explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

226: Swingset

2024-10-03T15:24:37Z

108.162.246.5:

{{comic
| number = 226
| date = February 21, 2007
| title = Swingset
| image = swingset.png
| titletext = Someone bring me a pocket fan so I can drift around the yard.
}}

==Explanation==
In the opening panel of this comic, [[Blondie]], probably as [[Miss Lenhart]], sees [[Cueball]] sitting on a swing set. She tells him that at the apex of his swing, he'll become weightless. Cueball then imagines that at the peak of his swing, he is able to become permanently weightless, floating above the ground without any support.

When on a swing or other [http://www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/pendulum.html pendulum rides], there is a moment between swinging up and swinging back down when the forces of gravity, friction, air resistance, etc., bring the velocity and normal force of the swing to zero. At this moment, there is no acceleration toward the pivot of the swing (since the centripetal acceleration is proportional to the square of the speed). So the swinger experiences no centripetal force. Of course, gravity still acts on the person, but if the swing is horizontal at that point, then there is no reaction force, so for one moment, the swinger is in free-fall and experiences {{w|weightlessness}}. However, that weightlessness can only be maintained for a fraction of a second, so if Cueball tried this in real life, he would come crashing to the ground.

In the title text, Cueball asks for a pocket fan, believing he could fly around the yard using this small device as a propeller. By using the fan to blow air in the opposite direction he wishes to travel, he could perhaps use the reaction force to push himself around. Note that this form of travel does not work at high altitudes because it works by pushing air molecules, which decrease in concentration at high altitudes. Another method of propulsion could be [https://what-if.xkcd.com/21/ machine guns]

==Transcript==
:[Woman talking to Cueball on swing-set.]
:Woman: You know, at the peak of a big swing, you become weightless.
:[Thought bubble from Cueball.]
:[Cueball swings higher and higher. At the peak of a big swing, he shoves himself off the swing. Cueball remains hovering in the air.]
:Cueball: Hey guys. Come check this out.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:2990: Late Cenozoic

2024-09-26T19:19:48Z

108.162.246.5:

first explanation, probably bad [[User:Sci09273.15|Sci09273.15]] ([[User talk:Sci09273.15|talk]]) 19:41, 25 September 2024 (UTC)
:It's a fine starting point. Welcome! [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:51, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

It would have been so cute if Randall had given the lecturer alien some features of Miss Lenhart. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:53, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

Luckily for future paleontologists, our infrastructure and earthmoving projects are sturdy enough that they should still look kinda funny in a hundred million years. They might not assume that there was a technological civilization until they identified the Manhattan Iron Deposits as ancient vehicles or found similar proof, but they would know SOMETHING weird was going on. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 21:38, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

: Researchers have successfully detected and reconstructed the foundations of mud huts, and track down the fossilized trash heaps of humans and [https://www.usgs.gov/centers/geosciences-and-environmental-change-science-center/science/usgs-north-american-packrat animals]. Hard for me to imagine a circumstance in which the fossil exhibits of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Museum_of_Natural_History AMNH] (to name one) were preserved largely intact, that did not also preserve the AMNH itself in a recognizable form. The aliens might then be left to meditate on how a civilization that could create an AMNH [https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2021/05/02/amoebas-lorica-sanded/ fell over]. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.196|172.71.150.196]] 15:31, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

The gap in the fossil record between their extinction and sudden resurgence will be explained by a chance discovery of a prestine copy of the documentary Jurassic Park.
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.208.183|172.69.208.183]] 23:50, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

Hey, I made this same exact joke (offline) over 20 years ago! I believe that means [[827: My Business Idea|I am entitled to compensation]]. [[User:183231bcb|183231bcb]] ([[User talk:183231bcb|talk]]) 01:39, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

-Thinking emoji- pretty sure the typical museum dino skeleton is 100% fossil free. I might recall the dino (and similar rareness of fossils) skeletons on display as cast plaster (of paris?). SDT [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.17|172.70.38.17]] 03:04, 26 September 2024 (UTC)
: As usual, the answer to the question "how much of a displayed dinosaur skeleton is composed of authentic fossil bones" is "it depends". See [https://www.fieldmuseum.org/blog/which-dinosaur-bones-are-real this article] from Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History for intel. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.146|172.71.147.146]] 05:30, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

I would be willing to suffer the fate of {{w|Tithonus}} for a chance to see those aliens try to figure out the Cenozoic biogeography of Hawai‘i - where, for instance, the (presumably fossilized remains of the) backyard birds would include, inter alia, the northern cardinal (North America), the Java finch (Indonesia), the saffron finch (Brazil), the English sparrow (western Europe), the zebra dove (Malaysia), the warbling white-eye (Japan), the common waxbill (South Africa), the common myna (India) ... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.151|172.68.23.151]] 05:58, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

I love the fact that we have a perfectly reasonable five sentence, three paragraph explanation with 5x as much text here on the talk page, especially after the disaster with Monday's (the previous) comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.24|162.158.90.24]] 07:22, 26 September 2024 (UTC)
:Haven't counted the sentences, but it's now four paragraphs. That's with a single (rendering-ignored) line-feed having been made into two (forcing a paragraph-break), when maybe someone should have contracted it instead.
:I just extracted a rather spaghetti-like inclusion of the nature(s?) of the future-beings from the flow, to streamline it. Readded that (further expounded, now with a bit of excusable elbow-room) as Trivia, to retain the speculative nature of that interesting but incidental bit of analysis. Hope this works for people. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.37|172.71.26.37]] 10:36, 26 September 2024 (UTC)
:Must have been nice while it lasted. "Dinosaurs, particularly velociraptors, eating humans is a recurring fear of Randall's." Good grief. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.42|172.70.207.42]] 17:23, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

Should we make a category for comics including these alien guys? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.155.35|172.71.155.35]] 16:59, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

This has an amusing (to me) parallel with the Young Earth Creationist "theory" that a malevolent power arranged fossils in the geologic record in such a way as to lead scientists to conclude that life has been here for hundreds of millions of years, thereby leading them away from God. In this case, our paleontologists and museum curators are that malevolent power. (There's also a "theory" that the Great Flood resulted in sorting the fossil record in that way, not malevolently, but as a function of density and hydrodynamics....)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.245|162.158.62.245]] 18:44, 26 September 2024 (UTC)
: Deus Creatus does lots of strange things. Kinda like the beings that created it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 19:19, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

1957: 2018 CVE List

2018-03-21T21:31:47Z

108.162.246.5: Cite Linus Torvalds as Benevolent dictator for life

{{comic
| number = 1957
| date = February 19, 2018
| title = 2018 CVE List
| image = 2018_cve_list.png
| titletext = CVE-2018-?????: It turns out Bruce Schneier is just two mischevious kids in a trenchcoat.
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures|CVE}} (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) is a standardized format for assigning an identity to a cybersecurity vulnerability (similar to the way that astronomical bodies are assigned unique identifiers by committees). Giving vulnerabilities a unique identifier makes them easier to talk about and helps in keeping track of the progress made toward resolving them. The typical format of a CVE identifier is '''CVE-[YEAR]-[NUMBER]'''. For example, the CVE identifier for 2017's widespread {{w|Meltdown (security vulnerability)|Meltdown vulnerability}} is [https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2017-5754 CVE-2017-5754]. CVEs also contain a short description of the issue.

In this comic (released in February 2018), Randall presents a number of spurious predicted CVEs for later in 2018. Each CVE identifier is given as "CVE-2018-?????", reflecting the fact that they have not yet happened so we don't know exactly what their CVE identifier will be.

==Table of possible CVE==
{|class="wikitable"
! style="width: 30%;" | Security Vulnerability
! style="width: 70%;" | Notes
|-
|Apple products crash when displaying certain {{w|Telugu language|Telugu}} or {{w|Bengali language|Bengali}} letter combinations.
|This refers to a real vulnerability in iOS and MacOS publicized a few days before the comic was released,<ref>https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/15/iphone-text-bomb-ios-mac-crash-apple/</ref> as well as past similar iOS vulnerabilities<ref>https://thenextweb.com/apps/2017/01/18/iphone-ipad-apple-text-ios-bug/</ref><ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/01/18/apple-text-bomb-can-crash-iphones-single-message/</ref>.
|-
|An attacker can use a timing attack to extploit [''sic''] a race condition in {{w|Garbage collection (computer science)|garbage collection}} to extract a limited number of bits from the Wikipedia article on Claude Shannon.
|The reference to using a Timing Attack to exploit a race condition in garbage collection refers to Meltdown and Spectre CPU flaws that can be exploited in a cloud server like the ones in Wikipedia. {{w|Claude Shannon}} was an early and highly influential information scientist whose work underlies compression, encryption, security, and the theory behind how information is encoded into binary digits - hence the pertinence of extracting just some of the bits from his Wikipedia entry. This is not really a security problem, since all the bits of the article are publicly available.
|-
|At the cafe on Third Street, the Post-it note with the WiFi password is visible from the sidewalk.
|Cafés often offer free access to WiFi as a service to patrons, as a business strategy to encourage said patrons to remain in the building and buy more coffee. Some use a password, so that only patrons can use the WiFi, and may display the password on signage inside. Since anybody could go into the cafe to read the post-it, and then use the network from nearby, the ability to read it from outside is, at most, a trivial problem. For systems that are supposed to be secure, writing passwords in a visible place is a major security flaw. For instance, following the [[wikipedia:2018 Hawaii false missile alert|2018 Hawaii false missile alert]], the agency concerned received criticism for a press photo showing a password written on a sticky note attached to a monitor.<ref>http://uk.businessinsider.com/hawaii-emergency-agency-password-discovered-in-photo-sparks-security-criticism-2018-1?r=US&IR=T</ref>
|-
|A remote attacker can inject arbitrary text into public-facing pages via the comments box.
|Describes a common feature on news sites or social media sites like Facebook. The possibility for users to "inject" text into the page is by design. This is a humorous reference to the relatively common security vulnerability "[[Wikipedia:Cross-site_scripting|persistent cross-site scripting]]", where input provided by a user, such as through a comment section, can result in dangerous content containing arbitrary HTML or JavaScript code being displayed to other users.
|-
|MySQL server 5.5.45 secretly runs two parallel databases for people who say "S-Q-L" and "sequel."
|Some people pronounce "{{w|SQL}}" like "sequel", after SQL's predecessor "SEQUEL (Structured English Query Language)". The standard for SQL suggests that it should be pronounced as separate letters; however, the author of SQL pronounces it "sequel", so the debate is persisting (with even more justification than arguments about how to pronounce "GIF"). MySQL is an open-source relational database management system. The latest generally available version (at the time of writing) is MySQL 5.7.
|-
|A flaw in some x86 CPUs could allow a root user to de-escalate to normal account privileges.
|{{w|Privilege escalation}} refers to any illegitimate means by which a system user gains greater access than they are supposed to have, and most hackers will seek to achieve this if they can. The most highly-sought privilege is that of the root user, which allows complete access to an entire system.

This CVE, however, presents the reverse situation: that a flaw can allow a root user to ''de-escalate'' to a less privileged user. This would have no obvious benefit, since anything the user could do in the new mode, they could have done before anyway. In any case, the root user can always de-escalate manually if they so choose, as they have complete control.
|-
|Apple products catch fire when displaying emoji with diacritics.
|This is a reference to a common problem of modern gadgets catching fire (usually related to flaws in lithium-ion batteries), as well as to Apple products crashing when attempting to display certain character sequences. Diacritics are the accents found on letters in some languages (eg. č, ģ ķ, ļ, ņ, š, ž). These would not normally be found on emojis.
|-
|An oversight in the rules allows a dog to join a basketball team.
|This probably refers to the movie {{w|Air Bud}}, about a dog playing basketball. This has been a common theme in xkcd comics: see [[115: Meerkat]], [[1439: Rack Unit]], [[1819: Sweet 16]], [[1552: Rulebook]].
In 2017, it was discovered that an oversight in the constitution of the state of Kansas may [http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article175956836.html permit a dog to be governor]. Shortly before this comic published, the Secretary of State's office ruled that [http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/02/13/dog-kansas-governor/ it could not].
|-
|Haskell isn't side-effect-free after all; the effects are all just concentrated in this one. computer [''sic''] in Missouri that no one's checked on in a while.
|{{w|Haskell (programming language)|Haskell}} is a functional programming language. Functional programming is characterized by using functions that don't have side effects (can't change things which would be accessible in other parts of the program), as in [[1312: Haskell]]. The joke here is discovering that it does indeed have side-effects, but for some unknown (and highly absurd) reason they only manifest on a specific computer in a nondescript location, but no one has noticed.
|-
|Nobody really knows how hypervisors work.
|[[wikipedia:Hypervisor|"Hypervisors"]] are a tool for computer virtualization. Virtualization is complex to implement, as it requires a computer to completely simulate another computer, with its own unique hardware and software. Many IT professionals and businesses rely heavily on various forms of virtualization, but most of the individual employees would be hard-pressed to explain how it works. Programs running on other virtual computers, or on the real computer, may be able to access information on a virtual computer in ways which would not be possible with a single real computer. Consequently, understanding how the hypervisor works is important to assessing the security of a virtual server. Meltdown and Spectre are related to this.
|-
|Critical: Under Linux 3.14.8 on System/390 in a UTC+14 time zone, a local user could potentially use a buffer overflow to change another user's default system clock from 12-hour to 24-hour.
|This joke is about arcane systems that are running Linux in exceedingly rare situations, meaning that reproducing errors would be incredibly difficult or inconvenient, and would only affect a very tiny user base (if any at all). {{w|IBM System/390 ES/9000 Enterprise Systems Architecture ESA family|System/390}} is an IBM mainframe introduced almost 30 years before this comic, which has a version of Linux. UTC+14 is a time zone used only on some islands in the Pacific Ocean (Primarily [[Wikipedia:Line_Islands|the Line Islands]]) and is also the earliest time zone on earth. Even if all of these absurd conditions were met, the resulting vulnerability would still be relatively benign: simply changing a user's preferred clock display format. Other xkcd comics make references to such obscure computer-time issues relating to time zones and time conversions, and how many programmers find these issues frustrating or even traumatizing.
|-
|x86 has way too many instructions.
|The x86 architecture (used in many Intel and AMD processors) is very complicated. Processors typically implement such a complex architecture using programs (microcode) run on a set of hidden, proprietary processors. The details of these hidden machines and errors in the microcode can result in security vulnerabilities, such as Meltdown, where the physical machine does not match the conceptual machine.

A more complicated instruction set is more complex to implement.{{Citation needed}} The x86 architecture is considered "CISC" (a "{{w|Complex instruction set computer}}"), having many instructions originally provided to make programming by a human simpler; other examples include the 68000 series used in the first {{w|Apple Macintosh}}. In the 1980s, this design philosophy was countered by the "RISC" ("{{w|Reduced instruction set computer}}") design movement - based on the observation that computer programs were increasingly generated by compilers (which only used a few instructions) rather than directly by people, and that the chip area dedicated to extra instructions could be better dedicated to, for example, cache. Examples of RISC style designs include {{w|SPARC}}, {{w|MIPS}}, {{w|PowerPC}} (used by Apple in later Macintoshes) and the {{w|ARM architecture|ARM}} chips common in mobile phones. Historically, there was considerable discussion about the merits of each approach. At one time the Mac and Windows PC were on different sides; owners of other competing systems such as the Archimedes and Amiga had similar arguments on usenet in the early 1990s. This "issue" may be posted by someone who still recalls these debates. Technically, the extra instructions do slightly complicate the task of validating correct chip behaviour and complicate the tool chains that manage software, which could be seen as a minor security risk. However, the 64-bit architecture introduced by {{w|AMD}}, and since adopted by {{w|Intel}}, does rationalise things somewhat, and all recent x86 chips break down instructions into RISC-like micro-operations, so the complication from a hardware perspective is localised. Recent security issues, such as the speculative cache load issue in Meltdown and Spectre, depend more on details of implementation, rather than instruction set, and have been exhibited both by x86 (CISC) and ARM (RISC) processors.

This explanation has way too many words.
|-
|NumPy 1.8.0 can factor primes in ''O''(log ''n'') time and must be quietly deprecated before anyone notices.
|NumPy is the fundamental package for scientific computing with the programming language Python. ''O''(log ''n'') is [[wikipedia:Big_O_notation#Infinite_asymptotics|Big O notation]] meaning that the time it takes for a computer algorithm to run is in the order of log ''n'', for an input of size ''n''. ''O''(log ''n'') is very fast and is more usual for a search algorithm. Prime factorization currently is ''O''(''2''''n''n)). If something can find the prime factors of a number this quickly, especially a [[wikipedia:semiprime|semiprime]] with two large factors, it will enable attacks to break many crypto functions used in internet security. However, prime numbers have only a single factor, and "factoring primes" quickly is a simpler problem, that of [[wikipedia:Primality test|proving that a number is in fact a prime]].
|-
|Apple products grant remote access if you send them words that break the "I before E" rule.
|Another joke on the first CVE and [[wikipedia:I before E except after C|a common English writing rule of thumb]], which fails almost as often as it succeeds. Could also be a joke about the iPhone name which follows the rule. Also possibly a jab at Apple's image, portraying their software as unable to handle improper grammar or spelling.
|-
|Skylake x86 chips can be pried from their sockets using certain flathead screwdrivers.
|Skylake x86 chips are a line of microprocessors made by Intel. Some processors are soldered directly to a system board or daughter board, while others are attached to boards that plug into the system board by means of a socket (pins or connectors that make physical contact with receptacles or connectors on a system board). Some sockets, especially older ones, require force to insert or remove, and often require the use of a flat blade screwdriver or a specialized tool, but most modern ones use ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) techniques, often involving a lever or similar to tighten or loosen the friction/tightness of the contacts. No screwdriver is needed in this case. However, any processor ''can'' be forcefully removed from its socket with a screwdriver.{{Citation needed}}
|-
|Apparently Linus Torvalds can be bribed pretty easily.
|{{w|Linus Torvalds}} is the {{w|benevolent dictator for life}} of the Linux kernel codebase. Normally it is hard to make changes because he has the last word, and because the kernel is replicated in all Linux installations. Linus made the news in January 2018 when, having looked at one of Intel's proposed fixes for the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, he declared "the patches are COMPLETE AND UTTER GARBAGE".<ref>https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/22/linus-torvalds-declares-intel-fix-for-meltdown-spectre-complete-and-utter-garbage/</ref> Presumably, it may be found that he may be successfully bribed to be less blunt and/or less critical of vulnerability fixes that are complete and/or utter garbage. If this were the case, this would be a severe critical vulnerability to all Linux servers and machines.
|-
|An attacker can execute malicious code on their own machine and no one can stop them.
|The point of an attack is to make someone else's machine perform actions against the owner's will. Anyone can make their own machine execute any code if they have root access and the necessary tools, but this would usually not be described as an attack, except in the case of a locked-down appliance, such as a video game console, a John Deere tractor, or pay TV decoder.
|-
|Apple products execute any code printed over a photo of a dog with a saddle and a baby riding it.
|This could refer to a CVE vulnerability of JPG files where JavaScript embedded within the image file is executed by some application. In this case, though, the code is visible on the image instead of invisibly encoded within the image file. The code is also only executed if the image contains a photo of a baby in a saddle riding a dog. It's unclear whether the photo would be a digital photo, a printed photo (i.e. as taken using a digital camera), or maybe both. This "bug" would not only require the device to figure out specifically what the photo contains image-wise (something that's REALLY HARD for computers to do reliably), but would also require OCR (optical character recognition) code to convert the text superimposed on the photo into executable code. In other words, it's hard to believe in 2018 that such a bug could exist. Maybe in the future when such things are more routine...? As an example, OCR used to be hard to do reliably, but now it's a lot more routine and built into a lot of devices.
|-
|Under rare circumstances, a flaw in some versions of Windows could allow Flash to be installed.
|Flash has been an integral browser plugin for decades, but has fallen out of favor in the 2010s, and eventually discontinued because of its notoriously abysmal security record. All security experts advise against installing it. Preventing installation of Flash would make systems more secure, but most versions of Windows do not prevent Flash installation. The joke here relates to the difficulty of keeping Flash up to date, or even installed properly to begin with. A common user experience, which is the subject of numerous jokes and memes, is the constant nagging notification to install or update Flash in order for web pages to display properly. Many IT professionals will bemoan the trouble they have experienced in the workplace due to these notifications and problems related to them.
|-
|Turns out the cloud is just other people's computers.
|This refers to a meme that demands that "cloud" be replaced with "other people's computers" in all marketing presentation to CEOs and non-computer literate persons evaluating the security impact of using cloud services. Part of the humor here is that "the cloud" is, in actuality, simply a term for hosted services, or in other words computers being run by other people (typically businesses that specialize in this type of "Platform as a Service" or "PaaS" service model). Referring to "the cloud" as "other people's computers" is, at its core, entirely accurate, though it takes away the business jargon and simplifies the situation in such a way that it might cast doubt on the security, reliability, and general effectiveness of using "cloud" solutions.
|-
|A flaw in Mitre's CVE database allows arbitrary code insertion.[[779|[~~CLICK HERE FOR CHEAP VIAGRA~~]]]
|Mitre's CVE database is where all {{w|Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures|CVEs}} are stored. This log message forms the punchline of the comic, as it implies that all of the exaggerated error messages above might have been inserted by hackers exploiting the vulnerability. To pour salt in the wound, they then included in a typical spam link purporting to offer inexpensive {{w|Viagra|brand-name Sildenafil}}.
|-
|It turns out Bruce Schneier is just two mischevious kids in a trenchcoat.
|Appears in the title text. {{w|Bruce Schneier}} is security researcher and blogger. The "two kids in a trenchcoat" is a reference to the {{tvtropes|TotemPoleTrench|Totem Pole Trench}} trope. Shortly before this comic was posted, a [https://rare.us/rare-humor/two-kids-dressed-as-a-tall-man-to-get-into-black-panther-is-caught-on-video story went viral] in which two kids were photographed attempting this for real to get into a screening of ''Black Panther''.
|}

== References ==
<references/>

==Transcript==
:[A heading is centered above a list of 21 vulnerabilities]
:<big>Leaked list of major 2018 security vulnerabilities </big>

:CVE-2018-????? Apple products crash when displaying certain Telugu or Bengali letter combinations.
:CVE-2018-????? An attacker can use a timing attack to extploit a race condition in garbage collection to extract a limited number of bits from the Wikipedia article on Claude Shannon.
:CVE-2018-????? At the cafe on Third Street, the Post-it note with the WiFi password is visible from the sidewalk.
:CVE-2018-????? A remote attacker can inject arbitrary text into public-facing pages via the comments box.
:CVE-2018-????? MySQL server 5.5.45 secretly runs two parallel databases for people who say "S-Q-L" and "sequel."
:CVE-2018-????? A flaw in some x86 CPUs could allow a root user to de-escalate to normal account privileges.
:CVE-2018-????? Apple products catch fire when displaying emoji with diacritics.
:CVE-2018-????? An oversight in the rules allows a dog to join a basketball team.
:CVE-2018-????? Haskell isn't side-effect-free after all; the effects are all just concentrated in this one. computer in Missouri that no one's checked on in a while.
:CVE-2018-????? Nobody really knows how hypervisors work.
:CVE-2018-????? Critical: Under Linux 3.14.8 on System/390 in a UTC+14 time zone, a local user could potentially use a buffer overflow to change another user's default system clock from 12-hour to 24-hour.
:CVE-2018-????? x86 has way too many instructions.
:CVE-2018-????? NumPy 1.8.0 can factor primes in ''O''(log ''n'') time and must be quietly deprecated before anyone notices.
:CVE-2018-????? Apple products grant remote access if you send them words that break the "I before E" rule.
:CVE-2018-????? Skylake x86 chips can be pried from their sockets using certain flathead screwdrivers.
:CVE-2018-????? Apparently Linus Torvalds can be bribed pretty easily.
:CVE-2018-????? An attacker can execute malicious code on their own machine and no one can stop them.
:CVE-2018-????? Apple products execute any code printed over a photo of a dog with a saddle and a baby riding it.
:CVE-2018-????? Under rare circumstances, a flaw in some versions of Windows could allow Flash to be installed.
:CVE-2018-????? Turns out the cloud is just other people's computers.
:CVE-2018-????? A flaw in Mitre's CVE database allows arbitrary code insertion.[~~Click here for cheap viagra~~]

==Trivia==

Randall has previously referenced diacritics in [[1647: Diacritics]].

Bruce Schneier was previously mentioned in the title texts of [[748: Worst-Case Scenario]] and [[1039: RuBisCO]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Computers]]

1885: Ensemble Model

2017-09-06T20:22:45Z

108.162.246.5: /* Explanation */ dog speed - relate to cats to birds to butterflies to the butterflies and the butterfly effect and the quantum weather butterfly

{{comic
| number = 1885
| date = September 4, 2017
| title = Ensemble Model
| image = ensemble_model.png
| titletext = I'm in talks with Netflix to produce an alternate-universe crime drama about the world where sliced bread was never re-legalized, but it's going slowly because they keep changing their phone numbers and the door lock codes at their headquarters.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Requires descriptions of each entry. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

An {{w|ensemble forecasting|ensemble model}} is a combination of multiple, similar models to show a wider range of possible outcomes. The graphs on the left are tracks of predictions from multiple models. In this comic, Randall starts out describing actual changes that ensemble models show, but sinks into absurdity, describing strange alternate universes and scenarios that likely would not be necessary in an actual model.

The upper graph looks like one plotting global temperatures with time using different scenarios, like this one: https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/figure-spm-5.html
The bottom right graph is a typical hurricane path-prediction graphic.

Not all of the outcomes are serious. They are explained below:
;…rain is 0.5% more likely in some areas
Historical rain data are used to estimate the probability of rainstorms of a certain size and duration occurring, e.g. the {{w|Flood Studies Report|Flood Studies Report}} in the UK. [[Randall]] here is suggesting that an alternate universe exists where these estimates are higher (and presumably lower) in some areas, and that the estimates of rainfall in this alternate universe is accounted for within ensemble modelling in our own universe. This sort of change in prediction is frequently used when accounting for 'worst case scenarios' in the design processes of structures such as dams. However, the figures to the left appear to indicate time-dependent models, which are typically physics based, e.g. {{w|Large eddy simulation|Large Eddy Simulation}} models or other atmospheric process based models. In those sorts of models, likelihood of rain is usually a prediction rather than a parameter, but might be used as a parameter in a second iteration.

;…wind speeds are slightly lower
A usual parameter.

;…pressure levels are randomly tweaked
A very vague but otherwise understandable parameter.

;…dogs run slightly faster
This is where the comic diverges from reality; there is no reason to have the locomotion speed of dogs as a parameter in a usual weather model.
The speed of dogs might be a parameter in a wildlife model, where the speed of a predator might affect the predator/prey ratios. In terms of weather models, dogs traditionally chase cats, so running faster might affect the number of cats. Cats prey on birds, which in turn eat insects. So faster dogs might increase the number of birds, reducing the number of butterflies. Butterflies in turn affect the weather through the {{w|Butterfly effect|butterfly effect}} (that is that the movement of a butterflies wings may change the development of tornados, or other weather, in difficult to predict ways, as for instance with the [https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Quantum_weather_butterflies quantum weather butterfly]).

;…there is one extra cloud in the Bahamas
This situation is most likely too specific and subtle a difference to be useful to the model.

;…Germany won WWII
"What if Germany won World War II" is a {{w|Hypothetical Axis victory in World War II|very popular}} subject for {{w|alternate history}} stories.

;…snakes are wide instead of long
Snakes being as wide as they are long (and as long as they are wide) in present reality would have enormous consequences for zoology and other fields of biology, including evolutionary biology. It would also have an impact on art history, especially where it involves paintings depicting certain scenes from the book of Genesis. Compared to these effects, the expected upshot for meteorology seems to be limited.

;…Will Smith took the lead in ''The Matrix'' instead of ''Wild Wild West''
Actor {{w|Will Smith}} famously turned down the lead role of {{w|Neo (The Matrix)|Neo}} in ''{{w|The Matrix}}'', instead taking the role of Captain James T. West in the widely-panned action-comedy ''{{w|Wild Wild West}}''. The role of Neo ultimately went to {{w|Keanu Reeves}}. For a more detailed discussion of how the cinematic world would have been different had Smith taken the role, see [https://moviepilot.com/posts/2481780 "How Will Smith Turned Down "The Matrix" - And Blew A Chance To Change Hollywood Forever."]

;…swimming pools are carbonated
A simple calculation reveals this as a serious {{w|Greenhouse effect|greenhouse}} problem. In the United States there are not less than 5,000,000 private owned pools. Conservatively assumed a volume of 25,000 liters per pool gives 125 billion liters of carbonated soda. According to Wikipedia the U.S. sales reached around 30 billion bottles of water in 2008 (including non carbonated water) which is surely much less than all the pool water. While all those bottles are not considered to have an impact on the green house effect this scenario is getting even worse. Open a bottle of carbonated water and fill the content into glasses. More or less soon the sprinkling is over, meaning you have to open the next bottle and so on. In a pool at the bottom the pressure is high enough to hold the carbon dioxide but on the surface it behaves like the glass. So, while a glass needs new carbonated water every two hours, or ten times per day, let's say it's three times per day for the pool which leads to one thousand times per year. The total number in this scenario would be 125 trillion liters of carbonated soda, ejecting carbon dioxide, per year. But stop: The carbon dioxide used for artificial carbonated water is taken from the air and because of the pressure at the bottom of the pool it doesn't release all back this should have a positive effect. But as Randall has shown in {{what if|88|Soda Sequestration}} this effect would be minimal.

;…sliced bread, after being banned in January 1943, was never re-legalized.
{{w|Sliced bread}} was in fact {{w|Sliced bread#1943 U.S. ban on sliced bread|banned in the US}} for about two months in early 1943, as a supposed wartime conservation measure. The issue was not the bread itself, but that the pre-sliced loaves required a heavier {{w|wax paper}} wrapping to prevent them from drying out too quickly.

The title text suggests that [[Randall]] has been pitching an absurd "alternate-universe crime drama" to {{w|Netflix}}, apparently based on the premise that a permanent sliced-bread ban would spawn a criminal underground (similar to those created by alcohol and drug prohibitions in actual history). He indicates that a breakdown in communication has occurred between them, though he does not directly assume responsibility for this situation. It is nonetheless clear that Netflix has zero interest in the pitch, and so Randall has become overzealous in pushing his idea, to the point that Netflix employees are changing their numbers (presumably they can't block his number because he has resorted to calling from many different phones). He has even taken to infiltrating Netflix's corporate headquarters using ill-gotten security codes, which is definitely illegal{{Citation needed}}, much like [[Elaine]]'s "meetings" with Steve Jobs in [[1337: Part 3]].

However, it is clear that Netflix is uninterested and is attempting to prevent Randall from contacting them (or trespassing into the building).

==Transcript==
:[Inside this single panel comic the header on top reads:]
:In an ''ensemble model'', forecasters run many different versions of a weather model with slightly different initial conditions. This helps account for uncertainty and shows forecasters a spread of possible outcomes.

:[To the left side a picture shows several gray overlapping swirling lines emitted from a point, then gradually diverging rightwards. Below are two smaller pictures; the first shows the lines connected to several loops and in the second it's still a similar figure to the above but moving into the opposite direction with the point emerged to a spiral.]

:[The text right to the pictures reads:]
:'''Members in a typical ensemble:'''
:A universe where…
:…rain is 0.5% more likely in some areas
:…wind speeds are slightly lower
:…pressure levels are randomly tweaked
:…dogs run slightly faster
:…there's one extra cloud in the Bahamas
:…Germany won WWII
:…snakes are wide instead of long
:…Will Smith took the lead in ''The Matrix'' instead of ''Wild Wild West''
:…swimming pools are carbonated
:…sliced bread, after being banned in January 1943, was never re-legalized.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Science]]

1339: When You Assume

2014-03-07T18:29:58Z

108.162.246.5: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1339
| date = March 7, 2014
| title = When You Assume
| image = when_you_assume.png
| titletext = You know what happens when you assert--you make an ass out of the emergency response team.
}}

==Explanation==
Prior to the events in this comic, [[Cueball]] has evidently told [[Megan]] that he made an assumption about something. Megan starts to respond with what seems to be the modern proverb: "When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me." This proverb plays on the fact that the word "assume" may be broken down into the letters "ass" "u" and "me", and is intended to suggest that one should not make assumptions because they may turn out to be wrong and make those involved appear foolish.

However, after Megan relays the first half of the proverb in the form "You know what happens when you assume", Cueball astutely points out that her phrasing itself is hypocritical in that it makes the ''assumption'' that he knows what happens when you assume. Megan stops to ponder Cueball's point, to which Cueball responds "Check and Mate": a common phrase (originating from chess) suggesting triumph or having successfully countered another's argument to which there can be no retort.

In part, Cueball's response demonstrates that, in life we make assumptions almost every time we speak. This only tends to be problematic in the few instances where the assumption is wrong.

The title text is a play on the original "assume" pun, breaking down the word "assert", into "ass" and "ert", with "ERT" being an acronym for "Emergency Response Team".

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball talking.]
:Megan: You ''assumed?''
:Megan: You know what happens when you assume-
:Cueball: I don't. Yet you're confidently asserting that I do.
:Megan: ...oh. Hm.
:Cueball: Check and mate.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

Talk:587: Crime Scene

2014-01-31T22:21:15Z

108.162.246.5:

That officer is a fool. I'd say it'd be much more likely to relate to the first ''prime'' number (assuming you ignore 1, as apparently you're supposed to) than the third Fibonacci one, barring any prior incidents that might or might not be attributed to the same killer. Of course, we'd perhaps have to wait until three crime-scenes later to work out which of these patterns our Malevolently Mathematical Mastermind of Murder has memetically manipulated for us... Holy Torii, Batman! (And no wonder the policemen like both donuts and coffee cups... They're the same...) [[Special:Contributions/178.105.100.250|178.105.100.250]] 00:20, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

" a man (presumably a former Mathnet member" - Not just anyone, the officer calls him George. George Frankly was the main character on the show. Just putting it out there. --[[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 22:43, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

You know, this being a wiki and all, you could have added that yourself. Never mind, I've done it for you. [[Special:Contributions/71.201.53.130|71.201.53.130]] 20:42, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

The original Fibonacci problem was formulated about the count of multiplying pairs of rabbits, starting with one pair. So 2 is definitely the 3rd number, not 4th, in that formulation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 22:21, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:561: Well

2014-01-31T21:58:52Z

108.162.246.5:

Shouldn't we elaborate on the questioned superiority of DVORAK? --[[Special:Contributions/129.206.196.49|129.206.196.49]] 20:45, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

The final two frames appear to be foreshadowed by the title text within Connected (http://xkcd.com/807/) [[User:Lakeside|Lakeside]] ([[User talk:Lakeside|talk]]) 19:02, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

I like how the 'uncomfortable truth' for the man is that he never meant it when he said 'I love you', but for the woman, it's that she always did! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 23:47, 23 December 2013 (UTC)

What is ironic is that I am setting up a keyboard based on [https://github.com/michaeldickens/Typing Michael Dicken's optimizer]. Also, while I prefer vim (light weight!), I also have Xemacs out of my own choice. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 20:37, 24 December 2013 (UTC)

The uncomfortable truth is that both emacs and vi are quite difficult to learn, just in different ways.

Emacs, after you learn it, allows you to write the highly flexible macros for the text processing but requires to type some very long command names to do most things. Being largely written is Lisp, historically Emacs had also been very slow and memory-hungry but with the modern computers it doesn't matter any more. Oh, and Emacs messes up the proper Tab characters, replacing them with spaces.

Vi doesn't have this flexibility but has a built-in set of commands extremely well suited to editing the programs. Vi is well-suited for the remote administration because it works well even over the very slow and high-latency connections and allows to do everything with just the alphanumeric keys, thus working even when the handling of the function keys (including arrows ans such) was not set up correctly. One of the newer versions of vi, vim, allows to do some very extensive programmable text manipulation, getting closer to Emacs in this respect; and vim can be set up to mess up the Tab characters just like Emacs. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 21:58, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:554: Not Enough Work

2014-01-31T21:33:48Z

108.162.246.5:

I always pronounce tags like as "slash span."{{unsigned ip|107.204.46.198}}

I thought the keys jamming thing was a myth... [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 04:27, 22 October 2013 (UTC)
:You're thinking of the "slow typers down" qualification to that. QWERTY was designed to ''speed them up'' by stopping jams. Anonymous 06:14, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

An interesting note; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_(operating_system) Haiku] is also the name of a free and open source operating system! The Alpha release was 6 months after this comic was written though, so this is likely a coincidence.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.195|108.162.219.195]] 21:11, 26 November 2013 (UTC)

"Gopher" is also a pun on "go for". For this reason it's used to mean a general unqualified helper person, sent to fetch various items for the more senior people. For example, "He started on the racing team as a gopher". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 21:33, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:538: Security

2014-01-31T20:57:47Z

108.162.246.5:

I was in a flea market one time when I saw a booth who sold wrenches. They were priced starting at $2. There were even $5 wrenches!
Yes; I did this in response to this comic strip. No; I did not buy one. (I have no need to "crack" a computer. I just wanted to prove that there is a $5 wrench.)
[[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 02:15, 3 November 2012 (UTC)
(Oops... I forgot to log on... I feel... scared.)
[[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 02:15, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

Remember the other comic, talking about how much does your time spent to pick up a penny cost? This applies here too! It's not just $5 for the wrench, there is also the time of the guy who will be hitting with it! Although of course the wrench is amortizable over multiple secret extraction sessions, unless it gets bent too much out of shape. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 20:57, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:421: Making Hash Browns

2014-01-31T00:45:39Z

108.162.246.5:

He could hit his friend with the potato who could then fall back onto his fork. [[Special:Contributions/98.229.99.185|98.229.99.185]] 20:09, 7 June 2013 (UTC)

He could dice the potato but not propel the freshly-made hash browns forward; they would instead fall on head. [[Special:Contributions/24.145.48.25|24.145.48.25]] 18:31, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Because a potato getting dirty from the ground is totally one of the worst things that could happen. Newsflash: Potatoes come from the ground, and these ones don't look like they've been washed anyway. [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 00:06, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

That's probably not a glass of orange juice but a cardboard container in which the french fries are delivered at the fast-food restaurant, painted on the outside and white inside, of the characteristic shape with a cut-out on the front side. What can be more appropriate to catch the fries with? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 00:45, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:341: 1337: Part 1

2014-01-30T23:23:52Z

108.162.246.5:

The number 1337 should be read up side down, it means "leet" = elite. This is hacker code for the top guys. 11:43, 27 October 2012 (UTC)mb

----

Actually, it is not upside down at all. The thr33 represents an e, the 1 an l and the 7 a t. 7h3r3 ar3 a150 many other ways to write in leet speak that I won't cover. Google is a thing. --[[Special:Contributions/75.186.140.173|75.186.140.173]] 04:30, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

ALL CAPS TALK LEADS TO B1FF T4LK.

B1FF T4LK LE4D$ 2 W4r37_t4LK.

W4r3Zt4lk L34d$ 2 31337 |¬4(|<3|27_ |>0o|) 74|_|<,

4|\||) 7|¬3|23 7!¬3 |)4|2|( 51|)3 |_|3$


(Rough quote from circa late 1980s, but with plenty of prior Internet/Fidonet/BBS history behind it...)

Remember, kids, when you TXT-SPK "Cu l8r", that there's nothing new under the sun. But also that outside your clique you're going to look affected, at the very least. You might as well {{w|ROT13}} instead, if you're so keen on obfuscation!</rot26_for_additional_security> [[Special:Contributions/178.98.31.27|178.98.31.27]] 07:59, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

The HTTPS, VPN, SSH and in general any encrypted connections may be intercepted by the man-in-the-middle pretending to be the server you're trying to connect to, and the Snowden papers show that NSA had done so. The only protection is to have the server's certificate on your computer and check that it does indeed match the certificate presented by the server, or stop connecting if it doesn't match. But how many people do pay attention to this? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 23:23, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:313: Insomnia

2014-01-30T22:27:35Z

108.162.246.5:

We know it must not be a 24-hour clock. On that setting, 4:31 would be in the afternoon, not at night.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.202|108.162.219.202]] 15:11, 22 December 2013 (UTC)

:I cannot tell if you are misguided, trolling or just hallucinating in the style of this comic. So - well done! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 18:18, 23 December 2013 (UTC)

Quite the opposite. 13:00 is 1 in the afternoon, and 4:31 would be 4:31 at night. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.144|199.27.128.144]] 04:48, 9 January 2014 (UTC)

I know it's quite a long shot, but polish writer Bruno Shulz wrote a novel "Cinamon Shops", which surprisingly have a style of insomnia-crazy visions. More : http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Street_of_Crocodiles
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.117|108.162.249.117]] 11:48, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

A typical situation with insomnia is when you blink your eyes for just a moment, then look at the clock and find that in reality a couple of hours have passed (with you asleep though all this time even though you didn't feel like it). Focusing the eyes on the clock afterwards is not an easy task either, so the creative readings are not unusual. Overall, the situation is much more realistic than it seems at first. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 22:27, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:278: Black Hat Support

2014-01-30T21:07:19Z

108.162.246.5:

select() calls are used to poll sockets for activity (read, write and exceptions), and I suspect the issue was that the timeout value (which is specified as part of select()'s parameters) was set too high judging from the overall content; Web servers and clients alike would suffer considerable latency as a result of waiting too long for I/O ports to activate. Thus it's likely the Apache install was misconfigured somehow, since the default settings should be sufficient for most purposes (in my limited experience since I work solely with nginx these days).

I had this problem writing a server in PHP, and it took a while to get PHP (under Win32) to stop hogging my precious CPU cycles by successful application of nonblocking sockets and a short timeout parameter. [[User:Thokling|Thokling]] ([[User talk:Thokling|talk]]) 15:24, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

:You are correct and I have modified the explanation. It could also be due to a loop polling a socket that will never be freed(a deadlock), this was my interpretation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 07:05, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

The explanations above don't seem to match "the load climbing out of control". The load typically means the CPU load, not latency. If the server is stuck on reading from a socket, the latency will grow but the load will plunge, since it's _waiting_ and thus not consuming the CPU cycles. Two typical problems connected with select() are: (1) As the number of sockets polled grows, the overhead of select() grows, so it uses more and more CPU just to go through all the sockets and check them all for readiness. (2) If some socket reports readiness through select() and then the program does not handle that readiness but keeps including this socket into the following select() calls, it will be stuck in a tight loop retrying select() and using all the available CPU of one processor. A less extreme variety of this case is the program being notified of multiple sockets being ready but handling only one socket before repeating select(). In this case the program will continue making progress but with the increased overhead of the unnecessary select() calls. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 21:07, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:224: Lisp

2014-01-29T21:56:13Z

108.162.246.5:

I reckon I disagree with this:
<blockquote>
In the comic, Cueball marvels at the fundamental and complete nature of the language of creation that he sees in his dream, the ultimate low level language, before being told by God that the universe was mostly built using a high level programming language, perl.
</blockquote>

But, despite it's age, Lisp is also a high-level language and lispers probably spend more of their time dealing with higher-level abstractions than perlists.

What's causing the narrator's marvel in the comic is that Lisp has a very elegant (almost non-existent) syntax and the language has a very close relationship with the underlying syntactical structure of the program, and that thinking about it does tend to give suitably-minded hackers feelings of awe and reverence, once they grok it. Even Larry Wall, the creator of Perl, will readily concede that Lisp is beautiful.

Perl, on the other hand, has masses of totally unrelated syntactical bits and pieces drawn from almost everywhere (basic syntax from C, a bunch of environment variables from shell or awk, an inline documentation format, inline regular expressions, formats borrowed from Fortran, bolted-on pseudo-OO from god-knows-where, you name it), so the language, is huge, messy, non-orthogonal, and ugly - but it does have the advantage that if you need a small job done, you can usually get it done in perl rather fast, at the cost, perhaps, of maintainability for long-term or large projects.

So the narrator dreams that the entire universe was created using the cleanest, most elegant and beautiful computer language so far discovered, one which allows the user to create software in terms of high-level abstractions if he or she chooses to; but in reality, God tells him it was a quick-dirty hack-job done in the dirtiest, ugliest - but effective nonetheless - language around. {{unsigned|‎86.165.192.2}}

:I think that A) you've missed the point of that statement, and B) If you believe the explanation to be inaccurate or incomplete you are fully encouraged to edit it. Also, Perl is not the dirtiest, ugliest language around. There are innumerable contenders, but I'd say {{w|Brainfuck}} is definitely in the running, and I personally would say that Java is in there too. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:03, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

::Perl isn't a bad language. The regular expressions that it offers are fantastic, and it's at least ''consistent''. Java's a slow messy and vulnerability-ridden language, but I'd have to go with PHP for the most awful, broken and incomplete piece of crap you could possibly use. Literally has no redeeming features outside of momentum and inexplicably widespread support. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:44, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

:::I never said Perl was bad. I need to teach myself Perl. and that Regular Expressions as we know them today came from Perl, is evidence enough that Perl is a wonderful language. And, I'll agree with you that PHP is an ugly, ugly, disgusting piece of trash. As someone who's had to do OO-PHP, just don't, run far away. I did. I ran to Ruby on Rails, and my life, as a web developer, has been heavenly. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 07:03, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

Lisp, the "ultimate low level language"? Ok, whoever wrote that really does not know what he/she is talknig about.

One of the most valuable characteristics of Lisp is the fact that is can be used in functional paradigm. Perl can also be used that way, but is considered a more hackish language and not as elegant as Lisp.
Perl language can solve problems with different methods, and the phrase "ostensibly, yes. Honestly, we hacked most of it together with perl" means that the universe was created with perl, but trying to use Lisp way of programing (probably functional paradigm), instead of actually doing it on Lisp (probably for speed)

Oh, in case is not clear to somebody, Lisp is a HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGE.

Java and php would have to compete for the title of the "the dirtiest, ugliest - but effective nonetheless - language around"
[[Special:Contributions/189.135.124.172|189.135.124.172]] 18:32, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Ok, somewhat a Perl-head here, but not going to add to the arguments about that. Instead: I think "My God, it's full of stars!" is ''not'' a quote from 2001 (where I'm fairly sure there's no broadcast dialoguge at all after Hal is silenced), but from the sequal, 2010, in the part where they 'review' the final recordings of the 2001 mission. But I really need someone who has these two films at hand to check before amending the explanation.

(Oh, go on then. Can I nominate Ada as the most godawful 'proper' language? Not as awkward as COBOL can be (for a proper programmer who doesn't need the "Business Orientated" tendencies), but has just the right (or wrong) mix of strictness to get my back up even while maintaining a pretence of being readable. Mind you, it's 20 years since I've used it, so memories about it may be distorted or outdated.) [[Special:Contributions/178.98.31.27|178.98.31.27]] 21:50, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

Java is much more elegant and far less hacky than C++, and it's much faster than some people like to admit. It amazes me how many people complain about how "slow" it is, but have nothing but praise for languages like Python. Of course, C++ is much easier to optimize where time is critical. </minirant> [[Special:Contributions/72.9.93.56|72.9.93.56]] 13:59, 3 August 2013 (UTC)

There is a direct reference to the "Lisp epiphany" that many non-LISP programmers are said to experience upon realizing how heavily influenced LISP was by mathematical logic. This is explained far better in a later explanation. It could be brought in here. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 03:37, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

I don't know whether it's important or not, but the line "My God, it's full of stars!" is the title of a chapter in The Little Schemer, which is considered (IMO) a classic CompSci book. If Randall has, by chance, read the book he may have also pulled the inspiration from there as well as 2001. I don't know whetiher this warrents a trivia block or not. [[Special:Contributions/67.176.146.186|67.176.146.186]] 06:34, 27 October 2013 (UTC)

:the quote comes from the book, not the movie. {{unsigned ip|173.245.53.129}}

Lisp is the best language, unfortunately it's not that widely used.

Lisp is a high and low level language.

The worst programming language ever has to be Kodu game lab. Or possibly Malbodge. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.244}}

Perl is the language designed for the convenience of use. It mimics the natural language in the sense that it has great many slightly different features but each feature makes the most sense for its intended use and allows to write the easily understandable programs. An example of opposite is Pascal, which is a tiny language (i.e. "elegant" in the terms of its creator) but you can't do may things with it at all, and for what you can do, you have to turn yourself inside out. Lisp started in 1950s kind of like Pascal but then collected great many different features over time, each one to fix some of its inborn limitations. You still have to turn yourself inside out when you write in Lisp but nowadays there are great many ways to do so. If you wonder, Pascal had been extended as well, and Delphi is an example of an overgrown Pascal. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 21:56, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:192: Working for Google

2014-01-29T02:17:43Z

108.162.246.5:

I honestly can't see anything incomplete about it. But then, I may be naive about it. Anonymous 04:57, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
: Neither can I, however there is a bit of irrelevant information such as, how not to pad your resume and having original ideas -- the explanation probably should be edited down to be more consisce and to the proint of what the comic is about i.e. "sour grapes" [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]])

Perhaps the cake was foreshadowing http://xkcd.com/195/, the Map of The Internet. {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.85}}

A cake that has the shape of the Internet might actually be one shaped of Internet Explorer. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 18:00, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
:No, it may not. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 19:25, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

There are some true stories of people showing up at Google interviews with gifts for the interviewers. In case if you wonder, they don't get hired. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 02:17, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

192: Working for Google

2014-01-29T02:10:44Z

108.162.246.5: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 192
| date = December 4, 2006
| title = Working for Google
| image = working for google.png
| titletext = I hear once you've worked there for 256 days they teach you the secret of levitation.
}}

==Explanation==
Many look up to {{w|Google}} as the ultimate workplace in the IT industry. Therefore, they have lots of applicants but can afford to be very selective, and only the best and brightest succeed.

[[Cueball]]'s friend starts out by dismissing Google as a "corporate idea factory", but from the rest of his speech, we can infer that these are not his true feelings. He is exhibiting the attitude known as "sour grapes", where you criticize something that is out of your reach, or which has been denied you.

In the last panel, it is revealed the friend has been trying very hard to get a job at Google, even resorting to bribing the interview panel by baking them a cake "in the shape of the internet". Since the internet does not have a defined shape, it is difficult to visualize exactly what he baked. This misguided action is a sign of how much he wanted a position.

The title text says that if you work for Google for 256 (28) days you get to learn how to levitate. This displays some of the mystique with which Google is commonly viewed. However, Astro Teller, the director of {{w|Google X}} labs, a Google division that researches "moonshot" projects, has mentioned in an interview [http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-22/inside-googles-secret-lab#p4] that they contemplated starting a levitation project.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Have you read about Google HQ? It sounds like an incredible place to work.

:Friend: Man, I ain't going to be chained down in no corporate idea factory! They think just 'cause they've got a nice building and laid back culture, I'm gonna want to come in all day long and work on fascinating problems with the smartest people in the world.

:[Cueball stares at his friend.]

:Cueball: So, what, they turned you down?
:Friend: I don't understand it! I even baked them a cake shaped like the internet!

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

Talk:567: Urgent Mission

2014-01-29T01:50:18Z

108.162.246.5:

The explanation is backwards. Current is defined as the flow of *positive* charge, thus moving from positive to negative terminals. In most cases, the current is actually electrons, which are moving from the negative terminals to the positive.
[[Special:Contributions/72.45.165.98|72.45.165.98]] 16:48, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
:Hopefully fixed. This was hard to write clearly. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 01:43, 11 January 2014 (UTC)

I might be completely mistaken but I've thought that the reason why the positive and negative terminals are assigned as they are originated from observing the electric current passing through the solutions of salt. In the said solutions the current consists of the positively charged ions that get deposited onto the negative electrode, while the positive electrode slowly dissolves. This naturally makes one think that the electric current carries the charged particles from the positive to the negative electrode. Of course it might be that I've completely forgotten what I've been taught in school and gotten everything wrong. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 01:50, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:177: Alice and Bob

2014-01-28T17:51:51Z

108.162.246.5:

This part: "but everything from the public-key authenticated signatures on the files to the lipstick heart smeared on the disk screamed "Alice." " reminds me of the song Alice by Tom Waits. May or may not be intentional.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.120|108.162.242.120]] 18:10, 26 November 2013 (UTC)

The title text refers to comic 153, the first time Randall claimes to be banned from a conference (others to follow, e.g. comics 463 and 541).
And I don't consider this comic to have a "twist ending" revealing that it's Eve talking. She says that she is commonly being labelled the attacker in the very first panel. --[[User:YMS|YMS]] ([[User talk:YMS|talk]]) 15:37, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

Is Danish's name actually Eve? They seem to look the same, and have the same character. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 17:51, 28 January 2014 (UTC)

163: Donald Knuth

2014-01-28T01:05:15Z

108.162.246.5: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 163
| date = September 27, 2006
| title = Donald Knuth
| image = donald_knuth.png
| titletext = His books were kinda intimidating; rappelling down through his skylight seemed like the best option.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Donald Knuth}} is a computer science Professor Emeritus at {{w|Stanford University}} who is famous for writing {{w|The Art of Computer Programming}} and developing the TeX computerized typesetting system.

An array in computer science is a structure that stores multiple values in a fixed order, and the elements are accessed by their index number. In Pascal, for instance, one writes <tt>array[1]</tt> to access the first element in the array. Most "modern" (read: descended from C) languages use 0 as the index for the first element in the array, but it is possible (if one is careful about it) to ignore the 0th element and use 1 as the first index. In some programming languages (such as Ada, which was supposed to be the programming language of the future but had actually become little more than a historic footnote) it is possible to select an arbitrary range of indexes for each array type, so the first index might be not only 0 or 1 but even 100000. [[Cueball]] is complaining that [[Black Hat]] was not consistent in his choice of where to start his arrays. This is a valid complaint, as a lack of such consistency can make coding errors both more likely and less easy to detect.

Black Hat's cites Donald Knuth to support his rebuttal, but the quote he uses does not seem relevant. It turns out that Black Hat had illegally entered the professor's house in order to question him on indices. Donald Knuth's words were not an intellectual response to the question, but rather an alarmed response to the presence of an intruder. It is not clear if Black Hat is aware of this.

The title text suggests that Black Hat finds Donald's reputation intimidating, and he decided that the best way to overcome his fears was by making a bold entrance.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat and Cueball are sitting back to back at two separate desks, typing.]
:Cueball: Man, you're being inconsistent with your array indices. Some are from one, some are from zero.
:Black Hat: Different tasks call for different conventions. To quote Stanford algorithm's expert Donald Knuth, "Who are you? How did you get in my house?"
:Cueball: Wait, what?
:Black Hat: Well, that's what he said when I asked him about it.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Donald Knuth]]
[[Category:Programming]]

Talk:138: Pointers

2014-01-28T00:33:17Z

108.162.246.5:

[[User:Rikthoff|Rikthoff]] ([[User talk:Rikthoff|talk]]) The issue date is definitely off. Can anyone fix this?
: --done (yes, anyone can fix this.) [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 18:49, 23 February 2013 (UTC)
Wait until he finds out they're codes for that old saving system. 21:42, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

Or perhaps the Black Hat _is_ answering the question but in an obscure way. The addresses might be pointing to the locations where the game keeps its important information (such as the score count or the level), so it can be cheated by changing the data at these locations.

The problem with 0x-1 is not that it's missing digits, it's that the memory in the computer is represented as a closed loop. So if you try to go back to the cell "before the first cell", you will really access the last cell, 0x-1 really equals to 0xFFFFFFFF in the 32-bit address space. Evidently, Cueball had found a way around this only it didn't quite work out. (People deeply interested in the workings of the pointers should also read about the memory protection modes and alignment requirements, both of which might interfere with reading from the address 0xFFFFFFFF.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 00:33, 28 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:84: National Language

2014-01-27T23:00:29Z

108.162.246.5:

Any idea what she's saying? [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 08:37, 24 October 2012 (UTC)
:Yes, she's [http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071104151337AAWzYeu introducing herself]: "Hello, my name is Sarah". -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:00, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Is it worth noting that the United States does not actually ''have'' an official language, at States-wide level? The United Kingdom has English legislated for, while officially recognises various Celtic languages regionally (equivalent to that Cherokee example that may well be a state/sub-state official lingo?). India has English and Hindi on the relevent official national statutes (as well as many and varied other ones listed regionally, IIRC), so may technically demand English usage more so than the US itself.

(It is somewhat an urban legend that the US was just a hair's-bredth away from adopting German as its official language, but still fun to speculate how that might have affected its alliances for either World War, had it been linguistically more connected to the 'other side', and perhaps having a Special Relationship with the different European power thus affecting what side they'd officially support in 1914/1939.)

It's a convention, of course. But there are any number of communities that (many generations since the original settling event) still maintain their own non-Anglo/non-Native language, internally, as a majority tongue for the community. Albeit to various lesser or even effectively insignificant degrees in the grand scheme of things, compared to the national usage of English. (Somewhat mis-spelt English, of course. ;) [[Special:Contributions/178.98.31.27|178.98.31.27]] 07:09, 24 June 2013 (UTC)

I did this when my Human Geography teacher asked the class if English should be the United States' official language. Best moment of that class.[[Special:Contributions/173.22.5.38|173.22.5.38]] 04:40, 28 October 2013 (UTC)

That kind of illustrates the point, doesn't it? Either assimilate into the natives or beat them. Naturally, the natives would not be happy about the second option. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 23:00, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

1270: Functional

2014-01-27T21:54:11Z

108.162.246.5: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1270
| date = September 26, 2013
| title = Functional
| image = functional.png
| titletext = Functional programming combines the flexibility and power of abstract mathematics with the intuitive clarity of abstract mathematics.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|1270: Functional}}


[[White Hat]] questions [[Cueball]]'s faith in {{w|functional programming}}. [[Cueball]] responds saying, "Tail recursion is its own reward."

Functional programming is a famous paradigm (or style) in modern programming that favors functions that can be evaluated like mathematical functions, i.e., the value returned only depends on the input given. {{w|imperative programming|Imperative programs}} often make use of one or more variables that are external to the function that is currently executing. This means that an "imperative function" may return a different result for the same input due to changes in a non-local variable, whereas a "functional function" will in theory ALWAYS return the same result for a given input, though in practice the functional programming languages also support the non-local variables.

Unlike {{w|Procedural programming|procedures}}, functions always return a value. For example, {{w|Sine|sine(x)}} returns 1 when x is 90°. Furthermore, the function may call itself (usually with slightly different parameters), thus effectively starting a loop. This is called {{w|Recursion (computer science)|recursion}}.

In order to {{w|Iteration|iterate}}, imperative programs usually use {{w|Loop (programming)|loops}}. Functional programs usually use recursion instead.

For example, the {{w|factorial}} function (e.g. "factorial(5) = 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1") can be coded imperatively as:

factorial(n):
prod = 1
while n > 0:
prod = prod * n
n = n - 1
end
return prod

An imperative, recursive (but not tail-recursive) implementation can look like this:

factorial(n):
if n > 0:
return n * factorial(n-1)
else:
return 1

In this situation, the recursion stops when the argument (n) is not greater than zero. Without the conditional definition, it would be an infinite loop. {{w|Tail recursion}} is a special case of recursion whose very '''last''' operation is to invoke the function itself or return a definite value. The previous example is not tail-recursive, since after the call to "factorial(n-1)", the returned value has to be multiplied by n.

This (functional) example is tail recursive inside the helper function:


factorial(n) = factorial_helper(n, 1)

factorial_helper(n, prod) =
if n > 0 then
factorial_helper(n - 1, prod * n)
else
prod

e.g.
factorial(5) = factorial_helper(5, 1)
factorial_helper(5,1) = factorial_helper(5-1, 1*5)
factorial_helper(4,5) = factorial_helper(4-1, 5*4)
factorial_helper(3,20) = factorial_helper(3-1, 20*3)
factorial_helper(2,60) = factorial_helper(2-1, 60*2)
factorial_helper(1,120) = factorial_helper(1-1, 120*1)
factorial_helper(0,120) = 120

In functional programming, tail recursion is detected by the compiler or interpreter and can be executed as efficiently as loops in imperative programming languages. This makes tail recursion an essential programming technique in functional programming.

Cueball is making a play on words where "Tail recursion is its own reward" is used both in the "it is worth doing on elegance and intellectually satisfying grounds alone" sense and in the sense that "the 'tail call' of a function is its final step, and is the final step (and hence the result/reward) for all levels of a tail-recursive function".

The title text says that to {{w|Abstract mathematics|abstract mathematicians}} functional programming is both powerful and flexible, as well as intuitive and clear since it comes very close to the way mathematicians usually describe functions. The humorous contrast is that, to non-mathematicians including the software engineers, functional programming can be exactly the opposite (thus being non-intuitive and unclear as abstract mathematics appears to them). Even the mathematicians often spend years of work to discover the subtle mistakes in the lengthy proofs. This leaves the reader unclear as to whether the statement is sarcastic or not. And it is also a reference to a common saying among the fans of functional programming about the imperative programming language, 'C': "C combines the flexibility and power of {{w|assembly language}} with the user-friendliness of assembly language", which is a humorous take on the original saying "C combines the flexibility and power of {{w|assembly language}} with the user-friendliness of a high-level language".

==Transcript==
:[White Hat stands behind Cueball, who is sitting at a computer]
:White Hat: Why do you like functional programming so much? What does it actually ''get'' you?
:Cueball: Tail recursion is its own reward.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Recursion]]

Talk:1253: Exoplanet Names

2014-01-27T21:10:27Z

108.162.246.5:

One of the planets is similar to the child in Exploits of a Mom (http://xkcd.com/327/)
Robert Drop Tables
[[Special:Contributions/90.200.204.77|90.200.204.77]] 12:12, 19 August 2013 (UTC)
:Yes, they've seemed to have learned to sanitize their data inputs or just stick to parameters. [[Special:Contributions/69.14.148.254|69.14.148.254]] 12:33, 19 August 2013 (UTC)
Hair covered planet might be a reference to the book The Carpet Makers {{unsigned ip|41.221.193.211}}

The Blogosphere and Blogodrome planets are cited as synonyms of "blog." I believe this is an error, in that blogosphere is synonymous with "the collection of all posted communication." I would change it myself, but I don't feel like I'm sufficiently expert to state with conviction. ~Anthingy {{unsigned ip|76.105.133.220}}

I'm still missing the ''New Netherlands''... Lorenz [[Special:Contributions/142.244.63.246|142.244.63.246]] 15:34, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

Along with no ''New Netherlands'', I'm also disappointed to see ''Planet #14'' but no ''Planet 9 from Outer Space''. [[User:Ccurtis|Ccurtis]] ([[User talk:Ccurtis|talk]]) 16:04, 19 August 2013 (UTC)
:I'm sure my explain does cover this very well.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:04, 19 August 2013 (UTC)
::I don't understand your comment here. I was hoping for a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_9_from_Outer_Space Plan 9 From Outer Space], arguably one of the worst movies ever made and inspiration for the successor Unix operating system, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_9_from_Bell_Labs Plan 9]. [[User:Ccurtis|Ccurtis]] ([[User talk:Ccurtis|talk]]) 14:09, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

If memory serves, Stampy is the name of Bart Simpson's elephant. [[Special:Contributions/99.108.140.97|99.108.140.97]] 17:59, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

A* ("a star") is also a pathfinding algorithm taught in introductory Artificial Intelligence classes. I don't see the connection to the planet yet. [[User:Lastorset|Lastorset]] ([[User talk:Lastorset|talk]]) 22:19, 19 August 2013 (UTC)
:For the first, I did remove the corrupt wiki link. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:23, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

I just wonder where New Jerseys II through V are .... [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 03:24, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

'''Skydot''' could as easily be equivalent to the "Pale blue dot" that is Earth, from afar. '''New Jersey VI''' reminds me of the "New (New New New New .. New) New York" as visited in Doctor Who. '''help@gmail.com''' is either another bad input (as in "How Do I Join the IAU") or something more insidious. '''Moon Holder''' also reminds me of "Moon Watcher" from the (book of, at least) 2001: a Space Odyssey. '''Blainsley''' sounds to me like one of those portmanteau-names applied to a couple ("Blair-and-Ainsley"?). '''Unicorn Thresher''' could either be a random word string (I'd not have been surprisedto have seen "Correct Horse battery Staple" in the list) or ''perhaps'' something to do with the Invisible Pink Unicorn. '''Liz''' sounds like someone trying to get a planet named after their girlfriend or daughter or perhaps mother. [[Special:Contributions/178.104.103.140|178.104.103.140]] 11:39, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

:Anyone want an exoplanet named xkcd? {{unsigned ip|173.14.129.9}}

I was personally expecting a planet named "Gallifrey" or "Too expensive to get there, who cares?" {{unsigned ip|170.215.90.160}}

Maybe New Jersey VI is a reference to the Spaceship New Jersey from Bruce Covill's young adult "My Teacher Is An Alien" series?
-Jed [[Special:Contributions/70.208.76.161|70.208.76.161]] 00:47, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

I find it very meta that the line in the table explaining Cosmic Sands is formatted in Comic Sans, except for the reference to the Papyrus comic, which is written in Papyrus. I refer anyone interested to the discussion there about the propriety of that kind of self-referential cleverness, and I recognize that it sort of undermines the purpose of a wiki to do things therein that themselves require explanation... but I kinda like it. --Benny [[Special:Contributions/68.199.58.41|68.199.58.41]] 15:50, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

'''How Do I Join the IAU''' - instead of a lost user it very much resembles whinning of noobs in forums or in chat - "How Do I Get An Op?", "Please Mail It To Me" etc. '''Ballderaan''' might be a pun (if it's not actually there) on the Space Balls movie. --Ed [[Special:Contributions/217.31.207.1|217.31.207.1]] 14:04, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

permadeath might also be a play on permafrost. [[User:Peter|Peter]] ([[User talk:Peter|talk]]) 17:01, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Is Moonchild not an Aleister Crowley reference? {{unsigned ip|91.45.17.43}}

I think, that help@gmail.com is a pun for the fact, that you usaually don't get any help writing to that address or that it is usually hard to communicate with google [[Special:Contributions/87.168.177.1|87.168.177.1]] 12:32, 4 October 2013 (UTC) Christian

Since computer scientists often start at zero instead of one when numbering things, the 15th in the list would be '''Planet #14'''
[[User:W3steve|W3steve]] ([[User talk:W3steve|talk]]) 23:25, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

Planet With Arms might also refer to the Birds With Arms thing on Reddit, where people humorously photoshop arms onto the bird pictures. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 21:10, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1219: Reports

2014-01-27T19:16:34Z

108.162.246.5:

Shouldn't it be 2000th St? --[[Special:Contributions/81.23.24.56|81.23.24.56]] 06:41, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

Shouldn't it be a 25,000 mi/h speed limit if multiplied by 1000? Afterall, I have never heard of a 2.5 mi/h speed limit... Think I could get a speeding ticket whilst walking with that limit. Definitely while jogging. [[Special:Contributions/99.195.243.220|99.195.243.220]] 07:04, 31 May 2013 (UTC) Aaron

:I've seen 5 kph (around 3 mph) speed limit. It was in parks and we were supposed to run timed laps. Interestingly, in order to get through the minimum, you had to break the speed limit.--[[User:Charlesisbozo|Charlesisbozo]] ([[User talk:Charlesisbozo|talk]]) 12:45, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

Lol exactly the first two comments I had in mind were made here. [[Special:Contributions/80.101.91.220|80.101.91.220]] 07:07, 31 May 2013 (UTC)
:Also beaten to the 25,000 comment. The lowest I've think I've ever seen indicated is 5mph (mostly in car parks) and except in one locale(1) that's wishful thinking at best, given that at this point you find that on an analogue standard speedo that potentially sweeps far further(2), it's definitely a crap-shoot as to whether you're able to hover the needle barely off of the zero-stop with any accuracy... Even assuming reasonable calibration at the higher speeds. I suspect that 5km/h (3.1-ish mph(3)) might be the minimum I've seen in metric-tied countries, making that just an arbitrary low figure.
:(1) A local bus station that has "Your speed is..." matrices to show a presumably calibrated digital measurement to the drivers of any said bus entering/exiting the site, and flashes in red if they exceed this. Not sure if there's a penalty accumulation, but I suspect there'd be the capability to link to the CCTV systems that also cover the site so that post-incident enquiries would record any driver errors should the worst come to the (painfully slow) worst.
:(2) 120mph on smaller cars, 240mph or more on anything that promises way-over-the-top performance for a country with a top-end national speed limit of 70mph in force. Not that anyone believes that, but even the unofficial publicly-used "I'll get away with it..." 80mph line is 1/3rd of 240. Of course they could go over to Germany to try out on the unlimited Autobahns, or burn rubber at a 'track day' somewhere, but still it irks me that people think like that...
:(3) I can never remember the 'standard' conversion factor. I just remember that it's 93 million miles to the Sun or 150 million kilometres and work it out from that. ;) [[Special:Contributions/178.98.255.57|178.98.255.57]] 08:14, 31 May 2013 (UTC)
:: national speed limit? The limit is 80 on I-10 in west Texas (posted), and 75 on many other state highways... [[User:MR|MR]] ([[User talk:MR|talk]]) 03:22, 30 June 2013 (UTC)MR

So, anyway, I put my hand to writing an explanation, making it impressively brief compared with what I usually write (see above). I've put some <nowiki></nowiki> in, especially next to the potentially disputed numbers, so that future editors can zero in on things that I think might need to be changed, or could be expanded upon. Or redo it all from scratch, as I probably won't notice anyway. ;) [[Special:Contributions/178.98.255.57|178.98.255.57]] 09:20, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

Looks like Randall corrected his title-text. So I completed the necessary edit (half done already, with the edit comment "(2500 / 100 = 25, not 2.5)", which I won't argue with...) and removed the related comments. Tempted to add an "in the original version..." addendum, but then anyone who's bothered with that sort of detail has read up to here in the Talk bit, right? ;) [[Special:Contributions/178.98.255.57|178.98.255.57]] 17:25, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

The multiplication of all numbers was also featured in a Monty Python sketch. It might be the sketch about buying an ant, as I vaguely remember. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 19:16, 27 January 2014 (UTC)