ago Past Cueball wrote this) is smart enough to say that, so... Who knows.<br />
:(Also, related to what @Artyer below says, I've reconsidered my ideas about this. Maybe Past Cueball is actually just going "I wonder what it was like in Iceland?", but of course Present Cueball has a guilty conscience about this never coming to pass and takes the innocent comment badly. And I'm also seeing a lot of cynicism about Regexps... Using regexps is usually the best way to ''allow'' easy 'rekludging'. Indeed, import pattern-strings from a plain-text flatfile, branching options with and the like with sufficient power from an external flat-file and you needn't touch the ''code'' at all, just modift the associated "config file". Again, this is something I've done, for frequently permutating sources. But, even without, with access to the source code hard-coded regexps aren't necessarily the disaster.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 20:16, 15 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
::This is almost mirroring the talk on the wikipedia page for write-only languages, but while *any* language can be written in a maintainable fashion, there are some situations where a quick result is the goal, and there are some languages/features that are amenable to that goal. The bad rap that scripting languages get for maintainability is almost certainly due more to the nature of problems that scripting languages are used to solve (and the time constraints in which they are written) than to the nature of the language itself. Finally, it's arguably better to spend a day writing a parser, then a day every year re-writing the parser because it broke, than a week writing the parser *properly*, then an hour a year updating the parser's config. Of course, YMMV. The description probably doesn't need any specific languages mentioned, but I think the reference to write-only code is relevant. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.206|108.162.249.206]] 01:52, 16 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::agreed - "write-only" is relevant. Regex is easily as prone to being effectively write-only as JavaScript or PHP - once you can read the syntax quickly, it's far more readable and maintainable (just like JavaScript or PHP. There is nothing INHERENTLY write-only about regex -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 17:35, 16 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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There's nothng wrtten about the trip to Iceland that cueball was plannng to go on (procrastination caused him not to). Maybe something like "in this case, it was that cueball knew he wouldn't go on the trip he planned" but I rewrote it like 5 times, and it didn't work. —[[User:Artyer|Artyer]] ([[User talk:Artyer|talk]]) 16:45, 15 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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I think the sentence about context free and regular grammars over-interpretates this a bit. First of all, there are many regex engines which support back-references, thus allowing more than regular grammars; second of all, a "kludged" parser very often assumes that the input is grammatically correct and just wants to extract the required information. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.32|108.162.254.32]] 17:01, 15 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Agreed, and as I mentioned above maybe it's worth removing mention of regular expressions at all. There's nothing in the comic to suggest that the parse function would be using a single language or feature, so there's no reason to suggest Cueball would be using regular expressions without any kind of wrapping script. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.206|108.162.249.206]] 01:56, 16 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:: There's nothing to ''prove'' any particular language, but regex uses EXACTLY that character to denote comments, is by its nature a PARSING language (whether for validation, extraction, or mutation), and is WELL KNOWN for being written with little regard to readability only to be compressed even more to a nearly-impossible-to-read-string and shoved in somewhere without the slightest context to help someone finding it to understand what the heck it is. So I would say there is "something" in the comic to ''suggest'' the use of regex. -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 17:36, 16 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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The first 'h' is backwards in the line " The parse function finally broke" 20:18, 15 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:It appears to be a capital-H (not technically chiral, unlike a small-h), to match the capitality of the long-standing standard of XKCD writing and the rest of the writing on this comic, but somehow obscured/over-smeared by the preceding "T". Image editing error, of some kind? ''Other'' characters' anti-aliased fringes quite happily run into their neighbours without similar artefacts. See the "TU" out of the first line's "FUTURE". On the other hand, the effect repeats in the "THAT" at the end of the "DEAR PAST SELF" text, except with a token two-pixel 'riser' remaining in this case. See also "# THAT TRIP TO ICELAND?" at the end and "THIS FILE" near the beginning. A style element?<br />
:And to address the Incomplete-Tag's current question about the word "snark", please change it if you don't like it or know what that means (I suppose I'd say "snide and sarcastic" would be a good 'back portmanteau' explanation as to its intended usage). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 20:43, 15 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:: Alright... who's gonna start the [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Backmanteau&action=edit Backmanteau wikipedia page]? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 17:49, 16 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:: The "TH" being run together may be Randall doing a manual {{w|kerning}} of some kind. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 12:22, 16 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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Does anybody else see a Walter Mitty (movie version obviously, which I thought was a great homage) reference with the trip to Iceland question? I read it as, "did you ever get a life and go out and see the world or have you spent the last X years still just coding, instead of fulfilling some dreams?" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.18|108.162.242.18]] 03:33, 20 September 2014 (UTC) dgebel<br />
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There could also be an intended reference here to Ray Bradbury's short story "Night Call, Collect" in which an old man in a deserted Martian town begins receiving harassing phone calls recorded by his much younger self.</div>108.162.245.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1419:_On_the_Phone&diff=75649Talk:1419: On the Phone2014-09-10T18:34:39Z<p>108.162.245.58: </p>
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<div>Starting to wonder who Cueball was on the phone WITH. Maybe he's possessed... or is using "on the phone" as an excuse for suspicious activity.<br />
18:28, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
'It seems to me that the off-panel character is most likely [[Cueball]]. The way he says 'Haha. I'm so absentminded' makes me think that the obelisk is intentional, and hes trying to dismiss it lightly having been found out. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:43, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
: I agree, the title text "But anyway, maybe we should check out what this Ba'al guy has to say." seems to reinforce that he's trying to get Megan to think more about Ba'al's teachings or some such while passing it off as a joke/casual remark. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:04, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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I can relate to this, and for what I've heard, I'm not the only one: it seems it's rather common for people to wander around the house rearranging stuff while on the phone. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.210|141.101.99.210]] 10:35, 10 September 2014 (UTC) AK<br />
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This seems to refer {{w|The_Magical_Number_Seven,_Plus_or_Minus_Two|Miller's Law}} again, like #1417. Maybe Randal is looking for his car keys or something else he has put down somewhere while doing something else...<br />
[[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 12:12, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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It seems to me that Randal just missed an opportunity to throw a jab at driving while on the phone, something like Megan: "Do you make phone calls while driving?" "Cueball": "Sure, but I sometimes arrive in a different car..." [[User:Bigfatbernie|Bigfatbernie]] ([[User talk:Bigfatbernie|talk]]) 13:31, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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I got the impression that this is saying that Ba'al is subliminally guiding our actions while distracted... something along the lines of "Idle hands are the devil's plaything." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.189|108.162.221.189]] 14:38, 10 September 2014 (UTC)Ozy<br />
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I added the reference to 872: Fairy Tales if you disagree feel free to change it. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.158|173.245.50.158]] 14:51, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Personally I'd say its a pretty tenuous link --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 15:16, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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I wonder if the fact we don't see the character off the "screen" is highly related to his apparent desire to "check out what this Ba'al guy has to say" - perhaps She's assuming it's Cueball, but it's not... at least not entirely... I think this could only work if this is a series, which Randall seems to have shied away from in recent years... -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 15:11, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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Maybe this comic is something to do with subliminal messaging or hypnosis or blackmailing? Any thoughts? —[[User:Artyer|Artyer]] ([[User talk:Artyer|talk]]) 16:22, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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Probably nothing to do with the inspiration for this comic, but from yesterday's news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-29126161 ...a teapot. Enjoy. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 18:30, 10 September 2014 (UTC)</div>108.162.245.58https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1419:_On_the_Phone&diff=75642Talk:1419: On the Phone2014-09-10T18:28:08Z<p>108.162.245.58: </p>
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<div>Starting to wonder who Cueball was on the phone WITH. Maybe he's possessed... <br />
18:28, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
'It seems to me that the off-panel character is most likely [[Cueball]]. The way he says 'Haha. I'm so absentminded' makes me think that the obelisk is intentional, and hes trying to dismiss it lightly having been found out. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:43, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
: I agree, the title text "But anyway, maybe we should check out what this Ba'al guy has to say." seems to reinforce that he's trying to get Megan to think more about Ba'al's teachings or some such while passing it off as a joke/casual remark. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:04, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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I can relate to this, and for what I've heard, I'm not the only one: it seems it's rather common for people to wander around the house rearranging stuff while on the phone. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.210|141.101.99.210]] 10:35, 10 September 2014 (UTC) AK<br />
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This seems to refer {{w|The_Magical_Number_Seven,_Plus_or_Minus_Two|Miller's Law}} again, like #1417. Maybe Randal is looking for his car keys or something else he has put down somewhere while doing something else...<br />
[[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 12:12, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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It seems to me that Randal just missed an opportunity to throw a jab at driving while on the phone, something like Megan: "Do you make phone calls while driving?" "Cueball": "Sure, but I sometimes arrive in a different car..." [[User:Bigfatbernie|Bigfatbernie]] ([[User talk:Bigfatbernie|talk]]) 13:31, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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I got the impression that this is saying that Ba'al is subliminally guiding our actions while distracted... something along the lines of "Idle hands are the devil's plaything." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.189|108.162.221.189]] 14:38, 10 September 2014 (UTC)Ozy<br />
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I added the reference to 872: Fairy Tales if you disagree feel free to change it. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.158|173.245.50.158]] 14:51, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Personally I'd say its a pretty tenuous link --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 15:16, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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I wonder if the fact we don't see the character off the "screen" is highly related to his apparent desire to "check out what this Ba'al guy has to say" - perhaps She's assuming it's Cueball, but it's not... at least not entirely... I think this could only work if this is a series, which Randall seems to have shied away from in recent years... -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 15:11, 10 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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Maybe this comic is something to do with subliminal messaging or hypnosis or blackmailing? Any thoughts? —[[User:Artyer|Artyer]] ([[User talk:Artyer|talk]]) 16:22, 10 September 2014 (UTC)</div>108.162.245.58