explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1271: Highlighting

2021-05-09T00:40:54Z

108.162.219.34: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1271
| date = September 30, 2013
| title = Highlighting
| image = highlighting.png
| titletext = And if clicking on any word pops up a site-search for articles about that word, I will close all windows in a panic and never come back.
}}

==Explanation==
A number of people find it easier to read long texts by marking their place as they move through the reading. When done on paper, this may be done with a ruler, pencil, or finger. On-screen, however, one of the most effective methods is by highlighting the text being read. People accustomed to this form of reading often do it absentmindedly. Some people simply highlight parts of an article they're consulting without regards to which line they're currently reading, just to occupy their hands.

Highlighting, however, has the potential to create shapes on screen. Randall is referring to the fact that the shapes created may occasionally be symmetrical, which creates satisfaction. Different highlighting patterns may be caused by the user's browser, the site provided, or by simply dragging one's cursor across the screen with the mouse button held down, and releasing at different patterns..

The top example shows tight-fitting highlight syntax, which only covers the text of the paragraph. This is the most common result of highlighting an entire paragraph, but as paragraphs are rarely symmetrical, this example is marked by an X.

The second example starts the highlighting a few words in an continues to the end of the paragraph, while the third example begins another half-word in and continues down a line and a word before ending. Both of these patterns would be caused by manually highlighting the text with the mouse button, rather than rapidly-clicking until a segment is highlighted. The second example forms a square where the three lines of highlighted text overlap, while the third has rotational symmetry of the selected region; both are marked with checks.

The fourth example highlights the entire paragraph, as well as the whitespace caused by the indentation of the paragraph and at the end of the paragraph when the last line does not continue to the opposite margin. This example has both rotational and divisible symmetry, and is marked with a check.

The fifth example highlights the whitespace after the end of the paragraph, but not the whitespace of the indentation, leaving an odd block at the start of it. This ruins the paragraph's symmetry, and so this example is marked with an X.

The bottom example refers to the practice of websites adding a script to disable highlighting, often to discourage readers from copying their content. This creates a great dissatisfaction in readers accustomed to highlight as they read, shown by the many overlapping "X"s. Ironically since the comic is an image, the text in the comic can also not be highlighted.

The title text refers to the practice of websites of adding a script that searches upon clicking any word in the text; most notably done by Yahoo! news in years prior. The search may be of the site, the web, or of an advertisement provider. The script sometimes creates a popup, which, Randall says, causes him to "panic", and consequently never want to return to the site again. It is in fact quite annoying to the occasional highlighter, causing him to lose his place and interrupting his train of thought.

==Transcript==
:[A paragraph of text is shown. The highlight starts away from the leftmost edge of the highlight, and is a different distance to that between the rightmost edge of the highlight and the highlight end. Red X.]
:[A paragraph is shown. The highlight's starting point, end point, and number of lines included is such that there is an internal square in the middle, illustrated in green. Green tick.]
:[A paragraph is shown. Not only does it have an internal square, but the distance between the leftmost edge and the highlight start point is the same as the distance between the rightmost edge and the highlight end point. Green tick.]
:[A paragraph is shown. The entire paragraph is highlighted, making one big rectangle. Green tick.]
:[A paragraph is shown. The whole paragraph is selected, but the highlight starts away from the leftmost margin. This is shown with a red box, an arrow, and "?!?!". Red X.]
:[A paragraph is shown. Over the top is overlaid "[Clicking to highlight text is disabled]". Many, many red Xes.]
:I absentmindedly select random blocks of text as I read, and feel subconsciously satisfied when the highlighted area makes a symmetrical shape.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:2265: Tax AI

2020-02-07T17:44:09Z

108.162.219.34: Edited own comment

Could "atomizing" be a pun on "amortizing" as opposed to "itemizing"? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.34|108.162.219.34]] 17:44, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2265: Tax AI

2020-02-07T17:43:07Z

108.162.219.34: Added comment

I think "atomizing" is probably supposed to be "amortizing" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.34|108.162.219.34]] 17:43, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

2265: Tax AI

2020-02-07T17:40:05Z

108.162.219.34: Added Transcript

{{comic
| number = 2265
| date = February 7, 2020
| title = Tax AI
| image = tax_ai.png
| titletext = I ended up getting my tax return prepared at a local place by a really friendly pretrained neural net named Greg.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Needs explanation for "Seitan"}}

In this comic, Cueball has attempted to train a neural net to prepare his U.S. Tax Return, but it has made several comical errors, purportedly because it was not trained extensively enough.

* It suggests that Cueball could claim 1040 defendants. Typically, taxpayers may claim "dependents" (not "defendants"), and these correspond to children or others for whom the taxpayer is the primary caregiver, so 1040 would be an absurdly high number. 1040, however is the number of the primary tax document that must be filed.
* It mentions fiscal year 20202, presumably because it got carried away with 2's and 0's in 2020. However, at the date the comic was published, Cueball should be filing his 2019 taxes anyway.
* It suggests taking the "standard deduckling" instead of the "standard deduction", which is what many taxpayers opt to do rather than attempting to itemize their deductions (which can lead to a greater deduction but requires more effort and supporting documentation).
* It also suggests "atomizing" his claims instead of "itemizing" his claims which, as mentioned above, wouldn't make sense if he was taking the standard deduction anyway.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits at a desk using a laptop.]
:Laptop: You may claim up to 1040 Defendants on your seitan local income tax for fiscal year 20202 by taking the standard deduckling and atomizing your clams.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I used a neural net to prepare my tax returns, but I think I cut off its training too early.
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2253: Star Wars Voyager 1

2020-01-13T17:31:10Z

108.162.219.34:

;Rate of increase
Given that the first Star Wars movie and Voyager I were "released" around the same time, and that over the years Voyager has been getting further away while more Star Wars movies have been realeased, I wonder how often the time it takes for a message to reach Voyager I has been exactly the same as the total runtime of Star Wars movies at that date. Like, how far away was Voyager when Revenge of the Sith was released? This would make for an interesting graph.

RANDALL CAN YOU HEAR ME? MAKE A GRAPH PLS {{unsigned|Alcatraz ii}}
:Yes that could be interesting actually. Sadly I believe Randall keeps clear of such sites as this so he will not see you request. Remember to sign your comments, and try not to add new sections in the comments. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:31, 10 January 2020 (UTC)
::After I made the table... If someone find out how long Voyager was away on the release of episode number 2-8 then we can easily make the graph our selves to find out how many times it has happened. For sure it must have occurred between film 3 and 4. And probably again between 6 and 7? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:46, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

How accurately is the position of Voyager I known? I think this comic came out earlier in the day than usual, and I found myself wondering if there's public data precise enough to calculate this momentous occasion to within an hour, or even a minute. [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 10:18, 10 January 2020 (UTC)
:I believe this is known extremely precise since we are still in radio contact with it. But for sure there should be a link. Given the title text I think it is not important when it was released. Just a few seconds extra will add long time to Voyagers travel. That time should also be part of the final explanation. As what the possible longest time all episodes could reach given the longest possible calculation of the total time. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:32, 10 January 2020 (UTC)
::Link here: [https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/ Mission status]. Although I'm not sure an historic view of this data exists anywhere... [[User:Jotomicron|Jotomicron]] ([[User talk:Jotomicron|talk]]) 10:49, 10 January 2020 (UTC)
:::Thanks great. I have added a screen shot of the light distance today to the explanation along with the link. I have written most of the explanation by now, table and transcript also. But could probably need some cleanup. I really tried to find a way that Randall did not come up with this comic too late, but maybe the rounding down idea is too far fetched? But then I cannot see any other way to save the title text. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:57, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

You know, Randall is the only person I know who regularly talks about themed parties. I've never actually known them to be a particularly common thing. Nonetheless, it seems to be a recurring theme on XKCD. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 12:03, 10 January 2020 (UTC)
:Maybe but this is not a themed party, just a party to celebrate an event. A theme party to me is when you dress like in the 20s... :p, either one. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:43, 10 January 2020 (UTC)
: Uh oh, now you've done it. The rules of the Meta-verse require that you host an "XKCD party themes" theme party. [[User:Iggynelix|Iggynelix]] ([[User talk:Iggynelix|talk]]) 14:40, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

According to wikipedia: the title of "Auld Lang Syne" that Beret Guy signs in the last picture <<may be translated into standard English as "old long since" or, more idiomatically, "long long ago">>, this could be a reference to SW's "Long long time ago..."
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.112|162.158.134.112]] 13:55, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

;A few additional thoughts:
It shouldn't be too hard to figure the distance (and therefore radio travel time) to Voyager I back into the past because once it was beyond the last planet visited (Saturn, in 1980) - both Voyagers have mostly been in free-fall under (predominantly) the sun's gravity only - so the math isn't that hard unless you need really razor-sharp precision.

Voyager II would be a lot harder because it also did fly-by's of Uranus and Neptune in '86 and '89 - which each changed it's speed quite noticeably - and those encounters happened after the first three movies were released.

But for a reasonable approximation - Wikipedia already has that chart: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1#/media/File:Voyager_speed_and_distance_from_Sun.svg]. You can see that after about 1981 (ie roughly around episode V and certainly after VI), both distance and velocity graphs are almost a straight line. So even then, the effect of the sun's gravity was really tiny and could probably be neglected unless you need REALLY high precision.

A much bigger issue for party-planning is the diameter of the Earth's orbit around the sun. That's not a negligible factor here - because it adds a variance of about +/- 500 light-seconds to any calculation...and +/-8.3 minutes of seasonal adjustment is critical in figuring out when to hold the party.

[[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 17:25, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

:: Yep, as far as I can tell, right now Voyager is behind the sun and we are chasing it. The heliocentric velocity is about ten times the geocentric judging by the estimated distance tickers. Over the next six months that lightspeed delay will begin to drop down again.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.102|162.158.159.102]] 09:57, 13 January 2020 (UTC)

Sometimes I wonder if Randall sits around trying to think of comic ideas that will force the Explain Wiki editors to do a lot of research and table-making. (if this doesn't look like a lot of research to you, remember that "a lot" is subjective) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.32|108.162.219.32]] 21:20, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

Star Wars Voyager, a play on Star Trek Voyager?

;Insufficient runtime
Isn't the Delta Quadrant way farther than that? We'd need at least a few more trilogies to balance that out.

^^^ that wasn't me, but I came here because it occurred to me that Star Wars Voyager is quite possibly a pun on 'Star Trek Voyager', which the above is a reference to.

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.76|108.162.249.76]] 03:05, 11 January 2020 (UTC)

;NTSC / PAL / physical film runtime deviations
What about the runtime deviations of different formats? Films are produced for 24 frames per second, while NTSC is 29,97 fps and PAL is 25 fps. So, maybe the time diference is resulting from this? Randal has took the original theater runtimes and the table lists maybe the ntsc dvd runtimes, that are faster? --[[User:Dichter|Dichter]] ([[User talk:Dichter|talk]]) 14:03, 11 January 2020 (UTC)
;Holiday special
So if we account for the Holiday special (roughly 120 min of "fun" if memory serves) there's still pleeenty of time . Although the will to throw a party migh suffer from that thought
::We do not talk about that! Please see that last row of this comic to know what would have happened to you saying this with fans around: [[566: Matrix Revisited]] :-) If you wish to include more there is the two spin-off movies mentioned above for many hours more. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:08, 11 January 2020 (UTC)

::: The comic is pretty clear on that point though - it says "Episodes I-IX". So no "special" and no movies that aren't numbered episodes. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.233|172.69.70.233]] 03:36, 12 January 2020 (UTC)

1889: xkcd Phone 6

2017-09-13T19:34:16Z

108.162.219.34: Nobody advertises mechanical pencils anymore. What is this, 1917?

{{comic
| number = 1889
| date = September 13, 2017
| title = xkcd Phone 6
| image = xkcd_phone_6.png
| titletext = We understand your privacy concerns; be assured that our phones will never store or transmit images of your face.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|All features need an explanation, the version number war and title text as well. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is the sixth entry in the ongoing [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phone series]], released the day after Apple announced their new iPhone X with facial recognition features.

===List of features (clockwise from center/top)===

; Front camera (centered for eye contact during video chat)

: Front camera is a common feature of smartphones. The camera lens is located on the same side of the phone's case as the main screen and therefore it is possible to capture the image of the user's face looking at the screen and display the interlocutor's face on the screen simultaneously, enabling video chat. However, as the camera is usually located above the screen, a user looking at the displayed image of the other person directs his or her eyes at the center of the screen and not at the camera's lens. This is very visible on the other end of the chat as if the person talking was looking down and not in the interlocutor's face which is an uncomfortable situation for most people. For this reason, professionals involved in movie or TV-making, like actors or reporters, are trained to look straight into the camera's lens while talking, which creates impression of looking straight at the viewer's face. During a video chat, however, looking into the lens of an above-screen camera does not allow one to see the interlocutor's face clearly because it is then in the peripheral field of vision.

: To solve this conundrum, Randall proposes locating the camera lens right in the middle of the screen. Therefore the user looking at the screen to see the other person's face would be also looking at the lens, creating an impression of a straight look on the other end of the chat. This is absurd since the lens would then take place of some of the center pixels of the screen, not allowing the display the center part of the captured image of the other person's face (like eyes and/or lips) which is most important for nonverbal communication. Such location of the camera lens would also likely interfere with touch-screen function. It will make other applications on the phone difficult to use, since virtually no user interface is designed to accommodate for a blind spot in the center{{Citation needed}}.

; Full-width rear camera

: Phone cameras tend to have lenses which are quite small and round or square -- same width as height. Full-width makes it sound like the camera lens is really wide, as in a long oval or rectangle shape. This generally would not accomplish anything worthwhile, unless it allowed you to take one-shot panorama photos.

; CDC partnership - phone automatically administers seasonal flu vaccine to cheek every year

: U.S. {{w|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}} is a government agency tasked with addressing public health concerns such as infectious diseases, including seasonal flu. A common way of limiting spread of an infectious disease is {{w|Vaccine|vaccination}}, which most often involves administering a specially prepared medicine via an {{w|intramuscular injection}}. This features implies that the phone would automatically perform such an injection once a year, by shooting a needle out of a small aperture while the user is holding the phone to his or her cheek during a call.

; 12-function

: Most smartphones can be used for more than 12 different things{{Citation needed}}.

; Dishwasher safe

: Usually a feature of plastic containers or fancy dishes. Unlikely to appear on a smartphone, though potentially useful if you need to clean your screen.

; GPS transmitter

: Many smartphones have a receiver for the Global Positioning System, which allows a phone to compute its position based on signals from the constellation of GPS satellites. However, a device with a "GPS transmitter" would broadcast signals that would interfere with the GPS receivers of all devices nearby.

; 3-G acceleration

: Usually, a phone is 3g compatible if it uses a certain standard ("third generation") for data transmission. However, 3-G acceleration implies the phone can accelerate at a rate or 3 times the acceleration of gravity, or approximately 30 m/s².

; Portable, solar-heated
: Portability is pretty much the entire point of using a ''mobile'' phone, so advertising portability is rather pointless. Solar ''power'' charging could be a very useful feature on a phone, but solar ''heating'' usually applies to plumbing, where a water tank is heated by the sun and used to supply hot water to taps. Technically, as the sun heats up everything on Earth, the phone is in fact solar heated.

;Pore-cleaning strip

: Something sticky on that location would be very annoying for people trying to make a call with beards. See also [[777: Pore Strips]]

; Maximum strength

:Medicines are often sold a "Maximum strength", as in the highest dose allowed by law or allowed without a prescription. For phones, there are sometimes "hardened" or "ruggedized" versions which are designed to survive harsher environmental conditions such as surviving drops and collisions, excessive water and dust, etc. So Maximum strength could indicate a "ruggedized" phone, though a screen that extended past the edges would likely have the opposite effect.

; Never needs sharpening

: Phones do not need to be sharpened in the first place{{Citation needed}}. This is a feature more likely to be found in a knife advertisement (especially for a knife that cannot be sharpened, like a serrated or ceramic blade).

; Can survive up to 30 minutes out of water

: This is a play on the common IP-rating of water resistance, which is typically rated for submersion to a rated depth for 30 minutes. A phone which could only be used or carried for 30 minutes and then needed to be immersed in water would be rather inconvenient.

; Exclusive Audubon Society app identifies birds and lets you control their flight

: {{w|National Audubon Society}} is a non-profit organization dedicated to conservation of nature, mainly of birds, also organizing open {{w|birdwatching}} events. An app that identifies bird species, as for example from a photo of a bird made by the smartphone itself, would be cool. An app allowing you to control the bird's flight would be way cooler, but it is not possible at the current state of technology{{Citation needed}} - and it would fly in the face of the Audubon Society core activity. This is a reference to {{w|Unmanned_aerial_vehicle|drones}} (artificial "birds") which are often controlled by a smartphone app. This may also be a reference to [[1425: Tasks]], in which an app that can recognize if a bird is on camera is proposed.

; Extra screen

:Because of the center camera, an additional section of screen was added. This is similar to the new iPhone, which also has a few extra pixels up there.

; Wireless charging port

:Wireless charging has no wires, and needs no port.

; Safe for ages 6-8 months, 10 months, 18 months-3 years, and 12 years and older

:Usually an item is deemed safe for a particular age or older, or (in the case of toys) is recommended for a particular age range. This is unusual in that it's a hodge-podge of age ranges with no apparent reason why some ages are safe and others are not.

; Screen goes past the edge

:A parody of the trend of "edge to edge" displays in recent generations of smartphones

; High thread count CPU

:A CPU thread is a task the CPU performs. Several threads may share memory making them a process. A operating system distributes the CPU's time over all active threads. CPU's don't generally have a limit on the number of threads (some operating systems do), however with a certain number the amount of cycles per thread becomes too low to be of much practical use. This seems to be a joke about bedding, where high thread count is actually a reasonably advertizable statistic.

; Shroud of Turin-style facial transfer unlock

:The {{w|Shroud of Turin}} is claimed to display an image of the face of {{w|Jesus Christ}}, appearing as if it was transferred to the cloth. Presumably, to unlock this phone, the user must press their face against it.

; Fonts developed by NASA

: NASA's expertise is not in fonts{{Citation needed}}, and the fonts on almost all modern phones are the same.

; Includes applicator

: What sanitary towel packages often say.

; Burns clean coal

: There is a push for clean energy production as a result of increased awareness of global warming. While it may be useful for a phone to be able to produce its own energy, coal is by definition not a clean energy source because it produces carbon dioxide. The phone is not stated to have a vent for the CO2 to escape, which would technically make the coal "clean" as it is not entering the atmosphere. However, the gas is instead trapped inside the phone, which will quickly ruin it through a combination of heat and pressure.

; Pre-seasoned

:Pre-seasoned typically refers to cast iron cookware which is ready to use out of the box, as opposed to needing to season it with oil and heat. It can also refer to packaged meats which are ready to cook without needing to be seasoned with herbs and spices.

; Broad-spectrum SPF 30

:The xkcd phone somehow gives an SPF 30 level of skin protection from the sun.

; College-ruled

:College-ruled is a style of notebook paper having narrower lines in order to fit more text per page.

; Sterile packaging

:Useful for medical supplies, less so in a phone.

; Radium backlight

:The discovery of the phosphorescent element radium sparked a brief fad in which some watch makers painted watch faces or hands with the substance so the time could be read at night. However, it was eventually realized that regular exposure to radium could result in radiation poisoning, particularly for the workers assembling and painting the watches. A radium-based backlight would therefore be both potentially dangerous (especially for an object carried on one's person much of the time) but also largely useless, as the phosphorescence of radium is rather dim compared to conventional phone back lights.

; 4K pixels (50×80)

:This refers to having 4,000 pixels in the screen in total, rather than a screen width of ~4000 pixels. TV's advertised as "4K" are typically up to 4096 × 2160 pixels, or 8.8 million pixels. That would be outstanding for a cell phone whereas 4,000 pixels total would be horrendous. As a comparison, the old Commodore VIC-20 with a resolution of 176 × 184 would have over 8 times the pixels of this phone. It is however quite close to the screen resolution of the sturdy Nokia 3310, boasting a total of 4032 pixels positioned 84 × 48.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A smartphone is shown, the screen is slightly wider than the case, in the middle is a photo lens, and at the right bottom a small extra part is added to the screen.]
:[On top a bracket ranges nearly over the entire width of the case. The text reads:]
:Full-width rear camera
:[The label at the photo lens is:]
:Front camera (centered for eye contact during video chat)
:[The label on the extra part says:]
:Extra screen
:[At the bottom below the case a label reads:]
:Wireless charging port

:[The labels left to the phone are:]
:4k pixels (50x80)
:Radium backlight
:Sterile packaging
:College-ruled
:Broad spectrum SPF 30
:Pre-seasoned
:Burns clean coal
:Includes applicator
:Fonts developed by NASA
:Shroud of turn-style facial transfer unlock
:High thread count CPU
:Screen goes past the edge
:Safe for ages 6-8 months, 10 months, 18 months-3 years, and 12 years and older

:[The labels right to the phone are:]
:CDC partnership: Phone automatically administers seasonal flu vaccine to check every year
:12-function
:Dishwasher safe
:GPS transmitter
:3-G acceleration
:Portable, solar-heated
:Pore-cleaning strip
:Maximum strength
:Never needs sharpening
:Can survive up to 30 minutes out of water
:Exclusive Audubon Society app identifies birds and lets you control their flight

:[Text below the phone:]
:Introducing
:'''The XKCD PHONE 6, VIII, 10, X, 26, and 1876'''
:We didn't start this nonconsecutive version number war, but we will not lose it.™®©º
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:xkcd Phones]]

1813: Vomiting Emoji

2017-03-20T15:07:01Z

108.162.219.34: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1813
| date = March 20, 2017
| title = Vomiting Emoji
| image = vomiting_emoji.png
| titletext = My favorite might be U+1F609 U+1F93F WINKING FACE VOMITING.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}

1636: XKCD Stack

2017-01-26T21:40:09Z

108.162.219.34: Corrected typo, "mentionned"

{{comic
| number = 1636
| date = January 29, 2016
| title = XKCD Stack
| image = xkcd_stack.png
| titletext = This site requires Sun Java 6.0.0.1 (32-bit) or higher. You have Macromedia Java 7.3.8.1¾ (48-bit). Click here [link to java.com main page] to download an installer which will run fine but not really change anything.
}}

==Explanation==
In software engineering, a tech stack is the set of technology platforms and tools that a company or app uses. A common tech stack is {{w|LAMP (software bundle)|LAMP}}, composed of a {{w|Linux}} {{w|Operating system|operating system}}, an {{w|Apache HTTP Server|Apache}} {{w|Web server}}, a {{w|MySQL}} {{w|Database}}, and the {{w|PHP}} programming language. In this comic, the XKCD stack is introduced. The technologies comprising it are either non-existent, unreliable, or outdated.

===Explanation of steps===
{| class="wikitable"
| | Layer
| | Explanation
|-
| |
EBNF/CSS
| |
BNF or {{w|Backus–Naur Form}} is a syntax used for describing {{w|context-free grammars}}.
{{w|Extended Backus–Naur Form|EBNF}} is "Extended BNF", it is the same thing as BNF with a few more syntactic constructs intended to ease its use in the most common cases. [[1343: Manuals]] mentioned EBNF.

CSS or {{w|Cascading Style Sheets}} are a language used to describe what a web page should look like. Web pages are usually written in {{w|HTML}}, which describes the ''structure'' of the page (i.e. divides the document into paragraphs, lists, etc.) complemented with CSS which describes the ''look and feel'' of the page (colors, fonts, margins, etc.). EBNF/CSS would suggest CSS with strange syntax.
|-
| |
Broken Java Applet
| |
In recent years it has become more difficult to run {{w|Java (programming language)|Java}} {{w|Applet|applets}} in several browsers. {{w|Google Chrome|Chrome}} 45 stopped supporting {{w|NPAPI}}, {{w|Mozilla Firefox|Firefox}} will drop support by 2016, and {{w|Microsoft Edge|Edge}} does not support NPAPI plugins at all. Furthermore, two days before this comic was published {{w|Oracle Corporation|Oracle}} (the developer of Java) [https://blogs.oracle.com/java-platform-group/entry/moving_to_a_plugin_free announced] plans to officially end support of Java applets in an upcoming version.
|-
| |
Archive.org Mirror
| |
{{w|Internet Archive|Archive.org}} is a website which archives websites, and created the {{w|Wayback Machine}}. It's ambiguous whether the "Archive.org mirror" would be a copy of the xkcd server or of Archive.org itself.
|-
| |
Hypercard.js
| |
{{w|HyperCard}} can be considered as a kind of predecessor for powerpoint developed at {{w|Apple Inc.|Apple}}. The file extension .js indicates that is was rewritten in {{w|JavaScript}}. A similar reference to JavaScript is found in [[1508: Operating Systems]]. The .js extension also refers to node.js, where most library names end in .js
|-
| |
QBasic on Rails
| |
A mix between {{w|QBasic}} and {{w|Ruby on Rails}}. {{w|BASIC}} is a programming language that was very widespread during the 80s. QBasic is an implementation of BASIC created by Microsoft in early 90s, that, among other things, added support for {{w|structured programming}}. QBasic, lacking several of the features present on modern computer languages, is known for its spaghetti code. {{w|Ruby (programming language)|Ruby}} is a rather modern language, often used with Ruby on Rails web application {{w|Software framework |framework}}. QBasic on Rails would likely mean a port of Ruby on Rails, replacing Ruby with QBasic. QBasic no longer runs on modern computers, however there are a couple of free {{w|open source}} implementation of QBasic, one being [http://www.qb64.net/ QB64] and the other [http://www.freebasic.net/ FreeBASIC], which are available for Windows, Linux, Mac, and Android. There also exists a webserver on BASIC called [http://www.runbasic.com/ RunBasic].

|-
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[Blocked by AdBlocker]
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{{w|Ad blocking}} software are extensions to browsers that try to remove ads from web pages, so the user is not distracted by them. [[624: Branding]] shows what "browsing without adblock" looks like. The joke is that AdBlocker is preventing us from seeing what makes up this portion of the stack. This could be because:
*Someone inserted an ad in the stack description. Some sites do insert ads in the middle of tables and lists, a typical case being between posts in forums.
*An ad is actually an integral part of the stack. Some sites make ads an integral part of the site content, so that users with ad blocking software will be forced to disable ad blocking to be able to properly interact with the site. Usually, in real life, this is not really a case of ads being part of the site, only that the site artificially refuses to work until it has some confirmation that ads have been properly loaded in the client side (by means of some script within the ads which sends the confirmation to the server).
*Ad blocking software has misidentified that portion of the stack as an ad, when in fact it is not (i.e. a false positive). This happens in real life, and it is a common source of great pains for the owner of the site which is being misidentified as an ad.

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MongoDB/Excel
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{{w|MongoDB}} is a modern {{w|NoSQL}} {{w|Database|database}} system, {{w|Microsoft Excel}} is a {{w|Spreadsheet|spreadsheet}} program from Microsoft, which is sometimes used as a database system (rarely a good choice).

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Some piece that works so nobody asks any questions
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Writing any non-trivial piece of software always require a phase of {{w|debugging}}, which consists in finding and fixing {{w|Software bug|bugs}}. With complex software, this is a long and tiring process, so when the product is finally finished no one dares to modify it any further for fear that it will fail in unexpected ways. After some time passes, it is even worse because nobody really remembers how the software was ''supposed'' to work, so the product becomes some kind of godlike treasure which must be treated with the utmost respect and reverence because, you know, if it stops working we're all doomed ([[1421: Future Self]]). After completion, {{w|Refactoring}} is the process of rewriting code for greater efficiency or reliability. However, if the performance is not 'too bad' (i.e. not unusably terrible in normal use) there is a great temptation to avoid this, in favour of the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' methodology. This could lead, for example, to a trained monkey and an abacus being used to crunch numbers. It works, but could be done far better. However, nobody wishes to change it, for fear of breaking a presently functional, if inefficient, system.
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Triply-Nested Docker
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{{w|Docker (software)|Docker}} is a {{w|Operating-system-level virtualization|software container}}, which is a way that allows a complete operating system to run under different operating system (OS) (as long they share the same kernel, among other things). Triply-nested docker would mean OS A running under OS B running under OS C running under OS D (running under OS E?). That would likely be a performance and management nightmare
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Paravirtual Boy®
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This is a reference to the {{w|Virtual Boy}}, a failed portable console created by {{w|Nintendo}}. It was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKKK6FH1vGw promoted as being a highly immersive, incredible experience], but the poor technology that it used caused to be [https://youtu.be/OyVAp0tOk5A?t=56s very criticized] for not meeting the high expectations. {{w|Paravirtualization}} is a way of virtualization, that requires cooperation of the guest operating system, contrary of {{w|full virtualization}}, on which the guest operating system does not require to do anything special and the host handles everything.
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A dev typing real fast
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A dev is a {{w|Software developer|software developer}}. This is possibly a reference to [[341: 1337: Part 1]], where [[Mrs. Roberts]] edits the {{w|Transmission Control Protocol|TCP}} stream live while wearing oven mitts and baking cookies. It looks like the xkcd Webserver is not a computer after all -- we have a person manually replying to HTTP protocol queries. Such a feat would indeed require real fast typing. If this is the case, then its possible that almost none of the other layers of the stack actually do anything.

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Older version of our software
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People are often reluctant to switch to newer versions of software because, even though newer versions are supposed to have more features and fewer bugs, they end up confusing users. Users of older versions are used to doing everything with less features and circumventing old bugs. They don't know how to use the new features, which of course come with new bugs they haven't learned how to circumvent yet. It is also often the case that newer versions remove weird unused old features, breaking the workflow of users who actually did use such features and are left without a suitable replacement ([[1172: Workflow]]). Alternately, since higher parts of a stack are dependent on lower parts, this could also be a reference to how the consumer versions of Microsoft Windows (3.x, 95, 98, and ME) ran on the "older version" software Microsoft DOS until Windows 95. Paired with the previous layer, it could instead mean that the human is merely retyping the output of the older version.
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Mystery Networking Horror
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Randall suggests here that the whole networking stuff behind the XKCD service is both mysterious (no one actually knows the details) and horrific (technically questionable architecture and implementation, or somehow tentacled and eldritch in nature).
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Microsoft Bob Server®
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{{w|Microsoft Bob}} was a short-lived, failed attempt by Microsoft, around 1995, to provide a user-friendly interface for the {{w|Microsoft Windows|Windows}} 3.1x, Windows 95 and Windows NT operating systems. It consisted of a virtual "house" and "rooms", and the idea was that you could click on a pen and open the word processor. It was heavily criticized and was soon discontinued. Randall seems to be making the suggestion the Bob has continued to be developed and now there's a Bob Server, similarly to Windows server.
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A giant {{w|Central processing unit|CPU}} someone built in Minecraft
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{{w|Minecraft}} is a popular sandbox game where you place blocks to build things. Since the introduction of Redstone objects (materials used to create basic electric circuits within the game) people have made many machines within Minecraft, including calculators and clocks. The most complex of these machines simulate simple computers, capable of storing several lines of code and performing basic mathematical operations such as division, which requires thousands of blocks and extremely complex designs. A Minecraft CPU capable of hosting a website would be ridiculously huge.
|}

=== Title text ===

The title text contains several jokes about the Java programming language:

*First, it refers to Java both as {{w|Sun Microsystems|Sun}} Java and {{w|Macromedia}} Java. This is a pun on the fact that older documents refer to "Sun Java" where newer documents refer to "{{w|Oracle Corporation|Oracle}} Java", as if there were two different languages. The fact is that Java was designed originally by Sun and then bought by Oracle, so it "changed name" even though the language is the same. Macromedia was the company that developed Flash before it was bought by Adobe. Both Flash and Java were popular in the early WWW to have interactive web pages, but both are being deprecated in favor of JavaScript.

*Second, the version numbers: older software products used to have two version numbers: major and minor (e.g. in {{w|MS-DOS}} 6.22 the major number is 6 and the minor is 22). Newer products tend to have hundreds of minor revisions, all of them numbered, so a typical user may well find themselves updating version 6.0.0.1 to 7.3.8.1 without knowing at all the differences between both versions or which other versions are in between. The ¾ in the Macromedia Java version is a joke on complex version numbers, which (so far) have never included fractions.

*Third, the 32-bit or 48-bit version: The {{w|Intel 80386}} processor used an architecture known as {{w|IA-32}}, which implies the {{w|Address bus|address bus}} is 32-bit wide and thus able to handle up to 4{{w|Gibibyte|GiB}} of {{w|Random-access memory|RAM}} memory. This was plenty for the early 1990s, when a typical home PC would have about 8MiB (this is 512 times less than 4GiB). However, about 10 years after that, a typical home PC could well use more than 4GiB of RAM, so several {{w|64-bit computing|64-bit architectures}} were created. These architectures are not compatible, so programs (including the Java Runtime Environment, or JRE) often have 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Furthermore, the JRE is heavily used by many web browsers, and for this to work the JRE and browser need to be the same "number of bits". This means that most people have installed both versions of the JRE to be able to use it with both 32-bit and 64-bit browsers. There's no 48-bit architecture (though some 64-bit processors including the {{w|x86-64|most common ones}} don't actually use all 64 bits everywhere, ignoring some bits so actual virtual or physical memory is smaller (in the case of the most common ones, 48bits virtual and 40bits physical), they simulate a full 64-bit environment to allow adding more bits later, so there are no specific 48-bit applications).

*Fourth, an application trying to let the user install a new version of the JRE should direct the user to the download page in the [http://java.com/ java.com site], not to the main page which deals with lots of issues with java and is not particularly helpful when trying to update the JRE.

*Fifth, and continuing with the joke of users updating from 7.3.8.1¾ to 6.0.0.1 and not knowing why they should, the new version is said to "run fine but not really change anything". This is the usual behavior for Java updates: they run fine (possibly in opposition to [[1197: All Adobe Updates]], where updating must be done several times and the user is never sure they have installed all the newest updates), but after finished updating the user can't see any difference with the previous behavior, and/or may still be told that an update is required. Considering that 7.3.8.1¾ is bigger number than 6.0.0.1, it can also refer to the fact that the test for upgrading is incorrect and 7.3.8.1¾ is actually newer version or that a downgrade is required for the aplet to work properly, because no one fixed it to work with the newer version.

*Sixth, Macromedia was a multimedia software company in the 90s that originally developed Flash, a popular plug-in similar to Java. Adobe purchased Macromedia in 2005.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Transcripts are for the blind, this should not be a table.}}
:Introducing

:The XKCD Stack
:{| class="wikitable"
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EBNF/CSS
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Broken Java Applet
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Archive.org Mirror
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Hypercard.js
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QBasic on Rails
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[Blocked by AdBlocker]
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MongoDB/Excel
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Some piece that works so nobody asks any questions
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Triply-Nested Docker
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Paravirtual Boy®
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A dev typing real fast
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Older version of our software
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Mystery Networking Horror
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Microsoft Bob Server®
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A giant CPU someone built in Minecraft
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Video games]]

Talk:940: Oversight

2015-07-30T21:37:02Z

108.162.219.34:

Well it's probably supposed to be a family-friendly site. That, and sex with an automatic toy could be technically be called sex, but it's not very strenuous. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:07, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Well, technically sex is the most family-friendly activity existing as it creates children and therefore families. But you are right, they should probably include more specific categories. In my mind there is a scoring matrix of positions, "speed", and weather you are the more active or more passive part in the position...
[[Special:Contributions/84.137.246.233|84.137.246.233]] 21:43, 6 April 2013 (UTC)
: "family-friendly" applies to whether the subject material is age-appropriate (or accessible/physically safe/etc), typically, for families with young children. Most of the sorts of activities that result in having children are not "family-friendly" on that basis. I had never considered the potential irony of that before, though... [[User:Tryc|Tryc]] ([[User talk:Tryc|talk]]) 19:18, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

This is not incredibly relevant, but I would like it to be known that on the mobile app of XKCD, this comic image is replaced by one of the five-minute comics {{unsigned ip|‎76.28.109.218}}

What is a five minute comic?

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 12:54, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

:For example, https://xkcd.com/819/ [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.33|141.101.98.33]] 13:29, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

Can someone do an explanation for the 5 minute comic at the bottom? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.34|108.162.219.34]] 21:37, 30 July 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1344: Digits

2014-03-25T03:05:53Z

108.162.219.34:

If you want a multiplayer version of the game, go to 2048.mx. (No one ever shows up and it's lonely here.) 
[[User:ImVeryAngryItsNotButter|ImVeryAngryItsNotButter]] ([[User talk:ImVeryAngryItsNotButter|talk]]) 16:54, 19 March 2014 (UTC)
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Interestingly, the comic number is 1344, and the 2 4-tiles can be combined to give an 8-tile {{unsigned ip|‎108.162.225.141}}
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The title text... I guess that's just seeing how regular Tetris would play out on a cityscape? And not a special version of Tetris that used building looking pieces (I guess regular Tetris doesn't look very city-ish to me)
[[User:Kirkjerk|Kirkjerk]] ([[User talk:Kirkjerk|talk]]) 11:42, 19 March 2014 (UTC)
:http://shirt.woot.com/derby/entry/2869/chicago-skyline-tetris-redux [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.84|173.245.50.84]] 12:42, 19 March 2014 (UTC)
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8224 is also (16*16*32)+32 and was a common number to see as a programming error on PDP11's in the 1980's when a (16 bit) integer of zero was stored as two spaces (ascii=32) rather than two nulls (ascii=0) {{unsigned ip|141.101.70.205}}
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Dammit, thanks to this comic, I found out this game exists. Now I can't stop playing it! Thanks a lot, Randall! [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.66|173.245.56.66]] 12:08, 21 March 2014 (UTC)
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Whatever that site http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/2048/ is supposed to do, it doesn't do it on my Linux/Firefox setup. The multiplayer one at http://2048.mx/ does, thank you. PS the plurals of PDP11 and 1980 are PDP11s and 1980s. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.199|141.101.70.199]] 10:48, 22 March 2014 (UTC)
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Yeah, the game only seems to run on Chrome, in my experience. Another interesting link: http://ov3y.github.io/2048-AI/ --[[User:Rakiru|Rakiru]] ([[User talk:Rakiru|talk]]) 15:45, 22 March 2014 (UTC)
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2048 is so close to the weird Hong Kong film about a hotel room two integers lower and the digits evoke the end of freedom in HK (though the preview is so surreal that I can't tell if there is any future in the film or not) But the handover happened in '97 didn't it? This is kindof like naming a movie with 9/11 implications "August 2001" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.34|108.162.219.34]] 03:05, 25 March 2014 (UTC)