https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=199.27.128.138&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T10:39:13ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1540:_Hemingway&diff=1232381540: Hemingway2016-07-12T07:22:37Z<p>199.27.128.138: This also makes a reference to bobcats, so included the bobcats category.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1540<br />
| date = June 19, 2015<br />
| title = Hemingway<br />
| image = hemingway.png<br />
| titletext = Instead of bobcat, package contained chair.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is a reference to the six-word short story ''{{w|For sale: baby shoes, never worn}}'', which has been commonly attributed to famous author {{w|Ernest Hemingway}}; however, [[Randall|Randall Munroe]] explicitly states that this might not be the case at all. Whether Hemingway once wrote this story and called it his best work is a matter of urban legend.<br />
<br />
The comic plays on the fact that the original story takes the form of a short advertisement that might have been seen in a newspaper, and makes up alternate versions that use various modern 'standards' that did not exist in Hemingway's time. In keeping with the original, each example remains six words long. The title text obeys this rule, too. Many of the drafts poke fun at the tragedy that the original story suggests. With the original ("For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn"), readers could infer that the baby who would have worn the shoes must have died. Randall tries to make the reader infer other, more absurd things instead.<br />
<br />
The comic also alludes to Hemingway's practice of repeatedly re-working drafts of his novels before publication. For example, he is [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/books/a-farewell-to-arms-with-hemingways-alternate-endings.html reported] to have rewritten the final passage of [https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=A_Farewell_to_Arms A Farewell To Arms] 39 times. Later editions of his works include these rough drafts, allowing the devoted reader to understand how the work developed.<br />
<br />
The various drafts offered in the comic are:<br />
*"For Sale: This gullible baby's shoes": This suggests the seller somehow tricked the baby out of its shoes.<br />
*"Baby shoes for sale by owner": This suggests that a very intelligent baby is somehow selling its own shoes, or that someone is selling an old pair of shoes they had as a baby. This style represents the typical automobile or house sales ads, differentiating the sale by owner from the sale by a professional middleman (a car dealer or a realtor) and thus bypassing the extra expense of middleman's fee.<br />
*“<strike>Actually, there’s no evidence Hemingway wrote</strike>”: A fragment of a preemptive rebuttal to the comic’s premise (or at least its title). This sentence was stopped at the sixth word, in keeping with the premise. <br />
*"Free shoes, provided you overpower baby": This suggests the person posting the ad is asking people to forcibly steal shoes from a baby. This alludes to the common expression "[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/like_taking_candy_from_a_baby like taking candy from a baby]", meaning a task is extremely simple and effortless. One doesn't necessarily need to overpower a baby to steal its shoes either; there are other methods such as annoying the baby until it throws its shoes or tricking the baby (see the first example above).<br />
*"For Sale: Weird baby's toe shoes": Randall once again displays his distaste for [[1065: Shoes|weird toe shoes]], that is, shoes with individual toes. Rather than the tragedy implied by the original story, this instead implies that someone bought a pair of shoes for the baby that were entirely unwanted.<br />
*"For Sale: Baby shoes <span style="color:gold">✓</span><span style="color:teal">Prime</span> <span style="color:gray">Eligible</span>": This is a reference to {{w|Amazon.com|Amazon}}, which offers Prime as a paid service to expedite shipping of items ordered on its website.<br />
*“<strike>Though popularly attributed to Hemingway, the</strike>”: Another fragment of a rebuttal, written in an encyclopedic style, and also stopped at the sixth word.<br />
*"This weird trick covers baby feet!": This is modeled after common 'click bait' wording designed to get users to visit web pages, typically using words such as "this weird trick" or "secrets they don't want you to know" to artificially increase its apparent appeal. XKCD has previously parodied click bait in [[1283: Headlines]] and [[1426: Reduce Your Payments]].<br />
*"For Sale: Baby shoes, just hatched": This plays on the meaning of the phrase "baby shoes", reframing it to mean a newly-born shoe (similar to "baby bird"), rather than its typical meaning of footwear designed for babies.<br />
*"Sale: Seven-league boots (expedited shipping)": {{w|Seven-league boots}} are mythical boots that allow their user to move seven leagues (21 miles) per step. The "expedited shipping" part suggests that the people delivering these boots may be wearing seven-league boots themselves, allowing them to reach the customer much faster than if by airplane (except, of course, if the boots had to be shipped overseas).<br />
*"Complete this survey for free shoes": This is another reference to common internet marketing campaigns, where users are incentivized to take surveys in exchange for small compensation such as free samples or coupons.<br />
*"''Shoes'', by Ernest Hemingway {{Citation needed}}": This is a reference to Wikipedia. "Citation needed" is used to mark claims that require additional evidence to justify as true. In this case, Randall is using this to question whether the short story was really written by Hemingway.<br />
*"This is my greatest short story": This is a completely different style that could also have been used to write a short story in six words. Rather than telling a story about shoes, this is more "meta" by referencing itself and being a self-fulfilling (or self-defeating) prophecy. (The sequel was titled "Don't bother reading my other stories").<br />
*"For Sale: Baby shoes (-1) [Cursed]": This is written like a description of a virtual item typically found in Roguelike games or MMOs. "-1" typically means the item will reduce its wearer's stats (such as defense or speed rating) by one point. "Cursed" usually means the item cannot be taken off the wearer's body once it is put on. It might also reference the fact the original story suggests the baby died, perhaps because of the cursed shoes.<br />
*"<code><blink><marquee></code>Baby shoes!<code></marquee></blink></code>": This is reminiscent of the style of HTML widely used in the 1990s. Both the <code><blink></code> and <code><marquee></code> tags make the text content ("Baby shoes!") appear more prominent and attention-grabbing. On a normal web page, these tags only affect how the text content is displayed on screen and aren't directly shown to visitors. However they are shown here to make the six words count, albeit in a lighter shade of gray to reinforce the fact that they're not part of the text content. An interesting note: When this comic was first posted to xkcd.com, the '/' in the <code></blink></code> tag was missing. This was fixed between the 19th and 20th of June, 2015, showing that the omission was, indeed, unintentional.<br />
*"For Sale: Baby-sized saddle, bobcat": This is a reference to [[A-Minus-Minus|325: A-Minus-Minus]] in which [[Cueball]] says: 'Instead of office chair, package contained bobcat'. A 'baby-sized saddle' is presumably a very small saddle that's only usable if the user was a baby and was trying to ride a small animal such as a bobcat.<br />
*"Hemingway busted for Craigslist shoe scam": This is written like a news headline where Hemingway supposedly wrote about shoes in order to perpetrate a scam. {{w|Craigslist}} is a website where users can advertise and seek goods and services.<br />
<br />
The title text continues the reference to [[A-Minus-Minus|325: A-Minus-Minus]], but inverts the situation. Rather than unexpectedly receiving a bobcat by package, this time the package contains a regular item instead of the expected bobcat.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Hemingway's Rough Drafts<br />
<br />
:[A list of rough draft stories.]<br />
:For sale: This Gullible Baby's Shoes<br />
:Baby Shoes For Sale By Owner<br />
:<strike>Actually, there's no evidence Hemingway wrote</strike><br />
:Free Shoes, Provided You Overpower Baby<br />
:For Sale: Weird Baby's Toe Shoes<br />
:For Sale: Baby Shoes <span style='color: #FF9900; font-style: italic;'>✓</span> <span style='color: #4DA3C5; font-style: italic;'>Prime</span> <span style='color: #727272;'>eligible</span><br />
:<strike>Though popularly attributed to Hemingway, the</strike><br />
:This Weird Trick Covers Baby Feet!<br />
:For Sale: Baby Shoes, Just Hatched<br />
:Sale: Seven-League Boots (Expedited Shipping)<br />
:Complete this survey for free shoes!<br />
:''Shoes'', by Ernest Hemingway <sup>[<span style='color: #0645ad; font-style: italic;'>citation needed</span>]</sup><br />
:This is my greatest short story.<br />
:For sale: Baby shoes (-1) [cursed]<br />
:<span style='color: #727272;'>&lt;blink&gt;&lt;marquee&gt;</span>Baby Shoes!<span style='color: #727272;'>&lt;/marquee&gt;&lt;/blink&gt;</span><br />
:For Sale: Baby-sized Saddle, Bobcat<br />
:Hemingway Busted for Craigslist Shoe Scam<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Bobcats]]</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1508:_Operating_Systems&diff=886201508: Operating Systems2015-04-06T06:27:13Z<p>199.27.128.138: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1508<br />
| date = April 6, 2015<br />
| title = Operating Systems<br />
| image = operating systems.png<br />
| titletext = One of the survivors, poking around in the ruins with the point of a spear, uncovers a singed photo of Richard Stallman. They stare in silence. "This," one of them finally says, "This is a man who BELIEVED in something."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Barely an explaination}}<br />
<br />
In this comic, Randall provides a timeline of the use of different operating systems in his house. <br />
<br />
The title text refers to Richard Stallman, the founder of the [http://www.fsf.org/about Free Software movement] and the [https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu.html GNU project], and refers to the timeline when [https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html GNU/Hurd] is the only Operating System having survived the apocalypse.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<!-- Include any categories below this line. --></div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1503:_Squirrel_Plan&diff=870061503: Squirrel Plan2015-03-25T04:51:16Z<p>199.27.128.138: /* Transcript */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1503<br />
| date = March 25, 2015<br />
| title = Squirrel Plan<br />
| image = squirrel plan.png<br />
| titletext = [Halfway to the Sun ...] Heyyyy ... what if this BALLOON is full of acorns?!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Explanation is absent and therefore incomplete.}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
There are three squirrels. One is suspended from a balloon. The other two are standing on the ground, looking up at it.<br />
<br />
Squirrel on right: Once you've chewed a hole in the sun, shoot the balloon to fall back to earth, then pull the parachute ripcord to land.<br />
<br />
Squirrel holding balloon: Are you <b><i>sure</i></b> it's full of acorns?<br />
<br />
Squirrel on right: Look how bright and magnificent it is! What else could be in there?<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<!-- Include any categories below this line. --></div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1489:_Fundamental_Forces&diff=847831489: Fundamental Forces2015-02-20T06:25:55Z<p>199.27.128.138: /* Transcript */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1489<br />
| date = February 20, 2015<br />
| title = Fundamental Forces<br />
| image = fundamental_forces.png<br />
| titletext = "Of these four forces, there's one we don't really understand." "Is it the weak force or the strong--" "It's gravity."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Cueball is acting here as someone teaching physics at a basic level, perhaps a high school science teacher. As is typical for someone in that position, he understands the general idea of the four fundamental forces, but his understanding gets progressively more sketchy about the details. The off-panel audience, probably a student or class, is interested, but quickly begins to realize Cueball's lack of understanding. Instead of acknowledging the problem directly, Cueball simply blusters onwards.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the fact that it is gravity, which appears to be the simplest and easiest to understand of the four forces when first introduced, which turns out to be the hardest to reconcile with a coherent (quantum) understanding of all four forces together.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
Cueball: There are four fundamental forces between particles. (1) <em>Gravity</em>, which obeys the inverse square law, F_gravity=G(m_1 m_2/d^2)<br />
<br />
Off panel audience: OK...<br />
<br />
<br />
Cueball: (2) <em>Electromagnetism,</em> which obeys this inverse-square law: F_static = K_e a1a2?d^2 <br />
...and also Maxwell's Equations<br />
<br />
Off panel audience: Also what?<br />
<br />
<br />
Cueball: (3) The <em>Strong Nuclear Force</em> which obeys, uh ...<br />
...well, umm...<br />
...it holds protons and neutrons together.<br />
<br />
Off panel audience: I see.<br />
<br />
Cueball: It's strong.<br />
<br />
<br />
Cueball: And (4) the<em>Weak Force</em> It [mumble mumble] radioactive decay [mumble mumble] <br />
<br />
Off panel audience: That's not a sentence. You just said "Radio-<br />
<br />
Cueball: –and those are the four fundamental forces!<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1489:_Fundamental_Forces&diff=847821489: Fundamental Forces2015-02-20T06:24:39Z<p>199.27.128.138: /* Transcript */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1489<br />
| date = February 20, 2015<br />
| title = Fundamental Forces<br />
| image = fundamental_forces.png<br />
| titletext = "Of these four forces, there's one we don't really understand." "Is it the weak force or the strong--" "It's gravity."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Cueball is acting here as someone teaching physics at a basic level, perhaps a high school science teacher. As is typical for someone in that position, he understands the general idea of the four fundamental forces, but his understanding gets progressively more sketchy about the details. The off-panel audience, probably a student or class, is interested, but quickly begins to realize Cueball's lack of understanding. Instead of acknowledging the problem directly, Cueball simply blusters onwards.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the fact that it is gravity, which appears to be the simplest and easiest to understand of the four forces when first introduced, which turns out to be the hardest to reconcile with a coherent (quantum) understanding of all four forces together.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
Frame 1: <br />
<br />
Cueball: There are four fundamental forces between particles. (1) <em>Gravity</em>, which obeys the inverse square law, F_gravity=G(m_1 m_2/d^2)<br />
Off panel audience: OK...<br />
<br />
Frame 2:<br />
<br />
Cueball: (2) <em>Electromagnetism,</em> which obeys this inverse-square law: F_static = K_e a1a2?d^2 <br />
and also Maxwell's Equations<br />
Off panel audience: Also what?<br />
<br />
Frame 3:<br />
<br />
Cueball: (3) The <em>Strong Nuclear Force</em> which obeys, uh ...<br />
...well, umm...<br />
...it holds protons and neutrons together.<br />
Off panel audience: I see.<br />
Cueball: It's strong.<br />
<br />
Frame 4:<br />
<br />
Cueball: And (4) the<em>Weak Force</em> It [mumble mumble] radioactive decay [mumble mumble] <br />
Off panel audience: That's not a sentence. You just said "Radio-<br />
Cueball: –and those are the four fundamental forces!<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1489:_Fundamental_Forces&diff=847811489: Fundamental Forces2015-02-20T06:24:05Z<p>199.27.128.138: /* Transcript */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1489<br />
| date = February 20, 2015<br />
| title = Fundamental Forces<br />
| image = fundamental_forces.png<br />
| titletext = "Of these four forces, there's one we don't really understand." "Is it the weak force or the strong--" "It's gravity."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Cueball is acting here as someone teaching physics at a basic level, perhaps a high school science teacher. As is typical for someone in that position, he understands the general idea of the four fundamental forces, but his understanding gets progressively more sketchy about the details. The off-panel audience, probably a student or class, is interested, but quickly begins to realize Cueball's lack of understanding. Instead of acknowledging the problem directly, Cueball simply blusters onwards.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the fact that it is gravity, which appears to be the simplest and easiest to understand of the four forces when first introduced, which turns out to be the hardest to reconcile with a coherent (quantum) understanding of all four forces together.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
Frame 1: <br />
<br />
Cueball: There are four fundamental forces between particles. (1) <em>Gravity</em>, which obeys the inverse square law, F_gravity=G(m_1 m_2/d^2)<br />
Off panel audience: OK...<br />
<br />
Frame 2:<br />
Cueball: (2) <em>Electromagnetism,</em> which obeys this inverse-square law: F_static = K_e a1a2?d^2 <br />
and also Maxwell's Equations<br />
Off panel audience: Also what?<br />
Frame 3:<br />
Cueball: (3) The <em>Strong Nuclear Force</em> which obeys, uh ...<br />
...well, umm...<br />
...it holds protons and neutrons together.<br />
Off panel audience: I see.<br />
Cueball: It's strong.<br />
Frame 4:<br />
Cueball: And (4) the<em>Weak Force</em> It [mumble mumble] radioactive decay [mumble mumble] <br />
Off panel audience: That's not a sentence. You just said "Radio-<br />
Cueball: –and those are the four fundamental forces!<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1477:_Star_Wars&diff=83348Talk:1477: Star Wars2015-01-23T19:31:20Z<p>199.27.128.138: </p>
<hr />
<div>Hope the transcript matches normal presentation mores. And I thought I'd keep the title text explanation simple - so I haven't wasted much time if it gets utterly changed. [[User:Mattdevney|Mattdevney]] ([[User talk:Mattdevney|talk]]) 12:55, 23 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Does anyone else notice a weird white line through the dates? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 14:39, 23 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I came here to ask about that. [[User:Linea alba|Linea alba]] ([[User talk:Linea alba|talk]]) 16:13, 23 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Haha, your username is linea alba. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.87|199.27.128.87]] 19:23, 23 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Same here. I'm wondering if it's stylistic somehow (futuristic-looking?) or just a mistake.--[[User:Piratejabez|Piratejabez]] ([[User talk:Piratejabez|talk]]) 17:26, 23 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
::It looks as if he tried to move the labels down, but didn't select the whole line: [http://imgur.com/a/EZSYT]. But it seems odd that he wouldn't notice it right away, since it cut ALL the digits in half. [[User:Linea alba|Linea alba]] ([[User talk:Linea alba|talk]]) 18:47, 23 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
If anyone's interested, I just used http://timeanddate.com to calculate the Star Wars Trilogy Tipping Point, i.e.- the date starting on which ''The Phantom Menace'' will have released closer to ''A New Hope'' than to the present day: May 13, 2021. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.140|173.245.50.140]] 18:23, 23 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Be sure to get "Comics to make one feel old" in those categories. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.138|199.27.128.138]] 19:31, 23 January 2015 (UTC)</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=80:_My_Other_Car&diff=8304580: My Other Car2015-01-20T02:03:32Z<p>199.27.128.138: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 80<br />
| date = March 24, 2006<br />
| title = My Other Car<br />
| image = other_car.jpg<br />
| titletext = It's much better than the other one.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic refers to a popular form of {{w|bumper sticker}} which follow the template "my other car is a ____". Sometimes the blank is a fancy car like a Porsche or a Ferrari; sometimes it's an even more expensive transportation like "yacht" or "private jet".<br />
<br />
The premise was to jokingly imply that someone driving in a less fancy vehicle was wealthier than they looked, as they could afford a fancy car (they simply chose to drive the clunker that day). The designer of the first stickers might even have intended them for serious use by wealthy drivers. The form of sticker ultimately became so well known that the phrase entered the pop-culture lexicon.<br />
<br />
Due to their popularity, these stickers also have been parodied in various ways, like the one [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] has invented here. Randall's sticker is a more "honest" sticker which admits "this IS my other car"; in other words, this is the nicer of the two cars.<br />
<br />
This sticker could probably be used on an expensive car to mirror the traditional sticker's use on a cheaper car. However, the car in the strip is a Mitsubishi, which is not a particularly expensive brand. Thus it appears Randall is using the sticker for contrasting purposes: while others would drive a modest car but joke that they have a really nice car at home, Randall's car is modest and, as he noted in the title text, his other car is ''much'' worse than this one.<br />
<br />
It's also possible that this is a play on meta-levels; by definition, the car that you're driving can't be your other car, as it's this car.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[The back of a blue Mitsubishi with a spoiler is shown.]<br />
:Bumper sticker: This IS my other car.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1474:_Screws&diff=828981474: Screws2015-01-16T22:45:05Z<p>199.27.128.138: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1474<br />
| date = January 16, 2015<br />
| title = Screws<br />
| image = screws.png<br />
| titletext = If you encounter a hex bolt, but you only brought screwdrivers, you can try sandwiching the head of the bolt between two parallel screwdriver shafts, squeezing the screwdrivers together with a hand at either end, then twisting. It doesn't work and it's a great way to hurt yourself, but you can try it!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|May still needs expansion, possibly with origins of the various real screws?}}<br />
<br />
The comic features various real or imagined types of screws, listed below. <br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! style="width: 25%"|Screw type<br />
! Description<br />
|-<br />
| Phillips head<br />
| {{w|List of screw drives#Phillips|Phillips screw drive}} and its corresponding screw head is one of the most recognizable types of screw heads that is commonly used in construction. This type of screw head was named after its inventor, a US businessman {{w|Henry F. Phillips}}. Neither the inventor nor his invention have any relationship to the Dutch electronics manufacturing company with similar, but not exactly the same name {{w|Philips}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Flat head<br />
| {{w|List_of_screw_drives#Slot|Slot head screws}} are frequently erroneously referred to as flat heads (a flat head screw refers, in fact, to the shape of the screw head, regardless of the shape of the drive socket). The slot head is also commonly used in construction. The diagram shows the slot truncated, while typically the slot almost always runs across the entire head of the screw (as in the case of the "uranium screw" below).<br />
|-<br />
| Uh oh. Maybe it's on Amazon? (star-shaped screw)<br />
| Manufacturers sometimes used screws that require special screwdrivers in order to remove them, in order to prevent the customer tampering with the product. The reference to Amazon is the speaker's suggestion to look on Amazon.com for the appropriate screwdriver. A number of star-shaped screw heads exist, notably the six-pointed {{w|Torx}}, and Apple's rounded {{w|Pentalobe screw|pentalobe screw}}, although there is no popular design that uses the 5-pointed star shape depicted in the comic. Torx screws are common in automotive applications — they are easier to screw in via electric screwdrivers — and on bicycles where a higher tightening torque is needed than hex screws can support. They are also commonly used on disk brake mounts.<br />
<br />
|-<br />
| Cursed -1 Phillips head<br />
| The head of a screw can be stripped by overuse, tightening the screw too much, or other misuse. As the driving surfaces wear away, removing the screw becomes more and more difficult, usually damaging the screw more in the process. <br />
<br />
The addition of "cursed" and "-1" in the titles is a reference to various fantasy games (E.g. Dungeons and Dragons), where magical "cursed" items appear frequently. This often makes the cursed equipment (in the case of armor or weapons) incredibly difficult to remove, as it will cling to the wielder. Similarly, the cursed Phillips Head screw becomes difficult to remove due to the stripped head.<br />
<br />
The "-1" refers to the damage of the screw head. In fantasy games, items such as weapons and armor may have an "enchantment", with a positive enchantment making the item more effective, and a negative enchantment making the item less effective. Negatively enchanted items are often also cursed, as is the case with this screw head. The "-1" does not appear to be a reference to a Philips bit-size number, as those are always positive.<br />
<br />
Notably, the stripped screw bears a resemblance to a {{w|List_of_screw_drives#Pozidriv|Pozidriv head}}, a modified version of the Phillips head designed to resist slipping and subsequent stripping. <br />
|-<br />
| Rivet<br />
| A {{w|rivet}} is not a screw - it is a permanent fastener which is secured by deforming the body of the fastener. Rivets cannot be removed with a screwdriver, they must be "drilled out". Some bolts also have rounded rivet-style heads, though, with no means of gripping them.<br />
|-<br />
| Phillips head ruiner ''(actually a hex screw)''<br />
| A reference to the fact that {{w|List_of_screw_drives#Hex_socket|hex socket}} screws can, in a pinch, be removed with a Phillips screwdriver (rather than the intended {{w|Allen wrench}}) but this will likely damage the screwdriver in the process. Hex screws are common on bicycles, where they always come in the metric varieties. The same holds for hex screws which ship with Ikea furniture —who bundle a low-quality hex driver for those people who lack them. Imperial-sized hex screws do sometimes surface, to the dissatisfaction of anyone who owns a hex driver set. The smaller hex screws can enter the "-1" state when attempting to unscrew one that has been overtightened —hence the adoption of Torx screws in high-torque applications.<br />
<br />
|-<br />
| Uranium screw<br />
| Uranium screws were [http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2014/11/10/fat-mans-uranium/ used] in the [http://www.osti.gov/scitech/biblio-page/769001/8/72 construction] of [http://www.scintillators.ru/booc/criticality/reports/ref_050.pdf nuclear weapons] during the twentieth century. Multiple radially extending short wave-like lines around the screw head symbolize radiant energy output, although real uranium screws were most likely made of depleted uranium, which does not exhibit significant radioactivity.<br />
|-<br />
| Phillip's head<br />
| This is a literal (and rather morbid) interpretation of the misspelling "Phillip's head" when "Phillips head" is meant. Rather than refer to the screw type, this "screw" is actually a bloody bag containing the severed head of someone named Phillip. It could possibly be an allusion to one of the {{w|Decapitation|decapitations}} of the royal persons that took place several times in the human history, perhaps even more specifically to {{w|French Revolution|revolutionary France}} where {{w|Capital punishment|capital punishment}} by decapitation was made well-known due to introduction of {{w|Guillotine|guillotine}} and its active use against the former royalty. However, despite the {{w|Philip|name Phillip being used by several members of the upper echelon of French royalty}}, none of the {{w|List of people who were beheaded|famous people ever executed this way in France or anywhere else}} were called Phillip, although {{w|Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|Philippe Égalité}}, the adopted name of Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans, ''was'' guillotined. Intentionally or otherwise, this last punchline could be described as a "mind screw".<br />
|-<br />
|Hex bolt (title text)<br />
|A {{w|List_of_screw_drives#Hex|hex bolt}} has six external sides, so it could in theory be held by squeezing two screwdriver shafts together with the bolt in between. The amount of force on the two screwdriver shafts needed to turn the hex bolt will probably exceed the strength of human hands and would most likely result in hurting your hands and not in turning the bolt.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Eight drawings of different types of heads each with a caption:]<br />
:Phillips head<br />
:Flat head<br />
:Uh oh. Maybe it's on Amazon?<br />
:Cursed –1 Phillips head<br />
:Crap, it's a ''rivet''.<br />
:Phillips-head ruiner<br />
:Uranium screw (a real thing)<br />
:Phillip's head<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1472:_Geography&diff=825111472: Geography2015-01-12T10:15:30Z<p>199.27.128.138: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1472<br />
| date = January 12, 2015<br />
| title = Geography<br />
| image = geography.png<br />
| titletext = The place I'd least like to live is the farm in the background of those diagrams showing how tornadoes form.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The comic is a map showing examples of {{w|geographical feature}}s as they would be presented at the beginning of a {{w|geography}} textbook.<br />
<br />
Some people, when seeing paintings or pictures of landscapes, tend to dream away thinking ‘Imagine I lived there…’ This may happen even (or perhaps especially) to school children looking at schematic depictions with educational purposes, as in this case one that summarizes as many as possible geographic features on a limited area. <br />
<br />
[[Randall]] notes that he would like to live in the middle of this region. These maps include an improbable density of land forms, leading to an interesting environment in which to live. In the real world, these geographical features would take up far more space, and the geologic forces that shape them would create far different patterns than those shown. This kind of {{w|Neverland}} of geographical feature would offer a range of outdoor activities and landscapes that would make it a very nice place to live (as long as the volcano does not erupt too violently).<br />
<br />
Some of the geographic features do have a (very) loose similarity to the area around {{w|Boston}}, where Randall lives. Also near Boston is one geographical feature that Randall has included in this map, but has refrained from labeling - i.e. the {{w|isthmus}} between the peninsula and the forest.<br />
<br />
The title text discusses a different type of diagram usually found in geography textbooks - the one [http://scied.ucar.edu/sites/default/files/images/large_image_for_image_content/tornado_fmn_lg_0.gif showing the mechanism of tornado formation]. Randall notes that he would least like to live in the farm typically depicted in the background of such diagrams - maybe because this farm will be the one they used as example on the next page of the damage created when a tornado hits. That said, chances of a ''direct'' tornado hit on a given house are slim compared to simply the risk of property damage. Living near an active volcano may be much more dangerous than living in the {{w|Tornado Alley}}.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A map shows the various land forms listed, from top and clockwise:]<br />
:{{w|Mountains}}<br />
:{{w|Sea}}<br />
:{{w|Plain}}<br />
:{{w|Island}}<br />
:{{w|River delta|Delta}}<br />
:{{w|Strait}}<br />
:{{w|River}}<br />
:{{w|Bay}}<br />
:{{w|Lagoon}}<br />
:{{w|Penninsula}}<br />
:{{w|Forest}}<br />
:{{w|Mesa}}<br />
:{{w|Hills}}<br />
:{{w|Volcano}}<br />
:{{w|Lake}}<br />
:{{w|Glacier}}<br />
:{{w|Desert}}<br />
<br />
:[In the middle of these, between the lake and the lagoon there is a dot with an arrow pointing it out. The arrow is labeled:]<br />
:My house<br />
<br />
:If I could live anywhere, I would choose the example map from geography books that explains what everything is called.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*Randall has misspelled ''peninsula'' with an extra "n" as pe'''nn'''insula.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Geography]]<br />
[[Category:Maps]]</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=971:_Alternative_Literature&diff=82037971: Alternative Literature2015-01-05T22:02:38Z<p>199.27.128.138: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 971<br />
| date = October 31, 2011<br />
| title = Alternative Literature<br />
| image = alternative_literature.png<br />
| titletext = I just noticed CVS has started stocking homeopathic pills on the same shelves with--and labeled similarly to--their actual medicine. Telling someone who trusts you that you're giving them medicine, when you know you're not, because you want their money, isn't just lying--it's like an example you'd make up if you had to illustrate for a child why lying is wrong.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
While the comic is funny on its own in a "[[:Category:Sheeple|Wake Up, Sheeple]]" kind of way, the full joke requires the title text, so make sure you read it. The comic title is a play on {{w|Alternative medicine}}.<br />
<br />
In the comic, it is implied that [[Cueball]] has been scammed into buying blank books, though he attempts to defend it as a valid choice. The title text likens this to the {{w|CVS Pharmacy}} selling homeopathic pills using methods that does not clearly distinguish them from traditional pharmaceuticals. {{w|Homeopathy}} is a pseudoscience based on the idea that a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people will cure that disease in sick people, if administered in sufficiently small doses. <br />
<br />
Homeopathic remedies are prepared by repeatedly diluting a substance with alcohol or water. Somewhat counter-intuitively, homeopathy considers the weakest dilutions to have the most powerful healing effect. Frequently, in fact, the dilutions are repeated past the point where any meaningful number of molecules of the active ingredient can remain.<br />
<br />
Selling a homeopathic remedy as actual medicine when it is just water is analogous to selling blank books. The smudge of ink Cueball mentions in the comic may be referencing the fact that some of the less diluted homeopathic remedies can contain a tiny amount of the original substance.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and a friend stand in front of Cueball's bookcase. His friend flips through a number of them.]<br />
:Friend: All your books are full of blank pages.<br />
:Cueball: Not true. That one has some ink on page 78.<br />
:Friend: A smudge.<br />
:Cueball: So?<br />
<br />
:Friend: There are no words. You're not reading. There's no ''story'' there.<br />
:Cueball: Maybe not for you. When I look at those books, I think about all ''kinds'' of stories.<br />
<br />
:Cueball: Reading is about more than what's on the page. Holding a book prompts my mind to enrich itself. Frankly, I suspect the book isn't even necessary.<br />
<br />
:Cueball: The whole industry is evil. Greedy publishers and rich authors try to convince us our brains ''need'' their words. But I refuse to be a sucker.<br />
:Friend: Who sold you all these blank books?<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1468:_Worrying&diff=819051468: Worrying2015-01-02T08:52:16Z<p>199.27.128.138: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1468<br />
| date = January 2, 2015<br />
| title = Worrying<br />
| image = worrying.png<br />
| titletext = If the breaking news is about an event at a hospital or a lab, move it all the way over to the right.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This chart is a visual representation of how worried people tend to be by various events in real life compared to the same events in movies. In effect it's poking fun at various cliches and the emphasis on dramatic flair, regardless of realism. The chart's Y-axis indicates how worrying an event is in real life (from "not very worried" to "very worried"), while its X-axis shows how worrying the event is in movies. Nine events are shown in the chart, all of them cliches in the medium of film:<br />
<br />
* '''Spilling a drink on your shirt''': In both real life and in movies, this just causes a stain and maybe a little embarrassment.<br />
* '''Nosebleed''': Nosebleeds are common in real life and almost never are serious... almost. Nosebleeds in movies are almost always a sign that something ''is'' seriously wrong -- the common, mundane nosebleeds never come up.<br />
* '''Breaking news''': People in real life commonly don't pay much attention to the news at all, so many breaking stories go unnoticed until much later. Most breaking news stories are also about non-threatening events (eg. presidential addresses) or events that are far removed from the viewer. However, in movies, seeing the news station switch to a "breaking news" broadcast is universally a means to introduce a significant plot element that the characters find worrying, and large numbers of people are often shown watching and being emotionally affected by the news while it's breaking.<br />
* '''Parking ticket''': Tickets in movies are almost always ignored, but in real life they are moderately worrying because they cost money and can tarnish your driving record.<br />
* '''Persistent cough''': In real life, coughing fits can be a sign of serious illness, but usually aren't. (If you have a persistent cough, you should check with a doctor.) In movies, just like with nosebleeds, a person with a persistent cough is almost always extremely ill or infectious.<br />
* '''"We need to talk"''': This phrase is a common, stereotypical lead-in to a serious conversation, usually about a couple's relationship status, that often causes a high level of worry in the recipient. According to this chart, this phrase is equally worrisome both in movies and in real life.<br />
* '''Getting knocked out by a punch''': In movies, a character who is knocked out by a punch always wakes up sometime later with no lasting effects. In real life, however, a person knocked out by a punch can suffer serious brain injuries or even die from the punch itself, or can sustain further injuries from their head hitting the ground.<br />
* '''Chest wounds''': The chart mentions wounds on both your right and left sides. In real life, a chest wound to either side is extremely worrying. But in movies, getting wounded on the right side of the chest will rarely deal lasting damage to the hero or primary villain, to show how badass they are. Wounds on the ''left'' side of the chest (the atrium side of the heart) signify swift death. However, even left-side chest wounds are apparently still less worrisome than nosebleeds.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to "breaking news" reports in movies - whenever the news story covers an event at a hospital (usually an outbreak of some major disease) or a laboratory (a monster escaping, a toxic gas released, an explosion, etc.), these events are universally much more worrisome than any other type of news story since they are guaranteed to be important for the protagonists in short order.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
[A chart is presented with the title "How Worried Should You Be When Various Things Happen To You:". The vertical axis is titled "...In Real Life", and the horizontal axis is titled "...In Movies". Both axes start at "Not very worried" and move outward toward "Very worried".]<br />
<br />
[Events, moving from bottom to top of the "In Real Life" scale:]<br />
<br />
{| class=wikitable<br />
! In Real Life !! In Movies !! Event Description<br />
|-<br />
| Not very worried || Not very worried || Spilling a drink on your shirt<br />
|-<br />
| Not very worried || Extremely worried || Nosebleed<br />
|-<br />
| Slightly worried || Mostly worried || Breaking news<br />
|-<br />
| Slightly more worried || Not at all worried || Parking ticket<br />
|-<br />
| Moderately worried || Very worried || Persistent cough<br />
|-<br />
| Mostly worried || Mostly worried || "We need to talk"<br />
|-<br />
| Mostly worried (slightly more) || Not at all worried || Getting knocked out by a punch<br />
|-<br />
| Very worried || Slightly worried || (Chest wound) ...on your right side<br />
|-<br />
| Very worried || Very worried || (Chest wound) ...on your left side<br />
|}<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1468:_Worrying&diff=819041468: Worrying2015-01-02T08:46:22Z<p>199.27.128.138: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1468<br />
| date = January 2, 2015<br />
| title = Worrying<br />
| image = worrying.png<br />
| titletext = If the breaking news is about an event at a hospital or a lab, move it all the way over to the right.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This chart is a visual representation of how worried people tend to be by various events in real life compared to the same events in movies. The chart's Y-axis indicates how worrying an event is in real life (from "not very worried" to "very worried"), while its X-axis shows how worrying the event is in movies. Nine events are shown in the chart:<br />
<br />
* '''Spilling a drink on your shirt''': In both real life and in movies, this just causes a stain and maybe a little embarrassment.<br />
* '''Nosebleed''': Nosebleeds are common in real life and almost never are serious. However, nosebleeds in movies are almost always a sign that something is seriously wrong.<br />
* '''Breaking news''': People in real life commonly don't pay much attention to the news at all, so many breaking stories go unnoticed until much later. Most breaking news stories are also about non-threatening events (eg. presidential addresses) or events that are far removed from the viewer. However, in movies, breaking news is universally a means to introduce a significant plot element that the characters find worrying, and large numbers of people are often shown watching and being emotionally affected by the news while it's breaking.<br />
* '''Parking ticket''': Tickets in movies are almost always ignored, but in real life they are moderately worrying because they cost money and can tarnish your driving record.<br />
* '''Persistent cough''': In real life, coughing fits can be a sign of serious illness, but usually aren't. (If you have a persistent cough, you should check with a doctor.) In movies, just like with nosebleeds, a person with a persistent cough is almost always extremely ill or infectious.<br />
* '''"We need to talk"''': This phrase is a common, stereotypical lead-in to a serious conversation, usually about a couple's relationship status, that often causes a high level of worry in the recipient. According to this chart, this phrase is equally worrisome both in movies and in real life.<br />
* '''Getting knocked out by a punch''': In movies, a character who is knocked out by a punch always wakes up sometime later with no lasting effects. In real life, however, a person knocked out by a punch can suffer serious brain injuries or even die from the punch itself, or can sustain further injuries from their head hitting the ground.<br />
* '''Chest wounds''': The chart mentions wounds on both your right and left sides. In real life, a chest wound to either side is extremely worrying. But in movies, getting wounded on the right side of the chest will rarely deal lasting damage to the hero or primary villain, to show how badass they are. Wounds on the ''left'' side of the chest (the atrium side of the heart) signify swift death. However, even left-side chest wounds are apparently still less worrisome than nosebleeds.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to "breaking news" reports in movies - whenever the news story covers an event at a hospital (usually an outbreak of some major disease) or a laboratory (a monster escaping, a toxic gas released, an explosion, etc.), these events are universally much more worrisome than any other type of news story since they are guaranteed to be important for the protagonists in short order.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
[A chart is presented with the title "How Worried Should You Be When Various Things Happen To You:". The vertical axis is titled "...In Real Life", and the horizontal axis is titled "...In Movies". Both axes start at "Not very worried" and move outward toward "Very worried".]<br />
<br />
[Events, moving from bottom to top of the "In Real Life" scale:]<br />
<br />
{| class=wikitable<br />
! In Real Life !! In Movies !! Event Description<br />
|-<br />
| Not very worried || Not very worried || Spilling a drink on your shirt<br />
|-<br />
| Not very worried || Extremely worried || Nosebleed<br />
|-<br />
| Slightly worried || Mostly worried || Breaking news<br />
|-<br />
| Slightly more worried || Not at all worried || Parking ticket<br />
|-<br />
| Moderately worried || Very worried || Persistent cough<br />
|-<br />
| Mostly worried || Mostly worried || "We need to talk"<br />
|-<br />
| Mostly worried (slightly more) || Not at all worried || Getting knocked out by a punch<br />
|-<br />
| Very worried || Slightly worried || (Chest wound) ...on your right side<br />
|-<br />
| Very worried || Very worried || (Chest wound) ...on your left side<br />
|}<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=887:_Future_Timeline&diff=80740887: Future Timeline2014-12-14T23:56:39Z<p>199.27.128.138: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 887<br />
| date = April 18, 2011<br />
| title = Future Timeline<br />
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]<br />
| image = future timeline.png<br />
| titletext = Not shown: the approximately 30,000 identical, vaguely hysterical articles titled "WHITE PEOPLE IN [THE US/BRITAIN] TO BECOME MINORITY BY [YEAR]!", which came up for basically any year I put in.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic uses the same strategy as comic [[715: Numbers]], in which Randall uses Google to search for phrases and then charts the results. This one is charted as a timeline, whereas 715 was charted as line graphs.<br />
<br />
"2101 - War Was Beginning" is a reference to the opening narration of video game ''Zero Wing''; the same narration is famous for the internet meme "{{w|All your base are belong to us}}". As there are not any other out and out references in the comic, and the rest are actually results that you can find if you search using Randall's methods, we're pretty sure "War Was Beginning" came up when he googled 2101 as well.<br />
<br />
Another point of this comic is that certain event, e.g. "Social Security stops running surplus", are repeated multiple times. Also, certain bizarre events, like "Apocalypse occurs", or "Flying cars reach market", happen before rather plausible things, like "HTML 5 Finished". Certain events, like "Japan is a robot-only country", may be related to a recurring theme in xkcd comics, including [[605: Extrapolating]]. This may also refer to the large amount of research being done to develop viable robots in Japan as compared with other countries.<br />
<br />
The title text is borne of a recurring "white people panic"; scaremongers will put in years of the very near future in order to get the panicked racist people to pay attention to them (without actually using valid or accepted scientific measurements to back up these claims; panicked racist people don't exactly fact-check very much), while level-headed sociologists will usually come up with more distant dates from their extrapolations.<br />
<br />
As for how accurate the Internet has been: The ONLY prediction to have come true as of January 2014 is the world population hitting the 7 billion mark. The United States has now returned to Afghanistan, making that prediction unlikely to occur even by the end of 2014. And unless you count the Android phone platform, Linux shows absolutely no signs of winning back 50% of the operating system market by the end of 2014.<br />
<br />
This comic has similar features to [[1413: Suddenly Popular]], [[1093: Forget]], and [[891: Movie Ages]].<br />
<br />
==The predictions==<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Year<br />
! Prediction<br />
! Further Details<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="4"| 2012<br />
| World population<br />
| Ever since the advent of modern medicine and the more efficient agricultural processes developed suit the Industrial Revolution, the human population had been growing at an unprecedented rate. This has caused some people to worry about overpopulation, which would cause a scarcity of resources and overcrowding, and propose various solutions, most of which involve some form of eugenics. 7 billion is a landmark number because it is a multiple of 1 billion. <br />
|-<br />
| Flying cars<br />
| For decades, flying cars have been a staple of futuristic sci-fi and technological predictions. So far none of these predictions, which to tend to hover around 5–10 years from whatever the current date is, have come true.<br />
|-<br />
| Canada cuts greenhouse emissions<br />
| Currently, the Earth is experiencing an unprecedented period of warming we call global warming, caused in part by greenhouse emissions, which are gases that help trap heat in the atmosphere. Countries have repeatedly gotten together and promised to stop emitting greenhouse gases, but so far they have failed to meet their targets.<br />
|-<br />
| Apocalypse occurs<br />
| This is in reference to the popular film 2012, which portrays the world ending December 22, 2012, using the end of a cycle of the Mayan calendar as a basis for predicting the end of the world. Some people took this rather more seriously, and actually believed that the world would end on this date. It didn't.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="4"| 2013<br />
| National debt paid off<br />
| For years, the subject of national debt has been a political point of contention, with the Republicans typically favoring paying it all off, and the Democrats more willing to spend to pull the country out of recessions in the economy. Clinton, a democrat, at one point proposed [http://money.cnn.com/1999/06/28/economy/clinton/ paying off the debt by 2015].<br />
|-<br />
| Microchipping Americans<br />
| Microchips are small computer chips, typically embedded in pets in case they get lost, that contain information about the pet. Some, more irrational, people worry about the government microchipping everyone in an effort to monitor their activities.<br />
|-<br />
| Homlessness ended in MA<br />
| Homelessness has been a persistent problem in societies all over the world for centuries. It is unclear why Massachusetts specifically would end homelessness — Massachusetts is a more Democratic and wealthier state than others, but no particular initiatives have been started there to end homelessness.<br />
|-<br />
| Health care reform law repealed<br />
| A health care reform law, popularly known as Obamacare, was signed into law in 2010. Ever since, many Republicans have tried (in vain) to repeal it, disliking the idea that government should provide and require healthcare.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2014<br />
| US leaves Afghanistan<br />
| After the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York City on September 11, 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan, home of the Taliban, the terrorist organization behind the attacks. The war has gone on since then, with the public growing increasingly tired of it. Public support now favors a withdrawal, but for military and logistical reasons, the government cannot simply move all the troops currently in Afghanistan home right now. For one, that would cause immediate chaos in the country. Therefore, the government instead promises to eventually withdraw all troops, planning on doing so by the end of 2014.<br />
|-<br />
| GNU/Linux dominant OS<br />
| An operating system, or OS, is the software that forms the structure in which applications on you computer function. Some typical OSs include Mac OSX, Windows 8, and Linux. The first two of those three are commercial products, sold as a copy by a company. The last is an open-source OS, one that anyone can download and modify free. Typically, open-source software is used by a small number of socially conscious people. It is therefore unrealistic to predict that it will become mainstream in the near future.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2015<br />
| New Horizon reaches Pluto<br />
| The New Horizon spacecraft is a U.S. space mission designed to go to Pluto and take photographs, collect samples, etc. It is scheduled to reach Pluto in 2015.<br />
|-<br />
| Healthcare law causes hyperinflation<br />
| Possibly a reference to the {{w|Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act|Affordable Care Act}} (a.k.a. Obamacare)<br />
|-<br />
| Millennium development goals achieved<br />
| {{w|Millenium Development Goals}}<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2016<br />
| Baby boomers begin turning 65<br />
| {{w|Baby boomers}} are individuals conceived in the years following World War Two, roughly defined as those born from 1946-1959. This isn't so much a prediction as basic math; if you were born in 1946, you turned 65 in 2011.<br />
|-<br />
| Android takes 38%/45% of market share<br />
| {{w|Android (operating system|Android}} is a popular operating system for smartphones and tablets, created by Google. Market share is the percentage of all devices that use the product, in this case the Android operating system. These entries together are humorous because they cannot both happen at the same time.<br />
|-<br />
| Windows phone overtakes iOS<br />
| {{w|iOS}} is the operating system used by Apple iPhones. At the time of the comic, Apple's mobile OS is much more popular than Microsoft's. The article Randall found predicts that the tables will turn.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="5"| 2017<br />
| China completes lunar mission<br />
| The {{w|Chinese space program}} has plans for extraterrestrial exploration, including a manned mission to the moon.<br />
|-<br />
| Social Security stops running surplus<br />
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}<br />
|-<br />
| US budget balanced<br />
| The {{w|United States federal budget}} outlines how much the US government spends on what in a given fiscal year. The budget is not required to be balanced, and so often more money is spent than is earned in revenue, causing the national debt to rise.<br />
|-<br />
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out<br />
| The increasing popularity of internet media and mobile devices has caused a steady decline in the popularity of print media.<br />
|-<br />
| Cosmetic surgery doubles<br />
| {{w|Cosmetic Surgery}}<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2018<br />
| Social Security stops running surplus<br />
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}<br />
|-<br />
| Jesus returns to Earth<br />
| A number of Christians have attempted to predict the return of Christ (a.k.a. the second coming, the rapture) using clues from The Bible, even though the Bible itself says that "no man can know the date". Several predicted dates have come and gone.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2019<br />
| Social Security stops running surplus<br />
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}<br />
|-<br />
| Every baby has genes mapped at birth<br />
| {{w|Gene Mapping}}<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2020<br />
| Solar power becomes cheaper than fossil fuels<br />
| Scientists estimate that more than half of the {{w|fossil fuels}} in existance have already been found and that fossil fuel production will begin to decline due to the scarcity, causing prices to increase. At the same time, improvements in {{w|Solar Power|solar technology}} are causing the prices for solar energy to steadily decrease.<br />
|-<br />
| Keyboards and mice become obsolete<br />
| {{w|Computer input device}} are beginning to adopt other methods of input, such as voice commands, touch screens, and eye tracking. While the use of touch screens in particular is gaining widespread use, as of 2014 none has come close to making keyboards and mice obsolete.<br />
|-<br />
| New Tappan Zee bridge constructed<br />
| A {{w|Tappan_Zee_Bridge#Replacement_bridge|replacement bridge}} was anounced in 2008 and is expected to be completed in 2018.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="4"| 2021<br />
| US debt reaches 97% of GDP<br />
| {{w|US Debt}}<br />
|-<br />
| US unemployment falls to 2.8%<br />
| {{w|Unemployment in the United States}}<br />
|-<br />
| Restored caliphate unifies Middle East<br />
| A {{w|caliphate}} is a form of {{w|Islam|Islamic}} political-religious leadership, centred around a Caliph, or successor to the prophet {{w|Muhammad}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Lake Mead evaporates<br />
| Formed by the {{w|Hoover Dam}} on the {{w|Colorado River}}, {{w|Lake Mead}} is the largest reservoir in the United States (measured by maximum capacity). It hasn't reached its capacity since 1983, due to drought and increased demand for water. This could be linked to {{w|global warming}}.<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2022<br />
| Kilimanjaro snow-free<br />
| At 5,895 metres, {{w|Kilimanjaro}} is the highest mountain in {{w|Africa}}, and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Around 85% of its ice cover disappeared between 1912 and 2011, and it continues to recede.<br />
|-<br />
| HTML 5 finished<br />
| {{w|HTML 5}}<br />
|-<br />
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2023<br />
| Jesus returns to Earth (again)<br />
| A number of Christians have attempted to predict the return of Christ (a.k.a. the second coming, the rapture) using clues from The Bible, even though the Bible itself says that "no man can know the date". Several predicted dates have come and gone.<br />
|-<br />
| US debt passes 100% of GDP<br />
| {{w|US Debt}}<br />
|-<br />
| All unprotected ancient forests gone from Pacific Northwest<br />
| Likely due to a combination of wild fired and {{w|deforestation}}<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="5"| 2024<br />
| Atlantis begins to reappear<br />
| {{w|Atlantis}} is the name of a fictional island, which is supposed to have been lost beneath the sea. <br />
|-<br />
| Orangutans extinct in wild<br />
| {{w|Orangutan|Orangutans}} are a species of great ape, currently classed as an {{w|endangered species}}, and found only in the {{w|Rainforest|rainforests}} of {{w|Borneo}} and {{w|Sumatra}}.<br />
|-<br />
| China lands men and women on the moon<br />
| The {{w|Chinese space program}} has plans for extraterrestrial exploration, including a manned mission to the moon.<br />
|-<br />
| NASA sets up permanent moon base<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Female professionals pass males in pay<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="4"| 2025<br />
| World population reaches 8 billion<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Two billion people face water shortages<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 62 MPG cars introduced<br />
| Miles per gallon.<br />
|-<br />
| US power fades<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="5"| 2026<br />
| Atlantis emerges completely<br />
| {{w|Atlantis}} is the name of a fictional island, which is supposed to have been lost beneath the sea. It seems that it has taken 2 years for it to emerge completely.<br />
|-<br />
| Rock Bands die out<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| US debt paid off<br />
| {{w|US Debt}}<br />
|-<br />
| Car accidents cease<br />
| Presumably, cars will be fully automated and able to pilot themselves at this point and will have failsafes that prevent collisions currently attributed to user error. Car accidents will always be possible, however, due to mechanical and electrical failures.<br />
|-<br />
| West coast falls into ocean<br />
| Most likely due to {{w|San_Andreas_Fault#The_next_.22Big_One.22|a significant seismic event}}<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2027<br />
| Japan introduces new fastest Maglev train<br />
| Japan's railway systems are famous for their "bullet trains", or {{w|Shinkansen}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Lyndon Larouche-planned Mars colony is established<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Social Security stops running surplus<br />
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="4"| 2028<br />
| Tobacco outlawed<br />
| Tobacco products (cigarettes and chewing tobacco) have become more and more taboo in modern culture, with most public places and private businesses forbidding their use indoors and near places children congregate. <br />
|-<br />
| 40% of coral reefs gone<br />
| Many factors have been attributed to the decline of {{w|Coral_reef#Threats|coral reefs}}, including mining, over fishing, and rising ocean tempteratures.<br />
|-<br />
| US debt paid off<br />
| {{w|US Debt}}<br />
|-<br />
| Social Security stops running surplus<br />
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="4"| 2029<br />
| Social Security trust fund exhausted<br />
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}<br />
|-<br />
| Computers pass the Turing test<br />
| Computers already clear the Turing Test about 30% of the time. Also, it is no coincidence that 2029 is the timeline for Terminator Movies<br />
|-<br />
| Aging reversed<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Wikipedia reaches 30 Million articles<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2030<br />
| Half of Amazon rain forest lost to logging<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Cancer deaths double from 2008 levels<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Arctic ice-free in summer<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2031<br />
| Computers controlled by thought<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Realtors replaced by technology<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Social Security trust fund exhausted<br />
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2032<br />
| "Big One" hits San Francisco<br />
| {{w|San Franscisco}} is located on the {{w|San Andreas Fault}}, which is predicted to produce a magnitude 7+ earthquake in the 'near future'. This event is referred to as {{w|San_Andreas_Fault#The_next_.22Big_One.22|"The Big One"}}.<br />
|-<br />
| US elects first married lesbian President<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Entire world converted to Christianity<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2033<br />
| Kilimanjaro ice disappears<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| India becomes superpower<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Europe reaches Mars<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2034<br />
| US diabetes cases double, treatment costs triple<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| US builds autonomous robot army<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2035<br />
| 80% of America's energy comes from renewable sources<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Himalayan glaciers down 80% in size<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Arctic sea lane opens<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2036<br />
| 80% of US has access to high-speed rail<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Asteroid Apophis misses/hits Earth<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2037<br />
| Arctic ice-free in September<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Social Security trust fund exhausted<br />
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2038<br />
| 32-bit timestamps roll over, causing Y2K-level chaos<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| "Big One" hits California<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2039<br />
| US population hits 400 Million<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Severe heat waves become commonplace<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Scientology becomes majority religion in US<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2040<br />
| Arctic summers ice-free<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Nanotechnology makes humans immortal<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2041<br />
| Social Security trust fund exhausted<br />
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}<br />
|-<br />
| 2043<br />
| World population passes 9 Billion<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2044<br />
| Mankind genetically engineered to be happy<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Childhood obesity reaches 100%<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2045<br />
| Humans and machines merge<br />
| Ray Kurzweil predicts of 'singularity' which will lead to race of super intelligent beings<br />
|-<br />
| 2046<br />
| World's natural resources depleted<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2047<br />
| World ruled by banks and corporations<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Tobacco industry fails<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| US begins using autonomous attack drones<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2048<br />
| Salt-water fish extinct from overfishing<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Unisex bathing suits cover body from shoulder to ankle<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Entire US population overweight<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2049<br />
| $1.000 computer exceeds computational ability of humanity<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Singularity occurs<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Fishing industry collapses<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="5"| 2050<br />
| 80% of Earth's population lives in urban centers<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| China controls space<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Sex with robots possible<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Cars banned from European cities<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| One million species extinct from climate change<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2051<br />
| Atmosphere escapes into space<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2052<br />
| Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending exceed total US revenue<br />
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2053<br />
| US budget balanced<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Majority of Americans in prison<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Cars driven by dogs<br />
| This has already occured!<br />
|-<br />
| 2054<br />
| Hunger becomes unimaginable global problem<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2055<br />
| Atmospheric CO2 doubled<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Oil runs out<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Copper, tin, lead, gold, and nickel all exhausted<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2056<br />
| RFID-tagged driverless cars<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Robots given same rights as humans<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2057<br />
| 150 Japanese settlers on Mars<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Colorado River runs dry<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2058<br />
| Smoking ends in New Zealand<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2059<br />
| Humans have domesticated robots<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="4"| 2060<br />
| Human race lives in peace<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Extreme droughts across much of Earth<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Global temperature rise reaches 4 °C<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Oil runs out again<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2061<br />
| Halley's comet returns<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2062<br />
| Uganda hosts World Cup<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| The Jetsons<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="4"| 2063<br />
| First human clones reach adulthood<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Population of Moon reaches 100,000<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Population of Mars reaches 10,000<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Spacecraft exceed speed of light<br />
| Physics as currently understood states that it is impossible to exceed the speed of light. A monumental shift in our physics would have had to have occured for this to come true.<br />
|-<br />
| 2064<br />
| Clean Air Act finishes reducing haze in national parks to natural levels<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2065<br />
| Last coral reefs die out<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Chernobyl cleanup complete<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2066<br />
| Cyprus achieves its goal<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2067<br />
| Americans live in domed cities and watch 3D TV<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Redheads go extinct<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2068<br />
| Ozone hole over Antarctic finishes recovering<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Lord Jesus rules Earth from throne in Jerusalem<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Entire world population gay due to chemicals in the water<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2069<br />
| Public masturbation legalized<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="3"| 2070<br />
| World population peaks<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| City-scale flooding disasters<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 60% of world's energy comes from renewable sources<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2071<br />
| Europe's temperatures rise by 3 °C<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| World summer temperatures rise by 5 °C<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2072<br />
| US retirement age is set to 75<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2073<br />
| Oceans do not rise one foot<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2074<br />
| Number of 100-year-olds reaches one million<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Supertyphoons hit Japan<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2075<br />
| US retirement age set to 69<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2076<br />
| Average scientific paper has more than 24 authors<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Social Security trust fund exhausted<br />
| {{w|Social Security (United States)|Social Security}}<br />
|-<br />
| 2078<br />
| Newspapers become obsolete and die out<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="4"| 2079<br />
| US debt reaches 716% of GDP<br />
| {{w|US Debt}}<br />
|-<br />
| Lodgepole pines disappear from Northwest<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Floods commonplace<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Religion marginalized<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2080<br />
| Federal spending reaches 70% of GDP<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| UK population doubles<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2082<br />
| World population declines to one billion<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2084<br />
| Robot policemen introduced<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2085<br />
| US deficit reaches 62% of GDP<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2088<br />
| Japan becomes all-robot country<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| 2089<br />
| World halts fossil fuel use<br />
| {{w|Fossil Fuels}}<br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="2"| 2090<br />
| Global warming hits 7 °C <br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Global warming hits 4 °C<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| rowspan="11"| 2100<br />
| Global warming around 5-7 °C<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Sea levels have risen by a meter or more<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Joshua trees nearly extinct<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Earth's climate resembles that of the Cretaceous<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Germany tropical<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Emperor penguins extinct<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Arctic permafrost thaws<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Rising seas flood coastal cities<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Rain forests mostly gone due to climatic shifts<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| All coral reefs gone <br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| Gillette introduces 14-bladed razor<br />
| Each iteration of the Gillette line or safety razors has one more blade than the previous one. MadTV has also [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FAP8o5ZEo0 parodied] this.<br />
|-<br />
| 2101<br />
| WAR WAS BEGINNING<br />
| References {{w|Zero Wing}}, a 1981 Japanese computer game set in 2101, famous for poorly translated English and the source for "All your base are belong to us".<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:<big>'''THE FUTURE'''</big><br />
:'''According to Google search results'''<br />
:Events for each year determined by the first page of Google search results for the phrases:<br />
::{|<br />
|-<br />
|<small>"By <year>"</small><br />
|<small>"In year"</small><br />
|-<br />
|<small>"By the year <year>"</small><br />
|<small>"In the year <year>"</small><br />
|-<br />
|<small>"Will * by the year <year>"</small><br />
|<small>"Will * in the year <year>"</small><br />
|-<br />
|<small>"In <year>, * will"</small><br />
|<small>"By <year>, * will"</small><br />
|}<br />
<br />
:{|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="4" width="50px" valign="top"|2012<br />
|World population reaches 7 billion<br />
|-<br />
|Flying cars reach market<br />
|-<br />
|Canada cuts greenhouse emissions to 6% below 1990 levels as per Kyoto<br />
|-<br />
|Apocalypse occurs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2013<br />
|National debt paid off through President Clinton's plans<br />
|-<br />
|Microchipping of all Americans begins<br />
|-<br />
|Homelessness ended in Massachusetts<br />
|-<br />
|Health care reform law repealed<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2014<br />
|US leaves Afghanistan<br />
|-<br />
|GNU/Linux becomes dominant OS<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2015<br />
|New Horizons reaches Pluto<br />
|-<br />
|Health care law causes hyperinflation<br />
|-<br />
|192 UN member nations achieve millennium development goals:<br />
*Extreme poverty and hunger eradicated<br />
*Universal primary education implemented<br />
*Women empowered, gender equality reached<br />
*Environmental stability ensured<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2016<br />
|Baby boomers begin turning 65<br />
|-<br />
|Android takes 38% of the smartphone market<br />
|-<br />
|Android takes 45% of the smartphone market<br />
|-<br />
|Windows Phone overtakes iOS in smartphones<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2017<br />
|China completes unmanned Lunar sample-return mission<br />
|-<br />
|Social Security stops running surplus<br />
|-<br />
|US budget balanced<br />
|-<br />
|Newspapers become obsolete and die out<br />
|-<br />
|Cosmetic surgery doubles<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2018<br />
|Social Security stops running surplus<br />
|-<br />
|Jesus returns to Earth<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2019<br />
|Social Security stops running surplus<br />
|-<br />
|Every baby has genes mapped at birth<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2020<br />
|Solar power becomes cheaper than fossil fuels<br />
|-<br />
|Keyboards and mice become obsolete<br />
|-<br />
|New Tappan Zee bridge constructed<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2021<br />
|US debt reaches 97% of GDP<br />
|-<br />
|US unemployment falls to 2.8%<br />
|-<br />
|Restored caliphate unifies Middle East<br />
|-<br />
|Lake Mead evaporates<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2022<br />
|Kilimanjaro snow-free<br />
|-<br />
|HTML 5 finished<br />
|-<br />
|Newspapers become obsolete and die out<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2023<br />
|Jesus returns to Earth (again)<br />
|-<br />
|US debt passes 100% of GDP<br />
|-<br />
|All unprotected ancient forests gone from Pacific Northwest<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2024<br />
|Atlantis begins to reappear<br />
|-<br />
|Orangutans extinct in wild<br />
|-<br />
|China lands men and women on the moon<br />
|-<br />
|NASA sets up permanent moon base<br />
|-<br />
|Female professionals pass males in pay<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2025<br />
|World population reaches 8 billion<br />
|-<br />
|Two billion people face water shortages<br />
|-<br />
|62 MPG cars introduced<br />
|-<br />
|US power fades<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2026<br />
|Atlantis emerges completely<br />
|-<br />
|Rock Bands die out<br />
|-<br />
|US debt paid off<br />
|-<br />
|Car accidents cease<br />
|-<br />
|West coast falls into ocean<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2027<br />
|Japan introduces new fastest Maglev train<br />
|-<br />
|Lyndon Larouche-planned Mars colony is established<br />
|-<br />
|Social Security stops running surplus<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2028<br />
|Tobacco outlawed<br />
|-<br />
|40% of coral reefs gone<br />
|-<br />
|US debt paid off<br />
|-<br />
|Social Security stops running surplus<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2029<br />
|Social Security trust fund exhausted<br />
|-<br />
|Computers pass the Turing test<br />
|-<br />
|Aging reversed<br />
|-<br />
|Wikipedia reaches 30 Million articles<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2030<br />
|Half of Amazon rain forest lost to logging<br />
|-<br />
|Cancer deaths double from 2008 levels<br />
|-<br />
|Arctic ice-free in summer<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2031<br />
|Computers controlled by thought<br />
|-<br />
|Realtors replaced by technology<br />
|-<br />
|Social Security trust fund exhausted<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2032<br />
|"Big One" hits San Francisco<br />
|-<br />
|US elects first married lesbian President<br />
|-<br />
|Entire world converted to Christianity<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2033<br />
|Kilimanjaro ice disappears<br />
|-<br />
|India becomes superpower<br />
|-<br />
|Europe reaches Mars<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2034<br />
|US diabetes cases double, treatment costs triple<br />
|-<br />
|US builds autonomous robot army<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2035<br />
|80% of America's energy comes from renewable sources<br />
|-<br />
|Himalayan glaciers down 80% in size<br />
|-<br />
|Arctic sea lane opens<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2036<br />
|80% of US has access to high-speed rail<br />
|-<br />
|Asteroid Apophis misses/hits Earth<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2037<br />
|Arctic ice-free in September<br />
|-<br />
|Social Security trust fund exhausted<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2038<br />
|32-bit timestamps roll over, causing Y2K-level chaos<br />
|-<br />
|"Big One" hits California<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2039<br />
|US population hits 400 Million<br />
|-<br />
|Severe heat waves become commonplace<br />
|-<br />
|Scientology becomes majority religion in US<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2040<br />
|Arctic summers ice-free<br />
|-<br />
|Nanotechnology makes humans immortal<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2041<br />
|Social Security trust fund exhausted<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2042<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2043<br />
|World population passes 9 Billion<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2044<br />
|Mankind genetically engineered to be happy<br />
|-<br />
|Childhood obesity reaches 100%<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2045<br />
|Humans and machines merge<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2046<br />
|World's natural resources depleted<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2047<br />
|World ruled by banks and corporations<br />
|-<br />
|Tobacco industry fails<br />
|-<br />
|US begins using autonomous attack drones<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2048<br />
|Salt-water fish extinct from overfishing<br />
|-<br />
|Unisex bathing suits cover body from shoulder to ankle<br />
|-<br />
|Entire US population overweight<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2049<br />
|$1.000 computer exceeds computational ability of humanity<br />
|-<br />
|Singularity occurs<br />
|-<br />
|Fishing industry collapses<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="5" valign="top"|2050<br />
|80% of Earth's population lives in urban centers<br />
|-<br />
|China controls space<br />
|-<br />
|Sex with robots possible<br />
|-<br />
|Cars banned from European cities<br />
|-<br />
|One million species extinct from climate change<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2051<br />
|Atmosphere escapes into space<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2052<br />
|Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending exceed total US revenue<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2053<br />
|US budget balanced<br />
|-<br />
|Majority of Americans in prison<br />
|-<br />
|Cars driven by dogs<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2054<br />
|Hunger becomes unimaginable global problem<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2055<br />
|Atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> doubled<br />
|-<br />
|Oil runs out<br />
|-<br />
|Copper, tin, lead, gold, and nickel all exhausted<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2056<br />
|RFID-tagged driverless cars<br />
|-<br />
|Robots given same rights as humans<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2057<br />
|150 Japanese settlers on Mars<br />
|-<br />
|Colorado River runs dry<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2058<br />
|Smoking ends in New Zealand<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2059<br />
|Humans have domesticated robots<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2060<br />
|Human race lives in peace<br />
|-<br />
|Extreme droughts across much of Earth<br />
|-<br />
|Global temperature rise reaches 4&nbsp;°C<br />
|-<br />
|Oil runs out again<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2061<br />
|Halley's comet returns<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2062<br />
|Uganda hosts World Cup<br />
|-<br />
|The Jetsons<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2063<br />
|First human clones reach adulthood<br />
|-<br />
|Population of Moon reaches 100,000<br />
|-<br />
|Population of Mars reaches 10,000<br />
|-<br />
|Spacecraft exceed speed of light<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2064<br />
|Clean Air Act finishes reducing haze in national parks to natural levels<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2065<br />
|Last coral reefs die out<br />
|-<br />
|Chernobyl cleanup complete<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2066<br />
|Cyprus achieves its goal<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2067<br />
|Americans live in domed cities and watch 3D TV<br />
|-<br />
|Redheads go extinct<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2068<br />
|Ozone hole over Antarctic finishes recovering<br />
|-<br />
|Lord Jesus rules Earth from throne in Jerusalem<br />
|-<br />
|Entire world population gay due to chemicals in the water<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2069<br />
|Public masturbation legalized<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="3" valign="top"|2070<br />
|World population peaks<br />
|-<br />
|City-scale flooding disasters<br />
|-<br />
|60% of world's energy comes from renewable sources<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2071<br />
|Europe's temperatures rise by 3&nbsp;°C<br />
|-<br />
|World summer temperatures rise by 5&nbsp;°C<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2072<br />
|US retirement age is set to 75<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2073<br />
|Oceans do not rise one foot<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2074<br />
|Number of 100-year-olds reaches one million<br />
|-<br />
|Supertyphoons hit Japan<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2075<br />
|US retirement age set to 69<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2076<br />
|Average scientific paper has more than 24 authors<br />
|-<br />
|Social Security trust fund exhausted<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2077<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2078<br />
|Newspapers become obsolete and die out<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="4" valign="top"|2079<br />
|US debt reaches 716% of GDP<br />
|-<br />
|Lodgepole pines disappear from Northwest<br />
|-<br />
|Floods commonplace<br />
|-<br />
|Religion marginalized<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2080<br />
|Federal spending reaches 70% of GDP<br />
|-<br />
|UK population doubles<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2081<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2082<br />
|World population declines to one billion<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2083<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2084<br />
|Robot policemen introduced<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2085<br />
|US deficit reaches 62% of GDP<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2086<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2087<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2088<br />
|Japan becomes all-robot country<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2089<br />
|World halts fossil fuel use<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="2" valign="top"|2090<br />
|Global warming hits 7&nbsp;°C<br />
|-<br />
|Global warming hits 4&nbsp;°C<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2091<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2092<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2093<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2094<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2095<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2096<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2097<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2098<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2099<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="11" valign="top"|2100<br />
|Global warming around 5-7&nbsp;°C<br />
|-<br />
|Sea levels have risen by a meter or more<br />
|-<br />
|Joshua trees nearly extinct<br />
|-<br />
|Earth's climate resembles that of the Cretaceous<br />
|-<br />
|Germany tropical<br />
|-<br />
|Emperor penguins extinct<br />
|-<br />
|Arctic permafrost thaws<br />
|-<br />
|Rising seas flood coastal cities<br />
|-<br />
|Rain forests mostly gone due to climatic shifts<br />
|-<br />
|All coral reefs gone<br />
|-<br />
|Gillette introduces 14-bladed razor<br />
|-<br />
|rowspan="1" valign="top"|2101<br />
|WAR WAS BEGINNING<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Google Search]]</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1239:_Social_Media&diff=799421239: Social Media2014-11-29T04:20:49Z<p>199.27.128.138: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1239<br />
| date = July 17, 2013<br />
| title = Social Media<br />
| image = social_media.png<br />
| titletext = The social media reaction to this asteroid announcement has been sharply negative. Care to respond?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic parodies how journalists tend to focus on social networking. Specifically in the case of revolutions, social media is given a lot of weight, even in countries with limited internet access. A direct parallel is made to the so-called {{w|Twitter Revolution}}s.<br />
<br />
On {{w|Twitter}} you can send text messages with a maximum of 140 characters. This means that there could not be much content in a single post, but often many people ''follow'' the people doing these ''tweets''. People who are not on social media tend to react like [[Cueball]] and come to the conclusion that twitter makes press coverage more stupid, just because those messages lack much detail. Cueball is also surprised about the stupidity of trying to link social media to the orbit of the asteroid — social media obviously have no impact on the orbit of any space objects, which are entirely driven by physics and gravitational mechanics, and are not influenced by opinions on any media.<br />
<br />
The title text continues the joke. The negativity on Twitter concerning an earth bound asteroid has nothing to do with the press conference that announced it but rather with the negativity of wiping out life on earth in general. Again, journalists give undue weight to social media.<br />
<br />
It's simply that "How has twitter affected this" has become a standard question for journalists, posed in complete disregard of the actual event.<br />
[http://trikaweb.wordpress.com/2014/11/13/how-take-benefits-from-social-media/ Benefits from Social Media ]<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball heads a press conference.]<br />
:Cueball: NASA has confirmed that the asteroid is heading directly for us.<br />
:Cueball: ...Yes, a question?<br />
:Reporter 1: What role has social media played in this asteroid's orbit?<br />
:Cueball: *''sigh''*<br />
:Reporter 2: Has twitter changed the way we respond to asteroid threats?<br />
:Cueball: Well, it's made the press conference questions stupider.<br />
:Reporter 3: Fascinating!<br />
:Reporter 4: What about Facebook?<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The comic may also parody an actual interview [http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/02/12/deb_feyerick_to_bill_nye_is_asteroid_2012_da14_connected_to_global_warming.html Is asteroid 2012_DA14 connected to global warming] in which {{w|Bill Nye}} was asked if the approaching asteroid {{w|2012_DA14}} was a result of global warming.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Social networking]]</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1239:_Social_Media&diff=799411239: Social Media2014-11-29T04:18:21Z<p>199.27.128.138: /* Explanation */ Har har, citation needed</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1239<br />
| date = July 17, 2013<br />
| title = Social Media<br />
| image = social_media.png<br />
| titletext = The social media reaction to this asteroid announcement has been sharply negative. Care to respond?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic parodies how journalists tend to focus on social networking. Specifically in the case of revolutions, social media is given a lot of weight, even in countries with limited internet access. A direct parallel is made to the so-called {{w|Twitter Revolution}}s.<br />
<br />
On {{w|Twitter}} you can send text messages with a maximum of 140 characters. This means that there could not be much content in a single post, but often many people ''follow'' the people doing these ''tweets''. People who are not on social media tend to react like [[Cueball]] and come to the conclusion that twitter makes press coverage more stupid, just because those messages lack much detail. Cueball is also surprised about the stupidity of trying to link social media to the orbit of the asteroid — social media obviously have no impact on the orbit of any space objects -- those are entirely driven by physics and gravitational mechanics, and are not influenced by opinions on any media.<br />
<br />
The title text continues the joke. The negativity on Twitter concerning an earth bound asteroid has nothing to do with the press conference that announced it but rather with the negativity of wiping out life on earth in general. Again, journalists give undue weight to social media.<br />
<br />
It's simply that "How has twitter affected this" has become a standard question for journalists, posed in complete disregard of the actual event.<br />
[http://trikaweb.wordpress.com/2014/11/13/how-take-benefits-from-social-media/ Benefits from Social Media ]<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball heads a press conference.]<br />
:Cueball: NASA has confirmed that the asteroid is heading directly for us.<br />
:Cueball: ...Yes, a question?<br />
:Reporter 1: What role has social media played in this asteroid's orbit?<br />
:Cueball: *''sigh''*<br />
:Reporter 2: Has twitter changed the way we respond to asteroid threats?<br />
:Cueball: Well, it's made the press conference questions stupider.<br />
:Reporter 3: Fascinating!<br />
:Reporter 4: What about Facebook?<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The comic may also parody an actual interview [http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/02/12/deb_feyerick_to_bill_nye_is_asteroid_2012_da14_connected_to_global_warming.html Is asteroid 2012_DA14 connected to global warming] in which {{w|Bill Nye}} was asked if the approaching asteroid {{w|2012_DA14}} was a result of global warming.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Social networking]]</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1323:_Protocol&diff=589791323: Protocol2014-01-30T01:41:45Z<p>199.27.128.138: /* Explanation */ Further expanding on the connection between 177: Alice and Bob and this comic.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1323<br />
| date = January 29, 2014<br />
| title = Protocol<br />
| image = protocol.png<br />
| titletext = Changing the names would be easier, but if you're not comfortable lying, try only making friends with people named Alice, Bob, Carol, etc.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Alice, Bob, and Eve are role names traditionally used in describing cryptographic protocols. Rather than talking about "Person A", "Person B", "Person C", names beginning with each letter are used instead, and giving them different genders let pronouns be used to shorten discussions (For example: "Person A sends Person B a message encoded with Person B's public key." is much easier to parse when written as "Alice sends Bob a message encoded with his public key.") Eve is short for "eavesdropper" - a person trying to find out what's being said in the conversations between the other people. The classic situation involves Alice wanting to send a secret message to Bob, while Eve (the eavesdropper), attempts to read the message, ideally without Alice or Bob ever finding out. Additional participants such as Carol (Person C) can be added if necessary. The list of names has become very standardised over time as described at {{w|Alice and Bob}}.<br />
<br />
The joke here is that any computer scientist, hearing the names used, will think that they are listening to a cryptography problem. By changing the names in a story to these role names, you can induce them to listen carefully to boring stories. The fewer the interesting details, the more it sounds like a general problem, so very boring stories are actually the easiest.<br />
<br />
The title text shows a more radical approach to the problem, for people who do not feel comfortable about lying. In this approach, you only make friends with people who have the appropriate names already.<br />
<br />
The title and the format of the conversation may also refer to {{w|Transmission Control Protocol}} (TCP), one of the key underlying protocols of the Internet. In TCP, every time you receive a packet of information, you must send a brief acknowledgement back, verifying that the packet was received. The computer scientist in the comic does the same thing verbally ("uh huh", et al).<br />
<br />
In comic [[177: Alice and Bob]] these names are used in the same context. Instead of Alice and Bob being perfectly innocent people who just want to communicate in private, Bob is actually having an affair with Alice. Eve -- his former partner -- cracked the encryption to see what the message contained. Thus, this comic seems to continue the Alice/Bob romance, jealous-Eve plot, with Eve apparently confronting Alice over her text message to Bob.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is telling a story to a Computer Scientist who is seated at his desk.]<br />
:Cueball: Alice sends a message to Bob saying to meet her somewhere.<br />
:Computer Scientist: Uh huh.<br />
:Cueball: But Eve sees it, too, and goes to the place.<br />
:Computer Scientist: With you so far.<br />
:Cueball: Bob is delayed, and Alice and Eve meet.<br />
:Computer Scientist: Yeah?<br />
:I've discovered a way to get computer scientists to listen to any boring story.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]<br />
[[Category:Cryptography]]</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1313:_Regex_Golf&diff=567841313: Regex Golf2014-01-06T21:37:43Z<p>199.27.128.138: /* Regular Expressions */ Fremont</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1313<br />
| date = January 6, 2014<br />
| title = Regex Golf<br />
| image = regex_golf.png<br />
| titletext = <nowiki>/bu|[rn]t|[coy]e|[mtg]a|j|iso|n[hl]|[ae]d|lev|sh|[lnd]i|[po]o|ls/ matches the last names of elected US presidents but not their opponents.</nowiki><br />
}}<br />
<br />
== Explanation ==<br />
<br />
This comic revolves around a set of increasingly complicated {{w|regular expressions}}, which are patterns used to search through text for blocks of text matching the pattern. There is a saying in professional programming that goes like this (see [[1171]]):<br />
<br />
: Some people, when confronted with a problem, think “I know, I'll use regular expressions.” Now they have two problems.<br />
<br />
The comic exemplifies this as Megan's problems grow increasingly more convoluted - originally she was writing regex as a game, then moved on to automatically building regex on arbitrary lists of text, to searching through her files for code that appears to be a regex golf generator. At the end, Cueball quips that she now has "Infinite Problems" as a result of her efforts, tying back to the saying above.<br />
<br />
Code golf is a game where by programmers attempt to solve a problem using as few characters as possible, analogous to the number of golf shots it takes to reach the goal.<br />
<br />
=== Regular Expressions ===<br />
<br />
Regular expressions are a way to specify textual patterns. One can later search for the pattern inside a text string: if the pattern is found it's said that the pattern "matches" the string; if it's not found, it's said they do not match. The "Regex Golf" challenge is to make a regular expression that matches all of the strings in one group and none of the strings in another. As in "Code golf" the challenge is to find the shortest possible Regex that does this.<br />
<br />
The first regex Megan uses is /m | [tn]|b/, said to match Star Wars subtitles but not Star Trek. Subtitles are the secondary titles of the movies, after the "Star Trek: " or "Star Wars Episode N: ". For example, in "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" the subtitle is "The Phantom Menace".<br />
<br />
The forward slashes just mark the start and end of the regex. The | character means "or", so the regex matches any string that contains the patterns "m ", " [tn]" or "b" (including the spaces). The square brackets match one of the enclosed characters, meaning that " [tn]" matches either " t" or " n". The regex is apparently case-insensitive, because it wouldn't work otherwise.<br />
<br />
The Star Wars subtitles match the parts of the regex in the following way:<br />
* "The Phanto<u>m </u>Menace" is matched by "m ".<br />
* "Attack of<u> t</u>he Clones" is matched by " [tn]".<br />
* "Revenge of<u> t</u>he Sith" is matched by " [tn]".<br />
* "A<u> N</u>ew Hope" is matched by " [tn]".<br />
* "The Empire Strikes <u>B</u>ack" is matched by "b".<br />
* "Return of<u> t</u>he Jedi" is matched by " [tn]".<br />
Note that the animated film "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is not included.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, none of the Star Trek subtitles contains an M followed by a space, a T or an N preceded by a space, or any B, so the regex does not match any of them. Note that in the original series all subtitles start with a "T" but it's the first character so it's not preceded by a space.<br />
<br />
Here is the list that Megan probably used:<br />
* Original series:<br />
** The Motion Picture<br />
** The Wrath of Khan<br />
** The Search For Spock<br />
** The Voyage Home<br />
** The Final Frontier<br />
** The Undiscovered Country<br />
* The Next Generation:<br />
** Generations<br />
** First Contact<br />
** Insurrection<br />
** Nemesis<br />
* Reboot series:<br />
** ''the one without a subtitle''<br />
** Into Darkness<br />
<br />
"Grepping" refers to using the Unix/Linux command line tool "grep", which is short for "Globally search a Regular Expression and Print", thus continuing to use regular expressions in search for the lost files.<br />
<br />
In the last panel "and beyond" Megan uses the regular expression "/(meta-)*regex golf/" to describe her problem. * means "zero or more" of the preceding character/group (parentheses group characters). So this regex matches "regex golf", "meta-regex golf", "meta-meta-regex golf", etc. In a way this is regex golf in itself, matching all levels of meta-regex golf while not matching anything else.<br />
<br />
In the title text there is a long regex that is the solution of another regex golf challenge: matching the last names of all elected US presidents but not their opponents. Note that the list of opponents include some people who were previously or later became presidents, so taken literally this is impossible. To make this work the list of opponents must exclude anyone who was also president. The regular expression itself works in a very similar way to the Star Wars/Trek one, including several different patterns separated by |. Each elected president matches one pattern while each opponent matches none.<br />
Here is a list of elected president and the patterns they match:<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!President<br />
!Matched expression<br />
|-<br />
|George Wa'''sh'''ington<br />
|sh<br />
|-<br />
|John '''Ad'''ams<br />
|[ae]d<br />
|-<br />
|Thomas '''J'''efferson<br />
|j<br />
|-<br />
|James '''Ma'''dison<br />
|[mtg]a<br />
|-<br />
|James Monr'''oe'''<br />
|[coy]e<br />
|-<br />
|John Quincy '''Ad'''ams<br />
|[ae]d<br />
|-<br />
|Andrew '''J'''ackson<br />
|j<br />
|-<br />
|Martin Van '''Bu'''ren<br />
|bu<br />
|-<br />
|William Henry Harr'''iso'''n<br />
|iso<br />
|-<br />
|James K. '''Po'''lk<br />
|[po]o<br />
|-<br />
|Zachary '''Ta'''ylor<br />
|[mtg]a<br />
|-<br />
|Franklin Pier'''ce'''<br />
|[coy]e<br />
|-<br />
|James '''Bu'''chanan<br />
|bu<br />
|-<br />
|Abraham '''Li'''ncoln<br />
|[lnd]i<br />
|-<br />
|Andrew '''J'''ohnson<br />
|j<br />
|-<br />
|Ulysses S. Gra'''nt'''<br />
|[rn]t<br />
|-<br />
|Rutherford B. Ha'''ye'''s<br />
|[coy]e<br />
|-<br />
|James A. '''Ga'''rfield<br />
|[mtg]a<br />
|-<br />
|Grover C'''lev'''eland<br />
|lev<br />
|-<br />
|Benjamin Harr'''iso'''n<br />
|iso<br />
|-<br />
|Grover C'''lev'''eland<br />
|lev<br />
|-<br />
|William McKi'''nl'''ey<br />
|n[hl]<br />
|-<br />
|Theodore R'''oo'''sevelt<br />
|[po]o<br />
|-<br />
|William Howard '''Ta'''ft<br />
|[mtg]a<br />
|-<br />
|Woodrow Wi'''ls'''on<br />
|ls<br />
|-<br />
|Warren G. Har'''di'''ng<br />
|[lnd]i<br />
|-<br />
|Calvin Coo'''li'''dge<br />
|[lnd]i<br />
|-<br />
|Herbert H'''oo'''ver<br />
|[po]o<br />
|-<br />
|Franklin D. R'''oo'''sevelt<br />
|[po]o<br />
|-<br />
|Harry S. Tru'''ma'''n<br />
|[mtg]a<br />
|-<br />
|Dwight D. Eise'''nh'''ower<br />
|n[hl]<br />
|-<br />
|John F. Kenn'''ed'''y<br />
|[ae]d<br />
|-<br />
|Lyndon B. '''J'''ohnson<br />
|j<br />
|-<br />
|Richard '''Ni'''xon<br />
|[lnd]i<br />
|-<br />
|Jimmy Ca'''rt'''er<br />
|[rn]t<br />
|-<br />
|Ronald Rea'''ga'''n<br />
|[mtg]a<br />
|-<br />
|George H. W. '''Bu'''sh<br />
|bu<br />
|-<br />
|Bill Cli'''nt'''on<br />
|[rn]t<br />
|-<br />
|George W. '''Bu'''sh<br />
|bu<br />
|-<br />
|Barack Oba'''ma'''<br />
|[mtg]a<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Note that some presidents are missing because they weren't elected but became presidents after the resignation/death of their formers. This regular expression must be modified slightly, it also matches John C. Fremo''nt'', the loser to James Buchanan in 1856.<br />
<br />
== Trivia ==<br />
There are now at least four comics that references regular expressions. The other three are:<br />
<br />
[[208: Regular Expressions]], [[224: Lisp]] and [[1171: Perl Problems]].<br />
<br />
<br />
== Transcript ==<br />
:Regex golf:<br />
:[Megan is sitting at a laptop. Cueball is standing behind her.]<br />
:Megan: You try to match one group but not the other.<br />
:Megan: /m | [tn]|b/ matches ''Star Wars'' subtitles but not ''Star Trek''.<br />
:Cueball: Cool.<br />
<br />
:Meta-regex golf:<br />
:Megan: So I wrote a program that plays regex golf with arbitrary lists...<br />
:Cueball: Uh oh...<br />
<br />
:Meta-meta-regex golf:<br />
:Megan: ...But I lost my code, so I'm grepping for files that look like regex golf solvers.<br />
<br />
:...And beyond:<br />
:Megan: Really, this is all /(meta-)*regex golf/.<br />
:Cueball: Now you have ''infinite'' problems.<br />
:Megan: No, I had those already.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1313:_Regex_Golf&diff=56747Talk:1313: Regex Golf2014-01-06T15:36:36Z<p>199.27.128.138: My Bad</p>
<hr />
<div>This is fairly simple fun little one.<br />
<br />
Regex is sort for regular expressions. A regular expression is a series of characters that denotes a search criteria. For example, you could write a regular expression that would search for anything that looks like an address (a la [http://www.xkcd.com/208/ comic 208]).<br />
<br />
Regex golf is a game in which you attempt to write a regular expression that will search through a list of items and bring back only those items that meet a certain criteria, but not anything else. The joke is that regular expressions are used to search text, but themselves are text strings. This means that you could write a regular expression that would look for another regular expression. You can then apply ''ad infinitum'', and the universe implodes or something.<br />
<br />
--[[User:Holshy|Holshy]] ([[User talk:Holshy|talk]]) 05:40, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The last panel includes, of course, a regex "/(meta-)*regex golf/," which represents the phrase "regex golf" preceded by the phrase "meta-" up to ''infinite'' times.<br />
<br />
As a punchline, it also refers to Jamie Zawinski's well-known quote about regex,<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems.</blockquote><br />
<br />
Thus, the punchline is that the addition of meta layers to regex golf generates more problems for the programmer, but that was also the setup of the comic. So either the punchline is really weak—worth a chuckle if you got the above two references—or I missed the joke.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.63|199.27.128.63]] 06:22, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Could anybody comment on the first regex? Do I get it right that<br />
beyond others it will match all strings that contain a "b"? I can hardly believe that is not the case for any star trek subtitle... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.194|173.245.53.194]] 06:54, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
:This is the case for all Star Trek Subtitles. Wikipedia's list of movies had no b. It'll match anything containing a word ending in ''m'', any word beginning with ''n'' or ''t'' that is not the first word, or any word with a ''b''. No Trek movies match. Oddly, so far as I can figure out, the regex in the first panel is wrong, in that it doesn't match the second Star Wars movie at all. And before you tell me prequels don't count, the sole purpose of "m " is to match The Phanto''m ''Menace.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.138|199.27.128.138]] 07:10, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
Attack of[ t]he Clones (to be read plainly, not as a regular expression). [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.107|173.245.53.107]] 07:29, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Ah, I thought it was ''The Clone Wars''. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.138|199.27.128.138]] 15:36, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
So, if I add an "e" to the "tn" and delete the "|b" I'm a better golf player than her? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.194|108.162.212.194]] 08:23, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Or you could just move the "b" into the "tn" group. --11:08, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I got a sneak preview of this comic at about 6:34 EST...at first it appeared to be random text in a irc message, but with this comic it now makes sense to me. [[User:Verticalbar|Verticalbar]] ([[User talk:Verticalbar|talk]]) 09:31, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
'''Regex golf''' (c.f. {{w|Perl golf}}) is a programming competition / is a pastime of finding regular expression that matches one set of strings while matching none of the other set. See for example http://regex.alf.nu --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 11:03, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The title text isn't exactly true... I haven't tried everything, but that regex doesn't match "gerald ford" at all. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.109|199.27.128.109]] 11:23, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
: Gerald Ford wasn't elected, he became President following Nixon's resignation.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.209|173.245.52.209]] 12:12, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Inspired by regex.alf.nu, a reader built a page where the objective is to make a regular expression to match all Star Wars and no Star Trek: http://zegnat.github.io/xkcd1313/. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.127|173.245.53.127]] 14:00, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I added a list of all US elected presidents and the part of the title regex they match. I used a python script to generate it, with input from [http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_candidates here], then I removed all presidents that do not match after finding they really weren't elected. There may still be superflous ones, that weren't elected but do match the regex, please check. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.64|173.245.49.64]] 14:29, 6 January 2014 (UTC)</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1313:_Regex_Golf&diff=56714Talk:1313: Regex Golf2014-01-06T07:10:40Z<p>199.27.128.138: First panel</p>
<hr />
<div>This is fairly simple fun little one.<br />
<br />
Regex is sort for regular expressions. A regular expression is a series of characters that denotes a search criteria. For example, you could write a regular expression that would search for anything that looks like an address (a la [http://www.xkcd.com/208/ comic 208]).<br />
<br />
Regex golf is a game in which you attempt to write a regular expression that will search through a list of items and bring back only those items that meet a certain criteria, but not anything else. The joke is that regular expressions are used to search text, but themselves are text strings. This means that you could write a regular expression that would look for another regular expression. You can then apply ''ad infinitum'', and the universe implodes or something.<br />
<br />
--[[User:Holshy|Holshy]] ([[User talk:Holshy|talk]]) 05:40, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The last panel includes, of course, a regex "/(meta-)*regex golf/," which represents the phrase "regex golf" preceded by the phrase "meta-" up to ''infinite'' times.<br />
<br />
As a punchline, it also refers to Jamie Zawinski's well-known quote about regex,<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems.</blockquote><br />
<br />
Thus, the punchline is that the addition of meta layers to regex golf generates more problems for the programmer, but that was also the setup of the comic. So either the punchline is really weak—worth a chuckle if you got the above two references—or I missed the joke.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.63|199.27.128.63]] 06:22, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Could anybody comment on the first regex? Do I get it right that<br />
beyond others it will match all strings that contain a "b"? I can hardly believe that is not the case for any star trek subtitle... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.194|173.245.53.194]] 06:54, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
:This is the case for all Star Trek Subtitles. Wikipedia's list of movies had no b. It'll match anything containing a word ending in ''m'', any word beginning with ''n'' or ''t'' that is not the first word, or any word with a ''b''. No Trek movies match. Oddly, so far as I can figure out, the regex in the first panel is wrong, in that it doesn't match the second Star Wars movie at all. And before you tell me prequels don't count, the sole purpose of "m " is to match The Phanto''m ''Menace.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.138|199.27.128.138]] 07:10, 6 January 2014 (UTC)</div>199.27.128.138https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1299:_I_Don%27t_Own_a_TV&diff=54259Talk:1299: I Don't Own a TV2013-12-04T08:31:30Z<p>199.27.128.138: </p>
<hr />
<div>Annual Data for households between 1958-1970<br />
http://www.tvhistory.tv/Annual_TV_Households_50-78.JPG<br />
<br />
Plotted next to a fitted logarithmic function<br />
http://imgur.com/aVWmQ9z<br />
<br />
The negative second derivative of this function<br />
http://imgur.com/xywpEJZ<br />
<br />
If someone can find more data for television ownership I'd love to see it :) {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.12}}<br />
<br />
Can someone explain why Randall believes smugness at not owning a television is decreasing? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.138|199.27.128.138]] 08:31, 4 December 2013 (UTC)</div>199.27.128.138