explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1564: Every Seven Seconds

2016-12-12T02:35:20Z

108.162.216.101: /* Explanation */ added missing apostrophe ("as explained by the sociologist's thoughts")

{{comic
| number = 1564
| date = August 14, 2015
| title = Every Seven Seconds
| image = every_seven_seconds.png
| titletext = Every few months, I think about sex every seven seconds and how weird and implausible it would be.
}}

==Explanation==
There is an oft-stated {{w|urban myth}} that men think about sex every seven seconds. See for example this [http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140617-how-often-do-men-think-about-sex BBC article], where they say that a more realistic number is 19 times in a waking day, i.e. once every 50 minutes.

In this comic [[Cueball]] is a {{w|sociologist}}, and the thought bubbles show his train of thoughts regarding this myth. First of all, he flatly denies that it could be true, and progressively his thoughts move to the effects if it were true, and then Cueball considers how it would even be studied. The title of the comic ''(Every seven seconds)'' hints strongly that this is the subject he is thinking about, and this is subsequently confirmed both in the caption and in the title text.

The setup is that thinking about sex every seven seconds would be dysfunctional and unproductive in addition to making working, social interactions and etcetera nearly impossible as explained by the sociologist's thoughts. The punch line is that thinking about ''how ridiculous it is to think about sex every seven seconds'' '''every seven seconds''' is just as dysfunctional and unproductive even if the thought time is spent refuting the original notion as understood in third person.

The irony of the comic is that in thinking every seven seconds about how impossible it would be for men to think about sex every seven seconds, the sociologist is, in fact, thinking about sex every seven seconds, albeit in a roundabout way.

In the title text, the narrator ([[Randall]] or Cueball the sociologist?) says he thinks about how implausible it would be to have sex every seven seconds, several times a year. See alternate interpretations below:

In the title text, the narrator's statement leaves some meaning up to interpretation:
*Every few months, I "think about sex" every seven seconds [in one day, i.e. 8200 times that day] and how weird and implausible [having intercourse] would be.
**Implying that narrator's sex life is not very active.
*Every few months, I think about "sex every seven seconds" and how weird and implausible [having intercourse every seven seconds] would be.
**Having sex every seven seconds is implausible.
*Every few months, I think about [the statistic that men think about] sex every seven seconds and how weird and implausible it would be.
**An even more realistic take on the main comic's topic.
*Every few months, I think about "sex" every seven seconds and how weird and implausible [such an assertion] would be.
**This interpretation is a bit paradoxical, because it implies that the narrator finds himself thinking about the very thing he dismisses as a possibility to think about so often.
*Every few months, I think about "sex every seven seconds and how weird and implausible it would be."
**The narrator (probably Randall) thinks about how implausible he finds the premise of "every seven seconds" every few months.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is walking with four thought bubbles above him.]

:Cueball (thinking):
::There’s no way that’s true.
::It would interfere with basic cognition.
::Such a ridiculous view of masculinity.
::How would you even ''study'' that?

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Every seven seconds, sociologists
:think about that made-up statistic
:about how often men think about sex.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Sex]]

Talk:1555: Exoplanet Names 2

2016-12-12T02:19:39Z

108.162.216.101: Uranus pronunciation "in English"

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znxFrgql5dc "This Land"] is a ''Firefly'' reference. [[User:Keavon|Keavon]] ([[User talk:Keavon|talk]]) 05:11, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
: This land is also track n6 of The Lion King, I think Randall is also a fan of this.--[[User:NeoRaist|NeoRaist]] ([[User talk:NeoRaist|talk]]) 14:54, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

What is with Kepler-283? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.214.137|108.162.214.137]] 05:09, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
:283b is the phonetic spelling for Uranus (your-a-nus) and 283c is the phonetic spelling for Uranus (your-ay-nus) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.77|141.101.104.77]] 05:33, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
::In table explanation, "'YU-ri-nus'...being the same as how the Greek god is pronounced in English" is misleading: Wikipedia's "Uranus (mythology)" page specifies both pronunciations as options. (And when we studied Greek mythology in high school we did in fact use jʊˈreɪnəs.)[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.101|108.162.216.101]] 02:19, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

;Netherlands
.. I almost feel like that titletext gives enough reason for there to be (some) pages about the [[what_if?|''What If?'']] series, but ehhhh... [[User:Pixali|Pixali]] ([[User talk:Pixali|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Pixali|contribs]]) 05:02, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

Thought about that and Randall's "promise" to use this joke more often: Do we need a "Netherlands" category for comics/articles? Having said that, maybe this was the very last reference to this joke, because of this promise... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:06, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

;Kostner
Is there a pun I'm missing by spelling Kevin Costner as "Kostner"? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.241.7|198.41.241.7]]
:[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/exoplanet_names_2.png Randall fixed it.] I don't know how to update the file here, though. [[User:P1h3r1e3d13|P1h3r1e3d13]] ([[User talk:P1h3r1e3d13|talk]]) 20:15, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
::I got it - the file's been updated, but I had to go all the way to the image and force a refresh on my browser for it to appear correctly. :P [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 00:34, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

;Novella

I'm not 100% sure what "Novella" refers to, aside from the dictionary definition of the word (and if that's the case I'm unsure of the context), but in case it's not widely-known on this wiki, I want to suggest the possibility that it's a tribute to the Novella brothers, who are among the co-hosts of the popular science podcast The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. - [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.175|108.162.241.175]] 04:43, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

:Seems like a cool podcast, sadly I don't have time to listen to 10 years Witt of podcasts. Any specific ones I should listen to and where should I start for new ones? {{unsigned ip|173.245.55.63}}
:: The podcast is very topical, often talking about current news items. It is OK to start with new ones, and back-fill as desired. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 18:57, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
: Considering the sex-themed names Novella it is grouped with. I will assume it is a joke on 60/70's exploitation/B-movies, some of which had names or leadcharacters named something..-ella. In this case the prefix is just particularly confusing ;) [[Special:Contributions/188.114.110.47|188.114.110.47]] 08:51, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
::I assumed this was a reference to the SGU, perhaps because I was primed by the Phil Plait reference (who has been a guest on that podcast a few times), and because of their enthusiasm for space news. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.57|141.101.99.57]] 20:04, 28 July 2015 (UTC)
: It could also be interpreted in this context as the diminutive form of "nova," like a stellar nova. - [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.165|173.245.56.165]] 15:09, 31 July 2015 (UTC)

;A$aplanet

Is a pun on the rap group {{w|A$AP Mob}} and their most prominient member {{w|A$AP Rocky}}.
: Included that possibility. Thanks. Didn't know of A$AP, before. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 13:21, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

Somehow I just read this as "a dollar a planet", maybe refering to a donating scheme ("a dollar donated for every planet found" or even more along the lines of "a dollar a day", meaning: donate 1 dollar to save this planet) or a sale advertisement ("just $1 to buy a planet", which is very likely to be a scam as it would not be possible with current technology to visit another planet outside of our solar system) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.253|198.41.242.253]] 15:15, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

;Planet of the Apes (disambiguation)
I think the suggestion here is to actually put the "(disambiguation)" in the name of the planet, thereby creating a problem in the wikipedia entry, since [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes_%28disambiguation%29 there's already a wikipedia page with that title]. They would have to create a meta-disambiguation page, which is why this is funny. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.235|141.101.98.235]] 13:39, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

::That's definitely the joke. But Wikipedia is actually already prepared to deal with this. When the Prince and the Revolution cover band "Prince (disambiguation)" tried to add a page for their band, editors pointed out that it should be listed as "Prince (disambiguation) (band)", with that "misnamed for technical reasons" template at the top explaining that the band's proper name is "Prince (disambiguation)", and possibly a disambiguation page at "Prince (disambiguation)" could point to it as well as to "Prince (musician)" and various other things. (But of course the band is completely non-notable, so the page was just deleted anyway). (I may be misremembering the details; it may have been a similarly-named cover band for a similar artist.) So, this would just be "Planet of the Apsa (disambiguation) (exoplanet)". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.52|162.158.255.52]] 17:17, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

;Kepler-438b
In the previous comic, Kepler-438 was named Kepler-1686 (which does not seem to exist...) and was updated to the current [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler-438b Kepler-438b]. It even is colored red to show the update. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.23.198|162.158.23.198]] 16:34, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

;Hot Mess

Why is Hot Mess an Arrested Development thing? The phrase is in general use, not just limited to viewers of that show. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.189}}

;Air Bud Pluto #9 Reference
A few strips back, in ''Rulebook'', we were debating whether the "9" on the dog's jersey may have been a subtle jab at the Pluto debate. I argued that there was a strong possibility of that, given the timing of that comic immediately after the New Horizons flyby, the strong relationship between dogs and the name Pluto, and Pluto's former status as the 9th planet. There was no way to prove that that was what Randall had in mind (short of him personally confirming it), but I think this strip could lend some credence to it. What do you think? [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 17:50, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

:What I think: #1 I don't think just the mention of Pluto is enough to support the relationship between Air Bud and Pluto; #2 read my commentary on [[1552: Rulebook]]. [[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 23:01, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

;Definition of Planet
What about the fact that the new definition of planet made by the IAU says it has to be around the sun. None of these would fit the definition of planet then and the answer to "is Pluto a planet" would still be no.[[User:Agent0013|Agent0013]]
: Here's a link to the IAU resolution which defines a planet (and confirms Agent0013's comment): [http://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau0603/ IAU 2006 General Assembly Results]. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.150|173.245.50.150]] 19:35, 25 July 2015 (UTC)
::<Here used to be nonsense, sorry> [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:51, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

;Planet with Arms
(I just added this to the 1253 talk. Adding it here too.) I think Planet With Arms refers to both Hitchhiker's and to Galileo describing Saturn as a 'planet with ears' when he discovered. it. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.26|173.245.54.26]] 13:12, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

A few more possibilities for you:
*"Skydot" - a reference to Carl Sagan's famous "Pale Blue Dot" of Earth.
*"Seas of Toothpaste" - possibly referencing the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" with its various peculiar "Seas" (e.g., "Sea of Phrenology", "Sea of Holes")
*"Moonchild" is a generic hippy name, and also the title of a 1917 novel by Aleister Crowley and songs by King Crimson and Iron Maiden. The King Crimson song, perhaps importantly, is the fourth song (i.e., "song d") on their debut album.
* "Planet With Arms" also follows on directly after "LEGoland" as a pun, as well as referencing Galileo's description of Saturn as a planet with ears.
[[User:Grutness|Grutness]] ([[User talk:Grutness|talk]]) 01:48, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

Planet with arms could also probably be a reference to the 'birds with arms' meme. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.169|108.162.249.169]] 09:12, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

It's probably not intentional, but '''Spherical Discworld''' reminded me of an aspect of the Pratchett novel, ''Strata'' (pre-Discworld-series, i.e. ''very'' early work, and arguably a bit rough around the edges, but you still might want to peruse it some time). Although I'm not wanting to go into any more detail lest I spoiler the very interesting thing that I'm talking about. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.168|141.101.98.168]] 21:18, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

I am vaguely disappointed that none of the Eridani planets got named "Planet of the Fish Assholes"... -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 23:46, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

Can we talk about how this comic is the fourth time the island {{w|Sulawesi}} was mentioned without any reason? Sulawesi appeared in [[273: Electromagnetic Spectrum|comic 273]] as part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and physically in both Online Communities maps [[256: Online Communities|I]] and [[802: Online Communities 2|II]]? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.133|108.162.225.133]] 09:55, 27 July 2015 (UTC)

:I vote for a Sulawesi category. [[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 23:01, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Was unicodesnowmanforyou.com made before or after this comic came out? {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.51}}

1764: XKCDE

2016-11-28T15:19:57Z

108.162.216.101: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1764
| date = November 25, 2016
| title = XKCDE
| image = xkcde.png
| titletext = 4. They unplug the root machine but the thousands of leaf VMs scatter in the wind and start spinning up new instances wherever they land
}}

==Explanation==

Randall has created a theoretical software environment named XKCDE (a portmanteau on xkcd and {{w|Collaborative development environment|CDE}} (Collaborative Development Environment)), which relies on the user creating a series of nested virtual machines inside each other (creating sort of a digital version of the {{w|Droste effect}}), which would likely cause extreme strain on the resources of the machine running it. This strain is explained in [[676: Abstraction]], at least for the normal case.

"Virtual Machines" are software which pretend to be PC hardware so that a "guest" operating system can run inside of them, under a "host" operating system. Nesting VMs is the process of making a guest also be a host to yet another guest. Generally this is considered wasteful of resources, especially beyond one or two layers deep, and is not done except in a test lab for very specific purposes.

"Containers" are a lighter form of PC abstraction. Instead of emulating the entire physical hardware, they only emulate the software stack sitting on top of the kernel. A containerisation tool will have its own standard library, software-stack and installed programs, but delegates all {{w|system calls|system calls}} to the host kernel.
This is more efficient because no hardware needs to be emulated, but the disadvantage is reduced isolation between host and guest. A misbehaving guest can induce kernel crashes that take the host with them.
The most well-known example of container software is {{w|Docker (software)|Docker}}.

Randall derives humour from repeating the nesting ''ad absurdum'' in a never-ending fractal of nested VMs, thus trapping the follower of the instruction forever, in a form of [[Nerd Sniping]]: Any external observer, such as your boss, who sees you doing this is likely to fire you for wasting company time (An outcome which is undesirable, though still better than being hit by a truck)(citation needed).

A software environment which disables both the machine it runs on and the user that runs it could be thought of as a useless machine.

The title-text is a joke on the words {{w|Tree (data structure)|root and leaf}} as used in abstract data structures, drawing an analogy of cutting down a tree (unplugging the root machine) scattering leaves (the nested VMs).
A subtle pun is hidden in 'spinning': several tree species use {{w|Samara (fruit)|spinning leaves}} to scatter their seeds. The {{w|Autorotation (helicopter)|autorotation}} due to the special shape of the leaves helps to soften their landing, thus protecting the seeds. Randall mixes this meaning of 'spinning' with the act of "spinning up a VM", the colloquial phrasing for starting up a new instance of a guest virtual machine.
As a seed grows into a new tree where it lands, so apparently do the scattered VMs spin up new instances of themselves wherever they land.

In this case, a literal interpretation would be that turning off the computer the VMs are running on would make all the VMs without any VMs running in them propagate themselves through a network and install themselves on other computers, which at the end of the day would be a very inefficient method of creating a virus.

=== Real Life Practice ===
In 'normal' software development, spinning up a (single, non-nested) VM is a practice to ensure that the development environment is identical between developers, thus minimising hard-to-reproduce bugs due to local machine differences, such as [https://sourceforge.net/p/phpmyadmin/bugs/2343/#0e4a unmatching library versions], [http://www.moserware.com/2008/02/does-your-code-pass-turkey-test.html locale settings] or [http://askubuntu.com/questions/202857/cant-install-ati-proprietary-drivers-in-12-10 additional installed or missing software].
The single VM image is shared between all developers, who each spin up their own instance on their personal workstation.
In such cases, spinning up the VM is the first step in bringing up a local development environment, after which additional steps will usually instruct which programs to open, which configuration settings to change, etc.

Someone got [https://pcsteps.com/508-nested-virtualization 4 levels deep] with this.

==Transcript==
Installing the xkcd development environment

{| class="wikitable"
|
# Spin up a VM
# Spin up a VM inside that VM
# Continue spinning up nested VMs and containers until you get fired
|}

{{comic discussion}}

1764: XKCDE

2016-11-25T16:01:10Z

108.162.216.101: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1764
| date = November 25, 2016
| title = XKCDE
| image = xkcde.png
| titletext = 4. They unplug the root machine but the thousands of leaf VMs scatter in the wind and start spinning up new instances wherever they land
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Barebones and possibly inaccurate.}}

Randall has created a theoretical software environment named XKCDE (a pun on XKCD + CDE = Collaborative Development Environment), which relies on the user creating a series of nested virtual machines inside each other, which would likely cause extreme strain on the resources of the machine running it. Virtual Machines are software which pretend to be PC hardware so that a "guest" operating system can run inside of them, under a "host" operating system. Nesting VMs is the process of making a guest also be a host to yet another guest. Generally this is considered quite wasteful of resources, especially beyond one or two layers deep, and is not done except in a test lab for very specific purposes. Randall's theoretical XKCDE requires it for its required use, by its very nature.

He suggests continuing that process until the user gets fired, which will very likely lead to the environment not having many active users, a very counter-productive approach to software development.

A software environment which disables both the machine it runs on and the user that runs it could be thought of as a useless machine.

==Transcript==
:[Some text is displayed above a box, listing some steps.]
:Installing the xkcd development environment

:1. Spin up a VM
:2. Spin up a VM inside that VM
:3. Continue spinning up nested VMs and containers until you get fired

{{comic discussion}}

See also https://www.pcsteps.com/508-nested-virtualization/ where someone actually tried this and got four layers deep.

1004: Batman

2016-11-18T10:35:30Z

108.162.216.101: /* Explanation */ "has been several" to "have been several"

{{comic
| number = 1004
| date = January 16, 2012
| title = Batman
| image = batman.png
| titletext = I'm really worried Christopher Nolan will kill a man dressed like a bat in his next movie. (The man will be dressed like a bat, I mean. Christopher Nolan won't be, probably.)
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a reference to the comic book and movie character {{w|Batman}}, who is actually wealthy playboy Bruce Wayne, as we see on the left being referenced as "Master Wayne" by his butler Alfred. Batman, in contrast to {{w|Superman}} and other comic book heroes, has no superpowers — he's just an ordinary guy in a bat costume, or "a man dressed like a bat." Despite the accuracy of this description, it sounds pretty stupid if you take a serious line and replace "Batman" with "a man dressed like a bat."

In the middle is the stick figure representation of Batman and on the right is the Joker, as played by the late Heath Ledger. Each of these is an actual scene from a Batman film - specifically, the {{w|Dark Knight Trilogy}} - with the subject text replaced. In this way, [[Randall]] is pointing out that Batman commands a lot of respect and fear considering that all he is is a man in a costume.

Then in the title text, Randall expresses his fear that Christopher Nolan (the director/producer/writer of the latest Batman trilogy) was going to kill Batman off in the then-upcoming movie ''{{w|Dark Knight Rises}}''. Of course, Randall substitutes for "Batman" as in the comic. This causes a grammatical ambiguity which Randall points out where the "dressed like a bat" could apply to the "man" or to Nolan. A similar ambiguity explicitly discussed in the title text of [[1087: Cirith Ungol]].

There have been several [[:Category:Substitutions|comics using substitutions]], but this may have been the first.

==Transcript==
:[One panel, depicting three wavy circles. The one in the center is slightly larger, and the ones on either side are higher up. Their edges are touching.]

:[The left circle has Bruce Wayne in the foreground, with Alfred in the background.]
:Alfred: Know your limits, Master Wayne.
:Bruce: A man dressed like a bat ''has'' no limits.

:[The center circle has a close-up on Batman in his cowl.]
:Someone off-screen: ''What the hell are you?''

:Batman: I'm a man dressed like a bat.

:[In the right circle is The Joker.]
:Off-screen: ''What do you propose?''

:Joker: It"s simple - we kill a man dressed like a bat.

:My Hobby: Whenever anyone says "Batman," I mentally replace it with "a man dressed like a bat."

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Substitutions]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

1446: Landing

2016-06-01T21:16:02Z

108.162.216.101: xkcd1446.com is dead

{{comic
| number = 1446
| date = November 12, 2014
| title = Landing
| image = landingAnimated.gif
| titletext = [LIVE]
}}
Frames of the comic began appearing at midnight ({{w|Eastern Time Zone|EST}}) on November 12, 2014 and updated every five minutes. Together, the images form a {{w|flip book}} which is shown here above. You can find the individual images by clicking on the latest image of the comic on xkcd

==Explanation==
This comic changed over time during 12 hours and 15 minutes starting at 0:00 EST (when the comic normally is released) posting 143 pictures that tracked the progress of the {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae}} lander separating from the {{w|European Space Agency}}'s {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} probe to land on comet {{w|67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko}}. More info can be found here: [http://rosetta.esa.int rosetta.esa.int].

The comic presents the imagined anthropomorphic "thoughts" of the Rosetta spacecraft and the Philae lander (and occasionally other parties) during the hours approaching separation from each other, approach to the comet and finally the apparently successful landing on the comet.

Beginning at [[Media:???65.png|11:05]], the comic includes a '''"Status Report"''' in the lower right corner which summarizes the status of various interested parties and accomplishments, beginning with "Rosetta", "Philae lander", "Mission Control", "Comet 67P", and "Have we landed on a comet?". As events occur in the comic, more status summaries are added to keep track of the changes to the situation and the supposed emotions behind them.

In many pictures a whale can be seen on the surface of the comet - often marked with a "?" as are almost all other parts of the unknown surface at this time. There is also drawn a [[Cueball]] on the surface also marked with a "?" Both are then at some point marked with a ''probably not'' - starting from [[Media:???83.png|12:35]]. The whales are also mentioned in the "Status Report" where they for instance may be listed as "calm" or "(probably) not in space". At [[Media:???122.png|16:00]] the when the entire Earth goes ''AAAAAAAAAAA'' the whales are listed as saying this as well (along with Mission control and U.S. scientists). From this moment "Dolphins and fish" are also mentioned in the report. They are asking if it is the whales that scream. The reference to whales comes from the fact that Philae brought along two harpoons that should have been used to anchor it to the comet. On Earth, harpoons have mainly been used to hunt whales; Randall previously brought up that comparison in [[1402: Harpoons]], suggesting that Philae was programmed to believe it was sent to kill the comet. It is Philae that "dreams" about whales on the surface of the comet which can be seen in the picture for [[Media:???93.png|13:25]] and in the status report.

Some {{w|Douglas Adams}} fans believe these whales and dolphins are references to ''{{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}'' and ''{{w|So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish}}.'' Whales in space have been appearing in fiction and art since the 1960s. However, with the above-mentioned reasons for whales, dolphins and fish, this seems less and less likely.

At [[Media:???115.png|15:25]] Rosetta asks Philea about destroying and levitating rocks via mind control. This is a reference to the [https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCEQtwIwAGoVChMI6OrLs9vOyAIVxw8sCh2jqQa2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D32vlOgN_3QQ&usg=AFQjCNH3G-TSemi22v4xwQ6lDkWH_RJSeg Ambition] short movie, ESA commitioned to gather public awareness of the Rosetta mission.

Shortly after release from Rosetta ([[Media:???56.png|10:15]]), Philae calls out 'Spaaaaaaaaaace'; this mimics the {{w|Portal 2}} 'Space core' who, on finally reaching space in the last scenes, gives the same elated cry.

US Scientists presumably wake up at 7:40 EST ([[Media:???96.png|13:40]] UTC) and in the report they now says "Bluuurghhh. What time is it?" to indicate their tiredness. This does not change until 10:25 EST ([[Media:???115.png|15:25]] UTC) so they are slow to wake (2 hours 45 minutes). At this point, they becomes anxious as there are only 10 minutes to landing. This last until there is 15 minutes until news of landing (a reference to the 28 minutes time delay due to the huge distance to the comet). From then on ([[Media:???120.png|15:50]]) they and the mission control (MC) say "AAAAAAA". They stop this when the news should be there - the NOW ([[Media:???122a.png|16:05]]) - and everybody holds their breath indicated by [...] - also MC. Finally ([[Media:???125.png|16:25]]) they and MC become proud (along with Earth) when Philae announces ''I got you a comet.'' It should have stopped there but as Philae bounced around, they then becomes anxious again [[Media:???128.png|16:40]], and then this changes to nervous [[Media:???129.png|16:45]] (switching those emotions with MC). And then suddenly ([[Media:???130.png|16:50]]) it is no longer US Scientists but just plain Scientists - that are nervous. It stays like this during the last few pictures, although they again become anxious, but when Philae announces ''I did it'', they drink wine as indicated with "[wine]" in the report from the second to last picture ([[Media:???134.png|17:10]]).

Randall has written "A big thank-you to [https://twitter.com/elakdawalla Emily Lakdawalla] for help and advice on this comic" in the xkcd page header for [http://www.xkcd.com/1446/ Landing], revealing the possible source of his near real-time data.

At [[Media:???124.png|16:20]] the status report had announced a big '''Yes''' to the questions "Have we landed on a comet" and "Do harpoons work on comets". According to [http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30026398 BBC News], the harpoons did, however, not fire as planned and the lander may have landed, bounced off, and landed again. This would explain the change in "Do harpoons work on comets" to "Don't know" at [[Media:???127.png|16:35]] and the change in "Have we landed on a comet?" to "Yes, at least once" at [[Media:???130.png|16:50]]. According to [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/science/space/european-space-agencys-spacecraft-lands-on-comets-surface.html?_r=0 The New York Times], radio contact with Philae fluctuated, which would explain the "Anxious", "Nervous", and "Confused" statuses around that time. In the end the lander did land and whereas the Do harppons work status did not change, so did the have we landed on a comet which changed back to '''Yes''' at [[Media:???134.png|17:10]].

The lander bounced three times and ended up in a place where the solar panels where mainly in the shadow. This resulted in the lander shutting down when its own battery ran out of power after only 2–3 days on the ground. This seemed sad, as there was only a small chance that the seasons on the comet would change so that the panels would later receive sun again. However, in the few hours that Philae had on the ground, it still managed to analyze the surface and obtain a lot of useful data - so that part of the mission was still a success already. This all happened after the comic stopped updating.

On June 13, 2015, it was announced that signals had been received on earth indicating that Philae had awoken and that the solar panels were functioning. Ironically, had Philae landed in a place originally out of shadow, it would have already failed before this time (due to overheating), so it was actually fortunate that it landed as it did and would be able to operate during the time that the comet would be closer to the sun. To celebrate the lander's revival, Randall updated the comic, depicting the lander saying "Hi." on the comet's surface.

The comic title was originally "???" (probably to not give away too early what the comic was about), but changed to "Landing" when Randall came on live at five in the morning EST. At that moment the title text also changed from "..." to "[LIVE]". It was also then that the timestamps' timezone switch. At 5:00 AM (EST) the time stamp in the picture naming scheme switched from EST to {{w|Coordinated Universal Time|UTC}} as used in ESA's time keeping, resulting in a jump from [[Media:???53.png|04:55]] to [[Media:???54.png|10:00]] without actually any such delay between the two pictures.

There were however a few pictures with more than 5 minutes of delay (about 11 times five minutes without an update in total during the "live" transmission). The update seemed to have stopped after 137 pictures at 17:15 UTC, 12 hours and 15 minutes after the first picture. (The first picture has number 0, so the last had number 136). But later, sometime after 17:15 UTC, the counter for the last picture was increased to 142 (143 pictures in total), so maybe Randall inserted 6 extra pictures later - however he must then have changed the numbers on the pictures, since the last picture remained the same until mid-June, but with number 142 instead of 136. It is thus now difficult to find out which pictures would have been added later. However, eight pictures were not included in the original table with the [[#Frame by Frame Breakdown|Frame by Frame Breakdown]] below. So it must have been some of those missing pictures that were added later - maybe all of them, as the last three may already have been added before the last picture was released (All 143 pictures are included in the flip-book gif image shown here above). But even 143 pictures at 5 minutes intervals only spans 11 hours and 50 minutes, thus there are still five ''5 minute intervals'' without any picture. See which in the [[1446: Landing/Frame by Frame Breakdown|table]].

The Rosetta space probe is shown in [[1621: Fixion]], which explains the {{w|Flyby anomaly}} experienced the first time (of three) the probe got close to Earth.

==Frame by Frame Breakdown==
*Here is a [[1446: Landing/Frame by Frame Breakdown|link to a table]] with a frame by frame breakdown of all 143 pictures.
*Here is a [[1446: Landing/All pictures|page with all the pictures]] frame by frame.

==Transcript==
:[This transcript gives only the text of the most recent picture shown in the comic; that which is now shown when clicking to the comic on xkcd.]

:[Showing Philae on a comet.]
:Time Since Landing: 211 days
:Philae: Hi!
:[Status report at the bottom-right corner.]
:Status report:
::Rosetta: In space
::Philae lander: Hi!
::Mission control: '''!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'''
::Scientists: '''!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'''
::Have we landed on a comet?: '''''YES.'''''
::Sun: Warm
::Comet: Big
::Philae, where ''ARE'' you?: Home

:[For the '''full transcript''' of all 143 pictures see '''[[1446: Landing/Transcript]]'''.]

==Trivia==
*There appears to be a brief error between 02:35 and 02:45, where the time until lander separation is shown as 1 hour, counting down to 50 minutes, before being corrected to 75 minutes at 02:50.
**Since this was supposed to be during the "non-live" section before Randall got up (and got live) it is not sure whether this was a "real" mistake, or if he was up anyway, and corrected this timing error when he discovered the plans had change during the approach flight.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color‏‎]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball‏‎]]
[[Category:Space probes]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]
[[Category:Animals‏‎]]

Talk:1409: Query

2015-06-01T04:14:03Z

108.162.216.101:

----
I cant help but notice that the ice cream guy is never selected for any of the queries, so he shouldn't be in the data pool, and thereby shouldnt be deletable.
~JustCallMeMOTL

I assume the Cueball sitting on the box is being accused of being Hairy. I'd say no. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 07:26, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Is there any particular point Randall would be making where 2 females and only one male, out of 5 each, have watch porn in the last half day? [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 07:26, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
:I wasn't sure about one of those 'females', because of the various visual cues.
:What do we know/can assume about the figures? From Left to Right...
:Dark-haired ponytail and mobile phone, on own: *above 30*, not high-earning, flies easily, not a recent porn viewer. (Possibly she's a professional woman, but not smashed through the glass ceiling.)
:Assumed Megan with the 'device', standing apart: less than 30yo, not high-earning, *fears flying* (hence her inspiration), not a recent porn viewer. (Could this be the archetypal Megan, or just ''a'' Megan?)
:Taller cueball, in 1-to-1 conversation: *above 30*, not high-earning, flies easily, not a recent porn viewer. (Grown up, doubtless socially comfortable.)
:Shorter, buzzcut cueball, in 1-to-1 conversation: *above 30*, *high earner*, flies easily, not a recent porn viewer. (Probably an pre-middle-aged Exec "going places", perhaps his success and choice of 'young' haircut are as a result of a mild case of Napoleon syndrome, but if people will talk to him he's probably not being a dick about his success.)
:Sitting ponytail, in conference: less than 30yo, not high-earning, flies easily, *recent viewed porn*. (From the companions and the position, probably high 20s recent graduate relaxing with a long-term social group.)
:Sitting cueball, in conference: *above 30*, not high-earning, flies easily, not a recent porn viewer. (Another graduate, early 30s, probably exercises in order to find that sitting position relaxing. Part of the same social group.)
:Sitting flowinghair, in conference: *above 30*, not high-earning, *fears flying*, *recent viewed porn*. (''Sex indeterminate'' as that hair could indicate a metrosexual male. By 30 the look is probably starting to wearing thin, but still not overly embaressing. It certainly doesn't look like (s)he has settled down in a familial relationship yet, but has quite obviously flown the parental nest and is now with friends from college/university. Or might have been met on a round-the-world backpacking holiday and discovered they were from his own home city, except for the fear of flying (unless worked passage on ships). Probably knows all the cool scenes in this city, though, so well worth socialising in the park with.)
:Perched cueball, with icecream, hanging out: less than 30yo, not high-earning, flies easily, not a recent porn viewer. (Probably a teenager, with a close-cropped haircut. Might or might not know the other two behind him, but hard to tell what he thinks except perhaps "I've got an ice-cream! Yay!" Perhaps after a busy day of not-watching-porn.)
:Leaning ponytail, with device, hanging out: less than 30yo, not high-earning, *fears flying*, not a recent porn viewer. (Teenage girl. Big on social networking. Probably not so big on face-to-face-talking.)
:Smallest cueball, with device, hanging out: less than 30yo, not high-earning, *fears flying*, *recent viewed porn*. (Teenage boy. Typical teenage boy. As girl, but probably in-between Tweeting with the girl next to him he's serrupticiously viewing a video someone sent him (see his furtive look?), and maybe of the girl next to him. Or something 'sexted' ''from'' her, if that wouldn't count for her SELECTion on that criteria. One way or another, ''probably'' with the sound off.)
:...what's more, presumably none of those fiogures were Terminator Units, Alien Shapeshifting Lizards or ''already'' ghosts of some kind (or whatever class of individual would not belong in TABLE PEOPLE). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 09:34, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

::Thats racism! I mean speciesm. Alien Shapeshifting Lizards are people too! -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:15, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

::You list a lot of individuals being from college/university, however we have no data from the above image to establish that. People that don't go to university do exist and do have social networks (and outnumber the people who have been to college). Additionally, while I assume it to be out of place for Randall there is the possibility that some of our females/males in this population are transgendered or transvestites (assuming, of course, they're a US population). As well . . . Terminator Units aren't people!? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.181|108.162.237.181]] 13:53, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Sounds a lot like watch_dogs. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.201|108.162.229.201]] 07:42, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Is this Zuckerberg's phone? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.34|108.162.254.34]] 09:33, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Is there any particular reason this comic isn't appearing on the homepage at the moment? For some reason xkcd.com is displaying 1408 "March of the Penguins". No actual navigation on the site will take me to this comic, I have to manually type /1409 into the URL bar. --[[User:Zagorath|Zagorath]] ([[User talk:Zagorath|talk]]) 10:20, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

I'm under the impression that Megan is using the device to look for potential mates. The age and income queries point to this, the other two are less common but still make sense in the context of a relationship. Finding no one who matches all of her criteria, she then deletes the list.
[[User:Dromaeosaur|Dromaeosaur]] ([[User talk:Dromaeosaur|talk]]) 10:41, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
:Well, there's obviously something to the idea of those directing her choices (for positive ''or'' negative selection purposes - I assume <=30 && >$100k, but would she want someone who shares her fear and would ''never'' suggest a plane trip, or someone who could be reassuring when one ''is'' taken? And someone who is 'wholesome' or likely to be open-minded about pornography?) but, although it's likely there's no Mr(/Mrs) Right, she finds just proclaims it "neat" and only seems to inadvertently 'tidy up' (albeit too much), rather than doing it in deliberate (if again misjudged) frustration... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 11:39, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
::I thought the same. I think that when Megan realises that no one matched her queries (so no possible relationship match) she decide to clean the list as she's not interested in them. Doing this she forgets, like most people do, that she's part of the people as well, and so she deletes herself too, accidentally.

Why does the explanation call it "SQL-esque"? That looks like fully valid SQL to me. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.230.119|108.162.230.119]] 10:49, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
: I can only guuess that they might call it "SQL-esque" because based upon the fields queried, it does not seem like a backing database would be able to keep a constant record of everyone where the number of hours since watching porn could be CONSTANTLY updated (and thus accurate). This is not a typical database, granted, but that info (as I wondered below, a while back) is something that would be found with comparison between a timestamp and GETDATE() - possibly contained within a function, neither of which is shown in the respective statement (no function call, no datediff). It is still SQL, and SQL can be used verbally to query a fellow human for any information, though you'd get a strange look at best from most people you meet on the street - it's just a language - but the implication is that it is backed by a relational database with static data like most databases out there, so perhaps they're implying that it somehow can't be SQL because such a database can't conceiveably be built(?). Idunno - I'm grasping at straws... -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 19:08, 28 January 2015 (UTC)
I think the comic is a reference to "Big Data" and the claim I read this morning that one organisation has a file on 10% of the world's population with around 1500 pieces of information on each of them. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.194|141.101.98.194]] 12:27, 18 August 2014 (UTC) Dan
:It's also possible that the strip is commenting on the notion that the universe may be a hologram and/or a computer simulation. If that's the case, then it would make sense to have a People table. {{unsigned ip|173.245.48.79}}

One thing I find interesting is what I see as an implication that <del>5/10</del> (sorry: 6/10) of the people pictured would not have a "device" on them at the time they were dropped with the PEOPLE table - certainly ''more'' than half of people have a device (or at least an ID or set of keys or something)... perhaps being contained within their clothing -- which apparently is dropped along with the associated person -- means THOSE devices were dropped along with the clothing (cascading?); however, being in the hands of the associated person means a certain level of disassociation... idunno... pick pick pick away at the joke! ALSO, seems like the time since someone watched porn would have to be computed (wouldn't be stored in the table as a field itself, but computed from a field like time_last_watched_porn and datediff... or else some user-defined function)... FINALLY - would have been great to see the result of an INSERT or UPDATE statement prior to dropping... ah well - [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 14:10, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
:Just to make is clear. If their devices should be dropped, even if they were in their pockets, then why do you not also expect their clothes to be dropped...? Oh, maybe their clothes did drop, and since this is not visible (they are stick figures...) then their phones is in the pocket, and would not show up anyway. So either the clothes goes along with everything they have on them (but not what they hold in their hands) or else the clothes also drops like everything else that were not a biological part of them. (Man this is a far out discussion ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:09, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

See [[327: Exploits of a Mom]]. That is all. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.153|173.245.54.153]] 19:04, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
:Added it to the explain--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:09, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

I think it's interesting Megan chooses to Drop Table People right after viewing who's watched porn, much like people who clear their browser cache/history after watching porn to make sure no one else finds out. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.179|108.162.237.179]] 00:15, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

There's a further implication no-one seems to have picked up on here. At the beginning of the strip, Megan finds the device sitting on the ground,presumably lost. At the end of the strip, everyone's disappeared and the device is sitting on the ground, presumably lost. Is this the first time this chain of events has occurred, or has the table been dropped in the past? [[User:Grutness|Grutness]] ([[User talk:Grutness|talk]]) 01:37, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

What Megan never realized was that Mr 100 000 earned his [http://google.com/#q=100000+VND+in+USD earned his income in Vietnam]. —[[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 12:24, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Isn't dropping the table kinda boring? Think of the possibilities... ''UPDATE PEOPLE SET AFRAID_OF_FLYING=FALSE, ANNUAL_INCOME=120000 WHERE NAME='Megan''' [[User:KillaBilla|KillaBilla]] ([[User talk:KillaBilla|talk]]) 13:52, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

:You are selfish. Think of how you can help whole world! ''UPDATE PEOPLE SET ANNUAL_INCOME=10000 WHERE ANNUAL_INCOME < 10000'' ... poverty in Africa solved :-). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:24, 20 August 2014 (UTC)
:: That would just result in inflation, and nobody would win.
:: I'd love to see Black Hat with this device. 23:27, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Why would Randall let this comic out on a Sunday. The first entry in the explain history is from the Monday after - the 18th of August. Anyone who can find out if this is the correct date, or just a mistake from when the page was created? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:18, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

Talk:541: TED Talk

2014-11-02T04:25:44Z

108.162.216.101:

It's not the first time Randall gets banned from conventions, see [[153: Cryptography]].
[[User:Xylon|Xylon]] ([[User talk:Xylon|talk]]) 13:10, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

: There are enough of these that it should probably be a category. (Anon) 12 August 2013 {{unsigned ip|24.142.134.100}}

How about "Linux(or BSD (: )"? Actually, that looks just as weird. Oh well. [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 05:10, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

What about "Linux (or BSD :D)"? That looks great! 05:54, 1 December 2013 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.120}}

Or "(Linux (or BSD ( :) )))"...nope! [[User:Squirreltape|Squirreltape]] ([[User talk:Squirreltape|talk]]) 18:19, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

"Every talk has a length of 18 minutes and is supposed to be as captivating as possible." this is just wrong(first part of the statement). someone should edit it out. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.24}}

Use an asian smiley. So you'd write Linux (or BSD ^_^) instead. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.101|108.162.216.101]] 04:25, 2 November 2014 (UTC)