explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1702: Home Itch Remedies

2016-07-04T14:17:47Z

108.162.218.83:

Taking a hot (enough) shower is actually a remedy as it denatures the proteins causing the itching. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.131|162.158.86.131]] 14:14, 4 July 2016 (UTC)
: Why don't you add that in the explanation? It would help. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.83|108.162.218.83]] 14:17, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

1702: Home Itch Remedies

2016-07-04T14:07:18Z

108.162.218.83: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1702
| date = July 4, 2016
| title = Home Itch Remedies
| image = home_itch_remedies.png
| titletext = In my experience, mosquitos and poison ivy are bad, but the very worst itch comes from bites from chiggers (Trombicula alfreddugesi). They're found across the American south and great plains, so the best home remedy is to move to Iceland.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Basic transcript. Please improve on it.}}

Bug bites, such as mosquito bites, are itchy. Home remedies such as {{w|Alternative medicine}} or {{w|Homeopathy}} are often ineffective, and in some cases very complicated -- think of the number of suggestions you have got on how to cure hiccups. In this case Cueball's suggesting turns out to be insanely complicated, involving finding rare French orchids. In this case Megan is not actually interested in trying out a complex home remedy, but really just wants sympathy.

Megan's answer is a {{w|sarcastic}} comment stating that her own family home remedy is to keep scratching until the skin falls off -- which is a natural tendency to do, although not until the skin literally falls off, and hence it is not a home remedy but a natural reaction.

Most times the simplest solution is the best, and since iceland had been isolated until the Vikings, there are no spiders or snakes other than those that have been brought with the migration to iceland -- the title test make fun of this, suggesting that the simplest cure for spider bites is to move to Iceland.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Megan and Cueball stand as Megan scratches her itches.]
:Megan: Argh, bug bites are the ''worst''. I shouldn't scratch but... so itchy.
:Cueball: Oh, you know what's great for that?

:[Zoom-in to Megan's head and upper torso. Cueball is off-panel.]
:Megan: No, Don't tell me. Everyone always has weird home remedies that never work. I just want sympathy.
:Cueball: No, this one isn't weird, I promise. It really helps!

:[Zoom-out to Megan and Cueball. Megan is still scratching.]
:Cueball: First, take a hot shower. Then dip some ice cubes in vinegar and use them to crush one baby aspirin. Then make some tea, and...

:[Panel expands to show that Megan is walking away while Cueball watches.]
:Cueball: ...Then, you need a rare French orchid-
:Megan (cutting Cueball off): I'm going to try a different home remedy where I complain a lot and scratch until my skin comes off.
:Cueball: Sounds effective.
:Megan: It's an old family trick.

{{comic discussion}}

1702: Home Itch Remedies

2016-07-04T14:06:51Z

108.162.218.83: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1702
| date = July 4, 2016
| title = Home Itch Remedies
| image = home_itch_remedies.png
| titletext = In my experience, mosquitos and poison ivy are bad, but the very worst itch comes from bites from chiggers (Trombicula alfreddugesi). They're found across the American south and great plains, so the best home remedy is to move to Iceland.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Basic transcript. Please improve on it.}}

Bug bites, such as mosquito bites, are itchy. Home remedies such as {{w|Alternative medicine}} or {{w|Homeopathy}} are often ineffective, and in some cases very complicated -- think of the number of suggestions you have got on how to cure hiccups. In this case Cueball's suggesting turns out to be insanely complicated, involving finding rare French orchids. In this case Megan is not actually interested in trying out a complex home remedy, but really just wants sympathy.

Megan's answer is a {{w|sarcastic}} comment stating that her own family home remedy is to keep scrayching until the skin falls off -- which is a natural tendency to do, although not until the skin literally falls off, and hence it is not a home remedy but a natural reaction.

Most times the simplest solution is the best, and since iceland had been isolated until the Vikings, there are no spiders or snakes other than those that have been brought with the migration to iceland -- the title test make fun of this, suggesting that the simplest cure for spider bites is to move to Iceland.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Megan and Cueball stand as Megan scratches her itches.]
:Megan: Argh, bug bites are the ''worst''. I shouldn't scratch but... so itchy.
:Cueball: Oh, you know what's great for that?

:[Zoom-in to Megan's head and upper torso. Cueball is off-panel.]
:Megan: No, Don't tell me. Everyone always has weird home remedies that never work. I just want sympathy.
:Cueball: No, this one isn't weird, I promise. It really helps!

:[Zoom-out to Megan and Cueball. Megan is still scratching.]
:Cueball: First, take a hot shower. Then dip some ice cubes in vinegar and use them to crush one baby aspirin. Then make some tea, and...

:[Panel expands to show that Megan is walking away while Cueball watches.]
:Cueball: ...Then, you need a rare French orchid-
:Megan (cutting Cueball off): I'm going to try a different home remedy where I complain a lot and scratch until my skin comes off.
:Cueball: Sounds effective.
:Megan: It's an old family trick.

{{comic discussion}}

1702: Home Itch Remedies

2016-07-04T14:02:35Z

108.162.218.83: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1702
| date = July 4, 2016
| title = Home Itch Remedies
| image = home_itch_remedies.png
| titletext = In my experience, mosquitos and poison ivy are bad, but the very worst itch comes from bites from chiggers (Trombicula alfreddugesi). They're found across the American south and great plains, so the best home remedy is to move to Iceland.
}}

==Explanation==

Bug bites, such as mosquito bites, are itchy. Home remedies which is a form of {{w|Alternative medicine}} or {{w|Homeopathy}} are often ineffective, and in some cases very complicated -- think of the number of suggestions you have had on how to cure hickups. In this case cuevall's suggesting turns out to be insanely complicated, involving finding rare orchids. In this case she (insert name here) is not actually interesed in trying out a complex home remidy, but really just want sympathy.

Her answer (insert name here) is a {{w|sarcastic}} comment stating that her own familiy home remidy is to keep scraching until the skin falls off -- which is a natural tendendcy to do, although not until the skin literraly falls off, and hence it is not a homeremidy but a natural reaction.

Most times the simplest solution is the best, and since icland had been isolated until the vikins, there are no spiders or snakes other than those that have been brought n with the migration to iceland -- the mouse over test make fun of this, suggesting that the simplest cure for spider bites is to move to iceland.

{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Megan and Cueball stand as Megan scratches her itches.]
:Megan: Argh, bug bites are the ''worst''. I shouldn't scratch but... so itchy.
:Cueball: Oh, you know what's great for that?

:[Zoom-in to Megan's head and upper torso. Cueball is off-panel.]
:Megan: No, Don't tell me. Everyone always has weird home remedies that never work. I just want sympathy.
:Cueball: No, this one isn't weird, I promise. It really helps!

:[Zoom-out to Megan and Cueball. Megan is still scratching.]
:Cueball: First, take a hot shower. Then dip some ice cubes in vinegar and use them to crush one baby aspirin. Then make some tea, and...

:[Panel expands to show that Megan is walking away while Cueball watches.]
:Cueball: ...Then, you need a rare French orchid-
:Megan (cutting Cueball off): I'm going to try a different home remedy where I complain a lot and scratch until my skin comes off.
:Cueball: Sounds effective.
:Megan: It's an old family trick.

{{comic discussion}}

1702: Home Itch Remedies

2016-07-04T13:54:18Z

108.162.218.83: /* Transcript */

1702: Home Itch Remedies

2016-07-04T13:53:34Z

108.162.218.83: /* Transcript */

1698: Theft Quadrants

2016-06-24T16:07:54Z

108.162.218.83: Added transcript, please improve

{{comic
| number = 1698
| date = June 24, 2016
| title = Theft Quadrants
| image = theft_quadrants.png
| titletext = TinyURL was the most popular link shortener for long enough that it made it into a lot of printed publications. I wonder what year the domain will finally lapse and get picked up by a porn site.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|How difficult is it really? Is it a real problem}}

It is hard to steal nuclear launch codes. And a good thing too since they could be used to start a nuclear war.

It is also hard to steal the [http://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/visit-us/top-things-to-see-and-do/the-crown-jewels/visiting-the-crown-jewels/the-crown-jewels/ Crown Jewels], since they are protected by a [http://yeomenoftheguard.com/Windsor%20Castle.jpg complex security system]. But if they were stolen, it wouldn't be so bad for most people.

It wouldn't be hard to steal the [http://www.oscarmayer.com/wienermobile Wienermobile] (a car shaped like a hot-dog, advertising the Oscar Mayer brand), and there would be little consequence if it were stolen.

It wouldn't be hard to steal the [http://tinyurl.com/ Tinyurl.com] domain name, but the consequences of that could be significant.

Tinyurl offer a url shortening service. They provide short urls that redirect to long ones. This is useful if you want to write down a very long url as it saves typing and is more accurate. Other companies including bit.ly offer a similar service, as do Google and Twitter. Tinyurl was, for a while, the most popular of these url shortening services. If their domain name were stolen, all the redirects from short URLs could be changed to forward traffic to sites hosting malware. This would have significant effects on a large number of people.

Domain hijacking is relatively common. If a hacker can obtain personal information about the domain owner, they can impersonate them to the domain registrar, and obtain control of the domain, and with that control defraud a large number of people.

As the title text notes, sites can be particularly vulnerable if they do not maintain their web site, as the registrar is free then to sell the same domain to any third party. A [https://reports.internic.net/cgi/whois?whois_nic=tinyurl.com&type=domain whois search] finds that the tinyurl.com domain is next due for renewal in June 2018.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete|Added basic transcript. Please improve on it by editing it.}}

:[Square four-panel diagram.]
:[Top-left panel labeled "The Crown Jewels".]
:[Top-right panel labeled "The Nuclear Launch Codes".]
:[Bottom-left panel labeled "The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile".]
:[Bottom-right panel labeled "The tinyurl.com Domain Name".]
:[Axis increasing in the upper direction labeled "How hard thing would be to steal".]
:[Axis increasing in the right direction labeled "How bad it would be if someone stole it".]

{{comic discussion}}

1682: Bun

2016-05-18T22:25:01Z

108.162.218.83: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1682
| date = May 18, 2016
| title = Bun
| image = bun.png
| titletext = If a wild bun is sighted, a nice gesture of respect is to send a 'BUN ALERT' message to friends and family, with photographs documenting the bun's location and rank. If no photographs are possible, emoji may be substituted.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Ponytail]] is teaching a class about an animal referred to as a "bun". The word "bun" is short for {{w|bunny}}, an informal term used for {{w|rabbit}} or {{w|hare}}, two animals that are often mistaken for one another. The comic lampoons the many misconceptions that exist about these animals. ({{w|Bun}} literally means a bakery product).

Ponytail tells that buns have a {{w|hierarchy}} in which the smaller the bun, the higher its ranking is. This parodies the general tendency of people to consider kitten rabbits cuter than the adults, and therefore superior (According to some studies, cuteness in humans may have evolutionary advantages by encouraging parental care; it is unknown if this is true among rabbits). Rabbits live in large groups with no formal hierarchy, unlike {{w|wolves}} who have very definite leaders and social structure, this is in stark contrast to the information presented in the comic.

In the next panel, Ponytail states that "at this time of year, a lucky few may catch a glimpse of a king bun" - referring to rabbit kittens (the smallest and thus, in the comic, the highest-ranking, hence the term "king buns") being born in Spring (when the comic was released).

[[Megan]], who attends this biology class, expected to learn about rabbits and hares which are both {{w|Lagomorpha|lagomorphs}}, a mammalian {{w|Order (biology)|order}} that also includes the {{w|pika}}s. Megan thus clearly has the correct understanding of what a "bun" is. Ponytail then claims that the word ''bun'' is the scientific term, and states that rabbit, hare and lagomorph is the informal way to describe these animals, again being completely wrong as in reality ''bun'' is the most contracted and informal name for a rabbit.

The title text is presumably referring to photographing a rabbit and, for example, posting it on social media - something which would typically be done today if someone sees a rabbit in the wild. If the poster had failed to photograph the rabbit before it ran away, they may typically post a message saying something like "I saw a really cute bunny today!" with an {{w|emoji}} depiction of a rabbit (probably 🐇 or 🐰). This is especially common in the area where the author lives, as the urban rabbit population in the Cambridge/Somerville area has exploded, putting a large human population with relatively little previous experience with rabbit-sightings suddenly in the position of encountering them very frequently.

A teacher teaching complete nonsense is depicted in [[1519: Venus]], but there it is clearly on purpose, which is not so clear here. There is also some similarities with [[1644: Stargazing]], but there the facts are true. Recently there was also another comic about spreading misinformation about the use of language in [[1677: Contrails]].

An alternate interpretation of the poem uses the idea that "bun" is also similar to the word "buns," which can refer to the buttocks. With this perspective, Ponytail is teaching the class about how to observe and classify buttocks. The double entendre is made apparent by Megan's question in the fourth panel, when she asks for clarification on what they're really talking about. The title text then makes fun of the tendency to text friends when an attractive butt is sighted, or to surreptitiously photograph the stranger's butt, and/or to rate it (this is often done on a scale of 1-10). Example: "Dude, I just saw some incredible buns at the mall! 9.5!" Overall, the comic makes fun of the idea of arbitrarily ranking attractive traits, such as butts, by comparing this practice to the imagined pseudo-science of bun hierarchy.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is a teacher and she holds a pointer to a picture of a rabbit on a board behind her.]
:Ponytail: Good morning class! Today, we will be learning about the bun.

:[Two rabbits are shown, one slightly smaller, and a greater than symbol is pointed at the smaller one. Ponytail is talking off panel to the left. Note that hierarchy may be misspelled intentionally.]
:Ponytail (off panel): Buns have a hierarchy.
:Ponytail (off panel): A bun's rank is determined by its size. Smaller buns are higher-ranking.

:[Two normal sized rabbits are sitting left and right of a very small rabbit. The smaller rabbit appears to give off a radiant light indicated with gray and white alternating rays going through the image. It is indicated that is shines on the larger rabbits as they are gray on the side turned away from the smaller rabbit and white on the front turned towards it. Ponytail narrates above the frame of this half sized panel:]
:Ponytail (narrating): Most buns you see are relatively low-ranking.
:Ponytail (narrating): But this time of year, a lucky few may catch a glimpse of a ''king bun''.

:[A student represented by Megan is sitting at a desk with a few books on it, pencil in hand.]
:Megan: Ok, hang on.
:Megan: We're talking about rabbits and hares, right? Lagomorphs?

:[Ponytail is holding her finger up on her left hand, and is holding her pointer at her side with the other. Students reply to her off panel to the right.]
:Ponytail: Informally, yes. But in this course, we use the ''scientific'' term, "bun".
:Student #1 (off-panel): Are we sure this is the right room for ''introductory mammalogy?''
:Student #2 (off-panel) : I'll check online.
:Student #3 (off-panel): ''Shh!'' Show respect! We look upon the image of a king!

==Trivia==
*In the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/2/2c/20160518175345!bun.png original version] the word ''hierarchy'' in the 2nd panel was misspelled as ''h'''ei'''rarchy''.
**Later this was corrected with an updated version with this word spelled correctly.
**To begin with there where some funny thoughts about if this was intentionally due to the closeness to hare and heir:
:::The word "hierarchy" is misspelled in the comic as "heirarchy", which is most likely intentional to evoke the pronunciation "hare-rarchy", as in "a hierarchy of hares". It might also be a portmanteau of "heir" and "hierarchy", reflecting the highest status being accorded to the youngest rabbits.
:*This was obviously not the case but a good example of how much comics are over analyzed here on explain xkcd...
*In [[1663: Garden]], the rabbit image had the filename "[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-important-bun.png important-bun.png]":
**[[File:Garden Important bun.png]]

{{comic discussion}}

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

April Fools' Day comics

2016-03-29T19:07:23Z

108.162.218.83: Added reference to "lost" comic from 4/1/2007

Comics that were put up on {{w|April Fools' Day}} as an April Fools' Day joke.

[[Randall]] first posted an April Fool's comic on Sunday, April 1, 2007. This comic was not numbered; sequentially, it came between [[242: The Difference]] and [[243: Appropriate Term]]. It has not been preserved in the official xkcd archives, though it survives on a [http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3701 thread in the xkcd forums].

Other than this instance, Randall did not put up generally post jokes on April 1st unless it was one of the three designated comic release days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). But from 2011, starting with [[880: Headache ]] on Friday the 1st of April, he has released a real April Fools' Day joke.

From 2012 with [[1037: Umwelt]] he even began moving the release day - even to the weekend - Sunday for Umvelt, to get the comic out on April 1st.

Before 2011 he only had one comic ending up on April 1st: [[563: Fermirotica]] in 2009. This is obviously not intended to make a fool out of the readers (any more than on all the other days of the year). The reason, for only one such day during the first 5 full years of xkcd, was a leap year making April 2nd a release day three years around the 2009 1st of April release.

Only exception to this before 2011 is the [[404: Not Found]] in 2008, but this is a meta-comic, since it in fact doesn't exist.

[[Category:Comics by date]]

Talk:1653: United States Map

2016-03-11T04:47:14Z

108.162.218.83:

But what prompted this map? Has there been a real life event that influenced Randall to create this?
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.25|141.101.91.25]] 07:32, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Yes, this is about voting districts. They are so random you can not guess where your vote will count: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90RajY2nrgk

08:10, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:Citation needed. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 03:22, 10 March 2016 (UTC)
::Definintely a case of [Citation needed]. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 03:58, 10 March 2016 (UTC)
(Finally, someone made the page so I can post this. :| )
I removed the names from Randall's map! [http://i.imgur.com/Mvi8j9s.jpg Here's a blank version!] Muahahaha! [[User:Quoice|Quoice]] ([[User talk:Quoice|talk]]) 07:39, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:Cool. Could you be so mean as to make a version including the shapes of Alaska and Hawaii. You could use the ones from Randall's map of United shapes as templates. That would be fantastic! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:03, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Maybe add a table with every state cut out; and add a correct map with the cut out pieces in the right place? [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 09:05, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:That would just be a normal map... The piece could go over a real map in the wrong place to show it. Or rather the entire map should be overlaid on a real map... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:22, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
::This sounds like a great idea to me! Case of "A picture is worth a thousand words". [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:39, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

First thing that comes to mind when I look at the map is seeing New York being against the Mexico border. I wonder how New Yorkers would deal with the Mexicans coming across. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.28|173.245.54.28]] 14:43, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

This proves it: continental drift is real, and much faster than we thought. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.217|162.158.114.217]] 15:18, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

[[File:1653-rearranged.png]] -- [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 15:31, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:AZ <-> NM [[Special:Contributions/162.158.56.173|162.158.56.173]] 16:38, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:RI should be rotated [[User:Azsr|Azsr]] ([[User talk:Azsr|talk]]) 17:31, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:: D'oh! Fixed AZ & NM (although server is still caching the original). Leaving RI as is due to caption arrangement. -- [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 18:00, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:::Great map. Have linked from the explanation at the top. Also made my own real life jigsaw which I put in the trivia.

There's nothing in the article right now that indicates the shapes of the states have been altered slightly so that they fit together seamlessly in this arrangement. I think that's an important point. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.80|162.158.255.80]] 15:53, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:I think that's obvious [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.157|141.101.70.157]] 16:18, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
::I mentioned it in the trivia. Maybe it should go up also? But it is surprisingly close to being correct within the reasonable limits of the resolution --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:44, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
::: +1, fitting Cape Cod into Mobile Bay is particularly stellar. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 04:26, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

What happened to Long Island (part of NY)?{{unsigned ip|108.162.218.118}}

The article indicates Maine has only been moved, but it's also been rotated 180 degrees. (Upside down) {{unsigned ip|198.41.235.107}}
:I will correct my mistake then ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:44, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

So glad I'm not in Illinois any more... I guess I'm in Texas now. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.18|108.162.221.18]] 18:04, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Do not use for navigation. [[User:Alexbuzzbee|Alexbuzzbee]] ([[User talk:Alexbuzzbee|talk]]) 23:39, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Reminds me of this MIT Mystery Hunt puzzle from 2013 where you rebuild the US states into a map of Europe: http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/2013/coinheist.com/indiana/watch_your_back/answer/answer2/solution.png --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.185|162.158.252.185]] 02:47, 10 March 2016 (UTC)

"Orientation none" sounds strange to me, like saying "no temperature" when it is 0 degrees. Isn't "normal" or "unchanged" better? [[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] ([[User talk:Jkrstrt|talk]]) 16:25, 10 March 2016 (UTC)
: ... or change the title of the column to be "Rotation" -- to which "None" is valid 21:54, 10 March 2016 (UTC)

Could someone with more experience than me fix the picture so it's not ginormous? I tried last night and the picture was replaced with the generic "picture failed to load" graphic, same as it looks here: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:1653_United_States_Map_49_piece_jigsaw_solved.jpg {{unsigned ip|NotLock}}

Would Washington, D.C. move with Virginia, or would it remain physically anchored in its current (real) location? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.83|108.162.218.83]] 04:47, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

1638: Backslashes

2016-02-05T22:46:48Z

108.162.218.83:

{{comic
| number = 1638
| date = February 3, 2016
| title = Backslashes
| image = backslashes.png
| titletext = I searched my .bash_history for the line with the highest ratio of special characters to regular alphanumeric characters, and the winner was: cat out.txt | grep -o "\\\[[(].*\\\[\])][^)\]]*$" ... I have no memory of this and no idea what I was trying to do, but I sure hope it worked.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Need rewriting of the entries in the list and a thorough analysis of the title text}}

Most {{w|Formal language|formal languages}} use the concept of a {{w|String literal|string}}, which is just a text between some delimiters, usually quotes. For example, "Hello, world" is a string. The text being represented is "Hello, world" without the quotes, however the quotes are also written to mark the beginning and end of the string. This is a problem when the text itself contains a quote, as in "This is a "quoted" string". The quotes around the word "quoted" are intended to be part of the text, but the {{w|Lexical analysis|language processor}} will likely confuse it for the end of the string.

To avoid this problem, an {{w|Escape character|escape character}} (usually a backslash) is prepended to non-string-terminating quotes. So, the previous text would be written as "This is a \"quoted\" string". The language processor will substitute every occurrence of \" with only the quote character, and the string terminates at the quote character which does not immediately follow a backslash. However, the problem now is that the intended text might contain a backslash itself. For example, the text "C:\" will now be interpreted as an unterminated string containing a quote character. To avoid this, literal backslashes also are escaped with a second backslash, i.e. instead of "C:\" we write "C:\\", where the language processor interprets \\ as one single backslash and the quote terminates the string.

This doubling of backslashes happens in most programming and scripting languages, but also in other syntactic constructs such as {{w|Regular expression|regular expressions}}. So, when several of these languages are used in conjunction, backslashes pile up exponentially (each layer has to double the number of slashes). A reasonable example would be a {{w|PHP}} script in a web server which writes {{w|JavaScript}} code to be run in the client. If the JavaScript code has to output a smiley for scratching one's head (i.e. <code>r:-\</code> ), it would look like this:
document.write ("r:-\\");
However, since this JavaScript code is to be written through a PHP script, the PHP code would be:
echo "document.write (\"r:-\\\\\");";
where:
* The word <code>echo</code> is the PHP command for writing something
* The first quote starts the string
* The <code>document.write (</code> (including the open parenthesis) is written literally
* The <code>\"</code> following that is a literal quote to be written
* The <code>r:-</code> is written literally
* The first two slashes produce one single slash
* The next two slashes produce another single slash
* The next <code>\"</code> produces a literal quote character
* The close parenthesis and the semicolon are to be written literally
* The next quote finishes the string.
* The final semicolon terminates the <code>echo</code> command

So, the presented scenario has escalated from a simple <code>r:-\</code> smiley to no less than five backslashes in a row without stepping out of the most common operations. If we go a bit further and try to write a {{w|Java (programming language)|Java}} program that outputs our PHP script, we'd have:
System.out.println ("echo \"document.write (\\\"r:-\\\\\\\\\\\");\";");
Here, we have 11 backslashes in a row: the first 10 produce the 5 we need in our PHP script, and the last one is for escaping the quote character.

This kind of backslash explosion is known as {{w|Leaning toothpick syndrome}}, and can happen in many situations. The one in the title text is about a {{w|Bash (Unix shell)|bash}} command (which uses the backslash to escape arguments) invoking the {{w|grep}} utility which searches for text following a pattern specified by means of a regular expression (which also uses the backslash to escape special characters). This leads to 3 backslashes in a row in the command, which could easily become 7 backslashes in a row if the text being searched for also contains a backslash. Even advanced users who completely understand the concept often have a hard time figuring out exactly how many backslashes are required in a given situation. It is hopelessly frustrating to carefully calculate exactly the number of backslashes and then noticing that there's a mistake so the whole thing doesn't work. At a point, it becomes easier to just keep throwing backslashes in until things work than trying to reason what the correct number is.

=== Entries in the list ===
The first four entries with 1-4 backslashes make sense: a "real backslash" is when the program is told to find one of these using two backslashes. If you need to find such a double "real backslash" you would need a third, hence the first ''real'' is written in italic. And if you want to write a regular expression to find a backslash, and you're working in a language like Java, you need four backslashes--the regular expression itself would require two backslashes, each of which would need to be expressed as doubled backslashes in the string literal. (The use of four backslashes is specifically mentioned in the documentation for the Python regular expression library [https://docs.python.org/2/library/re.html https://docs.python.org/2/library/re.html].)

Using 5-7 backslashes continues the trend, first with five a reference to {{w|Elder}} which has many meanings. It has become known through fantasy media; examples are the {{w|Elder Gods}} of the Cthulhu Mythos, various 'Elder' magical items and beings in the {{w|Dungeons and Dragons}} mythologies, and the {{w|Elder Days}}, which are the first Ages of {{w|Middle-earth}} in {{w|The Silmarillion}}, the more-or-less prequel to {{w|The Lord of the Rings}}. More recently it has been used in the {{w|Harry Potter}} universe with the {{w| Magical_objects_in_Harry_Potter#Deathly_Hallows|Elder wand}} made from {{w|Sambucus|Elder wood}}.

Using 6 backslashes will cause them to escape the computer and enter your brain and using 7 backslashes makes it ''so real it {{w|Transcendence (philosophy)|transcends}} {{w|Spacetime|time and space}}.''

The list gives names for all numbers of backslashes from 1 up to 8, but then the last entry has 11 slashes followed by "..." to indicate they continue forever. This is: ''The true name of {{w|Baal (demon)|Ba'al}}, the {{w|Soul eater (folklore)|Soul-Eater}}''. This indicates that if you continue misusing backslashes like this you will end up devoured by a demon, for instance {{w|Beelzebub}}, for being so thoughtless... Ba'al has been [[1419: On the Phone|mentioned]] [[1246: Pale Blue Dot|before]] in {{xkcd}}.

=== Title text ===
It's unclear whether the regular expression in the title text is valid or not. A long discussion about the validity of the expression has occurred here on explainxkcd.com. The fact that many editors of the site, often themselves extremely technically qualified (citation needed for any evidence of this), can't determine whether the expression is valid or not adds a meta layer to the joke of the comic. This is probably an example of [[356: Nerd Sniping|nerd sniping]] (oh, the irony!!!).

==Transcript==
:[A list of the names of different numbers of backslashes. After each "item" there is a gray line to the text describing each item. As the text is aligned above each other, the lines becomes shorter as the sequence of backslashes becomes longer until there is just a line with the length of a single hyphen for the last item. There are 1 to 8 backslashes and then 11 plus "..." in the last entry.]
:\------------ Backslash
:\\----------- Real backslash
:\\\---------- ''Real'' real backslash
:\\\\---------- Actual backslash, for real this time
:\\\\\--------- Elder backslash
:\\\\\\-------- Backslash which escapes the screen and enters your brain
:\\\\\\\------- Backslash so real it transcends time and space
:\\\\\\\\------ Backslash to end all other text
:\\\\\\\\\\\...- The true name of Ba'al, the Soul-Eater

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Regex]]
[[Category:Programming]]

1608: Hoverboard

2015-12-04T02:28:22Z

108.162.218.83: /* West / Left */ added note about girl in hamster ball heading for bowling pins

{{comic
| number = 1608
| date = November 24, 2015
| title = Hoverboard
| image = hoverboard.png

}}
*To experience the interactivity, visit the [http://xkcd.com/1608/ original comic].
*For a really good zoom-able map see this:
**[http://1101b.com/xkcd1608/ fully zoomable map w/ toggleable coins and passages] - courtesy of [https://www.reddit.com/user/lanzaa lanzaa] on the same reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxbyn86 thread]

{{TOC}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Layout of this explanation needs revision. Expanation of all items of interest with pictures like in [[1110]].}}
The "comic" is actually a {{w|browser game}} made to celebrate the release of [[Randall|Randall's]] new book, ''[[Thing Explainer]]'', which was released on the same day as this comic (November 24th 2015). The comic appeared on a Tuesday, replacing that week's normal Wednesday release.

The game features [[Cueball]] riding on a {{w|hoverboard}}. The only controls are the left, up, and right arrows. Alternatively you can use the A, W, and D keys or the H, K, and L keys, corresponding to left, jump, and right, respectively. On mobile the controls are replaced by tilting the phone left and right to move and tapping the screen to jump.. The player can jump repeatedly mid-jump to reach increasing heights. The player begins in a line-drawing maze with 17 gold coins located throughout and a "deposit" station. The ostensible goal of the game is to collect as many coins as possible and return them to the deposit in the fastest possible time, which returns a text message describing the result. Players consumed with obtaining the best possible time result for collecting the coins may not realize there is anything more to the game.

Beyond the maze on either side (just far enough that players who remain within the maze will not see) are tall walls seemingly designed to contain the player. However, the walls have a finite height and, combined with the ability to multi-jump, the player can leave the purported "play area" either to the sides or above the initial maze. This returns a flashing red error message "return to play area".

Outside the play area is an entire world to explore including numerous points of interest and {{w|Easter egg (media)|Easter eggs}} similar in style to comic [[1110: Click and Drag]]. There are even more coins to collect. The larger game world is physically bounded in the left, right, and up directions, with invisible walls on all three sides. The upwards invisible wall is tough to pinpoint; although [[Cueball]] appears to continue upwards, once the jump button is released, he will continue to look upwards as if continuously jumping; in addition, the longer the up arrow is pressed repeatedly, the longer it will take for [[Cueball]] to fall down again once the button is depressed. In principle it may also be unbounded in the downwards direction, but there are only a few places you can "sink" into the ground/water/lava, and here you cannot go down indefinitely. It could be possible that there could be some unexplored parts of the map, but given the map is already made this seems unlikely. There are 152 more coins outside the initial "play area" for a total of 169 in the entire game.

===Messages in the starting area===
*Different amounts of coins collected in the play area, will give different messages in yellow on the black part at the bottom of the screen when delivered to the coin collector.
*Below is a table with examples of what may be written depending on the number of coins. The time (and the amount when there is a range with similar rating) is just chosen at random (although in a realistic range). To get above 17 you of course have to leave the play area and come back again...
**In chrome and firefox there is not message for those above 9 coins, except 17, 42 and 169. But in Internet Explorer there is still a message for those cases: "Undefined".
**See [[1608: Hoverboard/Screen-shots#Coin collecting messages|screen-shots]].

:{| class="wikitable"
!# coins
!Text when depositing this number of coins
"X" is the number of coins collected
|-
|0 coins
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got 0 coins in 1 second''' You successfully avoided all the coins.
|-
|1 coin
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got a single coin in 1 second''' It's a start.
|-
|2-4 coins
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got X coins in 3 seconds''' Not bad!
|-
|5-9 coins
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got X coins in 12 seconds''' Terrific!
|-
|10-16 coins
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got X coins in 10 seconds'''
|-
|17 coins
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got 17 coins in 15 seconds''' You found all the coins! Great job!
|-
|18-41 coins
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got X coins in 430 seconds'''
|-
|42 coins
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got 42 coins in 460 seconds''' No answers here.
|-
|43-168 coins
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got X coins in 460 seconds'''
|-
|All 169 coins
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got 169 coins in 15000 seconds''' Are you Gandalf?
|}\

*Once you leave the area you get a [[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#Return_to_the_play_area|flashing warning message]] in red letters at the bottom of the screen:
:{| class="wikitable"
|style="background-color:black;"| '''Return to the play area'''
|}
*This message flashes three times over 1.2 seconds (the message only disappears for about 150 ms each time)
*Then there is a pause for about 1.3 seconds and then this repeats for a total of 5 repetitions, a total of 15 flashes in just about 11.3 second seconds.
*The message will stop immediately if you re-enter the play area during this period.
*If you re-enter later it will flash once you leave again.
*For the program the play area is anything within and below the walls just outside the maze you start in.
**More precisely you first leave the play area if you pass over the middle part at the top of the walls
**Or if you make one jump from standing on top of the walls.

===List of details and references===
{{incomplete|Help needed migrating the info into a table with pictures like in [[1110:_Click_and_Drag#List_of_details_and_references_.28with_transcript.29|here in 1110]]...}}

{| class="wikitable"
! Coordinates || Description
|-
| x: 483735, y: -551990 || "What news of the world above? Please tell me - what's hot and viral? What's trending on twitter?"
|-
| x: 509587, y: -554621 || Washington Monument
|-
| x: 509587, y: -554621 || Captain's log
|-
| x: 552309, y: -560208 || A man addressing a giant, supposedly pregnant, ant. Cueball: "What's up?" Ant: "The usual. Pooping out ants." Cueball: "Eww."
This is probably a reference to a part of Orson Scott Card's "Xenocide" in his Ender series. In it, the main character, Ender, visits a hive queen "bugger" he saved on his travels and became friends with, at a time after the queen has settled in on a new planet. In the book, Ender at one point brings other humans to meet the queen, even though the queen was currently giving birth to some of her drones. This is meant to represent a parody of that conversation or perhaps his first conversation with her while she is giving birth, where Ender is alone and is speaking to the Hive Queen. When he finds out that she is in the process of birthing more ants, rather than being compassionate and understanding with the Queen as happens in the book, Ender is weirded out like the other humans he brought along with him in the book.
|}

===Technical aspects===
As previously noted, the comic bears considerable resemblance to [[1110: Click and Drag]]. The comic is made in much the same way, with 'drawn' images "glued" together to form a large "map", with the illusion of infinite bounds made possible through space saving techniques where blank tiles are not stored and are instead painted white. The boundary between blank squares and 'drawn' squares is made clear as any white space in the normal images has a very slight grey tint. Thus, seams between images and blank spaces can be discerned.

The tiles for the map are stored as simple PNG files in the naming scheme: X:Y+s.png. An example can be seen here: http://xkcd.com/1608/1013:-1096+s.png Each file is 513x513 pixels in size, one pixel is reserved as overlap to ensure seamless joining of images. So far, through experimentation, tiles in the range 928 to 1108 X and -1112 to -928 Y have been discovered, internally, the position of the player is divided by 512 and rounded down to give the position of the tile.

The collision map is encoded in the darkness of the black. Using an image manipulation program, one can easily find the secret pathways even in the zoomed out maps provided below by enhancing the contrast of the dark areas. On a slow connection, it's possible to move into an 'open' area and then the black image loads in and (probably permanently, without tricks) traps you immobile.

The game was made by [http://chromakode.com Max Goodman] who has previously worked on [[1416: Pixels]]. The source code for the game can be found [https://xkcd.com/1608/tigl.js here].

===Areas===
Starting area - (x: 512187, y: -549668)

====West / Left====
*{{w|Washington Monument}} - (x: 509864, y: -549746)
**Invisible entrance through the Monument, indicated by arrow sign
**Secret entrance into the inside of the Monument, right side, about halfway up - (x: 509815, y: -552614)
***From there you can fall down to the fault line shown in about the middle of the monument. You cannot see Cueball while he is in the monument in either entrance.
*Girl in a hamster ball heading for a bunch of bowling pins - (x: 505790, y: -549905)
*Straight up, a giant floating rock island in the sky (x: 507163, y: -567537)
*Yet [[1504|another dig]] at the Lion King and the lands touched by shadow - (x: 504998, y: -550676)
*An {{w|X-Wing}} at a gas station, with coin accessible from the left - (x: 503253, y: -551129)
**Go straight up from the cockpit for a coin, carried by african swallows (non-migratory)
*A well with a girl at the bottom of it (and one of the yellow game coins), claiming to not be a ghost. A possible reference to {{w|Sadako Yamamura|Sadako}}/{{w|Sadako Yamamura#Samara Morgan|Samara}} from Ring ({{w|Ring (Suzuki novel)|novel}},{{w|Ring (film)|film}},{{w|The Ring (2002 film)|remake}}) - (x: 501998, y: -551030)
*Landing re-entry capsule with parachutes. Bird on top: "I don't remember laying these but ''wow'' they're already flying. Gonna be awesome when they hatch." In capsule: "Yes! My phone has a signal!" "How many new likes did we get during reentry?" "I'm checking!" - (x: 500040, y: -552369)
*Local Mom discovering This One Weird Bug - (x: 497994, y: -551334)
*Someone flying a kite, with a coin beside the kite.
*"The earth is [http://www.vapersoul.com/what-is-vaping/ vaping]"
*Climbing the right hand side of the volcano
** "'The time has come', the walrus said, and put on Sauron's ring" (Lord of the rings/Lewis Carroll reference)
** "This is currently a V2 but it becomes a V7 if the volcano erupts" ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(bouldering) grades] of bouldering difficulty, V7 being fairly difficult."
** "If I don't make it back...tell my wife...where I am...and why you left me there" (reference to lyrics from [http://genius.com/1451499/David-bowie-space-oddity/Tell-my-wife-i-love-her-very-much Space Oddity] "Tell my wife I love her very much")
**Ponytail riding a cycle (a reference to [http://canvasrider.com/ canvas rider]?)? (x: 490610 y: -554364)
**LOTR Eagles - (x: 489661 y: -556811)
* Right-hand rim of the volcano
**A periscope peeking out of a shallow lava pool near two people playing "the lava is a floor". Reference to a common child's imagine game where the floor is lava (see [[735: Floor]]) - (x: 488573 y: -556337)
** "One of these is probably a ring of power or whatever" - throwing some things, possibly rings, off the edge of the volcano, in anti-climactic reference to climax of Lord of the Rings series.
*Lava in the centre of the volcano
**A dark grey ocean that isn't noticeable until you fall in
** "Remember: there's no such thing as good volcano footage taken by a quadcopter that survived", quadcopters inverting the typical safety warning for camera operators - (x: 486640, y: -554838)
**{{w|Elon Musk}}'s Volcano Lair - (x: 484167, y: -549462)
***entrance hidden under volcano lava, before reaching Artex - (x: 483791, y: -551292)
*** "What news of the world above? Please, tell me - what's hot and viral? What's trending on Twitter?!!" - a person in cave being very non-hermit like.
*** "I always assumed Elon Musk's volcano lair would be, like ... tropical. And ... well, pleasant." - "Back to your desks, swine". Strange dystopian scene in cave.
*** "So this is where it is", an electronics "ground" symbol, that presumably all grounded electronics are connected to - (x: 485125, y: -549062)
** "Artex!", a horse stuck in the lava (a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Neverending_Story_characters Artax], the horse in Neverending Story) - (x: 483715, y: -554354)
** A wizard, Gandalf?
*Climbing out of volcano
** A cave, with a crouched figure, saying "Goooooold! Goold!" with money bags around. (reference to the 1982 video game {{w|The_Hobbit_(1982_video_game)}})
y: -554877)
*Descending far side of volcano
**Basketball hoop, with coin. One player says "Ok, as soon as it erupts, go for the dunk. Our sweet moves will be preserved for all eternity", possibly a reference to preserved lavafied bodies in Pompeii - (x: 479523,
* *"In the sky, beyond the mountain, I saw a starship" - referring to the huge Imperial Star Destroyer on the right/east of the play area
*?Hat underground
*?A hole which traps(?) the player unless noclip mode is used

====East / Right====
*People holding anchor lines to the Tantive IV (Star Wars: A New Hope), being attacked by an Imperial Star Destroyer - (the people: x: 518954, y: -549056)
*Desert with dunes - (x: 520000, y: -549114)
*Ocean Yelper (giving only 2.5/5 stars) - x: 522015, y: -549015
*Talking Rogue Wave - (x: 523460, y: -549013)
*Wedding - (x: 531558, y: -549386)
*Graveyard - (x: 534140, y: -549546)
*Remains of {{w|Ozymandias}}' Statue - (x: 535927, y: -549666)
*Huge pyramid - (x: 538167, y: -550906)
*Blackhat's hat on a stick - (x: 549997, y: -549777)
*Whitehat's head in the grass? - (x: 559826, y: -549847)
*Giant bird nest - (x: 567123, y; -550417)
*Beret Guy riding a torpedo ([http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RidingTheBomb Dr. Strangelove]) - (x: 522754, y: -554342)

====Rebel Blockade Runner====
Up in the air is the CR90 Corvette, Tantive IV aka Rebel Blockade Runner with Princess Leia from the start of the original Star Wars movie.

*Coordinates:
**??
*Cueball is standing at a ledge with a fishing rod with something on the hook somewhere below the spaceship. Two birds are circling the line.

====Imperial Star Destroyer====
High up in the air there's a huge spaceship.

*Coordinates:
**top left at (513072, -560660)
**bottom left at (513080, -559470)
**top at (552154, -569022)
**top right at (556557, -567711)
**bottom right at (558244, -556542)
*Entrances (from bottom left clockwise):
**Tunnel at (513080, -559680)
**Tunnel at (513166, -560434)
**Shaft at (516560, -560912)
**Shaft at (519200, -561108)
**Shaft at (525255, -561527)
**Shaft at (527990, -561844)
**Shaft at (533087, -562298)
**Shaft at (539637, -563233)
**Tunnel at (540958, -563721)
**Shaft at (543789, -564670)
**Stairwell down at (547438, -565058)
**Tunnel at (552319, -566184)
**Tunnel to an isolated small room at (557774, -562042)
**Shaft at (556350, -556720)
**Glitchfloor at (547890, -556779)
**Shaft at (543850, -557500)
**Main ramp at (537260, -557969)
**Tunnel at (531840, -558547)
**Parachutists' ramp at (526624, -558664)
**Ramp at (525300, -558747)
**Shaft at (520440, -559100)
**Shaft at (516825, -559300)
*Interesting objects and places inside:
**Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems - (x: 551664, y: -567383)
**A nearly complete depiction of Level 1 of {{w|Prince of Persia (1989 video game)|Prince of Persia}} - (x: 551532, y: -563512)
**Emperor Palpatine Park and Gazebo - (x: 546819, y: -559584)
**Dancers (possibly [[162|spinning counter-clockwise]]) dancing to piano music - (x: 547536, y: -563301)
**Octopus guarding two coins - (x: 531646, y: -559663)
**A sign saying "Caution GlitchFloor" (falling straight down through it nets you a coin someway down) - (x: 547898, y: -556784)
**A huge light bulb - (x: 555405, y: -557769)
**The Emperor [[1596|birdwatching]] - (x: 554777, y: -567346)
**Ponytail recreating ''{{w|Joust (video game)|Joust}}'' on an ostrich - (x: 552048, y: -568045)
**A party on the ceiling (negative gravity?) - (x: 550350, y: -564354)
**A huge ant - (x: 552309, y: -560208)
**Tube slide - (x: 541813, y: -563721)
**A reservoir (?) with hidden passages - (x: 541300, y: -560330)
**A huge spark gap (?) - (x: 541900, y: -558110)
**Torpedo launcher room - (x: 529627, y: -558481)
**A {{w|Tetris}} block falling - (x: 529414, y: -529220)
**Lightsaber Piñata party - (x: 515353, y: -560329)
**Swimming pool - (x: 517346, y: -559831)
**Children's swimming pool (ball pit?) - (x: 514500, y: -560436)
**A crocodile - (x: 553623, -568091)
**Spiral tunnel - (x: 543320, y: -558314)
**A car - (x: 537750, y: -557937)

===Maps===
*[http://codepen.io/KyleDavidE/full/605dc87b614ff6b2bd716f4c6f640203/ Quickly hacked overview] - courtesy of [https://www.reddit.com/user/kyledavide kyledavide] on [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxbyn86 reddit].
*[http://1101b.com/xkcd1608/ fully zoomable map w/ toggleable coins and passages] - courtesy of [https://www.reddit.com/user/lanzaa lanzaa] on the same reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxbyn86 thread]
*[https://i.imgur.com/uYryxss.png png-map] - courtesy of [https://www.reddit.com/user/luke_in_the_sky luke_in_the_sky] on the same reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxbyn86 thread]
*[http://paste.click/DsPuSL png-full-size-map] - might take a few minutes to download -> do not open directly in the browser! - courtesy of [https://www.reddit.com/user/0x90-0x90 0x90-0x90] on the same reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxbyn86 thread]
*An [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/92/thumb_1608.jpg incomplete compilation] of the entire game area (note the missing pinnacle of the Washington Monument. It also missed the floating island above the monument).

===Controls===
The keyboard controls are as follows:

*'''Go Left''' - Left arrow key, a or h
*'''Go Right''' - Right arrow key, d or l
*'''Go Up (jump or hover)''' - Up arrow key, w, or k
*'''Go Down (if gravity disabled)''' - Down arrow key, s, or j

This control scheme covers the three commonly used directional key sets: WASD a set of keys commonly used by modern games; HJKL a set of movement keys used by vi and applications which attempt to mimic vi key controls (vim); and the arrow keys, the most generic set of keys which is usually accepted by most applications which take movement as input, these were commonly used in older games.

On devices which have a touch screen and tilt sensor (portable devices like mobile phones and tablets) the controls are as follows:
*'''Go Left''' - Roll the device anticlockwise
*'''Go Right''' - Roll the device clockwise
*'''Go Up (jump or hover)''' - Tap the screen

After inspecting the source code, there appears to be no way to move down on a portable device, this is only relevant if gravity is disabled.

===Functionality===
By observing page code while playing, the game grabs and displays images based on location, and subsequently clears all non-visible images. The game uses what seems to be a position syntax to retrieve the intended images live, and returns an error if such an image does not exist, such as a blank area. This technically means things could be added to the world and updated live. If the player is moving sufficiently fast or if the internet connection is slow, this means that the player can get stuck in a black area that does not load in time.

This also means that the game does not have coded top or bottom limits, so any attempt to find the ''ceiling'' of the game will be futile unless the game is tweaked. The game does however have side limits.

Opening the console will display the text: what? hoverboard not enough for you!? in the log. Activating goggles mode will cause the text 'B-)' to appear in the log.

==Transcript==
:[This transcript only covers the starting page as shown on xkcd: {{xkcd|1608}}. There is also an [https://xkcd.com/1608/info.0.json official transcript] on xkcd. But on Explain xkcd these{{xkcd}} transcripts are not used. This transcript covers what is on the first image you see when opening the comic on xkcd. A full transcript of the entire comic will be listed on a [[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript|separate page]].]

:[Cueball is shown on a hoverboard in the centre of the comic. Around him is a simple maze with 12 yellow coins. Another Cueball without howerboard is shown standing on one of the platforms to the right. The bottom half of the window is black. Right of where Cueball stands is a ramp. Behind the ramp is a terminal. There is lots of space left of the maze, outside the maze. Text is only written in white below in the black area. The first part of the text is written below Cueball on hoverboard. Then there is an arrow pointing to the terminal and a label. Finally there is a line of text at the bottom of the black area.]

:[Under Cueball:]
:My new book,
:''Thing Explainer,''
:comes out today!
:To celebrate, here's
:a small game.

:[Under the arrow below the computer.]
:Deposit coins here

:[At the bottom:]
:Use the arrow keys to move

:['''For the full transcript of the entire comic see [[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript]].''']

==Trivia==
*There is as usual [[:Category:No title text|no title text]] for these interactive comics. But there is actually one listed in the [http://xkcd.com/1608/info.0.json info page] on xkcd. But this text: "Return to the play area", is never shown as a normal title text. But it will erroneously be shown in the unofficial mobile versions of the site.
**This is actually the text that is shown blinking red at the buttom of the screen when leaving the starting area.
*If the focus switches from the game to the page, the cueball can freeze in midair. The same thing can happen if the window border overlaps the play area.
*The Washington monument has an invisible floor next to the visible bricks which you can enter from further up the monument.
**You can also just walk through the monument at its base as shown by the sign.

===Cheats and Exploits===
Aside from the obvious ability to move out of bounds in the game, there are some more obscure hidden features which can't be enabled through normal gameplay, the ones found so far are as follows:

'''Modes''' are activated by opening the Javascript Console (F12 [Or Command-Alt-I in most browsers under Mac OS X] to open Developer Tools, then Console tab) and writing corresponding commands. Click to expand:

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
 
*'''Gandalf Mode:''' ''i.am.gandalf = true'' - jumps and runs further. displays a white gandalf hat that works well in places where the avatar can't be seen.
*'''Speedhack:''' ''explorer.opts.speed= *Value*'' - Speed hacking, with 1 = normal speed
*'''Jump Hack:''' '' explorer.opts.jumpForce= -*Value*'' - Jump hacking, with -1 = normal jump (positive values cause the hoverboard guy to move down when jumping)
*'''Mewtwo mode:''' ''mewtwo = true'' - disables gravity
*'''Noclip mode:''' ''noclip = true'' - player is able to move around the map without collision. Combine with Gandalf and Mewtwo modes for free easy map traversal.
*'''Goggles mode:''' ''ze.goggles()'' - displays a small window showing area around the player in a pixelated manner. The goggles indicate collision boundaries (where the player touches the world) in cyan lines. Black pixels that are passable (such as other characters or text) will be highlighted red (allowing secret passages to be discovered).
*'''Position Tracking:''' ''explorer.pos'' - Returns the player location to the console. Can be used to track position and test to ensure you are still moving. Must be re-entered to compare positioning.
*'''Position Setting:''' ''explorer.pos.x = *Value* or explorer.pos.y = *Value*'' - Can be used to manually set a position within the world. The start is at x: 512106, y: -549612. The left terrain bound is at x: 475210, y: -553711. The right terrain bound is at x: 567281, y: -549712. Mewtwo and Noclip modes are a must for exploring in this way.
* '''All the above:''' ''explorer.opts'' - Contains all the game's parameters. You can directly mess with ''gravity'', collision (''disableCollision''), jump force (''jumpForce'') and speed (''maxSpeed''), among others. Run ''Object.keys(explorer.opts)'' to list all available parameters you can tweak.
* '''List all coins:''' ''explorer.objects'' - Array containing the position of the 169 coins of the game.
* '''Disable tilt input:''' ''getEventListeners(window)['deviceorientation'][0].remove()'' - on Macs with motion sensor, disables tilt input which causes problems controlling the avatar

'''Getting All Coins: ''' To instantly get all coins, input the below into the console window. Does not use standard formatting of [i] to avoid conflicts with i.am.gandalf

for (var T = 0; T < explorer.objects.length; T++) {
explorer.objects[T].got = true;
}

To teleport to the next coin every time you press the left or right arrow:

var T = 0;
document.onkeydown = function(event){
if (event.keyCode == 37) { T = T-1 }
else if (event.keyCode == 39) { T = T+1 }
else { return }
T = T % explorer.objects.length;
var coin = explorer.objects[T];
explorer.pos.x = coin.x1; explorer.pos.y = coin.y1;
}

For a quick tour of all the coins:

var delayInMilliseconds = 1000; // 1 second delay between each teleport. feel free to change this.
var index = 0;
explorer.objects.forEach(function(x){
setTimeout(function(){
explorer.pos.x = x.x1;
explorer.pos.y = x.y1;
x.got = true;
explorer.frame(); // forces a redraw
},
(index + 1) * delayInMilliseconds);
index++;
});

To see a list of coin coordinates you have not yet collected:

var L = 0;
for (var S = 0; S < explorer.objects.length; S++) {
var I = explorer.objects[S];
if (I.got) {
L++;
} else {
console.log(I.x1.toString() + ", " + I.y1.toString());
}
}
console.log("You've found " + L.toString() + " of 169 coins");

To display the distance and direction to the closest coin (with inverted colors once you have all the coins):

function distance(x1, y1, x2, y2) {
var dx = x2 - x1;
var dy = y2 - y1;
return Math.sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy);
}

function angle(x1, y1, x2, y2) {
var dx = x2 - x1;
var dy = y2 - y1;
return Math.atan2(dy, dx) * 180 / Math.PI;
}

function renderRadar() {
var mindist = 10000000000;
var closest = {
x1:512278.0, y1:-549613.0
};
var linecolor = "red";
for (var S = 0; S < explorer.objects.length; S++) {
var I = explorer.objects[S];
if (!I.got) {
var dist = distance(explorer.pos.x, explorer.pos.y, I.x1, I.y1);
if (dist < mindist) {
mindist = dist;
closest = I;
}
}
}
if (mindist == 10000000000) {
mindist = distance(explorer.pos.x, explorer.pos.y, closest.x1, closest.y1);
if (document.getElementById("radar").style.backgroundColor != "red") {
document.getElementById("radar").style.backgroundColor = "red";
}
linecolor = "green";
} else {
if (document.getElementById("radar").style.backgroundColor != "green") {
document.getElementById("radar").style.backgroundColor = "green";
}
}
var ang = angle(explorer.pos.x, explorer.pos.y, closest.x1, closest.y1);
var indicator = "";
if (ang > 112.5 || ang < -112.5) {
indicator += "left";
}
if (ang < 67.5 && ang > -67.5) {
indicator += "right";
}
if (ang > -157.5 && ang < -22.5) {
indicator += " up";
}
if (ang > 22.5 && ang < 157.5) {
indicator += " down";
}
document.getElementById("radar").innerHTML = "Distance: " + mindist.toFixed(1).toString() + " ";
document.getElementById("radar").innerHTML += indicator + " (" + -ang.toFixed(1).toString() + "°)";
document.getElementById("radar").innerHTML += "<div id='circle' style='border: 1px solid black; border-radius: 50px; width: 100px; height: 100px; position:absolute; top:50px; left:25px'/>";
document.getElementById("radar").innerHTML += "<div id='line' style='width: 50px; height: 1px; background-color: " + linecolor + "; position:absolute; top:100px; left:75px; transform:rotate(" + ang + "deg); transform-origin:0% 0%'/>";
}

var d = document.createElement("div");
d.id = "radar";
d.style.position = "fixed";
d.style.left = "0px";
d.style.top = "0px";
d.style.width = "150px";
d.style.height = "160px";
d.style.border = "1px solid red";
d.style.zIndex = "2";
d.style.backgroundColor = "green";
d.style.color = "#8f8";
document.body.appendChild(d);

setInterval(renderRadar, 100);

To display your current coordinates:

function renderRadar2() {
document.getElementById("radar2").innerHTML = "x: " + explorer.pos.x.toFixed(1).toString() + " y: " + explorer.pos.y.toFixed(1).toString()
}

var d = document.createElement("div")
d.id = "radar2"
d.style.position = "fixed"
d.style.left = "150px"
d.style.top = "0px"
d.style.width = "150px"
d.style.height = "35px"
d.style.border = "1px solid red"
d.style.zIndex = "2"
d.style.backgroundColor = "green"
d.style.color = "#8f8"
document.body.appendChild(d)

setInterval(renderRadar2, 1000)
</div>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:No title text]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Comics with animation]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Hamster Ball]]
[[Category:Playpen balls]]

Talk:86: Digital Rights Management

2015-11-10T17:58:59Z

108.162.218.83:

And cue global warming...
[[User:Krev|Semicolon here]] ([[User talk:Krev|talk]]) 14:50, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

i might sound daft here, but is the wall of ice explained in any way? it feels like the humour here derives from it, and i'm not sure what to make of it. the explanation focusing on the details of the antipiracy laws and regulations feels a tad superfluous while i feel it doesn't really add anything that explains the joke. again, i'm a romanian, so my grasp of the english language (and the american culture) is below par, so this might be a silly question. feel free to remove my comment here if that's the case. {{unsigned ip|108.162.254.88}}
:The idea is that a glacier is impossible to stop if it starts moving simply because it is so massive. This can be compared to the demands of people for DRM-free content, which is equally unstoppable no matter how many politicians the DRM companies bribe. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.53|141.101.99.53]] 05:00, 9 March 2014 (UTC)
First thing that came to my mind: ICE == Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics, e.g. in ''Burning Chrome'' (by William Gibson); see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrusion_Countermeasures_Electronics]. IIRC, the book describes ICE as walls closing in on the protagonist's avatar in the virtual (cyber) world. --[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.231|199.27.128.231]] 09:36, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

This may be a stretch but I associated this with "Now is the winter of our discontent" from Richard III. Discontent can both be applied to the general dislike and therefore discontent on the users, but also discontent in terms on the dis, meaning negativity and content relating to the digital content. The wall of ice represents the approaching Winter which will continue until the end of the discontent. --[[User:Igwarrender|Igwarrender]] ([[User talk:Igwarrender|talk]]) 15:53, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

This could also be a joke that the ice wall isn't actually stoppable by him, or is it?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.83|108.162.218.83]]

Talk:720: Recipes

2015-10-27T20:05:15Z

108.162.218.83:

are you sure it's mepls? looks like the A and the L just overlap a bit... [[Special:Contributions/98.201.111.246|98.201.111.246]] 17:59, 3 February 2013 (UTC)mr

The title text seems to be a reference to "dazed and confused," which must mean something more significant than most simple conjunctions. I'll figure it out at some point. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 02:48, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Also, I believe the laptop (notice how he holds it by the top of the screen) may be a reference to comic 925's (Cell Phones) title text "He (Black hat guy) holds the laptop like that on purpose, to make you cringe"...this is an unlikely reference though.
- androidtribbles {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.50}}

He's not holding it by the screen, it's being held by the keyboard right at the trackpad. It's still really cringe-inducing, but not quite as... fragile. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.76|108.162.216.76]] 08:49, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

It could also be a rugged laptop, those are a lot tougher and have a handle on them right below the keyboard; it could be the rectangle is not a trackpad, but the hole for the handle. While it's still not advisable to carry the laptop with the screen open like that, it's not nearly as cringe-worthy as the case and monitor hinges are made of thick metal. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 17:12, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

Made an edit to the explanation. It seemed no one picked up on the possible meaning of the title text... But it could just as easily have been Randall's typical pedanticism... {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.204}}

Dazed and Confused is also a song by Led Zeppelin. We know Randall listens to Zeppelin from comic 339: classic.
By the way, the glasses also seem to contain very weird liquids...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.246|162.158.91.246]] 07:38, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Weird liquids indeed! From left to right, I think they are: a lump of coal, a pair of lovebirds (very small ones) and a superfluid, probably liquid helium, doing its fountain thing.

1543: Team Effort

2015-06-26T19:44:55Z

108.162.218.83: Added paragraph 3

{{comic
| number = 1543
| date = June 26, 2015
| title = Team Effort
| image = team_effort.png
| titletext = Given the role they play in every process in my body, really, they deserve this award more than me. Just gotta figure out how to give it to them. Maybe I can cut it into pieces to make it easier to swallow ...
}}

==Explanation==

[[Megan]] has won an award at a ceremony (presumably movie-related and possibly an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Awards Academy Award], as she mentions her director). Traditionally, when a person receives a major award, they give an acceptance speech which traditionally begins with the recipient thanking people who have helped them achieve the honour. Sometimes when a number of people are mentioned, the recipient will say that it was a team effort - a comment which elevates the "helpers" to virtually the same level as the recipient.

Megan's acceptance speech takes things a step further; she thanks not only her director, family, and friends, but also the bacteria that populate her gastrointestinal tract. As she states correctly, the number of bacterial cells inside a human body outnumber the number of human cells by as much as a factor of 10. While the bacteria in the gut make digestion possible, the ecosystem formed by bacteria in the urogenital tract and on the skin also protect human health. In short, without them Megan would die - and not be able to win the award. To thank her bacteria is comparable to thanking her parents: they did not really contribute to the movie, but without them there would not have been a Megan, and no award.

In addition, the abovementioned people who helped Megan also have innumerable bacteria within them. Perhaps Megan should thank all their microorganisms as well.

In the title text, Megan contemplates ''how'' to thank her microorganisms and considers to eat the trophy after having it cut in pieces.

1.5 pints (the average of one or two pints) is 712,5 ml.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is on a stage receiving an award from Ponytail, the latter of whom is standing behind a podium.]

:Megan:
:I'd like to thank my director,
:my friends and family, and–
:of course–the writhing mass
:of gut bacteria inside me.

:I mean, there's like one or
:two pints of them in here;
:their cells outnumber mine!

:Anyway, This was a real team effort.

{{comic discussion}}

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

1245: 10-Day Forecast

2015-06-24T09:19:47Z

108.162.218.83: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1245
| date = July 31, 2013
| title = 10-Day Forecast
| image = 10 day forecast.png
| titletext = Oh, definitely not; they don't have Amazon Prime.
}}

==Explanation==
The 10-day forecast is a prediction of the weather extending 10 days into the future (with varying degrees of accuracy). However, when [[Cueball]] checks the forecast for his local area, it apparently predicts progressively extreme lightning storms, a plague of insects, what appears to be {{w|Rapture|The Rapture}}, and the appearance of the anti-Christ. Upon the anti-Christ (or perhaps Woden or Mothra) appearing, the forecast breaks up into static and nothingness with the day stuck on Tuesday, meaning that the world has ended.

When asked about this, [[Megan]] casually explains that Cueball put a minus (-) sign in front of his ZIP code. A {{w|Zone Improvement Plan|ZIP code}} is a numeric postal code used in the United States, but many more countries use similar systems. As ZIP codes are tied to a geographic location, it is also often used to specify a local region for the purposes of weather reports.

Many computer systems that let the user write in a number many only work with certain numbers (such as positive numbers). Numbers the system is not designed to work with (such as negative numbers) may lead to errors or unpredictable behavior. When this happens with the number of a video game level, it can result in data of another type being loaded, creating a level with a corrupted or physically-impossible landscape; this is sometimes known as a "[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MinusWorld Minus World]".

Megan assumes that the negative zip code represents an actual geographical location, or a real-life Minus World, and that the weather forecaster is indeed showing an accurate forecast for the (corrupted) area. She also implies that several such Minus World locations exist.

In the title text, Megan agrees with Cueball's desire not to move to that ZIP code area, the punchline being that her reason is not to avoid the apocalypse, but to retain access to Amazon Prime, which shows that her priorities are amusingly warped. The service Amazon Prime is provided by {{w|Amazon.com|Amazon}}, where the user pays a flat annual fee and in exchange they get access a number of "enhanced" Amazon services, including free two-day shipping, free access to a library of streaming videos, and the ability to borrow books.

==Transcript==
:Megan: Is it going to rain this weekend? I have a thing.
:[Cueball sits behind a computer desk.]
:Cueball: Lemme check.
:*type type*
:Cueball: ...uhh. What?

:'''Your 10-day forecast:'''
:Today [Sunny] Today
:Tomorrow [Cloudy] Tomorrow
:Friday [Thunderstorms]
:Saturday [Extreme thunderstorms]
:Sunday [Swarm of insects]
:Monday [Images of distorted, floating people]
:Tuesday [A human with two horns or a winged helmet silhouetted against a bleak red background]
:Tuesday [Grey static]
:Tuesday [Black screen]
:Tuesday [Black screen]

:Megan: ...Oh! You typed a minus sign in the ZIP code. The negative ZIP codes are all like that.
:Cueball: Let's ''never'' move there.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:1540: Hemingway

2015-06-19T15:30:55Z

108.162.218.83:

Did Randall miss the slash before the second blink? Or is there a More Profound Meaning. Possibly higher chance of typos when publication is late (deadline struggle?). [[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] ([[User talk:Jkrstrt|talk]]) 14:07, 19 June 2015 (UTC)
*Wow, you're right! [[User:Nk22|The Twenty-second. The Not So Only. The Nathan/Nk22]] ([[User talk:Nk22|talk]]) 14:08, 19 June 2015 (UTC)
**Perhaps that is the error which causes the HTML tags to be visible text? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.83|108.162.218.83]] 15:30, 19 June 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1372: Smartwatches

2014-05-25T02:54:19Z

108.162.218.83:

I like how much detail Randall put into the damage of the smartphone and smartwatches.[[User:MrGameZone|0100011101100001011011010110010101011010011011110110111001100101]] ([[User talk:MrGameZone|talk page]]) 09:44, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

About the transcript, it seems that I added one at the same time someone else did. I like mine better, but I won't be offended if someone else changes it back to the first revision. Also, feel free to re-format.[[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:19, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

:I am reminded of this:
:http://thedoghousediaries.com/4974
:...even so, I still would like a Samsung SWatch Note III complete with a watch app (downloaded by the Play Store or F-Droid, of course)! [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 14:55, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

Maybe it's just me, but the explanation regarding the */# keys on Bell phone seems irrelevent. There's nothing inherent about those keys that make a comparison to cellular phones logical, at least not that I'm aware of.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.61|108.162.216.61]] 16:35, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
:It's especially irrelevant because Randall says he modded a handset, not an entire phone. There exist novelty bluetooth handsets of a similar style on the market; Randall's artistic touch is to have a cord dangling from it with a frayed end.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.83|108.162.218.83]] 02:48, 25 May 2014 (UTC)

I question the assumption that the smartwatches are working. The watch keeps displaying the time of 10:13. Even if it had just turned 10:13 I don't think the entire mod could be done in sub 60 seconds. That said, I love the reuse of the sawn screen protector to protect the screen on the smartwatches.

The phone mentioned was one of the earliest ([http://xkcd.com/1368/ One of]) to present the # and * keys and the format has been unchanged since the implementation of cellular phones. It could be argued that the user has the same presented interface for dialing as on cellular phones so modding a 2500 should be completely reasonable.
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.106|199.27.128.106]] 20:07, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

Just a side note: While this could well be the world's first flip iPhone, it would not be the first flip smartphone.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.83|108.162.218.83]] 02:54, 25 May 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1372: Smartwatches

2014-05-25T02:48:09Z

108.162.218.83:

959: Caroling

2014-04-19T01:09:40Z

108.162.218.83: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 959
| date = October 3, 2011
| title = Caroling
| image = caroling.png
| titletext = For a thousand generations we vowed never to forget how his soldiers feasted on our brother Stephen.
}}

==Explanation==
Here are the lyrics for the first verse of the Christmas Carol, "{{w|Good King Wenceslas}}"

:''Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen,''
:''When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even;''
:''Brightly shone the moon that night, tho' the frost was cruel,''
:''When a poor man came in sight, gath'ring winter fuel.''

While not a king, {{w|Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia}} is considered a martyr and a saint. Far from being responsible for any massacre, he protected his subjects from external dominance, and is still a national hero to the Czech people. [[Black Hat]] is supplying {{w|disinformation}} to unsuspecting carolers in order to silence them. Since the popular knowledge of well liked historical figures often omits negative aspects or deeds (e.g., George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owning slaves or Martin Luther King Jr. having extramarital affairs), Black Hat's disinformation at first seems credible, though it is untrue. Further, Black Hat's reference to "my people" implies that Wenceslas was involved in violence against racial or ethnic minorities, lending his statement both credibility and weight: it adds credibility in that the popular biographies of premodern figures often downplay racism or similar discrimination (e.g., the above-mentioned US Founders owning slaves), and it adds weight because well-intentioned sensitivity to historical racism on the part of the carolers would likely prevent anyone from questioning Black Hat's assertion without proper research (which would naturally be impossible while caroling door-to-door).

The title text references "the {{w|St. Stephen's Day|Feast of Stephen}}" which is also known as the "Feast of St. Stephen" or "St. Stephen's Day", which is a holiday celebrated on 26 or 27 December, depending on the Western or Eastern church respectively. It is not actually a feast that involved eating a person named Stephen, instead a celebration of the Saint named Stephen.

==Transcript==
:[Three people stand together singing Christmas carols.]
:Carolers (in unison): Good king Wenceslas looked out on the—

:[Black Hat leans out of an above ground window.]
:Black Hat: King Wenceslas massacred my people.

:[The carolers stand in silence.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Music]]

912: Manual Override

2014-04-08T02:51:08Z

108.162.218.83: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 912
| date = June 15, 2011
| title = Manual Override
| image = manual_override.png
| titletext = I think you mean 'GNU Info Override'.
}}

==Explanation==

There are two jokes in this comic. First is, that the pilot typed "man override" to manually override the plane's computer and steer the plane to safety, but instead he ends up opening the manual page for "OVERRIDE". The second joke is making fun of a trend in documentation for UNIX-like systems using the open source {{w|GNU}} toolchain.

Historically, {{w|UNIX}} systems had a way to access descriptions of the available programs by using the "man" command (from "manual"). Typing "man program-name" would output a detailed text, called a "{{w|man page}}", describing the program's functionality, available command-line options, a list of related programs, etc. For some GNU-based systems, however, the output of "man program-name" will be very brief, mainly directing the user to invoke a GNU-specific information system ({{w|Info_(Unix)|GNU Info}}), thus rendering the man page in a different way, annoying for the user because of that sophisticated navigation at that Info-Tool. Even the linked Wiki article doesn't explain how to quit this application.

The title text suggests that the user look at the GNU Info page for “override”, instead of the manual page for it available through “man”.

==Transcript==
:[A plane is in a nosedive with smoke pouring from one wing. Text comes from someone reading in the cockpit.]
:"This is the emergency override system, which can be used to regain control of the aircraft.
:Complete instructions for activating this system are available as a GNU info page."

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Linux]]