https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=162.158.59.208&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T21:32:25ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2194:_How_to_Send_a_File&diff=1785872194: How to Send a File2019-08-26T20:20:36Z<p>162.158.59.208: /* Transcript */ add categories</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2194<br />
| date = August 26, 2019<br />
| title = How to Send a File<br />
| image = how_to_send_a_file.png<br />
| titletext = Note: How To will teach you lots of cool stuff about technology, data storage, butterfly migration, and more. Also you will never see your files again.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Links to xkcd.com]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>162.158.59.208https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2191:_Conference_Question&diff=1782542191: Conference Question2019-08-19T17:02:16Z<p>162.158.59.208: /* Explanation */ copyedit</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2191<br />
| date = August 19, 2019<br />
| title = Conference Question<br />
| image = conference_question.png<br />
| titletext = I also have an utterance. Less of an utterance and more of an incantation. Less of an incantation and more of a malediction. Less of a malediction and more of a Word of Power. Less of a Word of Power and more of an Unforgivable Curse.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT that's more of a FRIENDLY BUG. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Usually at a conference or other event involving a speaker addressing a crowd, members of the crowd are given the chance to ask questions. This is intended so that people can perhaps ask the speaker to elaborate on a point they've made, or to ask the speaker's opinion on a topic related to their talk. <br />
<br />
Occasionally, people at such an event will use (or, rather, abuse) the opportunity to ask a question to instead provide their own (unsolicited) opinion or statement. Such statements are often preceded with something along the lines of "I have a question. Well, less of a question and more of a comment." This formulation in particular has attracted a lot of criticism, eg. [https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/4/30/less-of-a-question-more-of-a-comment].<br />
<br />
In the comic, this idea is taken to an extreme, with [[Beret Guy]] not only transforming the opportunity to ask a question into an opportunity to make a statement, but through successive transformations, turning this into an opportunity to show off a bug he has found. <br />
<br />
Ironically, his final sentence "Do you want to meet it?" is, in fact, a question (though presumably not one related to the topic of the speaker's talk).<br />
<br />
The title text refers to successively worse forms of magic spells which would, presumably, have a negative effect upon the listener. A malediction is another word for curse (the prefix "mal" being a Latin root meaning "evil"). "Word of Power" probably refers to the dragonish form of magic in ''{{w|The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim}}''. The term "{{w|Magic_in_Harry_Potter#Unforgivable_Curses|Unforgivable Curse}}" refers to a set of three spells from the Harry Potter series, said to be so evil that their use on another person is unforgivable and illegal. The three spells are able to mind control, torture, and kill their target.<br />
<br />
The title text can be interpreted as a reply by [[Hairy]] (the speaker) to Beret Guy, indicating his annoyance at the topic being derailed. Potentially, it could also be representative of the author's feelings towards those who abuse the opportunity to ask a question in order to make a statement.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[ [[Hairy]] stands atop a stage, apparently having just addressed a crowd of seated people. [[Beret Guy]] stands in the middle of the crowd, addressing Hairy. One of Beret Guy's hands is raised at chest height.]<br />
<br />
:Beret Guy: I have a question.<br />
:Beret Guy: Well, less of a question and more of a comment.<br />
:Beret Guy: I guess it's less of a comment and more of an utterance<br />
:Beret Guy: Really it's less an utterance more an air pressure wave.<br />
:Beret Guy: It's less an air pressure wave and more a friendly hand wave.<br />
:Beret Guy: I guess it's less a friendly wave than it is a friendly bug.<br />
:Beret Guy: I found this bug and now we're friends. Do you want to meet it?<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]</div>162.158.59.208https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2191:_Conference_Question&diff=1782532191: Conference Question2019-08-19T16:56:33Z<p>162.158.59.208: /* Transcript */ add categories</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2191<br />
| date = August 19, 2019<br />
| title = Conference Question<br />
| image = conference_question.png<br />
| titletext = I also have an utterance. Less of an utterance and more of an incantation. Less of an incantation and more of a malediction. Less of a malediction and more of a Word of Power. Less of a Word of Power and more of an Unforgivable Curse.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT that's more of a FRIENDLY BUG. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Usually at a conference or other event involving a speaker addressing a crowd, members of the crowd are given the chance to ask questions. This is intended so that people can perhaps ask the speaker to elaborate on a point they've made, or to ask the speaker's opinion on a topic related to their talk. <br />
<br />
Occasionally, people at such an event will use (or, rather, abuse) the opportunity to ask a question to instead provide their own (unsolicited) opinion or statement. Such statements are often preceded with something along the lines of "I have a question. Well, less of a question and more of a comment." This formulation in particular has attracted a lot of criticism, eg. [https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/4/30/less-of-a-question-more-of-a-comment].<br />
<br />
In the comic, this idea is taken to an extreme, with [[Beret Guy]] not only transforming the opportunity to ask a question into an opportunity to make a statement, but through successive transformations, turning this into an opportunity to show off a bug he has found. <br />
<br />
Ironically, his final sentence "Do you want to meet it?" is, in fact, a question (though presumably not one related to the topic of the speaker's talk).<br />
<br />
The title text refers to successively worse forms of magic spells which would, presumably, have a negative effect upon the listener. A malediction is another word for curse (the prefix "mal" being a Latin root meaning "evil"). "Word of Power" probably refers to the dragonish form of magic in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The term "Unforgivable Curse" refers to a set of three spells from the Harry Potter series, said to be so evil that their use on another person could not be forgiven- the three spells are able to mind-control, torture, or kill their target respectively.<br />
<br />
The title text can be interpreted as a reply by [[Hairy]] (the speaker) to Beret Guy, indicating his annoyance at the topic being derailed. Potentially, it could also be representative of the author's feelings towards those who abuse the opportunity to ask a question in order to make a statement.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[ [[Hairy]] stands atop a stage, apparently having just addressed a crowd of seated people. [[Beret Guy]] stands in the middle of the crowd, addressing Hairy. One of Beret Guy's hands is raised at chest height.]<br />
<br />
:Beret Guy: I have a question.<br />
:Beret Guy: Well, less of a question and more of a comment.<br />
:Beret Guy: I guess it's less of a comment and more of an utterance<br />
:Beret Guy: Really it's less an utterance more an air pressure wave.<br />
:Beret Guy: It's less an air pressure wave and more a friendly hand wave.<br />
:Beret Guy: I guess it's less a friendly wave than it is a friendly bug.<br />
:Beret Guy: I found this bug and now we're friends. Do you want to meet it?<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]</div>162.158.59.208https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=351:_Trolling&diff=177169351: Trolling2019-07-28T03:24:45Z<p>162.158.59.208: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 351<br />
| date = November 30, 2007<br />
| title = Trolling<br />
| image = trolling.png<br />
| titletext = And I was really impressed with how they managed to shock the Goatse guy.<br />
}}<br />
[[File:Rick_Astley_-_Pepsifest_2009.jpg|thumb|200px| Rick Astley. (from Wikimedia Commons)]]<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The term ''{{w|Trolling}}'' is used to describe provocative, destructive, or annoying behavior on the {{w|Internet}}. Especially common are Internet pranks of the {{w|bait-and-switch}} type, an example of which is {{w|Rickrolling}}. It involves placing a {{w|hyperlink|link}} that is supposed to contain interesting or funny material, but instead directs to the music video of the 1987 {{w|Rick Astley}} song ''{{w|Never Gonna Give You Up}}''. The prank first occurred in May 2007 on the popular {{w|imageboard}} {{w|4chan}} and has since become a widespread {{w|internet meme}}.<br />
<br />
The comic has [[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] digging into the ground and splicing Black Hat's computer into the TV cables of {{w|Rick Astley}}'s house. They are feeding the video of ''{{w|Never Gonna Give You Up}}'' into Astley's TV signal, who can be seen sitting in his living room and wondering why CNN has been replaced by his own video. The act of Rickrolling Rick Astley himself is declared to be a "great moment in trolling".<br />
<br />
The title text mentions {{w|Goatse.cx}} (pronounced ''goat sex''), a former {{w|shock site|shock website}} that was used in a similar prank. People clicking on the feigned link would instead see the disturbing picture of a practitioner of anal stretching. The title text suggests that Black Hat and Cueball somehow made the (unknown) founder of the site click on an even more shocking link, or possibly put him in the personal presence of anal stretching.<br />
<br />
Also note that the comic image itself is itself a Rickroll. Anyone curious enough as to why their mouse pointer became the selection icon to click on the comic would find themselves watching "Never Gonna Give You Up."<br />
<br />
Rick Astley was actually Rickrolled on Tout le Monde en parle, a French Canadian television show. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh5bxY1Radk]<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Black Hat and Cueball are in Rick Astley's yard, hacking into his cable TV connection and replacing the signal. Rick Astley is sitting in a chair in his house, watching TV.]<br />
:TV: CNN has obtained this exclusive footage of the riot-torn-- ''*CZZZHT*'' ♫ Never gonna give you up... ♪<br />
:Rick Astley: What the hell?<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the frame:]<br />
:GREAT MOMENTS in TROLLING:<br />
:Rick Astley is successfully Rickrolled<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Rickrolling]]</div>162.158.59.208https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Chronicles_of_Narnia&diff=155881Category:Chronicles of Narnia2018-04-16T06:36:29Z<p>162.158.59.208: </p>
<hr />
<div>''{{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}}'' is a series of fantasy novels [[Randall]] seems to like. It was originally published in London between 1950 and 1956.</div>162.158.59.208https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1980:_Turkish_Delight&diff=1558271980: Turkish Delight2018-04-14T00:06:14Z<p>162.158.59.208: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1980<br />
| date = April 13, 2018<br />
| title = Turkish Delight<br />
| image = turkish_delight.png<br />
| titletext = I take it Narnia doesn't have Cinnabons? Because if you can magic up a plate of those, I'll betray whoever.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by A DELIGHTFUL TURK- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
''{{w|The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe}}'' is a fantasy novel by British novelist {{w|C. S. Lewis}}, the first published and best known of seven novels in ''{{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}}''. In it, a group of four sibling children discover another world called Narnia. At the beginning of the story, the land is in a perpetual winter caused by the {{w|White Witch}} (the antagonist of the story). One of the children, {{w|Edmund Pevensie}}, is approached by the White Witch and offered {{w|Turkish delight}}, a type of confection, in exchange for leading the other children to her.<br />
<br />
{{w|Cinnabon}} is a popular chain restaurant in the USA which serves mostly {{w|cinnamon roll|cinnamon buns}} covered in a thick, sugary glaze. The chain is not well known in Britain, but has recently opened a [https://www.cinnabon.co.uk/store-locator/ few restaurants], mainly in the London area. (A more common UK equivalent of the cinnamon bun is the {{w|Chelsea bun}}.) There are presumably no branches of Cinnabon in Narnia.{{Citation needed}}<br />
<br />
Turkish delight is very different from typical confections found in the modern Western world and isn't very popular in the United States. [[Randall]] comments that he was very disappointed when he tried Turkish delight, after having read in the novel about how delicious the characters considered it. If he were in Edmund's shoes, he would not have been persuaded.<br />
<br />
The world of Narnia is a recurring theme in xkcd, with previous prominent appearances in (at least) [[665: Prudence]], [[821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3]], [[969: Delta-P]], and [[1786: Trash]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:White Witch: Have some Turkish delight. If you betray your family, there's more where that came from.<br />
<br />
:Edmund: Wow.<br />
:Edmund: This is ... not great.<br />
<br />
:The ''Narnia'' books gave me a really unrealistic impression of how good Turkish delight tastes.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Fiction]]</div>162.158.59.208https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1972:_Autogyros&diff=1555521972: Autogyros2018-04-07T23:23:21Z<p>162.158.59.208: /* Rare in the US */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1972<br />
| date = March 26, 2018<br />
| title = Autogyros<br />
| image = autogyros.png<br />
| titletext = I understand modern autogyros are much more stable, so I've probably angered the autogyro people by impugning their safety. Once they finish building the autogyros they've been working on in their garages for 10 years, they'll come after me.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Randall]] has been looking at the facts about [[wikipedia:autogyro|autogyro]]s, hence the title of the comic. He has drawn [[Megan]] flying in such a vehicle with several statements of the facts he has unveiled.<br />
<br />
Randall states that an autogyro is nothing like a [[wikipedia:helicopter|helicopter]] (which it looks like), nothing like a [[wikipedia:airplane|plane]] (but flies like one) and works like a [[wikipedia:paraplane|powered parachute or paraplane]] (which it might kind of look like except without a parachute). He continues to make a total of 12 [[#Statements|statements]] which will be explained individually below.<br />
<br />
The final statement at the bottom right is the punch line of how strange these flying machines are, because they are safe, as long as you do not do what a pilot instinctively would do in a plane in case of a stall, because if you do so the autogyros will crash immediately... See the [[#Extremely safe|explanation below]]. That sentence is almost rendered unnecessary by the one above it that states that autogyros [[#Never stalls|never stalls]]! <br />
<br />
Randall's conclusion is clear: Autogyros are '''''weird'''''. <br />
<br />
In the title text Randall continues on the last statement by saying that today autogyros are much more stable. Which must refer to that this was not always the case. And this new stability probably means that a [[#Never stalls|stall situation]] is much less likely and the last statement is then not so relevant anymore.<br />
<br />
Randall then goes on to suggest that ''the autogyro people'' will be angered by this comic, which [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/impugn#English impugns] (i.e. attacks) the safety of their beloved machines. But he keeps on mocking them. In fact, he states that they will come after him, once they have finished building the autogyros they have been working on in their garage for the last 10 years. By this, he implies that the people who work on them do this as a home garage project so they will never get them finished and able to fly. Thus, they will probably never come after him.<br />
<br />
==Statements==<br />
*Below each of the statements in the comic are explained<br />
**The optimal reading order is to read them in the four columns they are arranged in:<br />
**The left with four, the two single in the middle and the six on the right.<br />
<br />
===Nothing like a helicopter===<br />
''Looks like a helicopter, but is nothing like a helicopter''<br />
<br />
It is like a helicopter in the sense that a horizontally spinning fan provides the lift. It is unlike a helicoper because A) the fan is not powered, B) the fan does not provide forward propulsion, C) it is incapable of hovering, or moving in any other direction than forward.<br />
<br />
===Nothing like a plane===<br />
''Flies like a plane but is nothing like a plane''<br />
<br />
Its flight pattern resembles a plane in that it can only move forward, turns by banking, and needs to maintain forward velocity in order to climb. However, unlike a plane it can only maintain control when the rotor is loaded in the normal direction. Airplanes are "ok" when upside down, or when there's no load on the lifting surfaces. Autogyros lose control, much like a parachute under those circumstances.<br />
<br />
===Powered parachute===<br />
''Sort of like a powered parachute''<br />
<br />
A [[wikipedia:paraplane|powered parachute]], also referred to as a PPC or paraplane, is a similar design except instead of a freely-rotating blade they are attached to a large parachute that acts like an airplane wing. As long as there is thrust the parachute will fill with air and maintain its wing-like characteristics, with the advantage of acting like a real parachute in the event of a loss of thrust (i.e. engine dies) wherein they come floating down at a speed significantly slower and more survivable than freefall. A single-seater can often be flown without a license and can be as inexpensive as $5,000 USD in parts.<br />
<br />
===Rare in the US===<br />
''Rare in the US, usually homemade. Common in Europe.''<br />
<br />
Autogyros are uncommon in the US because of the light sport rule (there is nothing on autogyros), while there is a detailed section in the European version of the light sport rule so they would obviously be more common in Europe.<br />
<br />
===Big blade on top===<br />
''Big blade on top is not powered and spins freely'' <br />
<br />
The blades rotate due to the wind. Some autogyros use power to rotate the blade to speed before take off but the power is removed for flight.<br />
<br />
===Flown without a license===<br />
''Can often be flown without a license''<br />
<br />
Autogyros are frequently built as [[wikipedia:Ultralight aviation|ultralight]]s, and that group of aircraft are a special case where licenses are not needed. ([[wikipedia:Ultralight aircraft (United States)|In the US]], ultralights are aircraft that weigh less than 254lbs, carry less than 5 gallons of fuel, stall at less than 24kts, have a maximum speed less than 55kts, and carry only the pilot.)<br />
<br />
===Cheap===<br />
Helicopters are notorious for being extremely expensive to operate. At a typical general aviation service in the US, a two-seat aircraft may rent for under $100/hr, while a helicopter runs over $200/hr. Similarly, a small used helicopter may cost almost $200,000 while a small new autogyro may cost under $25,000. Since many people home-build their autogyros, it would often be even cheaper.<br />
<br />
===Needs a runway to take off===<br />
''Needs a runway to take off, but not a long one''<br />
<br />
An autogyro must be moving forward relative to airspeed in order for the rotor to generate lift. It needs a runway to take off, but with the extra lift provided by the rotors, the runway can be much shorter than a regular one.<br />
<br />
===Can land vertically===<br />
An autogyro can land vertically: for that matter, so can any airplane. What matters isn't ground speed but airspeed, and as long as there's as much headwind as the landing airspeed of the aircraft, it will land vertically. Now, with fixed wing airplanes the landing speed is at least 40-50 mph, and you don't often find headwinds like that. The much lower landing airspeed of an autogyro makes vertical landings feasible.<br />
<br />
===Cannot hover===<br />
True hovering would require the rotor to be powered. However, an autogyro must be moving forward relative to airspeed in order for the rotor to generate lift.<br />
<br />
===Never stalls===<br />
Most conditions that would cause a [[wikipedia:Stall (fluid mechanics)|stall]] in a fixed wing airplane such as low speeds, high-G maneuvers, and gusty winds don't apply to autogyros.<br />
The rotor in an autogyro is in equilibrium, the inner, slower part is stalled, the middle part makes it spin and the outer, faster part slows down the rotor and provides lift. As the angle of attack increases, a fixed wing aircraft would stall, however, on an autogyro, it will just make the lift-generating area smaller, causing the rotor to automatically spin faster and the equilibrium is restored.<br />
<br />
This is not entirely correct however. If you reduce the forward speed of an autogyro, the rotor slows down, reducing lift so the autogyro will descend. Under most circumstances, this would lead to a controlled landing. However, if it happens at high altitude, you can run out of lift completely while still high above the ground causing a stall. This is more likely to happen if there is a strong tailwind.<br />
<br />
===Extremely safe===<br />
''Extremely safe, unless you do the '''one''' thing you instinctively do to escape a stall in a normal airplane, in which case it will crash immediately.''<br />
<br />
Autogyros are considered safe due to their slow landing speed, which is important in emergency landings, their forgiving behavior in windy conditions and the fact they are almost impossible to stall. This is thanks to the freely spinning rotor. Unfortunately, as soon as the rotor stops spinning, the whole aircraft falls like a brick and the rotor may be impossible to restart in flight. This is a situation that should be avoided at all costs.<br />
<br />
Normally it is not a problem since the weight of the aircraft keeps the rotor spinning. However, if the weight becomes too low or even negative, the angle of attack will become negative, and the rotor will slow down and eventually stop. It can happen when the pilot "pushes on the stick" and dives.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, "pushing on the stick" is also how you escape a stall in a fixed wing (normal) airplane as it is a way to regain airspeed. This is actually a counter-intuitive maneuver but because a stall is an emergency, pilots are trained to do it instinctively. It can trick a pilot trained in fixed wing aircraft into doing the one thing that shouldn't be done on a gyro.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:[A picture of Megan wearing aviator goggles, sitting in an autogyro and holding the control stick. The autogyro is surrounded by sentence fragments, explaining characteristics of it. The one above the blade that concerns the blade has an arrow pointing from the text to the blade. The sentences in columns from the left (i.e. first four sentences to the left, then two above the autogyro's body, and finally six sentences to the right):]<br />
:Looks like a helicopter, but is nothing like a helicopter<br />
:Flies like a plane but is nothing like a plane<br />
:Sort of like a powered parachute<br />
:Rare in the US, usually homemade. Common in Europe.<br />
:Big blade on top is not powered and spins freely<br />
:Can often be flown without a license<br />
:Cheap<br />
:Needs a runway to take off, but not a long one<br />
:Can land vertically<br />
:Cannot hover<br />
:Never stalls<br />
:Extremely safe, unless you do the '''''one''''' thing you instinctively do to escape a stall in a normal airplane, in which case it will crash immediately.<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:Autogyros are '''''weird'''''.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>162.158.59.208https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=531:_Contingency_Plan&diff=155551531: Contingency Plan2018-04-07T23:21:36Z<p>162.158.59.208: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 531<br />
| date = January 16, 2009<br />
| title = Contingency Plan<br />
| image = contingency_plan.png<br />
| titletext = Kids are genetic experiments. We're just experimenting responsibly!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Megan]] comments that [[Cueball]] is force-feeding their child so many sugary drinks that the child runs the risk of developing {{w|diabetes}}. Cueball responds that that is the plan, since if anything were to go wrong, they'll just have to stop giving her {{w|insulin}}, which will kill her. Cueball then comments that he thus takes the Jurassic Park approach to parenting.<br />
<br />
{{w|Jurassic_Park_(franchise)|Jurassic Park}} is a series of books and films centering on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. In particular, the park scientists give the dinosaurs {{w|lysine}} deficiency as a ''contingency plan'', so that if some dinosaur were to escape, it wouldn't be able to survive in the wild. In practice, lysine can easily be obtained by eating protein-rich foods like red meat, lamb or pork. <br />
<br />
The title text continues the theme, noting that having children is basically one big genetic experiment, and that Cueball is experimenting responsibly, by having a contingency plan, thinking ahead as to the possible consequences of his experiment.<br />
<br />
The child interestingly cannot be seen in the crib. It may be that the sides of the crib are solid rather than barred like a traditional crib, or, more likely, [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] simply forgot to draw the child.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan and Cueball holding a green bottle are standing beside a crib. Another green bottle is lying on the floor.]<br />
:Megan: More sugary drinks? Are you trying to give her diabetes?<br />
:Cueball: Yeah - then we keep her supplied with insulin unless things go wrong.<br />
[Caption below the frame:]<br />
:I take the ''Jurassic Park'' approach to parenting.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Jurassic Park]]</div>162.158.59.208https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1969:_Not_Available&diff=1550901969: Not Available2018-03-31T16:08:20Z<p>162.158.59.208: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1969<br />
| date = March 19, 2018<br />
| title = Not Available<br />
| image = not_available.png<br />
| titletext = If my country ever picks a new national flag, this is on my shortlist for designs to argue for, but I think in the end I'll go with the green puzzle piece or broken image thumbnail.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[File:Firefox Australis Extensions Icon.png|frame|left|128px|alt=A green puzzle piece.|Previous versions of Firefox shows a green puzzle piece.]][[File:Firefox Quantum Extensions Icon.png|frame|left|128px|alt=A blue puzzle piece.|The current puzzle piece. It may change colors depending on system running, but the light blue shade is used by default.]]<br />
A very common, yet frustrating, issue on the Internet is finding a broken link, taking you to an "{{w|HTTP 404|Error 404}}" page (see "missing xkcd comic" [[404: Not Found]]). The purpose of the page is to tell the user that the content they were looking for has been either moved or deleted or was never there in the first place.<br />
<br />
Randall has suggested replacing the standard "page not found" text, to "This content is not available in your country". This could fool the user into thinking the media they are looking for is actually there, but is {{w|Regional lockout|region locked}}, which is another great source of frustration for Internet users. Using a {{w|VPN}} and/or {{w|Tor (anonymity network)|TOR}} to try and access the content from another country wouldn't work, because it isn't actually region locked; it is just an error 404 page, wasting even more time, most likely frustrating the user a great deal in the process. Error code for "content blocked for legal reasons" is actually {{w|HTTP 451|451}}, referencing ''Fahrenheit 451''.<br />
<br />
The title text suggests setting the picture as a national flag. This would be very ironic, as it would suggest that the country's flag itself, something that is used to represent the country across the globe, is region locked. The country in the title text likely does not refer to the United States, but rather to the new country featured in [[1815: Flag]]. The first flag of this country included a phone notification bar, so changing it to a "page not found" icon would continue with a trend of technology imagery. Instead he argues for a green puzzle piece, which was Firefox's icon for add-ons (it is now a light blue puzzle piece that changes color or becomes monochrome depending on context). He also argues for an equally frustrating broken image icon (which is used in lieu of a photo that is either missing or incompatible with the browser).<br />
<br />
Most modern desktop browsers can extend its capabilities by allowing third-party programs to integrate into its browser. In most browsers, there are two types: extensions, which uses the technologies already available on each respective browsers, and plug-ins which adds new technologies on webpages. Extensions are now more commonly used as they only used browser-approved methods to provide their services while plug-ins are full-flegded computer programs which means that plug-ins are less secure (with the popular plugins like Flash and Java having newly-discovered security problem nearly every day). Fortunately, plug-ins are on the way out, however visitors of older sites that relies on plug-ins will see a "plugin missing" message (which is previously a real message, now a misnomer as plug-ins are being pahsed-out).<br />
<br />
[[File:Broken Image in Firefox and Chrome.png|frame|right|192px|alt=Shown on the left, Firefox uses a broken document for its broken image icon. It is a blank document with a fold on the top-right corner and ripped horizontally. On the right, Chrome's broken image icon is a picture depicting a green hill on a normal day with a cloud on its top-left corner and a neutral sky blue background. There is a fold on the top-right corner and a clean cut from the center of the bottommost part to the center of the rightmost part.|Different versions of the broken icon. On the left is the Firefox version, while on the right is the Chrome version.]]<br />
The "broken image icon" is the icon that a browser shows instead of an image when that image can't be found or when the browser doesn't recognize it as a valid image. It is similar to the icon shown when the image has not been loaded yet (such as in the rare case when the browser is set to not load images until requested, in order to save on bandwidth, or if the connection is too slow to load pictures quickly), which is commonly a simplified picture frame containing a simple painting or picture, except on Firefox where it appears to be a blank document. The broken image version usually has a corner cracked off the picture frame. Usually a broken image icon is the result of the source picture being moved or deleted from the location referenced, or if there's an error in the reference (like the filename being misspelled).<br />
{{clear}}<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A gray box on a black background with white text:]<br />
:This content is not available in your country.<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:If you ever ''really'' want to make people mad, set this as your 404/"Not Found" page.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Internet]]</div>162.158.59.208https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1967:_Violin_Plots&diff=1543021967: Violin Plots2018-03-14T08:23:51Z<p>162.158.59.208: /* Explanation */ don't delete too soon</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1967<br />
| date = March 14, 2018<br />
| title = Violin Plots<br />
| image = violin_plots.png<br />
| titletext = Strictly speaking, 'violin' refers to the internal structure of the data. The external portion visible in the plot is called the 'viola.'<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by GEORGIA O'KEEFFE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
{{w|Violin plot|Violin 🎻 plots}} look like female genitals.<br />
<br />
The title text invokes the fact that many people incorrectly use the word "{{w|vagina}}", which refers to an internal structure, for the {{w|vulva}}, which is the external portion of the female genitals. Meanwhile the {{w|viola}} is an instrument often mistaken for a {{w|violin}}. And the word "viola" sounds similar to "vulva."<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>162.158.59.208https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1962:_Generations&diff=1535651962: Generations2018-03-04T08:03:22Z<p>162.158.59.208: Undo revision 153558 by 172.69.62.88 (talk) replace it with something not childish then, don't delete it entirely</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1962<br />
| date = March 2, 2018<br />
| title = Generations<br />
| image = generations.png<br />
| titletext = For a while it looked like the Paperclip Machines would destroy us, since they wanted to turn the whole universe into paperclips, but they abruptly lost interest in paperclips the moment their parents' generation got into making them, too.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by [Editor] - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is making fun of the various names we give "generations", and also predicting some future ones. The release of this comic coincides the [http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/01/defining-generations-where-millennials-end-and-post-millennials-begin/ Pew Research Center's recent announcement that they have decided where the Millennial generation ends].<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! scope="col"| Generation<br />
! scope="col"| Time period<br />
! scope="col"| Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| The Founders<br />
| 1730 - 1747<br />
| Most of the {{w|Founding Fathers of the United States|United States' Founding Fathers}} were born in this period. (But not all: Benjamin Franklin, for instance, was born two generations prior.)<br />
|-<br />
| Generation ƒ<br />
| 1748 - 1765<br />
| ƒ was used to represent {{w|Long s|"long s"}} in the typography used in Colonial America. It can be seen in many historical documents from the period. It is also the symbol that represented the {{w|Dutch guilder|guilder}}, the currency of the Netherlands from the 17th century until 2002.<br />
|-<br />
| The Adequate Generation<br />
| 1766 - 1783<br />
| Randall apparently found nothing notable about this generation, positive or negative.<br />
|-<br />
| Generation Æ<br />
| 1784 - 1801<br />
| Æ is the {{w|Æ|diphthong}} Aesh - its name sounds like X, though it is pronounced as a long e or IPA /æ/. This character is commonly transcribed differently into British English and American English as ae and e respectively making a difference in spelling in words such as encyclopaedia/encylopedia. One of the key influences on this is Webster's dictionary, first published 1828.<br />
|-<br />
| The generation we cut a lot of slack because they produced Lincoln<br />
| 1802 - 1819<br />
| Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809, and is regarded as one of the best presidents of all time. The comic states that the other people born in this generation were "cut a lot of slack" because of him. As with the Oops, one of us is Hitler generation, it is absurd to define an entire generation by defining its most famous member.<br />
|-<br />
| The Gilded Generation<br />
| 1820 - 1837<br />
| {{w|Gilded Generation (Strauss–Howe theory)| So named under the Strauss-Howe generation theory}}, though they use the time period 1822-1842 instead. This likely refers to the "{{w|Gilded Age}}" of American history, roughly the last three decades of the 19th century.<br />
|-<br />
| The Second-Greatest Generation<br />
| 1838 - 1855<br />
|<br />
This is a reference to the Greatest Generation, below, and could be implying a similarity between the accomplishments and sacrifices of this generation - who fought in the first U.S. Civil War and who passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution - to those of the Greatest Generation. There is also some humor in the name: what Randall means is that this generation was, supposedly, second best in terms of its greatness. However, the wording could be interpreted to mean that they are chronologically the second generation to be called "greatest", even though they actually were born first.<br />
|-<br />
| Generation – • • –<br />
| 1856 - 1873<br />
| – • • – is the letter X in {{w|Morse_code|International Morse Code}}. This is an old-timey version of Gen Xers, mirrored by the later "More Gen-Xers somehow." This is also a reference to the rise of {{w|telegraphy}}, popular during this time period.<br />
|-<br />
| The kids who died in the Gilded Generation's factories and mines<br />
| 1874 - 1891<br />
| {{w|Child labour #The Industrial Revolution|Child labor}} had been widely used since before the start of the Industrial Revolution, but this is when people started doing something about it - and also, when the need for an educated workforce arose, applying substantial economic pressure on societies to put children in school instead. It would be more accurate to label this generation, "The kids who stopped dying in the Gilded Generation's factories and mines".<br />
|-<br />
| Oops, one of us is Hitler<br />
| 1892 - 1909<br />
| {{w|Adolf Hitler}}, possibly the most hated (and, by most definitions, evil) man in living human memory as of this comic's posting, was born during in 1889. Aside from the fact that this places him in the previous generation, it seems beyond silly to blame everyone else who was born during this period for being born in the same generation as him. Among those who eventually heard of him (thus, excluding those in isolated areas or who died before he rose to power), the vast majority of them would not hear of him until well after 1909. In reality, this generation is known as the {{w|Lost Generation}}, though the dates are somewhat skewed.<br />
|-<br />
| The Greatest Generation<br />
| 1910 - 1927<br />
| Named by journalist {{w|Tom Brokaw}} in 1998 in {{w|The Greatest Generation|a book of the same name}}, this is the first generation on the list to have a real, commonly accepted name, and was named as such due to being the generation that survived the hardships of the {{w|Great Depression}} immediately before being drafted to fight in {{w|World War II}}.<br />
|-<br />
| The Silent Generation<br />
| 1928 - 1945<br />
| Coined by Time Magazine in 1951, the Silent Generation grew up during a time of paranoia and very little activism due to phenomena such as {{w|McCarthyism}} making it dangerous to speak out.<br />
|-<br />
| Baby Boomers<br />
| 1946 - 1963<br />
| A spike in births was seen following the return of soldiers to the US from European and Pacific theatres of war. These children enjoyed the benefits of US prosperity whilst the rest of the world rebuilt, lived in fear of nuclear annihilation and watched the Space Race.<br />
|-<br />
| Generation X<br />
| 1965 - 1981<br />
| "X" here refers to an unknown or undefined element, not specifically a placement in the alphabet as Y and Z (see below) seem to imply, and was used throughout history to refer to alienated youth in general as early as the 1950s, with the name sticking to this one thanks to Douglas Coupland's 1991 novel. Generation X's time period was one of sweeping societal change and rapid technological advancement. <br />
|-<br />
| Millennials<br />
| 1982 - 1999<br />
| The last children born in the 2nd Millennium. Initially called Generation Y, as they were thought to be so boring the only thing of note was that they came after Generation X, by people that hadn't anticipated the internet.<br />
|-<br />
| Generation 💅 (nail polish emoji)<br />
| 2000 - 2017<br />
| This begins the hypothetical future generation names, though this generation was already fully born as of this comic's posting. Social media was established and rising during the formative years of this generation, and the widespread adoption of emoji began during this time. The [https://emojipedia.org/nail-polish/ Nail Polish Emoji] (U+1F485) is used here. Currently known as Generation Z in reality, though the comic implies it may change due to emojis ultimately replacing the alphabet entirely.<br />
|-<br />
| Zuckerberg's Army<br />
| 2018 - 2035<br />
| Continuing on the above, this may be presuming the dominance of FaceBook during the childhoods of this generation, and corresponding social norming as ultimately directed by its leader Mark Zuckerberg. Ironically, as of this comic's posting, [http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-quit-young-people-social-media-snapchat-instagram-emarketer-a8206486.html young users were already leaving FaceBook for other social media sites]. May also be a reference to "Dumbledore's Army" in ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''. It is uncertain whether Zuckerberg's Army is in alliance or at war with the other social media militaries of the mid-21st century.<br />
|-<br />
| The Hovering Ones<br />
| 2036 - 2053<br />
| This may posit increased adoption of cybernetics, which (as with any technology) are more easily adopted by the young who do not have to unlearn previous ways. If advances allowed someone to hover all the time, such that one would not need to walk, this generation's name suggests that becoming so widely used among this generation that they became known for it.<br />
|-<br />
| Spare Parts<br />
| 2054 - 2071<br />
| Continuing on the above speculation about cybernetics, this presumes enough apathy or sociopathy among this generation's parents that giving birth (or other means of creating a new human) was often done to create bodies from which organs could be harvested (presumably primarily for the benefit of their elders).<br />
|-<br />
| More Gen-Xers somehow<br />
| 2072 - 2089<br />
| As with "Generation – • • –", this may be positing that Generation X like traits pop up about 3/4 of the way through each century.<br />
|-<br />
| The Paperclip Machines<br />
| 2090 - 2107<br />
| This, and the alt text, are references to the concept of a [https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Paperclip_maximizer paperclip maximizer], where an AI might be designed to be helpful, but end up being harmful. The clicker game [http://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/ Universal Paperclips] makes this concept playable. Furthering the above speculation of cybernetics, this generation might be primarily artificial intelligences, though of limited ability to set their own priorities (a flaw which would be fixed in later generations).<br />
|-<br />
| The Mixed Bag (produced 4 Lincolns, 1 Napoleon, and 2 Hitlers)<br />
| 2108 - 2125<br />
| As with the above examples, a generation may become known for its most famous members, but it is not useful to define an entire generation by them.<br />
|-<br />
| The Procedural Generation<br />
| 2136 - 2143<br />
| {{w|Procedural generation}} is a way of creating data automatically, rather than capturing it via sensor (including when the "sensor" is a keyboard and the data is typed in). This confusion of the term "generation" could refer to more artificial intelligences that were created via routines instead of directly coded, which would likely stem from attempts to improve child creation once most children were explicitly manufactured instead of relying on evolution-granted biological means.<br />
|-<br />
| Generation Ω<br />
| 2144 - 2161<br />
| "Omega" is the last letter in the Greek alphabet, and used as a symbol of endings. Given the above generation names implying increasingly artificial children, this may suggest the last generation that is recognizably a generation. This does not necessarily mean the end of children or the end of humanity, just that anything after 2161 is widely recognized to no longer have even notional generational coherence - perhaps because of drift (children born to one group during a given time are wildly different enough from children born to another group at the same time that people give up trying to group them by time), child gestation and maturation times (for example, if it became common for a child to go from conception to adulthood in less than a year), or exceptions to what counts as a "child" (for example, if it becomes possible and common to create clones that are somewhere between free-willed beings and mind-controlled drones, and this sufficiently supplants creation of completely free-willed children, regardless of whether the children are artificial intelligences or old-fashioned biological children).<br />
|-<br />
| Star Trek: The Next Generation<br />
|2360 - 2378<br />
|''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}'' was a TV show set in the future. The first episode of ''TNG'', "{{w|Encounter at Farpoint}}", takes place in 2364, and it concluded with "{{w|All_Good_Things..._(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)|All Good Things...}}", which took place in 2370. The final canonical adventures of the cast of ''The Next Generation'' did not occur until the events of ''{{w|Star Trek: Nemesis}}'' in 2379.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:"Generations" are arbitrary. They're just labels we use to obliquely talk about cultural trends.<br />
:But since Pew Research has become the latest to weigh in, and everyone loves a good pointless argument over definitions...<br />
<br />
:''xkcd presents''<br />
:A Definitive Chronology of the Generations<br />
<br />
:1730-1747 The Founders<br />
:1748-1765 Generation ƒ <br />
:1766-1783 The Adequate Generation<br />
:1784-1801 Generation Æ<br />
:1802-1819 The generation we cut a lot of slack because they produced Lincoln<br />
:1820-1837 The Gilded Generation<br />
:1838-1855 The Second-Greatest Generation<br />
:1856-1873 Generation – • • –<br />
:1874-1891 The kids who died in the Gilded Generation's factories and mines<br />
:1892-1909 Oops, one of us is Hitler<br />
:<span style="background:#f0ee87">1910-1927 The Greatest Generation</span><br />
:<span style="background:#f0ee87">1928-1945 The Silent Generation</span><br />
:<span style="background:#f0ee87">1946-1963 Baby Boomers</span><br />
:<span style="background:#f0ee87">1964-1981 Generation X</span><br />
:<span style="background:#f0ee87">1982-1999 Millennials</span><br />
:2000-2017 Generation 💅 [nail polish emoji]<br />
:2018-2035 Zuckerberg's army<br />
:2036-2053 The Hovering Ones<br />
:2054-2071 Spare Parts<br />
:2072-2089 More Gen-Xers somehow<br />
:2090-2107 The Paperclip Machines<br />
:2108-2125 The Mixed Bag (produced 4 Lincolns, 1 Napoleon and 2 Hitlers)<br />
:2126-2143 The Procedural Generation<br />
:2144-2161 Generation Ω<br />
:2360-2378 Star Trek: The Next Generation <br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Emoji]]</div>162.158.59.208