explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1678: Recent Searches

2016-09-24T21:22:50Z

141.101.80.33: explain why fsck a mounted fs is bad

You can convert jpg to Excel (http://www.think-maths.co.uk/spreadsheet), so converting gif to Excel is not really absurd... {{unsigned ip|141.101.93.51}}
:Or maybe Randall(?) has a screenshot of a spreadsheet (or more realistically, an over-the-shoulder video of someone's spreadsheet), and he wants to OCR it back into a spreadsheet. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.209|108.162.218.209]] 19:19, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

Interestingly enough "CPU temperature sensor limits" might be a serious consideration for extreme overclockers, who use things like liquid nitrogen to cool their PC. [[User:SG 01|SG 01]] ([[User talk:SG 01|talk]]) 15:45, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
: Not really, the limit of the CPU temp sensors would only necessary if you are planing to get the cpu to really high temperatures. That is, if you are using liquid nitrogen to cool the cpu, you should never reach the limit of the sensors.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.69|108.162.221.69]] 18:38, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
:: Hey, [[165|our IP addresses differ only in 8 bits]]! Does this mean we are in the same part of campus? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.59|108.162.219.59]] 19:38, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
::: What... that one is not not my ip! And the guy that mentioned "OCR" up there also has a very similar ip to ours. Is some kind of proxy explainxkcd has? (btw, I wonder if I'll get the same ip on this comment. I haven't disconnected my router or anything) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.69|108.162.221.69]] 21:58, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
:::: It appears that explainxkcd.com is using Cloudflare, so all the wiki edits are probably logged as coming from Cloudflare's proxies. A WHOIS search confirms that the IPs 108.162.192.0 to 108.162.255.255 are part of Cloudflare's network --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.228.167|108.162.228.167]] 22:22, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
::::: I had thought explainxkcd was anonymizing IP addresses to some carefully chosen ranges. Apparently that's just a helpful side effect. Does Cloudflare always assign the same proxy to a particular source address? [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 23:34, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
:::::: There are collisions. Someone else has edited via the same proxy I use, so now there is another [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 21:11, 18 May 2016 (UTC)
: Note that it says "limits" in plural, i.e. both upper and lower. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.209|108.162.218.209]] 19:28, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
:: There are several "upper limits" -- one for turn on the fan, then speedup the fan, then start making sounds to alarm the user and the final one for doing a hard-shutdown of the computer before it burn out -- so assuming that anybody want to disable the lower is a stretch [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.219|162.158.255.219]] 04:00, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

;Safe mode
This is my first time trying to help out with an explanation, please let me know if I did something wrong ^_^; [[User:Undergroundmonorail|Undergroundmonorail]] ([[User talk:Undergroundmonorail|talk]]) 15:48, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
: I like where you went with safe/dangerous. Of the "unsafe" synonyms I found my favorite is "menacing mode". [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])

: My first impression here though was that he's so often dropping to safe mode he forgot what's regular system like or how to get there – so he searches for reference how to get there. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.95.129|141.101.95.129]] 20:29, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

Is it possible the first one is an attempt to misuse google translate to translate programming code (to another programming language or even between linguistic languages)? [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 15:59, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

GIF to XLS could be a reference to http://www.think-maths.co.uk/spreadsheet [[Special:Contributions/141.101.93.55|141.101.93.55]] 16:16, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
: Nice find. I was thinking like that + a macro to flip sheets. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])

Doesn't "recursive" mean that it repeats (recurs)? [[User:Cardboardmech|Cardboardmech]] ([[User talk:Cardboardmech|talk]]) 16:44, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
:Sort of. In computing, it's a little more specific, though, referring to functions that call themselves as part of their normal running. This in turn has led to the idea of recursive definitions, that of course refer to the original word. Example: "recursion: see recursion."

:I take issue with the explanation for another reason, though. True, regexes probably can't be used to check the validity of EBNFs. It's a little bit more complicated than that, though. If one has ever used a compiler-compiler like yacc (which, supposedly uses EBNF grammars or EBNF-like grammars), another tool in the Unix world comes to mind, awk. Awk is similar enough in design to a cc that it can do the job of one, and people have apparently made compilers in awk. And what does awk use for its pattern matching? Regexes. Exercise for the reader: Write an EBNF for EBNFs. :D. [[User:Tibfulv|Tibfulv]] ([[User talk:Tibfulv|talk]]) 17:49, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

:: If you allow recursive regexes, it *is* possible to match EBNF with a regex: http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=115494&p=3974658#p3974278 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.68.5|162.158.68.5]] 19:38, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

Silly comment because: can't...stop...laughing. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])

Hey... what does this line refer to? "A complication in attempting to solve computer problems this way would be presented by Google's search term autocorrection, which for several years has replaced technical terms with unrelated language from recent popular culture." I can't see how it's relevant to the comic, is it implying that these arent actually the questions he searched for, they're one autocorrection away from what he was trying to find? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.158|108.162.250.158]] 00:14, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

: For example, Google suggests "fsck" should be "fleck" and automatically alters the results accordingly. "Fleck Chrome extension" is a reasonable search query (Fleck is a web annotation service) but "fleck" is implausible as a typo. [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 00:28, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

:: That seems like a stretch to me... if that was the intention then there would be no joke. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.158|108.162.250.158]] 00:03, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

;autoexec joke

isn't this related to autoexec.bat? [[User:Blydro|Blydro]] ([[User talk:Blydro|talk]]) 16:00, 9 May 2016 (UTC)blydro
: Or...autoexec.ncf (Netware), autoexec.nt (Windows), autoexec.cfg (Source/Valve/Counterstrike) and an adult reference at Urban Dictionary. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])

This isn't farfetched. In need of a server, I was recently considering using obfuscated strings in a public blog to temporarily control my own apps...and malware's been doing stuff like this for ages. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])

:: I don't think a reference to "autoexec.bat" makes sense in the context of the comic... it's just a word that sounds similar (not being cheeky) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.158|108.162.250.158]] 00:03, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

;Keybinding

I originally interpreted "clean reinstall keybinding" as meaning that his keybindings were so entirely screwed that he wanted to do a clean reinstall of the keybinding system, but the other interpretation is funnier. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.74|108.162.219.74]] 16:24, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

I interpreted this to mean that he created a keybinding that automatically performs a clean reinstall of the OS [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.46|173.245.54.46]]

;FSCK

I've only ever seen "fsck" as a way of saying "fuck" that bypasses content filters, such as in global chat in games like World of Warcraft. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.62|173.245.52.62]] 16:25, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure it's file system consistency check. It's a program for checking your Linux filesystem. I think the Joke is that he needs to check his filesystem for corruption so often that he needs the convenience of a chrome extension. I have not edited the page because I neither use chrome extensions nor have I ever run fsck. Can anyone back me up on this? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.197|108.162.218.197]] 16:43, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

:Yes, that's what fsck refers to here. I've run it many a time on my old Red Hat installation that somehow kept corrupting itself. --[[User:PsyMar|PsyMar]] ([[User talk:PsyMar|talk]]) 16:54, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

Can some wonderful person provide an explanation for this? "This is probably a search for an interface to the Unix filesystem checker fsck via third-party software added to Chrome. Repairing a filesystem this way would be inadvisable. [citation needed]" It jokingly says "citation needed", but ironically, some sort of citation (well, explanation) really is needed... it's not obvious at all why it would be inadvisable, or what the joke actually means. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.158|108.162.250.158]] 00:21, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

: I added the line "fsck is a program for checking your filesystem for corruption." based on the discussion immediately above, but an explanation for why a Chrome extension to execute this program is funny/weird would be helpful to people like me. The lines immediately after it (about Chromium etc.) seem unrelated to the joke, and only make it more confusing... if a Unix user could spell it out maybe... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.158|108.162.250.158]] 00:28, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

::As long as you are not trying to run the fsck on ROOT filesystem (or /home, or anything other currently mounted), it doesn't matter if it's chrome extension. But it's true that usually fsck is run as part of system boot, when no filesystem is mounted in read/write mode, and it is not possible to run Chrome in such situation. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:57, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

: [Extended explanation] Information about files often occur in multiple places on the disk. This redundancy increase the chance of repairing a corrupt file system. Fsck will read data from the disk, and if it finds inconsistencies, write new corrected data back. When a file system is mounted, a file system driver will read and write data of the disk in normal operation. If the two processes are simultaneous and unaware of each other, they may be confused and even create inconsistencies that wasn't there to begin with. E.g. {{original research}}: A file system driver may have cached data in working memory. If fsck updates that data on disk, the cache will be out of sync. The file system driver may be confused by this, or, if it writes back the cache to the disk, the fsck fix will be undone, and possibly a new different inconsistency would be created. Or, while fsck is comparing different parts of the file system, it will read one block at one point in time and another block at another point in time. At a time in between, normal operation may have created, changed or removed a file. Fsck then may think it has found an inconsistency (that does not exists) and try to fix it, possibly creating an inconsistency. Therefor, the fsck command will detect if a file system is mounted and issue a really scary warning against proceeding. /David A [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.33|141.101.80.33]] 21:22, 24 September 2016 (UTC)

;Predictable touchpad

A predictable touchpad would actually be a major blow to internet security -- mouse events are being used to seed randomness generators for cryptography. I don't think this piece of information is suited for the explanation, but just in case someone's interested: You're welcome! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.247|141.101.91.247]] 16:26, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

Just came across this:
Pre-Touch Sensing for Mobile Interaction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiZkEYLXctE
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.11|141.101.98.11]] 12:38, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

;Title text
After the npm burndown, someone actually made it possible to require from twitter: (https://gist.github.com/rauchg/5b032c2c2166e4e36713) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.83.114|162.158.83.114]] 18:25, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

;Syntax highlighting a natlang
Syntax highlighting a natural language might color the subject, verb, object, adverbs, and prepositional phrases. --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 18:27, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
:Google Translate is not limited to natlangs (e.g. it has Esperanto). And I heard of some syntax highlighters for conlangs (namely Lojban). --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.209|108.162.218.209]] 19:13, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

;Permutations
"[https://www.google.com/search?q=syntax+highlighting+Google+translate syntax highlighting Google translate]" gives wildly different results from "[https://www.google.com/search?q=Google+translate+syntax+highlighting Google translate syntax highlighting]". The explainxkcd article has been climbing in the results; can it displace Wikipedia or CPAN for these queries? Might there be a hidden joke related to some query in the list? [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 00:54, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

: (Update: for both queries, we have displaced Wikipedia, StackOverflow, and CPAN in some Google servers.) [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 02:49, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

: The first result ''was'' Google's own documentation. No more! [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 04:00, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

Is it really suitable to use the word leopard instead of keyboard? Even though it's linked to the relevant comic explanation it seems likely to add unnecessary confusion and doesn't really add to this explanation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.217|162.158.34.217]] 10:30, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

: It seems cool to me as long as the explanation is clear enough that your brain expects "keyboard" even if you previously didn't know what "keybinding" meant. I added a sentence to try and make it more obvious. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.158|108.162.250.158]] 00:08, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

Isn't the clean reinstall keybinding pointless for saving time since he'd have to redo it every time he did a clean reinstall? [[User:Figvh|Figvh]] ([[User talk:Figvh|talk]]) 11:34, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

: I think you're assuming that keybinding is about setting up new shortcuts (which the explanation used to seem to be saying); I think the jokes actually about the keyboard being functional at all... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.158|108.162.250.158]] 00:08, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

Idea for Turing-complete hardlinks: get an old UNIX that allows hardlinks to directories. With those, you can create loops in the filesystem (it's now an arbitrary directed graph, not a tree). Write an interpreter repeatedly calls link, chdir, mkdir, or rmdir based on some pattern matching on the existing names. It could terminate when it finds itself in an empty directory. Now you write programs on top of that interpreter by carefully setting up a tangle of directories and launching the interpreter at the right starting point. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.60.53|162.158.60.53]] 00:13, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

;whoooooosh
maybe it's just me, but does google actually do this any more? it certainly used to. now all i get is nothing until i start typing, when i get a list of the most popular results for other people's searches. if you have to turn javascript (or something else) off to see this, maybe it should be mentioned. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]] 12:36, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
:still having problems with this. i think i understand the joke, but the comic seems to rely on something which i'm pretty sure doesn't happen. i'm old enough to remember when google would allow the default browser behaviour for textboxes, which is to cache the values you entered in this box and display them to you as a dropdown when you started typing. pressing alt-down would open the list unfiltered and unsorted. this is, i'm guessing, what randall is alluding to. which means that the list is hist search history in google. which makes the text of the joke funny. unfortunately google doesn't do this any more. i've tried it in chrome, firefox, ie and edge and it just doesn't, even if i'm logged in as me. alt-down has no effect. if you start typing it does open a dropdown to autocomplete, but from very scant research this isn't in any way tailored to the user. it just gives you the most popular searches that complete the text you type, with no regard for your search history. i could be wrong about that. if i am, and google does tailor it to your particular search history, then that does make the joke funny again. since not only does randall search for these things enough that google noticed that he likes them (possibly because this is all he searches for) but people search for these ridiculous things enough that google thinks that they are popular. which, even if true is a little remote a possibility. and undermines the joke about randall being special in breaking his computer. maybe i'm overthinking it. or not. did i miss something obvious? this is supposed to explain the comics and i need a little help. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]] 12:57, 13 May 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1179: ISO 8601

2016-09-23T22:01:33Z

141.101.80.33:

Apparently there are some mistakes in the Roman numerals in the comic, the year MMXII is 2012. Also LVII/CCLXV = 57/265, whereas February 27th is the 58th day of the year (which has 365 days). --[[User:Ulm|ulm]] ([[User talk:Ulm|talk]]) 07:55, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
:Just guessing, but could this have something to do with the divergence of various Roman calendars, e.g. Julian vs. Gregorian? [[Special:Contributions/98.122.166.235|98.122.166.235]] 13:55, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
:Another error: Obviously 1330300800 is intended to be Unix time, but it corresponds to 2012-02-27 00:00:00 UTC. --[[User:Ulm|ulm]] ([[User talk:Ulm|talk]]) 08:10, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
:The day part "57" is not wrong: Since Feb 27 is the 58th day of the year, at the beginning of that day, 57 days have gone by since the year started. (At the end of the day, 58 days have gone by) Since we associate days with their beginning (like we do with e.g. hours and minutes), 57 is the correct number (or else Dec 31 would be 2013+365/365 = 2014, and therefore in the wrong year) -- [[User:Xorg|Xorg]] ([[User talk:Xorg|talk]]) 13:53, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
::The day part is ambiguous. It could be as Xorg suggests, the fraction of the year past at the start of the day. On the other hand it could be interpreted as "day 57 or 365," as with pieces in a shipment or page numbers. In the latter case it should be 58/265. But then, that (ambiguity) is the point, isn't it? [[User:Jqavins|Jqavins]] ([[User talk:Jqavins|talk]]) 17:40, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
::Meanwhile the comic was replaced, with CCLXV corrected to CCCLXV. --[[User:Ulm|ulm]] ([[User talk:Ulm|talk]]) Prima vigilia, XVI Kal. Mar. MMDCCLXVI
::I was just about to publish my theory of how "2012" in the Roman numerals in just the same vein might be intended to indeed represent the year we denote "2013", but by counting only the finished years. This would also connect with the confusion over {{w|year zero}}, another thing that ISO 8601 tried to straighten out. (They placed it before year 1.) Everything fit so well. Then there was an edit conflict, following Randalls correction to "2013". I guess you can't always be right. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:03, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Can anyone explain 01237 (last interpretation before the cat)? Thanks [[Special:Contributions/68.230.38.154|68.230.38.154]] 08:04, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
:The small numbers above and below the larger ones show which digit is used where. For example, the 2nd and 5th digit is a 0, the 3rd digit is a 1 etc. [[Special:Contributions/82.115.151.1|82.115.151.1]] 08:15, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
:01237 are the digits used in the date, and the numbers above and below them reflect the order in which they are written; 0 is the second and fifth digit, 1 is the third digit, 2 is the first, sixth and seventh digit, 3 is the fourth digit, and 7 is the eighth digit: 20130227 [[User:Bdemirci|Bdemirci]] ([[User talk:Bdemirci|talk]]) 08:15, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Someone can explain me what means: ((3+3)×(111+1)-1)×3/3-1/33? {{unsigned|95.23.147.48}}
:Read the comic explanation. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:58, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Many of these format mirror how the dates are spoken in languages. For example, Americans will say "February 27, 2013" and write "2/27/2013", whereas the French will say "27 février 2013" and write "27-02-2013". As a scientist, I was encouraged to write "27 II 2013" (which is apparently standard in Hungary, according to the explanation above) in my lab notebook to avoid ambiguity. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 13:16, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

A strange thing is that he forgot the form mostly used in Europe: 27.01.2013. --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 12:44, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
:: That form is mostly used in Germany. Belgium and France use 27/01/2013 more, Netherlands use 27-01-2013. No idea what the UK prefers although I could imagine 01.27.2013.[[Special:Contributions/62.159.14.62|62.159.14.62]] 12:58, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
::: The UK prefers 27/02/2013 --[[User:H|H]] ([[User talk:H|talk]]) 13:20, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
::: That form (27.02.2013) is also common in all of Scandinavia. --[[User:Buggz|Buggz]] ([[User talk:Buggz|talk]]) 14:15, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

The image text has a subtle twist as "12/01/04" offers no contextual clues to it meaning at all, can be read three different ways : "December 1st 2004", "January 12, 2004" or "January 4th, 2012" (as opposed to, for example, "01/15/98" which could only be interrupted as "January 15th, 1998") [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 14:29, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
: Technically speaking, it could also be interpreted as April 1st 2012 or April 12th 2001, though that would be the least likely interpretation. I personally like spelling out 3 letters of the month and using an apostrophe before the year, such as 27 Feb '13. --[[User:Joehammer79|Joehammer79]] ([[User talk:Joehammer79|talk]]) 15:07, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
:: And of course December, 4th 2001 Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.118.249|178.26.118.249]] 19:54, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Is there any way to convert the time-stamp placed on these comments to the YYYY-MM-DD format? --16:17, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
: If you're logged in, you can set your [[Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-datetime|date and time preferences]]. I doubt it will affect the timestamps on this page, though, since those appear to be saved as plain text. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 23:01, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

I feel like the cat thing is a reference to something, but I'm not sure what... is it something? A quick google image search pulls up nothing. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:26, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
: Seems to me that Randall missed an opportunity: Why a cat? Why not a '''bob'''cat? It still could be some other reference that I'm missing too.
:: Black cats are considered unlucky. I don't see any reference beyond that. [[User:Mattflaschen|Mattflaschen]] ([[User talk:Mattflaschen|talk]]) 17:59, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
::: It's taking the last two digits from 2013 and emphasizing triskaidekaphobia. Doing a web image search on "Cat 13" will pull up similar artwork of hissing black cats combined with the number 13, including both flyers for Friday 13th drink specials at bars, and combat airplane noseart. Apparently combining the unlucky "13" with an unlucky black cat emphasized that they were bad luck for the enemy. [[User:Columbus Admission|Columbus Admission]] ([[User talk:Columbus Admission|talk]]) 19:20, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
:::: "You're a Kitty!" http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=231
::::: The cat's "Hissss" could be a reference to timestamp formats in PHP web programming, where the desired date format is generally followed by "H:i:s", the standard 24-hour time format. That would explain the specifically lowercase "i" in the cat's hiss.[[Special:Contributions/208.87.234.180|208.87.234.180]] 13:28, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

Cool, this is my birthday. [[User:Mattflaschen|Mattflaschen]] ([[User talk:Mattflaschen|talk]]) 17:59, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

"However the list then starts listing formats ranging from uncommon to absurd, such as writing the date partly in Roman numerals [...] " -
My math teacher uses a very similar format (in reverse order, d/m/yy, with m being in Roman numerals, because this is Germany (see above)), so I wouldn't call it absurd. She is the only person I know who uses it though. [[Special:Contributions/87.189.150.212|87.189.150.212]] 19:36, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

The image and explanation needs to be updated for the corrections. I could do the explanation part, but I have no idea how to do the image part. And one without the other would be confusing for the readers, so I'll leave that to wiki-magic. [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 21:09, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

: I updated the image as well as the explanation (and transcript). There is still the error on the Unix timestamp though (will this comic be fixed a third time?...). - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 21:57, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Sweden uses the ISO 8601 format. (If only food producers could understand this as well..)
[[Special:Contributions/46.59.16.141|46.59.16.141]] 21:42, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

- What can we learn from this? - I've learned that no matter the system we use today to communicate with others, it's probably seems silly for someone else. It's great to document what we do and propose it as an option to others, but it will be next to impossible to force them to adopt. When someone will develop a time reference that makes sense to everyone, it will be adopted all over the world without much effort. - e-inspired [[Special:Contributions/24.51.197.187|24.51.197.187]] 19:07, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Perhaps the cat (because of the vagueness of the system) was referring to not the 27th of February 2013. but instead referring to the 13th of February in 1327 which would make it Friday the 13th. {{unsigned|66.35.1.98}}

Just so you know, Explainxkcd wiki uses the ISO certified date standard for its "All Comics" page. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:57, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

Personally I've always preferred to use Year-Month-Day my personal stuff. I like it because the format is written the way we write any other number: Most significant to left, least significant to right. I didn't know this was a standardized method and I've always wondered why it wasn't used. Nice to know it is![[Special:Contributions/172.191.224.64|172.191.224.64]] 04:09, 28 February 2013 (UTC)ExternalMonologue

Personally, I like yyyy-mm-dd because it sorts correctly. I really hate running into a list of dates sorted by month name, or worse, day of the week. I suspect this was part of why ISO chose this format. I've never been able to remember the american vs european ordering... My only other options is: February 27, 2013. [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 12:11, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

: I'm not sure what standard the Canadian Military officially uses, but as soldiers we were all taught to use a "7 Feb 2013" format when writing dates. Seems the most clear and concise to me. {{unsigned|24.85.225.143}}

:: Most of the dates I've seen used by the Canadian Military have been of that format but have only used 2-digit years - e.g. 27 Feb 13 (they didn't learn from Y2K!) {{unsigned|64.140.113.219}}

- What can we learn from this? - I've learned that keeping our time relative to earth rotation is outdated, we keep having to add seconds here and there just to keep time. And as an engineer don't get me started on complexity of mktime function. I personally think of time as oscillation of a flawed crystal in my circuits that I constantly need to keep accounting for through endless calibrations, and keep wishing that better time references would be cheaper (to me good is never good enough) - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 15:05, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

Ha ha E-inspired you should read the "falsehoods programmers believe about times" http://infiniteundo.com/post/25326999628/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-time http://infiniteundo.com/post/25509354022/more-falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-time-wisdom [[Special:Contributions/75.103.23.206|75.103.23.206]] 20:14, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

:Dude, you've just made my DAY! I forgot the last time I've laughed as hard. Why didn't I know about this site before? - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 20:43, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

Why is the date of this comic written as "February 27, 2013" and not "2013-02-27"? [[Special:Contributions/93.73.186.104|93.73.186.104]] 08:46, 14 March 2013 (UTC)

The hover hint says "ISO 8601 was published on 06/05/88 and most recently amended on 12/01/04." which must be a joke - because it is impossible to know whether these days are 6 May 1988 and 12 January 2004 or 5 June 1988 and 1 December 2004. Why make a comic about ISO 8601 then use ambiguous dates in the hint? {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.95}}
:I had always assumed that the title text was poking fun at ISO for not complying with their own standard. Looking at the ISO website today, I'm disappointed to find that this is, in fact, not the case. Perhaps three years ago it was. [[User:Zeusfaber|Zeusfaber]] ([[User talk:Zeusfaber|talk]]) 17:07, 9 July 2016 (UTC)

Amateurs, you don't put periods in format with roman month number. So it's 27 II 2012 [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.209|141.101.89.209]] 12:48, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

The chief advantage of the American system is that placing the year last makes it easy to simply drop the year in casual conversation, given how slowly years change. While it might technically follow just as logically to have the day precede the month, in practice the sequence means less for the first two numbers. The 31 days or fewer between month changes are relatively frequent, while the 365.25 days between year changes can easily go "out of sight, out of mind" except when approaching a transition. In either case, placing the nigh-irrelevant year number first in the text string causes the reader to pay attention to that number first, and have to "skip ahead" to discover the month and day, when in truth the day is the most salient datapoint. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.52|173.245.54.52]] 20:58, 29 October 2015 (UTC)
: Hmm... The comic's point is about '''writing''' dates as '''numbers'''... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.180.215|162.158.180.215]] 09:47, 13 November 2015 (UTC)
: Don't write "America" when you mean "USA". In most of America (and most of the rest of the world) the traditional order is D/M/Y, which makes it even simpler to drop more significant parts in casual conversation. E.g. "it's the 27th of February 2013" becomes "it's the 27th of February" when the year is known and just "it's the 27th" when also the month is known. In my country we traditionally had D/M/Y but we are approaching ISO inch by inch. Personally I've used ISO and four digit year since around 1997. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_format_by_country /David A [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.33|141.101.80.33]] 22:01, 23 September 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1215: Insight

2016-09-21T23:48:35Z

141.101.80.33: <electronic payment>

Indeed, somebody speaking circa 1895 could have made the same remark but instead of Google Glass the subject could have been something then new such as the Horseless Carriage, a technology now known as the Automobile in which I will soon drive to work.
[[Special:Contributions/24.91.233.200|24.91.233.200]] 09:28, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

:The same could be said for electrification (utility-provided mains, especially when extended to rural areas), steam locomotives, and industrialization as a whole. '''--BigMal27''' // [[Special:Contributions/192.136.15.177|192.136.15.177]] 11:24, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Let's make a list! --[[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 13:25, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
:added <fire>, sorted by date--~~ ~~

*Maybe before we rush to adopt <Google Cornea Implants> we should stop to consider the consequences of blithely giving this technology such a central position in our lives. ''(2020)''
*Maybe before we rush to adopt <the internet> we should stop to consider the consequences of blithely giving this technology such a central position in our lives. ''(1986)''
*Maybe before we rush to adopt <TV> we should stop to consider the consequences of blithely giving this technology such a central position in our lives. ''(1954)''
*Maybe before we rush to adopt <automobiles> we should stop to consider the consequences of blithely giving this technology such a central position in our lives. ''(1914)''
*Maybe before we rush to adopt <electrification> we should stop to consider the consequences of blithely giving this technology such a central position in our lives. ''(1880's)''
*Maybe before we rush to adopt <growing food> we should stop to consider the consequences of blithely giving this technology such a central position in our lives. ''(10,000 BCE)''
*Maybe before we rush to adopt <fire> we should stop to consider the consequences of blithely giving this technology such a central position in our lives. ''(400,000 BCE)''



I think that most people initially view a new idea or technology with skepticism and/or suspicion, but eventually accept it and learn to incorporate into their everyday life. This generally works out fine, and often for the better. Historical examples of this abound: the telephone, electricity, and the automobile, for example, probably all caused controversy when they were first rolled out to the general public, but today we couldn't imagine our lives without them. Another great example is civil rights. At first, the public attacks civil rights activists as radicals, then tolerates them as equals, and eventually hails them as heroes who fought for good and justice.

However, I would caution against thinking that every new idea is equally beneficial, and that those who express initial concern about the latest gizmo are merely backward Luddites. Humans are generally a lot better at figuring out how to make/do/use something before we figure out if it's good for us. Just look at drug companies like Bayer at the turn of the 20th century, who marketed aspirin (good) right alongside heroin (not so good) as great new drugs for modern medicine. Or think about eugenics, which developed out of evolutionary theory. While evolution was, is, and probably will always be the foundation of modern biology, eugenics provided justification for some truly horrible actions in the 20th century before people decided that it was all bull**** science.

Or, take Google Streetview. Sure, it's a great new technology, and I use it almost daily. But think about the unprecedented amount of information Google has been able to collect on (literally) the entire world. I don't think anyone can claim that we fully understand the repercussions that these new Google technologies will have on our lives, and I'd argue that it's premature to ignore or ridicule people who advocate caution with Google Glasses. After all, we're talking about strapping a camera to your face! Just my $0.02.

TL;DR: New technology isn't always good technology.
[[User:Chris j|Chris j]] ([[User talk:Chris j|talk]]) 22:37, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

Hi '''Chris j''', please sign your posts by using the sign button on top of the editor. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:58, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

:Maybe before we rush to adopt <signing our posts by using the sign button on top of the editor> we should stop to consider the consequences of blithely giving this technology such a central position in our lives. -- [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.135|173.245.52.135]] 20:31, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

<blockquote>unprecedented amount of information Google has been able to collect on (literally) the entire world</blockquote>
Nothing like the entire world. Vast areas have no streets. Even where there are streets, there are large areas either nowhere near a street or not visible from the street. I await Google JungleView, SteppeView and (ahem) BedroomView. Or maybe not. [[Special:Contributions/203.206.118.14|203.206.118.14]] 02:28, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

Maybe before we rush to adopt <language> we should stop to consider the consequences of blithely giving this technology such a central position in... oh, wait. Shit.
--[[User:Jesse|Jesse]] ([[User talk:Jesse|talk]]) 19:36, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

I find this discussion joyously entertaining. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.137|173.245.48.137]] 15:53, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

This is related to xkcd 1289. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.177|173.245.52.177]] 23:55, 21 September 2014 (UTC)

I guess one of the core issues is that it is almost completely impossible to predict the consequences of introducing technology into any part of our lives, central or not. It not even really possible to determine whether or not a specific technology will take up a role in people's lives.- Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.205|108.162.249.205]] 02:34, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Maybe before we rush to adopt <electronic payment> we should stop to consider the consequences of blithely giving this technology such a central position in our lives. /David A [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.33|141.101.80.33]] 23:48, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1652: Conditionals

2016-09-17T01:35:26Z

141.101.80.33: phone % solipsism = nil

The title text... So he should both stop being pedantic in general and stop caring about conditionals in particular. What is it he does in the title text... the current explanation of that part is not clear to me. Is it completely clear who speaks which line in the title text...? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:03, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
:It is fairly obvious that the line "If you're done being pedantic, we should get dinner," is provided by Cueball's friend, as it is already established that Cueball was the one being pedantic about conditionals in the first place. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.12|108.162.216.12]] 15:15, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

To me the word "Conditionals" is clearly in the grammatical sense. Computer programming was invented literally centuries after the grammatical meaning, and the joke would have been as meaningful 3000 years ago as it is today. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.13|108.162.221.13]] 15:17, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

The particular kind of conditional that Cueball's friend is using is called a "biscuit conditional," after the example "There are biscuits in the sideboard if you want some" (from the philosopher J.L. Austin). There's a bit of discussion of them at [http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1469 Language Log]--Cueball is doing what Sam C talks about in the first comment, deliberately misunderstanding the conditional. The characteristic of these conditionals is that the truth of the consequent doesn't depend on the truth of the antecedent (the "if" clause), but the consequent isn't relevant if the antecedent isn't true--if Cueball didn't want to hang out, it wouldn't matter that his friend was in the city.
In the title text, Cueball thinks that his friend is uttering another biscuit conditional, and that just saying that they should get dinner. But the truth of the consequent really is dependent on the truth of the antecedent--if Cueball isn't done being pedantic his friend doesn't want to get dinner. So I think it is accurate to say "The intent is to show that because the initiator still believes that Cueball is still being pedantic, then he believes that it is not a good idea to have dinner together," though maybe it could be expressed more clearly. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.60.23|162.158.60.23]] 15:57, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

Didn't Demitri Martin do this joke like 10 years ago? :P [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.63|108.162.221.63]] 18:11, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

Whenever there is something like this that annoys me and I find out it has a name (like relevance conditional), it stops bothering me. [[User:HisHighestMinion|HisHighestMinion]] ([[User talk:HisHighestMinion|talk]]) 20:20, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

The one that always bugs me is the Steven Universe intro song:

''We are the Crystal Gems
''We'll always save the day,
''and if you think we can't
''We'll always find a way.

Something about the "if" being at the beginning of the biscuit clause throws me. What if I think they can save the day? Then there's no guarantee that they will! But if I AM always thinking that they can't save the day, then they will ALWAYS find a way. Therefore I think they will always find a way. It's so circular![[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 20:28, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
:By the way... {{w|Steven Universe}} was references twice in [[1608: Hoverboard]], [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/39/1608_1031x1095y_Steven_Universe_family_and_ice_cream_prediction.png first the family with a "gem"] (to the right of course) and then [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/fa/1608_1077x1109y_Darth_Vaders_talks_about_Steven_Universe_on_the_bridge_Megan_adjust_antenna.png Vader himself talks about them], both inside the Destroyer. I never hear of the show before experiencing the Hoverboard comic, but since I have seen part of an episode and now this comment ;-) You learn so much from reading xkcd. But I'm not sure most of it is useful. But almost always funny. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:29, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
:: "You learn so much from reading xkcd. But I'm not sure most of it is useful. But almost always funny." This should be on a banner at the top of explainxckd. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.162|162.158.255.162]] 00:49, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

The title text (you did it again - no I didn't) hearkens back to [[725: Literally]] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.58|108.162.216.58]] 21:14, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
:Thanks for the ref. I have included this in the explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:10, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

So I read the caption as "WHEN I try not to be pedantic about conditionals" and was thinking that it was about "if/only if" directionality. ;-) {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.16}}

The relevance-conditional that always gets me is "If you're interested in buying something, my name is X". Always makes me think, "And what is your name if I'm just looking?" [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 01:27, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

:If you're interested in buying something, I'm Joe. If you're just a lookie-loo, call me Chuck. That way, at the end of the month, Chuck has a lower close ratio than me, and I get the bonus. :P --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.82|162.158.255.82]] 11:04, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

== Thank you! ==

It's amazing how much you can learn about things you thought you already knew. Explainxkcd is so much more than xkcd! [[User:Mumiemonstret|Mumiemonstret]] ([[User talk:Mumiemonstret|talk]]) 22:03, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
:Yes thanks to those who made today's explanation. This was outside my English capabilities, and I really needed others to explain! :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:24, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

+1! This is one of the best (clearest, succinct, well written) explanations on this site. Kudos to all who participated. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.40|108.162.221.40]] 14:38, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

+1 -- [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Adding_Ratings_for_Explanations Add you comment here] if you think that every explanation should be this well written [[Special:Contributions/162.158.253.6|162.158.253.6]] 23:05, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

----

Is this another case of [[1650:_Baby#Small_talk_category|small talk]] problems just mentioned after the release of [[1650: Baby]]? Maybe there should be a category (see link for more)...--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:10, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

;Philosophy

There are some underlying elements of solipsism here. If the other person is hanging out with Clueball, she actually exists. But if that other person is not present, does she exist? "Where will you be" means that the other person existence becomes unsure, at least from Clueball's point of view.

As an off topic, it would be interesting to see what modern solipsism supporters have to say about the usage of cell phone communications. If one were to spend all day alone say in a forest and talked to a bunch of people over cell phone for the whole day, what would that say about the existence of others outside the forest? Would other's existence still be unsure? Is talking to someone via a mechanical device validating or invalidating of their actual existence?
[[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 16:29, 8 March 2016 (UTC)
:For them hard solipsists it is irrelevant if they experience another being face-to-face or over the phone. They cannot be sure the other person, the phone, and the surrounding woods, really exist. Both living and dead matter are experienced through unreliable senses. For us soft solipsists, it is also irrelevant if we talk to someone over the phone or face-to-face. We still can't know for sure if the other person have a mind, have consciousness (like I do), or if it is just a mindless animal, a robot (albeit with functional repertoire of feelings and ability to learn skills). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.33|141.101.80.33]] 01:35, 17 September 2016 (UTC)

The issue I have with this comic is that there isn't anything wrong with saying I'll be in the city tomorrow if you want to hang out. It's logically equivalent to (you want to hang out tomorrow) -> (I'll be in the city) which isn't equivalent to (you don't want to hang out tomorrow) -> (I won't be in the city). In fact the only other logical inference that can be made from this statement is (I won't be in the city) -> (you don't want to hang out tomorrow), or in English, if I'm not in the city tomorrow, you didn't want to hang out. The person can be in the city tomorrow in either case. {{unsigned ip|162.158.255.113}}

:Yes, but as a logical conditional, if Randall is going to be busy tomorrow, he's learned nothing about his friend's location--which is why he asks. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.82|162.158.255.82]] 11:04, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

Is it just me, or did Randall mis-spell IFF? {{unsigned ip|162.158.176.77}}

The title text here, and in [[725: Literally]], may also reference Monty Python's [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTl9zYS3_dc 'Argument Clinic' sketch].[[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 03:13, 12 March 2016 (UTC)

525: I Know You're Listening

2016-09-16T15:43:49Z

141.101.80.33: /* Explanation */ wording, imply slightly more unpredictable occurences

{{comic
| number = 525
| date = January 2, 2009
| title = I Know You're Listening
| image = i know youre listening.png
| titletext = Basically it's Pascal's Wager for the paranoid prankster.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] occasionally says "I know you're listening" aloud in empty rooms. The idea is, that if nobody is listening he doesn't lose anything, but if somebody ''is'' listening he gains by freaking them out. In this case another Cueball-like surveillance man does get quite the shock.

As mentioned in the title text, this is similar to {{w|Pascal's Wager}}. {{w|Blaise Pascal}} was a French philosopher and mathematician who discussed the issue of the possibility that God actually does exist or not. According to Pascal, a rational person should believe in God because he wouldn't lose anything if this is wrong, but if this belief is correct he would gain immensely by going to heaven at his afterlife due to being a Christian. The argument works equally well for any and all gods, but doesn't give any reason to choose one over the other, so it seems unlikely that Pascal's Wager has ever changed anybody's religious views. One important way Cueball's wager is different from Pascal's is that Cueball can choose to engage in paranoid pranks, but belief is not something that one can possess simply by choice.

This comic has a clear resemblance to the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/My_Hobby My Hobby] series. This would also make it clear the Cueball in this comic is actually [[Randall]].

==Transcript==
:[Above the two panel comic:]
:Now and then, I announce "I know you're listening" to empty rooms.
:[Cueball is sitting in an armchair, reading. He murmurs something.]
:[Second Cueball like surveillance man with headphones jumps out of chair in front of a large computer terminal after hearing Cueball's mumble. His chair has fallen over.]
:[Below the two panel comic:]
:If I'm wrong, no one knows.
:And if I'm right, maybe I just freaked
:the hell out of some secret organization.

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

915: Connoisseur

2016-08-28T15:18:29Z

141.101.80.33: /* Explanation */ added example 1095 Crazy Straws

{{comic
| number = 915
| date = June 22, 2011
| title = Connoisseur
| image = connoisseur.png
| titletext = Our brains have just one scale, and we resize our experiences to fit.
}}

==Explanation==
[[White Hat]] is fond of good {{w|wine}}, and he can probably distinguish slight differences in different types of wine, maybe he is the type that attends {{w|wine tasting}} parties? And he doesn't like the cheap wine that Cueball has served for him, looking with disgust at the label of the offending bottle.

On the other hand, [[Cueball]] doesn't mind a kind of wine or another; all of them taste the same for him. Then White Hat tells Cueball that if he just tried some really good wine and paid more attention he would discover a whole new world.

Cueball answers is the main message of the comic. He says that wine is not different than anything else in this respect, and makes a list starting with the wine but then going past {{w|house music}}, {{w|fonts}}, {{w|ants}}, {{w|Wikipedia signatures}} ending up with {{w|Canadian}} {{w|surrealist}} {{w|porn}}. His point is that if you spend enough time focusing one special type of subjects/taste/visual challenges, then you'll become a snobby '''{{w|connoisseur}}''' (hence the title).

White Hat tries to defend wine by saying that some things do have more depth than other, but Cueball challenges him on this by choosing something as obscure as 500 pictures of {{w|Joe Biden}}, famously gaffe prone {{w|Vice President of the United States}}, eating a sandwich as an example. He claims that if people are locked up in a box with those pictures for a year, they would end up being connoisseur on that subject with the same vehemence regarding the best picture as wine tasters can be about the best wine.

White Hat claims that this is an exaggeration, but Cueball takes this as a challenge so in the last panel, apparently White Hat and Cueball are actually running this experiment to see if they will end up concentrating on slight differences among the placement of mayonnaise on the pictures of Joe Biden eating a sandwich, just in the same way that White Hat concentrates on slight differences among kinds of wine. The result of the experiment is clearly going to Cueball's side, the discussion mainly going on the importance of mayo or the light through lettuce from the sandwiches.

The title text presents the same idea in a different wording. The "scale of our brains" refers to a concept similar to Richard Dawkins' {{w|Middle World}}, where things too small (say, smaller than the point of a pin) or too big (bigger than what we can see from a mountaintop) are just out of our comprehension, so the things our brains understand must be neither too small nor too big, i.e. the "middle world".

However, the title text goes further in this idea: When we find things too big (like the distance to the Moon), we shrink it so that it fits into the "middle world" we're used to. Conversely, when we find things too small (say, a mote of dust), we expand it for the same reason. In a quite similar way, if all we have is pictures of Joe Biden eating a sandwich, we "resize" that subject so that we can fill books with the details about the pictures.

Examples of "connoisseurs" for ants was later the subject [[1610: Fire Ants]], for fonts in [[590: Papyrus]] and [[736: Cemetery]], for plastic straws in [[1095: Crazy Straws]] and for surrealistic porn in [[598: Porn]].

==Transcript==
:[White Hat is holding a wine glass down in one hand and holding a bottle of wine up in front of him with the other hand. He is looking at the label and talking with Cueball standing next to him with his own filled wine glass in one hand. He is looking down at the glass.]
:White Hat: How do you stand this cheap wine?
:Cueball: Wine all tastes the same to me.

:[Close-up of White Hat.]
:White Hat: You've just never had ''good'' wine. If you paid more attention, you'd realize there's a whole world here.

:[Close-up on Cueball, who spreads his arms out, resulting in the wine in the glass sloshing so much that part of the wine is above the rim of the glass, some even hanging over the edge and a spray droplet hanging above the sloshing liquid.]
:Cueball: But that's true of ''anything!'' Wine, house music, fonts, ants, Wikipedia signatures, Canadian surrealist porn—
:Cueball: Spend enough time with any of them and you'll become a snobby connoisseur.

:[This panel has no border and is next to but aligned further down than the first three panels. It shows a zoom out of both White Hat and Cueball again. White Hat now has both glass and bottle held down at his side. Cueball holds his glass down, but tilted away from him. A small puddle of wine is on the floor next to Cueball.]
:White Hat: But some things do have more depth than others.
:Cueball: If you locked people in a box for a year with 500 still frames of Joe Biden eating a sandwich, by the end they'd be adamant that some were great and some were terrible.
:White Hat: You're exaggerating.
:Cueball: Oh, really?

:[This panel is below the feet of the two characters from the previous panel. It goes further to the left than those two, and is wider than the previous panels, but it does not go much past the middle, so there is a blank white space to the left of this panel, below the first and most of the second panel. It shows a box, with two star burst on the surface from where two voices emanate from the inside. Over the top left of the panels frame is a small frame with a caption:]
:A year later:
:Voice (from left side of the box): Sure, most closed-mouth frames are boring, but in #415, the way the man's jaw frames the mayo on his hand is pure perfection, and—
:Voice (from right side of the box): What a surprise- ''you'' praising a mayo frame. Listening to '''you''', I'd think there was nothing else in The Sandwich.
:Voice (from right side of the box): Frankly, the light hitting J.B.'s collar through the lettuce would put #242 in my top ten even if he had ''no'' mayo on his hand at ''all''.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Food]] 
[[Category:Wikipedia]] 
[[Category:Animals]] 
[[Category:Music]] 
[[Category:Sex]]

Talk:993: Brand Identity

2016-08-24T05:36:10Z

141.101.80.33: multiple brands did no-brand

Notice that the sugar is inverted? Weird.
--Classhole 23:22, 24 January 2013 (UTC)
:Weird, the hot sauce is also inverted [[User:BlueRoll18|BlueRoll18]] ([[User talk:BlueRoll18|talk]]) 02:38, 7 February 2013 (UTC)
:::While the sugar and hot sauce are unusual in that you can easily read the packaging, I don't think they are supposed to be in the same product range. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 16:25, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
:Possibly a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_sugar_syrup inverted sugar syrup]. [[User:Liyang|Liyang]] ([[User talk:Liyang|talk]]) 05:44, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

NONAME in Canada uses yellow boxes with black text but basically the same idea.
--Pundawg 18:56, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

I didn't get this joke because I grew up eating "Slim Price" food branded exactly this way. -lolo {{unsigned ip|99.120.200.86}}

There's a brand called "Ja!" from the Rewe group in Germany that uses this exact concept somewhat, but nowadays, the packages contain pictures and illustrations of all kinds, and aren't as white, simple and plain as they used to be in the past. See: http://www.rewe.de/besser-einkaufen/ja/produkte-und-infos.html
--Rolfhub 23:25, 14 September 2013

:Here is some old image of the designs: [https://web.archive.org/web/20040503194438im_/http://www.rewe-ja.de/nxMODULES/nxCONTENTER/content/1_425Bild1.jpg]. It's not as simple as in the comic, but it's certainly the same idea. -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.39|108.162.219.39]] 20:25, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

:Ah, dear old "Ja!"... it saved my life back when I was a broke student. Anyway, also the M-Budget line from Swiss Migros recently started adding pictures to its product, but before that it was all green packaging with black writing. Wonerful --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.31|108.162.229.31]] 13:36, 26 May 2014 (UTC)
::"Ja!" is a very successful brand sold in Germany (and more countries) offered by {{w|REWE}}. The products are presented in a white cover, just showing the word "Ja!" ("Yes!" in English) and much smaller the content of the product. Maybe this could also be mentioned at the trivia section. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:55, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

I think the lack of URL is just to troll the consumers. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.63.180|173.245.63.180]] 00:33, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

Actually several brands in the Netherlands did this before the comic was posted. They switched to a red/white two-colour scheme with the product in large letters in English. The problem was, that multiple brands did this, which made them look very similar. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.95|141.101.75.95]] 16:09, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
Hey, something seems wrong with the IP logging. The logged IP is not mine. -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.95|141.101.75.95]] 16:11, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
: About multiple brands looking the same. Contrary to "tragedy of the commons", "prisoners dilemma", or "what if everyone act like that" https://xkcd.com/958/ , this is not a problem. It would actually be approaching utopia. When people look for distinguishing features, they would have to, like, read the nutrition on the back, or look for comparison prices. I.e. relevant info, instead of "oh shiny". /David A [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.33|141.101.80.33]] 05:36, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

For a couple of decades this exact thing existed: http://www.google.com/search?q=black+on+white+generic+brand+products In fact I'm certain that that is the joke.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.156|108.162.215.156]] 07:38, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

I believe this may be a reference to the film Repo Man. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.170}}

I don't know how common [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muji Muji] stores are in the US (where I imagine most readers reside), but this is basically what they've been doing since the 1980s. [[User:Liyang|Liyang]] ([[User talk:Liyang|talk]]) 05:33, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

Soylent 2.0 is doing this exact thing: https://soylent-production-herokuapp-com.global.ssl.fastly.net/static/images/drink_secondary_messaging_block1.3571d250b954.jpg Interestingly, that image is very similar to this comic.03:36, 7 February 2016 (UTC)

I was at walmart the other day and noticed a brand doing this, without even a brand name. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 20:31, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

;/* Triva */

Randall made a mistake as the ketchup is labeled "kerhup" {{unsigned ip|108.162.245.118}}
:No, if you zoom in it'sthe letters 'TC', which overlap slightly because of the cramped bottle. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.133 }}

Why is the tea box green except for inside the A?[[User:Bbrk24|Bbrk24]] ([[User talk:Bbrk24|talk]]) 00:23, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:It's actually yellow; you may wish to check to see if you are colorblind. There are many errors in filling in spaces that should be colored, though. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.244.79|108.162.244.79]] 01:33, 9 July 2016 (UTC)

This comics have spawned a thread on reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/nkytu/brand_identity/ . It appears there was a '''no-brand car''' i Japan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muji#History /David A [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.33|141.101.80.33]] 05:02, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Talk:993: Brand Identity

2016-08-24T05:02:51Z

141.101.80.33: reddit

Notice that the sugar is inverted? Weird.
--Classhole 23:22, 24 January 2013 (UTC)
:Weird, the hot sauce is also inverted [[User:BlueRoll18|BlueRoll18]] ([[User talk:BlueRoll18|talk]]) 02:38, 7 February 2013 (UTC)
:::While the sugar and hot sauce are unusual in that you can easily read the packaging, I don't think they are supposed to be in the same product range. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 16:25, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
:Possibly a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_sugar_syrup inverted sugar syrup]. [[User:Liyang|Liyang]] ([[User talk:Liyang|talk]]) 05:44, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

NONAME in Canada uses yellow boxes with black text but basically the same idea.
--Pundawg 18:56, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

I didn't get this joke because I grew up eating "Slim Price" food branded exactly this way. -lolo {{unsigned ip|99.120.200.86}}

There's a brand called "Ja!" from the Rewe group in Germany that uses this exact concept somewhat, but nowadays, the packages contain pictures and illustrations of all kinds, and aren't as white, simple and plain as they used to be in the past. See: http://www.rewe.de/besser-einkaufen/ja/produkte-und-infos.html
--Rolfhub 23:25, 14 September 2013

:Here is some old image of the designs: [https://web.archive.org/web/20040503194438im_/http://www.rewe-ja.de/nxMODULES/nxCONTENTER/content/1_425Bild1.jpg]. It's not as simple as in the comic, but it's certainly the same idea. -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.39|108.162.219.39]] 20:25, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

:Ah, dear old "Ja!"... it saved my life back when I was a broke student. Anyway, also the M-Budget line from Swiss Migros recently started adding pictures to its product, but before that it was all green packaging with black writing. Wonerful --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.31|108.162.229.31]] 13:36, 26 May 2014 (UTC)
::"Ja!" is a very successful brand sold in Germany (and more countries) offered by {{w|REWE}}. The products are presented in a white cover, just showing the word "Ja!" ("Yes!" in English) and much smaller the content of the product. Maybe this could also be mentioned at the trivia section. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:55, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

I think the lack of URL is just to troll the consumers. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.63.180|173.245.63.180]] 00:33, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

Actually several brands in the Netherlands did this before the comic was posted. They switched to a red/white two-colour scheme with the product in large letters in English. The problem was, that multiple brands did this, which made them look very similar. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.95|141.101.75.95]] 16:09, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
Hey, something seems wrong with the IP logging. The logged IP is not mine. -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.95|141.101.75.95]] 16:11, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

For a couple of decades this exact thing existed: http://www.google.com/search?q=black+on+white+generic+brand+products In fact I'm certain that that is the joke.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.156|108.162.215.156]] 07:38, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

I believe this may be a reference to the film Repo Man. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.170}}

I don't know how common [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muji Muji] stores are in the US (where I imagine most readers reside), but this is basically what they've been doing since the 1980s. [[User:Liyang|Liyang]] ([[User talk:Liyang|talk]]) 05:33, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

Soylent 2.0 is doing this exact thing: https://soylent-production-herokuapp-com.global.ssl.fastly.net/static/images/drink_secondary_messaging_block1.3571d250b954.jpg Interestingly, that image is very similar to this comic.03:36, 7 February 2016 (UTC)

I was at walmart the other day and noticed a brand doing this, without even a brand name. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 20:31, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

;/* Triva */

Randall made a mistake as the ketchup is labeled "kerhup" {{unsigned ip|108.162.245.118}}
:No, if you zoom in it'sthe letters 'TC', which overlap slightly because of the cramped bottle. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.133 }}

Why is the tea box green except for inside the A?[[User:Bbrk24|Bbrk24]] ([[User talk:Bbrk24|talk]]) 00:23, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:It's actually yellow; you may wish to check to see if you are colorblind. There are many errors in filling in spaces that should be colored, though. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.244.79|108.162.244.79]] 01:33, 9 July 2016 (UTC)

This comics have spawned a thread on reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/nkytu/brand_identity/ . It appears there was a '''no-brand car''' i Japan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muji#History /David A [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.33|141.101.80.33]] 05:02, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Talk:961: Eternal Flame

2016-08-23T20:44:56Z

141.101.80.33: wait how long?

Ugh, I hate it when people attribute everything the the technology to Steve Jobs. Apple spends pebbles on R&D, polishes up the work of other countries and they get labelled as inventors and heroes. Incredibly frustrating for the rest of us in the technology industry. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:35, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
:I don't think Apple would polish up the work of other '''countries'''. [[User:InAndOutLand|InAndOutLand]] ([[User talk:InAndOutLand|talk]]) 01:51, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

:The way I see it, Apple's innovation is in their UI. The iPod wasn't the first portable digital music player, and the iPhone wasn't the first smartphone, but they ''were'' the first in their respective classes to have an intuitive interface that could easily be understood by someone with no technology background. Marketing is everything in the tech industry, and a product will fail if it can't ''convince'' the market that it's the better choice, even if it's absolutely better from a technical standpoint. [[User:Curtmack|Curtmack]] ([[User talk:Curtmack|talk]]) 18:36, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

:First of all, nothing in this comic attributes "everything in the technology industry" to Steve. Secondly, Apple spends more on R&D than most other companies – it's one of the reasons the markup is so high on Apple's products. Thirdly, if those "other companies" were just as good at design and execution as Apple, as you seem to believe, there would be nothing stopping them from achieving the same success as Apple. So what stopped Dell from releasing the iPhone and upsetting the mobile industry? What stopped HP from developing an online music store and totally upsetting the music industry? Either you're going to have to argue that everyone except Apple is just incredibly, incredibly unlucky, or you have to admit that there is something that Apple does that those companies don't. What that differentiating thing may be is open for debate, sure, but to say that everything they do is just a polish of some other company's work is simply ignorant. [[Special:Contributions/71.201.53.130|71.201.53.130]] 17:48, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

::Apple got lucky early on, and managed to get a fanbase, which they have basically brainwashed into thinking that Apple Products are automatically better than anything else. Secondly, I assume that it was not the comic itseld Davidy22 was referring to, but rather the explanation, which has since been changed. [[Special:Contributions/74.214.147.188|74.214.147.188]] 23:40, 24 October 2013 (UTC)

::: Brainwashed? The Apple II and the Macintosh were not the first in their ideas, but they were revolutionary computers. {{unsigned ip|112.209.87.11}}

:"pebbles on R&D"? I wish I had pebbles... Apple spends BILLIONS of US dollars every year on R&D ($3.3B in 2012, $4.4B in 2013). Check their Form-K filings with the SEC if you don't believe me. Some other tech companies spend more, but they also have a much larger product line than Apple's so that is to be expected.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.100|108.162.216.100]] 14:30, 18 September 2014 (UTC)

This actually looks more like the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Flame Centennial Flame] at the Canadian parliament building. It has the same paneling style at the base, unlike the JFK eternal flame, which, judging by pictures, has a round, flat base. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.65|173.245.55.65]] 16:23, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

The title text suggests that if I wait long enough the beachball will change to a flame. I have waited several minutes. How long does one have to wait? /David A [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.33|141.101.80.33]] 20:44, 23 August 2016 (UTC)