explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1242: Scary Names

2024-03-04T19:42:53Z

108.162.245.166: Undo revision 336232 by 172.69.195.123 (talk) I don't think the people reverting this are reading the source; it's clear from the book that the content is true

{{comic
| number = 1242
| date = July 24, 2013
| title = Scary Names
| image = scary_names.png
| titletext = Far off to the right of the chart is the Helvetica Scenario.
}}

==Explanation==
This chart humorously explores how things are often named colloquially and without regard to accuracy in correlating actual scariness with apparent scariness. It is interesting to note how people react to the items near the bottom right of the chart "scary things with not-very-scary names" when compared to how they may react to items in the upper left "not-very-scary things with scary names". Some of the entries on the chart are especially interesting examples considering that portions of the names that are associated with significant historical or cultural events and themes. i.e. Chernobyl Packet, Demon Core. All items are described in the [[#Table|table below]] including the title text on Helvetica Scenario.

On the chart, things toward the right are scary/dangerous/very bad, while things toward the top ''sound'' scary without ''necessarily'' being scary.

Note that [[Randall]] uses similar diagrams in both [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]], [[1501: Mysteries]] and [[2466: In Your Classroom]], which also contain different items. The first two also have an extra point, and the last two extra points mentioned in the title text. Only the first and the last comics points are also off the chart, whereas for the second the description of the point is too long to fit on the chart. Extra info outside the chart is also used in the title text of [[1785: Wifi]], but this is a line graph.

===Table===
*This table list the entries from least to most scary, including the ''entry'' mentioned in the title text.
*To begin with it is sorted from most scary name to least scary name.
**The assigned percentage values assumes a linear scale and assigns ''flesh eating bacteria'' with the point (100%, 100%).
**This is simply the easiest way to list the entries as there is no mention of the scale.
**As is clear from the title text, "flesh eating bacteria" is not an absolute, simply the highest in this particular sample; there are things more scary than 100%!

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! scope="col" class="unsortable"| Name
! scope="col"| Approximate Apparent Scariness
! scope="col"| Approximate True Scariness
! scope="col" class="unsortable"| Description
|-
|{{Nowrap|{{w|Necrotizing fasciitis|Flesh-eating bacteria}}}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|m !}}100%}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|l !}}100%}}
|As the name suggests, bacteria that eat (or more accurately, releases toxins that destroy) your skin and muscle.
|-
|{{Nowrap|[http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/C/Chernobyl-packet.html Chernobyl Packet]}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|k !}}95%}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|a !}}4%}}
|A network packet that induces a {{w|broadcast storm}} or network meltdown. It is an analogous reference to the {{w|Chernobyl disaster}}.
|-
|{{Nowrap|{{w|Kessler syndrome|Kessler Syndrome}}}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|k !}}90%}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|d !}}53%}}
|A hypothetical scenario where low Earth orbit objects collide, creating debris which increases the risk of more collisions, leading to a cascade effect which could severely hinder exploration and satellite technologies for many decades. It has been mentioned in {{w|Gravity (2013 film)}}.
|-
|{{Nowrap|{{w|Demon core|Demon Core}}}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|j !}}87%}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|h !}}73%}}
|A subcritical mass of plutonium that was involved in two separate fatal incidents at Los Alamos laboratory in 1945 and 1946. In both cases, the core was accidentally placed into a configuration where it went supercritical and exposed an experimenter to fatal doses of radiation. The second is more notable, where Louis Slotin held two halves of a beryllium neutron reflector apart with a flat head screwdriver which slipped, suddenly causing the contained plutonium core to become supercritical and delivering a fatal dose of radiation. This is later referenced in [[2593: Deviled Eggs]].
|-
|{{Nowrap|{{w|Calorimeter#Bomb calorimeters|Bomb Calorimeters}}}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|h !}}67%}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|b !}}28%}}
|A device for measuring heat of combustion of a reaction in a pressure vessel. It does not interact with explosive devices directly, though the chemicals a bomb calorimeter would be called upon to measure are occasionally explosive or dangerous, and a carelessly operated calorimeter could start a fire.
|-
|{{Nowrap|{{w|Avian influenza virus|Bird Flu}}}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|h !}}57%}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|g !}}72%}}
|An illness caused by strains of influenza adapted for birds, which is generally very deadly in humans. Should the virus adapt for human to human transmission, a pandemic can quickly result. Since birds can travel great distances quickly, it is generally already widespread and difficult to contain.
|-
|{{Nowrap|{{w|Nuclear football|Nuclear Football}}}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|g !}}52%}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|k !}}94%}}
|An aluminum Zero Halliburton briefcase which is used by the President of the United States to authorize nuclear attack. A military aide carrying the football is always near the president.
|-
|{{Nowrap|{{w|Sulfur mustard|Mustard Gas}}}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|f !}}47%}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|c !}}50%}}
|A chemical warfare agent which causes blisters and severe irritation on skin and lung tissue.
|-
|{{Nowrap|{{w|Antimicrobial resistance|Superbug}}}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|e !}}39%}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|j !}}83%}}
|Antibiotic resistant bacteria. The growing use of antibiotics has caused some bacteria to evolve to become resistant to the antibiotics. A "superbug" refers to a scenario where a bacteria evolves to become resistant to all antibiotics, for example, {{w|MRSA}}. Thanks to popular culture, however, the term "superbug" usually makes the audience think "a bug with superpowers", such as {{w|Atom Ant}}.
|-
|{{Nowrap|{{w|Criticality accident|Criticality Incident}}}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|d!}}22%}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|i !}}74%}}
|An unexpected and uncontrolled nuclear reaction. This occurs when a system that should be sub-critical becomes critical by accident (a term devised by Louis Slotin, as seen above).
|-
|{{Nowrap|{{w|Soil liquefaction|Soil Liquefaction}}}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|c !}}16%}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|e !}}54%}}
|A phenomenon where wet soil loses its strength and becomes temporarily liquid, capable of swallowing people and buildings, especially after earthquakes or torrential rains. Liquefaction can cause landslides; landslides can cause more liquefaction. Once the earthquake stops, the ground becomes solid again, trapping whatever was submerged. Liquefaction on a very large scale created the geologic column, including the sorting of fossils observed within the rock layers.<ref>Brown, Walt. In the beginning. 8th ed. Phoenix, Arizona : CSC, 2008. Pages 169-181.</ref>
|-
|{{Nowrap|{{w|Gray goo|Grey Goo}}}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|b !}}5%}}
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|f !}}69%}}
|A hypothetical end-of-world scenario where self-replicating nanobots consume all matter. It is (partially) illustrated in [[865: Nanobots]].
|-
|Helvetica Scenario (from the title text)
|{{Nowrap|{{Hs|z !}}N/A}}
|{{Hs|m !}}Off the chart
|This scenario is also in the title text of [[683: Science Montage]]: "...We have a Helvetica scenario!". The scenario is a fictional experiment, presented in Switzerland (Helvetica), which assumes that removing only the nucleus (the center of an atom) of a calcium atom in one's skin, but still leaving the electron shell at its position, would cause a massive reaction ending up in heavy mutations. The Helvetica scenario was made up by the BBC comedy show {{w|Look Around You}} in the pilot episode, which can be seen [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4CRCJUmWsM&t=5m53s here (at 5:53)]. The fact that the term {{w|Helvetica}} is more commonly known as referring to a very-commonly-used modern typeface makes the name sound like it should refer to a much less serious situation.
|}

==Trivia==
*In the ''[[What If? (book)|What If?]]'' book, the article No More DNA (exclusive to the physical book), this graph is shown redrawn with "Destroying Angel" added to it. Destroying Angel is a poisonous mushroom.

==Transcript==
:[A scatter-plot, with 12 labeled dots. Both axis are labeled but neither has an arrow at its end. The dots are scattered from left to right and top to bottom. Below all labels are given, first for the axis, and then for each dot in approximately normal reading order, left to right top to bottom, but in the order it would make sense to read them:]
:Y-axis: Scariness of name
:X-axis: Scariness of thing name refers to

:[Top left]: Chernobyl packet
:[Top halfway right]: Kessler syndrome
:[Top three quarters towards right]: Demon core
:[Top right]: Flesh-eating bacteria
:[A third down left]: Bomb calorimeter
:[Halfway down three quarters towards right]: Bird flu
:[Halfway down right]: Nuclear football
:[Dead center]: Mustard gas
:[Just below and right of center]: Superbug
:[Bottom halfway right]: Soil liquefaction
:[A third up three quarters towards right ]: Criticality incident
:[Very bottom two-thirds to the right]: Grey goo

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Scatter plots]]
[[Category:Rankings]]
[[Category:Nuclear weapons]]

231: Cat Proximity

2024-03-01T01:10:57Z

108.162.245.166:

{{comic
| number =231
| date =March 5, 2007
| title =Cat Proximity
| image =cat_proximity.png
| titletext =Yes you are! And you're sitting there! Hi, kitty!
}}

[[File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg]]

==Explanation==
This comic refers to the use of "{{w|baby talk}}" when speaking to pets, especially {{w|cats}}. A person's voice becomes {{w|falsetto}} and {{Wiktionary|cooing}}, vocabulary becomes simplified, and phrases are repeated, such as "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty." The chart shows that a person's apparent intelligence decreases, and that the {{Wiktionary|inanity}} (i.e. uselessness or emptiness) of their statements increases, the closer they get to a cat. Most people act like this when they're playing with cats or trying to call them over to them.
Thankfully, being close to a cat doesn't actually cause any decrease of intelligence in normal circumstances. In [[1535: Words for Pets]], [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] mentions again how people often talk strangely to their pets. Typing "cat" in [[UniXKCD]] will print "You're a kitty", a reference to Cueball's line in the comic.

The title text continues [[Cueball|Cueball's]] obvious statement (and thus inane/useless point made) from below the graph.

==Transcript==
:[A graph with the x-axis labeled, and the scale indicated from left to right:]
:Far
:Human proximity to cat
:Near
:[Two curves are drawn and labeled, first the one starting on top, which then veers downwards and crosses the other as that curve veers upwards.]
:Intelligence
:Inanity of statements

:[Below the graph, Cueball is seen standing at three distances from a cat that is drawn to the far right. The two first Cueballs are just standing, one below far, the other in the middle, and the last is standing close to the cat (below near) with his hands up, and he is speaking.]
:Cueball: You're a kitty!

==Trivia==
*This comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125023401/https://store.xkcd.com/products/signed-prints available as a signed print] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].
*This comic, along with its title text, is the image used for {{tvtropes|CutenessProximity|Cuteness Proximity}} on TV Tropes.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Cats]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]

790: Control

2024-03-01T01:07:27Z

108.162.245.166:

{{comic
| number = 790
| date = September 8, 2010
| title = Control
| image = control.png
| titletext = [[File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg]]Which, at one point, led to a study showing that LSD produces no more hallucinations than a placebo.
}}

==Explanation==
This is another comic in the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby series]]. In a product experiment, two groups of people are given a certain pill or lotion. Some people are given the product to be tested, while others (the control group) are given a placebo; nobody is told which group they belong to. The control group acts as a norm for comparison against the others.

Randall has messed with this process by giving LSD ({{w|lysergic acid diethylamide}}) to the control group. LSD is a drug that causes hallucinations and distortions in the perception of time and space. [[Megan]], apparently a control, is experiencing spiders in her hallucinations. Since the control group is supposed to reflect what "normally" happens, this is indeed very confusing to the scientists. While hallucinating in the comic Megan is drawn as if she has 8 limbs showing that she's waving her arms. Alternatively, although not especially likely, this could signify that she actually has grown four extra arms - which would be very confusing even if the scientists knew about the LSD.{{Citation needed}}

However, given the scientists are confused, this means that they must know which person is in which group. This implies that the trial isn't double-blinded, which in and of itself would impact the veracity of the study. In a properly double-blinded study, the scientists would not know Cueball or [[Megan]] was the control and would only dutifully record their observations. (Alternatively, this is simply an unexpected result for either group.)

The title text suggests that, in a different study, this substitution was performed when the product being tested was itself LSD. This led to the conclusion that LSD is no more likely to cause hallucinations than a placebo, somehow implying that LSD is not a hallucinogen. We can only hope they were able to redo the test, as in layman's terms "Nonsense MUST be wrong". If this were true, this would imply that Randall would only have needed to sneak placebo LSD into the studies to get the same effect.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the frame:]
:My Hobby:

:[Cueball looks down at his arm calmly, while next to him Megan is violently flailing around in terror. In the foreground a Cueball-like guy stands next to Ponytail who is holding a clipboard. They look on in puzzlement.]
:Cueball: My rash seems to have shrunk by about 20% today.
:Megan: OH GOD SPIDERS
:Cueball-like guy: ? ?
:Ponytail: ?

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Sneaking into experiments and giving LSD to the control group.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Spiders]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]

404: Not Found

2024-03-01T01:07:02Z

108.162.245.166:

{{comic
| number = 404
| date = April 1, 2008
| title = Not Found
| image = Flag of the Soviet Union.svg
| before = <big><big><big><big><big>'''404 Not Found''' </big></big></big></big><hr>nginx</big>
}}

==Explanation==
{{Quote|[...] I have always been of the opinion that http://xkcd.com/404/ is an actual comic, if a slightly avant-garde one. I actually went out of my way to modify the 'random' button to include it, but that annoyed too many people—most of whom reasonably assumed it was a bug—and I eventually undid it.|[[Randall Munroe]], ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20190328010454/https://plus.google.com/111588569124648292310/posts/j6w9DkYApya Source]''}}

This was the first [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall Munroe|Randall]]. The next became [[880: Headache]], released on Friday April 1, 2011. The [[403: Convincing Pickup Line|previous comic]] was released on Monday March 31, 2008, and the [[405: Journal 3|next comic]] was released on Wednesday April 2, 2008. This comic was released between the two, on Tuesday April 1st 2008.

The "{{w|HTTP 404|404 Not Found}}" error message is a HTTP standard response code to indicate that the browser was able to communicate with a given {{w|Server (computing)|server}}, but the server could not find what was requested. The error may also be used when a server does not wish to disclose whether it has the requested information. The website hosting server will typically generate a "404 Not Found" web page when a user attempts to follow a broken or dead link; hence the 404 error is one of the most recognizable errors encountered on the internet. Randall deliberately skipped the comic number 404, so when people try to view it, they get a "404 Not Found" error instead. He has said that he considers 404 [https://web.archive.org/web/20190328010454/https://plus.google.com/111588569124648292310/posts/j6w9DkYApya an "actual comic"] and that for a time he made it possible to find it using the "random" button on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com].

It might initially appear coincidental that the [[403: Convincing Pickup Line|comic 403]] was published just a day before April 1, 2008. However, Randall likely became aware of this possible correlation prior to that specific date, so he had an opportunity to influence the comic's release date. In May 2007 and in November 2007, Randall published the [[:Category:Choices|Choices series]] and the [[:Category:1337|1337 series]] respectively, each over five consecutive days, less than six months before April Fool's Day. This deliberate action shifted the release date of comic 403 from April 10, 2008, to March 31, 2008, when it was actually published. This alteration allowed for comic 404 to be posted on the April Fool's Day without abruptly disrupting the normal comic release schedule.

This comic was featured in [[1975: Right Click]] (in File > Open > C:\ > Bookmarks/ > Comics > comic num 404). Interestingly, the next comic, [[405: Journal 3]], includes the line "So, you found me after all." In [[1969: Not Available]], the error message 404 is referenced in the caption.

==Transcript==
:[Instead of the regular xkcd site layout, just a white page that states on top center:]
:404 Not Found

:[Page-wide divider line]

:[Below that in a smaller font:]
:nginx

==Trivia==
The web comic Comic JK made [https://web.archive.org/web/20100925103935/http://comicjk.com/comic.php/404 a spoof of this comic] in xkcd style.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:April fools' comics]]
[[Category:No title text]]

23: T-shirts

2024-03-01T01:04:54Z

108.162.245.166:

{{comic
| number = 23
| date = October 26, 2005
| title = T-shirts
| before = <big><big>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=1%3A10%20pm-,Wednesday%27s%20Drawing,-I%20saw%20the Original title]: '''Wednesday's Drawing'''</big></big>
| image = Flag of the Soviet Union.svg
| titletext = It's depressing how many of these are real shirts [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=1%3A10%20pm-,Wednesday%27s%20Drawing,-I%20saw%20the Original caption]: I saw the "problem" t-shirt (upper right) on campus a few days ago and suddenly felt so sad.
}}

==Explanation==
This was the twenty-fourth comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[22: Barrel - Part 3]], and the next one was [[37: Hyphen]].

This comic satirizes the plethora of "snarky" phrase T-shirts that exist today. In the top-left, the character wears a typical (and real) snark shirt, "I see dumb people" (suggesting that the wearer thinks everyone else is dumb, while being a parody of the phrase "I see dead people" from the movie ''{{w|The Sixth Sense}}''). Other shirts shown also suggest that the wearer is better than everyone else, and perhaps the shirts increasingly suggest that the wearer is anti-social moving from top to bottom. Near the bottom of the screen, the T-shirts no longer attempt to be witty and simply have straightforward phrases like "go away" and "die". These are exaggerations of the message that the other more-realistic shirts broadcast.

The final three shirts are also exaggerated shirts that suggest [[Randall]]'s view that people who wear snarky shirts are overcompensating for the fact that they are already alone or perhaps putting up a tough exterior to conceal their sadness that no one would talk to them anyway. Most notably "maybe if this T-shirt is witty enough, someone will finally love me" sums up what Randall thinks snarky shirts really say. There are shirts with this or a similar message, although it is unclear whether they were created before this comic or as a tribute to this comic.

In the title text, Randall says that it's depressing how many of the shirts in the comic actually exist in real life, further underlining the point that these shirts are overly arrogant, to the point where one might believe that Randall made them up. This highlights the inadequacy of substance within these T-shirts and the emotions they invoke in Randall's mind, as shown in the original caption.

==Transcript==
:[A collection of phrases on T-shirts. The first and the last on actual black T-shirts worn by the same person, whose facial expression is more sad on the last one.]
:I see dumb people
:As a matter of fact the world <big>does</big> revolve around me
:I can only please one person per day / today is not your day.
:You know what your problem is? You're stupid.
:Get a clue
:Do I look like a people person?
:Your village called / they want their idiot back
:Go away
:I hate you all
:Die.
:Help.
:Maybe if this T-shirt is witty enough, someone will finally love me.
:Oh God I'm so alone.

==Trivia==
The last sentence in the comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20211215102218/https://store.xkcd.com/products/witty available as a T-shirt] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 24]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd.com]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Sarcasm]]
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]

2791: Bookshelf Sorting

2024-03-01T01:02:01Z

108.162.245.166:

{{comic
| number = 2791
| date = June 19, 2023
| title = Bookshelf Sorting
| image = Flag of the Soviet Union.svg
| imagesize = 425x255px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Of course, I sort all my bookshelves the normal way, alphabetically (by first sentence).
}}

==Explanation==
Some people like to sort their bookshelves by the visible color of the book's spine, for example by hue to create a rainbow effect. This is pleasing to the eye, but may be unhelpful when [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYxmPHLU9oA trying to find a specific book]. Literary enthusiasts (AKA "Book People") frequently dislike this system, because it emphasizes appearance at the expense of making books easy to find. On a philosophical level, treating books as decorations, rather than reading material, upsets many purists. "Book people" are more likely to have a practical system for arranging their books, either by category, genre, title, author name, or some combination of those. For a large library, a more rigorous organizational scheme such as the {{w|Dewey Decimal Classification}} might be used.

Unfortunately, [[Randall]] has found a ''much'' worse method of book organization - instead of sorting the books as discrete units, he has sorted their individual ''pages'' by number. This would require physically separating each book into its individual pages, and then organizing them into groups by page number. This effectively destroys every book, and requires anyone trying to read them to laboriously find each individual page (among many pages of the same number), and then replace it in the correct space after reading. Adding a new book would require individually placing potentially hundreds of pages. Where pages are not numbered, finding their place would be nearly impossible.

He doesn't denote whether he's using any particular sub-method to sort the pages within each page number, and if so, whether this is consistent per book (e.g. alphabetically by the book title), or does each page number sort independently? If the latter (e.g. each group of pages of a particular number is sorted by the first word or words on that page, similar to what is described in the title text), it would be especially difficult to reunite all the pages of a book as each page would be in a different location relative to the other pages.

From the picture, Randall's system appears to work by absolute physical page count, including the front and rear covers as 'pages'. All the front covers are on the left side, then the first internal leaf of each book (counted as the second page), then the second internal leaf, etc. This produces repeating patterns of taller and shorter loose-leaf pages, echoing the proportions of each cover, having gathered together a page of the same position in each different book. The back covers are mixed in to whatever group falls after the last internal leaf from the same book, and so are intermixed with pages from longer books. The left-most front cover matches the right-most back cover, the second front cover matches the 2nd-to-last back cover, etc. with the last of the front covers matching the first of the back covers. At the end, there are only the last pages of the longest book left, now all uniform in size, and its rear cover.

From the number of repeated page patterns, it can be determined that the shortest (inner-most) book contains approximately 28 pages, the next shortest book has about 30, the next around 32, the next around 40, etc. It gets harder to tell as the number of pages in each group gets fewer and fewer. In total Randall's bookshelf contains 11 books.

The caption claims that "book people" get way angrier at this system, likely because it involves physically destroying books, rendering them almost unreadable. People with a strong affinity for books are often upset at volumes being treated with such disrespect.

In the title text Randall claims he sorts his bookshelf alphabetically, but by the first '''sentence'''. He describes this as "the normal way", even though the typical practice is to sort books either by title or author.

Sorting by first line was, in fact, a common sorting method before books had titles, known as {{w|Incipit}}. In modern times, however, that method is wildly obsolete, as books are almost always identified by titles, few people memorize the opening lines of their books, and a film titled ''{{w|The Hobbit|In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit}}'' would not receive any funding.{{Citation needed}} However, {{w|papal encyclicals}} are still named after their first words, and thus would be sorted after their first sentence. For example, the encyclical titled ''{{w|Quanta Cura}}'' begins with "''Quanta cura'' ac pastorali vigilantia Romani Pontifices Prædecessores Nostri, exsequentes [...]".

In somewhat similar fashion, the 114 chapters of the {{w|Quran}} are roughly sorted by their length. American church hymnals list hymns by relatively meaningless numbers, but then index them by tune name, text title, first line and meter.

Some books do have very well-known first lines, so sorting by first line could be used to demonstrate a level of literary sophistication on the part of the bookshelf owner, but could hardly be considered "normal".

Other pop culture references to sorting by first sentence occur in the Good Omens TV show season 2 episode 2, where the archangel Gabriel, while suffering from amnesia, reorganizes the books in the bookshop alphabetically by first sentence to pass the time.

==Transcript==
:[A bookshelf hanging on a wall is shown. It is covered almost from left to right but not with ordinary books. To the left there are 11 covers next to each other without any paper between them. They have different heights and shades of gray. After the last of these there follows many leaves of paper of differing heights similarly to that of the covers. The top of the papers thus form a wave shape with more than twenty peaks before they reach another cover. After that there follows similar patterns with paper in different height and then a cover in between more papers. But there is a much shorter distance between the first and second cover than before the first cover, after the initial 11 covers. The next two covers are close to the first, then there is a longer stretch of paper to the fourth, much less to the fifth, and then the next three covers comes very close. There is again quite long distance to the ninth and tenth cover, and here the number of different heights for the paper are clearly less than the previous paper stretches. Finally before the last and 11th cover all the paper, not much of it though, are of the same height, and just a bit lower than the final cover. The 11 covers at the start matches the 11 covers later and they comes in reverse order throughout the paper stretches as they are sorted to begin with, so the first and last cover matches, as does number 2 and the second last etc. There is a caption beneath the panel:]
:Book people hate seeing books sorted by colors, but it turns out they get ''way'' more angry if you sort the pages by number.

{{comic discussion}}

1447: Meta-Analysis

2024-03-01T01:01:19Z

108.162.245.166:

{{comic
| number = 1447
| date = November 14, 2014
| title = Meta-Analysis
| image = Flag of the Soviet Union.svg
| titletext = Life goal #29 is to get enough of them rejected that I can publish a comparative analysis of the rejection letters.
}}

==Explanation==
In the scientific literature, {{w|Meta-analysis|meta-analyses}} are studies which compare multiple studies on a single topic, with the aim of giving a balanced overview of the known results. [http://www.medline.com/ Medline], [http://www.elsevier.com/online-tools/embase/about Embase] and [http://www.cochrane.org/ Cochrane] are medical research databases which give access to studies on drug effects or results of other medical procedures.

This comic explores the idea of iterating the process, going from meta-analyses to meta-meta-analyses (which actually exist, though not necessarily by that name, see below) and hence to a meta-meta-meta-analysis.

Of course, the title text adds another level of meta-analysis, since he wants to make a meta-analysis of rejection letters which concern his meta-meta-meta analyses.

All of the cited meta-meta-analyses are real: [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0895-4356(03)00110-0 M. Sampson (2003)], [http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-5491.2005.01645.x P. L. Royle (2005)], [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2011.01.007 E. Lee (2011)], and [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2005.03.004 A.R. Lemeshow (2005)].

The phrase "too meta" can be found in the comments of videos, blog posts, and other internet content for which the commentator claims they are so abstract that they can't be easily interpreted. It refers to the thing in question being too self-referential, but could just be a cursory dismissal of the presented content.

Comic [[93: Jeremy Irons]] similarly states a slightly absurd "life goal". [[917: Hofstadter]] is "meta"-related.

==Transcript==
:[Excerpt from a scientific paper.]
:Many meta-analysis studies include the phrase “We searched Medline, Embase, and Cochrane for studies…”
:This has led to meta-meta-analyses comparing meta-analysis methods. e.g. M Sampson (2003), PL Royle (2005), E Lee (2011), AR Lemeshow (2005).
:We performed a meta-meta-meta-analysis of these meta-meta-analyses.
:Methods: We searched Medline, Embase, and Cochrane for the phrase “We searched Medline, Embase, and Cochrane for the phrase ‘We searched Medline, Embase, and [cut off]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Life goal #28: get a paper rejected with the comment “Too meta”

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]
[[Category:Self-reference]]

Talk:2893: Sphere Tastiness

2024-02-13T03:51:08Z

108.162.245.166:

base balls are delicious after boiling and peeling[[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.212|172.68.64.212]] 00:19, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
:You seem to be confusing baseballs with eggs. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]])
:And who the hell calls baseballs “bAsE bAlLs”. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 02:40, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

who's the authority on whether or not the earth and the moon are "not tasty"????, i think the moon would be pretty delicious actually [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.71|172.69.71.71]] 00:26, 13 February 2024 (UTC)GR8GH
:Some Apollo astronauts reported that moondust tastes and smells like gunpowder. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:28, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
::Yum! [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 02:41, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
:Sure, if you like green cheese! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.123|172.70.207.123]] 03:26, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

In Fuck Grapefruits, watermelons were just slightly tasty. Does he like other melons so much that the average melon is as tasty as grapes? Or has he learned how delicious watermelon actually is? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:42, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
:I think that he probably just learned how delicious watermelon is. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 02:41, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

This comic is begging for another of his four-corner plots, not a line graph. Ball bearings: lower left. Bowling balls: middle bottom. Tapioca: upper left. Cheese balls: upper middle. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.123|172.70.207.123]] 03:26, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

It's a linear interpolation, Michael. How big could the error be? 10%? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.166|108.162.245.166]] 03:51, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Talk:1242: Scary Names

2024-02-08T06:26:19Z

108.162.245.166: /* Geologic column */ I'm actually celibate, so your previous edit summary is inaccurate

;Zero Halliburton
What is "A Zero Halliburton briefcase"? [[Special:Contributions/212.232.24.57|212.232.24.57]] 13:24, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

:Zero Halliburton is a luggage brand name, with a line of aluminum attache cases. Not connected to the big company Halliburton, associated with former US Vice President Cheney and the war in Iraq. [[User:Wrybred|Wrybred]] ([[User talk:Wrybred|talk]]) 13:57, 24 July 2013 (UTC)wrybred

::The history of Zero Halliburton luggage does intersect with the founder of Halliburton Company, Erle P. Halliburton. He needed rugged cases, so he started a company to produce them. He sold it to Zero Corporation. [http://www.zerohalliburton.com/about-our-company.html]. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 14:26, 24 July 2013 (UTC)''

::Also of note, Halliburton isn't just "known for" its association with Cheney and the war in Iraq. It's an oil and gas services (i.e. drilling and well managment, inter alia) company. [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 10:50, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

;Military Aide/Secret Service Agent
Isn't the nuclear football carried by a military aide, not a Secret Service agent? [[Special:Contributions/167.165.238.254|167.165.238.254]] 14:18, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

:Probably. I don't really know what I'm talking about. If you think you can improve on what I wrote, go for it! [[User:RouterIncident|RouterIncident]] ([[User talk:RouterIncident|talk]]) 14:24, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

::Yes. "Cheney noted that the president is accompanied at all times by a military aide carrying a 'football' that contains launch codes for nuclear weapons. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/21/AR2008122100869.html] ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 14:26, 24 July 2013 (UTC)''

:::I assume it's called 'football' because in the USA footballs are usually carried by hand. --[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 15:16, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

::::Early plans for nuclear war against the Soviets were codenamed "Dropkick". [[Special:Contributions/193.67.17.36|193.67.17.36]] 16:23, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

;Helvetica Scenario
I think the "Helvetica Scenario" explanation is wrong, but I don't know enough about it to feel comfortable editing. Here's an article I found that makes more sense. http://enigmauniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Helvetica_Scenario (I didn't watch the Youtube clip since I'm at work, so maybe that's what the clip refers to. It should be explained in the article instead.) [[User:Trek7553|Trek7553]] ([[User talk:Trek7553|talk]]) 14:45, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

:To the best of my knowledge, the page you linked to is a work of fiction on a role-playing wiki. The references to calcium imply that it is based off of the Look Around You segment, but with its own added elements for the sake of role-playing. [[User:RouterIncident|RouterIncident]] ([[User talk:RouterIncident|talk]]) 14:53, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

::I changed this section. The video is correct, but the horror scene is just showing a possible result of the Helvetica experiment.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:19, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

:::That sounds much better now. [[User:RouterIncident|RouterIncident]] ([[User talk:RouterIncident|talk]]) 18:06, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

:::: I know what you mean but I like the statement "...the page you linked to is a work of fiction..." - the Helvetica Scenario is a work of fiction! But yes, that is a derivative work, the original source being Look Around You.

:::: Having just looked at the edits, Dgbrt is getting seriously confused. The Helvetica Scenario is not real, and is completely made up by the TV program Look Around You. Urban dictionary is entirely based on the original invention by L.A.Y. It is not a real thing!

;Arbitrary Scariness Formatting
I have a slight issue with the artificial percentage scale given for entries in the chart. First of all it assumes a linear chart that is measured in percentages. Secondly, it assumes Flesh-eating Bacteria is 100% scariest thing and scariest-sounding thing existant. Just because it's the highest on the chart doesn't make it "100%" (again, percentage seems like an arbitrary scale to assign) [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 16:22, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

:I disagree on your second point. The explanation expresses the scariness of something as a percentage of Flesh-eating Bacteria BECAUSE it is an arbitrary scale. It doesn't imply that the bacteria is the scariest possible thing. I think this is the best way; it's better than saying "Grey goo isn't as scary sounding, but is scarier than..." for all possible combinations of every item. Also on your first point, it doesn't assume the chart is measured in percentages (although it does assume linearity). [[Special:Contributions/174.88.154.131|174.88.154.131]] 12:30, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

::How about we just give the pixel coordinates and point out that the scale is arbitrary (or not defined by the comic). Percentage would suggest that the scale is in some way linear, which you actually cannot conclude from the graph. --[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 13:08, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

::Initially I had written out "Not very scary", "Somewhat scary", "Fairly scary", etc. but it seemed simpler and much easier to read and sort to simply use arbitrary percentages. [[User:RouterIncident|RouterIncident]] ([[User talk:RouterIncident|talk]]) 14:55, 25 July 2013 (UTC)
:As there are no values or units listed, Randall's dots are fairly arbitrary, probably plotted relative to each other and to a roughly-equal apparent-to-actual-scariness line. So isn't it a little silly to argue about the listing of an arbitrary scale for these arbitrary values? [[Special:Contributions/138.162.8.57|138.162.8.57]] 15:57, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

::In my opinion the percentages are over interpreting the comic. But since it is here it should be explained as position on the graph relative to zero.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:19, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

:::The percentages are perfectly fine. They just need to be interpreted as what they are: percentages of scary, relative to flesh eating bacteria. Flesh eating bacteria = 1 unit of scary. In this situation 110% isn't just a metaphor. If the bacteria was the scariest thing nothing would be off the chart. [[User:Db|db]] ([[User talk:Db|talk]]) 06:11, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

Really I think the point of the comic is how superficial perception and reality fail to correlate. That's what is so notable about flesh eating bacteria. It lives up to it's name. A rare thing indeed. [[User:Db|db]] ([[User talk:Db|talk]]) 06:11, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

What is missing about the transcript? It describes the comic panel perfectly. there is no dialogue to include. could you please be more specific about what you feel is missing from the transcript? @dgbrt [[User:Mrarch|Mrarch]] ([[User talk:Mrarch|talk]]) 00:37, 3 December 2013 (UTC)
:A transcript should not contain a sentence like: "Items within the scatter plot are listed in the table above." --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:02, 3 December 2013 (UTC)
::I think that the transcript should not contain anything except for the text in the comic. They should be used for searching, not for reconstructing comics completely in text form. --[[User:Bob|Bob]] 13:00, 3 April 2014

; What about kassler with mustard?
Some items are strangely placed on the Y axis, aren't they? "Mustard gas" sounds more horrifying to Randall than "Criticality incident"? "Kessler syndrome" more than "Demon core"? Both sound like food to me. [[User:Mumiemonstret|Mumiemonstret]] ([[User talk:Mumiemonstret|talk]]) 11:36, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

Elephant's Foot should have a place here [[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.209|198.41.235.209]] 04:31, 7 January 2016 (UTC)
:also exploding head syndrome. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.186|162.158.155.186]] 21:10, 19 November 2023 (UTC)

A version of this chart appears in the What If? book, in the section about losing all of your DNA.

I have to consider "Flesh Eating Bacteria" to be misplaced. As I understand it, these bacteria are actually common skin bacteria. They are the reason that puncture wounds should be cleaned and encouraged to bleed. [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 21:13, 15 March 2022 (UTC)
:Sort of. ''Streptomyces'' are indeed common skin bacteria, but with puncture wounds you're more worried about tetanus than strep. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 22:26, 15 March 2022 (UTC)

== Trivia ==

A variant of this comic was used in '' [[What If?]]'' in which the name “Destroying Angel” was placed far out, mainly above the graph and circled.

== Geologic column ==

OK, someone is very determined that the cause of all stratification in the Earth's crust is liquefaction. It isn't. I don't want an edit war. Anyone else want to step in? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:26, 2 February 2024 (UTC)
:Would you like me to cite my source? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.140|172.71.150.140]] 03:36, 2 February 2024 (UTC)
::Well, yes. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 11:28, 2 February 2024 (UTC)
:::Okay, I cited my source. Please see my edit to the article. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.197|172.71.146.197]] 04:35, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
::::In case anyone didn't bother checking: he cited a creationist tract. That would explain why us science nerds were confused. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 05:25, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:::::Yes, it is a creationist book, written by a processor and scientist with a Ph.D. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.166|108.162.245.166]] 06:26, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

2434: Vaccine Guidance

2021-03-09T03:45:35Z

108.162.245.166:

{{comic
| number = 2434
| date = March 9, 2021
| title = Vaccine Guidance
| image = vaccine_guidance.png
| titletext = I can't wait until I'm fully vaccinated and can safely send chat messages in all caps again.
}}

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

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2431: Leap Year 2021

2021-03-08T21:43:16Z

108.162.245.166:

It's amazing how quickly some of us got to edit this. I hope I didn't cause too much edit-conflict confusion just by my changing the date value. Honestly just checked, before turning in, to find two (so far) other edits follow so quickly after... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.152|141.101.98.152]] 02:03, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

Sorry,I did not see anything when I started
:I wouldn't expect you to (the first Categories adder, yes?), until you perhaps tried to save. But that's what being shown edit-conflicts is important for. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 03:02, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

If someone actually did this, how many years would it take for the calendar to line back up again where it started? 365? [[User:Captain Video|Captain Video]] ([[User talk:Captain Video|talk]]) 02:20, 2 March 2021 (UTC)
: 365 years plus (around) 33% more because every fourth year (except every hundredth, except except every 400th) is already ''expected'' to have a 29th, so you'd not be able to shift the year that year and have to do those days after the first 365 mostly-shifted consecutive years - with the necessary overflow days ''still'' being only to be done for 3/4(ish) of the next 91ish years, leaving maybe 23 more years to be shifted. But 24 years would only allow 18 shifts, so 6 more years than that ''probably'' would use 5 years. And one year may be absorbed already, or left over. So 365+91+23+6. Ish. Because it'd depend exactly which year you start as to which non-expandable years occur within the strict (0.75)+(0.25*0.75)+(0.25*0.25*0.75)+... series. But that's the likely area of the answer, off the top of my head. Around 485 years, give or take. Unless I've made a big error! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 03:02, 2 March 2021 (UTC)
::A quick evaluation of the geometric progression (a/1-r = 365/(1-1/4)) gives an answer of 486.666... This means it would take at least 487 years to come past full circle (488 on a leap year) if not for the pesky 400-year rule. Given where the date lies, there can be either one or two per cycle; thus, we find a minimum of 488 years and a maximum of 490. If we started this current year, on a non-leap year with no round 400 in the next 87 years, it would take the minimum amount, 488 years, to cycle through 489 revolutions of the Earth around the Sun. Happy Leap Year, my friends! [[User:BlackHat|BlackHat]] ([[User talk:BlackHat|talk]]) 03:52, 2 March 2021 (UTC)
::It's a bit messier, but the rough calculation was indeed close. I did a quick Excel calculation (well, OpenOffice Calc, but essentially the same - easiest thing at hand without Perl-diving). Actual 'next synchronised' period is 482-484 (solar) years, in an intruiging but not surprising pattern. Prior to 2000's unusual leap-day (but not too early to miss encompassing the one in 2400) it is 484 actual years (483 uniformly 'enhanced' ones) - but if you start in the period of any year leading up to a LD (I was running of 28th of February baselines, but any time from March 1st the prior year would count) you get the 485th year meshed too. (These periods contain two quatrocentenial LDs. And obviously ''starting'' with a 'normal' leap-year means the very next year is just as accurate, before it gets shifted the year after.)
::2001 until the late 2010s it's one set of 483 years to three of 484 (one of each has two synchronised years, 484th and 485th, because of adjacent starts landing on the same end), having just one century LD within. As you get close to 2020 you get a further non-LD century in (2020+480_and_change is 2500+) and 482 and/or 483 actual-years. "And/or" because only every second 482 ends on run-up to a LD so that the 483rd meshes as well, the 483s are not meshed correctly to do the same.
::The cycle ''beyond'' that is individually roaming through the same 482 to 484 range (and a number of end-point adjacents) but as it plays hopscotch through and around the centennial patterns it adopts an off-rhythm variation that doesn't even really make simple sense at the millenial level, as you might imagine. It might make an interesting artistic 'regularly purturbed noise' at even longer sample-sizes, though. Hack it into a graphical format, maybe, various possible options according to taste. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.193|141.101.99.193]] 08:22, 2 March 2021 (UTC)
:::It would take 365.25 years that have the "extra" leap day for the years to sync back up. For every 400 years there are 303 such years (3 of every 4 years + years 100, 200, and 300). So it would take 365.25 * (400 / 303) = 482.18 years. Plus one year if the 400-year leap year comes up twice.

Can someone make a [[:Category:Calendar]] that is a subcategory of [[:Category:Time]]? I feel like there are several comics that could fit, e.g. [[994: Advent Calendar]], [[1140: Calendar of Meaningful Dates]], [[1930: Calendar Facts]], [[1073: Weekend]], [[1061: EST]], etc. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.210|162.158.255.210]] 02:39, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

Sweden tried something like this in the early 18th century. When switching from Julian to Gregorian calendar, some bright spark decided to do it gradually, by removing all leap days between 1700 and 1740. The leap day of 1700 was skipped (It was a leap day in the Julian calendar, but not the Gregorian), but due to war and other things they 'forgot' to annul the leap days of 1704 and 1708. In 1712 it was decided to revert to Gregorian calendar, by adding a double leap day, resulting in the only known occurrence of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_non-standard_dates#February_30 February 30]. From 1700 to 1712 Sweden was out of sync with both the Gregorian and Julian calendars, resulting in quite a lot of confusion. For example, Carl Linnaeus birthday can be given as May 12, 13 or 23, depending on what calendar is used. [[User:Popup|Popup]] ([[User talk:Popup|talk]]) 07:22, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

I disagree with the explanation of the title text. I understood it to be spoken by Black Hat to reinforce his disregard of people who might suffer in the future since he lives firmly in the present, one day at a time, as it were. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 12:54, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

My take on the title text was just a reference to the common statement (esp. as people get older), "I've lived in <city/state/etc.> for my whole life and I'm not about to move now." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.222|172.68.65.222]] 15:39, 2 March 2021 (UTC)Pat

I don't see why the explanation is incomplete. Can someone please tell me why so I can fix it? [[User:Quillathe Siannodel|Quillathe Siannodel]] ([[User talk:Quillathe Siannodel|talk]]) 17:17, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

I think the title text is black hat using "living in the present" as a justification for causing unnecessary problems in the future. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.148|172.69.34.148]] 19:51, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

There needs to be some reference to how "living in the present" has a different meaning than "living at some time which is neither the past nor the future." It can also mean that they "live for today" or that "they are aware of that happens around them" or other, similar platitude. [[User:Cwallenpoole|Cwallenpoole]] ([[User talk:Cwallenpoole|talk]]) 20:27, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

Another interpretation of the title text is that the calendar only affects people who (live in/plan for) the future, as in those concerned about events other than those in the present. As a calandar is arguably useless to those who don't plan for future events, such a change would not really affect them.

For me, the comic itself was not available until the day after it was expected (March 2, 2021). I wonder if this was deliberate, and refers to how we readers often use the regularity of the xkcd comics as a calendar. Anyway to check the actual (Gregorian) date it was posted? Will future comics now be released on Tuesdays Thursdays Saturdays, until leap year 2022?
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.164|172.69.55.164]] 06:21, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
: 2022? Don't you mean 2024? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.60|162.158.63.60]] 07:56, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
:: Every year deserves to leap. [[User:BlackHat|BlackHat]] ([[User talk:BlackHat|talk]]) 04:17, 5 March 2021 (UTC)
:https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2431:_Leap_Year_2021&oldid=206922. ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.72|162.158.155.72]] 11:43, 5 March 2021 (UTC)

Talk:1350: Lorenz

2021-02-22T02:53:37Z

108.162.245.166:

During the first few weeks there were so much talk on this page, that it became too long. The solution was to remove the page from the explanation. But now almost no one makes any comment anymore. To help with this I will try to collapse all the original talk - lat entry (mine) is already a month old. It will always be possible to see all the old comments by pressing the expand button to the far right. So feel free to comment below again - then someone might notice that there has been written something new again! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:32, 19 June 2014 (UTC)

'''Click to expand:'''
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

I've had the story loop back to the first frame, so it wouldn't surprise me if this could go on infinitely if it had the available dialogue options.

This is going to be a hell of a thing. Good luck... [[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 15:39, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:I think this is one of those times when the custom field might come in handy. Duplicating Randall's code seems like it might be difficult, and it might just be easier to link to the original page. Probably. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:47, 1 April 2014 (UTC)b
::I think it should just show a screenshot of the initial image and options [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.61|173.245.50.61]] 02:49, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
There's always new story lines, even when you think you've read them all, new ones appear to replace them. I don't think it'll ever be possible to record them all. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.192|108.162.212.192]] 15:55, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:The text changes, but there are recurring themes with the panels. The rocket, the big hole, the little hole, Dinosaurcomics, pokemon, waking up, stranded swimming.........[[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 18:03, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

When I go to XKCD, all I see is the comic from Monday... weird. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:45, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Same here... and a lot of space below it. [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 17:43, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: I think that happens when you have refreshed the page too many time -- kind of an anti spam for user submissions. I simply create an anonymous browser window and I got back to the real page once xkcd was not able to track me as a returning user. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 17:59, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Currently there appears to be a bug. Instead of the evolving, crowd-sourced comic, I just see an off-center copy of the previous comic, 1349: Shouldn't Be Hard. [http://i.imgur.com/pw2OfOL.png Screenshot here].
UPDATE: it appears to be a bug in the XSRF-blocking code. Chrome console shows me the error "XMLHttpRequest cannot load http://c1.xkcd.com/graph/1/. The 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header has a value 'http://xkcd.com' that is not equal to the supplied origin. Origin 'http://www.xkcd.com' is therefore not allowed access."
FURTHER UPDATE: you can work around this bug by going to http://xkcd.com instead of http://www.xkcd.com!
It also doesn't work if you have HTTPS Everywhere enabled.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.38|108.162.216.38]] 16:46, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

** I can confirm this bug in Firefox. Weirdly, the work-around functioned one time for me, but now going to "xkcd.com" rather than "www.xkcd.com" just gives me a copy of 1349 as well. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 17:40, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:The workaround didn't work for me, I still got monday's comic on either URL. (Chromium 36.0.1919.0 (260611), Mac OS 10.9.2) [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 17:45, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Same here. Used IE and Firefox. Removed the "www." and haven't. (Never used https:// at all.) Tried InPrivate (and FF equivalent) browsers. Gone into the code and can't even fudge it manually from ''<nowiki><div id="comic"><img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/shouldnt_be_hard.png" title="Every choice, no matter how small, begins a new story." alt="Lorenz" /> <script type="text/javascript">Bernardo.comic({el: $('#comic')})
</script></div></nowiki>'', and the rest, manually. (Indeed, that shows why I get 1349's "shouldn't be hard" image, by default.) Pity. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.224|141.101.89.224]] 02:25, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

** I only get a blank page with on the bottom a link to the comic 1349. Both on 2 firefoxes (different systems) and a chromium. so however wonderfull it might be, the delivery is less then stellar. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.145|173.245.53.145]] 15:54, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

This comic introduced(?) a font of its own of Randalls comic type. I don't know if it has been sitting there for long, but I just noticed it: http://xkcd.com/fonts/xkcd-Regular.eot -- phiarc [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.12|108.162.219.12]] 17:20, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Is it the same as was used in Externalities? [[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 18:00, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Does everyone have these options in some order for the first tile?
*Refresh... No New Email... Refresh .. No New Tweets... Refresh...
*These Stupid Tiles... I'll Just Play One More Game
*Oh. Hey. There's Some Kind Of Politicial Thing Going On.
*Let's See If BSD Is Any Easier to Install Nowadays
--[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:54, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:0cd52ed0-bb15-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd There's a frame with Chinese in it! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.118|141.101.99.118]] 18:06, 26 April 2015 (UTC)
:If so, we can begin to build a map of at least the first set of options before the crowd-sourced ones. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:56, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
::Yes, though the second-tier options have changed [[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 18:00, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:::The first level options may be constant (Im seeing the same as Jeff), but I suspect that the following options is based on some sort of ckick though statitics / machine learning -- which means that the will continue to change until Randall closes off the 'voting' -- if [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1193:_Externalities 1193: Externalities] is anything to go by that should be within the next 24-48 hours, at which point automating the collection of story lines may be possible. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 18:11, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:::: I'm going to transcript some of what I get at least through the first few levels and then we can start with a list of options for those who don't want to go through them all. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 18:37, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
::::: I have no idea how one would do this, but it would be cool to render the transcript as a tree of some sort; having one vertical list will be hard to follow for more than a few decisions. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 00:14, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
::::::New initial option! I just got "Hurry! We're in talks with Facebook." In place of the "refresh" option. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:2b330d48-bb01-11e3-8003-002590d77bdd --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.8|108.162.242.8]] 23:15, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

Ohh, this comic is buggy and the link here at the top gives just the page from Monday, showing errors on debuggers. But removing the WWW from URL helps. Further more I can't see that the result of the choices is dynamic. So let's prove this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:33, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
: Have a look at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/2b/lorenz_combination1.png and http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/9a/lorenz_combination2.png and you can see the option orders are changing -- this is a typical artifact of A/B testing where randomization of options is needed to avoid selection bias. I have futher observed "your car is on fire" instead of the "dinosaur" option, hence not only the orders are channging but the content as well -- maybe somebody else can capture this. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:08, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

How are new dialogue suggestions approved? Are they random, by popular vote (unlikely, not very many people would suggest the same thing), or is Randall approving them one by one? [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 20:26, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
: They may not need to be explicitly approved at all -- one of the beutiful things about click though measures is that the public '''votes''' for what is good by clicking -- this is also a factor in search ranking by your favorite search engine where statistics are driving the entire show -- in a search engine some input to the statistical process comes from the web pages, but other comes from what people are actually clicking [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:14, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

What is this a screenshot of? It's zoomed out so far. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:5b5bd04e-b9d6-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd [[User:Haithere|Haithere]] ([[User talk:Haithere|talk]]) 20:39, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
: you mean this : http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a1-2014/Rl92nFEWd9huvXABNkHKHg.png ? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:20, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: It appears to be a screen shot from a flight simulator program of some sort, however im not able to tell which, and since it is most likely an 'in-game' screen short we will never find out unless somebody else is playing this precises flight simulator program [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 22:37, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:: I am not certain, but I strongly suspect that is Kerbal Space Program {{unsigned ip|108.162.242.111}}
::: it really is Kerbal Space Program, or KSP for short {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.65}}
:::: found this image from KSP http://i.imgur.com/UofvQ.png [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 09:07, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

A transcript is going to be futile. It appears as though the comic may go on indefinitely (I've definitely had some branches continue extending until I've seen frames that were present in other branches). I suspect what's happening here is that... options are "suggested", and those suggestions are displayed at random to people. The ones with the most clickthroughs begin to appear more often, until eventually the top 4 are "locked in" and no more suggestions can be made. Very creative! But I'm not convinced that Randall is making frames in near-real-time, nor am I even convinced he's part of the approval process at all. I suspect it's all automated. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.28|108.162.215.28]] 00:29, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

It seems it is possible to have the same option appear twice in the first panel. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:be7a3304-b685-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.48|173.245.54.48]] 10:27, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
: They are not the same options -- the text differes where one option has "I'll" with a captal I and the other option is 'i'll' with a lowercase I -- I guess some prankster submitted a very similar text and somehow that got included. The branching also differs for the two options. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 17:12, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Is it still supposed to work or was it turned off? All I see is Monday comics ... and no errors in firebug console. Oh, wait, there is javascript error:
Timestamp: 04/02/14 12:56:21
Error: TypeError: this.$lastPanel is null
Source File: http://xkcd.com/1350/bernardo.min.js
Line: 2 -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:03, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
: It still works for me -- try to clear your cookies or use an anonymous window or go to xkcd.com (no www no https) or some of the other helpful suggestions on this page to overcome some of the buggy nature of this page. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 17:12, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

tl;dr, but I applaud Randall's creativity. Added to the Colossal time sinks category. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:15, 2 April 2014 (UTC)''

Has it restarted? It used to work just fine on my browser but now only the first panel is available, after clicking an option it said my suggestion has been submitted. Great when it works though, thanks Randal. Jet_proppeled_elephant[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.35|108.162.219.35]] 14:53, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

It feels like there are a bunch of "dead-end panels", that we never really get past. One example the "bright background" strip, in which we only see the shadows of the two characters. Nobody seems to care what happens after those. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.8|108.162.245.8]] 18:59, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

I found a Dinosaur Comics reference, permalink: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:3d243960-b9b6-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd
Has this been found before?
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.73|173.245.55.73]] 20:08, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

I don't have time to do it myself, but most of the space images from this path are not in the images page. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6490cc4a-b9f0-11e3-8009-002590d77bdd
[[User:Zweisteine|Zweisteine]] ([[User talk:Zweisteine|talk]]) 23:33, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
:Ok, I'm gonna add those. [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 23:38, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
Great! And now I found another: Pikachu uses Ethylene Dichloride. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6f59d766-ba95-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd
I'll add it to the but about pikachu in the comic, but the pictures are up to someone else.[[User:Zweisteine|Zweisteine]] ([[User talk:Zweisteine|talk]]) 23:47, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Slightly different space path, in which the rocket expodes: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:dd99ea0e-ba04-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd [[User:Zweisteine|Zweisteine]] ([[User talk:Zweisteine|talk]]) 23:59, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

:Good. I've finished adding all images that you mentioned. Also, the two last images of the slightly different space path were not in the images page, now I added them too. [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 00:14, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

Pikachu died! Radicality failed -> Pikachu in shock! http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:5c565bf2-ba05-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd --eternia 7:33, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:Pikachu uses Graph Theory. How is that not effective?! http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:52f2389c-baaf-11e3-801f-002590d77bdd --eternia 7:47, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
::Pikachu uses Ant Colony. Uwah... http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:2b707ed6-ba97-11e3-8006-002590d77bdd --eternia 8:02, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:::1 shark instead of 3. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:9ba111ee-ba96-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd --eternia 8:14, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
::::0 sharks. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:e0e4d984-baaf-11e3-8026-002590d77bdd --eternia 8:17, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:::::I'm gonna add those too. [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 12:41, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

Are there any panels that have two speech bubbles that are not dead ends? It seems that there are never any options for the second bubble, and sometimes the first bubble has options that would fit in the second bubble after the other options for the first bubble. Maybe submissions for the second bubble accidentally end up in the first instead? Another bug? [[User:Zweisteine|Zweisteine]] ([[User talk:Zweisteine|talk]]) 23:56, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

There's a change for us still-bugged people (well, me at least). The "show previous comic" part is gone. It shows a blank area (instead of Comic 1349 and a blank area of the same size) and the page-source shows that the ''<nowiki><img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/shouldnt_be_hard.png" title="Every choice, no matter how small, begins a new story." alt="Lorenz" /></nowiki>'' part has now been excised from the page. That's on Javascript-enabled, cookie-enabled Firefox ''and'' IE browsers, and every valid URL configuration one can think of (including shift-refreshing to force redownloading, just in case it was page-cache issues as well). I'll update the Bugs section of the explanation page with a summary of that, if you don't mind. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.211|141.101.88.211]] 01:48, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

We need some place to discuss certain issues. I give it a shot below [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:10, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
;Transcipt discussion
;Design
*What about four transcripts - one for each of the four first original choices?
*Should these transcripts be on a separate page? It becomes tedious to scroll to the discussion page...[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:13, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
*Could we use the hide option so you only see the options from the first panel. Then you unhide to see the next panel etc. This would be a little like the comic and would make it much easier to read and it would not be such a long page! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:35, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
*:I'm working on the hide option. [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 15:14, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
*::I now implemented the hide option. It looks good! in my opinion. It should be easy to edit. It would be too much work to convert the whole thing to the collapsible version so, sorry but I just removed the whole thing and started from the very beginning. This[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1350:_Lorenz&oldid=64245] is the link to the old version, in case anyone wants to help converting it to the collapsible version. [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 16:46, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:I did the same for trivia with a separate page for the old version that can be expanded if anyone wishes. And all the work is not lost. I have linked to it from trivia but it is here: [[1350: Lorenz/Transcript]]. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:19, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
*How will the transcript work for when two characters speak? Those cases do exist; they're not all bugged. For example, in the "OpenBSD Branch", "Why not haiku?" and "Let's go exploring!" have further responses. --[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.63|199.27.128.63]] 06:31, 5 April 2014 (UTC)
;Characters
*Where does the name Dave come from for the hairy guy who comes in after the first panel? I can see it once in the transcript - but it is said by White hat the sales guy. I'm not sure it is his name and the chatagory for hairy is assigned to the comic! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:16, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
** Also he is called Dave here: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:3b1a226e-b9c6-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 21:37, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
*Hat guy? Is it a hat? Is there not a better English word for the type of "hat" worn by the main character from the first panel? It is not a hat like white or black hat! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:18, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
** I named him Hat Guy originally to make things easier. Feel free to change the name, I guess :) Knit Cap Guy, maybe? If a change is warranted, a simple search-and-replace should do it. Also, I'm not sure it's a guy or a girl... But the previous text was also treating him as male to begin with, anyway. [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 21:36, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
*Is the right politician = Cueball?
*Who is the left? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:23, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Isn't is likely that the characters only have names given to them by us readers in our suggestions? They don't necessarily have constant names. [[User:Zweisteine|Zweisteine]] ([[User talk:Zweisteine|talk]]) 23:33, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Exactly my point. I think we should stick with hairy guy and maybe Knit Cap Guy! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:28, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

:I see you already changed Hat Guy to Knit Cap Guy and Dave to Hairy. Knit Cap Guy is a nice name. Originally, I would disagree with you and insist we should stick to Dave because that's what the character is called in one storyline of the strip itself, but I see he is also called Frank in other timeline. Since he has multiple names, using just Hairy is better in my opinion, too. [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 12:40, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

Knit Cap Guy is probably a Girl. Just sayin'. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.28|173.245.52.28]] 12:22, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

:Probably! Originally I thought it was Megan with a knit cap on. [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 12:40, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

:It IS a girl! http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:1e4325a2-baaf-11e3-801f-002590d77bdd [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.66|173.245.48.66]] 21:44, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

::Well I think you are correct - that it is a girl. However you can NEVER use text in the comic to decide - because it is user created - I could have written the same line with guy instead of girl! Anyway - could someone change Knit Cap Guy to Knit Cap Girl? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:04, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
:::Can see it has been done - great [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:32, 6 April 2014 (UTC)
::::I've found a story where he/she is male! Thus contradicting the story above, where he/she is female, and proving that we really can't use text to determine the sex. Here we have "Beanie Man". http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b6fcd098-ba98-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd
::::(But... She looks female-ish enough to me, so I personally feel inclined to keep Knit Cap Girl in the article. Also, for laziness if nothing else. Feel free to disagree with me on that.) [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 11:07, 8 April 2014 (UTC)
:::::Also, sometimes she is called Lorenz. http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:bcc77a5c-ba23-11e3-801b-002590d77bdd [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 11:40, 8 April 2014 (UTC)
:I always mentally called the guy 'Hikaru' because the guy's hat reminded me of the Nice Hat that Hikaru Azuma wore a lot in {{w|With the Light}}. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 03:55, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

;Other
*Seems like the permalink at the top of the transcript does not work for me anymore - then they will be useless! Else they are the best way to quote different lines of the comic. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:31, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
Oh, now they work again. ;) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:31, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:The permalinks has stopped working for me [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 20:45, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that the initial four options presented to the reader are now fixed and do not change. "These stupid tiles..." and "Gravity. Lots of it." are no longer available options. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've played the comic many times over the past couple of days and I've never received those two options). Should the transcript be edited to reflect that? [[User:Enchantedsleeper|Enchantedsleeper]] ([[User talk:Enchantedsleeper|talk]]) 21:53, 6 April 2014 (UTC)

;Chategories not yet included
Should they be?
*I have seen the word Raptor mentioned - so should velociraptor be a chategory? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:21, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
*Cueball? I.e. the politician on the right? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:28, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
*I understand that many categories has been deleted as all text references can be user generated. But when there is a drawing with a dinosaur then this categories should be included etc. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:14, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
*I would like to discuss the number of categories. If anything is in thks comics pictures then it should be included as a category. So dinos and Pokémon for sure as well as character's and collor. So I include some again - please do not delete. If you need to find where Pokémon has been referenced this commic should come in the list! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:03, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

;Images
I created [[1350: Lorenz/Images]] with all the images I could find in the comic. I'm not sure if I should have left them in the main page [[1350: Lorenz]], but feel free to decide what to do with them. Also, I tried using the tag <nowiki><gallery></nowiki>, but I couldn't make it work, so I used a lot of divs. [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 23:23, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
:Great idea - just what I hoped someone would and could do. Thanks ;) Is it easy to add new images to the page if they show up? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:32, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
::You're welcome! :) It's pretty easy... I explained in the images page how exactly you would save a new image if they show up. [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 13:52, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:Can see there keep appearing new images from the text above. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:39, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:New shark images here: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:30f53d98-bbb3-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.65}}
:I have updated the page and made a talk page there to add comments like the above. Have already found d 3 new images cannot add them with this tablet [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:19, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for this work, but nobody knows if this is complete. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:49, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

;Many-worlds interpretation

The title text "Every choice, no matter how small, begins a new story" might as well be a hint to Hugh Everett III 's "Many-worlds interpretation"
of quantum theory. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.74}}
:Except that the title is Lorenz a direct reference to the guy with the butterfly effect... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:37, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
::Can't it be both? The Butterfly Effect can be seen as one consequence of the Many-Worlds interpretation. A choice as simple as whether (or where) a butterfly flaps its wings can send our entire universe down a different timeline, in which a hurricane occurs. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.49|108.162.216.49]] 19:46, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

;Most, maybe all pictures do correspond to an existing comic here
I'm calling on you to not destroy a first simple explain, even the transcript. But nearly every picture belongs to a former comic — this has to be explained at the ''Themes'' section. We have some dinosaurs, but there is much more. Please help on this issue. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:56, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
::After I understood what you mean I agree. All pictures collected should be explained in the themes section and preferably with a line to a story that includes the picture. There are so many I can't find. Some may never be available again... ? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:59, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

:What are you referring to? Has anyone deleted something important? Hope it wasn't me? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:19, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

::Well I can see it was me. We obviously disagree with what could be a trivia item and with which categories should be included even obvious ones. There has before been mention of missing pieces of hats etc and when there is one in hundreds of images with an error then it could make a fun trivia item in my opinion! I will stop editing and let you decide what to do with this comic? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:30, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

:::You totally misunderstand me. I'm asking for an explain to every picture because it should belong to a former comic.
:::Further more I'm just trying to keep the explain as simple as possible; individual error experiences should not be posted at the explain. I did remove that content in order to keep it simple as possible to an ordinary reader.
:::Please improve the picture explains, but also please keep that explain simple as possible to readers are not interested on all that crap done by Randall.
:::--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:38, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
::::Great and thanks for this explain and sorry I was grumpy in my reply before. Do you mean there should be an explanation for every single picture? Maybe this should be moved to a separate page like the list of images - they take up lots of space in the explain page - or they could be hided like the new transcript? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:32, 6 April 2014 (UTC)
::::Have begun the full image explanation...[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:03, 6 April 2014 (UTC)

;Visual tree / map?
How hard would it be to come up with a tree graphing out the different choices? The nodes could be panels and the lines could represent text choices. Has anyone tried it?
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.34|108.162.221.34]] 23:40, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
:I added hide/show functionality to the transcript. It's easier to read and navigate now. [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 15:59, 5 April 2014 (UTC)
::Great - this was also what I had in mind :-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:32, 6 April 2014 (UTC)
:::Not so great it has been deleted... Again! I have inserted a link to the last page before Dgbrt deleted all 25000 signs. Considering the enormous work done to create this transcript I think we should let it be at least awailable as a trivia link. I cannot create the page from my tablet, but would rather have a lorenz transcript page than an old version like now. Maybe on this page again? [[1350: Lorenz/Transcript]]. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:03, 6 April 2014 (UTC)
::::I restored the old version in [[1350: Lorenz/Transcript]]. (Also, I used divs this time rather than templates.) [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 05:00, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

;I got my suggestion as part of the main story!
I noticed in the "references to video games" section that "Actually it's the final castle - grab your fire flower!" was one of the options. I suggested that! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.27|108.162.212.27]] 17:07, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

;Are we sure the title is not related to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenz_gauge_condition ?
For example, in Italy, the Lorenz Gauge Condition is dubbed "The Lorenz's choice". {{unsigned ip|108.162.212.218}}

;Should there be an interactive comic category?
It is kind of covered by the dynamic category, but between click and drag and this, as well as possible future comics, might it need to be its own seperate new category? [[User:Athang|Athang]] ([[User talk:Athang|talk]]) 23:00, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

The "stupid tiles" option has vanished from panel 1. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.222|199.27.130.222]] 00:14, 6 April 2014 (UTC)
:Is that for good or just for you? How many times did you reload and did you try different browsers? It should always be awailable via a saved permalink, like you findin the transcript. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:32, 6 April 2014 (UTC)
::This probably happens at the same time for all users, considering that I read 199.27.130.222's message immediately after he/she sent it and at that point the "stupid tiles" option had vanished for me as well, but this was clearly temporary since it's back now.
::I only tested on Firefox. [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 04:08, 7 April 2014 (UTC)
::I still get this option?? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 22:38, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

;Records in most panels
I have started a collection of records. I just entered what I could find to give an example. I was sure that my pheble attempts soon would be helped sore by someone who had saved the good ones... And already this is happening. Please continue to improve the records and also add more themes if I left them out [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:00, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

;Gravity lots of it?
I have never seen this option. Could someone post a permalink to such a story - could be as a record. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:58, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

;Some cool stuff i found, don't know if anyone wants to add these to the main page

Pikachu: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:80858d8c-ba22-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd

Giant pit: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ea9342a0-bc02-11e3-8034-002590d77bdd

Goodbye, BSD: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:bae4c63c-ba31-11e3-8034-002590d77bdd

Reddit and rockets: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:602c39a8-ba92-11e3-8006-002590d77bdd

More BSD Pikachu: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:f5760770-baae-11e3-801f-002590d77bdd

Bird-powered car: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:cc4467b2-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd

This happens a lot: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b69f6096-b9f0-11e3-8009-002590d77bdd

Dinos: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:679012b0-bb4f-11e3-805b-002590d77bdd

These stupid lines: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:360411c2-baa2-11e3-8012-002590d77bdd

Pretty long: http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:7d40621c-bae7-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd

[[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 22:37, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

:Thanks for your findings. This has to be added to the explain, your titles on this are GREAT! Maybe you — or someone else — does have a nice idea how to publish all this permalinks in a proper way.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:39, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

::More (mostly dream recursion):

Lord of the rings: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:40a1ac80-ba06-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd

Another moat: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:eee0d4c6-baea-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd

Looping back: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d7970042-bae5-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd

Looping back 2: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:3f654048-badd-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd

Never seen it loop this many times: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:20698602-bbb1-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd

Even more looping: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:75e8f03e-baaf-11e3-801f-002590d77bdd

Looping to a rocket: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:3aa7da8e-bae7-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd

Dream recursion: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:5e94d028-bb7d-11e3-8012-002590d77bdd

Where did the Pikachu come from?: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:97c42da2-bb01-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd

Ethylene dichloride: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:93312202-ba4f-11e3-8037-002590d77bdd

More rockets: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:34f7f602-ba3b-11e3-8035-002590d77bdd

Even more rockets: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:8440e346-bb16-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd

More recursion: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:20698602-bbb1-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd

Blowtorch: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:c40db5fc-baf9-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd

Another blowtorch: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:97cbd552-bb01-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd

Most different stories i've seen in one: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:60d11a70-bb16-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd

[[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 21:33, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

More:

More pikachu: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:feaa5d4e-bbd2-11e3-802c-002590d77bdd

Long pikachu fight: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d87d8344-bafb-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd

Plantains: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:22d57484-bb28-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd

Many pikachus: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d04aabf0-b9fe-11e3-8016-002590d77bdd

Much pikachu: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f203d1c6-ba22-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd

Such pikachu: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:a5485722-ba26-11e3-8020-002590d77bdd

Very pikachu: http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:81c9e8c8-ba1d-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 22:49, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

:I haven't seen them all - but have you checked the records at the bottom of the explain page - those you call pretty long does not seem to get close to the 77 picture record... Are there any new pictures not featured in the picture page linked to from the top of the explain? Else this does not seem so interesting to me... ;-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:55, 10 April 2014 (UTC)
::Ah so there were interesting stuff around. And I can see that at least one of them has already been added as a Pokémon record. Great - cool if you wrote how many panels - or if there where new pictures - it would be easier to look through them. The double dream I had been looking for, thanks I will add it to the record page under dreams [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:59, 10 April 2014 (UTC)
::Seen them all and added several to the record for themes trivia. Thanks - but please more info~(length, themes) if you still care to share [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:36, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

;Finishing the explanation
I have just done a huge job putting all the images from the list in under the themes sections. I hope others can take over and find permalinks that include all the images that are not yet on references in the links I have inserted. Also there are some of the first options that seeem to not exist anymore (Gravity lots of it) and also there was the error with the same line twice. I found it one day, but then there where no new images if you chose it. I did not save the permalink and now it seems like it is all gone.
Good work guys and girls - I have a holiday comming up with no much computer time... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 02:51, 12 April 2014 (UTC)

;Greasemonkey Script
I've just mad a script to visit random stories, and record the corresponding transcripts. It's available here: https://github.com/edfel/Lorenz/ . I hope someone can find it useful! Edfel. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.163|108.162.254.163]] 14:24, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

;Dump
One idea: Maybe someone could create a script to automatically navigate Lorenz and create a dump of all the results, to fill [[1350: Lorenz/Transcript]].
I know more-or-less how that would work in "pseudocode" so I could help but I'm not going to do it (writing actual code, testing, debugging, accounting for each individual frame, etc) any time soon. [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 07:47, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

;Go home, Saturn, you're drunk.

Quintuple Saturn POWER!
http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:9adca534-b9b0-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.10|173.245.54.10]] 01:44, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

;What-If XKCD

http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b1210692-bae5-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd
Recognize this one? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.10|173.245.54.10]] 02:09, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

;Why are the punctuation marks clipping?

I don't know what's going on, but a comma looks just like a period in the comic. The letters E, F, and I also display strangely. What's going on?[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.96|199.27.128.96]] 01:58, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

; Lorenz down time
Today there was no access to Lorenz. Tried both Firefox, Chrome and internet explorer. Just mentioning it here, if this is a permanent problem - so people can see how long it has been down. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:43, 15 May 2014 (UTC)
:Well it was already up again now. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:42, 16 May 2014 (UTC)
</div>
 
After inserting the collapsing talk page - the old can be seen just by clicking the expand button. But if you wish to write anything new, then do it here below at the very bottom of the talk page so it may be seen. I have this comment - after a few weeks I believe nothing new happened in this comic. I think it is now fixed. Of course this is very hard to prove. But I have completed some branches of the interactive transcript. So let me know if you can find any new options I have missed (I could have missed if there were more than four options in a panel - but not at the dead-ends! I have also just made major revisions of the explanation and it's layout - based on my observations. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:48, 19 June 2014 (UTC)

I just found a panel where it gets past the person on the comet, only one panel though... http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:25743f70-baee-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.69|108.162.254.69]] 19:24, 15 July 2014 (UTC)
:Great. Have added the image to the list of images and to the theme above. Keep any new images coming here.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:24, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

It's interesting the chess player in 1112 ("Think logically") resembles the knit cap girl. It's weird that Megan (or Randall's wife) after chemotherapy also wears a cap (1141, "Two years"). Is there any possible connections between them (or simply a coincidence)?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.108|108.162.215.108]] 04:24, 29 July 2014 (UTC)
:I have added links to three other comics using knit caps, including the two you mentioned. Thanks. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:24, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

I noticed that the image url noted on xkcd.com is the same as the one for #1349 - Shouldn't Be Hard. Not sure if it is caused by the interactivity disallowing an image upload, or an error on Randall's part (I'd imagine working through this comic's issues was pretty distracting). 15:37, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:I believe this was fixed. At least it seems to look correct now. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:24, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

God damn I hate boomerangs now.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.240|172.68.65.240]] 03:49, 22 November 2017 (UTC)Bob

Hey guys, are we still missing the ocean comics? because I found one that links there. https://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:3df213b4-ba4f-11e3-8037-002590d77bdd . not far after though. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.129|173.245.48.129]] 02:41, 6 August 2018 (UTC)

I found a (possibly) bug where the comic doesn't load and there's just a comic-sized blank space. 19:48, 3 January 2019 (UTC) {{unsigned|Cheese12}}

As of this week I found out that {{xkcd|1350|Lorenz}} seems to have stopped working on xkcd... This makes all the permalink invalid. ;-( --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:03, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
:I also found that people have been writing new entries from the top which meant I did not see Cheese12 comment that this was so all the way back in January 2019. I have rearranged the three comments on top to the right post order here at the bottom and added a signature for Cheese12 and a day for the edit for reference to how long it has been broken. Also removed a (now broken) permalink that was left over when a user posted something and then deleted it again. It was stick beneath my previous comment. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:12, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
::Looked on the webarchive and the latest version of the comic there is from July 2019. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190719205955/https://xkcd.com/1350/ 2019-07-19]. It seems correct there with the first picture with options... Of course it is no use trying to move on, either because it is a web archive or because Lorentz doesn't work anymore on xkcd. But it seems like it should not have displayed that image if it had been a recent version of the comic, as there are no image on the page now. If this is true, then it should not have been down all the time since January as Cheese12 wrote above... But I have no idea how the web archive works for such a complicated comic page? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:22, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
:I suspect this is related to the XKCD forums being taken down. Umwelt, Externalities, Landing, and xkcloud are also down. [[User:Tbodt|Tbodt]] ([[User talk:Tbodt|talk]]) 19:19, 14 September 2019 (UTC)

I think it's working again. [[User:Crazymachinefan|Crazymachinefan]] ([[User talk:Crazymachinefan|talk]]) 04:44, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

I just found a bunch of new things that can occur including a new image. Here are the permalinks: https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b0bcef14-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd --Knit Cap Girl rather than Hairy wakes up after the KSP rocket launch image; https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:8e2a0d7a-baf2-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd --permalink for Hairy silhouette image; https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:8a36f73e-baaf-11e3-801f-002590d77bdd --permalink for Hairy getting to a sale without lying in bed; https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:d4cd36d8-ba95-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd NEW IMAGE-- Hairy in silhouette not talking. EDIT: Here's something *fascinating*... this panel can have either one or two responses depending on what's chosen for the first. Here's the permalink - https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b2dde69c-b9c0-11e3-8007-002590d77bdd [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.29|162.158.107.29]] 20:23, 22 October 2020 (UTC)Anonymous Waste of Time

I found a weird thing. https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:73113e0c-b9f6-11e3-8011-002590d77bdd If you select 15615 the comic freezes. The text doesn't appear, no new panels appear. [[User:PkmnQ|PkmnQ]] ([[User talk:PkmnQ|talk]]) 05:27, 12 February 2021 (UTC)
:I tried it on another device, and again it froze when I selected 15615. Can someone else try to recreate it? [[User:PkmnQ|PkmnQ]] ([[User talk:PkmnQ|talk]]) 05:47, 17 February 2021 (UTC)

: yeah it's the same for me too --Anonymous Waste of Time

2215: Faculty:Student Ratio

2019-12-05T02:04:43Z

108.162.245.166: Put end punctuation within the parenthesies.

{{comic
| number = 2215
| date = October 14, 2019
| title = Faculty:Student Ratio
| image = faculty_student_ratio.png
| titletext = They managed to briefly hit the top of the rankings when they rejected everyone except one applicant, published 5 billion research papers that just said "Hi," and hired one of their graduates for $50 trillion/year (then fired them after 10 microseconds.)
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by the XKCD UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS DEPARTMENT. This explanation needs a discussion of how different forms of instruction modify the effective student-teacher ratio. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Universities are often rated in various ways to help students/parents pick which one to attend. This comic satirizes the very real culture of schools modifying their actions to artificially inflate their ratings. One metric used in ratings is the {{w|Student–teacher ratio|ratio between the number of faculty members to the number of students}}. Typically this is expressed as student-teacher ratio, which normally determines how much time teachers get to spend with individual students. The lower the ratio, i.e., the fewer students per teacher, the smaller classes teachers have to teach, and thus the more attention the teachers can give to each student. However, having many more teachers than student(s), as in this comic, is not very beneficial to the student(s). (For context for international readers, high student-teacher ratios are common and expected in the United States, Randall's home country, whereas some nations especially in Asia sometimes report much lower ratios, often close to 1:1 in some areas.)

Another metric commonly used to measure a college's exclusivity and therefore prestige is the college's rejection rate; more prestigious schools get more applicants, and since they can accept only a limited number, they must reject many. Less prestigious schools often accept a higher fraction of their applicants, but some schools will reject students whose test scores, résumé, etc. are much higher than average for the school, since it's likely that college is a "safety school" and the student won't actually go there. This rejection can decrease the school's acceptance rate and make it appear more prestigious. However, if the above-average student does want to attend that school, they are unable to, even though it would be good for both the college and the student.

{{w|Proprietary colleges|For-profit universities}} and {{w|diploma mills}} may use techniques like this to artificially boost their ratings, or use fabricated metrics and {{w|accreditation mills}} to give an inflated appearance of value. {{w|Predatory publishing|Predatory publishers}} and conferences are other techniques used to inflate the perceived value of a school, or to pad curriculum vitae.

In the title text, other metrics are skewed in the school's favor:

*Having a high standard for entry is usually associated with better or high-prestige schools; however, this is subverted by the fact that the school has only one student per class. A class of one would make (at least for most students) for a poor educational experience{{Citation needed}}, and even if it were a good academic environment, it could only benefit one student per year, which means the school would only have a very modest impact on the world.

*A high number of research papers would normally indicate a high level of scientific research at the school; however, ''these'' research papers have no real content in them, and are all identical, rather missing the point of a research paper - namely, to make the scientific community aware of new research.

*A high hiring rate (percentage of students that have gotten a job after education) and a high average salary after graduation is favorable, as it is one goal for many students attending college. However, the school in question artificially inflates these metrics by having all (one out of one) of their student body be hired by them, producing a 100% hiring rate, and giving them a starting salary that is astronomically high, but not giving them enough employment time to actually gain very much income. $50 trillion/year for 10 microseconds is approximately $15.85 (= $50e12 / (365 * 24 * 60 * 60) * 10e-6) if pay is assumed to be spread constantly over the full 365 days of the year. Assuming fifty-two 40-hour work weeks would make this <abbr title="$66.77=$50e12 / (52 * 5 * 8 * 60 * 60) * 10e-6">$66.77</abbr>. Since xkcd originates in the USA, trillion [[2091: Million, Billion, Trillion|most likely means]] 1e12 (i.e., {{w|Long and short scales|short scale}}), as compared to 1e18 (long scale interpretation).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting hunched over a desk writing while ten people crowd around him, five on each side, all leaning towards him. On the left side they are Hairbun, a Cueball-like man, Hairy, Megan - who speaks, and another Cueball-like man. On the right are Ponytail, a third Cueball-like man, another Megan-like woman, Blondie and finally a fourth Cueball-like man.]
:Megan: How's the work going?
:Cueball: Can you all at least stand back a little?

:[Caption below the panel]:
:My school tried to game the ratings by having a 30:1 faculty:student ratio

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

Talk:2204: Ksp 2

2019-09-19T14:47:40Z

108.162.245.166: Undo revision 180163 by Lupo (talk) listen here, this is censorship. The nazis did censorship, look at that!

Can someone create a KSP category? I don't have the rights to do that. Comics for that category include this one, [[1356:_Orbital_Mechanics]], [[1350:_Lorenz]], [[1244: Six Words]], [[1106: ADD]]. There may be others as well. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.211.184|172.68.211.184]] 18:05, 18 September 2019 (UTC)
:Yes I have done so: [[:Category:Kerbal Space Program]]. And found three more for a total of 8. Also a couple that "may" be a reference, but those I have not included. Just did a Kerbal search... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:36, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

In the explanation, I took the "Unmarked Cash Payments" to be payoffs to the KSP2 team to delay their launch. [[User:OhFFS|OhFFS]] ([[User talk:OhFFS|talk]]) 18:07, 18 September 2019 (UTC)
: Hmm, that could be true too. Feel free to modify the explanation to add that. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.11|172.69.33.11]] 18:18, 18 September 2019 (UTC)

Are NASA engineers here splitting their time between working for both NASA and the KSP team (as suggested by the current explanation, as in ''actual'' 'moonlighting') or is it just that they're the kind of people who may 'catch' 24-hour flu to cover up their over-use of personal time to just enjoy the release as per all the other potentially fanatical but somewhat more armchair-expert individuals out there. I first understood the "Moon" people as being the actual KSP devs called in by NASA managemenr to persuade them to stagger their project away from NASA's (although I suppose it would have been more obviously that if it was a conference table setting, being faced over, rather than some typical office desk), with similar thoughts about the above cash payments comment (though I ''suppose'' it could be using petty-cash for site licensing or similar?)... Either way, I'm sure the "moonlighting" pun could be added into the explanation, if someone else would like to! ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.183|162.158.158.183]] 18:25, 18 September 2019 (UTC)
:I'm pretty sure the joke is that NASA engineers would be too busy playing KSP2 to assist the lunch, similarly to how MMORPG players take vacation when a new expansion comes out. That seems more in line with them taking sick days and NASA executives having to bribe the videogame company to make it stop, as opposed to suing their own engineers because they call in sick to take a second job.--[[Special:Contributions/188.114.103.101|188.114.103.101]] 18:54, 18 September 2019 (UTC)
::I agree. I don't think the same people working for NASA are also working for the private Mexico-based company Squad that created KSP and are creating KSP 2. The real joke is that the NASA engineers are likely to want to play with the new KSP, to the extent they would take vacation and sick days off to play it. If an engineer were truely working for two companies, they would still be required to come to work and couldn't just decide to stop working -- aside from abusing paid time off policies. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 19:37, 18 September 2019 (UTC)
:::Correction: Its Star Theory that's making KSP2, while SQUAD is currently maintaining KSP1. While SQUAD and Star Theory have been discussing over the development, Star Theory is independent from SQUAD. However, both are affiliated with Private Division. {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.65}}
::::Fixed it. Playing with KSP2 is now the primary, with programming it being an alternate explanation. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:11, 18 September 2019 (UTC)

No Linux support for KSP 2... My disappointment is measurable. [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 20:30, 18 September 2019 (UTC)

I think "give you the moon" may be a reference to the movie [[wikipedia:It's_a_Wonderful_Life|It's a Wonderful Life]]. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:38, 18 September 2019 (UTC)
:I agree on this point. I would like to point out, upon rereading, that it says "a moon" not "the moon" - likely a reference to the fact that Mars has two moons. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.137|172.69.70.137]]
::Disagree it is for sure the naming. Randall has an asteroid {{w|4942 Munroe}} named after him... So he knows what that means, and also used it in [[1276: Angular Size]]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:37, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

I felt the standing Cueball more apologetic or confused and thus part of the KSP team. Probably partly because all the others have hair and talk. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.145|162.158.154.145]] 23:53, 18 September 2019 (UTC)
:I don't think so, but I can see your point at to how you could think this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:36, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

So we’re getting a YouTube play through of KSP2 from Randall, right lol? {{unsigned ip|162.158.187.79}}

== Asshole IP Vandal ==

Some asshole IP editor is unilaterally reverting my edits for no good reason. Do you morons support freedom of speak? BAN THEM!!!
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.13|162.158.107.13]] 14:34, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2199: Cryptic Wifi Networks

2019-09-07T02:17:10Z

108.162.245.166: Should check for uses of that SSID

Reminds me of [https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Doctor-Who-Wifi-SSIDs.jpg these] :) [[User:BytEfLUSh|BytEfLUSh]] ([[User talk:BytEfLUSh|talk]]) 00:17, 7 September 2019 (UTC)

It would be nice to check to see if this SSID exists already (using Google location services, Wiggle, etc.). Could also be interesting to track use of this SSID over time. Of course takes a while for any changes to show up in the search engines. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.166|108.162.245.166]] 02:17, 7 September 2019 (UTC)

2199: Cryptic Wifi Networks

2019-09-07T02:14:00Z

108.162.245.166: /* Explanation */ WiFi positioning system, wikilinks

{{comic
| number = 2199
| date = September 6, 2019
| title = Cryptic Wifi Networks
| image = cryptic_wifi_networks.png
| titletext = They actually showed up on the first scan by the first WiFi-capable device.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Toshiba-U2187-OfficeLink-Net46UHZ. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

There are in many places cryptic {{w|Wi-Fi}} networks that pop up in strange places and it may not be obvious where the router is located. In this comic, [[Randall]] is joking that those networks are an unexplained phenomenon (as opposed the more probable explanation that they come from strangely placed servers or wireless printers).

In the picture, a character with a knit cap is pictured at the top of a high mountain. Checking his phone, he sees a WiFi network even in this remote area.

The name of the network is Toshiba-U2187-OfficeLink-Net46UHZ. {{w|Toshiba}} is a multinational electronics conglomerate. Toshiba make many products, including large office printers. It's very common for devices to have embedded wireless access points that include the manufacturer name on the {{w|Service set (802.11 network)|SSID}}. Many network names contain words like Net, Office or Link.

Network names are used to track locations of mobile devices ({{w|Wi-Fi positioning system}}), for instance Google street view equipment records locations of networks. War-drivers also collect network location information, which can be searched in tools like https://wigle.net/.

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

:[A human with a knit cap and a backpack is checking his phone at the highest mountain in a mountainous landscape.]

:Phone: Available WiFi Networks
:Phone: Toshiba-U2187-OfficeLink-Net46UHZ
:Phone: [in gray] Join other network

:[Caption below the comic:]
:Tech Trivia: No one actually knows what devices produce those cryptic WiFi networks. They just appear at random across the Earth's surface.

{{comic discussion}}

2106: Sharing Options

2019-02-05T05:08:40Z

108.162.245.166: /* Explanation */ other xckd - 300:Facebook

{{comic
| number = 2106
| date = February 1, 2019
| title = Sharing Options
| image = sharing_options.png
| titletext = How about posts that are public, but every time a company accesses a bunch of them, the API makes their CEO’s account click 'like’ on one of them at random so you get a notification.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is floating, talking to a screen that looks like a smartphone with a virtual assistant.
[[Ponytail]] and other characters also fly in the background. The screen is explaining his options for sharing information on {{w|social media}}, he can make it available only to those he selects, or he can make it available to everyone, including various high risk groups.

The drawing may represent a Virtual Reality cyberspace. The comic might be set in the distant future, where VR will have become commonplace and be embraced by [[Cueball]] and his friends. This cyberspace may be the social network’s cyberspace where everyone interacts. The clouds could represent the cloud server where the data of the social network is stored. The virtual assistant seems to have a face and have very advanced AI, which can even be arrogant by assuming that it already knew the information about the “option in between”.

Many social media sites allow users to control who can see content (posts, pictures, etc.) that users share. Several high profile social media sites have sparked controversy by automatically widely sharing user data, unless the user restricts access. The settings for controlling the sharing of data are not always obvious to the user, or easy to use. Access may be limited to immediate friends, or be available to all users (public); some platforms allow intermediate levels of control.

As most social media sites are free to use, the business model for these companies involves a mixture of selling advertising space on their website and selling data on its users. Targeted advertising takes data on users’ past behavior and things that they have liked, and uses this to predict what adverts they may be interested in or be most vulnerable to. Targeted adverts are more valuable to advertisers as they avoid paying to show adverts to individuals who are unlikely to be interested in their products; but can lead to users feeling that they are being spied on. While the terms and conditions for social media websites will include details of how data will be used, the length of these documents and legal terminology may deter users from reading them, meaning that they may be unaware that their data is being exploited in this way. Regulation has been slow to catch up with changing online trends; however, the European Union have recently introduced {{w|General Data Protection Regulation|General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)}} which aims to regulate how user data can be shared. GDPR was featured in comic [[1998: GDPR]].

Data from social media may be used for marketing, for law enforcement, {{w|mass surveillance}} and social control, for investigative journalism, for criminal activity, {{w|Confidence trick|confidence games}}, among other things.
{{w|Internet fraud|Internet scammers}} use online information to manipulate people, often to commit fraud. They may acquire personal data using web crawlers to automatically scan social networks for personal information (particularly emails) to scam their owners. Those bots called web crawlers can get the information without scammers' manual browsing of the victims' profile. Those people who set their social network account as public (the 2nd option in the comic) are more likely victims of scammers since they can access their profiles without being the victim's friend or follower.
Other examples of questionable uses for social media on xkcd include [[300: Facebook]].

Randall is making a point that there ought to be some option between sharing posts only with your friends and making them completely public. The title text shows that he would specifically like to know when corporations read regular peoples' posts.

This also could be a stab at the sharing policies between Facebook and the just-announced end of Google+. Google+ allowed users to create multiple groups called 'circles'. Posts could then be shared by targeting specific circles. For example: "I'm in the hospital" could be shared with just the family circle, but the "I got a promotion" could be shared with the family circle, the co-workers circle, and the general public circle. Facebook provides an option to share with “friends of friends,” leaving the decision about how widely a post is shared not with the posts creator, but with the posts recipients.

The comic is set in the future of VR, yet the fact that Internet companies like Facebook, Tencent and Twitter try hard to collect and sell user data won't change. This may suggests that Randall believe those companies will never reconsider their approach regarding user privacy.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball floating in midair is communicating with a small floating screen that resembles a smartphone. Other people and clouds visible floating by in background.]
:Screen: Welcome to social media! When you put stuff here, you have two options: (1) You can make it available to a small set of 300 or so approved friends.
:Screen: Or (2) you can share permanent copies of it all with billions of people, including internet scammers, random predatory companies, and hostile governments.

:Cueball: Why would anyone pick option two?
:Screen: Two is the default.
:Cueball: Yikes.

:Cueball: So those are the only two options? There’s nothing in in between?
:Screen: I don’t understand. Like what?

:Cueball: I mean…there are numbers between 300 and a billion.
:Screen: Huh? Name one.
:Screen: ''Pretty'' sure I would have heard of those.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Social networking]]

2107: Launch Risk

2019-02-04T18:53:23Z

108.162.245.166: Undo revision 169052 by 108.162.245.220 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2107
| date = February 4, 2019
| title = Launch Risk
| image = launch_risk.png
| titletext = Don't worry--you're less likely to die from a space launch than from a shark attack. The survival rate is pretty high for both!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ASTRONAUT STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic deals with statistics based on a large population, such as all Americans, when the people in question are in a smaller group with vastly different statistics, such as astronauts.

In a capsule about to be launched into space, one astronaut asks another how they are feeling. The second one admits to feeling nervous. The first one offers the supposedly reassuring observation that they are more likely to be struck by lightning than to be selected as an astronaut. Such "more likely to be struck by lightning" comparisons are commonly used to illustrate that a particular risk is very remote, and thus should not be considered particularly frightening.

The second one agrees with the first one for a moment, but then realizes that something is wrong with the argument. Presumably, they realize that the likelihood of being ''selected as an astronaut'' is a moot point -- they are there because they ''already have'' been selected as an astronaut. The relevant concern is the risk level faced by an astronaut, given that they already hold that position. Unfortunately, the historical record shows that this risk is somewhat high, certainly far above the minuscule risk of being struck by lightning.

The lifetime odds of being struck by lightning are approximately 1 in 14,600. [https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-odds How Dangerous is Lightning?]

The title text refers to another common comparison, the risk of a shark attack. In addition to shark attacks being rather rare, they are also not as likely to kill the victim as is commonly assumed. Most people attacked by sharks, and most people launched into space, live through the experience; however, it remains true that both are considerably riskier than many if not most common activities.{{Citation needed}}

A tall rocket, such as depicted would be more likely to be struck by lightning than nearby structures. However launch controllers monitor weather carefully to reduce the chances of attempting to launch when lightning is likely.

A space craft launch can trigger lightning, by creating a conductive path through charge bearing clouds, which would normally not produce lightning. Apollo 12 was struck by triggered lightning twice during launch phase, resulting in the entire operational platform shutting down from overload. Backup systems allowed the flight to proceed. [https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/9-12/features/F_Lightning_and_Launches_9_12.html NASA: Lightning and Launches]

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

:[A rocket is about to launch.]
:Astronaut 1: How you feeling?
:Astronaut 2: Honestly, pretty nervous.
:Astronaut 1: I know it seems dangerous, but just remember: you're more likely to be struck by lightning than to be selected to become an astronaut.
:Astronaut 2: Oh that's a good-
:Astronaut 2: ...Wait.
:Countdown: T-Minus 20...19...

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2107: Launch Risk

2019-02-04T18:52:19Z

108.162.245.166: risk perception common vs. uncommon

Gave a brief explanation, but I think it would be good to mention probability based logical fallacies and https://what-if.xkcd.com/55/. Don’t know how to link without it looking bad. This is my first page! [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 17:28, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

Revised to a more extensive explanation including the fallacy that the second astronaut apparently realizes in mid-reply. [[User:SteveMB|SteveMB]] ([[User talk:SteveMB|talk]])

What are the odds that one or both astronauts are female? I see "he" being used to refer to the second astronaut, but we don't actually know the sex of either one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.135|162.158.74.135]] 17:56, 4 February 2019 (UTC)
: Fixed [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.95|108.162.246.95]] 18:07, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

This seems wrong, at least with the lightning explanation. I believe the joke is that since he already is an astronaut, being hit by lightning doesn’t seem unlikely. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:03, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

Would be nice to add something about risk perception of common vs. uncommon and dramatic vs. more mundane seeming events. e.g. in US, lifetime chance of death from flu, 1 in 63; from automobile accident 1 in 84; from lightning 1 in 79,746; from shark attack, 1 in 3,748,067 https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/shark-attacks/odds/compare-risk/death/ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.166|108.162.245.166]] 18:52, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

Talk:468: Fetishes

2019-02-02T01:01:30Z

108.162.245.166: added a comment

I should point out that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_paradox] is "The set of all sets that do not contain themselves"- if it does not contain itself, then it must contain itself; but since it now contains itself, it cannot. Although this doesn't seem to have an obvious parallel in the comic, Russell probably should've known better than to create a comprehensive list of anything. --[[User:Someone Else 37|Someone Else 37]] ([[User talk:Someone Else 37|talk]]) 04:17, 14 January 2014 (UTC)

And factoids are false even if they don't contain 7. If they weren't false they would be facts.Factoids are falsehoods that look almost like facts, just as the humanoid Mr. Spock is not human, but almost lookalike one. {{unsigned ip|162.158.38.100}}

The real solution here is to take into account that Godel is clearly lying. There's no way he's turned on by literally anything not on the list. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.166|108.162.245.166]] 01:01, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2105: Modern OSI Model

2019-01-30T15:39:30Z

108.162.245.166:

Randall seems to be saying that a startup doesn't need to create a new computer system to service their customers, all they have to do is put up a Facebook page which uses Google to find products and then has Amazon deliver them. The middle layer "Transport" is a joke because Amazon literally ships physical boxes, but the OSI model is not about actual boxes; it's about information and the way the information is presented to the user vs what goes on behind the scenes.
But I don't get the part about the horcruxes. Is it just the fact that there are seven of them? Or is there some subtle connection I'm missing here? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.180|162.158.106.180]] 05:50, 30 January 2019 (UTC)
:(Spoilers alert) Voldemort uses signifying objects of his life, heritage and his school's founders as horcruces. When the OSI layers are used as horcruces, one problem would be that Google/Amazon would have taken control of two horcruces, the other that some of the layers are frayed at the sides. Randall should not have put his horcruces in living standards - that was a very dangerous move. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.46|172.68.110.46]] 07:54, 30 January 2019 (UTC)

Is there a meaning of the widths of the layers - not a block or a triangle/pyramid? Are there more layers than the named ones? Or the named ones multiple times? This would correspond to the design of ever more layers, virtualizations, abstractions and overall complexity of computer systems as time moved forward. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.46|172.68.110.46]] 07:49, 30 January 2019 (UTC)
:It looks like a jenga tower to me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.223|162.158.89.223]] 12:35, 30 January 2019 (UTC)

I think Google & Amazon are the grey blob that is slowly absorbing all of the layers [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.114|141.101.107.114]] 07:55, 30 January 2019 (UTC)
: Excellent remark! Google & Amazon are inserted between the Data Link and Network layers, and while it seems like an eight layer from the shape profile, they do not sit in their own bordered rectangle. Another view point is maybe Randall tried to display the fight between the Infrastructure providers to capture a new layer in gestation. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.114|141.101.107.114]] 08:21, 30 January 2019 (UTC)

: Agreed. There is no way that Randall wanted the label for the gray blob to just apply to a couple of layers. It's clearly labelling the entire gray blob as "Google and Amazon". Otherwise, he would have put in another dividing line or two. So all the glue between the layers is being described as "Google and Amazon". Meaning that the layers wouldn't even be able to talk to each other and function correctly without G+A glue between them. Maybe this is "glue" in the technical sense of trivial code which converts from one API to another. The basic point here is that Google lays cable in some places and writes Chrome and owns You Tube, so it's definitely at both ends. I'm not sufficiently knowledgeable to say if it owns/writes stuff in the middle. And I'd be surprised if this was true of Amazon. But it's not my place to comment on the veracity of Randall's remarks, I'm just trying to sort out what he's saying.

: That's how I understood it as well. By having there hands in *everything* G+A defeat the whole purpose of having a layered (ie. divided) model, making the 'modern model' just bits and pieces added to G+A code.

Trivia: (Major Spoiler alert) Voldemort originally intended to create six horcruces to divide his soul into 7 (including his own body) pieces. The 6th unintended horcrux is Harry Potter by Voldemort killing his parents. Later on after his revival Voldemort made the snake Nagini to his seemingly 6th horcrux, which was actually his 7th. Does that mean Randall embodies one of the OSI layers from the beginning of his existence? :-) Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.46|172.68.110.46]] 08:01, 30 January 2019 (UTC)

Just a point of contention with the current explanation. Right now, Google and Facebook are two of the major players in cloud-based computing: I have seen tutorials on leveraging Google's cloud services to home-brew your own proxy service.
As such, a lot of internet services are running ON Google or Amazon, so Google and Amazon DO effectively own, or at least manage, several layers.
I do not know if Facebook is one of those, and I would tend to doubt it, considering its size.

Why does the bot have seven layers???

Talk:2103: Midcontinent Rift System

2019-01-25T15:32:56Z

108.162.245.166: Mentions Lex Luthor

If Black Hat runs, I vote for him. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.35|141.101.104.35]] 15:15, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

Has anyone else thought of all the new beach front property that would be created? Lex Luthor would be proud. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.166|108.162.245.166]] 15:32, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

2090: Feathered Dinosaur Venn Diagram

2018-12-26T19:00:09Z

108.162.245.166: Removed last sentence, not helpful.

{{comic
| number = 2090
| date = December 26, 2018
| title = Feathered Dinosaur Venn Diagram
| image = feathered_dinosaur_venn_diagram.png
| titletext = My pet theory is that in real life, the kid at the beginning of Jurassic Park who made fun of the 'six-foot turkey' never got a talking-to from Dr. Grant, and grew up to produce several of the movie's sequels.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a idiot. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag just because you are a dumb idiot.}}

This comic is another jab at people who don't believe in the fact that feathered dinosaurs exist, just because they don't sound deadly. Adding feathers to a reptile can trigger a cognitive dissonance; people today see feathers and think birds.

The diagram is in actuality a Euler diagram, rather than a Venn diagram. A Venn diagram shows all possible combinations of two sets, including those with no elements, and as such all of the circles must intersect. A Euler diagram only depicts the non-empty combinations, and therefore does not have this constraint. However, this is a technicality, and many people use the words interchangeably.

The Euler diagram is explaining that the ostrich (and a few other avian species) are in fact deadly.

The title text says "My pet theory is that in real life, the kid at the beginning of Jurassic Park who made fun of the 'six-foot turkey' never got a talking-to from Dr. Grant, and grew up to produce several of the movie's sequels."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[The comic shows a rectangular panel containing two circles, side by side. A caption is underneath each circle.]

:Left circle caption: People Who Don't Think Feathered Dinosaurs Sound Scary

:Right circle caption: People Who Have Tried To Fight An Ostrich

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Jurassic Park]]

Talk:2085: arXiv

2018-12-21T02:40:59Z

108.162.245.166:

To be fair, the UI is so bad that that alone is barrier enough for downloading the pdf. :D Also, people might now fight me, because it's really easy if you know what to do. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 19:03, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

It appears this comic may be referencing current events where academics are pushing for more open access publishing and publishers are balking. In particular, see this article in [https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/12/13/university-california-challenges-elsevier-over-access-scholarly-research the December 13th issue of Inside Higher Ed]. Some key quotes from the article:

: ''The California system wants to fundamentally alter how it pays for journal content from publishers like Elsevier and to accelerate open-access publishing in the process. The UC system wants to do more to make publicly funded research freely accessible to the public.''

: ''If an agreement is not reached before the deadline, then as soon as Jan. 1, 2019, the 69,000 faculty members and 238,000 students in the UC system may no longer have access to new articles published in over a thousand Elsevier journals, including Lancet and biology journals published through Cell Press.''

: ''It’s certainly the case that major publishers have not embraced these types of agreements,” said MacKie-Mason. “Springer Nature has been more agreeable to contracts of this sort, but many are moving slowly, or actively opposing.”''

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.96|162.158.106.96]] 20:43, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

:A group of publishing companies are currently taking legal action against websites that share published papers unofficially [http://www.responsiblesharing.org/coalition-statement/]. I don't know if this applies to the ones mentioned in the comic, but it partly comes down to whether the article is in it's final 'published' format which is copyright of the journal, or an earlier pre-print version not using the publisher's template where the copyright may still be owned by the authors. On the other hand, some publishers have embraced the pre-print model and created their own servers [https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/chemistry-preprint-server-plan-generates-sparks/1017239.article]. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.178|162.158.34.178]] 21:13, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

: Propably also interesting https://www.projekt-deal.de/about-deal [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.52|162.158.202.52]] 04:54, 15 December 2018 (UTC)

Here is information on how preprints are different than peer-reviewed publications http://holly.witteman.ca/index.php/2017/12/11/getting-access-to-paywalled-papers/

'''Can someone deduce the field Ponytail is working on?'''

What fields are they taking about? Which have been most open to sites like arXiv and which have been most reluctant? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.161|108.162.246.161]] 19:46, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

:I know that pretty much every astronomy paper is on arXiv.

:arXiv is definitely an astronomer's haven. I don't think even physicists use it as much. And actually, quite hilariously, apparently arXiv recently stopped accepting research notes, and that made AAS Journal that publish these research notes most disappointed [https://twitter.com/AAS_ResNotes/status/1072232650491002881].

Talk:2084: FDR

2018-12-15T05:18:46Z

108.162.245.166: comment

I didn't know about the Guy Fawkes date. I thought the title text might have been referring to the song {{w|Try to Remember}}, but it refers to September and December, but not November.
[[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:02, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
:You clearly aren't from the UK, still a pretty big thing here. Known as Bonfire Night or Fireworks Night and is a part of everyone's primary (elementary?) education
:[[User:Zbrown|Zbrown]] ([[User talk:Zbrown|talk]]) 16:50, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
::I'm not from UK and I know about that from english lessons in primary school, but I didn't know about the Pearl Harbor date. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.220|188.114.102.220]] 16:55, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
::::The movie V for Vendetta which prompted the anonymous movement iconic white masks celebrates the Nov 5 rhyme, and is international. That's how I know of it. And I know from the movie and wikipedia that it's Guy Fawkes day in the nonfictional universe.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.161|108.162.246.161]] 02:06, 14 December 2018 (UTC)
:::Then you're probably not from the US [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.174|172.68.143.174]] 17:19, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
::::I'm from the US, but I couldn't tell you right now without scrolling up what date Pearl Harbor day was. Then again, I have trouble remembering the dates of anything but Christmas, New Year's, & 4th of July. Measurements of time are really weird & arbitrary perceptual artifacts, for me. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:08, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
:::::I always found it weird that they celebrate the 4th of July on the 7th of April. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.145|162.158.111.145]] 13:17, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
The Crete earthquake raise the island by 3 to 9 meters. You go out on a beach in Crete, it is obvious, especially if there are ruins of an ancient city nearby where the docks are well inland [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.174|172.68.143.174]] 17:32, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Incidental, this month I made the weird mistake of writing a date as "2016" ... I really have no idea why that happened, or that I didn't catch it to correct it in time. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.135|162.158.74.135]] 17:52, 12 December 2018 (UTC) Sam
:Me too! For some reason I've recently written the date as a couple years ago a few times over the last month or so, and I normally never do! Also in response to the above discussion, I've never heard of Guy Fawkes day, and don't particularly remember the date of Pearl Harbor other than by comic [[821]] [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 07:09, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

FYI, the hovertext appears to be wrong. The Med quake was July 21, AD365 -- not June 21. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.13|173.245.54.13]] 20:25, 12 December 2018 (UTC)Andrew K[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.13|173.245.54.13]] 20:25, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
::I don't think it's deliberate; he didn't get the other date in the title-text / alt-text wrong. I think the alt-text contains an unintentional error. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:00, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

So he's not using THE date format: https://xkcd.com/1179/
:True, he's not using "the date format", but the standard applies to "numeric representations of dates and times". Randall has used a non-numeric format, so ISO 8601 isn't relevant. [[User:Roguetech|Roguetech]] ([[User talk:Roguetech|talk]]) 13:26, 14 December 2018 (UTC)
:'''''Thank''''' '''you.''' Writing it the correct way (yyyy-mm-dd) would probably confuse most people though, & I think ISO-8601 does allow provision for dates written long-hand (MMM d, yyyy). I'm just glad someone else remembers that the ''proper'' way to numerically specify a date is year first, then two-digit month (01 thru 12, not 1 thru 12), & ''then'' day. This keeps the numbers in correct left-to-right sequence & will sort alphabetically too. m-d-yy is just '''''wrong''''' on so many levels. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:00, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
:: Don't worry, month, day then year is pretty much only found in one country, like spelling colour without the u. It should die out eventually. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.238|162.158.165.238]] 22:32, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
::Personally, when it's not for archival purposes I write dates d/m-yy. I don't care if it's wrong, it's how I say them in daily speech. The slash should make it clear which one is day and which one is month and the dash should make it clear that the last part is the year. I don't see myself signing any contracts that last longer than the average human lifespan, so including the century and millennia feels unnecessary. [[User:Kapten-N|Kapten-N]] ([[User talk:Kapten-N|talk]]) 12:03, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

I don't see any explanation for the "19" in the comic. Could that be a reference to 7:19 (the time of the Mexico City earthquake and the name of the movie about it)? [[User:Madfrog768|Madfrog768]] ([[User talk:Madfrog768|talk]]) 21:26, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
:It's the year, 1941. Time would not appear in a '''Date:''' field. In the comic, Randall got all the way to writing the 4 before he realized he was putting the wrong date in. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:00, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

I work for a bus company and work on the schedules for the next service change which usually takes place in december. Since I have this job, from the end of summer on I regularly miswrite dates a year ''ahead''. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.55|162.158.111.55]] 21:31, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Any Hardcore History fans with Dan Carlin? [[User:Capncanuck|Capncanuck]] ([[User talk:Capncanuck|talk]]) 07:28, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

As for catchy date mnemonics, you can't beat "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" for the armistice of The Great War. Note it wasn't called World War 1 until there was a second world war 35 years later. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:29, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
:I'm trying to work out where you got the 35 for your 35 years later. WW2 started 20(-ish) years after WW1 ended, WW2 ended 31 years after WW1 started. Not sure... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.145|162.158.111.145]] 14:49, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
::Well it began in 1914 and the other ended in 1945 that is 35 years... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:24, 14 December 2018 (UTC)
:Actually, it was referred to as 'The First World War' or 'The First Great War' before it even ended. I wish I could recall who; but some general or politician, when asked what he thought it should be called, rejected 'the great war' (as there might be greater wars in future), and similar; he proposed 'The First World War', as he expected it wouldn't be the last. He wasn't wrong. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.124|172.69.135.124]] 00:36, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

I'm still writing "1987" on my checks. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 16:25, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
:You still use cheques? I think I probably last used on in 1994 and even my dad in his 60s is slowly giving them up. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.41|108.162.250.41]] 23:50, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
::I just did, last week. The previous one however was almost a year ago. 10 years ago I'd write like 10 to 30 cheques a month; I really miss how they made me take like 20 seconds ensuring that I really want to spend ''that much'' money on ''that''. Tapping a credit card is way, way too convenient for my wallet's health. [[User:Ekevoo|Ekevoo]] ([[User talk:Ekevoo|talk]]) 20:29, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

It was actually called "the first World War" in 1914. However it wasn't called "The First World War", as the name was to show that it was a world war, not to point out that another would happen in 20 years. And the name "Great War" referred to the Napoleonic War, not the First World War. And now to leave a message beginning with four tildes. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.172|162.158.34.172]] 18:46, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

I do not see how the comic confuses Guy Fawkes Night as the explanation claims. The comic says it occurred November 5th, 1605 and that is also when it actually occurred, if I understand correctly.
:It isn't the date of Guy Fawkes Night that's incorrect, it's the date of the earthquake in Crete - the text says June 21st but it was actually July 21st. The 5th of November is correct.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.166|108.162.245.166]] 05:18, 15 December 2018 (UTC)

2034: Equations

2018-12-13T19:38:48Z

108.162.245.166: /* Explanation */

{{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.
}}
==Explanation==

This comic gives a set of mock equations. 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. Most of the jokes are related to the symbols or "look" of most equations in the given field.

The comic makes jokes about the fields of kinematics, number theory, fluid dynamics, quantum mechanics, chemistry, quantum gravity, gauge theory, cosmology, and physics equations. Of course, all of the equations listed are not real equations (<math>\pi-\infty</math> and H2EAT are clearly jokes and making a mockery of the given field). As always, Randall is just having a laugh.

* Most '''kinematics''' equations tend to make heavy use of constants, addition, powers and multiplication.

* Randall jokes about how '''number theory''' often involves the use of summations. The use of ''π'' as an integer variable in the double summation is a joke, as ''π'' is essentially always used for the well-known constant 3.14159..., not a variable. The use of ''i'' as a summation variable '''is''' common, though it can also be confused with the imaginary unit √-1. The constants ''e'', ''i'', ''π'', and <math>\infty</math> often appear in number theory equations.

* '''Fluid dynamics equations''' often involve copious integrals, especially those over closed contours as done here, which are often the main telling factors of those equations to an outsider.

* '''Quantum mechanics''' often involves some of the foreign-looking symbols listed, including {{w|Bra–ket notation|bra-ket notation}}, the {{w|Tensor product|tensor product}}, and the Greek letter Psi for a quantum state.

* '''Chemistry equations''' use chemical formulas, as shown. The addition of H2EAT and HEAT is just a joke. Randall gets the {{w|stoichiometry}} of this equation correct, with the same number of all types of 'atoms' on each side of the equation.

* '''Quantum gravity''' uses mathematical {{w|Group (mathematics)|groups}} denoted by uppercase letters, as shown. {{w|Special unitary group|SU(2)}}, {{w|Unitary group|U(1)}}, and {{w|Unitary group|U(2)}} are all well-studied groups, though 'SU(U(2))' makes no sense. There is a possible pun here, on "Sue you too... you won"... "Sue you, you too", though it's unclear how it fits in here.

* '''Gauge theory''' is a subset of field theory. Most gauge theory equations appear to have many strange-looking constants and variables with odd labels.

* '''Cosmology''' is the science of the development and ultimate fate of the universe. The joke here may be pertaining to the different models accepted in the field of cosmology. H is the {{w|Hubble's_law#Time-dependence_of_Hubble_parameter|Hubble parameter}}, Ω is the universal {{w|Friedmann_equations#Density_parameter|density parameter}}, G is the {{w|gravitational constant}}, and Λ is the {{w|cosmological constant}}.

* The joke about the "truly deep physics equations" is that most of the universal physics equations are simple, almost exceedingly so. One example is Einstein's <math>E = mc^2</math>.

* The title text is referencing the fact that the electric and magnetic fields are often explained to physics students using an analogy with fluid dynamics, as well as the fact that they do share some similarities (only in terms of mathematical description as three-dimensional vector fields) with fluids. The permittivity constant (represented with ''ε''0) and the permeability constant (represented with ''μ''0) are coefficients that describe the amount of charge required to cause a specific amount of electric flux in a vacuum and the ability of vacuum to support the formation of magnetic fields, respectively. They appear frequently in Maxwell's equations (the equations that define the electric and magnetic fields in classical mechanics), so Randall is making the joke that any surface integral with them in it automatically is an electromagnetism equation.

==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]]

2034: Equations

2018-12-13T19:36:37Z

108.162.245.166: /* Explanation */

{{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.
}}
==Explanation==

This comic gives a set of mock equations. 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. Most of the jokes are related to the symbols or "look" of most equations in the given field.

The comic makes jokes about the fields of kinematics, number theory, fluid dynamics, quantum mechanics, chemistry, quantum gravity, gauge theory, cosmology, and physics equations. Of course, all of the equations listed are not real equations (<math>\pi-\infty</math> and H2EAT are clearly jokes and making a mockery of the given field). As always, Randall is just having a laugh.

* Most '''kinematics''' equations tend to make heavy use of constants, addition, powers and multiplication.

* Randall jokes about how '''number theory''' often involves the use of summations. The use of ''π'' as an integer variable in the double summation is a joke, as ''π'' is essentially always used for the well-known constant 3.14159..., not a variable. The use of ''i'' as a summation variable '''is''' common, though it can also be confused with the imaginary unit √-1. The constants ''e'', ''i'', ''π'', and <math>\infty</math> often appear in number theory equations.

* '''Fluid dynamics equations''' often involve copious integrals, especially those over closed contours as done here, which are often the main telling factors of those equations to an outsider.

* '''Quantum mechanics''' often involves some of the foreign-looking symbols listed, including {{w|Bra–ket notation|bra-ket notation}} and the {{w|Tensor product|tensor product}}.

* '''Chemistry equations''' use chemical formulas, as shown. The addition of H2EAT and HEAT is just a joke. Randall gets the {{w|stoichiometry}} of this equation correct, with the same number of all types of 'atoms' on each side of the equation.

* '''Quantum gravity''' uses mathematical {{w|Group (mathematics)|groups}} denoted by uppercase letters, as shown. {{w|Special unitary group|SU(2)}}, {{w|Unitary group|U(1)}}, and {{w|Unitary group|U(2)}} are all well-studied groups, though 'SU(U(2))' makes no sense. There is a possible pun here, on "Sue you too... you won"... "Sue you, you too", though it's unclear how it fits in here.

* '''Gauge theory''' is a subset of field theory. Most gauge theory equations appear to have many strange-looking constants and variables with odd labels.

* '''Cosmology''' is the science of the development and ultimate fate of the universe. The joke here may be pertaining to the different models accepted in the field of cosmology. H is the {{w|Hubble's_law#Time-dependence_of_Hubble_parameter|Hubble parameter}}, Ω is the universal {{w|Friedmann_equations#Density_parameter|density parameter}}, G is the {{w|gravitational constant}}, and Λ is the {{w|cosmological constant}}.

* The joke about the "truly deep physics equations" is that most of the universal physics equations are simple, almost exceedingly so. One example is Einstein's <math>E = mc^2</math>.

* The title text is referencing the fact that the electric and magnetic fields are often explained to physics students using an analogy with fluid dynamics, as well as the fact that they do share some similarities (only in terms of mathematical description as three-dimensional vector fields) with fluids. The permittivity constant (represented with ''ε''0) and the permeability constant (represented with ''μ''0) are coefficients that describe the amount of charge required to cause a specific amount of electric flux in a vacuum and the ability of vacuum to support the formation of magnetic fields, respectively. They appear frequently in Maxwell's equations (the equations that define the electric and magnetic fields in classical mechanics), so Randall is making the joke that any surface integral with them in it automatically is an electromagnetism equation.

==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]]

2078: Popper

2018-11-28T17:16:31Z

108.162.245.166: /* Transcript */ formatting

{{comic
| number = 2078
| date = November 28, 2018
| title = Popper
| image = popper.png
| titletext = At least, I don't think there's evidence. My claim that there's no evidence hasn't been falsified. At least, not that I know of.
}}

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

==Transcript==
: There's no evidence that Karl Popper wasn't born on July 28th, 1902.

: No has proven that he didn't grow up in Vienna...

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]

2075: Update Your Address

2018-11-21T17:54:15Z

108.162.245.166: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2075
| date = November 21, 2018
| title = Update Your Address
| image = update_your_address.png
| titletext = This is my four-digit PIN. It was passed down to me by my father, and someday I will pass it on to you. Unless we figure out how to update it, but that sounds complicated.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by someone with an OLD ADDRESS. There is no explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

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

{{comic discussion}}

2020: Negative Results

2018-07-16T15:11:28Z

108.162.245.166: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2020
| date = July 16, 2018
| title = Negative Results
| image = negative_results.png
| titletext = P.S. We're going to the beach this weekend, so I'm attaching my preregistration forms for that trip now, before we find out whether it produces any interesting results.
}}

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

Recently, scientists have begun encouraging each other to publish negative results, where a study failed to find the intended effect, as a way of counteracting publication bias (where only interesting positive results get published, which results in false-positive results being published while negative results are not.

Cue-ball mis-interprets the "push to publish negative results" as meaning that he should always attempt to publish the fact that he failed to find evidence of an effect, even when he didn't even try. This plays on the unspoken assumption that scientists would only choose to submit (and journals would only accept) negative results where a study was designed and executed well enough that it should have shown an effect if there was one.

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1864: City Nicknames

2017-07-18T04:03:19Z

108.162.245.166:

I think "Castleopolis" is much more likely to be a reference to The Phantom Tollbooth (which I'm sure xkcd has referenced at least once before) than a *very* small town in Michigan. As I suggested in the table, The Phantom Tollbooth has castles and cities named Digitopolis and Dictionopolis, so this seems like the more likely reference to me. All open to interpretation of course! [[User:Erronius|Erronius]] ([[User talk:Erronius|talk]]) 23:52, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

For some reason I'm reminded of [https://xkcd.com/1759/ this comic]. [[User:OldCorps|OldCorps]] ([[User talk:OldCorps|talk]]) 11:41, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

"Urban Orb" may refer to Boston, aka "The Hub". {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.220}}

Los Vegas may be sin city, but I'm pretty sure that Las Vegas is quickly becoming Skin City [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 13:01, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

My only guess as to "The Walled Garden": In the video game series ''{{w|Mass Effect}}'', the name of the homeworld of the Quarian species, [http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Rannoch Rannoch], translates to "walled garden". Not something I really associated with xkcd, admittedly. [[User:PvOberstein|PvOberstein]] ([[User talk:PvOberstein|talk]]) 13:19, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

A guess at "Hamtown" instead of Hamburg would be "Hogtown", a common nickname for Toronto, Canada {{unsigned|Harebenj}}

The Mobius Strip is also a district in the fictional [http://perplexcitywiki.com/wiki/Mobius_Strip Perplex City]. I'm sure I've seen it used in some cyberpunk-ish novel as well, but can't identify it off the top of my head. - [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.76|141.101.98.76]] 13:46, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

Well Folk might be a variation on Wee Folk. [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 13:48, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

"Horse Rotary" could be referring to a traffic roundabout, which are called "rotaries" in some countries. [[User:Kbseah|Kbseah]] ([[User talk:Kbseah|talk]]) 14:02, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

Some of these make me wonder if it might be easier to interpret if you connect adjacent ones. Seems to be easy to make the names of some real people/places/things by taking words from a pair of adjacent nicknames.
For Example: The Urban Orb - City of Angles - The Big Wheel - Bird City USA - City of Seven Crowns - Hilltopia
Could become: (...) - The Urban Angle - City of Wheels - Big Bird - Crown City - City of Seven Hills - (...)
All of which seem to be Things That Exist™. Maybe I'm overthinking it :S - [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.76|141.101.98.76]] 14:39, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

No, I don't think you are overthinking this. If you just try and make random word associations you get interesting combinations. If New Orleans can be called the "Big Easy" and Chicago can be called "Chi (Shy) Town" then why not the "Big Shy" to the "Shy Easy", like Black Hat is just spouting out random words associated with city monikers (demonyms) you get a pretty humorous connection [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 17:14, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

Game of Thrones is based on the book series ''A '''Song''' of Ice and Fire'', not '''''Land''' of Ice and Fire''. Correction made in description. [[User:OldCorps|OldCorps]] ([[User talk:OldCorps|talk]]) 17:01, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

From my perspective from USA there is nothing more inherently funny than the names given to people in British cities. That someone from Liverpool is called a Liverpudlian makes me laugh every time I hear it. But then again the town I grew up is was referred to with the pejorative "Dreary Erie, the Mistake on the Lake" [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 17:14, 17 July 2017 (UTC)
:Be proud though, not many cities can claim to have [https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/63#.WWz0m4TythE set a river on fire]. [[User:OldCorps|OldCorps]] ([[User talk:OldCorps|talk]]) 17:39, 17 July 2017 (UTC)
:Agreed! Cleveland Rocks! Burn on, Cuyahoga, burn on. And a song to commemorate it [http://www.metrolyrics.com/burn-on-lyrics-randy-newman.html] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.88|108.162.219.88]] 18:08, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

Random reader here... It may be familiarity bias since I'm from St. Louis, but this is the third (or fourth) comic to my memory that highlights St. Louis when it seems like any random city could have sufficed (I'm thinking of [[1321: Cold]], [[1368: One Of The]], and maybe [[1243: Snare]]) and I don't recall any other city getting name-dropped so often (at least outside of major metropolises). Have I just not paid attention as much when other cities are mentioned, or is the repeated use of St. Louis something worth including as trivia on these three/four articles? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.63|162.158.62.63]] 17:36, 17 July 2017 (UTC)
:Boston (New England) beat St. Louis in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XXXVI Super Bowl XXXVI] and Randall just wants to keep rubbing it in maybe? [[User:OldCorps|OldCorps]] ([[User talk:OldCorps|talk]]) 17:42, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

''The Auditors ... wanted to simplify the universe by destroying it.'' Not so. They merely wanted to destroy humans and humanity, which are unnecessarily complicated from their point of view. To quote George Carlin: The planet is fine. The '''people''' are fucked.--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.154.70|172.68.154.70]] 18:52, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

Space Moose - [https://www.hackcanada.com/canadian/zines/spacemoose/rumple.gif Rumpleshithead]. NSFW, I guess, if you work somewhere stupid. :-D {{unsigned ip|162.158.63.34}}

"The Kissing Kingdoms" Could be a reference to "The Kissing Kings," a common nickname for the two kings that are in the middle together in standard Bicycle new deck order. [[User:Dragonfiremalus|Dragonfiremalus]] ([[User talk:Dragonfiremalus|talk]]) 19:51, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

"The Land of Trains and Fog" is obviously Britain (or some portion thereof), famous for fogs/rain, and where much of early railroading was developed. There is a quotation about this someplace, (I think Rowland Emett referenced it in one of his cartoons). I just haven't been able to dig up the source. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.70|108.162.245.70]] 22:51, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

The names in this kind of remind of towns names in Dwarf Fortress. Just randomly combined words.

"The City of Seven Crowns" also makes me think of the Seven Kingdoms (ASOIAF/GOT). Admittedly that may be because I watched the season 7 premiere last night.

Talk:1847: Dubious Study

2017-06-07T06:01:15Z

108.162.245.166:

The name of the organisation is suggestive of legitimacy but rather vague. That would be a red flag for me. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.166|108.162.245.166]] 06:01, 7 June 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1846: Drone Problems

2017-06-06T04:32:14Z

108.162.245.166: add related riddle

It will work for [[1207|this]], though. She might finally get some use out of it. [[User:Mulan15262|Mulan15262]] ([[User talk:Mulan15262|talk]]) 04:21, 6 June 2017 (UTC)

I wrote a short little explanation that needs a lot more. Maybe I'll add more after school.
[[User:LordFlashmeow|LordFlashmeow]] ([[User talk:LordFlashmeow|talk]]) 15:56, 5 June 2017 (UTC)LordFlashmeow

There's a much simpler, if less elegant, solution in buying a Mossberg 500. [[User:OldCorps|OldCorps]] ([[User talk:OldCorps|talk]]) 16:20, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

As I read it, the drones were flying around her, in the first place, because people can't control them properly. I find the comic even funnier, reading this way.
(New here. Is the below signature the right way to sign?)
<saim>{{unsigned|Saim}}
:No. you type <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> and it gives you something like this: (mine is customized) [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 23:22, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

Wasn't there another comic where black hat builds something similar that shoots birds or squirrels or something? I can't find it now —[[User:Artyer|Artyer]] <big>([[User Talk:Artyer|talk]]<big>'''|'''</big>[[Special:Contributions/Artyer|ctb]])</big> 19:36, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

I thought this was a parallel to North Korean ICBMs and US anti-missle technology... {{unsigned ip|108.162.245.226}}

I also got the impression that this was an ICBM metaphor. Note the news in recent days: [http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/29/530534854/north-korea-fires-short-range-missile-into-sea-of-japan-its-9th-launch-this-year North Korea missile launch] [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40101629 Anti-missile Launch]--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.82|108.162.245.82]] 22:12, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

Maybe Cueball's problems came with him from [[1586|here]]? [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 23:20, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

Something like the old riddle:
Why do elephants paint their toenails red?
To hide in cherry trees.
Have you ever seen an elephant in a cherry tree?
See? It works.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.166|108.162.245.166]] 04:32, 6 June 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1835: Random Obsessions

2017-05-13T22:27:41Z

108.162.245.166:

I feel like it's worth noting that the internet fixations mentioned on the chart - robot, monkeys, pirate, ninja, zombies, bacon - were all mentioned in #856 Trochee fixation https://xkcd.com/856/ and that sandwich is also a trochee. [[User:Necroleopard|Necroleopard]] ([[User talk:Necroleopard|talk]]) 20:01, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

I'm clearly behind on some things here. I know about all of these except "sandwiches" and "bacon". [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 04:51, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
:Some reference to a rise in "sandwich debate" online (Google trends or something) would be very helpful. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 04:53, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/is-a-hot-dog-a-sandwich is one of the threads of this meme but the meme does go further than just hotdogs --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.4|162.158.2.4]] 07:36, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

I added some description of the bacon fad, I wasn't sure if/where the Know Your Meme entry fits but here it is (http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cultures/bacon) in case some other editor wants to put it in[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.11|108.162.238.11]] 13:09, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
:Bacon is never a fad though. It has always been and will always be. [[User:OldCorps|OldCorps]] ([[User talk:OldCorps|talk]]) 16:30, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

The current incomplete explanation asking about the bacon.... Are you kidding? This was the one I was most comfortable with! It's the quite current trend of singing the praises of bacon, memes shared around Facebook that say things like "Everything's better with bacon", "When in doubt, bacon", "Like if you love bacon, Comment if you love bacon, Share if you love bacon, ignore if you hate puppies". I even have a Facebook friend who put their middle name as "bacon", LOL! - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.16|108.162.219.16]] 21:42, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
:I added that tag. The question is what about bacon started to rise in 2010 and is peaking now? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 02:24, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
::Here is the google trend for "Bacon": https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=bacon [[User:Jona|Jona]] ([[User talk:Jona|talk]]) 07:22, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
:::Looking at the graph, there appears to be a regular uptick in December or January. Interesting. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.166|108.162.245.166]] 22:27, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
I believe this comic might be talking about the Burger King commericals that set off Google Homes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_O54le4__I -An anonymous person [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.88|108.162.219.88]] 12:51, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
:By that, I meant "What is the definition of a sandwich?" part. -Same anonymous guy [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.88|108.162.219.88]] 12:53, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1818: Rayleigh Scattering

2017-04-02T00:26:26Z

108.162.245.166: /* The other side of the argument */ new section

I keep trying to correct the misspelled joung Girl to Young Girl but it keeps reverting. I corrected the two non-capitalized sentences and they stay put. Does "joung" have a meaning i don't understand? [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 14:55, 31 March 2017 (UTC)
:There might be conflicting edits, that happens a lot with new comics[[User:Dontknow|Dontknow]] ([[User talk:Dontknow|talk]]) 15:34, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Question - while I understand the intent of the comic is that overly complicated explanations can be confusing, isn't the title-text analogy incorrect? Doesn't chlorophyll scatter green light and absorbs other colors, whereas with the sky, it's really just different levels of scattering and very little absorbing (hence why a clear sky at dusk can appear red, the sky wasn't absorbing red light, it was just scattering it differently than blue light). Isn't that fundamentally different from the way most other common objects get their perceived color? (ps - I'm not a scientist, just curious, appreciate any feedback)
:Sry, no answer to your question, but a second chlorophyll-related one: I doubt that chlorophyll "reflects" green light, "scattering" should be correct! Any other opinions???? milebrega, 14:38, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

"Why are leaves green?" "Well, the leaf absorbs most of the colors, but not the green light, which it scatters instead." "Why is my shirt black?" "Well the cloth absorbs most of the colors, but just scatters the black light... wait..." [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 15:46, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

I like to think this is Miss Lenhart, continuing her science teaching in the same vein as in 'Venus'. There's no proof in the comic, but it fits nicely. Potentially something to add as a possibility in the explanation? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.247|162.158.154.247]] 16:38, 31 March 2017 (UTC)
:I second the take that this is Miss Lenhart; I guess she's not in a classroom setting but she's been in similar situations. Someone should mention that the girl's second question is the same from [[803: Airfoil]] (also with Miss Lenhart). Articles have mentioned sort of "series" of themes before; that article, [[1145: Sky Color]], and this have an ongoing theme of "how to explain science to kids".[[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.34|172.68.150.34]] 04:04, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

Yesssss <3 I had the exact same thought the first time Rayleigh scattering was explained to me: "isn't that just a specific mechanism of air being blue?" For some reason such explanations majorly tend to insist that the air is not in fact blue, and it has always bothered me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.19|162.158.111.19]] 16:41, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Maybe the explanation should point out that the real reason the planes "stay up" is that the tiny birds are on the '''underside''' of the wings.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.34|162.158.92.34]] 17:20, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

If air is blue how come a sunset, with LOTS of air, is red? I know the answer but it is the obvious next question with this explanation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.171|162.158.74.171]] 17:22, 31 March 2017 (UTC)
:During the day the Sun heats the air. At sunset you see the result of this heating, the air glows red-hot or orange-hot and starts to quickly cool down. You can't see it glowing during the day because of the very bright Sun.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.34|162.158.92.34]] 17:40, 31 March 2017 (UTC)
::Oh ok. Than why is the sun-rise also red? ;-). --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 23:40, 31 March 2017 (UTC)
:: https://www.reddit.com/r/ExplainLikeImCalvin/ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.202|108.162.210.202]] 10:31, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

Can someone add this to the comics featuring those respective characters? [[User:Dontknow|Dontknow]] ([[User talk:Dontknow|talk]]) 17:41, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

New here, probably not following proper form in this commend, but, if I may ask, is that thing about mountains appearing blue actually true? (Unsigned)

I received the 'rayleigh scattering' explanation myself, and it served me well. Even without knowing anything about quantum mechanics or how the human eye works, knowing that there's an optic principle at work other than simple pigmentation explains why the light is golden early and late in the day, and why dust or smoke can have such diverse effects on the colour of the light beaming down, especially at dusk and dawn.

If I'd been told air was blue, I'd have a lot more questions, and I'd still think that gemstones like alexandrite that look different colours in different light were somehow magical, instead of just having unique physical properties. So, I'd like to assume Randall's just making a outlandish joke, not really trying to say that it's wrong to give children the phrase 'rayleigh scattering' and explain what the consequences of it are, even without describing the mechanisms behind it--something that still goes way over my head.[[User:Namaphry|Namaphry]] ([[User talk:Namaphry|talk]]) 04:59, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

Air is not blue - certainly not in the same way that leaves are green or blue-dyed liquids are blue. This is evident when observing the Moon - a large chunk of rock much farther away than any mountains. Does all the air we're looking through at it make it appear blue? Of course not. If anything, the Moon can appear orange near the horizon. (But clearly, the reason is not that "air is orange".)

What is happening with the sky is that air can appear to glow with various colors when illuminated with a strong directional source of light, such as the sun. The color depends on multiple factors, including the angle of illumination and observation. The glow can be commonly seen being blue, white, yellow, or red - with blue hues generally observable on clear days, and reddish hues at sunrise or sunset. This only works with a directional source of light; when the source of light is diffuse, such as under a large cloud cover, the sky doesn't appear blue, and neither do distant mountains, readily disproving the notion that air itself would be blue.

There. That didn't involve any quantum mechanics. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.215.88|172.68.215.88]] 07:07, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

Is there no xkcd April Fool's this year? ~[[User:Luc|Luc]] [[[User talk:Luc|talk]]] 22:27, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

;Current explanation all backwards?
I seriously doubt the point of the comic is to tell children wrong answers just because they might not understand the real answer. That is just horrible. "The child's reaction in this comic, "Wow!", suggests that not only she understood, but is also excited about learning, which could be more important to her development than hearing the "correct" answer up front." That doesn't make any sense. I'm sure he doesn't want to say, tell children planes fly because of birds in their wings. There are easy and simple ways to give the correct answer, that children will understand, and it's definitely not better for their development and interest to tell them absolut BS. It's the other way around, he makes fun of this answer, and so wants to make the point to NOT tell children things like that just because you're too lazy to explain, or because you think they might not understand. The point is not: Give an easy and possibly wrong answer to children. The point is rather: While for blue sky the easier (and TRUE) answer might be enough for kids, for other things that's not the best solution, and definitely don't oversimplify so much that your answer actually is wrong. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.98|162.158.88.98]] 08:53, 1 April 2017 (UTC)
:I completely agree. I find the current explanation to be 100% the opposite of what Randall has been trying to say in earlier comics. The joke is those that think it is better to tell false stories rather than try to tell the truth. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:28, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

;Hommage to Calvin and Hobbes?
I believe this comic could be an hommage to Calvin and Hobbes comics, where Calvin asks his dad stuff about nature, and his dad replies with completely nonsensical explanations.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.22|162.158.114.22]] 21:20, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

== The other side of the argument ==

The other side of the argument is basically that by giving an overly simple and inaccurate explanation, one can be very misleading. There is another take on the following sentence:

The child's reaction in this comic, "Wow!", suggests that not only she understood, but is also excited about learning, which could be more important to her development than hearing the "correct" answer up front.

That is that the child may be impressed by a mere superficiality. Did she really understand, or was the explanation in some way impressive? (Impressiveness does not imply correctness.)

A person might say, "Wow!" to some Hollywood special effects. Does that really mean that the person is interested in how to create such effects? Does the girl in the strip really care to learn? If she does, starting off by telling her something wrong seems a rather odd way to go about it.

When one starts in a field of study, one often needs to have simple explanations. Otherwise, the sheer mass of detail can be overwhelming. It is more useful to give an explanation that is more or less correct and to mention that there are special cases. An example is Einsteinian physics which obsoleted Newtonian physics, but the latter is still close enough to be useful in everyday situations.

Additionally, if one gets in the habit of simplifying everything without regard to correctness, where does it end? The final frame gives an example of this.

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.166|108.162.245.166]] 00:26, 2 April 2017 (UTC) (Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net>

39: Bowl

2017-01-24T03:28:40Z

108.162.245.166: /* Trivia */ Fixed a grammar error (were/where)

{{comic
| number = 39
| date = December 5, 2005
| title = Bowl
| image = bowl.jpg
| titletext = For the moment it's a standoff
}}

==Explanation==
The comic roughly parodies a situation in which two characters are seeing who can wait longer to get the result they want. However, in the comic, the model sailing ship is not alive and doesn't experience time (except perhaps if it absorbs water and falls apart, or beaches once the water in the bowl evaporates). The comic compares the patience of a boy with that of an inanimate object. Also, it could imply that the boy has too much time on his hands.

Like many of the earlier comics, some of this comic's humor comes from the surreality of the situation. The gravity of the boy's statement is juxtaposed with the insignificance of a child's toy floating in a bowl of water. On one level, the absurdity of this is funny in itself; on another level, the audience is invited to imagine what might possibly be going through the boy's mind to make him take this toy and bowl so seriously.

Alternatively, the comic can be taken to recognize the mortality and ultimate fate of death/decay for both the boat and the boy, creating a grim moral. But, if one goes deeper into meaning, one could realize that the comic itself is humorous for trying to make a fatalistic statement using a boy and a toy boat, still making the comic ultimately humorous.

In the original quote for this comic (see [[#Trivia|trivia]]) [[Randall]] states that this is not the [[:Category:Barrel|barrel boy]]. This is not only because they have a similar hairstyle. Since the Barrel Boy was floating on the water in a barrel, and this boy is looking into a bowl (not barrel) filled with water, it would be easy to draw some parallels. It was obviously important for Randall to make clear that there were not such connections.

==Transcript==
:[A boy is glaring at a model sailing ship floating in a bowl of water.]
:Boy: Sooner or later, my friend, one of us will run out of time.

==Trivia==
*This was the 41st comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]].
**The previous was [[43: Red Spiders 2]].
**The next was [[45: Schrodinger]]
*Original title: "Friday's Drawing - Bowl"
**This was the last comic where the release day was part of the title on LiveJournal.
**But the extra word "Drawing" was part of four more of the next five comics.
*Original [[Randall]] quote:
::"This is not the barrel boy.
::'''Current Mood:''' ''Final Exam-y''"
*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 comic thus turned out to be '''the last''' that was '''only''' posted on LiveJournal.
**The day after this comic on December 6, 2005, the following was posted on LiveJournal:
::'''Announcement'''
::"What with winter break starting and the like, I'll probably be going off my regular update schedule. I'll try to post something here and there, and might end up doing more drawings than I expect, but won't stick to the MWF schedule.
::Thanks for the support! This has been and will continue to be a lot of fun."
:*This may also be due to his examinations coming up. But probably he using a lot of time preparing for the release of his new xkcd site after new year..
*The next comic was first released almost a month later.
**On January 4, 2006, [[45: Schrodinger]] became the first comic posted directly on xkcd on the same day as it was posted on LiveJournal.
*This was the last of the original drawings drawn on [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]] that was released on LiveJournal.
**[[:Category:First day on xkcd|Three other comics]], previously not released on LiveJournal, were later released on xkcd, but with numbers below 39.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal| 41]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]