explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2450: Post Vaccine Social Scheduling

2021-04-15T12:40:05Z

108.162.216.112: /* Explanation */ Fixed the third person’s error explanation.

{{comic
| number = 2450
| date = April 14, 2021
| title = Post Vaccine Social Scheduling
| image = post_vaccine_social_scheduling.png
| titletext = As if these problems weren't NP-hard enough.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a UNVACCINATED MOVIEGOER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic shows a timeline of a multitude of (presumably) friends and acquaintances getting their two doses of vaccine. Due to the CDC-recommended delay between shots, as well as few weeks needed to build antibodies from the second shot, planning get-togethers in advance becomes complicated by who is free to meet, or not yet.

Eventually, everyone can start getting together, but during the time where some people have only received one dose, or neither dose, or their second dose recently, the scheduling is complicated.

The title text references NP-hardness, a theme that has come up in past comics. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NP-hardness NP-hardness] describes a particular level of computational difficulty. Scheduling problems are normally NP-hard. But when extra challenges such as having to deal with whether or not people are vaccinated they become even more difficult.

There appears to be an error: The third person is shown as having been scheduled for a movie before being fully vaccinated.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A time graph of eleven people with lines. Circles with 1 and 2 are interspaced on the lines to represent first and second doses for COVID, and bolded lines for times after their second doses. 6 ellipses intersect various subsets of the people labeled in order:

DINNER GAMES MOVIE BIRTHDAY DINNER CABIN

[Caption below the panel]:

Post Vaccine Social Scheduling
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: COVID-19]]
[[Category: COVID-19 vaccine]]
[[Category:Timelines]]

Talk:2329: Universal Rating Scale

2020-07-11T19:05:29Z

108.162.216.112:

There are several things that UNC might stand for, but to me none of them suggests a rating scale. Open to suggestions, of course. [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 00:10, 7 July 2020 (UTC)
: I think the most likely candidate from {{w|UNC|w:UNC}} is the numismatic code for an {{w|uncirculated coin}}. —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 00:49, 7 July 2020 (UTC)
: Unified National Coarse is the name of a scale (not a rating on it) for thread sizes (for screws, nuts, bolts, etc.)[[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.187|172.69.68.187]] 02:12, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

I don’t think A/AA/AAA are battery sizes, but rather [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_rating credit rating]. That is also consistent with their positions in the upper half of the scale.--[[Special:Contributions/172.69.235.142|172.69.235.142]] 00:37, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

A+ reminded me of {{w|European Union energy label}} ratings - but it is also in the credit rating list -- [[User:Bmwiedemann|Bmwiedemann]] ([[User talk:Bmwiedemann|talk]]) 01:31, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

Does anyone know what "S" is a rating for? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.206|172.69.34.206]] 01:35, 7 July 2020 (UTC)
: Satisfactory, top marks on USA elementary school report cards (or at least it was in the 1980s) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.124|162.158.63.124]] 02:40, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

I think the faces are supposed to correspond to a face-based pain scale, which is supported by the fact that they occur at similar places to the pain scale and that the frowny face looks more like the frowny face from one of these charts than any traditional sad face emoji. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.250.44|172.69.250.44]] 02:45, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

This listed F as standing for Fine under the coin grading scale. However, the coin grading scale runs from 0-70, and ordered Poor (P, or About Good, AG, depending on personal preference), Good (G), Very Good (VG), Fine (F), Very Fine (VF), Etremely Fine (XF), About Uncirculated (AU), and Uncirculated (UNC or MS, for Mint State, depending on personal preference). Because Fine is better than Good and Very Good on the coin grading scale, but F is worse than G and VG on Randall's Universal Rating Scale, F probably refers to the letter grade for schoolwork, rather than the coin grade of Fine, so I removed F from the coin grade section. The G might also stand for a movie rating, but whether it is a movie rating or a coin grade, it's position would remain the same, so it's a moot point which it is. [[User:NErDysprosium|NErDysprosium]] ([[User talk:NErDysprosium|talk]]) 05:48, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

I know some video games and fantasy stories contain things that have a letter rating, typically starting a few letters into the alphabet and increasing as it gets closer to A, often with an S above that, but sometimes another rating above S labeled "EX" for "extra". These scales sometimes have additional ratings with a + or - attached, or increasing by repeating the letter 2 or 3 times in a row before going up to the next letter. Thus the same system might have both "AAA" and "S", but normally unlike this chart the S would be higher. In some cases it might end up topping out with something like "SSS+". This sort of thing is particularly common in stories originating in Japan which involve some sort of other world that contain some sort of features similar to a video game with some sort of "Adventurer's Guild" which would often have such a system. In particular there are quite a lot of Japanese novels that are like this, many of which containing strange or unique twists on otherwise common formulaic settings. Some of these both have official English translations or were later adapted into manga or anime, or oddly enough in quite a few cases were a self published thing posted online as a hobbyist before later being picked up by a publisher and being somewhat changed and re-written as a proper book. Many also have people making and posting online fan translations of them.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.35|162.158.74.35]] 06:40, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

9 was possibly omitted, because 7 8 9 (seven ate nine) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.11|162.158.111.11]] 08:11, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

: I'd say you are making up your own jokes - however - :-) Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.71|162.158.154.71]] 14:06, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

: neglected again https://xkcd.com/1103/ [[User:Norgaladir|Norgaladir]] ([[User talk:Norgaladir|talk]]) 16:15, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

: I would point to ''[[Thing Explainer]]'' instead. The number after eight is not one of the ten hundred words people use the most. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.80|172.68.174.80]] 22:32, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

Some comics seems like Randall makes them purely for this website, or in general to make people guess what each of the things mean. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 09:27, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

When I saw "Category 5" I thought he meant {{w|Category_5_cable}}... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 15:46, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

The explanation had A+ listed as a credit rating, but it's in the wrong spot to be the A+ credit rating, and likely refers to the A+ grade instead. Should I remove it from the credit rating section? Credit scores aren't exactly my area of expertise, unlike coins. [[User:NErDysprosium|NErDysprosium]] ([[User talk:NErDysprosium|talk]]) 16:23, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

Can someone please explain what the "curve" in the title text is? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.211|141.101.69.211]] 17:17, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

: That's how in some school courses they "grade on a curve" where if no one can get a perfect score on a test, they change the score so the highest existing score is changed to 100, and all the other people who took the test also have the same amount added to their score (or at least that's the way I'm most familiar with, it might be possible to do so with a somewhat different method). Thus they can have an unreasonably difficult test without causing abnormally low scores that will cause tons of students to get failing grades.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.134|162.158.75.134]] 17:25, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

:The "curve" technically refers to a bell curve; that is adjusting the letter grades by organizing the students into bins based on that distribution (the ~68% of students nearest the average grade get a C, then the 14% just above that get a B and the top 2% get an A, and the same pattern going down for D and F). However most instructors who say they "grade on a curve" don't do that since grades rarely fit that curve, and this often unfairly punishes students who performed well but weren't the top score. EG if the scores are all between 90% and 100% correct then the student(s) who got 90% correct will receive an F. Most of my experience with "grading on a curve" has been that the instructor sets the highest score achieved to represent 100%, but I have also had professors who adjust the grading bands so most students get a B or better. The latter method avoids forcing a failing mark on students who just happened to get the lowest score, but unlike adjusting the 100% level down it provides no benefit to someone who did significantly worse than their peers.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.10|162.158.78.10]] 13:12, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

I rate this comic perfect 5/7. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.159|141.101.69.159]] 19:08, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

I thought that the F was a reference to "pay respects", indicating embarrassing failure

I thought that 9 was omitted because Windows skipped version 9 when doing their version releases (mostly due to the fact that there was Windows 95 and Windows 98 which began with 9).
: I thought the reason was that Windows 8 was widely disliked, so they wanted to distance the new version from it.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.112|108.162.216.112]] 19:05, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

Am I the only one who would like to see "Safe", "Neutralized", "Esoteric", "Thaumiel", "Euclid", and "Keter", added to this scale?

Talk:2331: Hamster Ball 2

2020-07-11T10:54:00Z

108.162.216.112:

Whoa. {{w|Hamster ball}}s are more popular than I thought ... also, surprisingly, not recommended for guinea pigs. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:24, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

{{w|The_Avengers_(1998_film)|The Avengers}} (not {{w|The_Avengers_(2012_film)|''those'' Avengers}}, though, that I know) used Human Hamster-Balls to cross a lake. Trying to google-fu a clip of it while excluding the other upstarts from a search has so far been impossible, though. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 23:53, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

A two second Google search got me https://primaryimmune.org/story-david who I recall as 'bubble boy' and living in a plastic bubble. I note that the bubble did not contain a toilet or kitchen and this was most likely his transpo and not his life. Perhaps the article says. BTW, this is a covid19 entry. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.112|108.162.216.112]] 05:21, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2331: Hamster Ball 2

2020-07-11T05:24:39Z

108.162.216.112:

Whoa. {{w|Hamster ball}}s are more popular than I though ... also, surprisingly, not recommended for guinea pigs. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:24, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

{{w|The_Avengers_(1998_film)|The Avengers}} (not {{w|The_Avengers_(2012_film)|''those'' Avengers}}, though, that I know) used Human Hamster-Balls to cross a lake. Trying to google-fu a clip of it while excluding the other upstarts from a search has so far been impossible, though. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 23:53, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

A two second Google search got me https://primaryimmune.org/story-david who I recall as 'bubble boy' and living in a plastic bubble. I note that the bubble did not contain a toilet or kitchen and this was most likely his transpo and not his life. Perhaps the article says. BTW, this is a covid19 entry. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.112|108.162.216.112]] 05:21, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2331: Hamster Ball 2

2020-07-11T05:21:11Z

108.162.216.112:

Whoa. {{w|Hamster ball}}s are more popular than I though ... also, surprisingly, not recommended for guinea pigs. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:24, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

{{w|The_Avengers_(1998_film)|The Avengers}} (not {{w|The_Avengers_(2012_film)|''those'' Avengers}}, though, that I know) used Human Hamster-Balls to cross a lake. Trying to google-fu a clip of it while excluding the other upstarts from a search has so far been impossible, though. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 23:53, 10 July 2020 (UTC)
A two second Google search got me https://primaryimmune.org/story-david who I recall as 'bubble boy and living in a plastic bubble. I note that the bubble did not contain a toilet or kitchen and this was most likely his transpo and not his life. Perhaps the article says. BTW, this is a covid19 entry. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.112|108.162.216.112]] 05:21, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

2039: Begging the Question

2018-11-12T01:53:36Z

108.162.216.112: /* Transcript */ no ‘feel’ in white hat’s dialogue

{{comic
| number = 2039
| date = August 29, 2018
| title = Begging the Question
| image = begging_the_question.png
| titletext = At least we can all agree on the enormity of this usage.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic makes fun of the constant battle between those who maintain a {{w|Linguistic prescription|prescriptive view of language}} and those who have a {{w|Linguistic description|descriptive view}}. In the prescriptive view, language has fixed rules and fixed usage, and any usage that does not adhere to established rules is incorrect. In the descriptive view however, language is malleable and any usage can be correct if it is common and understood by most people.

The comic specifically calls out two phrases which are commonly misused in the prescriptive sense, and whose meanings have changed in modern usage in the descriptive sense:

;Nauseous
''Nauseous'' in its supposedly 'proper' form means "causing {{w|nausea}}", while ''nauseated'' means affected with nausea.

Prescriptively speaking, it is only correct to use the word "nauseous" to describe the food item since that was the cause of Ponytail's nausea. Saying "the food made her nauseous" would be interpreted, by a prescriptivist, as meaning the food somehow caused her (her body, her appearance, etc.) to become so disgusting that she now causes other people to feel nausea. As White Hat states, the proper phrasing is that the "the food was nauseous", and it "made [her] feel nauseated".

Both historically and in modern usage, however, "nauseous" is a valid synonym of "nauseated". It is difficult, if not impossible, to cite an era of history when most people would not understand "she is nauseous" to mean she does not feel well.

;Begging the question
{{w|Begging the question}} originally referred to a logical fallacy where an argument assumed its conclusion. The phrase first meant to question (beg) the original question. In modern usage, it has come to mean to "raise a question or point that has not been dealt with". This is often a point of contention for prescriptivists. However, as the caption explains, Cueball has an entirely different meaning for this phrase that he created himself: "fight a losing battle against changing usage". This is actually a meta-meaning, as that is actually the common activity of prescriptivists who complain about incorrect usage; it's a losing battle, because language change is inevitable and unstoppable. And specifically, trying to preserve the original meaning of "begging the question" is a losing battle.

Ponytail might recognize that her exposure to nauseous food has both nauseated her and caused her to become nauseous to Cueball. The question is not merely begged it is missed.

The title text also plays on another word commonly argued over by prescriptivists. "Enormity" in its classical usage means either extreme wickedness or a monstrous offense or evil, though it is more commonly used in modern writing as a synonym for enormousness (i.e. largeness in size). The title text exploits the lexical ambiguity that this creates.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and White Hat standing next to each other talking. White Hat has raised his hand while Cueball stands behind him.]
:Ponytail: That food made me nauseous.
:White Hat: No, the ''food'' was nauseous. It made you ''nauseated''.
:Cueball: Come on, you're just begging the question.

:[Caption below the frame:]
:I annoy people on all sides by using "beg the question" to mean "fight a losing battle against changing usage".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Language]]

Talk:3: Island (sketch)

2018-10-17T19:31:30Z

108.162.216.112:

It looks a bit like Saba, in the Caribbean. {{unsigned ip|82.161.213.206}}

;It's a hippo

I think the bumps on the top of the peak make a look like a hippopotamus-shaped island.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.200|173.245.56.200]] 19:48, 7 September 2014 (UTC)

Is it just me or is the title text explanation trying to say something?

Talk:2056: Horror Movies

2018-10-08T19:55:42Z

108.162.216.112:

Horror is about my least favorite genre of film. Westerns rank around the same. I find both pretty boring, though there are some suspense films, when done right, that I do like. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 17:55, 8 October 2018 (UTC)
:I agree about horror but the Western {{w|A Fistful of Dollars}} and some more by {{w|Sergio Leone}} are on my personal top movie list. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:02, 8 October 2018 (UTC)
::Actually, I can enjoy almost any genre if its a humorous spoof of the genre. I love Blazing Saddles, for example. And there are rare examples in genres that can appeal to outsiders. I may have to give Sergio Leone's movies a try. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 18:13, 8 October 2018 (UTC)
:::Oh, from the {{w|Dollars Trilogy}} you should start with the third, running three hours and still the best. And for comedy horror this is a widely unknown great one: {{w|Little Shop of Horrors (film)}}. Check the cast. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:00, 8 October 2018 (UTC)
Early XKCD issues frequently referenced Randall's fear of velociraptors. There hasn't been a reference to this fear in many years though. Did Randall forget this trope? Is he no longer scared of dinosaurs? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.112|108.162.216.112]] 19:55, 8 October 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2005: Attention Span

2018-06-11T22:13:35Z

108.162.216.112:

Do you think the book being referenced is a Dragon Lance book?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.24|162.158.106.24]] 04:33, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
: Sounds like a Wheel of Time omnibus, if such a thing actually exists. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.148|108.162.216.148]] 16:29, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

The comic contains a hyperlink to what appears to be exactly the kind of article Cueball apparently "''just'' finished reading", or at least my mobile reader is picking up a hyperlink. I've added a small note about this; I'm not linking the article directly for personal reasons. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.227|108.162.221.227]] 05:51, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
: I linked it. If it's linked in the original then it should be here, too. Maybe it belongs more to the trivia section, I don't know, but it definitely has to be shown here somewhere. On a side node: did Randall ever do something like that before? [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 06:53, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
:: Linking other content behind the image? Yes, I think he did it several times before. The only actual comic I remember, however, is [[351: Trolling]]. --[[User:YMS|YMS]] ([[User talk:YMS|talk]]) 09:17, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
:Considering that the link contains a link to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jltKnDlH_OA I believe that omission is no an option [[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.58|162.158.234.58]] 09:51, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
:::[[1723: Meteorite Identification]], [[1506: xkcloud]], [[1572: xkcd Survey]]... just to name a few more. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 09:55, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
:::: Ah, very well :) The difference between those three and this one and 351 is that in the latter the link is "hidden". The others say "Click here" either directly or in alt-text. And in xkcloud it isn't an external link. Whatever. Maybe we should consider making a category of them? [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:04, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

I must admit to never having watch the seminal movie Surf ninjas but wikipedia tells me there is not only a novelisation, by A L Singer (Peter Lerangis) but also the screenplay. {{unsigned|Arachrah}}

I once advanced the theory that Sodor is the future of Mordor after the machines won and evolved into trains. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.51|162.158.62.51]] 12:46, 11 June 2018 (UTC) Jedman67
: Sounds like Mieville's Railsea. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.148|108.162.216.148]] 16:29, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

Dragonsbane isn't nearly long enough to meet the thickness requirement --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.196|162.158.75.196]] 17:17, 11 June 2018 (UTC)RyanR

Does anyone feel like the punchline is misplaced? Start with claim that he has no attn span any more, then she lists various overly long works he clearly does read while he protests and defends, then he concludes with punchline "no attn span for anything good." In fact, she should probably deliver the line, after discovering what he has on his bookshelf. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.42|162.158.122.42]] 20:25, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
:The key here was diminishing attention span with age, so he indicated "...for anything good ANYMORE." The joke is that this isn't something that changed. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.112|108.162.216.112]] 22:13, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1874: Geologic Faults

2017-08-09T14:10:34Z

108.162.216.112:

Totally missed an opportunity for a Lego Fault.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.251|108.162.212.251]] 13:43, 9 August 2017 (UTC)

The alt text reminds me of how Earthquakes are depicted in movies, where a massive rift opens up in the Earth. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.10|162.158.75.10]] 13:48, 9 August 2017 (UTC)

I was totally expecting the Amigara Fault in there [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.112|108.162.216.112]] 14:10, 9 August 2017 (UTC)

1620: Christmas Settings

2016-11-24T04:13:42Z

108.162.216.112: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1620
| date = December 23, 2015
| title = Christmas Settings
| image = christmas_settings.png
| titletext = SOUND DOGS MAKE: [BARKING] [HISSING] [LIGHTSABER NOISES] [FLUENT ENGLISH] [SWEARING]
}}

==Explanation==
The first of two [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comics]] in a row, as it was followed by [[1621: Fixion]].

In this comic [[Ponytail]] is showing [[Megan]] around in a facility, where they are now reaching the "Universe Control Panel", and Ponytail points out the first panel and tells that these dials control {{w|Christmas}}.

Presumably the control panel is a set of panels with several dials each to control the entire universe, and anyone having access to a room with these controls would from our point of view be in a God like position. If such a room did exist it would most likely be situated outside our universe. Here it would be easy for [[Randall]] to use the panel to make [[#Universal constants control panel|physics references]], with dials to control the specific size of {{w|Physical constant|fundamental constants}} of the universe such as the {{w|speed of light in vacuum}} or the {{w|Planck constant}}. However, instead he chooses a more comedic angle in the spirit of Christmas (as he usually does in [[:Category:Christmas|comics released]] close to said holiday, this one being released on December 23rd).

We are only shown one of the dials on the Christmas control panel, the one that controls how {{w|Santa Claus}} enters people’s houses. The ''Santa enters houses through''-dial has [[#Options for Santa|ten different possible settings]]. The one it's set to at this point of the comic is the traditional ''chimney''. Among the other nine there is only one even more logical option the ''open window'', but surprisingly there is no option called ''the door''. The other eight options, however, are increasingly weird or even impossible (though of course not for Santa, who can deliver a billion packets in one night and fly in a sleigh drawn by flying reindeer…). These options ranges from the ”feasible” like ''mail slot'', ''heating vents'' or ''cat flap'' to the impossible/ridiculous (some even disgusting) as ''kitchen faucet'', ''shower drain'' or ''toilet'' over the truly magical ''bathroom mirror '' to the downright unpleasant - ''pores of your skin''. (See [[555: Two Mirrors]] regarding the mirror version).

In a quite unfortunate turn of events Megan trips and catches herself on the Santa dial, messing it up by clicking it twice. To make matters worse, when Megan asks what it was set to before so as to undo the mishap, Ponytail tells that she has forgotten. So they cannot put it back right.

The dial is shown in the comic only for the readers benefit, because as Megan tripped up before reaching it, she thus never looked at it, and as Ponytail is showing her around, it must have been her first visit here. The reason why Ponytail cannot remember to which option the dial was set before is most likely because she is not part of our universe (the control panel is located outside), and also she is probably not the creator of the control panel. She is clearly disturbed when the dial is turned (she holds up her hand to her mouth), and she would probably like not to have to tell her boss about this mess up. Another explanation is that by changing the dial, Megan and Ponytail's memories of Santa's entry methods are altered, and so whatever position the dial now rests at would seem normal to them. (Perhaps the dial was formerly something more logical than a chimney, like "open window," and indeed ''we'' are the ones who now live in the altered universe!)

Then, as so often seen with human behaviors (if they are indeed human beings at all?), Megan says she will simply take a wild guess and hope she get it right. As the only thing she really knows is that it is not on the right setting now, there is only 1/9 that she will get it right assuming she will at least change it away from the setting she ended up on.

As we can see in the comic the dial clicks twice, implying it has moved two positions; Megan has thus most likely changed the dial to either "kitchen faucet" or "mail slot". Or the dial was moved one click away and one click back to the original position. As we do not know which of these she will now change away from, it is impossible to guess from the comic where she end up putting it, all ten options are possible.

Since the comic is released just before Christmas, here is a prank played on the reader/children who believe in Santa Claus. Now that the dial setting is probably changed, one can expect Santa to enter the house in a different way. So the believer could stay up and try to find out what way it would be.

The title text continues the idea of a universe control panel by showing another possible dial: ''[[#Options for dogs|Sound dogs make]]'' ranging from the norm (barking) to cat sounds (hissing, very embarrassing for a dog), "lightsaber noises" and speech to swearing. This is a dial most likely on another control panel for animal sounds (but it could of course specifically be the sound a dog would make in response to Santa's entry, by whatever method?). It would thus give the same option of changing the expected vocal response of the dog away from (our norm of) barking, as with the other dial with the way Santa enters the house. In popular culture, talking dogs are a commonly used trope; in contrast, swearing "dogs" are few, the most famous being {{w|Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog}}, a puppet created by {{w|Conan O'Brien}} and {{w|Robert Smigel}} and performed by the latter.

The comic might also be a joke on real-life controls often having no clear "default" value - which, by the way, is sometimes the case for virtual controls as well.

The Universe Control Pannel is also referenced in [[1763: Catcalling]]

==Options for Santa==
*Below is a table with the ten possible settings for ''Santa enters houses through...''; starting with the originally chosen standard option and going clockwise through the rest:
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
|'''Option''' || '''Normal Entry/Exit for...'''
|-
|{{w|Chimney}} || {{W|Santa Claus}} typically comes in this way (see him here in a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I-b_GJ4ltk Victorian roof-top song and dance number]). Also {{w|The_Three_Little_Pigs|big bad wolves}} use [https://youtu.be/Olo923T2HQ4?t=432 this entrance] in Disney’s cartoon.
|-
|{{w|Shower#Drainage|Shower drain}} || Dirty shower water. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPgjOcdQ0fE Evil clowns].
|-
|{{w|Mail slot}} || Letters, post cards and small presents delivered by the mailman.
|-
|{{w|Duct (flow)|Heating vents}} || Hot air used for {{w|central heating}}.
|-
|{{w|Bathroom}} {{w|mirror}} || See {{w|Candyman (film)|Candyman}}, or {{w|Bloody Mary (folklore)|Bloody Mary}} (the latter has been used in [[555: Two Mirrors]]).
|-
|{{w|Skin pore|Pores of your skin}} || {{w|Sweat}} leaving the body.
|-
|{{w|Toilet}} || {{w|Human waste}} and {{w|The_Shawshank_Redemption|life-term prisoners}} (at least through the sewer).
|-
|{{w|Cat flap}} || Domesticated cats and dogs.
|-
|{{w|Sink|Kitchen faucet}} || Water.
|-
|{{w|Window|Open window}} || {{w|Burglars}} and other criminals. Also often used as an exit by teenagers in movies and other film media, or by people who have locked themselves out of their own house.
|}

==Options for dogs==
*Below is a table with the five possible settings for ''Sound dogs make''; starting with the current and continuing with the order in the title text:
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
|'''Option''' || '''Normal sound for...'''
|-
|{{w|Bark (sound)|Barking}} || {{w|Dogs}} current standard sound in our universe...
|-
|[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hissing Hissing] || Typically a {{w|List of animal sounds|sound attributed }} to {{w|snakes}}, but also sometimes {{w|cats}} are [http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/why-do-cats-hiss/ said to hiss], for instance as a reaction against a barking dog. It would thus be very frustrating for dogs if their noise was changed into that of their arch enemies.
|-
|{{w|Lightsaber|Lightsaber noises}} || A lightsaber makes a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kpHK4YIwY4 unique sound], and as they are one of the most known props from the {{w|Star Wars}} universe, it is very relevant as the newest Star Wars movie {{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}} was released a week before this comic. Star Wars was also the main theme a month ago in the comic [[1608: Hoverboard]], the coin collecting game that celebrated [[Randall|Randall's]] new book.
|-
|{{w|Fluency#Speech|Fluent}} {{w|English language|English}} || [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRcUcxtaX-Q Speaking dogs] are a common trope as are {{w|talking animals}} in general. A person who is native to a country where they speak English will usually be fluent in speaking English.
|-
|{{w|Profanity|Swearing}} || It would be unpleasant for people who dislike swearing, and a big problems for movies such as {{w|Lassie}} where most of the soundtrack would have to be replaced by {{w|Bleep censor|bleeps}}. Swearing "dogs" are few, the most famous being {{w|Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog}}, a puppet created by {{w|Conan O'Brien}} and {{w|Robert Smigel}} and performed by the latter.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Ponytail are walking over to a console, Ponytail points towards it. They are drawn in a panel that is only half the width of the next panel below]
:Ponytail: Over here we have the universe control panel.
:Ponytail: These dials, for example, control Christmas.

:[A dial is shown. There is a label at the top and then there are ten settings, five symmetrically on the left and right side, but no setting straight up or down. It looks allot like the dial on a washing machine with different programs. The dial points towards the top left setting. All settings are labeled and there is a small line going to the point on the dial connected with each setting. The line at 3 and 9 o'clock are straight the other 8 are divided in two, where the first part goes horizontally and then bends either up or down, to end in the right position. Here the labele at the top and then the setting labels clockwise from top right, thus ending with the one the dial is set to:]
:'''Santa enters houses through...'''
:Shower Drain
:Mail Slot
:Heating Vents
:Bathroom Mirror
:Pores of Your Skin
:Toilet
:Cat Flap
:Kitchen Faucet
:Open Window
:Chimney

:[Ponytail is passing by this control panel looking back at Megan who trips and falls towards the console.]
:Megan: Whoops!
:Megans legs: Trip

:[Megan catches herself on the dial of the control panel and accidentally turns the dial. Ponytail has taken her hands to her mouth.]
:Dial: Click Click

:[Megan is standing in front of the console looking at the dial, Ponytail is standing behind it.]
:Megan: What was the Santa dial set to before?
:Ponytail: I forget.
:Megan: I'll just guess

==Trivia==
*In the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/7/73/20151223160450!christmas_settings.png original version] of the comic Ponytail erroneously said: ''These dials, for example, '''controls''' Christmas.''
**This was soon changed to the current (and grammatically correct) version with out the "s" at the end of controls ''These dials, for example, control Christmas.''
**Thus proving that it was intended that there were more than one dial, we just see the one that Megan later changed by mistake for the sake of the joke of the comic.
*The "Universe Control Panel" is later featured in [[1763: Catcalling]], but is referred to as the "Universe Control Console" instead.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:1759: British Map

2016-11-14T22:58:08Z

108.162.216.112:

The actual location for Braintree should be Essex not North Yorkshire.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.171|141.101.98.171]] 15:22, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Could Highland be a reference to Highlander? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.84|173.245.52.84]] 15:27, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

OK, I know you removed the </nowiki> that ruined the italics there, [[User:Davidy22|Davidy]]. Don't lie to me, you troll. [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 19:04, 14 November 2016 (UTC)
:Whoops, was removing autogenerated nowiki text from another user, missed the first tag. Also, that edit was completely unnecessary. 21:29, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Blick could be referring to Wick , at the top of Scotland ''Please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>''

''Waterdown: Near [the actual] Grimsby'' Interestingly enough, in southern Ontario, Canada, there's a Waterdown not far from a Grimsby. Waterdown is considered part of Hamilton, and is towards its northwestern edge, while Grimsby is to Hamilton's east. --[[User:VonAether|VonAether]] ([[User talk:VonAether|talk]]) 17:01, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

The protractor off the West coast of Scotland is a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mull_of_Kintyre_test
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.215|141.101.98.215]] 17:44, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Blick could also be Oldmeldrum.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.229|162.158.234.229]] 19:06, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Why aren't the coordinates part of the first table? [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 20:05, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Is Waterdown perhaps another Watership Down reference? [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 20:38, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Pity there's no [[wikipedia:Towcester|Towcester]] :) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.251|141.101.98.251]] 20:47, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

"Lakebottom" is equated with Lake Windermere (probably correct, largest lake in the Lake District) and the table states that many waterspeed records were set there. Arguably it is Coniston Water (same area, third largest "Lake" in the region) that is more (in) famous for speed records... Not that Randall references speed at all. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.159|141.101.98.159]] 21:31, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Helcaraxë and Blick seem to share a single dot. Maybe Randall forgot to put a dot there, or there's some other reason? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.112|108.162.216.112]] 22:58, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1227: The Pace of Modern Life

2014-11-20T01:42:07Z

108.162.216.112:

Is it sad that after reading the first few, I thought "TL; DR" and found myself skim reading most of them since I'm meant to be working right now and not reading xkcd? {{unsigned ip|‎90.152.3.226}}

That's obviously what's intended [[Special:Contributions/155.56.68.216|155.56.68.216]] 09:53, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

I agree that this point was possibly intended and added text to the analysis, explicitly pointing it out. [[User:Jimbob|Jimbob]] ([[User talk:Jimbob|talk]]) 16:25, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

:It was not what was intended. Randall used all those quotes to build a compelling argument. The fact that some people "don't have time" to read them all is simply a supporting case, albeit one that each person will have to come to personally. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 18:05, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

I don't think it's sad. According to my 11th Grade Literary Analysis, the propensity to take shortcuts is a fundamental flaw in human nature, but introductory Psychology lauded our use of heuristics. I say you should find meaning in your humanity and ability to set your own priorities and allocate just enough resources to various aspects of your life in order to succeed in life where the objectives are unclear.[[Special:Contributions/98.166.43.28|98.166.43.28]] 12:06, 19 June 2013 (UTC)DBrak

:Did you just... quote yourself? [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 05:58, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

The topic made me slow down, read, and understand. Perhaps the point was lost on me, but the expressions from a century ago seem much like those made today. One can't help but wonder if that means they were wrong then and wrong now or if our society was in a century long devolutionary spiral, terminating with Twitter or whatever is coming next. --[[Special:Contributions/108.34.230.242|108.34.230.242]] 10:02, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

:I think you're on the right track, and these are exactly the types of questions that Randall was seeking to raise. [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 05:58, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

Had this continued to present day the most recent entry would be something like this:
:lol didnt read '''#tldr #boredalready #yawn'''
:::- Most of 'Civilisation', ''Social Media''
::::::::::2013
[[Special:Contributions/77.86.53.65|77.86.53.65]] 12:11, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Just added an explanation. Unfortunately, there's no transcript provided in the source code and I don't have time to type all that out (who does?). Also, I have no idea what to use for categories. Any suggestions? [[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 12:36, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
:Not a suggestion, but does anyone know if Randall types or writes it out, or copies and pastes? --[[User:Luckymustard|Luckymustard]] ([[User talk:Luckymustard|talk]]) 13:04, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
::Looks like the letterforms are identical -- my guess is a custom font. [[Special:Contributions/66.202.132.250|66.202.132.250]] 14:16, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

If this comic was meant to say that we should give up on these types of arguments, this comic did the opposite effect: I actually AGREE with all of this!

I mean, I tend to write long private messages, while the longest replies I get are also the most satisfying, since they tell me quite a bit of the recipient. Relatedly, I prefer to write long responses to pieces of artwork when I comment on art sites, telling people exactly why I like the art... what shines... what needs to be polished. (Of course, I am going to need to find a way to simply stay at a work and truly take in what is presented.) In fact, letter restrictions sometimes restrict me too much. I DO need to be more social, not having any reading material at hand (whether the material be a newspaper or a video game). I dislike people PUSHING me to look around myself; this is something I do automatically. In fact, while I like staying inside and exploring the wonders of the Internet hours on end, I also like going outside alone and looking around myself, seeing the wonders that other people ignore (probably because other people are too busy talking to yet other people). There really is a mental degeneration (You can see this for yourself in the comments other people leave in websites.) and addiction to stimulants. In fact, stress (and DIStress) is one of the main reasons why we have cancer far more often that the non-developed parts of the world, since stress compromises the body severely. Play, while easily abused, is never the less a necessary part of development, even while an adult. I wish I could keep up pace with the world, but I also hope, for the sake of the world and myself, that the world slows down to me. You can see for yourself how newspapers are being scandalous. I myself suffer from eating foods too quickly (yet there is the problem of ants and spoilage if I take TOO long when eating, a sad possibility due to me preferring to eat at the computer.) Rebellion (a problem that even I suffer) does cause people to want their own way, not knowing that they are just being a slave to impulses, their authorities having the experience to liberate them for the things that their subordinates really do want and shall really want. (The rebels do not want others to 'cramp their style,' but they fail to learn basic anatomy and lighting, much less on making a pleasing style!) There is an entropy in displayed morals, yet that is something that requires changing the hearts of people, though we can control this by 'starving' the problematic media (another bit of advice with which even I also struggle, my curiosity provoking me to see things that should not be seen), since they only proliferate if there are people to feed them. People all around us know that marriage feel into disarray. While legally-backed homosexuality (and, soon, polygamy), and, to an extent, abortion (regardless of the reason) have been causing their problems, marriage already fell in disarray when divorce (that is, breaking a lifetime vow), pornography (that is, selling the private bodies of people for your selfish desires), promiscuity, and birth control (that is, using a reproductive function for non-reproductive reasons and otherwise abusing the reproductive function) already led themselves to an array of evils.

Again, people would probably just skip my wall of text here, but I feel that I need to make my old-fashioned (whether for worse or better) opinion heard here. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 15:16, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

In my honest opinion, your wall of text is a work of art in itself. I wholeheartedly agree with you, and ''I am the next generation. '' Life has been sped up too fast for us, and it is too often that I see my peers on their devices, or trying to do too many things at once. You make many valid points and good observations. ~Alithia [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.5|108.162.241.5]] 14:15, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

--
So, the argument has been going on for a long time. Does this comic imply that (1) we perceive that the pace of life was slower in the old days, but has always been as fast as it is today, or (2) that the pace of life has actually been speeding up for a very long time now? [[Special:Contributions/194.176.105.141|194.176.105.141]] 15:31, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
: I think that the pace of life has been speeding up for a long time now. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 18:59, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

:: Perhaps it's the case indeed that the "pace of life" has been speeding up... but I wonder: to what end? Is this a problem? If so, why? In response to your "wall of text," I'm not sure that there are really so many negative repercussions to society today ''that we can quantify.'' Sure, cancer is more of a problem today than it was 100 yrs ago, but we are also living much, much longer today. So I have trouble imagining that it's due solely to "stressors" in our lives.

::I'm not so sure that Randall was necessarily for or against the "modern life is rubbish" judging by the comic's quotes. However, I do believe he was trying to spur questions and conversations about it. So, to that end it's a pretty important contribution. [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 06:06, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

Added to the explanation, please correct any grammar, composition, or repetition mistakes, thank you. -- [[Special:Contributions/186.124.46.183|186.124.46.183]] 16:40, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Did anyone else notices that you can get the gist by only reading the bolded text? It's probably a just me. Anyone want to take the time to compile the bold text only and place it in the explination? [[User:Crsoccerfreak19|Crsoccerfreak19]] ([[User talk:Crsoccerfreak19|talk]]) 18:47, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

:I didn't see this before, but I think that work is a great idea. So my next job here is to work on that an checking if this does make sense. Thanks for your hint.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:39, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

------

I did an full update to the transcript. I used the existing parts here, many thanks to the contributors, the free web site [http://www.ocronline.com/ OCR Online] (the only one did work, in fact it did work as a hell) and {{w|LibreOffice Writer}} for changing the case to lower case. After that it was just some manual work without typing all that text.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:13, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

The meaning I took from this comic was very much [[wikt:plus_%C3%A7a_change,_plus_c'est_la_m%C3%AAme_chose|Plus ca change]]. There are translated Roman messages that say very similar things about the current state of Latin, and I bet even ''that'' was merely an inadvertent echo of prior ages. As one who can be very verbose with (at least ''intended'') correct spelling, grammar and vocabulary, I ''could'' go on at great length about how this works for the current day, but on this occasion shall restrain myself. Yours faithfully  [[Special:Contributions/178.98.31.27|178.98.31.27]] 20:56, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Adding 'the sub text':
----
The art of letter-writing is fast dying out. We fire off a multitude of rapid and short notes, instead of sitting down to have a good talk oer a real sheet of paper.

In olden times it was different.

Men now live think and work at express speed. Sulkily read as they travel ... leaving them no time to talk with the friend who may share the compartment with them.

The age of leisure is dead, and the art of conversation is dying.

A craving for literary nips. There never was an age in which so many people were able to write badly.

The art of pure line engraving is dying out. We live at too fast a rate.

Nothing is left to the imagination. And human faculty dwindle away amid the million inventions that have been introduced to render its exercise unnecessary. Thirty pages is now too much. Fifteen pages. Further condensed. A summary of the summary. Those who are dipping into so many subjects and gathering information in a summary and superficial form lose the habit of settling down to great works. Hurried reading can never be good reading.

Mental and nervous degeneration among a growing class of people. Brain incapable of normal working... in a large measure due to the hurry and excitement of modern life. Almost instantaneous communication between remote points of the globe.

Teach the children how to play. Instead of shutting them in badly ventilated schoolrooms.

Increased demand made by the conditions of modern life upon the brain. We talk across a continent, telegraph across an ocean. We take even our pleasures sadly and make a task of our play.

The managers of sensational newspapers. Create perverted tastes and develop vicious tendencies.

To take sufficient time for our meals seems frequently impossible.

May I be permitted to say a word in favour of a very worthy and valuable old friend of mine, Mr. Long Walk? I am afraid that this good gentleman is in danger of getting neglected, if not forgotten.

People talk as they ride bicycles - at a rush - without pausing to consider their surroundings. The profession of letters is so little understood.

There is a tendency among the children of today to rebel against restraint.

Our modern family gathering, silent. Each individual with his head buried in his favourite magazine.

Deal openly with situations which no person would have dared to mention in general society forty years ago. Nude men and women in the daily journals.

Fitness and courtliness too often totally lacking.

A hundred years ago it took sol long and cost so much to send a letter that it seemed worth while to put some time and thought into writing it. A brief letter to-day may be followed by another next week - a "line" now by another to-morrow.
[[unsigned|209.217.94.93]] 21:27, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
:Thanks [209.217.94.93], I will put in my version here and I am happy if you can correct possible mistakes.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:58, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Can anyone validate these are true quotes? I tried searching for the one in Google Books for Morley: Ancient and Modern and it came up with no results. They're great quotes, but is it possible they're made up?--[[Special:Contributions/119.224.37.9|119.224.37.9]] 07:31, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

At least one of the quotes is real: "So much is exhibited to the eye that nothing is left to the imagination" http://books.google.com/books?id=nc_UAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA265&ots=AAC4OimA5D&dq=%22So%20much%20is%20exhibited%20to%20the%20eye%20that%20nothing%20is%20left%20to%20the%20imagination%22&pg=PA265#v=onepage&q=%22So%20much%20is%20exhibited%20to%20the%20eye%20that%20nothing%20is%20left%20to%20the%20imagination%22&f=false{{unsigned|216.55.56.42}}

The only point this comic is trying to make is that yes the olden times were different, but they were not as different as we suppose. The people had exactly the same intelligence and capacities as we do today, and apparently shared the same concerns about change, and the detrimental effect it will have on all parts of society. OF course, every generation puts itself in the position of greatest importance, and believes that the present moment is of the highest criticality. Sorry folks - get over yourselves. It isn't true. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 18:05, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

"Our brains have just one scale, and we resize our experiences to fit." -xkcd: Connoisseur. I once saw an experiment where they ask random people to, without a clock, tell them when they thought one minute had passed. Overwhelmingly the young came in under and the old over. The world isn't moving faster you're moving slower.

Talk:278: Black Hat Support

2014-10-05T17:45:08Z

108.162.216.112:

select() calls are used to poll sockets for activity (read, write and exceptions), and I suspect the issue was that the timeout value (which is specified as part of select()'s parameters) was set too high judging from the overall content; Web servers and clients alike would suffer considerable latency as a result of waiting too long for I/O ports to activate. Thus it's likely the Apache install was misconfigured somehow, since the default settings should be sufficient for most purposes (in my limited experience since I work solely with nginx these days).

I had this problem writing a server in PHP, and it took a while to get PHP (under Win32) to stop hogging my precious CPU cycles by successful application of nonblocking sockets and a short timeout parameter. [[User:Thokling|Thokling]] ([[User talk:Thokling|talk]]) 15:24, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

:You are correct and I have modified the explanation. It could also be due to a loop polling a socket that will never be freed(a deadlock), this was my interpretation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 07:05, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

The explanations above don't seem to match "the load climbing out of control". The load typically means the CPU load, not latency. If the server is stuck on reading from a socket, the latency will grow but the load will plunge, since it's _waiting_ and thus not consuming the CPU cycles. Two typical problems connected with select() are: (1) As the number of sockets polled grows, the overhead of select() grows, so it uses more and more CPU just to go through all the sockets and check them all for readiness. (2) If some socket reports readiness through select() and then the program does not handle that readiness but keeps including this socket into the following select() calls, it will be stuck in a tight loop retrying select() and using all the available CPU of one processor. A less extreme variety of this case is the program being notified of multiple sockets being ready but handling only one socket before repeating select(). In this case the program will continue making progress but with the increased overhead of the unnecessary select() calls. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 21:07, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

The start of the explanation refers to "black hat hackers" which doesn't seem relevant to the comic. I would have guessed that it relates to Red Hat, the company that sells and supports an enterprise Linux distribution (but becomes "Black Hat" because it is drawn in black and white). {{unsigned ip|108.162.208.155}}

What about the sideways reference to "hang" in the title-text? Shouldn't _something_ be said about that in the explanation? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.190|173.245.54.190]] 18:18, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Looks about like what I'd expect of the BoFH. Except more helpfull and fewer dead bodies. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.112|108.162.216.112]] 17:45, 5 October 2014 (UTC)