Difference between revisions of "721: Flatland"
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* <code>use the force luke</code> replies "I believe you mean source.". A reference to the {{w|The_Force_(Star_Wars)|Force}} in the {{w|Star Wars}} franchise. | * <code>use the force luke</code> replies "I believe you mean source.". A reference to the {{w|The_Force_(Star_Wars)|Force}} in the {{w|Star Wars}} franchise. | ||
* <code>use the source luke</code> replies "I'm not luke, you're luke!". An old programmes joke. | * <code>use the source luke</code> replies "I'm not luke, you're luke!". An old programmes joke. | ||
− | * <code>vi</code> | + | * <code>vi</code> and <code>vi</code> reply "You should really use emacs.". References [[378: Real Programmers]]. |
− | |||
* <code>wget [url]</code> shows the content of the specified url. The {{w|wget}} command on unix will download the content and not show it. | * <code>wget [url]</code> shows the content of the specified url. The {{w|wget}} command on unix will download the content and not show it. | ||
* <code>who</code> replies "Doctor Who?". Another {{w|Doctor Who}} reference. | * <code>who</code> replies "Doctor Who?". Another {{w|Doctor Who}} reference. | ||
Line 105: | Line 104: | ||
There are also some other commands borrowed from a {{w|Zork}} like {{w|Text-based_game|text based adventure game}}. | There are also some other commands borrowed from a {{w|Zork}} like {{w|Text-based_game|text based adventure game}}. | ||
* <code>look</code> describes your current surroundings. | * <code>look</code> describes your current surroundings. | ||
− | * <code>go [direction]</code> moves you in the specified direction (<code>down</code> is also supported). | + | * <code>go [direction]</code> moves you in the specified direction (<code>down</code> is also supported; however, it replies a different message). |
* <code>light lamp</code> lights your lamp. | * <code>light lamp</code> lights your lamp. | ||
− | * <code>sleep [seconds]</code> sleeps for the specified time. | + | * <code>sleep [seconds]</code> sleeps for the specified time. Without specifying, the nap is 5 seconds. |
You will be killed by a {{w|Grue_(monster)|grue}} if you didn't light your lamp when going south. | You will be killed by a {{w|Grue_(monster)|grue}} if you didn't light your lamp when going south. | ||
Going west repeatedly will list the refrain from the song {{w|Go_West_(song)|Go west}}. | Going west repeatedly will list the refrain from the song {{w|Go_West_(song)|Go west}}. |
Revision as of 19:54, 8 December 2017
Flatland |
Title text: Also, I apologize for the time I climbed down into your world and everyone freaked out about the lesbian orgy overseen by a priest. |
Explanation
This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: I just added the information on unixkcd from https://vimeo.com/78912850. I think I got all the commands from the javascript file, but I could be wrong. I just added the reply for several commands. These replies probably need a more detailed explanation. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks. |
This comic is a reference to the satirical novel Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, in which a society of flat shapes live in a 2D world. Half the book is a direct satire of Victorian society, and the other half explores the experience of discovering a new dimension, where a sphere introduces a square (named A. Square) to 3D. Cueball appears to have taken the place of this sphere, and the comic takes place after the square knows the third dimension exists.
Humans will never fully be able to grasp the concept of a four spatial dimensions (at least not in the foreseeable future), but there are ways of squashing or slicing four dimensions to create partial visualizations of 4D space. Miegakure is a 4D game that uses cross-sections of 4D space. Cueball attempted to play it, but after having his mind blown, he gained more sympathy for A. Square, who'd had similar trouble understanding 3D. A. Square accepts his apology.
The joke here is that Cueball was being silly and drew lines on A. Square to make him look like SpongeBob, which did not make the square happy. Cueball apologizes again.
The title text is a third apology for when Cueball crawled down into the second dimension. Being a stick figure, he is comprised of a circle and straight lines. In Flatland, circles are priests (Flatland's highest social level), and all women are lines; thus, to a watcher in Flatland, Cueball would look very much like a priest above many connected women, which may look like a lesbian orgy.
UniXkcd
This comic was released on March 31, 2010 and was still up on April 1st, 2010. On April Fools' Day Randall altered the website to mimic a Unix command line interface. This interface is still available on uni.xkcd.com and the source code is available on GitHub. The terminal lists a few available commands:
-
next
shows the next comic. Shows the error "Time travel mode not enabled" on the last comic (seeenable time travel
). -
prev
shows the previous comic. -
first
shows the first comic. -
last
shows the last comic. -
display [number]
shows the comic with the specified number. -
random
shows a random comic. -
ls
shows the content of the current directory. -
cat [filename]
shows the content of the file. -
cd [directory]
changes to the specified directory.
But there are several undocumented commands as well:
-
a/s/l
randomly replies "2/AMD64/Server Rack", "328/M/Transylvania", "6/M/Battle School", "48/M/The White House", "7/F/Rapture", "Exactly your age/A gender you're attracted to/Far far away.", "7,831/F/Lothlórien" or "42/M/FBI Field Office". A/S/L is not a unix command, but an acronym of Age/Sex/Location. -
apt-get
replies "This APT has Super Cow Powers.". Theapt-get
command is part of the Debian package manager APT. This reply is one of the build in Easter eggs. -
asl
same asa/s/l
. -
bash
replies "You bash your head against the wall. It's not very effective.". Bash is a shell for POSIX-based systems. -
buy stuff
same ascd store
. -
cat [number]/alt.txt
displays the alt-text of the specified comic. -
cat
(without a filename) will show "You're a kitty!" referencing 231: Cat Proximity. -
cheat
promotes the xkcd store. -
clear
clears the screen. -
date
replies "March 32nd". -
dir
same asls
. -
echo
replies "Echo ... echo ... echo ...". The echo command is used to print text to the terminal. -
ed
replies "You are not a diety.". ed is a very simple text editor. It is usually not considered very user friendly (see alsovi
andemacs
). -
emacs
replies "You should really use vim.". References 378: Real Programmers. -
enable time travel
replies "TARDIS error: Time Lord missing.". A Doctor Who reference. See also thenext
command. -
exit
will end the terminal session. -
find kitten
showed the Robotfindskitten game (unfortunately, the flash game is no longer available). -
find
replies "What do you want to find? Kitten would be nice.". -
finger
replies "Mmmmmm...". -
fuck
replies "I have a headache.". -
goto [any]
shows comic 292: goto and asks if you meantdisplay
instead. -
halp
same ashelp
. -
hello joshua
replies "How about a nice game of Global Thermonuclear War?". A reference to the WarGames movie. -
hello
replies "Hello.". There is a second reply "Why hello there!" coded, but it is never used. -
help
says "That would be cheating!". -
hi
replies "Hi.". -
hint
randomly replies "We offer some really nice polos.", "This terminal will remain available at xkcd.com/unixkcd/", "Use the source, Luke!" or "There are cheat codes.". -
i read the source code
replies "<3". -
irc [nick]
starts an IRC session on the xkcd channel on irc.foonetic.net. -
kill
replies "Terminator deployed to 1984.". A reference to the Terminator movie. -
locate [filename]
is normally used to locate a file in a directory. It will give humorous results when searching forninja
,keys
,joke
,problem
andraptor
. -
logout
same asexit
. -
lpr
replies "PC LOAD LETTER". lpr is a command to print documents. PC_LOAD_LETTER is a printer error. -
make love
replies "I put on my robe and wizard hat.".make love
is a standard unix joke, because the reply is "make: don't know how to make love.". -
make me a sandwich
behaves like 149: Sandwich. -
man [command]
show unhelpful information about the command (onlylast
,help
,next
,cat
or no command are support). -
moo
replies "moo". -
more
replies "Oh, yes! More! More!". The more command is used to paginate output. -
nano
replies "Seriously? Why don't you just use Notepad.exe? Or MS Paint?". Nano is another text editor for Unix systems (seevi
andemacs
). -
ping
replies "There is another submarine three miles ahead, bearing 225, forty fathoms down.". The ping command used to measure round trip times to a destination. The name does indeed originate from sonar technology. -
pwd
replies "You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.". The pdw command prints the current working directory (seelook
). -
quit
same asexit
. -
reddit [number]
shows the Reddit voting bar for the specified comic (or xkcd when no number is specified). -
rm [filename]
will make it seem like you deleted the file. -
serenity
replies "You can't take the sky from me.". This is a line from the Balad of Serenity from the Firefly TV series. -
ssh
replies "ssh, this is a library.". ssh is the command to start a secure shell, but it also resembles the "Shh" sound. -
su
replies "God mode activated. Remember, with great power comes great ... aw, screw it, go have fun.". The su command is used to log in as super user, which gives you full and potentionally dangerous access to the system. -
sudo [command]
executes the command with root privileges. -
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Returns "You are already running [OS].". -
sudo apt-get moo
replies "Have you mooed today?" (apt-get Easter egg). -
sudo apt-get update
Refreshes the package list so the system knows which updates are available. -
sudo apt-get upgrade
shows a link to A Better Browser on Internet Explorer and Firefox (< v3). On all other browsers it doesn't complain. -
sudo make me a sandwich
behave like 149: Sandwich. -
sudo poweroff
will shutdown the system. -
sudo reboot
will restart the system. -
sudo restart
same assudo reboot
. -
sudo shutdown
same assudo poweroff
. -
time travel
displays 630: Time Travel. -
top
replies "It's up there --^". The top command shows a table of processes. Here it is taken literally. -
uname
replies "Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator". The Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator is an explosive device created by Marvin the Martian in the Looney Tunes series. -
unixkcd
opens a new terminal window. -
use the force luke
replies "I believe you mean source.". A reference to the Force in the Star Wars franchise. -
use the source luke
replies "I'm not luke, you're luke!". An old programmes joke. -
vi
andvi
reply "You should really use emacs.". References 378: Real Programmers. -
wget [url]
shows the content of the specified url. The wget command on unix will download the content and not show it. -
who
replies "Doctor Who?". Another Doctor Who reference. -
whoami
replies "You are Richard Stallman.". The whoami command lists the name of the current user. -
write [nick]
same asirc
. -
xkcd
replies "Yes?". -
xyzzy
replies "Nothing happens.". xyzzy is a magic word, originally used in the Colossal Cave Adventure. -
your gay
replies "Keep your hands off it!".
There are also some other commands borrowed from a Zork like text based adventure game.
-
look
describes your current surroundings. -
go [direction]
moves you in the specified direction (down
is also supported; however, it replies a different message). -
light lamp
lights your lamp. -
sleep [seconds]
sleeps for the specified time. Without specifying, the nap is 5 seconds.
You will be killed by a grue if you didn't light your lamp when going south. Going west repeatedly will list the refrain from the song Go west.
The terminal also responds to the Konami code Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A. Entering this code repeatedly will transform all characters to upper case, add a gray text shadow, add an orange text shadow, shake the screen and add a background image of Richard Stallman from 345: 1337: Part 5.
Trivia
There is actually a SpongeBob episode featuring a flat creature that resembles a crude drawing of SpongeBob.
Transcript
- [Cueball encounters a square on the ground.]
- Cueball: Hey, A. Square. How's Flatland?
- Square: Still flat. What's up?
- Cueball: I just spent an hour playing a demo of this 4D game called Miegakure.
- [A character in Miegakure jumps around the 4D landscape.]
- Trying to jump from block to block in four dimensions hurt my brain.
- Cueball: So I apologize for giving you a hard time when you were slow to understand 3D space. I sympathize now.
- Square: It's okay.
- Cueball: Also, I apologize for drawing arms, legs, and eyes on you to make you look like SpongeBob. That was out of line.
- Square: Yes, it was.
Discussion
There might be another comic in this joke with Cueball's last line "That was out of line." Where a line would be a 2-dimensional object. lcarsos (talk) 21:58, 29 October 2012 (UTC)
Point of order - a line is a ONE dimensional object (and a point is a zero dimensional object) -- mwburden 70.91.188.49 14:32, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
- True, but in the book "lines" were in fact extremely flat triangles. 184.66.160.91 21:33, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
Also, how has nobody noticed the "What's up?" line from the square? This could be a double - or even a triple entendre, meaning "What is the nature of 'up'?", "What is located in the upward direction?" or "What's going on?". The first two would be plays on the square's inability to sense 'up', which is the general idea of the Flatland story. 193.88.197.67 07:35, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
It might be worth noting that there isn't a playable demo yet (unfortunately :P ) 199.27.128.188 18:18, 20 February 2015 (UTC)VectorLightning (Guest)
Hidden DoodleBob reference!! -- JayRulesXKCD (talk) 8:17, 11 September 2016 (EDT)
sudo sudo
is another undocumented command and says "Too much recursion" if entered. 162.158.165.154 16:05, 3 April 2018 (UTC)
Should the UniXKCD section be put on its own page? It has nearly nothing to do with the actual comic. 625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8 (talk) 21:09, 4 April 2018 (UTC)
Wait, he played a demo in 2010? It's 2019 and there's still no full release, so where the hell can I find this demo? 172.68.65.90 02:09, 16 October 2019 (UTC)
This was just after PAX East (Boston, 26-28 March 2010), one of the only times Miegakure was shown publicly; Randall probably had a chance to play it then. 172.68.174.82 02:34, 12 March 2020 (UTC)