User:Gijobarts/sandbox

A page with a table: 1047: Approximations

As of October 2016 the footnote/tiny print at the bottom of xkcd.com pages reads:

xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated
in Javascript on an Apple IIGS at a screen resolution of 1024x1. Please enable your ad blockers, disable high-heat drying,
and remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode. For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing.

The text gives questionable advice on how to view xkcd.com. Using a discontinued browser on an Apple computer released in 1986 with a obscure screen resolution there basially just is a horizonal line.

Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below	It is normal to specified browser and minimum version, as all later versions typically retain needed features from previous versions. Instead, the footnote claims that older versions are better (perhaps due to reliance on a bug fixed after version 4.0. No version of Netscape Navigator is currently maintained.
on a Pentium 3±1	Pentium was a brand of processors made by Intel. Instead of specifying just a minimum or maximum version, both are specified, in a syntax more often used for specifying tolerances, usually of a physical property.
emulated in Javascript	Javascript is a programming language used on web pages. While may be possible to write a Pentium emulator in Javascript, this would be an unusual and probably inefficient choice.
on an Apple IIGS	The Apple IIGS was a computer made in the 1980's. Even slower Pentium computers are hundreds of times faster than the Apple IIGS. Combined with the inefficiencies of processor emulation, this would result in a painfully slow experience, if it worked at all. The Apple IIGS was made before Internet connections were common, and there was probably no web Javascript-compatible browser for it, if any browser at all.
at a screen resolution of 1024x1.
Please enable your ad blockers,
disable high-heat drying,
and remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode.
For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing.

This footnote was added October 4th or 5th, 2016 [1].

Old footnote

Previously the footnote was:

BTC 1FhCLQK2ZXtCUQDtG98p6fVH7S6mxAsEey
We did not invent the algorithm.
The algorithm consistently finds Jesus.
The algorithm killed Jeeves. 
The algorithm is banned in China.
The algorithm is from Jersey.
The algorithm constantly finds Jesus.

And the following one added by Randall:

This is not the algorithm. This is close.

It was added by Randall in April 2007, according to his Blog as a response to random billboards appearing in the New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. It turned out these were a viral marketing campaign by the ask(jeeves) search engine to drive publicity around their new search algorithm. The campaign is long over, but Randall kept the text there (apparently) as a self referential advertising campaign. Specifically, people who find the small text will use a search engine to see what it means and the search engine will likely lead them back to xkcd — where they saw the text initially.

BTC means bitcoin. The string of alphanumeric characters is his bitcoin address.

It was removed on September 9th, 2016 [2].