explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2351: Standard Model Changes

2020-08-30T17:37:25Z

108.162.237.226:

Re: "but for the most part [the changes] are nonsensical"
I find the symbol changes pretty compelling, actually. Much clearer :)
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.210|172.69.34.210]] 00:05, 27 August 2020 (UTC) Related: I was going to respond to Randall here with Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense" :=) [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 10:04, 27 August 2020 (UTC)

Honestly, I'd vote to change every nu in physics to something else since its so damned hard to write differently and read lazily.

Yeah. Can we get the president of physics in here please? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.140|172.69.34.140]] 01:35, 27 August 2020 (UTC)
:There is no president. Changing names is probably ok, but if you want to change the physics like with removing of neutrinos, you need to talk to God. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:41, 27 August 2020 (UTC)
::So... We need to talk to the ''pontiff'' of physics, then? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.110|162.158.159.110]] 03:44, 28 August 2020 (UTC)

Top/Bottom should probably be In/Out or Front/Back or something. And that's even before Randall's proposed changes. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.70|141.101.98.70]] 01:51, 27 August 2020 (UTC) "T" and "B" originally were going to be short for [redacted] and Bums , back when sexism was rampant. Possibly that's an urban legend, but having been in Physics grad school around the time quarks became a thing, I can believe it. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 10:04, 27 August 2020 (UTC)

Didn't t/b stand for truth and beauty at some point, thus formerly lining up more favorably with strange and charm? Also, a "cool bugs" ''boson'' with spin 1/2 would itself be a cool bug, in the sense of a glitch. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.150|172.69.34.150]] 05:07, 27 August 2020 (UTC)

It's a bit weird that he added left/right since most of the particle already come in left- and right-handed chirality.

Comic 2240 has a "cool bug epoch" in the expansion of the universe that could be linked from the "cool bug" particle in this comic. ----

The explanation says that the cool bugs particle goes into the scalar boson group, which isn't right because there isn't such a group here. Vin Diesel is a scalar, but the general agreement is that graviton has spin 2 (and for this reason it's also not really correct to move it to the gauge boson group). The group is more accurately called the everything else group. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.110|162.158.202.110]] 11:22, 27 August 2020 (UTC) anon

I posit the reason for "left, right" being in the order they are (instead of the more logical "right, left") is due to the Konami code being up, up, down, down, '''left, right''', etc... [[User:SiliconCarbide|SiliconCarbide]] ([[User talk:SiliconCarbide|talk]])
:Standard (American) English pairs Up-Down, Top-Bottom, and Left-Right, in that order, much like To-Fro, Here-There, Salt-Pepper and Shoes-Socks. It is unusual to refer to Right-Left ordering in English. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.209|162.158.74.209]] 17:37, 28 August 2020 (UTC)

The Right/Strange description box included this: "What's strange is how Randall assigns the charm quark the left and the strange quark the right, when so many languages have it the other way around. But since when has Randall cared?"
Which is not at all clear. What is it that languages have what other way around?
I moved it because it is so vague to seems meaningless. If it was a useful observation, please clarify so somebody who doesn't know what it means already can understand. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.244|162.158.106.244]] 17:32, 27 August 2020 (UTC)

Isn't a τ-Lepton just the same as two π-Leptons? That's why it's superflous. -[[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.86|162.158.202.86]] 17:54, 27 August 2020 (UTC)
:Except that π is a meson, not a lepton. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.108|108.162.215.108]] 04:39, 28 August 2020 (UTC)

Most recent revision "(→‎Leptons: neutrons are universally lower-case n, ..." isn't strictly true in its reversion of a prior statement. {{w|Neutron|Wikipedia}} (amongst other places) states possible symbols of "n, n⁰, N⁰". The replacement information is probably not wrong, though. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.185|162.158.158.185]] 11:38, 28 August 2020 (UTC)

"Randall apparently considers magic to exist and be a particle, both of which are blatantly false." - but both the text of the comic and the sentence immediately after this one clearly state that it is ''intentionally'' inaccurate, so this seems like a strange claim to make. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.156|172.69.34.156]] 01:59, 29 August 2020 (UTC)

This is the first time I have seen an explainxkcd that blatantly and intentionally lies in the explanation. Jokes are common, especially the 'citation needed' meme. But your supposed to do that ''without'' any lies. Someone please fix it (especially the bug section) to be a funny, but serious explanation as per the norm. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.226|108.162.237.226]] 17:37, 30 August 2020 (UTC)

Talk:463: Voting Machines

2018-08-19T00:05:59Z

108.162.237.226:

What's incomplete? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 04:13, 8 March 2014 (UTC)
:It seems fine to me. Removing the incomplete tag. [[User:LogicalOxymoron|LogicalOxymoron]] ([[User talk:LogicalOxymoron|talk]]) 23:19, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

What's "the alternative"? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.208.98|108.162.208.98]] 20:55, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
:I believe when the alternate [[Cueball]] references "the alternative" he has already realized what the first [[Cueball]] meant. Cueball 2 I'll call him, is thus referencing the alternative is no protection or security. I don't believe Cueball 2 is directly referencing the 'teacher wearing a condom analogy'. [[User:Official.xian|Official.xian]] ([[User talk:Official.xian|talk]]) 19:59, 10 July 2014 (UTC)
:I think the alternative is the teacher being raped at school. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 22:05, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
::Other way around dude, other way around. Anonymous 00:05, 19 August 2018 (UTC)

Ideally, there should be no voting machines. Here in Germany, we make a cross on a paper and put that paper in an urn. Counting is done manually under supervision. Voting machines are illegal for a reason. :) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.4|141.101.104.4]] 15:05, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

2034: Equations

2018-08-18T21:36:40Z

108.162.237.226: /* Technical Explanations */ Made the horse joke fit better.

{{comic
| number = 2034
| date = August 17, 2018
| title = Equations
| image = equations.png
| titletext = All electromagnetic equations: The same as all fluid dynamics equations, but with the 8 and 23 replaced with the permittivity and permeability of free space, respectively.
}}

This comic gives a set of equations supposedly from different areas of science in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. To anyone not familiar with the field in question they look pretty similar to what you might find in research papers or on the relevant Wikipedia pages. To someone who knows even a little about the topic, they are clearly very wrong and only seem even worse the more you look at them.

==Simplified Explanations==
{{incomplete|Created by a mere human. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

;All chemistry equations
This shows a parody of the common example chemistry equation of burning Methane and Oxygen (with added heat), to form water and carbon dioxide. However in this form "HEAT" is an actual molecule, rather than simply indicating the presence of heat to start the reaction. Thus the equation is modified to incorporate the fictional "HEAT" into the reaction.

TODO: other simplified explanations.

==Technical Explanations==
{{incomplete|Created by an EQUATION. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

;All kinematics equations
:<math>E = K_0t + \frac{1}{2}\rho vt^2</math>
{{w|Kinematics}} describes the motion of objects without considering mass or forces.

This equation here literally states: "Energy equals a constant <math>K_0</math> multiplied by time, plus half of density multiplied by speed multiplied by time squared".

The first term here is hard to interpret: it could be correct if <math>K_0</math> is a constant power applied to the system, but this symbol would more normally be used to denote an initial energy, in which case so multiplying by <math>t</math> would be wrong. Alternatively, the term is similar to <math>k_B T</math> (sometimes written as ''kT''), a term that often appears in {{w|Statistical_mechanics|statistical mechanics}} equations, where ''kB'' (or ''k'') is {{w|Boltzmann_constant|the Boltzmann constant}}, and ''T'' is the {{w|Thermodynamic_temperature|absolute temperature}}. In this latter case, the term would have units of energy, consistent with the left side of the equation.

The second term looks similar to the kinetic energy term <math> \frac{1}{2}\rho v^2 </math> in [http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pber.html the Bernoulli equation] for fluids (or, more properly, the kinetic energy ''density'' in the fluid).

The whole equation appears to be a play on the kinematics formula: <math>s = ut + \frac{1}{2}\ at^2</math>, where distance travelled (''s'') by a constantly accelerating object is determined by initial velocity (''u''), time (''t''), and acceleration (''a'')

Kinematics is often one of the first topics covered in an introductory physics course, both at the high school and freshman college levels. As such, mixing in material from more advanced topics like statistical mechanics and the Bernoulli equation, even if done correctly, would be very confusing for a typical student learning kinematics.

;All number theory equations
:<math>K_n = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}\sum_{\pi=0}^{\infty}(n-\pi)(i-e^{\pi-\infty})</math>
{{w|Number theory}} is a branch of mathematics primarily to the study the properties of integers.

Taken literally the equation says: "The nth K-number is equal to: the sum of all i from 0 to infinity, the sum of all pi from 0 to infinity; subtract pi from n, and multiply it with i minus e to the power of pi minus infinity". A twofold misconception can be seen here. The first is the reassignment of pi as a variable instead of the constant (3.14...). This might be a jab at how in number theory letters and numbers are used interchangeably, but where some letters are all of a sudden fixed constants. The second misconception is the use of infinity in the latter part of the formula. Naively this would signify that (with the reassigned pi values) the part in the power would range from minus infinity to zero. However, infinity is not a number and cannot be used as one without using a limit construct.

;All fluid dynamic equations
:<math>\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\nabla\cdot \rho = \frac{8}{23}
\int\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\;\;\bigcirc\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\;\;\int
\rho\,ds\,dt\cdot \rho\frac{\partial}{\partial\nabla}
</math>
{{w|Fluid dynamics}} describes the movement of non-solid material. In particular for gases, the density <math>\rho</math> is often the most interesting quantity (for liquids, this is often just constant). A unique feature of fluid-dynamic equations is the presence of {{w|Advection|advection terms}}, which take the form of often strange-looking spatial derivatives. This equation turns this up to a new level by differentiating with respect to a differential operator <math>\nabla</math>, which does not make any sense at all. Also it has a contour integral which seems reminiscent to a closed-circle process like in a piston engine, but this does not really fit in the context (differential description of a gas), and it has a pair of {{w|Magic number (programming)|unexplained numbers}} <math>8</math> and <math>23</math>, probably alluding to the {{w|Heat capacity ratio|specific heat ratio}} which is often written out as the fraction <math>\tfrac{7}{5}</math>, whereas most other physics equations [[899: Number Line|avoid including any plain numbers higher than 4]].

The title text stating that the electromagnetism equation is the same as the fluid dynamics equation, but with the arbitrary 8 and 23 replaced with the permittivity and permeability of free space is likely because electromagnetism equations often have relations to fluid dynamics, and because those two constants appear in the vast majority of electromagnetism equations.

;All quantum mechanic equations
:<math>|\psi_{x,y}\rangle = A(\psi) A(|x\rangle \otimes |y\rangle)</math>
{{w|Quantum mechanics}} is a fundamental theory in physics which describes the nature at scales of atoms and below. It typically uses the {{w|Bra–ket notation|bra–ket notation}} in its formulae.

This equation takes a state psi in the dimensions of x and y and equates it to an operator A performed on psi multiplied by the same operator performed on the tensor product of x and y. Seeing as the state psi is already the tensor product of the states x and y, this is equivalent to performing the same unknown operator twice on psi, and unless this operator is its own inverse such as a bit-flip or Hermitian operator, this equation is therefore incorrect.

;All chemistry equations
:<math>\mathrm{CH}_4 + \mathrm{OH} + \mathrm{HEAT} \rightarrow \mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{O} + \mathrm{CH}_2 + \mathrm{H}_2 \mathrm{EAT}</math>
A {{w|Chemical equation|chemical equation}} is the symbolic representation of a chemical reaction in the form of symbols and formulae, wherein the reactant entities are given on the left-hand side and the product entities on the right-hand side. The number of each element on the left side must match them on the right side, the equation is balanced. The energy produced or absorbed in this process is not included in that formula.

This here is a modification of the combustion of methane. The correct form is often taught and a good example problem but obviously there are more chemistry problems.<math>\mathrm{HEAT}</math> is normally shorthand for {{w|activation energy}}, but in Randall's version it's jokingly used as a chemical ingredient and becomes <math>\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{EAT}</math>, taking the hydrogen atom freed by the combustion equation shown. The proper methane combustion equation would be: <math>\mathrm{CH}_4 + 2 \mathrm{O}_2 \rightarrow 2 \mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{O} + \mathrm{CO}_2</math>

;All quantum gravity equations
:<math>\mathrm{SU}(2)\mathrm{U}(1) \times \mathrm{SU}(\mathrm{U}(2))</math>
This is more similar to expressions which appear in {{w|Grand_Unified_Theory|Grand Unified Theory}} (GUT) than general quantum gravity. Unlike some of the other equations, this one has no interpretation which could make it mathematically correct. This is similar to the notations used to describe the symmetry group of a particular phenomena in terms of mathematical {{w|Lie_Group|Lie Groups}}. A real example would be the Standard Model of particle physics which has symmetry according to <math>\rm{SU(3)\times SU(2) \times U(1)}</math>. Here, <math>\rm{SU}</math> and <math>\rm{U}</math> denote the special unitary and unitary groups respectively with the numbers indicating the dimension of the group. Loosely, the three terms correspond to the symmetries of the strong force, weak force and electromagnetism although the exact correspondence is muddied by symmetry breaking and the Higgs mechanism.

Of course, an expression missing an "=" sign, is difficult to interpret as an "equation", because equations normally express an "equality" of some kind. Nobody knows whether Randal refers to a horse, zebra, donkey or other equine here.

Randall's version clearly involves some similar groups although without the <math>\times</math> symbol it is hard to work out what might be happening. A term like <math>\rm{SU(U(2))}</math> has no current interpretation in mathematics, if anyone thinks otherwise and possibly has a solution to the quantum gravity problem they should probably get in touch with someone about that.

;All gauge theory equations
:[[File:All gauge theory equations.png]]
In physics, a {{w|Gauge theory|gauge theory}} is a type of field theory which is invariant to local transformations. The term gauge refers to any specific mathematical formalism to regulate redundant degrees of freedom.

This equation looks broadly similar to the sorts of things which appear in gauge theory such as the equations which define {{w|Yang–Mills_theory#Quantization|Yang-Mills Theory}}. By the time physics has got this far in, people have normally run out of regular symbols making a lot of the equations look very daunting. The actual equations in this field rarely go far beyond the Greek alphabet though and no-one has yet to try putting hats on brackets. The appearance of many sub- and superscripts is normal (this links to the group theory origins of these equations) and for the layperson it can be impossible to determine which additions are labels on the symbols and which are indices for an {{w|Einstein_notation|Einstein Sum}}.

The left-hand side <math>S_g</math> is the symbol for some {{w|Action_(physics)|action}}, in Yang-Mills theory this is actually used for a so-called "ghost action". On the right-hand side we have a large number of terms, most of which are hard to interpret without knowing Randall's thought processes (this is why real research papers should all label their equations thoroughly). The <math>\frac{1}{2\bar{\varepsilon}}</math> looks like a constant of proportionality which often appears in gauge theories. The factor of <math>i = \sqrt{-1}</math> is not unusual as many of these equations use complex numbers. The <math>\eth</math> symbol looks similar to a <math>\partial</math> partial derivative symbol especially as the {{w|Dirac_equation#Covariant_form_and_relativistic_invariance|Dirac Equation}} uses a slashed version as a convenient shorthand.

The rest of the equation cannot be mathematically correct as the choice of indices used does not match that on the left-hand side (which has none). In particle physics subscripts (or superscripts) of greek letters (usually <math>\mu</math> or <math>\nu</math>) indicate terms which transform nicely under Lorentz transformations (special relativity). Roman indices from the beginning of the alphabet relate to various gauge transformation propetries, the triple index seen on <math>p^{abc}_v</math> would likely come from some <math>\rm{SU(3)}</math> transformation (related to the strong nuclear force). Since <math>S_g</math> has none of these (and is thus a scalar which remains constant under these operations), we would need the right-hand side to behave in the same way. Most of the indices which appear are unpaired and so will not result in a scalar making the equation very wrong. For those not familiar with this type of equation, it is a similar mistake messing up units and setting a distance equal to a mass.

;All cosmology equations
:<math>H(t) + \Omega + G \cdot \Lambda \, \dots \begin{cases} \dots > 0 & \text{(Hubble model)} \\ \dots = 0 & \text{(Flat sphere model)} \\ \dots < 0 & \text{(Bright dark matter model)} \end{cases}
</math>
This is a parody of equations defining the {{w|Hubble's_law#Derivation_of_the_Hubble_parameter|Hubble Parameter}} <math>H(t)</math> although it looks like Randall has become bored and not bothered to finish his equation. Such equations usually have several <math>\Omega</math> terms representing the contributions of different substances to the energy-density of the Universe (matter, radiation, dark energy etc.). In this context <math>G</math> could be Newton's constant and <math>\Lambda</math> is the cosmological constant (energy density of empty space) although seeing them appear multiplied and on the same footing as <math>H</math> is unusual (the dot is entirely unnecessary). Choosing to make <math>H</math> a function of time <math>t</math> and not of redshift <math>z</math> is also unusual.

The second section looks like the inequalities used to show how what shape the Universe, based on the value of the curvature parameter <math>\Omega_k</math>. A value of 0 indicates a flat Universe (this more or less what we observe) whilst a positive /negative value indicates an open /closed curved Universe. Randall's choice of labels further makes fun of the field as both a flat sphere and bright dark matter are oxymoronic terms which would involve some rather strange model universes.

;All truly deep physics equations
:[[File:All truly deep physics equations.png]]
<math>\hat H</math> is the Hamiltonian operator, which when applied to a system returns the total energy. In this context, U would usually be the potential energy. However, there is also a subscript 0 and a diacritic marking indicating some other variable. Much of physics is based on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics. The Lagrangian is defined as <math>\hat L = \hat K - \hat U </math> with K being the kinetic energy and U the potential. Hamiltonian mechanics uses the equation <math>\hat H = \hat K + \hat U </math>. The Hamiltonian must be conserved so taking the time derivative and setting it equal to zero is a powerful tool. The "principle of least action" allows most modern physics to be derived by setting the time derivative of the Lagrangian to zero.

==Transcript==
:[Nine equations are listed, three in the top row and two in each of the next three rows. Below each equation there are labels:]

:E = K0t + 1/2 ρvt2
:All kinematics equations

:Kn = ∑i=0∞∑π=0∞(n-π)(i-eπ-∞)
:All number theory equations

:∂/∂t ∇ ⋅ ρ = 8/23 (∯ ρ ds dt ⋅ ρ ∂/∂∇)
:All fluid dynamics equations

:|ψx,y〉 = A(ψ) A(|x〉⊗ |y〉)
:All quantum mechanics equations

:CH4 + OH + HEAT → H2O + CH2 + H2EAT
:All chemistry equations

:SU(2)U(1) × SU(U(2))
:All quantum gravity equations

:Sg = (-1)/(2ε̄) i ð (̂ ξ0 +̊ pε ρvabc η0 )̂ f̵a0 λ(ʒ̆) ψ(0a)
:All gauge theory equations

:[There is a brace linking the three cases together.]
:H(t) + Ω + G⋅Λ ...
:... > 0 (Hubble model)
:... = 0 (Flat sphere model)
:... < 0 (Bright dark matter model)
:All cosmology equations

:Ĥ - u̧0 = 0
:All truly deep physics equations

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

2003: Presidential Succession

2018-07-27T20:17:54Z

108.162.237.226: /* List of specific individuals */

{{comic
| number = 2003
| date = June 6, 2018
| title = Presidential Succession
| image = presidential_succession.png
| titletext = Ties are broken by whoever was closest to the surface of Europa when they were born.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|United States presidential line of succession}} is the order of people who serve as president if the current incumbent president is incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office.

The {{w|Presidential_Succession_Act#Presidential_Succession_Act_of_1947|Presidential Succession Act of 1947}} was an act by the U.S. Congress that revised the presidential order of succession to its current order. This Act, though never challenged in the courts, may not be constitutional for two reasons. First, it is unclear whether members of Congress can be designated in the line of succession. Secondly, the Act allows for a cabinet officer to be "replaced" as acting President by a new Speaker of the House or a new President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

An additional concern regarding the Act is that after the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the line of succession list the members of the Cabinet in the order that their department was established with the oldest departments first, irrespective of the Secretary's personal fitness or appropriateness of the office. The Department of Homeland Security is in charge of the security and protection of the United States and its citizens and would probably already be privy to sensitive intelligence and briefings related to national security, but because it is the latest of the Departments to have been established (in 2003), the Secretary of Homeland Security is all the way at the bottom of the current Presidential line of succession at 18th, behind other Secretaries such as that of Agriculture (9th) and Education (16th).

Another practical concern is that, by including the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate immediately after the Vice President, there is a serious risk that the simultaneous death of the President and Vice President could cause the Presidency to change to the opposing party, which (in the current American political climate) could lead to serious political instability at the precise moment when the country is facing a national crisis, and could even encourage assassinations.

The full text of the Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission can be found here: <https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/06_continuity_of_government.pdf>. A short, readable summary, including the report's recommended new line of succession, is here: <https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-continuity-of-the-presidency-the-second-report-of-the-continuity-of-government-commission/>. The first 6 members of the commission's list are included in the current line of succession, after which they specificy that 5 new people should be appointed specifically for the purpose of succeeding the presidency if needed. Randall's list begins with these 11 people (stuffing all 5 of the new appointees into #7); afterwards, his list continues with more politicians, actors who have played Presidents, athletes, and others.

Randall's list omits the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, as well as many other cabinet positions. He is probably simply following the commission's report in this. But perhaps he does not find those people qualified to become President of the United States, or is concerned about the constitutionality of lawmakers becoming President. However, he does not seem to be concerned about constitutionality, because he included the entire line of succession to the British throne, most of whom do not meet the requirement to be a natural-born citizen of the United States.{{Citation needed}} {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Two_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Clause_5:_Qualifications_for_office|Article Two of the US Constitution}} establishes that the President must be a "{{w|Natural-born-citizen clause|natural-born}}" US citizen at least 35 years of age and had lived in the US for the last 14 years.

Randall's list includes several other people who also might not be eligible to become President either because they are not natural-born U.S. citizens (e.g., as of the time of the comic's publication, {{w|Serena Williams}} had withdrawn from her last match in the {{w|French Open}} to {{w|Maria Sharapova}}, who is Russian) or they are under 35 years of age ({{w|Russell Westbrook}}, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player at the time of the comic's publication, was only 29 years old). These would mainly be athletes due to the relatively global reach of the four major professional sports leagues in North America and the fact that 35 is quite old for a professional athlete, let alone one who is good enough to win the league MVP. Presumably, those who wouldn't qualify for the office of President would be skipped over like in real life -- at the comic's publication, {{w|Elaine Chao}} was the Secretary of Transportation and would normally be 14th in line, but because she is a naturalized citizen of the US (she was born in Taiwan) she would not qualify for the office if the line came to her.

The title text mentions whoever was closest to the surface of {{w|Europa}} when they were born. Europa is a moon of Jupiter and one of the most likely locations in the Solar System for {{w|Habitability of natural satellites|potential habitability}}. Nevertheless it's a completely meaningless way of settling a tie. However, depending on the relative positions of Earth and Jupiter when you were born, you could easily have been tens of millions of kilometers closer. Alternatively, Randall could be playing on how Europa sounds like Europe.

==Order of succession==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!#
!Randall's order
!Current order by the 1947 Act
!Notes
|-
|1
|President
|President
|Not generally considered part of the line of succession, as incumbents cannot "succeed" to their own post. (This should really be item 0 on the list.)
|-
|2
|Vice president
|Vice president
|No change
|-
|3
|Secretary of State
|Speaker of the House of Representatives
|Moved up from 5th position. This is likely a serious suggestion. Existing rules of succession hand Executive power to the leaders of the Legislative branch if the President and Vice-President are both killed or removed from power. This is troubling for a number of reasons. One is that the Executive and Legislative branches are supposed to act as independent checks on one another's power, and so are supposed to be kept separate. Another issue is that the Executive and Legislative branches are frequently controlled by political rivals from different political parties. In such a case, assassins could effectively reverse the results of Presidential elections if they managed to kill the President and Vice-President in a short period of time (which is used as part of the twist ending in {{w|White House Down}}). Additionally, leaders of the House and Senate aren't as deeply connected to the military and diplomatic missions of the country, and so would have a hard time maintaining continuity, particularly if an attack or disaster killed multiple national leaders at once. These problems could all be addressed by keeping the initial Line of Succession confined to the Executive branch of government.
|-
|4
|Secretary of Defense
|President pro tempore of the Senate
|Moved up from 7th position
|-
|5
|Secretary of Homeland Security
|Secretary of State
|Moved up from 19th position, possibly to highlight the Attorney General's place in the current order
|-
|6
|Attorney General
|Secretary of the Treasury
|Moved up from 8th position
|-
|7
|Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the President's term and confirmed by the Senate
|Secretary of Defense
|{{w|Washington, D.C.}} is the capital of the United States, and is where the {{w|White House}}, the President's residence, is located. Presumably this provision covers the case where much of the government, including positions 1–6 here, are killed by a natural disaster or attack in Washington, D.C.

This suggestion establishes no qualifications for these people, but the fact that they'd need to be confirmed by the Senate suggests that they would be chosen to be competent for the role. It is also unclear if an order is determined among these five or if they take up a joint presidency. This suggestion is taken from the Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission as a potential mechanism to ensure members of succession are not in Washington DC during a catastrophic attack.
|-
|8
|{{w|Tom Hanks}}
|Attorney General
|Academy Award-winning American actor. This is the first unambiguously unserious suggestion.{{Citation needed}} Tom Hanks is very popular and considered exceptionally likeable by many Americans, but has never served in public office or displayed any particular affinity for politics. He has also never played a president, though he has received a {{w|Presidential Medal of Freedom}}, and appeared in a {{w|Last Week Tonight with John Oliver}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyPRssh2rk0 skit], where he rallies five (wax) presidents to action. The implication is that Mr. Hanks would be easily accepted as a leader, based solely on his personal charm.
|-
|9
|State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census
|Secretary of the Interior
|Also taken from Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission. At the time of publication, the last {{w|United States Census}} was the 2010 Census. As California is the most populous state, Gov {{w|Jerry Brown}} would be first in line.

See also the {{w|2010_United_States_Census#State_rankings|state population rankings}} and the {{w|list of current United States governors}}. As worded, this criterion would exclude territorial governors (and the Mayor of Washington, D.C.).
|-
|10
|Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor
|Secretary of Agriculture
|Oscars, or {{w|Academy Awards}}, are annual film awards awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the time of publication, the only Oscar awarded for playing a governor was {{w|Broderick Crawford}}'s 1949 Best Actor award for the fictional Willie Stark in ''{{w|All the King's Men (1949 film)|All the King's Men}}'' (a character based on {{w|Huey Long}}). However, Crawford died in 1986, so would be unable to serve as President.

May be a reference to the {{w|Political career of Arnold Schwarzenegger}}: a highly-lauded actor who became governor of California, but did not win an Oscar or play a governor before being elected. (As a naturalized citizen, he is also ineligible for the Presidency.)
|-
|11
|Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar
|Secretary of Commerce
|The {{w|Governors Awards}} are an annual award ceremony hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to present lifetime achievement awards within the film industry. As this award is a lifetime achievement award, it does not seem possible that an actor could win this award for simply playing someone named Oscar. Notwithstanding the nature of the award, at the time of publication, no recipient of a Governors Award has played a character named Oscar.

Obviously, the joke is that changing the order of the words from the previous proposal produces something that could actually exist.
|-
|12
|{{w|Kate McKinnon}}, if available
|Secretary of Labor
|Comedic actress famous for being a cast member on {{w|Saturday Night Live}}. She is known for her character work and celebrity impressions. She has recently done impersonations of members of the Trump administration including Spokeswoman {{w|Kellyanne Conway}} and Attorney General {{w|Jeff Sessions}}. She also played {{w|Hillary Clinton}} during the 2016 campaign and presumably would have played her when she was President had she won; but since Clinton lost, McKinnon has not actually played a President.
|-
|13
|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)
|Secretary of Health and Human Services
|The {{w|Billboard Hot 100}} is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. The weekly data is aggregated into a cumulative {{w|Billboard Year-End}} (based on a "year" that ends the third week of November, in order to meet December publication deadlines). At the time of publication, the most recent such list was the {{w|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017}}.

Based on that list, the artists considered for the presidential succession would be: {{w|Ed Sheeran}}, {{w|Luis Fonsi}}, {{w|Bruno Mars}}, {{w|Kendrick Lamar}}, Alex Pall (of {{w|The Chainsmokers}}), {{w|Quavo|Quavoius Keyate Marshall}} (of {{w|Migos}}), {{w|Sam Hunt}}, {{w|Dan Reynolds}} (of {{w|Imagine Dragons}}), and {{w|Post Malone}}. There are only nine names instead of ten because The Chainsmokers had two of the top 10 singles in 2017. Of these, only Luis Fonsi (40 years old, born in Puerto Rico) is legally eligible for the office; Sheeran is from the UK, and the other seven are too young.
|-
|14
|The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time
|Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
|Astronauts are highly respected and rigorously selected, but most have little involvement in politics. According to [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-station-astronaut-record-holders NASA], the top 5 US astronauts by cumulative space time are: {{w|Peggy Whitson}}, {{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}}, {{W|Scott Kelly (astronaut)|Scott Kelly}}, {{w|Mike Fincke}}, and {{w|Mike Foale}}. However, it isn't clear whether Foale would qualify as a natural-born citizen as he was born in the UK and his father is British but his mother is American.
|-
|15
|{{w|Serena Williams}} (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)
|Secretary of Transportation
|As of the time of publication, Serena Williams was the top female tennis player (though not the world #1 ranking, because she took time off for pregnancy). She is arguably the greatest female tennis player of all-time, winning 39 {{w|Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam}} titles, including 23 women's singles titles. At the time of publication Serena Williams did win her most recent match (2018 French Open, third round, on June 2nd), although she withdrew from her next match against Maria Sharapova (which perhaps should count as a loss, especially if she withdrew in order to preserve her place in the line of succession and led the terrorist attack that killed everybody in place ahead of her).

If her most recent defeat was to a non-US player, presumably she would be skipped over in line although this is not explicitly stated (the current succession list skips over anyone who would not normally qualify for not being a natural-born US citizen).
|-
|16
|The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs
|Secretary of Energy
|MVP stands for {{w|Most Valuable Player}}. The 4 listed leagues are the major sports leagues in the United States, the {{w|National Basketball Association}} (NBA), the {{w|National Football League}} (NFL), {{w|Major League Baseball}} (MLB), and the {{w|National Hockey League}} (NHL). We're assuming that Randall meant the regular season MVPs of each league, as each league also awards MVPs for their respective championships (or in the case of the NHL's {{w|Conn Smythe Trophy}}, their entire playoffs).

As of the time of publication, the most recent MVPs for the listed sports were {{w|Russell Westbrook}} (NBA), {{w|Tom Brady}} (NFL), {{w|José Altuve}} and {{w|Giancarlo Stanton}} (MLB has two, one for the American League and one for the National League), and {{w|Connor McDavid}} (NHL). Of these, only Brady would qualify for the list - Altuve and McDavid are not US citizens (the former is from Venezuela and the latter from Canada), and Westbrook (29) and Stanton (28) are too young.
|-
|17
|{{w|Bill Pullman}} and his descendants by absolute primogeniture
|Secretary of Education
|American actor, known for playing President Thomas J. Whitmore in the 1996 film ''{{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day}}''.

Absolute primogeniture is a form of succession where the oldest direct descendant regardless of gender receives the title. This is contrasted to {{w|Male-preference primogeniture}}, in which males come before females in the order of the throne, whether the males were born first or not. This may be a reference to the British law {{w|Succession to the Crown Act 2013}}, which changed the order of the throne from male-preference primogeniture to absolute primogeniture. This act allows {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge|Princess Charlotte}} to retain her place in line before {{w|Prince Louis of Cambridge|Prince Louis}}.

As of the present, Pullman's immediate descendants consist of three children, with Maesa Pullman being the oldest at age 29, so all are currently too young for the presidency.
|-
|18
|The entire line of succession to the British throne
|Secretary of Veterans Affairs
|According to the Constitution, only a natural-born citizen of the United States can become President, which means that at least most of the line of succession to the British throne is ineligible. However, it is possible that someone in the line of succession to the British throne either is a dual citizen (especially one who is a U.S. citizen based on place of birth and a British citizen based on having a parent who was a British citizen descended from {{w|Sophia of Hanover}}) or is not British (a person from outside of Britain can become King; for example, some, including George I, were from what is now Germany).

The first 57 names on the list are {{w|Succession_to_the_British_throne#Current_line_of_succession|here}}, as of the time of publication. [https://lineofsuccession.co.uk/?date=2018-06-06 British Line of Succession on 6 June 2018] shows the list as it was at the comic's publication. American citizens [http://articles.latimes.com/1988-02-11/news/vw-42233_1_royal-house have, at times] been on the list, but no natural-born Americans are currently in the top 100. In theory, however, the full British succession list includes several thousand people (living descendants of {{w|Sophia of Hanover}} who are not Roman Catholic or otherwise disqualified), and it is possible that one or more such people would also be eligible to be President of the United States.

The humor here derives from the fact that the United States was established by declaring independence from the United Kingdom, with rejection of the British monarchy being a basic founding principle, and a core principle of US governance. To appoint the British monarchy to the American presidency would contradict the basic goals of American independence. Alternatively, it may reference the recent wedding of {{w|Prince Harry}} to {{w|Meghan Markle}}, although she is not in the order of succession to the British throne (and she is planning to give up her U.S. citizenship in favour of British citizenship, so her children (who would come immediately after Harry in the British line of succession) would not be born U.S. citizens either). A similar sequence of events was the plotline of the comedy film ''{{w|King Ralph}}'', which saw an American become the British monarch after the death of the royal family.
|-
|19
|The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest
|Secretary of Homeland Security
|The {{w|Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest}} is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition sponsored by {{w|Nathan's Famous}} held on July 4th. As of the time of publication, the most recent men's winner is {{w|Joey Chestnut}} and the women's winner is {{w|Miki Sudo}}. Neither is currently old enough to assume the office.
|-
|20
|All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament
|''None''
|Effective for a population up to 536,870,912 individuals (2^29) which would be enough to cover the entire US population (estimated at around 325 million at time of publication), although additional rounds can be added should the population grow further.

This is probably a reference to the {{w|Matter of Britain}} (e.g., {{w|The Sword in the Stone (film)|The Sword in the Stone}}), where, after the death of Uther Pendragon, with no known successor to the throne of England for years, it is decided that the winner of a jousting tournament shall be crowned. However, Arthur, the Wart, pulls the Sword from the Stone.
|}

===List of specific individuals===
Based on the comic's defined criteria for the order of succession, these are the specific individuals in that order, including only people who are otherwise eligible to be the President of United States (35 year old and natural born US citizens who lived in US for last 14 years) as of the date the comic was published:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Order
!Name
!Reason
!Notes
|-
|1
|{{w|Donald Trump}}
|{{w|President of the United States}}
|
|-
|2
|{{w|Mike Pence}}
|{{w|Vice President of the United States}}
|
|-
|3
|{{w|Mike Pompeo}}
|{{w|United States Secretary of State}}
|
|-
|4
|{{w|Jim Mattis}}
|{{w|United States Secretary of Defense}}
|
|-
|5
|{{w|Kirstjen Nielsen}}
|{{w|United States Secretary of Homeland Security}}
|
|-
|6
|{{w|Jeff Sessions}}
|{{w|United States Attorney General}}
|
|-
|7
|{{w|Tom Hanks}}
|Tom Hanks
|As Donald Trump did not appoint anyone to fill position #7 on Randall's line of succession, Hanks immediately follows after Sessions.
|-
|8
|{{w|Jerry Brown}}
|Governor of California
|
|-
|9
|{{w|Greg Abbott}}
|Governor of Texas
|
|-
|10
|{{w|Andrew Cuomo}}
|Governor of New York
|
|-
|11
|{{w|Rick Scott}}
|Governor of Florida
|
|-
|12
|{{w|Bruce Rauner}}
|Governor of Illinois
|
|-
|13
|{{w|Tom Wolf}}
|Governor of Pennsylvania
|
|-
|14
|{{w|John Kasich}}
|Governor of Ohio
|
|-
|15
|{{w|Rick Snyder}}
|Governor of Michigan
|
|-
|16
|{{w|Nathan Deal}}
|Governor of Georgia
|
|-
|17
|{{w|Roy Cooper}}
|Governor of North Carolina
|
|-
|18
|{{w|Phil Murphy}}
|Governor of New Jersey
|
|-
|19
|{{w|Ralph Northam}}
|Governor of Virginia
|
|-
|20
|{{w|Jay Inslee}}
|Governor of Washington
|
|-
|21
|{{w|Charlie Baker}}
|Governor of Massachusetts
|
|-
|22
|{{w|Eric Holcomb}}
|Governor of Indiana
|
|-
|23
|{{w|Doug Ducey}}
|Governor of Arizona
|
|-
|24
|{{w|Bill Haslam}}
|Governor of Tennessee
|
|-
|25
|{{w|Mike Parson}}
|Governor of Missouri
|
|-
|26
|{{w|Larry Hogan}}
|Governor of Maryland
|
|-
|27
|{{w|Scott Walker (politician)|Scott Walker}}
|Governor of Wisconsin
|
|-
|28
|{{w|Mark Dayton}}
|Governor of Minnesota
|
|-
|29
|{{w|John Hickenlooper}}
|Governor of Colorado
|
|-
|30
|{{w|Kay Ivey}}
|Governor of Alabama
|
|-
|31
|{{w|Henry McMaster}}
|Governor of South Carolina
|
|-
|32
|{{w|John Bel Edwards}}
|Governor of Louisiana
|
|-
|33
|{{w|Matt Bevin}}
|Governor of Kentucky
|
|-
|33
|{{w|Kate Brown}}
|Governor of Oregon
|Born in Spain to a member of the US Air Force, should be considered a natural-born citizen until proven otherwise.
|-
|35
|{{w|Mary Fallin}}
|Governor of Oklahoma
|
|-
|36
|{{w|Dannel Malloy}}
|Governor of Connecticut
|
|-
|37
|{{w|Kim Reynolds}}
|Governor of Iowa
|
|-
|38
|{{w|Phil Bryant}}
|Governor of Mississippi
|
|-
|39
|{{w|Asa Hutchinson}}
|Governor of Arkansas
|
|-
|40
|{{w|Jeff Colyer}}
|Governor of Kansas
|
|-
|41
|{{w|Gary Herbert}}
|Governor of Utah
|
|-
|42
|{{w|Brian Sandoval}}
|Governor of Nevada
|
|-
|43
|{{w|Susana Martinez}}
|Governor of New Mexico
|
|-
|44
|{{w|Jim Justice}}
|Governor of West Virginia
|
|-
|45
|{{w|Pete Ricketts}}
|Governor of Nebraska
|
|-
|46
|{{w|Butch Otter}}
|Governor of Idaho
|
|-
|47
|{{w|David Ige}}
|Governor of Hawaii
|
|-
|48
|{{w|Paul LePage}}
|Governor of Maine
|
|-
|49
|{{w|Chris Sununu}}
|Governor of New Hampshire
|
|-
|50
|{{w|Gina Raimondo}}
|Governor of Rhode Island
|
|-
|51
|{{w|Steve Bullock (American politician)|Steve Bullock}}
|Governor of Montana
|
|-
|52
|{{w|John Carney (politician)|John Carney}}
|Governor of Delaware
|
|-
|53
|{{w|Dennis Daugaard}}
|Governor of South Dakota
|
|-
|54
|{{w|Bill Walker (U.S. politician)|Bill Walker}}
|Governor of Alaska
|
|-
|55
|{{w|Doug Burgum}}
|Governor of North Dakota
|
|-
|56
|{{w|Phil Scott (politician)|Phil Scott}}
|Governor of Vermont
|
|-
|57
|{{w|Matt Mead}}
|Governor of Wyoming
|
|-
|58
|{{w|Broderick Crawford}}
|Won an Oscar for playing a governor
|Won the Best Actor Oscar for playing fictional Governor Stark in 1949's All the King's Men
|-
|59
|{{w|Kate McKinnon}}
|Kate MicKinnon
|If she is available. Entry 11 on Randall's list has no eligible members.
|-
|60
|{{w|Luis Fonsi}}
|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017, #2 artist
|Fonsi is the only eligible individual under the Billboard criterion.
|-
|61
|{{w|Peggy Whitson}}
|Astronaut, 665 days in space
|
|-
|62
|{{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}}
|Astronaut, 534 days in space
|
|-
|63
|{{w|Scott Kelly}}
|Astronaut, 520 days in space
|
|-
|64
|{{w|Mike Fincke}}
|Astronaut, 382 days in space
|
|-
|65
|{{w|Mike Foale}}
|Astronaut, 374 days in space
|Foale was born in the UK but his mother is an American, and he holds dual citizenship with both countries. It isn't clear legally whether this situation would qualify him as being a "natural-born" citizen as US courts have never definitively ruled on what the term means, so similar to Governor Kate Brown his name is included in the list until further notice.
|-
|66
|{{w|Angelique Kerber}}
|Angelique Kerber
|Serena's most recently lost to German-born Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon finals, so all subsequent entries move up one position.
|-
|67
|{{w|Tom Brady}}
|{{w|National Football League Most Valuable Player Award|NFL MVP}}
|The MVPs of all other listed sports leagues are ineligible for the office due to age or nationality.
|-
|68
|{{w|Bill Pullman}}
|Bill Pullman
|None of his children are old enough to become President at this time.
|-
|69-100,000,000+
|''everyone else''
|Jousting tournament
|Assumes that no eligible member of the British order of succession exists due to citizenship issues. The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating champions are too young to hold the office. further assumes that the number of eligible US-Citizens does not exceed 536,870,912
|}

==Transcript==
: A proposal for a new presidential line of succession
: Current politics aside, most experts agree the existing process is flawed. The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 is probably unconstitutional on several counts, and there are many practical issues with the system as well.
: (For more, see the surprisingly gripping ''Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission'', June 2009.)
: Proposed line of succession:
:# President
:# Vice president
:# Secretary of State
:# Secretary of Defense
:# Secretary of Homeland Security
:# Attorney General
:# Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the president's term and confirmed by the Senate
:# Tom Hanks
:# State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census
:# Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor
:# Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar
:# Kate McKinnon, if available
:# Billboard year-end Hot 100 singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)
:# The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time
:# Serena Williams (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)
:# The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs
:# Bull Pullman and his descendants by absolute primogeniture
:# The entire line of succession to the British throne
:# The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest
:# All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Politics]]

Talk:1800: Chess Notation

2017-02-18T21:10:46Z

108.162.237.226:

So... This is just a really excellent pun? "Drawn" conversation?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.22|162.158.75.22]] 15:59, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:The pun gets better when you think about drawn '''and''' stalemated conversations, both of which will be scored 0.5 - 0.5. A stalemate occurs when no legal moves are possible, but the opponent isn't in check.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.82|162.158.150.82]] 16:26, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

I have 2 questions does Randall know about this wiki and if there is an "incomplete" comic and I complete the explanation or other issue can I delete the incomplete notification thingy or does an admin have to do that?[[User:XFez|XFez]] ([[User talk:XFez|talk]]) 17:45, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:Anyone can remove the incomplete tag. Likewise, anyone can add it back again if they feel the explanation can be improved. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.225|162.158.62.225]] 18:37, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
::My answer at the last comic:
::Hi [[User:XFez|XFez]], sorry for the late reply but this was hard to find. I don't know if Randall knows..., but maybe he does. But he does NOT support this wiki in any way -- like he does not here: [http://forums.xkcd.com http://forums.xkcd.com] (while everything is now on https that board isn't ;) ). So there is no final explanation and he says 100 points! To your second question: You are allowed to remove the "incomplete tag". But the given criteria is not enough, often that simple text covers not all. Please check also the discussion page. So, when you are not sure just change the criteria text and mention it at the discussion page. And for older comics you probably should talk to someone else here because nobody checks every comic every day.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:19, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:::Randall knows of this page for sure. How often he goes here for a laugh is hard to say, but I would guess he would never comment on anything. But who knows if he checks here to see if has made a mistake. Sometimes errors are corrected after they get mentioned here. Often very early in Randall's time zone. Who knows if he sees this here. He has given a 100 % proof that he knows about this page in his official transcript. He actually made a direct link to Explain xkcd for a better transcript than his own. Alas there was not transcript until this year, where I made it: See this [[Payloads#Trivia|trivia]] under [[Payloads]], that I added earlier in 2017. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:45, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

Isn't the mouseover text saying that it was a blunder to tell white hat that he is scoring it because that will cause white hat to actively compete, instead of simply losing because he didn't know there was a game? [a guest and fan]{{unsigned ip|141.101.107.12}}

Why is the figure on the left not wearing a beret? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.208|162.158.78.208]] 21:14, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

Under the "Chess games and conversations" section, "differences" subsection, it says that "people's statements sometimes last an eternity or even longer". Eternity = infinite time, duration without beginning or end. It's impossible for a person to make a statement lasting longer than his or her lifespan, and realistically for someone to continue speaking for more than an hour or so is extremely rare (someone giving a speech or presentation, for example, which isn't the type of "conversation" we're dealing with). Is the word "eternity" being used in a hyperbolic sense? If so, I'm not sure I understand exactly what this sentence is trying to say.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.11|172.68.46.11]] 04:19, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

How did the conversation end in a draw? Was it by agreement? Was it actually "drawn" as mentioned below?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.185|162.158.79.185]] 20:17, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:"Fine." "Fine." Agreement. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.202|108.162.210.202]] 23:18, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

The move to score conversations itself was probably a blunder, but it seems that, since the sentence is copied verbatim, that the move to declare your scoring of conversations to somebody else is a blunder. Because that's weird and nobody wants to hear about it. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.72|173.245.50.72]] 18:35, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

Hello all. Just pointing out that stalemate it's not one of the most common ways to draw a chess game. It's quite rare in fact. Agreement, threefold repetition, perpetual check (and maybe even insufficent material) are statisticaly more usual. Keep up the great job, Albi.--[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.52|188.114.102.52]] 09:16, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

The last part of the first section, Chess notation (and annotation), says that Cueball would score a conversation "1-0" whether he won it or lost it (depending upon who started the conversation). That is totally ambiguous; he would need more annotation to show whether he started the conversation and won it or the opposite. If I were scoring it - but I'm not a chess player - I would just score it as if I were always white, and it would be clear whether I won or not. What's the point of scoring the conversation if you can't read the score later on? He didn't say he was ''recording'' and scoring his conversations, he just said he was scoring them.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.226|108.162.237.226]] 21:10, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

21: Kepler

2017-02-16T18:33:47Z

108.162.237.226: Updated explanation and trivia sections to clarify a possible relationship between this comic and Project Kepler.

{{comic
| number = 21
| date = October 17, 2005
| title = Kepler
| image = kepler.jpg
| titletext = Science joke. You should probably move along.
}}

==Explanation==
A Cueball-like guy asks [[Cueball]], the store manager, how they keep the store so clean, and he is told that they have hired Kepler, a hard worker who doesn't mind the monotony and sweeps out the same area every night.

{{w|Johannes Kepler}} was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, best known for his laws of planetary motion. By using {{w|Tycho Brahe}}'s observations of our solar system, (Brahe gave Kepler the job of observing and explaining the motion of the planet Mars), Kepler was able to deduce that planets in the system do not move in a circular orbit around the Sun, but rather in an elliptical one.

According to {{w|Kepler's_laws_of_planetary_motion#Second_law|Kepler's Second Law}}, "A line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time." This looks like sweeping a broom over the floor.

In the comic, the janitor Kepler also sweeps the same area, although in this case "area" is used in the sense of "surface" (of floor) rather than in the purely mathematical sense. It is also very monotonous like a planet's set orbit, but Kepler doesn't mind this.

The comic could also be seen as a subtle reference to the Kepler space telescope that was searching for exoplanets (planets outside the Solar system) from March 2009 to August 2013, by looking at exactly the same spot in the night sky over and over again. Even though the telescope was not launched until 4 years after this comic was published, the details of Project Kepler had been disclosed by NASA press releases as early as 2001. [https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2001/01_107AR.html]

==Transcript==
:[Two Cueball-like guys stand in an aisle in a store.]
:Cueball-like guy: Nice store. How do you keep the floors so clean?
:Cueball the store manager: Oh, we hired this dude named Kepler, he's really good. Hard worker. Doesn't mind the monotony. Sweeps out the same area every night.

==Trivia==
*This was the 20th comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]].
**The previous was [[20: Ferret]].
**The next was [[44: Love]].
*Original title: "Monday's drawing"
*Original [[Randall]] quote: "Another one which, if you don't get, you're probably better off."
*This comic was posted on [[xkcd]] when the web site opened on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
**It was posted along [[:Category:First day on xkcd|with all 41 comics]] posted before that on LiveJournal as well as a few others.
**The latter explaining why the numbers of these 41 LiveJournal comics ranges from 1-44.
**This is the same day that NASA announced the delay of Project Kepler due to budget cuts.
*One of the original drawings drawn on [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal| 20]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Physics]]

1766: Apple Spectrum

2017-02-06T10:38:52Z

108.162.237.226: /* Explanation */ Removed random unrelated word 'fudge' at the end.

{{comic
| number = 1766
| date = November 30, 2016
| title = Apple Spectrum
| image = apple_spectrum.png
| titletext = If I were trapped on a desert island, and could have an unlimited supply of any one type of apple, I'd be like, "How did this situation happen?"
}}

==Explanation==

The comic shows a {{w|spectrum}} of different types of apples, with {{w|Red Delicious}} towards the bad end of the spectrum, and {{w|Honeycrisp}} towards the good end of the spectrum. Although most spectra are only one-dimensional, {{w|Granny Smith}} is on some side branch, implying that the taste is so different from the other two that it deserves its own category. (Granny Smith apples have a distinctively tart, or sour, flavor with a subtle sweetness, and is commonly used for cooking, as opposed to the other mentioned varieties that are quite sweet and primarily eaten raw.) [[Randall]] has previously shown his disdain for Red Delicious apples in footnote 1 in [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgZIBAAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA97#v=onepage&q&f=false this what if]; he also ranked green apples as tastier than red apples in [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]]. The labeling of Red Delicious as "bad" compared to apples in general is perhaps unwarrantedly uncharitable; most apple trees produce fruit so bad that it is considered unfit for any purpose but fermentation. On the rare occasions that a tree naturally produces palatable apples, it is grafted onto other trees so that they will produce more of its apples instead of their own--all Granny Smiths are genetically identical.

In the title text, Randall observes a common type of hypothetical question designed as a creative way to inquire about a person's preferences: If he were on a desert island with an unlimited access to something they like -- in this case, unlimited supply of any one type of apple -- what would he choose? However, Randall gives an unorthodox and unexpected answer to the typically playful hypothetical by taking it literally and questioning how such a situation would occur. How did he get stuck on the island, and how did he get a literally unlimited supply of apples? In reality, a desert island is unlikely to have an unlimited supply of any food{{Citation needed}}, let alone apples.

==Transcript==
[A mapping, showing types of apples. Each apple is in a bubble]
<div style="text-align: center;">
Bad ⟵ Red Delicious — Regular apples — Honeycrisp ⟶ Good
 |
 Granny Smith
 ↓
 Doing their own thing
</div>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]

Talk:1475: Technically

2017-01-30T04:54:14Z

108.162.237.226:

Technically, it's poor form and rude to ignore someone based on *Clicks Random page* [[User:Xseo|Xseo]] ([[User talk:Xseo|talk]]) 13:45, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

It's also possible that Cueball is purposefully inviting another "technically" sentence by stating he's looking at a bug, since it's unlikely he's looking at a member of the order Hemiptera. 14:21, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Well, it seems that White hat is responding to being asked if he is taking drugs, and technically, any food item that is consumed only for its taste or other effect on the body and mind, such as chocolate, could be argued to be a drug by a combination of both definitions given in the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.85|108.162.254.85]] 17:39, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Along the same lines as the "bug" statement, does "a rock with a fossil in it" invite any sort of technical correction? I wouldn't know, personally, but there might be some people out there who would argue that since the fossil was a rock, or some other quibble about the phrase? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.192|108.162.238.192]] 20:19, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
:At that point, I'd say we're drastically overthinking this. Rocks are not in and of themselves fossils, but they are the most common substance in which fossils are found. (And anyway, most of the discussion about refining that definition would probably include several sentences starting with "technically", which I'd immediately ignore. ;)) [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 21:56, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Even though the comic doesn't state this specifically, I wonder if this one goes under his "My Hobby" series. It certainly seems to be in the same spirit. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 21:57, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
:If it's not labeled "My Hobby", it doesn't belong in that series. There are similarities, but they aren't exactly the same, and it's not labeled as part of the "My Hobby" series. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 03:30, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
::I think it's rather an opposing behavior. In "My Hobby" it is usually Cueball driving others nuts, here he ignores someone else who is trying to drive him nuts. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.217|141.101.105.217]] 06:53, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Please explain what is meant by "third type" and "fourth type" in the current comic description [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.157|173.245.54.157]] 22:59, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
:It referred to a chart (now deleted) giving the "types" of sentences beginning with "technically". I have replaced this with the definition originally in the chart.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.169|108.162.216.169]] 23:24, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
::Just my opinion, but I think that the table with four "types" originally made by [[User:Pudder|Pudder]] was pretty good and educating, maybe we should restore it.[[User:Nyq|Nyq]] ([[User talk:Nyq|talk]]) 17:05, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
:::I agree. The deleting editor just said it was unnecessary, without any application as to why. I think it's perfectly okay to give people a quick overview of whatever the comic's topic is. The chart improves the article, so I've decided to be bold and restore it. If anyone has objections, bring them up here. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 17:28, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
::::Fully support the restoration and the reasoning for it! [[User:Nyq|Nyq]] ([[User talk:Nyq|talk]]) 19:48, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

Maybe related to comic 1240? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.191|108.162.238.191]] 00:29, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

It seems highly likely that, as per previous comments, both the bug and fossil inclusions are not just purely distractions, but references to items that would commonly invoke pedantic 'technical corrections'. I suggest it is worth including in the explanation [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.211|108.162.249.211]] 02:32, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
:I agree on the bug which has already been mentioned. Have included that. But I do not know ennough about fossils to see why the sentence from the title text could be corrected. You domhave fossils in rocks? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:39, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
::Technically, rocks aren't fossils, but rather they CONTAIN foss-- oh, you're not listening to me anymore. Nevermind. :) [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 22:01, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

Technically, does it make a difference if there is a comma behind the word technically? (see examples) I never really understood English punctuation rules ... --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.217|141.101.105.217]] 06:53, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

His sentence didn't start with "Technically"; it started with "Well". Does not compute.[[User:DouglasHeld|DouglasHeld]] ([[User talk:DouglasHeld|talk]]) 21:34, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

: "The title text starts to pedantically over-apply Cueball's rule to the comic panel, noting that technically White Hat's sentence started with the word 'well' instead of the word 'technically', and thus Cueball is wrong to have ignored it." Part of the joke is that there are a certain type of people who will pick apart every little detail of a statement or rule, and apply its 'technical' interpretation, rather than the spirit of rule. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 22:04, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

"Whales are not fish" is a very poor example: it's not a technicality, but a very major and quite obvious difference. At least where I live, most people are aware of this, except for very small children or *extremely* uneducated persons. The other examples ("Peanuts are not nuts" and "Tomatoes are fruit") are *way* more appropriate. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.55|108.162.231.55]] 00:48, 1 February 2015 (UTC)

:I would disagree that its a poor example, and I would wager that the majority of people couldn't give the basic definition of a mammal. Whales and fish both swim in the sea, both look alike (albeit on different scales), and are markedly similar in other ways. I know that whales are mammals rather than fish, but I couldn't explain all the differences. I certainly wouldn't call someone extremely uneducated if they thought whales were fish, as to me it is a fairly logical conclusion to come to. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 17:21, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

::Actually, the non-technical definition of "fish" is that it swims in water, does not walk on land, and breaths water. And any modern third grader knows that whales breath air, despite fitting the other criteria. Anonymous 20:16, 10 March 2015 (UTC)

::: "Actually" is another zero-content indicator... --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.226|108.162.237.226]] 04:54, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1168: tar

2017-01-24T08:44:02Z

108.162.237.226:

I thought the title text would be "tar --help"
[[Special:Contributions/123.202.19.132|123.202.19.132]] 06:59, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Is it good that I could have disarmed the bomb, and I have only used tar (or for that matter, Linux) sparsely? [[User:NSDCars5|NSDCars5]] ([[User talk:NSDCars5|talk]]) 12:16, 9 May 2014 (UTC)NSDCars5

The comic is about the difficulty of the tar program options.

Even if his life depended on it and after years of usage, Bob/Randall could not come up with the right parameters without looking them up. So a situation is shown, where Bob's life depends on coming up with the right parameters:

* It shows an atomic warhead
* It has a user interface, which requests any valid tar command
* If it is not entered on the first try within 10s, the bomb is not disarmed and potentially explodes on the spot

Randall has come up with a situation, where the unix guy Bob can be the hero by knowing tar parameters. This is a pipe dream of a geek; nobody cares IRL, if you know tar parameters on the first try.

It is hilarious, that
* the bomb says in full detail the rules including that you should not cheat and it probably has no means to check whether you cheated. This is no game, but feels like one. In war and love every means is allowed - even cheating; it would also be self-defense for disarming the bomb; Bob and his colleagues are not even considering to cheat.
* the user has root access to the bomb, shown by the bomb as ~#, the tilde is the home directory, the # signifies super-user rights; even if the available programs prevent the bomb from being shutdown or disabled by a nonintended way, normally no root access is given for users of linux devices during normal usage; and disarming the bomb with official rules is normal usage of a bomb; a root prompt should not be necessary, if the bomb software is designed and configured well; possibly the unix prompt is a simulation for entering an answer
* Bob shurely needs more than 10s to come. So the bomb will have announced that questions, which require unix knowledge will follow - or has already asked other Unix questions; perhaps after 10s without entering anything a new question comes up
* this bomb can be disarmed with "common knowledge"

Small notes:
* The screen looks to be really grayscale (esp. the inverted "TEN") - not just because of the comic; it has at least 3 colors (black, white, tar gray); it could be that the "TEN" is updated dynamically and is thus inverted
* The comic is quite black: The screen and the bomb; Randall seldomly uses solid black areas; the bomb is a gloomy topic so it is black like "tar" (pun)

Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 07:24, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

I think there is a visual double pun in this strip: the bomb disarmed by a tar command is a reference to the [[wikipedia:Tar (computing)#Tarbomb|tarbombs]], but it also looks like the [[wikipedia:File:Tsar Bomba Revised.jpg|Tsar Bomb(a)]]. --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 08:24, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: I don’t think it looks like Tsar Bomba. If anything, it is much more similar to [[wikipedia:Fat Man|Fat Man]]. --[[User:Mormegil|Mormegil]] ([[User talk:Mormegil|talk]]) 08:38, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
:: Yeah, but "Fat Man" doesn't sound like "tarbomb". --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 10:48, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
:: Furthermore, the Tsar bomb was much bigger; I think I've read somewhere that it had the size of a bus. --[[Special:Contributions/95.34.7.179|95.34.7.179]] 11:11, 3 February 2013 (UTC)

I think another joke is in the fact that you don't know which Unix is running on the bomb so you don't actually know which parameter layout is supported. tar --help for example may or may not be valid since -- is a GNU extension.

tar -bvzx for a tar.bzip2 .... wait... no... argh... I've always just trusted my fingers.. --[[Special:Contributions/59.167.191.93|59.167.191.93]] 10:14, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: Will '''tar -?''' be valid everywhere?. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 19:32, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

tar -lvvb archive.tar.bz
File not found. Sorry, you're dead.
~#
[[Special:Contributions/74.82.68.68|74.82.68.68]] 12:35, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Googling tar commands would definitely take more than 10 seconds, especially considering that Rob did not take his computer. (A smartphone is an option, but...)
Then again, why would "ten" be written in letters instead of numerals? [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 13:28, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
:I think the clock is already counting down. So probably they've discovered the bomb with still some minutes on the display. They call Bob when there is a minute left, He arrives with 25 sec's on the display and 15s later the screendump is made... [[Special:Contributions/86.82.116.63|86.82.116.63]] 22:33, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
:: This makes sense. --[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 22:41, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

I think the current explantion is missing an important point: the tar commands are not that much difficult. What makes tar complicated is that there are many different implementations. The linux guy knows only gnu tar, but some unices have much different implementations and different commands. "tar --help" is certainly not available on an old hpux, for example. '''That''' make is difficult to type a valid tar command – even more if you don't know the implementation.
[[Special:Contributions/212.222.53.78|212.222.53.78]] 10:26, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: Will '''tar -?''' be valid everywhere?. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 19:32, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

I'm a Windows user, so bear with me. Couldn't he type something like "man tar" to get the proper usage of the "tar" command on this particular system? It's a "man" command, so it shouldn't count as a try towards typing a "tar" command. Of course, maybe the bomb would explode if he entered anything else. [[Special:Contributions/70.31.159.230|70.31.159.230]] 13:46, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

:Yeah, all standard Unix installations should have man installed. But many mini installations don't, so these days Google is the standard backup.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 14:58, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: Fixed comment/wasn't reading. Only thing I can say here is that I've used embedded distros without 'man'; you could probably 'strings' the binary though. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])

Randall's joke is spot on, as usual. I've been using UNIX for nearly 30 years. Windows User's solution is elegant. Before Google there was the <code>man</code> command. In all seriousness, productivity on a UNIX box can be greatly enhanced simply by keeping good notes. I keep patterns of all sorts of UNIX commands handy so I don't have to look them up. As Wikipedia implies, <code>tar -tf</code> (I prefer <code>-tvf</code>) should be memorized because one quickly learns that one should ''always'' inspect tarballs before unpacking them. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 14:11, 1 February 2013 (UTC)''

One of the reasons that tar is so useful is that it can often do exactly what you want when other, more obvious commands cannot. For instance, recursively copying a directory from one place to another (using "cp") can be tricky when symbolic links are involved, and thus people memorize incantations like "tar cf - . | (cd dest; tar xf -)". As well, it's a standard tool that's guaranteed to be found on every Unix installation (unlike zip/unzip).[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 14:58, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

tar --help. Problem solved. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:21, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: Maybe '''tar -?''' is better?. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 19:32, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

What about "tar xf foo.tar"? I always assume options without dash work everywhere because options they are the original scheme. Of course, foot.tar might be absent, but in my view, the command itself remains valid.
As to the time limit: I imagine a countdown starts when the first key is hit - that leaves little time for "man tar". [[Special:Contributions/46.142.35.251|46.142.35.251]] 16:49, 1 February 2013 (UTC) madd

It feels like a partial reference to comic [http://xkcd.com/208/ xkcd 208]--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.157.176|108.162.157.176]] 04:31, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

I don't find tar all that tricky. The situation I'm always trumped with is when copying data, using cp, scp or rsync -r, then chmod -R /data 555. Why is '-R' capitalized? --[[Special:Contributions/98.253.217.12|98.253.217.12]] 19:54, 2 February 2013 (UTC)
:Because -r is 'substract the "read" right'. More interresting question is, why ssh -p but scp -P? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:03, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

First thing that struck me here was the Jurassic Park allusion. Surprised no-one else has mentioned it.--[[Special:Contributions/58.6.184.37|58.6.184.37]] 07:01, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
:No one mentioned "What are four lowercase letters that are not legal flag arguments to the Berkeley UNIX version of `ls'?" question either ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:07, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

Does this mean we should start retroactively rename cueball to "rob"?
:Rob is ''a'' Cueball, not ''every'' Cueball, so no. [[User:JET73L|JET73L]] ([[User talk:JET73L|talk]]) 14:05, 8 February 2013 (UTC)
::By that logic, Megan is ''a'' Cutie, not ''every'' Cutie. We should only name Megan in comics where her name appears. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 17:07, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

There is something morbid in the subtext here.... I have a feeling that Randall is going to kill off Megan, Rob, and "White Hat"... [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 01:47, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

Randall, I am disappoint! I haven't used tar for more than a year and I don't err anymore: tar -xvzf file (.gz) or tar -xvjf file (.bz2), and I still consider myself quite the newb. Works on all flavors of linux I tried (I like trying linuxes on VMs, dunno about other unixes, but everytime I need it, I get it right, so I wouldn't even consider this in my list of hardest programs to get right first time). For those interested: -x extract -v verbose (I like it) -z uncompress (for some compression types, in some flavors this works with bz2, IIRC) -j uncompress (for bz2, maybe others). [[Special:Contributions/189.123.132.123|189.123.132.123]] 20:51, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

:Your "z" Is wrong for .bz2 (or .z or uncompressed); it's only for ".gz". The reason it works for you is that your distro is using BSD tar, which silently ignores compression-related flags on the t and x commands and figures it out automatically. Which means you're better off using "-xvf" than "-

:More importantly, "works on all flavors of linux I've tried" is a far cry from "portable". The majority of desktop Unix systems are not linux, but OS X. There are plenty of servers running other BSD flavors. And lots of old machines running commercial *nixes or OpenSolaris. Not to mention Cygwin, and native/MinGW ports to Windows. People checking in code because "it works on Fedora and Ubuntu, so it must be portable" is becoming as big a problem as when people used to test on three different BSD derivatives but no SysV. So you should feel bad. :P [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 01:54, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

:Originally bzip used -y. Not speaking about fact that bzip is pretty new - and some unixes don't have ANY compression support in their tar. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:03, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

The quickest tar command with valid syntax would be "tar t". Every switch after the first command letter is optional. Even the initial dash is optional. [[Special:Contributions/85.24.234.35|85.24.234.35]] 11:03, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
:(That would also be a command that is valid in every known tar version throughout the universe.)
: Doesn't appear to work; console redirection is used as the input stream, terminated by Ctrl-D, at which point (on Android, and assuming you don't know the format) tar returns with "invalid tar magic" and then $? is non-zero (fail). If however you redirect 2>/dev/null, then $? returns 0 (success). I think the redirection is what's succeeding so any valid prestidigitation ought to work. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])

The tar command actually has a unique syntax in unix. Classicly, it's first parameter is a subcommand (letter) followed by zero or more option letters. (And I think the subcommand had to be first.) Parameters for the options follow in sequence after that, in the same order the options where listed. Then, for the 'c' subcommand, an input filename list follows. This syntax was rather painful when you had perhaps 5 different option letters each with parameters, but this was a normal enough occurance when you specified the tape drive, tape block size, tape length, and a few others I can't even remember. Early implementations would have a file listing tape configurations so you could pick one and all its parameters with a single digit. In any case, it should be noted that a dash ('-') was actually NOT ALLOWED on the parameters. More recent versions of tar have attempted to add the more common unix option parsing, but still support the dash-less form. Having said all that, I tend to prefer "tar xvzf filename.tar.gz" and "tar tvzf filename.tar.gz". [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 20:18, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

I'm not sure about it, so I'll not add to the explanation: doesn't "tarbomb" also refers to a malicious tarball that releases a ridiculously big file filled with blank/random data? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.18|108.162.212.18]] 01:26, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Um... the prompt is "~# "... That's a root prompt. Shouldn't Rob just "~# kill -9 1

Kernel panic – not syncing: Attempted to kill init!"? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.105|173.245.56.105]] 03:50, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

The user is root (indicated by the ~#). So, rm -rf / [[Special:Contributions/162.158.45.48|162.158.45.48]] 17:13, 29 November 2015 (UTC)
: Linux/OSX will limp along. Root's also probably preserved and the necessary reboot begs the question if you'd be better off rebooting (with power down) in the first place. Assuming it finishes in seconds (OSX is 12 minutes, about), that multiple commands were allowed, or that 'tar' doesn't have to appear first, I'd assume the verifier could be in ROM. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])

I think the fact that there's a page and a half of comments arguing about what would be an 'obvious' solution shows how difficult a question this is... --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.226|108.162.237.226]] 08:44, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

Talk:434: xkcd Goes to the Airport

2017-01-17T02:16:17Z

108.162.237.226:

I do not understand the "churchmouse" in this context? This needs an explain. Thanks.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:39, 26 August 2013 (UTC)
:A churchmouse is a small rodent. Look it up on Wikipedia. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:23, 27 August 2013 (UTC)
::That's not true: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/church+mouse [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 23:24, 13 October 2013 (UTC)
::Alice in Wonderland creates the door mouse. A church mouse is either ameek but faithful church-goer or referencing the idiom "poor as a church mouse." Either way, I don't get it, either, Dgbrt.07:42, 18 December 2014 (UTC)Nix
:::There are no church mice in Alice in Wonderland. There is a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dormouse dormouse] but that's a real animal. I'll update the text. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 14:20, 7 July 2016 (UTC)
:Later, [[526 | Converting to Metric]] informs us that a fieldmouse contains 3 mL of blood.--[[User:Rael|Rael]] ([[User talk:Rael|talk]]) 05:29, 6 September 2013 (UTC)
::According to my calculations, it's closer to 1.5 mL/0.05 oz. This is based on a house mouse with 80 ml/kg of blood. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.192}}

Maybe I'm just dirty minded, but I thought the "stains panties" line had to do with simulating either defloration or menstruation.--[[Special:Contributions/67.243.62.50|67.243.62.50]] 17:16, 28 September 2013 (UTC)
:I believe it's a reference to the "underwear bomber" who brought a liquid explosive onto a plane by sneaking it in his underwear
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.179|108.162.218.179]] 04:23, 19 July 2016 (UTC)
I was under the impression that the "hacker girl" either gave him the set as a gift, or he just learned how to lock-pick from being around her so much that he acquired his own. It seems weird that it would have anything to do with smuggling. [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 01:12, 22 October 2013 (UTC)

Am I the only one who thought the second panel was a reference to '147: A Way So Familiar'? Mostly based on the character's enthusiastic obsession with a girl who is probably a very bad influence, or at least a bad match. - Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.205|108.162.249.205]] 05:44, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

They tell you to turn the devices off because the airplane travels very quickly. The devices will try and connect to the towers on the ground, but it will have to change towers. This messes up the network (hundreds of phones connecting and disconnecting). [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.76|199.27.133.76]] 00:22, 11 September 2015 (UTC)
:Given the altitude would most phones even be in range to attempt to connect? Anyway, I was always under the impression it was to prevent to off-chance of the transmissions from messing with the plane's systems. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 05:16, 20 November 2015 (UTC)

Interestingly enough, google searches for "blood in a churchmouse" spiked the day this comic went up.
http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=blood%20in%20a%20churchmouse {{unsigned ip|108.162.220.17}}

"Much fewer blood"? And it was required for electronics to be turned off long before portable phones became ubiquitous, so it's not ''only'' the cell connections freaking the network out. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.226|108.162.237.226]] 02:16, 17 January 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1772: Startup Opportunity

2016-12-14T17:10:32Z

108.162.237.226:

More escapades of Beret guy's business - [[1021]], [[1032]], and probably more --[[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 15:41, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

it may be a reference a episode of the Adult swim show Rick and Morty. In season 1 episode 9 "Something Ricked This Way Comes" the devil sets up a shop that gives away magical items that appear to give the user some superpower or other advantage but turn out to be cursed, for example a type writer that helps the user make best selling murder mystery books but then the murders happen to them in real life. Rick decides to open his own business to un-curse items but letting them keep there magic power thus disrupting the devils entire business.