Game AIs
by Jeff
Image text: The top computer champion at Seven Minutes in Heaven is a Honda-built Realdoll, but to date it has been unable to outperform the human Seven Minutes in Heaven champion, Ken Jennings.
This explanation got really long, so I'm placing it after the jump.
1000 Comics
by Jeff
Image text: Thank you for making me feel less alone.
This is obviously the 1000th xkcd comic. In this comic, click on the image above to see the large version, Randall has put (almost?) every stick figure character he has used through the 5+ years into the number 1000. Can't know for certain if this is all the characters, but it is an awful lot and I recognize a bunch.
The joke in this comic is Cueball saying at the bottom, "Only 24 more to go for a big round number". First and obviously, 1000 is a big round number, but in binary notation, 1024 is represented as 10000000000, making it a simple round number occurring frequently in computers.
Porn Folder
by Jeff
Image text: Eww, gross, you modified link()? How could you enjoy abusing a filesystem like that?
In this comic, Cueball finds what he believes to be a pornography folder on the off-screen character's laptop. The folder is a bit hidden, as is the stereotype of porn folders since no one wants a random person using their computer to find it. However, instead of traditional pornography, which would include videos, photos and etc, this contains just folders and subfolders. After getting to the bottom of the folder tree, it links back up to the main folder again.
The filesystem is called a "hardlinked directory loop" by the offscreen character. A hard link is a static pointer that points from one link or file to the actual data that is on the disk. In this case, the hard link is pointing back up to the main folder which creates a loop. Hard links are not usually used to point to directories, which is why this is described as "so taboo". Soft links or symbolic links are used to link to directories instead. The utilization of the word "hard" is not lost on me as a pun for a filesystem that turns on the offscreen character.
In the image text: In a Linux operating system, link() creates a new link, also known as a hard link (there's the hard link again) to an existing file.
File Transfer
by Berg
Image Text: Every time you email a file to yourself so you can pull it up on your friend's laptop, Tim Berners-Lee sheds a single tear.
Hello, all! Berg here again. Jeff is... actually, I don't know why Jeff couldn't do today's post, but I think it's pretty safe to assume that it's because he's having a hemorrhoid removed. Now then, onto xkcd!
Today's post is poking fun at the inability of many people to share large files via the internet, despite the fact that the internet was arguably developed to ease the sharing of large files between geographically distant computer users. Granted, what constitutes a "large file" has changed significantly over the years (my family purchased a 250 MB external drive when I was a youth, and we fretted that we wouldn't ever need that much space. We were wrong), but still- the inherent irony in being unable to use the internet for the purpose the internet was developed for is the engine driving today's xkcd. Now then, let's dissect it, shall we?
Cueball, whom I presume is on the phone with Cutie (Black Hat shouldn't have a hard time with any of this stuff), is trying to help a friend help their cousin send them a 25 MB file. This exceeds most email programs' 20 MB attachment limit (note: Gmail increased their attachment limit to 25 MB in 2009, though many email programs still top out at 20 MB. If anybody knows a reason behind that number, let me know in the comments), and so simply attaching the file to an email is out of the question.
The next option is to upload the file to an FTP server (file transfer protocol, as opposed to HTTP, hypertext transfer protocol), used to transfer files between computers on a shared network, such as the internet. However, FTP servers are a touch more esoteric than a mere email attachment, and many internet users (myself included) don't have one of their own. Indeed, I've only even used FTPs a handful of times (unless FTP is automatically used every time you download a file. This is honestly much more of a Jeff "I do computers for a living and can afford to have my hemorrhoids removed" Roman field than an Alex "Barely making a living as a comedian so thankfully I don't have any hemorrhoids which I would have to pay to have removed like Jeff does" Berg field).
Web hosting is simply the ability to create a website and store all the data for said website on a server which is connected to the internet. If Cutie's cousin (CC?) had the ability to do that, sharing the file would be as easy as making a website for it, then having Cutie visit said website and download said file. But no, the adventure continues.
MegaUpload is one of many, many sites on the internet that recognizes most users' inability to host large files on their own, and so offers to host large files, sometimes for free, sometimes for a small fee. The payoff is that in order to make such a service profitable, many of these sites are cluttered with banner and pop up ads in a mad effort to squeeze as much ad revenue out of every page view as possible. It's not a dealbreaker for some, but Cueball seems to think it'll be too much for CC to handle.
AIM direct connect was a file sharing system on AOL Instant Messenger that I think was dying out in popularity even by the time I got to college in the fall of 2000. Clearly, Cueball is grasping at straws here- anybody desperate enough to invoke the name of AOL as a solution instead of a problem must be at their wits' end.
But then- the perfect solution arises: Dropbox. A simple, easy to use program with an intuitive GUI that will automate file sharing between two computers using the internet, just like the internet was designed to do. But alas, by the time Cueball arrives at a solution, CC has used a mix of old and new technology, namely the car and the USB drive, to physically transport the file to Cutie's house, thus circumventing the internet all together. It's not an elegant solution, but sometimes brute force is the easiest way to get something done.
...and this, this inability to use the internet for its intended purpose, is why Tim Berners-Lee, the arguable inventor of the internet (take a hike, Al Gore), sheds a tear: His creation cannot be appreciated by the masses it was intended for.
That's it for me! But before I go, I'd like to take this opportunity for a shameless plug that Jeff has in no way endorsed. I've started a blog called Berg and Bot where I do text-based improv with Cleverbot a (supposedly) advanced piece of AI chatting software. If you wanna check it out, head to BergAndBot.tumblr.com. If you don't, I understand.
AI
by Jeff
Image text: And they both react poorly to showers.
This comic is about Cleverbot the AI chat application. Someone must have put the input from one Cleverbot session into another session with hilarious results and posted it on the internet. For those that are interested, occasional "explainer" Berg started a tumblr where he improvises scenes with the Cleverbot app.
Burning Man is a yearly festival in the desert where, well, I'll let the Burning Man website take it away: " Burning Man is an annual art event and temporary community based on radical self expression and self-reliance in the Black Rock Desert". The Black Rock desert is in Nevada.
So, as you can see that is where they are making the joke that AI is like a Burning Man attendee because they react poorly to showers, can play chess and drive a car across the desert but they can't hold a normal conversation.
Missed Connections
by Jeff
Image text: The Street View van isn't going to find out anything Google won't already know from reading my email.
Missed Connections is a page on Craigslist in which people who saw each other briefly and want to reconnect attempt to find each other again. If I was to hazard a guess, I would imagine it works .0001% of the time. In the case of missed connections, one person describes themselves "Me" and describes the other person "You" in order to try to reconnect.
The first one is a goofy joke as far as I can tell.
The second one is not a reference to anything I can find, anyone know?
The third one is a reference to networking. UDP stands for User Datagram Protcol. UDP packets don't use handshaking to verify they have contacted the correct host, so they can get lost or confused. The Cisco router location is just a reference to a block of IP addresses. Cisco is a company that makes networking equipment. This is a play on a missed connection for someone who was lost and asked for directions.
The fourth one seems to be a joke as well. For those outside of the US (or those inside as well), Nancy Pelosi is a member of the US House of Representatives. The (D-CA) is a common notation for politicians which notates party (D for Democrat) and state (CA for California).
The fifth seems to be a reference to Randall's upcoming nuptials?
The sixth is a reference to how the Google Street view van was not only recording photos of the street in 360 degrees, it was also collecting data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks. The comic takes this to the next level, that the Google Street View van also scans what we have in our pockets and does a retinal scan. In this case, the social security number referenced is the most used SSN of all time.
The last suggested the Babe Ruth, the American baseball slugger of 1914-1935 is actually a Time Lord. Time Lord is a reference to the popular sci-fi series "Doctor Who" in which The Doctor, who is a Time Lord, uses a TARDIS, which stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space to travel through time.
Mac/PC
by Jeff
Image text: It's fun to watch browsers fumblingly recapitulate the history of window management. Someday we'll have xmonad as a Firefox extension.
xmonad referenced in the image text is (according to its website) xmonad is a dynamically tiling X11 window manager that is written and configured in Haskell. In a normal WM, you spend half your time aligning and searching for windows. xmonad makes work easier, by automating this.
Basically, it is a window manager for the linux operating system.
Back to the comic, the statement is very true considering you can use Firefox or Chrome on both a Mac and PC and your experience will be very much the same. With the exception of the PCs vulnerability to viruses and malware, despite the recent outbreak of the MacDefender malware.
This comic is also a reference to the long running commercials where Justin Long plays a cool, sylish and aloof Mac and John Hodgman steals the commercials playing a harried, troubled PC. In the commercials, each would start out by saying "Hi, I'm a Mac" and "And I'm a PC". Here's an example of 15 or so of the commercials if you do not remember.
CIA
by Jeff
Image text: It was their main recruiting poster, hung up nearly ten feet up a wall! This means the hackers have LADDER technology! Are we headed for a future where everyone has to pay $50 for one of those locked plexiglass poster covers? More after the break ...
This comic is a reference to the recent attacks by a group briefly known as LulzSec, which was a splinter group from the internet community known as Anonymous. Anonymous has been a previous subject of xkcd comics. In the back of the news report in frame one is the logo that was used by LulzSec. The group was able to publicize several high profile attacks. They were able to briefly take down the CIA website using a DDoS attack. DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service in which the attacker uses many computers to send traffic to a host and render it incapable of answering requests from any other computer, effectively taking the site down.
This comic is pointing out the difference between what lay-people and the computer experts hear when seeing a story like this. It is comparing a website to a company's poster, which is much different and less harmful than the actual hacking of actual computers.
Unpickable
by Jeff
Image text: The safe is empty except for an unsolved 5x5 Rubik's cube.
This comic is a response to the widespread hacking and stealing of people's personal information from company's databases as of late. The companies like Sony amongst were supposed to protect the information, but instead they used flawed security and hackers were able to get in and obtain people's information. (Could be, but likely not, a much better explanation is below in "UPDATE".)
This comic is saying that the only way that you know that your information will be safe from hackers is to keep if offline and in an uncrackable safe.
I'm not sure what the image text means, but I'm sure there is something in there about geeks liking Rubik's cubes or that Randall's only valuable possession is a 5x5 Rubik's cube.
UPDATE: Or it could be a distraction for any geek/hacker that is able to get into the safe. All of the above is true, however, this comic says the hacker will be distracted trying to get into the safe and will ignore the shoebox containing all your valuables. (I blame my misinterpretation on the early morning.) Once in the safe, the geek/hacker will be even more distracted by the 5x5 Rubik's cube. (Thanks commentors!)
Manual Override
by Jeff
Image text: I think you mean 'GNU Info Override'.
In this comic, the pilots of the plane type "man override" into their autopilot and instead of getting "manual override" they get the manual page for the override command. "man" is the command that will pull up the manual entry in Linux distributions of which GNU is one.
Basically this is a pun on the word "Manual", which can mean both "by hand" or "instructions".
The image text is an expansion of the phrase "man override". In the GNU Linux distribution, more information are found in the unwieldy GNU info pages. So, they sub "manual" in the second definition above for "GNU Info".