explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:742: Campfire

2024-11-18T14:59:10Z

108.162.237.252: Make IP address look like a private one

"100 years later, this story remains terrifying--not because it's the local network block, but because the killer is on IPv4."

It already is.

[[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.28|172.69.69.28]] 13:20, 27 October 2018 (UTC)
:Says a person signing with IPv4 address. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.105|162.158.88.105]] 14:19, 6 October 2021 (UTC)

::Says a person signing with IPv4 address. [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]]{{citation needed}} 05:18, 9 October 2024 (UTC)

There is a mistake in the transcription of the title text at the top of the page. It should say 'the killer is ''still'' on IPv4', not just 'the killer is on IPv4'. I don't know how to correct it. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.12|141.101.98.12]] 14:46, 18 December 2023 (UTC)
:You do it by... doing what I just did do. (Hoping that the 'bot that protects against vandalism doesn't revert my IP-only change.) Good catch.
:I wonder if that was an error by the original page-creator? If it had been one or other of the auto-creating 'bots that we've had doing this thing then it would be a sign of post-copied editing, but I'd have to poke around in external archives to be sure if it was misread by that person or messed about with by Randall after the fact. (If it turns out to have been, then maybe worth a note about it. Albeit that maybe this conversation is enough of a note.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.77|172.71.178.77]] 16:49, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

You guys talk big for guys without IPv6 {{unsigned ip|162.158.95.136|08:51, 21 January 2024|...this must now be ironic!}}

:My dad bought a router without IPv6 support on purpose. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.244|172.16.0.105]] 14:57, 18 November 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2447: Hammer Incident

2021-04-08T13:14:11Z

108.162.237.252:

big --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.153|162.158.187.153]] 02:04, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

I added a basic explanation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.224|162.158.212.224]] 02:28, 8 April 2021 (UTC)
== Giant comic ==

Is it meant to be that size? Does the bad luck apply to trying to upload comics at reasonable sizes?

[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.19|172.69.33.19]] 02:09, 8 April 2021 (UTC)
:Oooh boy, indeed... "Error creating thumbnail: File with dimensions greater than 12.5 MP" is the Wiki's assessment of the auto-uploaded image. I haven't checked the resolution, but the https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/hammer_incident.png one is apparently 4332x4838 (scales to 8% on my device), and I don't care to test the _2x version right now. I'm not sure that was the native res of it on creation, looks to be an accidental up-scaling prior to posting to xkcd itself. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.6|141.101.98.6]] 02:20, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

::The _2x version is actually the proper size for a normal comic - 578x645 pixels. [[User:Noëlle|Noëlle]] ([[User talk:Noëlle|talk]]) 02:21, 8 April 2021 (UTC)
:::Still seems larger than normal to me, even the 2x seems larger than I would expect. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.78|172.69.34.78]] 04:02, 8 April 2021 (UTC)
:Maybe the extra-large image is what the original looks like using the James Webb telescope? Maybe over-thinking. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.145|172.68.132.145]] 04:19, 8 April 2021 (UTC)
::Or perhaps its an resolution/aspect ratio/zoom factor difference between it and the old telescope. Implying all other comics have secretly been placed in front of the other telescope [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.50|172.69.170.50]] 04:56, 8 April 2021 (UTC)
:Perhaps overthinking, if the main reflecting mirror was actually destroyed, the light entering the telescope would never be focused into the secondary mirror and the image would be "light size" so you would only be able to see a small portion of what you expect

:It looks to me that, while most of the text is rendered smoothly in full resolution, the caption below the panel ("Man, NASA is really on my case about the James Webb Space Telescope.") is very jaggy on a pixel level, but only on the Y-axis. There could be quite a bit of information in there. No idea what it means, though. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.36|141.101.77.36]] 07:29, 8 April 2021 (UTC)
::It could be floating-point errors that indicate the code flow of the renderer Randall used. Or it could mean anything else. Curious to compare it to a correct rendering of that text with the same font, but wouldn't know what to do with the vector of edge differences myself. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.140|162.158.63.140]] 09:03, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

== inspiration ==

When I read this comic I was worried it might have been inspired by recent news of something breaking during the final assembly process. Fortunately this seems not to be the case. Among the many delays of the telescope, were any of them caused by mirror and/or cryo failures that might have inspired this comic? [[User:Quantum7|Quantum7]] ([[User talk:Quantum7|talk]]) 05:53, 8 April 2021 (UTC)
:What caused the most recent delay? It seems it's been pushed forward more as Randall predicted in the other comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.140|162.158.63.140]] 09:03, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

== Cryogenic? ==

I get the sense that the title text is inspired by liquid nitrogen ice cream. -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.252|108.162.237.252]] 13:14, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

2427: Perseverance Microphones

2021-02-20T17:14:08Z

108.162.237.252: /* Explanation */ spurious comma: the word directly and necessarily modifies the preceding phrase

{{comic
| number = 2427
| date = February 19, 2021
| title = Perseverance Microphones
| image = perseverance_microphones.png
| titletext = If the first audio they downlink is from the descent, we probably won't be able to hear anything over the sound of the rover screaming.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MUSICAL ROVER. Explanation of the title text is missing. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

A play on several meanings of the word "sample". The day before this comic was published, NASA successfully landed a new rover, {{w|Perseverance (rover)|''Perseverance''}}, on Mars; part of its mission is to collect Martian samples (bits of rock and dust) and leave them where a future mission can retrieve them and return them to Earth. “{{w|Sampling (music)|Samples}}” can also refer to short snippets of music; as ''Perseverance'' is the first Mars rover to carry microphones, it would be possible to use ''samples'' from those microphones musically, e.g. using a {{w|Loop (music)#Modern looping|looper pedal}}. Using a loop pedal would make sense if the sample includes a tune that repeats throughout the song—or that could repeat throughout the song. This is similar to [[411: Techno]].

The title text {{w|Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphises}} the rover, suggesting that the drop to the surface was so frightening for it that it was screaming as it descends.

The phase of entry, for Mars landers, has been dubbed the "Seven Minutes Of Terror" - though this is less for the sake of the lander; more for the nail-biting of those in their control room back on Earth, utterly powerless to make any useful corrections to a craft that is tens of millions of miles/kilometres away. The round-trip communication delay significantly exceeds the whole of the passage through the thin atmosphere, so they have to rely on whatever pre-arranged autonomy they engineered and programmed into their craft beforehand, and hope they {{w|List_of_missions_to_Mars#Missions|anticipated all eventualities}}.

[https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-perseverance-rover-sends-sneak-peek-of-mars-landing/ You can view the landing here.]

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

: [Megan is sitting at a desk, typing on her laptop, which is connected to an audio mixer on the floor.]
: Megan: Perseverance's microphones are active! Downlinking audio!
: [Cueball is standing on the other side of the box, holding an electric guitar, which is plugged into the box, and standing with one foot on a small box on the floor, which is also connected.]
: Cueball: I'm ready with the looper pedal.
: [Caption below the panel:]
: The first Mars sample return

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Mars rovers]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Puns]]

2415: Allow Captcha

2021-01-25T19:20:50Z

108.162.237.252: /* Explanation */ Better link

{{comic
| number = 2415
| date = January 22, 2021
| title = Allow Captcha
| image = allow_captcha.png
| titletext = To prove you're human, please click all the number pairs that appear together in your Social Security number.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a malicious design practice that already exists out there. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Captcha is designed to prevent spambots from being able to post on websites by posing challenges that humans can easily solve but that spambots and other automated programs cannot solve. The original version (used in [[632: Suspicion]]) asked users to identify text that was rotated, warped, or otherwise modified in order to make it more difficult for automated programs to solve. Once automated programs got good at that, new captchas were put out that exploited the fact that computers tend to be bad at image recognition, e.g. asking the user to select only images that contain cats from a grid of images of cats, dogs, and other objects (used in [[1897: Self Driving]]). This captcha appears to combine the two methods—with the additional hurdle that in order to pass the captcha, users must be able to not only read but also understand (i.e. know the definitions of words). However, if the goal is to allow humans but not computers to pass (although, as the next paragraph will describe, it is not the goal), this is not a good method of differentiating between the two. Any computer program that can accurately read text (and there are now many programs that can do so) would know which words start with 'A' and would be able to look up the definitions (including parts of speech) online, so this would not be effective as a captcha. Humans on the other hand, would often get confused between "ale" and "ail" or between "allot" and "a lot". The English language has no distinction between nouns and verbs by spelling, only grammatical usage, and many words in English are both nouns and verbs.

In reality, however, the window is merely disguised as a captcha in order to trick human visitors into allowing the website to install "a helper tool", which may be malware, on their computer. The top of the window uses a similar shade of blue to the current version of {{w|reCAPTCHA}} (currently the most common brand of captcha), the prompt includes the phrase "to prove you're human", and the grid is similar to the grid used by reCAPTCHA. However, positioned to appear to humans as two reCAPTCHA boxes is a window asking viewers whether they want to allow or deny the website's request to install the supposed "helper tool". The idea is that because "allow" is a verb beginning with the letter A, human visitors would click on what they think is the box with the word allow in it but actually allow the website to install potential malware on their computer. The window attempts to disguise this by formatting many of the words in boxes as buttons and including other text in smaller font on other boxes. In addition, the captcha may be intentionally difficult so that users will be too distracted by wondering whether ale is a verb to process the meaning of the request.

It should be noted that simply tricking humans would not necessarily be enough to install malware on their computer. First of all, while a person can select any part of a grid box in order to select that box, only clicking on the actual button that says allow will allow malware unto the computer. If a person clicks on another part of the supposed box, nothing will happen, so the person will likely take a closer look in order to see why the window is not being selected and then possibly realize that this is a trick as a result. In addition, the user's computer may have an anti-virus software that will prevent the computer from executing malicious code downloaded by the website. Or in order for the user to install software, a second window may pop up requiring the user to type in an administrator password, which will likely startle the user.

Shady websites often use similar tactics to trick you into allowing notifications, including saying "[https://www.bleepstatic.com/swr-guides/c/click-allow-to-verify-that-your-are-not-a-robot/notification-subscription-page.jpg Please allow notifications to confirm you are not a robot]". This comic combines that with a traditional reCAPTCHA to try and trick savvier users too.

The title text is a another trick reCAPTCHA which is trying to make you give out your {{w|social security number}} by clicking the pairs of numbers that appear in your Social Security number. A social security number is a form of identification used in the United States, originally used for the Social Security Administration. Over time, this number has become a type of national identification number, so stealing these numbers would allow a scammer to commit identity fraud. Of course, it would use a different grid, as the grid pictured in the comic has words, not pairs of digits. If you can find all of the pairs then they would be able to guess your real number and thus this would be a weird kind of phishing attempt. If the grid is 4×4 (and some reCAPTCHA grids are only 3×3), then it can only show 16 of the possible 100 pairs of two digits, so any people who are successfully tricked likely would not reveal their entire Social Security numbers because some digit pairs in their Social Security numbers would not appear. However, it should be noted that this trick likely will not be as successful as the captcha-based trick because the phrase "Social Security number" will likely raise alarm bells concerning identity theft, and people who are not citizens or permanent or temporary residents of the United States will not have Social Security numbers, so they will not be able to be tricked into revealing personal information this way even if they are especially gullible.

It should also be noted that the phrase "to prove you're human", while also attempting to disguise the trick, has a somewhat different implication. In the first example, the idea of the supposed captcha is that it asks the user to complete a task that human brains but not computer programs can perform accurately easily, such as image recognition. In the example in the title text, the idea of the fake captcha appears to be that humans are issued Social Security numbers (at least if they live or have lived in the United States), but computers are not. As the website does not already know the users' Social Security numbers, it would not actually be able to tell whether the user's response was correct. There is nothing to prevent programming an automated spambot program to randomly select zero to four of the boxes. Likewise, users could lie and not reveal their actual Social Security numbers, although those who realize that the supposed captcha is an attempt at identity theft will likely not complete it at all and could report it to law enforcement instead.

==Boxes on the reCAPTCHA==
{| class="wikitable"
!|Position
!|Contents
!|Analysis
!|Click?
|-
|Row 1
Column 1
|Alike
|Adjective/Adverb: Related to the verb "Like", as in "similar"
|No?
|-
|Row 1
Column 2
|Elope
|Verb: To romantically abscond
But does not start with "A"
|No
|-
|Row 1
Column 3
|Aloe
|Noun: A specific type of plant, or its extracts
Vaguely similar to "Allow", but not normally a homophone
|No
|-
|Row 1
Column 4
|Ale
(and squiggles)
|Noun: A type of beer
Confusable with the verb "ail": To suffer

"(To) ply with drink" is conceivably a verb form
|No/Maybe
|-
|Row 2
Column 1
|Avow
(and squiggles)
|Verb: To declare
|Yes
|-
|Row 2
Column 2
|Danny
(and squiggles)
|A person's name: Familar version of Daniel/Danielle
(Also slang/dialect noun: The hand)

A strained off-homophone of "Deny", as used elsewhere

Does not even start with an "A", anyway!
|No
|-
|Row 2
Column 3
|Allele
|Noun: Genetic variation/subunit
|No
|-
|Row 2
Column 4
|Allot
(and squiggles)
|Verb: To assign or distribute
Can be misspelt "alot", causing confusion as to the legitimate word

Either of the above may be misused instead of "a lot", in its noun form meaning "many"
|Yes
|-
|Row 3
Column 1
|Askew
|Adjective/Adverb: Tilted, twisted, off-balance, strange
|No
|-
|Row 3
Column 2
|Deny
(x2)
|Verb: To refuse, disallow, etc
Does not start with "A"
|No
|-
|Row 3
Columns 3+4
|(squiggled "www.a????.com") wants to install a helper tool
|Might depend upon a legible version of the URL
|The true CAPTCHA answer would apply to cell Row 3, Column 3
|-
|Row 3
Column 3
|Deny
|As above
|No
|-
|Row 3
Column 4
|Allow
|Verb: To permit, licence, be contingent of
|In CAPTCHA context only
To avoid malicious behavior, you should avoid clicking this whole grid
|-
|Row 4
Column 1
|Allow (smaller size)
Alto

(squiggled "to a????? ~squiggles~")
|It might be easy to miss the "Allow", which is valid
"Alto", however, is a noun: Instrumental/choral pitch or range

The squiggles ''may'' include a 'valid' A-Verb
|Yes, for "Allow", in CAPTCHA context
But if a Click-trap, you'd be best to close/Back-button the whole page
|-
|Row 4
Column 2
|Allow (and squiggles)
|As elsewhere
|Yes
(or further trap)
|-
|Row 4
Column 3
|Deal
|Verb, noun and adjectival: Various related or obscure meanings
But does not start with "A", in any case
|No
|-
|Row 4
Column 4
|Delay
|Verb (and related noun): Of an enforced wait
Does not start with "A", although the synonym "allay" does

("Delay" also shares common meanings with, ''and'' mixes the phonemes of, both "Allay" and "Deny")
|No
|-
|Any cell
|Unremarked squiggles
|It is entirely possible that those squiggles, if decipherable, could include qualifying text
|Maybe..?
|}

==Transcript==
[Header at the top of the image with white text inside a light blue rectangle]: To prove you're human, please click every box containing a verb that starts with "A"

[Below the header, a series of panels in a 4x4 grid. Each panel has a word in capitals. Most of the words appear to be in buttons, and several have illegible text above or below. Some are tilted or off-center]

Alike

Elope

Aloe

Ale

Avow

Danny

Allele

Allot

Askew

[Two buttons, both saying]: Deny

[The next two panels are joined together, with two buttons next to each other. One says "Deny" and the other "Allow". The text above reads]: [illegible].com wants to install a helper tool

[With the word "Allow" printed clearly above and illegible text below]: Alto

Allow

Deal

Delay

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

1741: Work

2016-10-04T20:17:21Z

108.162.237.252: /* Transcript */ removed bullshit

{{comic
| number = 1741
| date = October 3, 2016
| title = Work
| image = work.png
| titletext = Despite it being imaginary, I already have SUCH a strong opinion on the cord-switch firing incident.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Table still needs Wiki links.}}
This comic details a set of theoretical examples of how much work went into the design and manufacture of everyday objects. The joke centers around the fact that most people in modern times are constantly surrounded with human-built objects, which we generally use without giving them much thought. [[Randall]] implies that he occasionally imagines what went into seemingly simple objects around him (like water glasses and desk lamps), and finds it overwhelming. This is because there are so many built items around us, many of which are inexpensive and mass-produced, which nonetheless resulted from a great deal of human effort. (This is similar to the thesis of the classic essay ''[http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html I, Pencil]'', except that while ''I, Pencil'' idealizes manufacture and commerce to argue for the free market and against regulation, the comic focuses on details that are far more human or based in bureaucratic or government red tape. Presumably, this kind of realization is more likely for people who've worked in design and engineering, like Randall, because they have some insight into what's involved in bringing a product to market. Also people who sit around all day wondering what could be funny, like Randall, could also end up in such a thought spiral. The comment about California recalls is based on the tags on products that often state "This item has been known by the state of California to cause..."

There's a double joke in the title as the first thing most people will think of, when seeing such a table with a {{w|Balanced-arm lamp}}, is that this is a ''work desk'' rather than about all the '''work''' put into making the desk and lamp. The potential implication is that Randall is so distracted imagining the work that went into creating his workspace that he can't get his own work done, hence the title.

The argument over putting the switch on the cord getting someone fired hits on another aspect of the design issue. Companies that design and manufacture goods will inevitably have human conflicts, where decisions will be argued over, and human personalities and office politics will impact the final design.

In the title text Randall states that this incidence is imaginary (his imagination) but he has apparently come up with an entire fictional narrative about the conflict over whether to put the lamp's switch on the lamp body itself, or to attach it to the lamp's power cord. And now he has SUCH a strong opinion about the firing incident.

This may because he also has a strong opinion about who was right, which could make him angry if that person was the one getting fired. As the lamp on his desk is with the switch on the cord, and as it seems Randall really dislikes such lamps, this would make sense, as it would probably be the one wishing to put the switch on the body who were fired. Alternatively it could have been the one who put the switch on the wire that was fired later, when they got poor on-line reviews... Randall's distaste for lamps where the switch is on the cord is also mentioned in the title text of [[1036: Reviews]]. Using the lamp as shown on this desk would make it annoying with the switch on the cord, as it will be hard to reach under the table, when sitting at the desk. Often such lamps have the switch either at the main body or on the head of the lamp. That would make it easy to reach it while sitting at the desk.

A similar theme of the unseen contributions of engineers is found in [[277: Long Light]], including the title text: "You can look at practically any part of anything manmade around you and think 'some engineer was frustrated while designing this.' It's a little human connection." This fits in well with Randall's annoyance with a switch on the cord.

==Individual Design Elements==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Individual Design Elements
!Description
!Explanation
|-
|An engineer worked late drawing this curve in AutoCAD || AutoCAD is a popular software package for doing computer-aided design. Curves in three dimensions are notable for being much more difficult than straight lines.
|-
|Extra vents added to avoid California safety recall || Lamps can get very hot, especially if an incandescent bulb is installed, possibly causing injury. Additional vents can improve air circulation, allowing the lamp to run cooler. The US state of California is known for its many safety regulations. California is notable for having strict safety requirements for every product, to the point that Disneyland's front entrance is recently required to have a cancer warning.
|-
|9 hours of meetings || Any product development requires several meetings about coordination for any aspect of the design, especially critical ones that can affect other subsystems in the device, such as the flexible stem in this lamp. Its size is affected by the wiring requirements, strength requirements, intersections with both the base and the lamp head. The material, properties, color, manufacturing process, and so on also have to be determined for something as simple as this.
|-
|Ongoing debate || Designers frequently disagree about what is important enough to be put on the label, where the label needs to be put, which laws apply, and so on.
|-
|Years-long negotiation with glass supplier || Many products have to go through many stages of negotiations before the company can have the required supplies to build the product. The joke here is that glass is a common material{{Citation needed}} and thus, no company should have had to spend years on something that trivial. Or, more likely, it's just a commentary on how long it takes to negotiate with other supplier businesses about things that the average consumer sees trivial: it ''can'' take months or years when outsourcing to determine and contract which kind of glass, how much, what price, what happens when base materials change in price, what other kinds of glass are acceptable, what compounds are allowed around the glass during production, &c &c.
|-
|4 hours of meetings || It takes several meetings for the design team to fully determine and justify what size is best for the market, and to relay this information to the rest of the company. Then, they receive feedback on what is or isn't acceptable, frequently by people who don't know exactly ''why'', so they have to return again for another meeting for further clarification.
|-
|Months of tip-over testing || The thicker the base of a glass is, the lower its center of gravity is, and the heavier it is. A balance between stability and ease of handling must be reached. In addition, testing generally takes longer than the consumer expects, and every variation must be tested to determine which one performs the most acceptably.
|-
|Wood source changed due to 20 year legal fight over logging in the Great Bear rainforest || The Great Bear rainforest is a temperate rainforest on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The government of British Columbia recently announced an agreement to protect 85% of this forest from commercial logging.
|-
|Argument over putting switch on cord got someone fired || Some people are really passionate about how convenient minor features are, while other people see those features as useless or that they make the product worse. If the designers can't come to a compromise or a consensus, the disagreement will eventually escalate into an argument until the supervisor eventually figures the heated and passive-aggressive disagreements aren't worth the value of the passionate designers.
|}

==Transcript==
:[A table is shown with a glass of water to the left and a lamp standard type desk lamp on the right. There are nine labels in relation to different parts of these three items. For each label, one or two arrows points to the relevant part. Five labels are written above the table, two on the table and two below the table between the front legs. These last two labels are causing the table legs to the rear to disappear, and also cuts the lamp cord, going beneath the table, in two. Below each label will be written under a description of what they point to going in normal reading order from left to right, two lines above, one line on and one line below the table.]

:[Arrow points a line that follow the curve of the lamps shade:]
:An engineer worked late drawing this curve in AutoCAD

:[Arrow points to back of lamp shade just above the stem. The shade has four visible vents on the front. The part the arrow points to is not visible:]
:Extra vents added to avoid California safety recall

:[Arrow points to glass:]
:Years-long negotiation with glass supplier

:[A double arrow is placed above the center of the glass, ending on two lines above the edges of the glass:]
:4 hours of meetings

:[Two arrow points on either side of the lamp's stem:]
:9 hours of meetings

:[Two arrow, one pointing up at the bottom and the other down at the inside bottom of the glass:]
:Months of tip-over testing

:[An arrow points to the lamp information sticker on the bottom part of the lamps base. Unreadable text can be seen as thins lines on the sticker:]
:Ongoing debate

:[An arrow points to the front edge of the desk, ending in a starburst on the edge:]
:Wood source changed due to 20 year legal fight over logging in the Great Bear rainforest

:[Arrow points to the switch on the lamps cord which can be seen going over the right edge of the table and hanging down below the table. The switch can be seen just under the table edge:]
:Argument over putting switch on cord got someone fired

:[Caption under the panel:]
:Sometimes I get overwhelmed thinking about the amount of work that went into the ordinary objects around me.

{{comic discussion}}

1684: Rainbow

2016-05-23T12:11:32Z

108.162.237.252: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1684
| date = May 23, 2016
| title = Rainbow
| image = rainbow.png
| titletext = Listen, in a few thousand years you'll invent a game called 'SimCity' which has a 'disaster' button, and then you'll understand.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Explanation made on the fly. Please Edit!}}

In this comic {{w|Noah}}, from {{w|Noah's Ark}} from Jewish and Christian faith, here represented by [[Cueball]], talks to {{w|God}} right after {{w|Genesis flood narrative|the flood}} has ended. He asks what the colored band across the sky is. And God tells him that is is a {{w|rainbow}}. God placed the {{w|Rainbows in mythology|worlds first rainbow}} in the sky as a promise to humanity that he would never make another flood.

Of course in reality a rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. And it is only one of many light phenomenons caused by sunlight and precipitation.

Thus Noah then immediately notices that there is a {{w|Rainbow#Variations|double rainbow}} outside the original ''promise rainbow''. Secondary rainbows, like this, are caused by a double reflection of sunlight inside the raindrops. When asked about this second band God seems to falter, but he recovers and claims that he has made that to show that he will never set the Earth on fire again. And as an afterthought he says sorry about that, although it was a while back. There is clear indications already here that God just invented an explanation for an optical phenomenon instead of giving the correct one.

Sadly for God Noah spots even more of these phenomenons. Next he begins to notice some of the many types of {{w|Halo (optical phenomenon)|halos}} that can appear around the sun (or the moon). The one he spots is most likely the {{w|22° halo|circular 22° halo}}, which is a halo forming a circle with a radius of approximately 22° around the Sun, or occasionally the Moon.

God is ready this time and promptly claims it is a promise to never again make {{w|raccoons}} {{w|Immortality|immortal}} as it destroyed the Earth's {{w|ecosystem}}. Although today these animals can be a pest, they are luckily not immortal anymore.

But Noah continues by noticing two {{w|sun dogs}} (or parhelia) which often are co-occurring with the 22° halo. They consists of a pair of bright spots on either horizontal side on the Sun, with the halo going through.

God finally gets tired of this and tries to stop these questions by saying that he has said that he is sorry, and asks Noah to stop asking anymore of these questions. It is probably wise of God to stop here as the list of {{w|Optical phenomena}} on Wikipedia has 23 different {{w|Optical_phenomena#Atmospheric_optical_phenomena|atmospheric optical phenomena}} alone.

The title text is a continuation of the conversation, where God tells Noah that in the far future humanity will invent a game called {{w|SimCity}}. Here you not alone have all the control like God, but there is even a [http://www.ign.com/wikis/simcity/Disasters disaster button] if you do not wish to wait for those to happen by chance.

What God tells Noah is that it is just too tempting, once a civilization has been build up, to see what happens when pushing the disaster button, which God obviously also have on his control panel...

==Transcript==
:[Noah, here represented as Cueball, is looking up on a rainbow band going through the top right corner of the panel. The band displays the following colors from outward and in: Red, yellow, green, blue and purple. A black blob in the bottom of the panel right of Noah, has white text with the reply from God to Noah's questions. This continues through the rest of the comic.]
:Noah: Wow, God- What's that band of color?
:God: A rainbow.
:God: It is a sign of my promise that I will never again flood the Earth.

:[In this frameless panel Noah is not looking so much up. God's repy is split in two black blobs with a small connection between them.]
:Noah: Oh, good! Hey, what about that second bow above the first one?
:God: Oh, uh, sign of my promise not to set Earth on fire.
:God: Sorry for doing that a while back.

:[Noah points left, Gods black reply blob hangs higher, only above Noah's shoulders]
:Noah: What about that third faint bow near the sun?
:God: My promise to never again destroy Earth's ecosystem by making raccoons immortal.

:[Noah points even higher up towards left, with God's reply situated as before]
:Noah: And the little rainbow clouds on either side of-
:God: Look, I said I'm sorry. Can we just drop it?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1081: Argument Victory

2016-05-11T12:08:44Z

108.162.237.252: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1081
| date = July 13, 2012
| title = Argument Victory
| image = argument victory.png
| titletext = Really, the comforting side in most conspiracy theory arguments is the one claiming that anyone who's in power has any plan at all.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is arguing with a {{w|conspiracy theorist}}, who is sitting in front of his computer talking back. They are probably using {{w|Skype}} as Cueball later asks him to watch closely, holding his phone up to show the other guy what he is doing.

Cueball's opponent seems to ignore all reliable sources, like {{w|Snopes}} and {{w|Wikipedia}} on top of several {{w|Academic journal|journals}}, instead preferring sources that are seemingly not credible (but that do agree with him). These conspiracy ".net" pages typically just have a black background and uses several different sizes of fonts, the larger (and probably also in bright colors), the more convincing, seems to be the belief, and Cueball cannot take these kind of sources seriously. ".net" websites can be made by anyone and have little limitations. The maker of a ".net" does not need to show sources of information, or even their name. As such, ".net" websites are notoriously unreliable and often have viruses or other malware. [http://zapatopi.net/blackhelicopters/ The Truth about Black Helicopters] is an example of one such website, supposedly explaining the truth behind
government "Black Helicopters".

The conspiracy theorist insists that by trusting reliable sources, Cueball is simply buying in to the cover-up. Cueball says he can win the argument, and will show him how, and then ceases to argue further in favor of going down a {{w|waterslide}} while holding up the phone to show the other guy how to have a good time. Since conspiracy theorists tend to be [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intransigent intransigent], Cueball sees himself as the victor after ceasing to argue with a guy who cannot be argued with, and instead decides to have some fun. This is even improved by the fact that it makes his opponent angry. (It is like discussing {{w|religion}} with very religious people - you can never make them change their mind by arguing with reason taken from scientific studies).

The joke here is also in the title of the comic which is ''[http://imgur.com/EKkAXgR Argument Victory]'' something that is very hard to achieve by on the web... Cueball won this victory not by arguing but by stopping this argument he was having with someone that could/would not be argued with.

The title text points out that belief in a conspiracy presupposes that those with the power to carry out the conspiracy actually have a plan, a situation which might be found more "comforting" than the alternative that those in power are just muddling through with no plan at all. This concept is revisited in [[1274: Open Letter]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, looking right, is talking at his smartphone while holding it up in front of his head using both hands.]
:Cueball: I can't believe you're so wrong. I'm backed by Snopes, Wikipedia, and a half-dozen journals. You're citing .net pages with black backgrounds and like 20 fonts each.

:[A conspiracy theorist is sitting in front of this lap top at his desk looking left. He has his hair combed down. He is talking to Cueball via his laptop, probably Skyping.]
:Conspiracy theorist: It's sad how you buy into the official story so unquestioningly.
:Conspiracy theorist: Guess some people ''prefer'' to stay asleep.

:[Back to Cueball who has lowered his phone a bit. The reply from the conspiracy theorist is shown to come out of the phone with a jagged arrow and likewise speech bubble.]
:Cueball: Watch closely— I'm about to win this argument.
:Conspiracy theorist (reply from phone): How?

:[Cueball is sitting at the very top of a waterslide preparing to descend.]
:Cueball: By ''going down a waterslide''.

:[A split panel, with a close-up of the conspiracy theorist above and below Cueball is sliding down the waterslide with both hands above his head, water splashing up behind him as he holds his smartphone above the water in one hand.]
:Conspiracy theorist: So? What does that prove?
:Cueball: ''Wheee..''

:[Another split panel, this time a smaller part is used for the close-up of the conspiracy theorist above and below Cueball has more of this panels space for sliding down to the bottom of the waterslide with both hands above his head, water still splashing up behind him as he continues to keep his smartphone above the water in one hand.]
:Conspiracy theorist: You didn't win the argument!
:Cueball: ''...eeee!''
:Cueball: ''Sploosh!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Internet]]