1350: Lorenz

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Lorenz

Title text: Every choice, no matter how small, begins a new story

NOTE: The above is the first panel of an interactive comic.

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: All images has not been described under themes (and may never be if Randall creates new) If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

For a collection of images that appear in this comic, see 1350: Lorenz/Images. These will also be described below under themes.

Explanation

This is an interactive and dynamic comic with a possible first picture shown on top of this page. The picture is always the same but the order of the sentences A/B/C/D is done by random. The result of all the interactions by the people would lead to a crowd-sourced content. In honor of April Fools' Day the comic was posted a day early, on Tuesday instead of the usual Wednesday. This also means that if anyone feels this comic is too silly... Randall can call April fool.

The title 'Lorenz' is referring to Edward Norton Lorenz who among other subjects was famous for Chaos theory and the Butterfly effect.

The title text is a reference to that the story line of this comic does include all of the user submitted dialogue and updates over time based on statistics of users clicks and hence will in nature be chaotic. In this manner it is a reference to the butterfly effect, a phrase coined by Edward Lorenz to describe how a small initial change can lead to wide variations in outcome in a chaotic system.

This comic is an example of a Choose Your Own Adventure story as mentioned in the title text.

Functionality and bugs

The reader is initially presented with only one panel where Knit Cap Girl (Megan?) is sitting in front of her computer. The reader is given multiple choices concerning what exactly Knit Cap Girl (Megan?) is thinking. Upon choosing any option, a second panel appears, to give continuity to the story. Each new panel may have a new set of options or just the button "Continue" to see the next panel without making any choice in particular. Eventually, one may reach a dead end in which the story is interrupted and reader is presented with a text box to suggest how it should continue. Some of the suggestions given should eventually become available as new options.

It appears that new panels may be generated by Randall in near real time as user suggestions to dialog is submitted. The dialogue options are likely based on click-through rates and hence will change over day based on which choices are clicked most using A/B measurement techniques. This will mean that the most popular choices for dialogue line will prevail as the statistics build up. In some cases, dialogue line options do not depend on the continuity of the storyline followed, suggesting that some parts of the story are planned. For example, do several of the storylines involve one of the two main characters waking up and for instance telling the other character, “I had the strangest dream…” or even reliving the dream again. This may be due to common submissions across storylines as well.

Normally, there is a total of 4 options to make: a/b/c/d. Their order changes constantly. Sometimes, there are 3 or fewer options, with the text box to suggest an alternative option. Sometimes, a given panel actually has 5 or more available options, although even in this case only 4 options appear at a time. Refreshing the comic changes randomly which of the available options are visible and which are hidden. As of April 2nd 2014, the existence of 5 or more options seems to occur only in a few rare cases, including the first panel itself.

Each panel has a "permalink" button which generates a unique URL for all the choices made by the reader — so a reader can save the chosen choices to compare them to other ways going through the selections. On the final panel the reader can enter an own statement, which is shown on screen but can't be saved by a permalink. The reader has to do a screen shot by himself.

Cookies and Javascript are required to see this page properly. Without cookies, the next panel will not render; attempting to load the page in the UNIXKCD terminal or loading the page without Javascript will just get you the previous comic.

Buttons

Instead of clicking with the mouse you can move more quickly through the panels using the keyboard:

• Up/Down - navigate options
• Enter/Right - choose option after navigating with Up/Down
• Left - go back one panel
• a/b/c/d - choose any option directly

Bugs

Since this interactive comic relies on many servers in the background to provide the response to the reader's actions there are some problems reported here:

• In the worst case the entire comic doesn't render at all as expected — it just shows the previous comic 1349: Shouldn't Be Hard.
• When selecting a sentence A/B/C/D the server does not respond on that selection.
• The servers responsible to provide the pictures are down.
• In the first week after the comic was released, if a response lead to a panel where two characters speak at the same time, it was impossible to proceed past the first speech bubble. This was subsequently fixed.

As a consequence of these bugs many readers do not understand how this interactive comic works.

Themes

Computer

To see/hide images click here:	Description of images
The beginning	Knit Cap Girl sits at her laptop saying/thinking something. You choose what from four options and thus starts the interactive and dynamic comic. Originally on April the 1st there where only four choices, but this has increased since. But you always have four to choose from when you begin.
Computer problems	Knit Cap Girl's laptop has an unspecified problem. Hairy walks in and they attempt to fix it by connecting his laptop with hers. There are two outcomes possible: He fails so badly that they end up randomly floating in the ocean (with or without circling sharks - a reference to 349: Success see below.) It doesn't work so now Knit Cap Girl tries to write something on Hairy's laptop from a paper (a manual?) she holds in her hand. This also fails and the story continues with a blowtorch scene - see below:
Blowtorch	Knit Cap Girl becomes so upset with her laptop that she decides to melt it using a blowtorch - a clear reference to the comic from the day before this one: 1349: Shouldn't Be Hard. After this they walk out of the building.

Political debate

To see/hide images click here:

Description of images

Debate

Knit Cap Girl uses har laptop to watch a debate online between the Politician 1 (on the left) and the Politician 2 (Cueball, on the right), the subject and the actual conversation of which varies according to the storyline. Eventually one of two things can happen: They fight each other, the Politician 2 using a lightsaber and the Politician 1 using his bare fists Politician 1 is going down on one knee - either to pray or as in a suggestion to ask the other to marry him... Subjects debated could be user suggestions but below are one of those from April the 1st: Politician 1 accuses Politician 2 of having never liked Firefly. Politician 1 vows to end the "war on Christmas" if elected. Politician 1 praises his adversary and supports his economic plan. Politician 1 questions Politician 2's project of tying multiple birds to a car as fuel replacement, which would require some method to make the birds take off in unison. The solutions mentioned for this topic are given here as an example: Opening and closing an umbrella near them (a reference to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). Using a predatory bird to the car to scare them Putting resources in the hands of bird educators for the purpose of training them Employing fiscal hawks. If the Politician 1 points out some problem with the reasoning, often the solution proposed by the Politician 2 would be doing the same in a larger scale or saying he completely agrees with everything the other says... In the end, Hairy walks in to Knit Cap Girl and points out something happening near which may or may not involve birds (or what ever was the subject) which could be a direct result of Politician 2's project. Again all this could be user input! The last image where Hairy walks in have been used also in other story lines

Miscellaneous

To see/hide images click here:	Description of images
Walking out of the building	They may just walk away to new events or they encounter either: A rocket A hole in the ground See below.
Space rocket	There is a rocket on the ground just outside of the building. The rocket either: Fails to launch and the two characters comes out again Takes off (with a screenshot from Kerbal Space Program) as it goes off into space - see below
Relativistic encounter	The space rocket meets another space rocket that asks a question about relativity, the same one that appeared in Choices: Part 2. The other space rocket will shoot and destroy the main rocket if the question isn't answered satisfactory. Otherwise the two rockets fly past each other.
Space planet	Eventually the space rocket meets a guy on a very tiny planet which most likely is a reference to The Little Prince. This could also be a reference to the asteroid 4942 Munroe, then it would be Randall on the rock.
Dreams	Sometimes, Knit Cap Guy or Hairy find themselves waking from a dream, suggesting that all prior events were just part of they dreaming. This may happen after either: They fall in the big hole outside Knit Cap Guy's house The rocket is shot down by the other spacecraft. Knit Cap Guy also wakes up after watching the debate. Often, the dream loops upon itself, as a character wakes up multiple times in the same storyline. When Knit Cap Guy wakes it is with the head to the left and the cap lying on the end of the bed. Hairy has his head to the right.
Salesman	Hairy meets White Hat, a salesman with a small stand. Often this happens after waking from a dream.
Arguing	The two characters argue with each other
Thinking	One of the characters take a panel or two to think about something.
Dinosaur Comics	The green T-rex from Dinosaur Comics (a clip-art-based webcomic that uses the same artwork with different captions for every strip.) interrupts the story and proceeds to talk about his tiny arms or other subjects. In the end, he stamps on the house the main characters are in. Often, the characters wake up from a dream.

Ocean

To see/hide images click here:	Description of images
Wrong move	Knit Cap Girl tries to write something on Hairy's laptop from a note she has in her hand. Hairy watches. This image is also used in the computer problem theme above. But this time it goes really wrong and the Oncean scene appears right after this:
Sharks	Knit Cap Girl and Hairy are floating in the ocean, with or without sharks. A clear reference to 349: Success. Sharks have been the subject of several other comics. Three giant squids appear and a lone shark seems disturbed. Maybe the squids killed the sharks leaving the blood in the last of these images?
Beach	Knit Cap Girl and Hairy starts to swim out of the shark free ocean and finally reaches a beach - see 349: Success.

Geography

To see/hide images click here:	Description of images
Hole in the ground	Hairy spots a hole in the ground and leans over it to make a comment
Huge hole on the lawn	There is a huge hole in the ground just outside of the building. The two characters always end up falling into it and awakening from a dream.
Tree	The characters walk past a tree.

Boomerang

To see/hide images click here:	Description of images
Finding Boomerang >	Knit Cap Girl finds a boomerang on the ground and may express her feelings about it. The other images listed below, may come more or less in any order and any number of times. She may comment on it again after cathing it. She may also put it down. See below also for examples of story lines. Boomerangs are also featured in: 445: I Am Not Good with Boomerangs, 475: Further Boomerang Difficulties, 939: Arrow
Throwing Boomerang >	Knit Cap Girl throws the boomerang, and it flies back (and forth). This can go on for a while, and she may even lay it down and walk away. However, more often than not she will end up with an accident:
Accidents	These accidents are: The boomerang crashing into something off panel - someone may shout back - see this example. Knit Cap Girl getting hit in the face with the boomerang rebound (i.e. 445: I Am Not Good with Boomerangs) Knit Cap Girl fails to catch the boomerang and the rebound hit Hairy in the face off screen and he then enters the frame in the next image. These two last options are both featured in this example. Hitting the space rocket from another story branch - see this example.

Pokémon

To see/hide images click here:	Description of images
A wild Pikachu appeared	Some of the storylines involve Pokémon battles featuring Pikachu, a very popular Pokémon. The battles are drawn in the style of the video games. (A trainer in the left-bottom corner facing the foe in the right-top corner, with a narration box below the scene and the trainer's Pokéballs visible, although some elements are missing, such as the level, gender and HP bar.) In this first image Pikachu the wild pokémon appeares. Then the fight begins:
Pikachu's moves	Pikachu uses a number of different moves, though these are mostly made up and are not from the Pokémon games. Pikachu's moves are almost invariably remarked by the narrator as "It's not very effective...", but "It's super effective!" is also possible to appear. (see below) In the video games, a move is "not very effective" when the opponent's type resists the attacking move's type and "super effective" when the opponent's type is weak to the attacking move's type. Pikachu's moves (see below for examples - those appearing in the examples are marked with ¤$£ etc): Abandonment - Pikachu disappears completely. Anguish ¤ - Pikachu is sad. Ant Colony - Pikachu is covered in ants. Extrude - Pikachu's head moves away from his body as his neck becomes long and malleable. Faceless $ - Pikachu's face disappears. Friendship £ - Pikachu is on Knit Cap Girl's head, signifying they are now friends. Friendship, though not a move, is a game mechanic in the video games. Granite - Pikachu is atop a block of granite. Graph Theory ¤ - The theory can be seen behind Pikachu Ink Cloud - Pikachu is covered in ink. In the storyline Pikachu uses it, there is the option to "gather" the ink. Radicality £ - Pikachu is on a skateboard. Theft - Pikachu wears Knit Cap Girl's hat. Pikachu seems to be using "Thief", a similarly-named actual move from the games, that is used to steal the foe's item and use it as its own. Uplift - Pikachu's head goes upward, separated from its body, showing a long, thick cable still connecting the head and the body. Ethylene Dichloride ¤ - Pikachu holds a glas with Ethylene Dichloride - Nothing seems to happen, but Ethylene Dichloride is a toxic chemical, so there may be future consequences for the characters. After using it, ("not very effective") Pikachu may make remarks about the move using the blank version of the image from below (the following text are users suggestion): I used to be better at chemistry. This is still better than all the lightning crap. Blank text box ¤£ - for user input The below items are (probably) not with a certain picture but text that users have suggested appear in the blank picture at the bottom of this section: Struggle In one storyline, after Pikachu uses a number of moves, it says: "Now I only have Struggle left. Tie?" In the Pokémon games, when a Pokémon runs out of PP (Power Points, the energy required to use each of its moves) for all its moves, it may only use Struggle, a weak move, indefinitely reusable, that harms not only the opponent but the user as well. Cute Face Crowdsource The Discrete Metric Here are some examples of battle: ¤ 4 different moves £ 3 different moves $ faceless move Below are some transcript of lines from user input and their references: One narration line is "Where's Twitch when I need help?", a reference to Twitch Plays Pokémon which was also covered by comic 1333: First Date. Another narration line is: "Google Maps didn't warn me of this.", a reference to Google Maps: Pokémon Challenge. Other remarks from Pikachu or about Pikachu can be seen in this example Pikachu: Aren't you going to catch me? It's not difficult, I promise... Please? [Knit Cap Girl and Hairy ignore him and go away) Please! Jigglypuff keeps on drawing on my face! You were walking in tall grass! You asked for it! Please... Tame me! I want to party on days other than Thursday. [Hairy remarks] Y'know, if we catch a Pikachu, we would never [sic] to pay our electric bills again. Pokémon mentioned other than Pikachu: Charizard (In one storyline, "Go Charizard" is one usable move in battle) Jigglypuff
Not effective	Normally after a few failed attempts - where the result is given as It's not very effective, there is an uncomfortable silence as the Pikachu says "Um..." Then it talks to Knit Cap Girl and Hairy and as they then walk away past the Pókemon, Pikachu is left in the tall grass and has time to make a final remark. See this example where they walk away only to meet another wild Pikachu.
Super effective	Rarely, a suggested move knocks Pikachu out. This is states as It's super effective (sometimes this image comes right after the one with It's not very effective. The result is that Pikachu faints. Knit Cap Girl and Hairy looks at the fainted (not dead) Pikachu who lies facedown in the grass. Then Knit Cap Girl pokes the pókemon and they walk past him out of the tall grass like in this example.

Transcript

[The comic starts with a single panel presenting four options by random order among these below.]

• These stupid tiles... I'll just play one more game.
• Oh. Hey. There's some kind of political thing going on.
• Refresh... No new email... Refresh... No new tweets... Refresh...
• Let's see if BSD is any easier to install nowadays.
• Hurry! We're in talks with Facebook.
• Gravity. Lots of it.

[The reader can choose an option and the text appears at the panel.]

[The next panels are shown after each selection until it comes to an end where the reader can suggest the last line spoken.]

Trivia

• Although impossible to finish it has been tried to make a complete interactive transcript.
• The all time longest comics by panel - top three.
  • Please only include clearly different storylines:
  1. 77 panels - Space/dinosaur double dream, boomerang, and exploding rocket.
  2. 39 panels - Politics, dream and boomerang.
  3. 30 panels - Space travel to Little Prince.
  • There may be no upper boundary!
  • But this is then the list of the longest comics with most panels as found so far.
  • If you beat a record please post the permalink here.
  • Please note themes included in comic.
  • Please move beaten records down and delete the fourth.
• Longest by themes - click to expand:

• Include only more than one if the story is clearly different from from the record.
  1. Multiple dreams:
     1. 77 panels - Two dreams one by each charachter,after space and dinosaur attack.
     2. 28 panels - One dream with hole that returns to starting point - does the dream continue?
     3. 26 panels - Two different dreams by the same character after hole and rocket.
     4. 22 panels - Two different dreams by the same character after hole and dinosaur attack.
     5. 21 panels - Two times the same dream with big hole - once be each character
     6. ? - More than two dreams
  2. Boomerang:
     1. 77 panels - double dream etc.
     2. 39 panels - Starting with politic debate in a dream.
     3. 34 panels - As the 39 panel, but here both the girl and the Hairy gets the boomerang in the face!
  3. Space:
     1. 77 panels - double dream etc.
     2. 30 panels - reaching the Little Prince:
  4. Dinosaur:
     1. 77 panels - double dream etc.
  5. Political debate:
     1. 39 panels - but also dream and boomerang.
     2. 31 panels - politicians fighing and explosive bananas - including the meanwhile image
  6. Blowtorch:
     1. 26 panels - blowtorch and moving past Pokémon twice
     2. 25 panels - dream of hole and then blowtorch
  7. Pokémon:
     1. 26 panels - blowtorch and moving past Pokémon twice
     2. 24 panels - really long fight
     3. 22 panels - moving past Pokémon.
  8. Sharks
     1. 13 panels - reaching beach

• Longest by starting point - click to expand:

• Only the longest:
  1. These stupid tiles... I'll just play one more game: 77 panels
  2. Oh. Hey. There's some kind of political thing going on: 39 panels
  3. Let's see if BSD is any easier to install nowadays: 28 panels
  4. Refresh... No new email... Refresh... No new tweets... Refresh...: 24 panels
  5. Hurry! We're in talks with Facebook: 13 panels
  6. Gravity. Lots of it: ? (This option do not seem to be featured anymore?)

• In one panel Hairry is drawn in bed without his hair.

Where's the discussion block?

It was getting large, so the discussion block has been moved. You can still discuss this comic here: Talk:1350: Lorenz