explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2127: Panama Canal

2019-03-22T18:33:38Z

108.162.221.167:

{{comic
| number = 2127
| date = March 22, 2019
| title = Panama Canal
| image = panama_canal.png
| titletext = Once they selected the other proposal, we could have kept shopping ours around, but we would had to modify it include an aqueduct over their canal, which would be totally unreasonable.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Panamax vessel. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2104: Biff Tannen

2019-01-30T01:51:29Z

108.162.221.167:

So I guess we're just construing this as a polarized editorial now. Appropriate context or no.

Seems fun.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.167|108.162.221.167]] 01:50, 30 January 2019 (UTC)

I thought Biff jumped from 2015 to 1955, not 1985...? Young Biff had the Almanac in his pocket at the High School dance and the tower he built was already in place in 1985.


Collusion with a time traveler would bring a few things into focus. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.25|173.245.54.25]] 15:24, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:You inspire ''one'' house painter to change careers & suddenly everyone blames you for everything.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:23, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Elegy
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.198|172.68.65.198]] 15:39, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

Do we keep the “cheat at sports betting” wording? I don’t know if this is cheating. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.136|108.162.210.136]] 17:22, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:Cheating is generally heald to be using something unavailable to anyone else in the normal course of play to gain an advantage. I'd say using the almanac towards those ends definitely applies. [[User:Mjm87|Mjm87]] ([[User talk:Mjm87|talk]]) 19:07, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

If anyone questions the fact that newspapers in real life did attempt to assert that the rise of Trump was inevitable, various newspaper articles may easily be found as proof with a Google Search for [Donald Trump inevitable], preferably restricted to results before 2017, so as to remove results about things he did later. I don't know how best to incorporate such results as a source in the article, as the number of citations could easily be made too big, and also I don't know if anyone cares. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.136|108.162.210.136]] 17:30, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

I am from Europe, and I do not understand the issue. If event X happens while you predicted Y, isn't researching and hypothising a good way to find out why, possibly learning new things in the process? Saying you don't want to debate the issue is like hating politics. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.131|141.101.104.131]] 18:27, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

: Many people who understand politics hate it. On behalf of my fellow continenteans, I apologize for 141.101.104.131, who apparently believes that politics overlaps with political science. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.40|162.158.114.40]] 18:51, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

:Note that ''Hillbilly Elegy'' could not have been intended to explain the Trump election, having been written before it. However, it was interpreted this way. I have attempted to make this clear in the explanation.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.179|108.162.212.179]] 18:53, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

If I'm not mistaken, Biff is based off of Donald Trump, so the Donald Trump analogy may be more likely than not. I can't quite recall where I read this, but there are quite a few similarities between the two. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.138|162.158.186.138]] 19:14, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:Added [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.156|162.158.122.156]] 19:24, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

Why does this article go out of its way to avoid mentioning Hillary Clinton by name?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.19|162.158.107.19]] 20:25, 28 January 2019 (UTC)KingLeary
: Beats me. Fixed it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.95|108.162.246.95]] 04:47, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

XKCD on XKCD: "The word 'thinkpiece' sounds like a word made up by someone who didn't know about the word 'brain'." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.233|172.69.33.233]] 01:00, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

The explanation should include info on what a "counterfactual" is. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.95|108.162.246.95]] 04:49, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
:Done [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.131|108.162.212.131]] 12:33, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Isn't the title text making a reference to Orwell?

== Regarding politics ==

Wow, all this Trump stuff feels like a real stretch... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.95|172.68.132.95]] 21:00, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:Nah21:42, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:It's pretty obvious to me, personally, that this is an analogy to the idea that if Trump rose to power via means nobody was aware of at the time, the book would seem a little humorous. I guess that seems like a huge stretch to some and obvious to others. The references to the roughly-two views on this in the article feel painful to read, controversial, and like the issues aren't really honestly and fairly laid out. I wish there were some way to really give respect to both views. Even if many disagree with Randall, I think for many it is clear this is the subject of the comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.198|172.68.65.198]]

Note there is a (joke?) conspiracy theory that Trump is a time traveler, using technology provided by his uncle John Trump...
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.22|162.158.255.22]] 23:06, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:That would explain why he was able to do so well in the electoral college despite losing the popular vote. He knew which states would be close, so he could focus his efforts on narrowly winning those instead of narrowing losing them, and not worry about states like CA that would have such wide margins of victory that campaigning wouldn't affect who won them.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.23|172.69.33.23]] 07:06, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
:I think if Trump were a time traveller, he should be much richer, because he would have bet on sports, or invested in big companies while they were small. Instead, he invested in real estate, which was not a good option if he knew about the housing crisis beforehand. The only way I can think of to attribute his life choices to time travel meddling is: if the general public knew that time travel exists, this is the best way not to draw suspicion. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.131|108.162.212.131]] 13:06, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
:Or to provide reasonable doubt for a super-secret Temporal Court that recognizes the right to presumed innocence. I think I would enjoy reading that story.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.167|108.162.221.167]] 21:58, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2104: Biff Tannen

2019-01-30T01:50:53Z

108.162.221.167:

So I guess we're just construing this as a polarized editorial now appropriate context or no... fun.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.167|108.162.221.167]] 01:50, 30 January 2019 (UTC)

I thought Biff jumped from 2015 to 1955, not 1985...? Young Biff had the Almanac in his pocket at the High School dance and the tower he built was already in place in 1985.


Collusion with a time traveler would bring a few things into focus. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.25|173.245.54.25]] 15:24, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:You inspire ''one'' house painter to change careers & suddenly everyone blames you for everything.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:23, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Elegy
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.198|172.68.65.198]] 15:39, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

Do we keep the “cheat at sports betting” wording? I don’t know if this is cheating. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.136|108.162.210.136]] 17:22, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:Cheating is generally heald to be using something unavailable to anyone else in the normal course of play to gain an advantage. I'd say using the almanac towards those ends definitely applies. [[User:Mjm87|Mjm87]] ([[User talk:Mjm87|talk]]) 19:07, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

If anyone questions the fact that newspapers in real life did attempt to assert that the rise of Trump was inevitable, various newspaper articles may easily be found as proof with a Google Search for [Donald Trump inevitable], preferably restricted to results before 2017, so as to remove results about things he did later. I don't know how best to incorporate such results as a source in the article, as the number of citations could easily be made too big, and also I don't know if anyone cares. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.136|108.162.210.136]] 17:30, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

I am from Europe, and I do not understand the issue. If event X happens while you predicted Y, isn't researching and hypothising a good way to find out why, possibly learning new things in the process? Saying you don't want to debate the issue is like hating politics. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.131|141.101.104.131]] 18:27, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

: Many people who understand politics hate it. On behalf of my fellow continenteans, I apologize for 141.101.104.131, who apparently believes that politics overlaps with political science. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.40|162.158.114.40]] 18:51, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

:Note that ''Hillbilly Elegy'' could not have been intended to explain the Trump election, having been written before it. However, it was interpreted this way. I have attempted to make this clear in the explanation.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.179|108.162.212.179]] 18:53, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

If I'm not mistaken, Biff is based off of Donald Trump, so the Donald Trump analogy may be more likely than not. I can't quite recall where I read this, but there are quite a few similarities between the two. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.138|162.158.186.138]] 19:14, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:Added [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.156|162.158.122.156]] 19:24, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

Why does this article go out of its way to avoid mentioning Hillary Clinton by name?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.19|162.158.107.19]] 20:25, 28 January 2019 (UTC)KingLeary
: Beats me. Fixed it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.95|108.162.246.95]] 04:47, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

XKCD on XKCD: "The word 'thinkpiece' sounds like a word made up by someone who didn't know about the word 'brain'." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.233|172.69.33.233]] 01:00, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

The explanation should include info on what a "counterfactual" is. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.95|108.162.246.95]] 04:49, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
:Done [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.131|108.162.212.131]] 12:33, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Isn't the title text making a reference to Orwell?

== Regarding politics ==

Wow, all this Trump stuff feels like a real stretch... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.95|172.68.132.95]] 21:00, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:Nah21:42, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:It's pretty obvious to me, personally, that this is an analogy to the idea that if Trump rose to power via means nobody was aware of at the time, the book would seem a little humorous. I guess that seems like a huge stretch to some and obvious to others. The references to the roughly-two views on this in the article feel painful to read, controversial, and like the issues aren't really honestly and fairly laid out. I wish there were some way to really give respect to both views. Even if many disagree with Randall, I think for many it is clear this is the subject of the comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.198|172.68.65.198]]

Note there is a (joke?) conspiracy theory that Trump is a time traveler, using technology provided by his uncle John Trump...
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.22|162.158.255.22]] 23:06, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:That would explain why he was able to do so well in the electoral college despite losing the popular vote. He knew which states would be close, so he could focus his efforts on narrowly winning those instead of narrowing losing them, and not worry about states like CA that would have such wide margins of victory that campaigning wouldn't affect who won them.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.23|172.69.33.23]] 07:06, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
:I think if Trump were a time traveller, he should be much richer, because he would have bet on sports, or invested in big companies while they were small. Instead, he invested in real estate, which was not a good option if he knew about the housing crisis beforehand. The only way I can think of to attribute his life choices to time travel meddling is: if the general public knew that time travel exists, this is the best way not to draw suspicion. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.131|108.162.212.131]] 13:06, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
:Or to provide reasonable doubt for a super-secret Temporal Court that recognizes the right to presumed innocence. I think I would enjoy reading that story.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.167|108.162.221.167]] 21:58, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2104: Biff Tannen

2019-01-29T21:58:23Z

108.162.221.167: /* Regarding politics */

I thought Biff jumped from 2015 to 1955, not 1985...? Young Biff had the Almanac in his pocket at the High School dance and the tower he built was already in place in 1985.


Collusion with a time traveler would bring a few things into focus. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.25|173.245.54.25]] 15:24, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:You inspire ''one'' house painter to change careers & suddenly everyone blames you for everything.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:23, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Elegy
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.198|172.68.65.198]] 15:39, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

Do we keep the “cheat at sports betting” wording? I don’t know if this is cheating. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.136|108.162.210.136]] 17:22, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:Cheating is generally heald to be using something unavailable to anyone else in the normal course of play to gain an advantage. I'd say using the almanac towards those ends definitely applies. [[User:Mjm87|Mjm87]] ([[User talk:Mjm87|talk]]) 19:07, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

If anyone questions the fact that newspapers in real life did attempt to assert that the rise of Trump was inevitable, various newspaper articles may easily be found as proof with a Google Search for [Donald Trump inevitable], preferably restricted to results before 2017, so as to remove results about things he did later. I don't know how best to incorporate such results as a source in the article, as the number of citations could easily be made too big, and also I don't know if anyone cares. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.136|108.162.210.136]] 17:30, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

I am from Europe, and I do not understand the issue. If event X happens while you predicted Y, isn't researching and hypothising a good way to find out why, possibly learning new things in the process? Saying you don't want to debate the issue is like hating politics. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.131|141.101.104.131]] 18:27, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

: Many people who understand politics hate it. On behalf of my fellow continenteans, I apologize for 141.101.104.131, who apparently believes that politics overlaps with political science. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.40|162.158.114.40]] 18:51, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

:Note that ''Hillbilly Elegy'' could not have been intended to explain the Trump election, having been written before it. However, it was interpreted this way. I have attempted to make this clear in the explanation.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.179|108.162.212.179]] 18:53, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

If I'm not mistaken, Biff is based off of Donald Trump, so the Donald Trump analogy may be more likely than not. I can't quite recall where I read this, but there are quite a few similarities between the two. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.138|162.158.186.138]] 19:14, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:Added [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.156|162.158.122.156]] 19:24, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

Why does this article go out of its way to avoid mentioning Hillary Clinton by name?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.19|162.158.107.19]] 20:25, 28 January 2019 (UTC)KingLeary
: Beats me. Fixed it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.95|108.162.246.95]] 04:47, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

XKCD on XKCD: "The word 'thinkpiece' sounds like a word made up by someone who didn't know about the word 'brain'." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.233|172.69.33.233]] 01:00, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

The explanation should include info on what a "counterfactual" is. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.95|108.162.246.95]] 04:49, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
:Done [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.131|108.162.212.131]] 12:33, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Isn't the title text making a reference to Orwell?

== Regarding politics ==

Wow, all this Trump stuff feels like a real stretch... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.95|172.68.132.95]] 21:00, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:Nah21:42, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:It's pretty obvious to me, personally, that this is an analogy to the idea that if Trump rose to power via means nobody was aware of at the time, the book would seem a little humorous. I guess that seems like a huge stretch to some and obvious to others. The references to the roughly-two views on this in the article feel painful to read, controversial, and like the issues aren't really honestly and fairly laid out. I wish there were some way to really give respect to both views. Even if many disagree with Randall, I think for many it is clear this is the subject of the comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.198|172.68.65.198]]

Note there is a (joke?) conspiracy theory that Trump is a time traveler, using technology provided by his uncle John Trump...
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.22|162.158.255.22]] 23:06, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
:That would explain why he was able to do so well in the electoral college despite losing the popular vote. He knew which states would be close, so he could focus his efforts on narrowly winning those instead of narrowing losing them, and not worry about states like CA that would have such wide margins of victory that campaigning wouldn't affect who won them.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.23|172.69.33.23]] 07:06, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
:I think if Trump were a time traveller, he should be much richer, because he would have bet on sports, or invested in big companies while they were small. Instead, he invested in real estate, which was not a good option if he knew about the housing crisis beforehand. The only way I can think of to attribute his life choices to time travel meddling is: if the general public knew that time travel exists, this is the best way not to draw suspicion. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.131|108.162.212.131]] 13:06, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
:Or to provide reasonable doubt for a super-secret Temporal Court that recognizes the right to presumed innocence. I think I would enjoy reading that story.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.167|108.162.221.167]] 21:58, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2098: Magnetic Pole

2019-01-14T23:12:20Z

108.162.221.167: GPS effects citation

GPS relies on satellites not the magnetic pole, so it wouldn't be affected.

So, GPS ''receivers'' don't need magnetic poles... but what about the GPS ''satellites''? GPS works being them transmitting their exact location, so they need so way of knowing what that is. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 22:58, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

I was wondering about that. Just added {{Citation needed}} to that and a couple of other alleged facts that should really be cited if true, and removed if not. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.208|108.162.216.208]] 20:35, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

It was speculated that reversals were linked to mass extinctions. This would make the alt-text appear to be a bit blase - but " Statistical analysis shows no evidence for a correlation between reversals and extinctions." so it seems we will probably be OK.
It does seem odd that GPS wouldn't be calibrated against fixed ground positions. [[User:Baldrickk|Baldrickk]] ([[User talk:Baldrickk|talk]]) 22:06, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

I don't believe any "location systems" depend on magnetic field for their accuracy, other than a magnetic compass. As noted above, GPS is calculated numerically from signals received from satellites, so the only effect the magnetic field could have on that is if it somehow disrupts the broadcast of the satellite radio signals. Similarly, LORAN calculates location based on radio signal, from towers on land. There are others as well, and I'm pretty sure none that depend on the location of the magnetic pole. GPS in general is not calibrated to fixed ground positions, but there are enhancements to GPS that do. But those still use radio broadcasts from towers whose locations are known, and don't need to take into account the location of magnetic north.
[[User:Lnthomp|Lnthomp]] ([[User talk:Lnthomp|talk]]) 22:28, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

Granted no one has ever experienced and documented a magnetic reversal event, however, would it be possible for the magnetic flux to cause errors on magnetic media? (eg HDD, credit cards, floppies, cassette, VHS, etc) If it were a cause for alarm, would a faraday cage be useful in protecting against the effects? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.34|172.68.34.34]] 23:05, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

GPS and Solar weather [https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/impacts/space-weather-and-gps-systems citation ] - worth a read. Basically, the ionosphere disturbance from a changing Earth field (analogous to a changing solar wind) leads to notable inaccuracy and service disruption. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.167|108.162.221.167]] 23:12, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

2097: Thor Tools

2019-01-11T18:52:13Z

108.162.221.167: Fixed various grammar and spelling issues, and provided some information about Thor.

[[[[Link title]]]]{{comic
| number = 2097
| date = January 11, 2019
| title = Thor Tools
| image = thor_tools.png
| titletext = CORRECTION: After careful evaluation, we have determined that the axis label on this chart was printed backward.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by Thor's Caliper. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Thor}} is a god of lightning and thunder in Norse mythology. His signature weapon is a magic hammer called {{w|Mjölnir}}. He's likely best known for his role in {{w|Thor (Marvel Comics)|Marvel comics and films}}, which his appearance here seems to be referencing.

This comic is listing various hand tools in order of utility and viability as a weapon, besides Thor's actual, enchanted hammer. Hammers are heavy, blunt, and can do large amounts of damage to an opponent, whereas a plane is sharp, but only in one place, and will only inflict surface wounds.

Some of these tools require power, which would require Thor to stay near an outlet or have a power source, such as the circular saw, or jackhammer. However, being the god of lightning may circumvent this. Thor would also need compressed air for the nail gun, only allowing Thor so many shot before reloading the air tank at an outlet. The nail gun and staple gun would also require nails or staples respectively to function as a weapon.

In the title text, Munroe says the the order should be reversed, implying Thor armed with a plane would be much more fearsome than with a hammer.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[A timeline labeled "Hand tools Thor could have ended up with" with "Best" on the left and "Worst" on the right.]

[Points on the line are labeled "Hammer", "Axe", "Claw hammer", "Circular saw", "Jackhammer", "Shovel", "Socket wrench", "Bolt cutters", "Hacksaw", "Nail gun", "Staple gun", "Coping saw", "Screwdriver (flat)", "Ball-peen hammer", "Screwdriver (phillips)", "Awl", "Digital Caliper", "Dremel", "Plane"]

[A figure wearing a winged helmet is seen preparing to use: a Circular saw, a Socket wrench, a Staple gun, and a Dremel.]

{{comic discussion}}

1975: Right Click

2018-04-03T13:30:16Z

108.162.221.167: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1975
| date = April 1, 2018
| title = Right Click
| image = right_click.png
| titletext = Right-click or long press (where supported) to save!
}}
'''NOTE: The above is the first panel of an interactive comic.'''<br>
To experience the interactive content, click [https://www.xkcd.com/1975/ here].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please add an explanation table of all functions This is an April Fools comic, so it'll take a while to get organized and much longer to fill out. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic pokes fun at how hard it can be to save an image or to just navigate context menus in some computer programs. Likely it is also a reference to the movie "Ready Player One", based on the book by Cline: in the movie, in fact, the purpose was to find an Easter Egg hidden in an Atari video game named "Adventure".

This is an interactive comic which manipulates the context menu of the browser. This menu is typically accessible by a right-click or a long press on mobile devices without a mouse.

It should be noted that if you DO manage to save the image somehow (Possibly by right-clicking before the javascript loads, or by pulling it from the source, or by right-click saving it normally from unixkcd), it just shows the initial image of the page with nothing changed. There is not additional joke by actually being able to save the image. Note that if you dig deep enough, there IS a way to save the image from the right click menu, and it DOES get you a different image. However, the other ways previously mentioned do not give you that image, even though you are saving the image.

The comic uses {{w|JavaScript}} and {{w|HTML5}} to override the standard context menu. Since modern browsers use the same features to integrate Add-ons into that menu, the behavior may be different depending on the browser environment.

The manipulated context menu is described below:
;Main Context Menu

{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
! # !! Menu Item !! Explanation !! Sub-Menu Items
|-
!1
| '''Save'''
| Only appears after successfully completing the ADVENT.EXE game or getting the Easter egg in Mornington Crescent.
| Save image> Downloads this image. [https://xkcd.com/1975/v6xso1_right_click_save.png]

|-
! 2
| '''File'''
| Normal submenu
|Close: Closes menu, does nothing.
Open: A:\, C:\, / (See more [[#Table - Filesystems Menu|below]])

Find: Where, When, How, (grayed out) What, (grayed out) Why, Who.

'Where' leads to four options. The first, 'computer', has two options ('folder' and 'menus'), which link back to the 'find' and right-click menus, respectively. "Narnia" leads to a link to the comic [[665: Prudence]] as well as to a grey comment about how it's weird that "they" have to die to go back to Narnia.
"Canada" and "America" lead to the same set of bizarre menus (America leads into Canada's menu), which then give the options 'Upper' and 'Lower', ultimately leading to a drive-through and hockey, respectively.

'When' leads to a description of Siri entering someone's home, and the menu can be followed to reveal several further events from 'earlier' in the day. The last one ('a bottle of jack and a toothbrush') is likely a reference to the song 'Tik Tok' by Kesha.

'How' simply leads to an exclamation of 'How!?'.

'Who' leads to a menu version of the Abbot and Costello "Who's on First?" routine.

Backup: Causes the area around the comic to flash red 9 times, with high-pitch sounds reminiscent of a truck backing up. Likely a pun.

Save: Only available after the save menu is unlocked after one of the two Easter Eggs is found, allows download of bonus comic.

|-
! 3
| '''Edit'''
| Enables a mode allowing the user to draw on the webpage. Pressing Esc asks "Aw, that looks nice though. Really delete?" and the page returns to normal if OK is clicked.
| None
|-
! 4
| '''System'''
| Normal submenu
|Shut Down> Changes the only menu option to "Power on", then once that is used, system returns to normal.

/ (See [[#Table - Filesystems Menu|below]])
|-
! 5
| '''View'''
| Normal submenu
|Cascade>Links to [http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/Mt._St._Helens,_Washington]

Tile> Links to [[245: Floor Tiles]]

Minimize> Changes pointer to a smaller pointer.

Full Screen> Enters full screen.
|-
! 6
| '''Utilities'''
| Normal submenu
|Park drives> Nothing.

Check space usage> (cannot click) Space usage: -Dark matter -Hydrogen -Helium -Scattered clumps of heavier elements -Stars -Rocks -Some space probes -Earth

Spell check> English (links to [[1069: Alphabet]]) and Colors (links to [https://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/])

Train AI> links to [[1838: Machine Learning]]

Identify song> opens a long word-by-word menu for song lyrics; it's actually a menu-ised version of [[851: Na]].

Advanced> several Unix commands, all absurd (or dangerous) for some reason:
* <code>apt-get install /dev/null</code>: <code>apt-get</code> is the standard package manager used in Debian-derived Linux distributions (including Ubuntu); it is normally used to install software; <code>/dev/null</code> is the "bit-bucket" device on any Unix system, which can be used as a dummy output file to discard output or as a dummy empty input file. This command would attempt to install <code>/dev/null</code> (which is a device, not a package!) or, more correctly, would try to install a package reading its data from <code>/dev/null</code> (if <code>apt-get</code> is given a file name it tries to interpret it as a .deb package), which is obviously impossible.
* <code>brew install apt-get</code>: <code>brew</code> is a third-party package manager for macOS; it is generally used to install "missing" open-source utilities on a macOS system; the command is attempting to install the aforementioned <code>apt-get</code>, which is both impossible (<code>apt-get</code> doesn't run on macOS) and hilariously recursive (did you install a package manager - brew - to install another one?). Even if this were possible, the package would have been called <code>apt</code>, as apt-get is only one of the commands in the package manager.
* <code>/usr/local/bin/wine xen-hypervisor.exe</code>: <code>wine</code> is a compatibility layer used to run Windows executables on Linux (and on macOS); the fact that it is in <code>/usr/local</code> hints that it has been manually compiled on this machine; Xen is a Linux-based hypervisor, i.e. a software used to run and manage virtual machines over a Linux host, but the .exe suffix here hints that it is a Windows executable. The command would try to launch a Windows build of a Linux-based virtual machine manager on a Unix machine through a Windows emulation layer (wine).
* <code>source .bash_history</code>: the <code>source</code> shell command reads the file that is given as argument and executes each of its rows as a command in the current shell, roughly as if you typed them in; <code>.bash_history</code> (located in the user home directory) is the file where the bash shell saves the history of the commands that have been run. This command would re-run all the command that have been typed in the shell.
* <code>rm -rf $DIRECTROY/*</code>: <code>rm -rf</code> deletes recursively and forcefully the paths it is given as arguments; <code>$DIRECTROY</code> is a shell variable, probably containing some directory that whoever typed in this command wanted to clean; however, it is misspelled (it says <code>$DIRECTROY</code>, not <code>$DIRECTORY</code>), and, due to how POSIX shell work, it is thus expanded to an empty string; so, the command becomes <code>rm -rf /*</code>, which deletes all the files and directories in the root of the disk, effectively killing the system instead of just deleting the content of some directory. Notice that this particular misspell manages to circumvent the builtin protection of many <code>rm</code> versions, which refuse to do a plain <code>rm -rf /</code>, as <code>/*</code> gets expanded by the shell, so <code>rm</code> never has the chance to see explicitly that you are killing all the data in the root directory.
* <code>:(){:|:&};:</code>: this is [https://askubuntu.com/q/159491/208527 a classic shell fork bomb], i.e. a small program that keeps launching copies of itself, until all resources have been exhausted or the user somehow manages to kill all its copies.
* <code>echo "source .bashrc" >> .bashrc</code>: <code>.bashrc</code> is a file that gets executed whenever the <code>bash</code> shell is started in interactive mode; this command appends the string <code>source .bashrc</code> to it, which effectively executes it again recursively; this would pretty much make it impossible to open an interactive shell when launching it with the default parameters.
* <code>alias gcc=php</code>: the <code>alias</code> shell builtin create an alias for another command; <code>gcc</code> is the GNU C compiler driver, which is used to compile programs written in the C language; <code>php</code> is the command-line interpreter for the PHP language. This line creates an alias such that when typing <code>gcc</code>, <code>php</code> is actually invoked, which would generate completely absurd error messages. This is doubly devious, as PHP isn't generally held in high esteem by large part of the programming community (especially by someone writing stuff in C).

'); DROP TABLE Menus;-- links to [[327: Exploits of a Mom]]
|-
! 7
| '''Games'''
| Normal submenu
| Twenty Questions> A Twenty Questions interface that gets really confusing. There are links to Bing image searches for '[https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=okapi&FORM=HDRSC2 okapi]', '[https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pronghorn&FORM=HDRSC2 pronghorn]', '[https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=eland&FORM=HDRSC2 eland]', '[https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=baribusa&FORM=HDRSC2 baribusa]', '[https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=musk%20deer&FORM=HDRSC2 musk deer]' and '[https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=ibex&FORM=HDRSC2 ibex]'. The game also contains some extremely large cans of creamed corn (a reference to [[1807: Listening]]).

Rock Paper Scissors> A Rock Paper Scissors game where the computer always matches your move.

D&D> A complex Dungeons and Dragons interface. Allows you to cast various spells from D&D 5e which link to various pages, including xkcd comics (e.g. [[1331: Frequency]]), what-ifs (e.g. {{what if|144|Saliva Pool}}) and other external sites (e.g. [https://www.nasa.gov/sun The Sun | NASA]). See [https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/88vwoe/xkcds_latest_comic_has_a_dd_easter_egg/ post on /r/dndnext] for all 285 links and 11 extra effects.

ADVENT.EXE> A text-based game. If played correctly, you can win, unlocking 'Save'>'Save image' from the beginning menu, which links to [https://xkcd.com/1975/v6xso1_right_click_save.png]. 'ADVENT.EXE>Castle>Well>Wish for...' has links to comics [[572: Together]], [[1053: Ten Thousand]], [[152: Hamster Ball]], [[1196: Subways]], [[231: Cat Proximity]] and to what-if articles {{what if|111|All the Money}} and {{what if|9|Soul Mates}}. The C-remover is a reference to either the T-remover from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leather_Goddesses_of_Phobos Leather Goddess of Phobos] or the multi-letter remover from [http://emshort.com/counterfeit_monkey/ Counterfeit Monkey], a text adventure by Emily Short inspired by it. At one point in the maze, the options to travel are N, S, and Dennis instead of the usual N, E, S, W; this is a reference to the text-based game [http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Thy_Dungeonman Thy Dungeonman] found in a Strong Bad email from [http://homestarrunner.com homestarrunner.com].

Hoverboard> Links to [[1608: Hoverboard]] browser game.

Mornington Crescent> This is a simulation of the well-known game {{W|Mornington_Crescent_(game)|Mornington Crescent}}, which bears a surprising resemblance to {{W|London_Underground|London's Underground}} railway network. Players name a station, in turn, endeavouring to reach Mornington Crescent. The rules of play are very complicated and beyond the scope of this article; interested persons are referred to ''N. F. Stovold’s Mornington Crescent: Rules and Origins'' (sadly out of print). In this variation, one may reach 'Vauxhall'>'Easter basket'>'Take egg', also allowing you to save. The shortest path to the Easter basket is: Euston / Warren Street / Oxford Circus / Green Park / Victoria / Pimlico / Vauxhall / Easter basket
|-
! 8
| '''Help'''
| Contains various submenus, all of which, barring Credits, loop back recursively to this menu:
|Tutorial
Support

Manual

Troubleshooting

FAQ

Guide

Q&A

User forums

--------------

Credits> 'Some people who helped with this comic:
[http://chromakode.com/ @chromakode]
[https://twitter.com/aiiane Amber]
[https://twitter.com/fadinginterest @fadinginterest]
[https://twitter.com/wirehead2501 Kat]
[https://twitter.com/cotrone Kevin]
[http://90d.ca/ Stereo]'
|-
! 9
| '''Do Crimes'''
| Contains several "crimes" that can be committed. This option is unlocked by File > Open > C:\ (or /home/user) > Bookmarks/ > Secret > Enable Dark Web.
| Steal Bitcoins > Grayed out.
Say swears > Several clean swears that all link to [[771: Period Speech]].

Hack > Three sub-options that link to various related comics. (Gibson: Nothing. Election: [[1019: First Post]]. Planet: [[1337: Hack]].)

Forge a Scrabble Tile > Several sub-options that don't do anything. (U, Z, <this menu option intentionally left blank>, and two special characters, one appearing like a reversed 'E' modelled on a 'C', or Russian 'Э', as low-pitched [eh], and the second being crossed swords)
|}

;Filesystems Menu

{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
! Drive !! Menu Item !! Explanation !! Sub-Menu Items
|-
! A:\
| '''Insert'''
| Only appears before inserting a floppy disk.
|Floppy disk> Unlocks other options for drive A:\, which are identical to drive C:\
Chip card> A long sequence of being told 'Please wait. Authorizing...' ending in 'Chip error! REMOVE CARD NOW!'
|-
! C:\
| '''Documents/'''
| Nothing.
| None.
|-
! C:\
| '''Music/'''
| Leads to a long string of prompts for song lyrics. 'Hey now / Hey now na now / Sing "This Corrosion" to me' inverts the webpage's color before Easter egg mode is enabled, and plays the referenced song in the browser with inverted color and flashing if the Easter egg mode is enabled. It's actually the same menu that is shown under Utilities>Identify song (which itself is a menu-ised version of [[851: Na]]).
| 'Hey now / Hey now / Don't dream it's over' links to [[240: Dream Girl]]. 'This / is / a / story all about how / my life got flipped, turned upside down' links to [[464: RBA]]. 'This / is / the / story of a girl / who cried a river and drowned the whole world' links to a Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_FVAEYRM5I
|-
! C:\
| '''Bookmarks/'''
| Similar to Music/, Bookmarks/> Comics leads to a chain from which many comics are titled and linked. Bookmarks/> Secret> Enable Dark Web adds the 'Dark Web' option to the initial menu.
|-
! C:\
| '''Games/'''
| Same as 'Games' from the initial menu.
|-
! C:\
| '''Sequences/'''
| The options are the lines from a ''Tim and Eric'' sketch [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/celery-man Celery Man]; the final option links to a YouTube video of the sketch.
| After several single-option menus, it links to this Youtube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHWBEK8w_YY
|-
! /
| '''home/'''
| Nothing.
| guest> links to [//uni.xkcd.com]

user> Same files as C:\

root> Displays 'You are not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.'
|-
! /
| '''opt/'''
| Does nothing.
| None.
|-
! /
| '''sbin/'''
| Does nothing.
| None.
|-
! /
| '''usr/'''
| Opens an infinite sequence of options, each similar to the last, but replacing the previous selection with another folder; probably a reference to the fact that [https://www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy/html/usr.html the /usr hierarchy] does contain a list of subdirectories pretty much identical [https://www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy/html/the-root-directory.html to those of the root directory].
|-
! /
| '''dev/'''
| Nothing.
|random/> links to a random xkcd comic.
urandom/> links to [[221: Random Number]]
|}

In an additional fool it introduces the [https://uni.xkcd.com/ Unix XKCD] as a reference to the {{W|Telenet}}. (More on UniXKCD commands can be found [[721:_Flatland#UniXKCD|here]].)

==Transcript==
:[Empty frame with Cueball slightly right of centre.]

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Editor's Note: Today's comic is optimized for local viewing. To see the full version, just save a copy of the image!

{{comic discussion}}



[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:April fools' comics]]

Talk:1571: Car Model Names

2015-09-02T05:49:59Z

108.162.221.167: /* Order of the scores */

Interestingly, "xkcd" has a high score of 4.1.

Suzuki Sexism kinda has a ring to it... [[User:Bbruzzo|Bbruzzo]] ([[User talk:Bbruzzo|talk]]) 14:39, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

== Scores ==

Anyone know how the averages are calculated? I tried a couple but I don't arrive at the same numbers:

HONDA { -44 -80 -46 -21 -14 } Sum: -205 Avg: -41<br>
2CHAINZ { +6 +27 -44 -14 -21 -46 +83 } Sum: -9 Avg: -1.2857142857142857142857142857143<br>
Combined: (-205 -9) / (5 + 7) = -17.833333333333333333333333333333<br>

[[User:SG 01|SG 01]] ([[User talk:SG 01|talk]]) 15:29, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

I think only the model should be considered. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 15:36, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

:2CHAINZ { +6 +27 -44 -14 -21 -46 +83 } Sum: -9 Avg: -1.29 Index: -0.13
:CLIMAX { +27 +12 -21 +19 -14 +126} Sum: 149 Avg: 24.83 Index: 2.48

Obvioulsy it's the average divided by 10. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 15:44, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Ah, it's so obvious now, thanks :) [[User:SG 01|SG 01]] ([[User talk:SG 01|talk]]) 16:00, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

I worked it out to be average divided by 10 early on but why divided by 10? Is it because each category has 10 cars listed? This is the piece I've been stuck at. Understanding that part of the logic. --[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 16:05, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

The only thing I can think of is to make the numbers be below 10 as a lot of scoring is done in that scale, then again, that doesn't include numbers below 1 usually (On a scale from 1 - 10).
Oh, also the 3x3cutrix, the i is worth -21, not -45 (which is E), the x in 3x3 is treated as a normal x with score 126
:3X3CUTRIX { +55 -126 +55 +27 -68 -18 8 -21 +126 } Sum: 290 Avg: 32.222... Index: 3.22
[[User:SG 01|SG 01]] ([[User talk:SG 01|talk]]) 16:17, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

OK, my mistake. Thanks. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 16:27, 31 August 2015 (UTC)
BTW: 3X3CUTRIX { +55 +126 +55 +27 -68 -18 +8 -21 +126 } Sum: 290

Yea, made a typo there originally, did edit-fix it ^^ Also SIXAXLE4x4 { +15 -21 +126 -14 +126 +12 -45 +35 +126 +35 } Sum: 395 Avg: 39.5 Index: 3.95 (which is the number next to it)

[[User:SG 01|SG 01]] ([[User talk:SG 01|talk]]) 16:33, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Mercedes 3X-WIF3 scores a decent 3,33 [[Special:Contributions/198.41.243.9|198.41.243.9]] 18:46, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Anyone want a Porsche 911? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 18:53, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

:The Saab Y. Worst possible car name. The Oldsmobile XXX. Best possible car name. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.4|173.245.54.4]] 19:33, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Seems worth mentioning somewhere that 3x3cutrix is semi leet/133+ for the English word executrix, the feminine form of executor, but I don't know quite where it belongs. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 20:49, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

"The letters F and B, with scores of 5 and -5, respectively, are about as common in English as in car models." Looked odd, at first reading. May need re-writing to point out that ±5 is as close to zero (parity between English and car-speak) as you get in this example. Perhaps "...scores of ''merely'' +5 and -5, respectively", or similar? But that also seems too brief. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.108|141.101.99.108]] 01:37, 1 September 2015 (UTC)
:Forgot to add what I meant to put here... Apostrophes. Very rare in car names (just the {{w|Kia_Cee%27d|Kia Cee'd}}), fairly often (over)used in standard English text. I wonder what its value is? (Not as easily 'assume it's a letter' as the x/times symbol.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.108|141.101.99.108]] 01:44, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

===Order of the scores===
There are two possible explanations
;Score(x) = Frequency_in_cars(x) - Frequency_in_English(x)
I'm pretty sure it's a comparative scale between cars and English, not just a car-like/not-car-like scale.
:Randall uses positive numbers if a letter is more common in car models than in typical English (as X) which he then calls carlike. He used negative numbers if a letter's relative frequency in car models is lower than in typical English (as O) and he calls it English-like (more suitable for readable text). The letters F and B, with scores of 5 and -5, respectively, are about as common in English as in car models. With this nomenclature, the most English-like letter is Y because, while not the most common English letter, it is apparently extremely rare in car models.

;Score(x) = Frequency_in_cars(x)
English has no relationship with the score
:It seems that Randall arbitrarily used positive and negative numbers: if a letter is very common in car models (as X) he calls it carlike. If a letter is very uncommon in car models (as O) he calls it English-like. With this nomenclature the most English-like letter is Y, but actually Y is the least carlike letter. The most common letter in ordinary English is E. Y on the other hand is just in the middle (place 13), which can't be called English-like.
[[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 12:56, 1 September 2015 (UTC)
::"Y (...) can't be called English-like". Well, it can be, as it's not uncommon. And on the relative scale, it's much more indicative of being English than it is of being a car. And I'm going to give the explanation a further tweak, I think, hopefully small and agreeable. Also don't think the reversion helped (without checking the edit-changes), it was almost right. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.108|141.101.99.108]] 13:24, 1 September 2015 (UTC)
Now I understood your idea. I think I tweaked it to be more understandable. X is a letter that supports your claim. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 13:41, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

I'd like to suggest a third possibility, I figured it was a ratio: Score(x) = 100*(Frecuency_in_cars(x) / Frequency_in_English(x) - 1). This allows numbers to be negative or positive and would explain the questions raised above. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:53, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

Well, my "little tweak" became a big overhaul, then edit-conflicted. For the record, it became the following monstrosity:
Scores for letters and numbers are presumably taken from their frequency in car models. [[Randall]] doubtless analysed a car-name database, in a manner similar to that used to derive the {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_frequency#Relative_frequencies_of_letters_in_the_English_language|letter frequency statistics for written English}} against which the former seems to have been compared. From these, letters that appeared equally commonly in both lists (either rare or frequent, but consistently between the two) would have been given a hypothetical value of zero, whilst ones that were almost exclusively in one medium would have a high-magnitude score; positive for more car-like and negative for more English-like.
Without the raw car-letter frequency data it's hard to derive the exact formula used, but taking the mathematical {{w|Logarithm|log value}} of a ratio would give us zero for 1:1 (equally car-like and English-like) and high positive/negative values for comparisons more skewed more towards the former/latter.
The closest letters to zero in the comic are F at +5 and B at -5 and may hover somewhere around the same ratios in car-names as in English (around 2.2% and 1.4% of total usage in the above link), with just a slight car/English dominance. The most 'car-like' letter is X, that seems to be quite common in cars whilst very rare (<1% of usage) in English.
The most 'English-like' letter in the comic is Y with a score of -90. Y is not common in English (~2%), but presumably even more disproportionately uncommon in car names. The next most 'English-like' letter, O, with a given score of -80. It is significantly more frequent in English (~7.5%, and perhaps the fourth most encountered individual letter), and so is likely also more frequent in the raw car-name data, alone, albeit similarly much less than 'expected' from its English occurances.
It makes some sense that rarer English letters are over-chosen (for the novelty and stand-out effect) for car names, at the general expense of several commoner English letters without particular bias, thus the highest positive peak is greater in magnitude than the lowest negative trough. Although you could also point out that 'x' (used for 'times') is also a more useful car-name 'letter', whilst the letter O might be surpressed in alphanumeric sequences so as not to be confused with a zero.
When looking at the numbers in the table, Randall's analysis may have dealt with the decimal digits entirely seperately, based upon something like {{w|Benford%27s_law|Benford's Law}} for the natural occurance of numbers in common data, rather than from their disproportionately rare occurance within largely alphabetic English. It is thus not unexpected that the 1 that is most common in data is underepresented within numbers in car-names, whilst sub-avearge 5 becomes a 'power number' in the world of cars, and the third most car-like character in the comic.
There are 19 positive scores and 17 negative scores. They each add up to a score of 735 and -722, respectively, with the grand total being +13, suggesting that without rounding errors the whole system could have a neutral score. The numbers alone give a total offset of -0, the letters alone thus account for a not particularly unreasonable +0.5 'error' per character, and may also support the idea of separate analyses of these two sets.
...there was no easy way to resolve the differences, so the above is FYI. ('''TLDR: perhaps it's a Log function?''') In editing it down, I'd also had another bit:
The letters I and T may appear in non-word model-name strings to represent "Injection" and "Turbo", respectively, but with their overwhelming commonality already in English text they still appear ''more'' more in English than in cars.
...which was looked less useful and too wordy even for me, but might also be a useful fragment to consider. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.108|141.101.99.108]] 15:09, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

== Typo or Deliberate? ==

Randall gave REV-4 as an example car name. Did he accidentally misspell the (Toyota) RAV4, or was this a deliberate reference to chapter 4 of Revelations?--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.26|173.245.54.26]] 02:31, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

== Old Goths ==

49 is a reasonable age for those who grew up Goth in the 80s, just sayin'.
--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.123|141.101.99.123]] 08:47, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

I thought this too. It could be a joke on a youth sub-culture growing up (old).
-- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.157|108.162.229.157]] 11:28, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

== 'Quick' and Dirty Car Data ==
Examining {{w|List_of_automobile_sales_by_model|this page}}, which has notable exceptions (I specifically looked for the Toyota '''Y'''aris and the Kia Cee'd, neither of which were there), using a quick script to isolate the car names, a lengthy ''manual'' process of sanitising all the exceptions the quick script couldn't handle and then another script to analyse letter frequencies of the model names (''not'' the make/marque part), I came up with the following undefinitive data, that is almost certainly flawed but may yet be useful:
<spaces> = 85 (but this count of whitespace may not be accurate and is superfluous...
& = 1 (...as are these first four items of punctuation, given their absence from Randall's chart)
- = 23
. = 3
/ = 10
0 = 104
1 = 73
2 = 54
3 = 43
4 = 35
5 = 54
6 = 35
7 = 18
8 = 26
9 = 17
A = 231 (includes à)
B = 30
C = 95
D = 54
E = 210 (includes é and ë)
F = 46
G = 52
H = 18
I = 122
J = 12
K = 13
L = 113
M = 83
N = 99
O = 145 (includes ó)
P = 80
Q = 4
R = 202
S = 127 (includes Š)
T = 166
U = 45
V = 38
W = 19
X = 25
Y = 33
Z = 14
Comparing just B and F (natural frequency 1.4% and 2.2%, above 30 to 46, both instances being approximately 1:1.5 when comparing the two letters within the same source), this matches the similarly close-to-zero scores given to them by Randall. O vs. Y is 4.4:1, above, real life is 3.8:1 and adjusting for O being 1/9th 'more carlike' we get a similar value. But Z vs J is 7:6, real life it's 1:2 and I can't reconcile that with the 1.3:1 on Randall's chart. Probably indicates something non-linear (e.g. a log function) along the way, if O:Y wasn't so easy to distinguish. Might, of course, be a differently biased dataset and thus GIGO. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.108|141.101.99.108]] 00:35, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

715: Numbers

2015-04-29T22:52:00Z

108.162.221.167:

{{comic
| number = 715
| date = March 17, 2010
| title = Numbers
| image = numbers.png
| titletext = The typical internet user (who wants to share) has an IQ of 147 and a 9-inch penis. Better than the reverse, I guess}}

==Explanation==
The graphics use the popular search engine Google to show how many hits (or web pages) are returned as relevant based on a given search replacing <X> by different numbers.

;Bottles of beer
:The top one is of the popular children's song {{w|99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall}}. In this song, the singers begin with 99 bottles and with each repeat of the verse, decrease the bottles of beer by one. The graph shows a slowdown at 66 bottles of beer, something highlighted. A spike occurs at 49 bottles of beer, which seems to be a popular variant (possibly due to 49 bottles taking about half the time that 99 would).

;Boy/girlfriends
:On the second row, the left graph represents how many girl or boy friends someone has had. They seem pretty similar, though the logarithmic chart may be working on that. There is a clear peak at four girlfriends.

;School grade
:In the middle of second row is a curve for how old (in grade) Internet users seem to be. Going purely by grade, the average is at 7th grade. However, using the notation of Freshman (9)/Sophomore (10)/Junior (11)/Senior (12), there's a notable resurgence.

;Penis length
:The graph on the far right of the second row describes Internet users talking about the lengths of penises that they "have". (This would include both males discussing their own penises and persons of both genders saying that they "have" their boyfriend's penis, or, less plausibly, a severed penis.) Several websites report 5-6 inches is considered average, but it doesn't appear that way on the Internet. There is a general trend (also shown by the line), but the maximum, 9 inches (23 cm), peaks way above the trend line - indicating that guys think they can pull this one of, although 12 inches (30 cm) peaks way above the trend line as well. Probably because 12 inches equals a foot.

;Cup size
:The third row contains four graphs. The far left is the breast size of the Internet user. (This presumably refers to female users, since male breasts are not typically measured in cup size.) The actual breast size is generally considered a bell curve around a B or C cup, yet the hits on Google describe almost an exact opposite trend. Taken with the above male penis length and this describes a trend where either the "average" person posting information seems to embellish or the majority stay quiet. Typically those with small breast will complain, and those with large breast will complain or brag. Those that are content with a C cup do not need to do either.

;I have never had a boyfriend
:The second graph on row three is number of hits per (mostly) female Internet users talking about how old they are without having a boyfriend. There's a spike at 18. The comic was written in 2010; as of 2014 the spike does not exist. Google behaves very strangely in this case, as it shows two very different numbers for each search.
{|class="wikitable"
!Age!!First number reported by Google!!Actual number of pages after advancing to the last one!!First number reported by Google after clicking on "More results from answers.yahoo.com"!!Actual number of pages after advancing to the last one (Yahoo Answers)
|-
|15||4||4||56,000||35
|-
|16||29,200||16||66,300||51
|-
|17||25,900||11||62,900||49
|-
|18||22,600||18||33,900||31
|-
|19||16,600||16||25,300||30
|-
|20||13,700||18||8,110||25
|-
|21||13,600||18||11,700||46
|}

;Glasses of water a day
:Third from the left in row three is the number of glasses drunk per day. Many "health authorities" claim that 8 glasses of water a day should be the most healthy. This {{w|Drinking_water#Requirements|common misconception}} is not supported by scientific research.

;Number of lights
:On the far right is a description of the number of lights. The spike at four is due to a famous scene from {{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}, episode {{w|Chain_of_Command_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)#Part_II|Chain of Command Part II}} where {{w|Captain Picard}} answers that there are four lights, despite pressure to answer that there are five. This is itself a reference to {{w|George Orwell|George Orwell's}} novel {{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four}}, where {{w|Winston Smith}} is tortured until he "learns" to be unsure of the number of fingers being held up by his torturer, despite him only holding up four.

;Number of problems
:Bottom left is a reference to the popular {{w|Jay-Z}} rap song {{w|99 Problems}}. It is the only reason that ''100 problems'' only ends up second by more than a factor of 100.

;IQ
:Bottom right describes the {{w|IQ}} of the Internet goer compared to the average. By the definition of the test the average is 100 with a standard deviation of 15. However, the comic implies that the average claimed IQ closes in on 133 more than 2 standard deviations above the real average! This high average are thanks mainly to the million who has given their IQ as 147. There are four other peaks that are also labeled, and these peaks are the only other above 100,000 hits, but neither of these have much more than 200,000 hits. Apart from these five there are only 5 more with more than 50,000 hits. Note the log scale of the y.axis!
:Many studies have shown that people today would score a higher average than 100 if they took the earlier test - an effect know as the {{w|Flynn effect}}. However, new test from today should still average out to 100, as an IQ of 100 is defined as the average of any give IQ test.
:The five labels: Why 147 is so popular is hard to guess? The {{w|maximum break}} in {{w|snooker}} is 147, but it is unlikely that this is known by enough to make a difference here. There is also a frequently repeated factoid that Albert Einstein scored an IQ of 147 but there's no real record or consensus of this. That 100 (the average) peaks out is obvious. 110 - ten more also makes sense. In general there are almost always more hits at every 5 and 10, than the two values before or after. 133 is a third of the way to 200, and also it will take you clear of the {{w|Mensa International|Mensa}} requirement for membership of 132 on the {{w|Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales}}. Why 142 is popular is also difficult to say. Of course {{w|Answer_to_Life,_the_Universe,_and_Everything#The_number_42|42 is a special number}} for fans of {{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}, so 142 for an IQ score could be helped to peak for this reason. Although then it is no longer 42... (But an IQ of 42 would be really bad!)
:The scale of the graphs x-axis is completely off. This can easily be seen from the labeled points. Whereas 100 and 110 is close to the mark, the point labeled 133 is much closer to 140 than 130 (at about 138) and the 147 point lies clearly past 150 (at around 152). It is, however, for sure the scale that is off as there are the correct number of points between all five labeled points.
:There is a clear point on the y-axis at 80, but then there seems to be a gap up to the next point, and there are also only 16 points between this first point and the point labeled 100. It thus seems that while there are in fact about 20,000 who claim as low an IQ as 80, then there are not enough who claims a score of 81-83 for them to be shown in this graph. The graph begins at around 80-90 hits because of the log scale so there could be some hits, but way less than the lowest point on the graph which lies close to 1000 hits. From an IQ of 84 and up to 168 there are a point for each IQ for a total of 86 points (with the point at 80).

;Title text
:The title text refers to the searches. It concludes that the average (male) internet user has a 9-inch penis and an IQ of 147. Humorously it continues to state that this is better than the reverse - having a 147-inch penis (12 feet or 3.7 m) and an IQ of 9 (only 2 % of the population have below 69).

==Transcript==
:Google Result for Various Phrases:
:{Each panel is a scatterplot of the described X against the number of Google hits, with trend lines. The scales vary.}

:<X> Bottles of Beer on the Wall
:[There are peaks at 1, 49, 73, and 99. A dip in the middle is marked "They lose steam at 66." After 99 is a steep dropoff. The largest peak is around 100,000 hits.]

:I've Had <X> Boy/Girlfriends
:[Both lines descend at roughly the same rate from 1 to 10, although the boyfriend graph is smoother; the girlfriend graph has a small peak at 4 and a small dip at 6. The peaks are between 100,000 and 1,000,000 hits.]

:I'm in <X>st/nd/rd/th Grade
:[The curve is a bell peaking at 7th grade and about 500,000 hits. A second line labeled "Including Junior, Senior, etc." follows the bell curve until the peak, then dips only slightly for 10th grade and resumes climbing.]

:I Have a/an <X>-Inch Penis
:[The line ascends shallowly from 100,000 hits for 3 inches to a peak of 180,000 for 9 inches, then descends steeply to 20,000 for 13 inches.]

:I'm a/an <X>-Cup
:[A has a few hundred thousand hits; the graph dips to a few thousand for C, peaks again around 100,000 for E, and then tails off.]

:I'm <X> and Have Never Had a Boyfriend
:[The graph is mostly a simple bell, starting and ending around 300,000 hits for 13 or 21, but there is a sharp peak of 700,000 at 18 (well above the trend line).]

:Drink <X> Glasses of Water a Day
:[There are barely any hits below 4 or above 12; between the two it rises steeply to about 1,000 hits, with a steep, narrow peak of 10,000 at 8.]

:There Are <X> Lights
:[The graph descends smoothly from several hundred thousand hits for 1 to about 10,000 for 10, except for a peak of about 1,000,000 for 4.]

:I Got <X> Problems
:[The plot is extremely jagged, with the largest peak of 10,000,000 hits at 99, another of 10,000 at 96, and 100 and 88.]

:My IQ Is <X>
:[A smooth curve starts and ends at a few thousand hits for around 85 and around 170, with the peak at several tens of thousands for 140, but there are several prominent outliers: 100, 110, 133, and 142 are all around 100,000 hits, and 147 is around 1,000,000.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Penis]]
[[Category:Google Search]]

326: Effect an Effect

2015-04-18T02:06:46Z

108.162.221.167: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 326
| date = October 8, 2007
| title = Effect an Effect
| image = effect_an_effect.png
| titletext = Time to paint another grammarian silhouette on the side of the desktop.
}}

==Explanation==
[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/affect "Affect"] and [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/effect?s=t "effect"] can each both be noun and verb, share the sense of ''influence'', and are often confused. (See the usage note under "Affect".)

"Effect" is usually a noun, meaning ''a result'', and "affect" usually a verb, meaning ''to act upon''. "Effect" as a verb has the slightly different meaning ''to bring about''. [[Cueball]] says that the foreign policy ''causes'' the situation, not, as the "grammar nazi" thinks, that it ''changes'' the situation.

The title of the comic translates to ''cause or bring about a result'', which is just what Cueball does! It can also be seen as a play on words, being similar to the phrase "cause and effect."

The title text refers to a practice common among fighter pilots in a war zone. Fighter pilots that score a "kill" on an opposing aircraft will have a silhouette of the downed plane painted on the side of their plane as a way of keeping track of kills. In this sense, Cueball "shot down," figuratively speaking, an online (grammar) nazi, and would mark it by painting a silhouette on the side of his computer.

See also [[1429: Data]].

==Transcript==
:MY HOBBY:
:Using the more obscure meanings of "affect" and "effect" to try to trip up amateur grammar Nazis.
:Cueball: I think that our foreign policy effects the situation.
:Computer: You mean "affects".
:Cueball: tee hee hee

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Language]]

1513: Code Quality

2015-04-17T14:21:13Z

108.162.221.167: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1513
| date = April 17, 2015
| title = Code Quality
| image = code quality.png
| titletext = I honestly didn't think you could even USE emoji in variable names. Or that there were so many different crying ones.
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete| Needs fine-tuning and explaining of Ponytail's three comments}}
Cueball asks Ponytail to look at some source code that he has written, warning her that he is self-taught so his code probably won't be written the way she is used to. Although few programming languages require a perfectly rigid style so long as the code is syntactically accurate, most programmers follow some sort of {{w|Programming_style|style}} to make the code easier to read. This includes indenting lines to show levels and using descriptive variable identifiers with {{w|CamelCase|"camel case"}} or snake_case capitalization (capitalizing each word except for the first, and separating lowercase words with underscores, respectively). In spite of Ponytail's initial (polite) optimism, she comments in three increasingly harsh and absurd similes. Firstly, she suggests that reading his code is like being in a house built by an unskilled child, using a small axe to put together what he thought was a house based on a picture. Secondly, she suggests that it looks like a salad recipe, written by a corporate lawyer (who are notoriously difficult to understand), on a phone with autocorrect that only corrected things to formulas from Microsft Excel (which are notoriously complicated). Thirdly, she suggests that it is a transcript of the dialogue of couple who want to buy furniture at {{w|IKEA}} and can't agree in what to buy; that transcript could have been randomly edited until the computer compiled it with no errors. Finally, Cueball surrenders and makes the rather weak assurance that he will read “a style guide”—he doesn't think that following a complete course is in order.

A common technique for self-taught programmers is to follow and adapt tutorials, and to find examples of similar problems being solved and try to copy the code. This can (but doesn't always) lead to code that is hard to follow or otherwise "messy" as various different pieces of code are {{w|Jury_rig|jury-rigged}} together and tinkered with until they seem to work. Once a piece of code is working, it is usually considered too hard to go back and rewrite it to be cleaner or clearer, also at the risk of breaking something that has been working. This practice is known as {{w|refactoring}} and code projects that incorporate cycles of refactoring tend to be easier to read and maintain than those that don't.

The title text refers to {{w|emoji}}, or "smiley faces". They exist in Unicode, or can be simulated using ASCII characters. Many languages will allow variable names to include underscores, so a variety of sad face ASCII emoji will be legal variable names, such as <code>T_T</code>, <code>p_q</code>, <code>ioi</code> etc. Progressively more possible crying-face emoji are possible if variables can include [http://hexascii.com/sad-emoticons/ UTF-8 characters] or full Unicode.

In the realm of Unicode, there are many crying emojis, as the comic states (e.g. 😢,😭,😂,😿,😹) In most programming languages it would be impossible to use them in variable names, as the symbols would break the language's syntax rules. A notable exception to this is {{w|Swift (programming language)|Swift}}, Apple's new programming language, in which the code can understand and use emojis in variables. Java, as another example, allows unicode characters in variable names as long as they are letter, numeric, combining or non-formatting marks. (See [http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/jls-3.html#jls-3.8] and [http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/Character.html#isUnicodeIdentifierPart%28int%29]). Also, some C++ compilers support foreign Unicode characters and can have emoji in that manner.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball showing Ponytail his laptop]
:Cueball: Keep in mind that I'm self-taught, so my code may be a little messy.
:Ponytail: Lemme see - I'm sure it's fine.

:[Ponytail sits at desk]
:Ponytail: ...Wow. This is like being in a house built by a child using nothing but a hatchet and a picture of a house.

:Ponytail: It's like a salad recipe written by a corporate lawyer using a phone autocorrect that only knew Excel formulas.

:Ponytail: It's like someone took a transcript of a couple arguing at IKEA and made random edits until it compiled without errors.
:Cueball: '''''Okay,''''' I'll read a style guide.

{{comic discussion}}


[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

Talk:1474: Screws

2015-01-17T01:58:39Z

108.162.221.167:

This page is now on the first page of google for "uranium screw". [[User:Mrmakeit|Mrmakeit]] ([[User talk:Mrmakeit|talk]]) 05:31, 16 January 2015 (UTC)
:And as of now, this page is the #1 result for "uranium screw". The second is the xkcd fora thread on this comic, and the third is our home page. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 16:47, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I don't think that patent is the right one, it seems to describe a uranium decontamination procedure, not a screw made of uranium like in the comic. [[User:LeoDeQuirm|LeoDeQuirm]] ([[User talk:LeoDeQuirm|talk]]) 05:46, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure the "uranium screw" is just a reference to the fact that the head of the screw appears to have split in two ("fissioned"), as opposed to a normal flat head screw that still has the edges connected. [[User:Sam887|Sam887]] ([[User talk:Sam887|talk]]) 05:50, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Just a shot in the dark here, but a company that sells uranium ore and radiological equipment happens to also sell screws for one of its Geigers that look just like the screw cross-section in the comic. [http://www.uraniumrocks.com/products/replacement-circuit-board-mount-screws-for-victoreen-cdv-700-short] [[User:Conqu2|Conqu2]] ([[User talk:Conqu2|talk]]) 06:01, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I was wondering if the "uranium screw" was referring to the Demon Core -- two hemispherical domes that Louis Slotin was holding apart with a screwdriver. Then I remembered the Demon Core was plutonium, not uranium. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.119|173.245.48.119]] 06:49, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

There are ferrous alloys containing (depleted, of course ;-) uranium for "increase[d] toughness and strength". [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrouranium] [[User:Knob creek|Knob creek]] ([[User talk:Knob creek|talk]]) 09:21, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I think the be was going for apple's pentalobe screw with the 5 pointed star {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.162}}

I don't think the uranium screws are named for their use in stuff to do with uranium, as I have both seen and used screws that look like that before. It's basically a flat head screw whose divot extends all the way across the face of the screw. I agree more with the previous commentor who notes that the screw looks like it has fissioned. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.182|108.162.237.182]] 06:34, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

An actual rivet is neither a screw nor a bolt; it's a fastener that is placed and then has one end plastically deformed -- traditionally by a rivet gun, but more often in smaller sizes by some sort of press or clamp. (Pop rivets are hollow, and are deformed by pulling a cone-sheaped wedge into the open end of the hollow core.) There's no way to remove one except to destroy it (drill it out or cut one end off). The item pictured could also be the head of a carriage bolt, but that's no help if you can't get at the other end of the bolt. Randall is slightly pessemistic, though: there *are* some "security" screws and bolts that use a slightly-elliptical domed head that's hard to tell from a rivet; they can be unscrewed, but only with a matching slightly-elliptical socket. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.70|199.27.133.70]] 06:35, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

All of which can be removed by a sonic screwdriver. Totally a real thing. {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.86}}

Could the "cursed -1" be a Nethack reference? I don't know if Dungeons and Dragons has the "blessed/uncursed/cursed" status, but in Nethack cursed items with negative enchantments (denoted "cursed -whatever") are a pretty common occurrence. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.25|199.27.133.25]] 07:31, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

In Nethack, Cursed objects cannot be removed. Seems appropriate. At first I thought it was a pozidrive screw head. Posts on the fission screw head: where have you seen screws whose divot does *not* extend across the head? {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.230}}

[[User:Kreuiter|Kreuiter]] ([[User talk:Kreuiter|talk]]) 08:03, 16 January 2015 (UTC)from wikipedia: Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans (13 April 1747 – 6 November 1793) commonly known as Philippe, was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the ruling dynasty of France. He actively supported the French Revolution and adopted the name Philippe Égalité, but was nonetheless guillotined during the Reign of Terror

I don't think it is specifically a reference to Nethack as a lot of ol games (both video and tabletop) use the mechanic of non removable cursed objects. It is common enough in my opinion that we could argue about until we are blue in the face and get nowhere. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.193}}

uranium screw may be a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin#Criticality_accident Louis Slotin], who died when he was using a screw driver to seperate two halves of a plutonium sphere as part of a science demonstration, and triggered a large burst of radiation when his hand slipped.
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 08:28, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I'm thinking it might benefit the article to include a place in the wikitable for the correct term for each drive socket. Of course their are not correct terms for each of them. Not to mention rivets and Phillip's heads don't even have drive sockets. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.189|173.245.56.189]] 09:04, 16 January 2015 (UTC)BLuDgeons

If you suggest cursed-1 is because if misuse - I in first place thought of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives#Pozidriv] as the cursed one - because Philipps and Pozidriv are slightly incompatible and causes damage. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.18|108.162.254.18]] 09:09, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

:+1, the cursed one looked to me like pozidriv at the first glance, and it's really cursed as interchanging them leads to damage ... And the most fun is when you get some Chinese crap that looks like pozidriv but it doesn't fit so you use philips which doesn't quite fit too but at least it can be inserted and you end up damaging both the driver and the screw :-/ --kavol, [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.96|108.162.254.96]] 10:02, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Is it really true that Phillips head are 'commonly used in construction'? At least in Europe they were replaced by Pozidriv in the 1990's and these days by Torx. {{unsigned|Popup}}

Maybe this depends on the quality of the product? If i look around, i find lots of products held together by phillips screws and only a few (usually more hi-tech and expensive) one with torx screws. [[User:Knob creek|Knob creek]] ([[User talk:Knob creek|talk]]) 09:28, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

:er, what do you call "a product"? - If "construction" is mentioned, I imagine things like wooden skeleton of a roof, fastening of windows/doors, self-tapping screws, wallplug screws ... and it's almost 100% pozidriv and torx here in central Europe. ("Almost" accounts for imports by non-european companies.) If I imagine metal constructions, from racks to bridges, hex and inbus (= hex slot) prevail. --kavol, [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.96|108.162.254.96]] 10:02, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

:: Granted I'm not in the construction trade, and I'm in UK rather than continental Europe, but I have never seen Torx used in construction. In my experience, the majority is Pozi, and the rest is Phillips. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 13:06, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps a reference to http://xkcd.com/927/ - Standards? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.79.61|141.101.79.61]]

Phillips screws have a larger number for larger size, not smaller. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.35}}

I'm surprised Randall didn't include square/Robertson screws/drivers. Just as bad as hex-recess, but when you actually USE them they are great! Combination Robertson-Phillips are good too but rarer. And do NOT get me started about the untold types of tamper-proof designs... --BigMal // [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 13:06, 16 January 2015 (UTC)
:The most awkward, I find, are star-shaped (5/6-pointer) screws with a central 'post' that requires a hole-ended screwdriver-bit of the appropriate shape to be used (may also aid in positive positioning of the tool, but not much more than normally so SFAICT it's just there to be awkward without the right tools by manufacturer-mandated professionals). Luckily, I've ''got'' screwdriver-heads for just about every conceivable 'uncursed' screwhead (48 different types and sizes in one handy kit alone, not even counting socket-heads and 'cursed' screw drilling-outers). Especially good for laptop repair, to get around deliberately proprietry systems with small and (deliberately) akward screws; as opposed to bicycle repair, which I'm sure is usually for the stated practical torque reasons. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.247|141.101.98.247]] 13:59, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

"cursed -1 <something>" is definitely a standard NetHack item description format, but it applies to D&D too. In general, "cursed" means you cannot remove the item, and the number is describing the item's effectiveness compared to a standard (+0) version of the item. In this case, both can be appropriate: "cursed" because -as noted- you cannot remove it in the normal way. "-1" probably comes from being unable to tighten the screw far enough to fully satisfy its purpose: maybe the joint is slightly loose, or the head of the screw is left slightly protruding, so that it easily catches on other things.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.80|141.101.80.80]] 13:28, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Rather than two (still) separate fissile hemispheres, that 'gap' is obviously a continuation of material around the back of a schematic cross-section of a whole sphere with a core currently missing. I think the fissile plug will be inserted/fired at the required juncture to fill this, from the side. Very like the device in the film The Fifth Protocol, for easy cinematic reference of the concept. (Noting that 'gun-type' nuclear devices tend to fire the 'enclosing' larger subcritical mass, spheroidal or cylindrical ''onto'' the smaller and fixed 'plug' to fill the gap between it and the surrounding neutron reflector jacket. For several very good reasons. Thus that sphere would be shoved onto the currently missing 'core', although it makes the reflector assembly and positioning a bit more complex as well, compared with a cylindrical sleeve.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.247|141.101.98.247]] 13:49, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

The Cursed -1 Phillips Head is much more likely to be a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives#Pozidriv Pozidriv] head than a worn Philips head. The cursed -1 implication if used with a Philips driver is certainly deserved. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.101|141.101.106.101]] 14:59, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Re: Uranium Screw... see http://www.google.com/patents/US20060088457{{unsigned ip|108.162.219.97}}

Uranium screws were used in the assembly of the Fat Man nuclear bomb. All parts of the tamper were made with natural uranium, including the screws and hinges:
http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2014/11/10/fat-mans-uranium/
[[User:Rocbolt|Rocbolt]] ([[User talk:Rocbolt|talk]]) 15:34, 16 January 2015 (UTC)rocbolt

[[User:Rocbolt]] has it right. It's not a metaphor or a joke. https://www.google.com/search?q=%22uranium%20screws%22%20%2dxkcd [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 15:41, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Did anyone notice that the "shortcut icon" of the page was changed together with this comic? Its sort of blurred: http://i.imgur.com/ArEbL5r.jpg?1 compared to the original image http://xkcd.com/s/919f27.ico {{unsigned ip|141.101.80.4}}

Possibly a reference to Apple's iPhone "tamper-resistant" screws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentalobe_screw [[Special:Contributions/188.114.98.252|188.114.98.252]] 17:38, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Screws made of uranium were used to hold the tamper plug of the fissile core of the Trinity nuclear device together. I think that's what "Uranium Screw" refers to, and why the screw is radiating: it is radioactive. [[User:Arnold Chiari II|Arnold Chiari II]] ([[User talk:Arnold Chiari II|talk]]) 15:35, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Not sure why the page says depleted Uranium. I think they were natural uranium, which is radioactive. Rocbolt's reference supports this [[User:Arnold Chiari II|Arnold Chiari II]] ([[User talk:Arnold Chiari II|talk]]) 21:26, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Depleted uranium is nearly pure U-238, which '''is''' radioactive, but has a half-life 6X longer than U-235.

Technically, a rivet '''is''' a bolt, but the usage of ''bolt'' to refer to a non-threaded object with a head is archaic.

I have seen a few objects that look like "flat head", where the slot doesn't extend all the way out to the edge, but precious few, compared to the fairly common "standard" woodscrew, where the slot goes all the way to the edge, as shown at "uranium screw".

I thought "Cursed -1" was a clever double reference to the common RPG meme and to what happens after someone has confounded Philips, Pozidriv, or Reed and Prince with one of the others and the fireworks from using a tool designed for one on a screw of another type.--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.197|199.27.128.197]] 00:32, 17 January 2015 (UTC)

Could the Amazon one be a reference to star ratings? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.167|108.162.221.167]] 01:58, 17 January 2015 (UTC)