https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=141.101.98.135 2026-04-15T12:20:14Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1663:_Garden&diff=330844 2023-12-15T11:31:46Z

<p>141.101.98.135: </p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1663<br /> | date = April 4, 2016<br /> | title = Garden<br /> | image = garden.png &lt;!--This is the starting point and should be used here. Other images need to go in the explanation --&gt;<br /> | titletext = Relax.<br /> }}<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;toclimit-3&quot;&gt;{{TOC}}&lt;/div&gt;<br /> *To experience the interactivity of the game, visit the {{xkcd|1663|original comic}}.<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> This was the seventh [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous fools comic was <br /> [[1506: xkcloud]] from Wednesday April 1st 2015. The next [[1818:_Rayleigh_Scattering#No_April_Fools.27_Day_comic_in_2017|did not come out in 2017]], but first in 2018 when [[1975: Right Click]] was released on Sunday April 1st 2018.<br /> <br /> This comics represents the April fools' comic of 2016, and it is [[Randall|Randall's]] celebration of {{w|April Fools' Day}} Friday, April 1, 2016. It represents the third time in a row that user input changes the April Fools' comic. Although in the last two [[1350: Lorenz]] and [[1506: xkcloud]] it was written (or drawn) input that became part of the comics. This time the user input is like a game, as the user actively adds, moves and deletes items, and new items appear based on these actions. In this way it actually more resembles the game comic [[1608: Hoverboard]], than the previous April Fools' comics.<br /> <br /> Due to technical problems (or to make fools of his fans, see more about the [[#April Fools' header text|header text]] below) the comic did not go live until Sunday evening (after midnight, so technically on Monday April 4th) so there was no Friday release the week before, see [[#Monday 4th of April release|more details below]].<br /> <br /> The comic begins with a [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/f1/Garden_Loading_collage.png loading screen] with a revolving tree and the text &quot;loading...&quot; This is because the first time a computer loads this dynamic comic it can take a while.<br /> <br /> Once it is loaded it displays &quot;your '''Garden'''&quot;, being a barren landscape, with a small pond to the left, some rocks at the far left and right, and a single lamp shining light yellow light on most of the ground. This is what is shown at the top of the explanation here. But if you leave the lights on and wait (or &quot;relax&quot;, as the reader is told to do by the title text), then plants and other items will start to appear. <br /> <br /> The reason it is correct to call it &quot;your garden&quot; is that every time this comic is loaded from scratch, a new garden will be created with a unique url-address. By [[#Saving garden with url|saving this link]] (making a bookmark for it), the user will be able to return to their garden again and again. As the garden only develops very slowly this is important. (If users wish to share their garden they can do it in the table on the page for '''[[1663: Garden/Users gardens|Users gardens]]''').<br /> <br /> [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/78/1663_garden_Three_colors_over_everything_not_very_interesting.png Plants appear] one at a time, and sometimes it takes a long time. Only a few of the plants actually grow. For instance, there are some large trees that begins as [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/27/1663_garden_Fast_growing_tree_-_leafless.png a large trunk] and from there [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/67/1663_garden_Fast_growing_tree_-_lots_of_leaves.png grows branches and leaves]. This can sometimes happen quite fast. Most other plants just appear, the only other exception being one type of flowers. All plants, except the cactus, clearly sway in the breeze.<br /> <br /> Also [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/5a/1663_garden_Pruned_garden_with_birds_deer_gate_cactus_turtles_snake_gate.png animals] and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/d/de/1663_garden_Three_lamps_two_along_ground_with_pillars_not_in_blue_world_and_symmetric_gates.png building-like structures] such as [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/15/1663_garden_Megan_Monolith_Animals_and_more.png a monolith and birdbaths] appear, together with lots of other items like [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/ad/1663_garden_Office_space_with_star_plant_balloon_with_bird_and_grass_on_Cueball.png office furniture] with [https://xkcd.com/1663/#98dc3452-fcf2-11e5-8010-42010a8e0008 balloons swaying in the wind] or even one of the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/3f/1663_garden_One_color_Between_orange_red_and_red_First_thing_Mars_rover.png Mars rovers] which so [[:Category:Mars rovers|often have been featured]] in xkcd.<br /> <br /> On top of all this, several known characters may appear in different poses including [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] (for instance with a sword, see [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/6b/1663_garden_Megan_with_sword%2C_trees_octopuses_with_Cueball_bunny_ducklings.png here]), [[Ponytail]] (see [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/eb/1663_garden_Ponytail_and_two_Cueballs_cat_pillar_and_trunk_sE.png here]) and [[Beret Guy]] from the torso and up (see [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/9b/1663_garden_Three_colors_more_separate_Beret_Guy_in_shrubbery_and_Octopus_on_office_desk.png here]). Megan and also Cueball can both be seen [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/06/1663_garden_Giant_planter_on_pillars_and_both_Cueball_and_Megan_with_black_hat.png with a black hat], but it is one that &quot;grows&quot; on top of their heads after they first appear. However, Cueball with a black hat automatically turns into [[Black Hat]], so he can also be said to be in this comic. There is also an unknown character, a [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/0c/1663_garden_One_color_Between_Light_yellow_and_yellow_First_thing_stilts.png girl on stilts] with black hair in a ponytail who like plants and balloons [https://xkcd.com/1663/#e774b4b8-fcd4-11e5-8001-42010a8e0017 sways in the wind]. A possible origin of this girl could be the What If article [https://whatif.xkcd.com/97/ Burning Pollen]. The article involves a character with seasonal allergies that is trying unsuccessfully to avoid their allergen (pollen) with giant stilts.<br /> <br /> All the [[#Items in the garden|items that can appear]] in the garden are listed below in several tables. During the first week new items kept appearing, but after the eighth day (April 12th), no new items have appeared. Also the growth rate (and thus the fun of this comic) has decreased with time (maybe due to the enormous number of gardens that the server has to keep track of?) .<br /> <br /> Every so often the image will refresh. You can change the number of lamps, their position, direction, beam width and the color temperature which always begins somewhere between white and yellow but can change all the way from red to blue (See this [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/b/b8/Garden_Three_Lamp_screen_shot.png example] with one lamp selected and three colors of light). Other colors than those four may appear where two lamps' cones of different colored light overlap.<br /> <br /> The color of light [[#Effect of light|affects the growth]] with a strong correlation for what appears in the garden depending on the [[#Colors of light|color of light]], and this is not only split between red, yellow and blue, but rather [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/4/4a/1663_garden_Numbered_color_scale_1-17.png 10 different colors]. <br /> <br /> Early on it became clear that pure red-light results in a desert theme with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/98/1663_garden_Desert_with_red_light_only.png cacti and turtles] and pure blue light gives an aquatic theme with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/23/1663_garden_Octopus_garden_with_Cueball_hand_up_and_a_black_hat_octopus.png lots of octopuses] that may also wear a black hat. For the most interesting gardens the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/15/1663_garden_Megan_Monolith_Animals_and_more.png light colors should be mixed]; see more below under [[#Effect of light|Effect of light]].<br /> <br /> If this comic is scientifically accurate, that correlation will be based on {{w|photosynthetically active radiation}}.<br /> <br /> Some users manage to create fantastic gardens (by using lots of time on them, pruning them at the right time and changing the light and lamp position to get what they strive for). Especially one user have created a series of amazing gardens that is posted on another [https://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&amp;t=114415&amp;start=600 xkcd forum]. Here is a collection of screenshots with some of [[1663:_Garden/Screen-shots#Blitz_Girls_amazing_gardens|Blitz Girls amazing gardens]]!<br /> <br /> The title text &quot;Relax&quot; can be debated. Is it to let the users know they should just sit back and relax as the garden grows.? Or should they relax and don't worry so much about how it works (not working here on explain xkcd though!)? Or is he teasing the users by giving them a garden that they need to tend to, and then telling them to relax? And also giving them many more colors than lamps... Given that this comic was supposed to come out on April 1st, there is a good chance that it is, also, to tease the users. There are actually [[#Trivia|two other title texts]] as well.<br /> <br /> ===Extra Garden pages===<br /> *Since this comic is so complicated extra pages have been created to include much more information than is wished for on this main page (which is already of considerable size).<br /> *These pages are listed here for convenience, but they are also linked in the relevant sections below:<br /> **[[1663: Garden/Images]]. The images of items that can appear in the comic.<br /> ***This page is linked in the section below with table for ''[[#Items in the garden|Items in the garden]]''.<br /> **[[1663: Garden/Screen-shots]]. Since there are no permalink, then in order to save a particular moment of a garden a screen shot is needed. These can be posted here. <br /> ***This page is linked in the section below about for ''[[#Saving images|Saving images]]''.<br /> **[[1663: Garden/Users gardens]]. A place for users of explain xkcd to post links to their own garden, and also for experimental gardens.!<br /> ***This page is linked in the section below about for ''[[#Saving garden with url|Saving garden with url]]''.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[After a '''loading image''' with a rotating tree in the middle and the text &quot;Loading...&quot; with the three dots appearing one at a time, and then disappear when all three have been there the image shown above in the explanation will appear:]<br /> <br /> :['''Description of the image above''': A piece of bare landscape is shown. At the edges there are some rocks or stones raising the level from the general level through the center of the panel. Above the middle, a little more than halfway to the top of the panel, is a light bulb sitting inside a lamp that reminds of the desk lamp from the movie Luxo Jr. The lamp shines a yellow light down on the landscape in a broad cone that jus reaches the first rock to the left, but not those to the right. The lamp just hovers in the air. In the top right corner are two gray icons. The top one has a black frame and shows an image of a lamp, tilted left as opposed to the straight position of the lamp in the image. There is a + sign below in the left corner. The second icon without a frame has a large white cross in the middle.]<br /> <br /> :[This turns out to be a '''web applet''' and using the &quot;+ lamp&quot; icon two more lamps can be added getting up to three. They are all adjustable both regarding position, direction, color of light and beam width. When selecting a lamp a red circle appear around it with a small circle on top that can be used to control the light color from blue to the left to red to the right. In front is a red arrow that can turn the lamp and it can also be used to change the beam width by pulling it away from the lamp or pushing it back. The lamps can be moved by just clicking on it and moving it. The other icon with a X can be used to remove the lamps (and later any object that appear in the garden). When any object is selected there is a red circle around it. When this is done the gray cross icon becomes red and can the be used to delete the selected item. When no item is selected (either because it is deleted, or by clicking in a part of the screen with no items), then the cross icon turns gray again. When all three lamps are on, then the &quot;+ lamp&quot; icon is faded out.]<br /> <br /> :['''If you wait''' (or relax, as in the title text), then a plant will grow or animals, humans and other items may appear. This could be birds, snakes, octopuses or turtles, Megan or Cueball or a birdbath, a monolith or a tall gate just as a few examples. Most of the items appear in one go, but at least the largest trees grow up with a big stem first and then adds parts later with leaves or empty branches. Also one item may appear on top of another item and for instance birds may fly in the air.]<br /> <br /> :[There is but two words in the entire comic, which appears when you grow a sign:]<br /> :Sign: Sale<br /> <br /> ==Functionality==<br /> ===Saving garden with url===<br /> *There is no [[1350#Permalink|permalink button]] as in the last two years' April Fools' comics.<br /> *The URL is different for every garden that is loaded, but stays the same. It links to a server-side copy of the scene, which then changes depending on what the users does with their gardens.<br /> **Sharing a URL will connect a new browser to the same garden session, but only the original browser will be allowed to edit.<br /> **The user can always return to change the garden with the link, but only from the same browser on the same computer.<br /> **This means that a specific moment in a gardens life has to be [[#Saving images|saved as an image]] for future references.<br /> *The garden itself will thus continue to develop further from the time when the url was copied, and events will happen from now on even though the garden is not opened in any browser.<br /> **If the user doesn't keep it, it will become infested with weeds.<br /> **So most likely the garden is serverside, as all browsers are allowed to see the development of this garden, but users following the url are not allowed to edit anything.<br /> *Here is an example garden [https://www.xkcd.com/1663/#0d11a2c8-fa8f-11e5-8001-42010a8e000e linked by ID] versus the same garden:<br /> **In the original [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/7f/1663_garden_tree_turtle_birdbath.png screenshot from April 4th] from when the url was created<br /> **In a [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/7c/1663_garden_Flying_birds_deer_gate_with_cactus_turtles_snake_etc.png screenshot from April 5th] the day after.<br /> **Here [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/5a/1663_garden_Pruned_garden_with_birds_deer_gate_cactus_turtles_snake_gate.png example] after the user pruned the garden in the examples.<br /> **Other [[1663: Garden/Users gardens|user gardens]] can be found on the link.<br /> *Starting two browser windows or tabs pointing to the same URL will allow you to edit from either window.<br /> **linden.xkcd.com holds all the data; the UUID just corresponds to your access key, held in your browser's local storage.<br /> <br /> ====Saving images====<br /> *Since the [[#Saving garden with url|urls are changing]], the only way to save a particular garden is to save an image of the current garden.<br /> **Alternatively, by deleting all lamps (or changing them to laser beams or turning them upwards) then no new growth will occur -- but then the garden will no longer develop.<br /> *In Edge, Firefox and Chrome, the image plus light cones but minus lamps and icons elements, can be saved by right clicking in the image. (Not possible in Internet Explorer)<br /> **They do not always save in the same way as some browsers saves the part of the background without any light cones as white, and other save it as no background, in which case it may render black, basically hiding any black items outside the light.<br /> ***For those images it depends on which viewer is used to see the image, if everything can be seen or only that in the light cones.<br /> ****See examples of how it looks with black background in these two color maps collections using [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/50/1663_garden_Single_colors.png a single lamp] and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/90/1663_garden_Three_colors.png three lamps].<br /> ****See more details about how these [[1663:_Garden/Screen-shots#Color_maps|color maps]] have been made.<br /> ****See also (at least) two examples of saved images as the are here on explain xkcd [[1663:_Garden/Screen-shots#Saved_image_from_xkcd|here]].<br /> *An image of the whole screen can be captured by pressing the PrtScn (Print Screen) key on the keyboard and then pasting the content into a blank image in an image-editing program.<br /> **An even better solution is to use a tool like {{w|Snipping Tool}} which can take the part of the screen that are relevant. This is how most of the [[1663: Garden/Screen-shots|screen shots]] for this explanation has been acquired.<br /> **In both ways, the lamps and icons can also be displayed, which is not an option with saved images.<br /> <br /> ===Lamps===<br /> *Additional lamps, up to a total of three lamps, can be added by clicking the black plus lamp icon along the right of the window.<br /> *Lamps can be removed by clicking to select a lamp, then clicking the red X icon along the right of the window, or pressing the Delete or Backspace key on the keyboard. All lights can be deleted.<br /> *The position of the lamp can be moved by clicking and dragging the lamp within the scene.<br /> *The angle and area of the light cone emitted by the lamp can be changed by [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/09/Garden_Red_Lamp_screen_shot.png clicking to select the lamp and to reveal the red control triangle]. Rotating the control triangle around the lamp will change the aim of the lamp to point in the direction of the triangle, dragging the control triangle towards the lamp will [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/cc/1663_garden_One_color_Light_blue.png widen the beam], and dragging the control triangle towards away from the lamp will [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/5a/1663_garden_Pruned_garden_with_birds_deer_gate_cactus_turtles_snake_gate.png narrow the beam].<br /> *The color emitted by the lamp can be changed by clicking the lamp to reveal the colored control dot, and by rotating the dot around the lamp. The small color control circle changes color to match the color of the lamps beam of light. new lights default to a center position, emitting a pale green. '''rotating the control right''' changes the color to yellow, orange, and finally red, and '''rotating the control left''' changes the color to white, then blue.<br /> <br /> ===Colors of light===<br /> *The color control moves in a smooth gradient between colors, along the spectrum without any set positions.<br /> *Small changes in the color can have an effect on the garden, even though there is no clear change in the color. <br /> *[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/50/1663_garden_Single_colors.png As many as nine colors] can be identified from the emitted light of a single lamp, and many more colors are evident when [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/90/1663_garden_Three_colors.png two or three lamps overlap].<br /> *There is reason to believe that even half the change will create different gardens, i.e. there can be at least one more position between those nine settings that will change the effect, giving eight more settings for a total of 17 &quot;different&quot; colors. An experiment with such '''17 settings''' for just [[1663:_Garden/Screen-shots#One_lamp_one_color|One lamp with one color]].<br /> *Several unique elements only seem to appear using the eight half-colors. Both the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/3f/1663_garden_One_color_Between_orange_red_and_red_First_thing_Mars_rover.png Mars rover] and the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/1b/1663_garden_One_color_Between_Light_yellow_and_yellow_First_thing_stilts_right.png Stilts girl] might be missed.<br /> *Colors can thus be indicated from these 17 divisions:&lt;br&gt;<br /> **Below is a table with these 17 division shown and what to expect. <br /> **This may change over time, but was as it about a week after release. <br /> ***If updating, please make a note that this may have only applied during the first week(s) and add new feature without deleting.<br /> **There has been an [[1663:_Garden/Screen-shots#One_lamp_one_color|experiment made]] with these 17 colors, see that for more details. <br /> ***The color names links to these experimental gardens, that will never be changed after the initiation.<br /> ***But there are reasons to believe that two gardens made identical may develop quite differently, as it seems some gardens have very limited growth in spite of the same light. Some of these gardens may be of that persuasion.<br /> ****This was proven when 34 more gardens using the 17 colors where started in a [[1663:_Garden/Screen-shots#Second_experiment|similar experiment]].<br /> *The debugger reveals that each light has a &quot;temp&quot; property which ranges from 0 (red) to 1 (blue). The default setting is 0.5.<br /> **The RGB color corresponding to &quot;temp&quot; is determined by this function in linden.js:<br /> ::&lt;tt&gt;function u(t){return.32&gt;t?[1,.5+.5*t/.32,.5]:.64&gt;t?[1,1,.5+.5*(t-.32)/.32]:[.75+.25*(1-t)/.36,.75+.25*(1-t)/.36,1]}&lt;/tt&gt;<br /> [[File:1663 garden Numbered color scale 1-17.png]]&lt;br&gt;<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable&quot;<br /> ! #<br /> ! Color<br /> ! Description of items etc<br /> |-<br /> | 1 <br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#f65c4906-fcf1-11e5-8001-42010a8e0016 Blue]<br /> | '''Pure blue'''! Aquatic theme with octopus (some with black hat), Cueball checking for rain with hand up, Ponytail pointing to the left, Megan with net (possibly only if combined with light-yellow light), office desks &amp; chairs. Less growth after the first week and octopus only over the pond (see [[1663:_Garden/Screen-shots#Growth_speed_vs_blue_light|growth speed vs blue light]]).<br /> |-<br /> | 2<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#d5b7fed6-fd94-11e5-8001-42010a8e000a Blue -&gt; light blue]<br /> | Octopus over pond and boats in pond, Cueball hands up and down (the latter possibly with black hat), {{w|Cairn}}s of '''stones''' and {{w|obelisk}}.<br /> |-<br /> | 3<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#3afb7988-fcf2-11e5-8001-42010a8e0019 Light blue]<br /> | Cueball hands down (but can be with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/64/1663_garden_Color_03_8d.png hand up] as well), Cairns of '''stones''', obelisk, wading bird and boats.<br /> |-<br /> | 4<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#303c341c-fd95-11e5-8001-42010a8e0016 Light blue -&gt; blue white]<br /> | Obelisk, flower base and stems and balloon string with normal and huge balloons, Cueball hands up (and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a5/1663_garden_Color_04_2_8d.png also down] with {{w|column}} and wadding bird), fish, shark fins and boats.<br /> |-<br /> | 5<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#98dc3452-fcf2-11e5-8010-42010a8e0008 Blue white]<br /> | Office landscape with desks and chairs, table, column, obelisk, pots with star plant or other flowers base and stems, Beret Guy in pond, Cueball hands up and down, balloon string with normal and huge balloons drifting far left and right on their strings in the wind. [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/ac/1663_garden_Color_05_8d.png Also wadding bird], boats and shark fin<br /> |-<br /> | 6<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#5a45a1f8-fd95-11e5-8001-42010a8e000e Blue white -&gt; white]<br /> | Both kinds of Cueball, Ponytail, Beret Guy, both types of cats, office desk, table, standing bird, wading bird, heron, owl, shark fin, bunny boat, flowers base and stems, balloon string with normal and huge balloons. Also [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/36/1663_garden_Color_06_2_8d.png fish] and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/75/1663_garden_Color_06_8d.png flying fish].<br /> |-<br /> | 7<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#ba6b4ac2-fcf2-11e5-8001-42010a8e0019 White]<br /> | Balloon string with normal and huge balloons (here '''three in one garden'''), Megan hand up, cats, bunnies, shark fin, fish, Beret Guy, flowers base and stems and trees. [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/c7/1663_garden_Color_07_8d.png Also] platform in tree, beehive base, Ponytail, water bird and flying fish and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/8/82/1663_garden_Color_07_2_8d.png Heron].<br /> |-<br /> | 8<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#8874be6a-fd95-11e5-8001-42010a8e0016 White -&gt; light yellow]<br /> | Megan hands up, {{w|shrub}}s, flowers base stems, '''hilt''' and '''some blooms''', trees, bunnies, fish, shark fin, water bird, owl, bunnies. [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/2a/1663_garden_Color_08_2_8d.png Also] birdbath and stilt girl.<br /> |-<br /> | 9<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#db338968-fcf2-11e5-8001-42010a8e0016 Light yellow]<br /> | '''Starting color'''. Megan hands down and with sword on platform, Megan with net (possibly only if combined with pure blue light), trees, shrub, flowers base and stems, grass, platform in tree, birdbath, ducks, wading bird, pots, with star plants, tall platform. [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/c3/1663_garden_Color_09_8d.png Also] deer, stilt girl, fish and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/1f/1663_garden_Color_09_2_8d.png shark fin].<br /> |-<br /> | 10<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#b28f8522-fd95-11e5-8001-42010a8e0013 Light yellow -&gt; Yellow]<br /> | Girl on stilts, Megan with swords on platform, trees, flowers base and stems, grass, reeds in pond, platform in trees, tall platforms, deer, snake, pots<br /> |-<br /> | 11<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#efccf292-fcf2-11e5-8010-42010a8e0003 Yellow]<br /> | Sale signs, tall platform, snakes, armadillo, flowers base and stems, reeds in pond. Also [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/ce/1663_garden_Color_11_2_8d.png deer].<br /> |-<br /> | 12<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#de4fd3b0-fd95-11e5-8001-42010a8e0011 Yellow -&gt; Orange]<br /> | Sale signs, snakes, turtles, tulips and wavy plants. Also [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/b/bb/1663_garden_Color_12_2_8d.png tall platform] and armadillo.<br /> |-<br /> | 13<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#0d6bca62-fcf3-11e5-8019-42010a8e0005 Orange]<br /> | Wavy plants, turtles, [[#Linsang_-_cat_like_animal|linsang]], flying birds and flying Megan (and thus also bird risers and their roots). Also [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/98/1663_garden_Color_13_8d.png armadillos].<br /> |-<br /> | 14<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#578b80bc-fd96-11e5-8001-42010a8e000a Orange -&gt; orange red]<br /> | Snakes, turtles, linsang, armadillo, tulips wavy plants, flying birds and flying Megan (and thus also bird risers and their roots).<br /> |-<br /> | 15<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#28b238b0-fcf3-11e5-8001-42010a8e0018 Orange red]<br /> | Desert landscape with turtles, cactus sale, signs, lamp post poles without lamps, platform on cactus resulting in inverted pyramids. Also [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/d/d4/1663_garden_Color_15_2_8d.png linsang].<br /> |-<br /> | 16<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#ad7ca596-fd96-11e5-8020-42010a8e0006 Orange red -&gt; red]<br /> | Desert landscape with Mars rover, turtles, cactus sale, signs, lamp post poles without lamps but no platforms. Also [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/e3/1663_garden_Color_16_2_8d.png linsang].<br /> |-<br /> | 17<br /> | [https://xkcd.com/1663/#46cc4e08-fcf3-11e5-8001-42010a8e0013 Red]<br /> | '''Pure red'''! Desert landscape with turtles and cactus only.<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Effect of light===<br /> *How much the color affects the growth took some time to find out but already from the start it was clear that there definitely was a correlation<br /> *For instance areas under lights set to the the outer position or the starting position was very different.<br /> **[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/23/1663_garden_Octopus_garden_with_Cueball_hand_up_and_a_black_hat_octopus.png Pure blue light] (left most) develop into a boring aquatic theme with only lots of octopuses (maybe with a black hat) and the Cueball holding a hand out to check for rain. <br /> ***The appearance of pure blue gardens have changed with time so octopuses now only appear over the pond [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/1d/1663_garden_One_color_Blue_9d.png like this].<br /> **[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/70/1663_garden_One_color_red_9d.png Pure red light] (far right) develop into a boring desert theme with only cactus and turtles.<br /> **[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/9c/1663_garden_One_color_Light_yellow_9d.png Light yellow] or [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/2e/1663_garden_Color_09_3d.png starting light] grows lots of plants like trees, grass and scrubs and several animals like ducks, deer, fish and wadding bird and also birdbath, stilt girl and both standing Megan and sword Megan.<br /> *Soon after the release of the comic some research into a single lamp with unchaining light, that covering the whole light range split into 17 divisions was undertaken.<br /> *[[File:1663 garden Numbered color scale 1-17.png]]<br /> **See these gardens [[1663:_Garden/Users_gardens#Locked_gardens_only_for_explanation_use|locked for explanation use only]] and also see more about the 17 split in the color range [[#Colors of light|above]].<br /> *Mixed light seems to be able to do the same, but it is unclear if what grows only depends on the final mixed color, or if it is a mix of what would grow under those two colors.<br /> **There are some indications that it is not a clear mix as pure blue together with pure red, does not seem to produce neither Octopuses or desert theme.<br /> **If there are any items that can only grow under a mix of light this has not been proven. Most objects that can grow directly from the ground, has been observed in the experimental single color gardens mentioned above.<br /> **But there may be items that needs to grow on top of other objects, and these may require a change of color from what the base needs. And thus they will not appear under one color light. Possible examples of these items could be:<br /> ***[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/f3/Garden_Desk_lamp.png Desk lamp] (needing some kind of platform forming in another color range like the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/ee/Garden_Tall_platform.png tall platform], yellow or the small [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/11/Garden_Platform_1.png platform], orange).<br /> ***[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/8/88/Garden_Giant_Planter.png Giant Planter] (needing for instance a [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/c4/Garden_PlatformColumn_3.png platform column], light blue light]<br /> ***[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/e0/Garden_lamp-topper.png Lamp pole tops] (needing [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/8/81/Garden_Lamppost_1.png lamp poles] forming under orange light)<br /> ***[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a4/Garden_Flower_bloom_1.png Flower blooms] (any type) (needing [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/d/d1/Garden_Flower_segment_1.png flower segments], several colors)<br /> ***[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/7e/Garden_Actual_flying_fish_1.png Actual flying fish] (needing bird raiser, orange light)<br /> ***[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/5d/Garden_Saucer.png Flying saucer] (needing bird raiser, orange light)<br /> *What happens when using only one color (other than the two outer points red and blue and the starting light yellow color) has been explored in great depth in no less than two different [[1663:_Garden/Screen-shots#One_lamp_one_color|One lamp one color]] experiments with [[1663:_Garden/Users_gardens#Locked_gardens_only_for_explanation_use|51 gardens]] created using 17 different color settings.<br /> **[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/27/1663_garden_One_color_Between_blue_and_light_blue_6d.png Blue light] (just right of pure blue) creates a landscape with stones forming cairns, together with monoliths, both kinds of Cueballs (with black hat on the standing one) and still octopuses. <br /> **[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/75/1663_garden_One_color_Light_blue_9d.png Light blue light] (just a little farther from pure blue than above), the octopuses disappear, but the rest remains the same, although boats and wadding bird now appear in the water, and still both [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a6/1663_garden_Color_03_5d.png Cueballs] can occur. Going just slightly further away [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/e4/1663_garden_Color_04_2_5d.png fish and columns] start to appear.<br /> **[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/d/d1/1663_garden_One_color_White_Blue_12h.png Blue white light] grow a sort of office theme, with desks, balloons and Cueballs. Moving towards white light [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/d/d0/1663_garden_One_color_Between_Blue_White_and_White_5d.png Ponytail appears] with less office items together with cats (and now no Beret Guys in the pond but [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/d/df/1663_garden_One_color_Between_Blue_White_and_White_8d.png lots of animals]).<br /> **[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/f7/1663_garden_One_color_White_9d.png White light] gives a forest of balloons with Megan holding her hands up.<br /> **[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/3e/1663_garden_One_color_Yellow_2d.png Yellow light] (somewhat right of the starting color) produce sale signs and snakes.<br /> **[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/4/4f/1663_garden_One_color_Between_orange_and_orange_red_8d.png Orange light] produce flying bird and flying Megans and on the ground snakes, turtles, linsangs and armadillos, plus tulips and wavy plants.<br /> **[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/02/1663_garden_One_color_Between_orange_red_and_red_8d.png Orange red light] (just left of red) produce lamp posts (without the top), in addition to the same desert theme as red with cactus and turtles. If it is very close to red the Mars rover appears (as in the example above). If it is a little longer from red, the platforms can form, which can then act as a catalyst for growth and create [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/58/1663_garden_One_color_Orange_red_9d.png large towers] on top of cactus's.<br /> *Nothing seems to be able to grow under several conditions:<br /> **If no lamps are pointing towards the ground for instance because:<br /> ***All [https://xkcd.com/1663/#21374f9e-fbbd-11e5-8001-42010a8e0015 lamps are deleted].<br /> ***The [https://xkcd.com/1663/#4896b678-fbbe-11e5-8001-42010a8e0011 beam is laser thin.]<br /> ***The lamps points towards the sky without [https://www.xkcd.com/1663/#6a6a7be0-fbbe-11e5-800d-42010a8e0008 touching the ground.]<br /> ***The lamps are [https://xkcd.com/1663/#c75991f6-fbbe-11e5-8001-42010a8e0011 below the ground pointing down]. (In this case the one over the pond was not far enough down and a single water plant has formed anyway.)<br /> ****On the other hand if the lamps are below the ground but pointing up it can result in growth well enough as shown in this [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/7c/1663_garden_Different_light_from_below_the_ground.png example] and this [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/3a/1663_garden_Yellow_light_from_below_the_ground.png example].<br /> **It was believed that if the lamps where very close to the ground pointing straight down there would be no growth.<br /> ***However this can be because only a very small area is illuminated<br /> ****In this [https://www.xkcd.com/1663/#9733dff4-fbbe-11e5-8001-42010a8e0012 example] there are turtles under the red light in the pond, plants under the yellow and octopus, column and Cueball under the blue (from the time that columns could appear under pure blue light).<br /> ****Similar in this [https://xkcd.com/1663/#357a48d8-fbbf-11e5-8019-42010a8e0006 example] there are octopus (in the pond), deer/plants and a cactus from even lower lamps.<br /> ****Of course the lamp has to be so high as not to be underground as mentioned above.<br /> **Also if lamps point towards the ground there can still only grow something from the ground [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/3e/1663_garden_Two_light_on_small_area_nothing_outside_the_light.png where the light touches]. The growth can move outside the light cones up in the air, but the base has to be within an area with light.<br /> **Similar with items that can grow new things on top of them like tree trunks or platforms, this will only happen if light shines on the relevant places. <br /> ***For instance the tall tree trunks can easily grow outside a light cone. Then leaves and branches will [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/e9/1663_garden_One_color_Between_Light_yellow_and_yellow_3d.png only grow below] the point where the light hits<br /> ****Similar with platform, that [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/3e/1663_garden_One_color_Yellow_2d.png grows partially outside] the light cone. More items will only appear where this lamp still hits the platform.<br /> ***One exemption to the rule mentioned here seems to be the bird raisers. The bird raisers are used to hold anything that flies up in the air. And the bird raiser it self needs to grow from either another bird riser or from a bird riser root (which in the end holds all bird raisers). This root has to have light on the ground to grow and thus have light on it self. But from the top of the bird raisers growing from such a root, items are able to grow even if the tip pf the bird raiser is not in the light. <br /> ****Thus flying items can appear to grow where there has [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/4/4f/1663_garden_One_color_Between_orange_and_orange_red_8d.png never been light]! <br /> ****See much more about this under the description of bird raisers in the [[#Helper_structures|table below]].<br /> **Of course lights can be moved and changed without destroying what has already grown there (or so it seems). So a tended garden cannot be used to determine this.<br /> ***This is why some [[1663:_Garden/Users_gardens#Locked_gardens_only_for_explanation_use|locked gardens]] have been set up where there will be no changes ever. <br /> ***Examples from above has mainly been taken from screen shots of these locked gardens.<br /> <br /> ===Grown items===<br /> *Grown items may be highlighted by clicking on them. Selected grown items will be highlighted with a red circle, and appear slightly lighter then other items.<br /> *Grown items may be &quot;pruned&quot; by the red X icon along the right of the window, or pressing the Delete key on the keyboard.<br /> *Some items (such as the large tree) can be deleted in minor parts by selecting a branch or smaller set of leaves without deleting the entire tree.<br /> *See the images (with links to xkcd) of all 250 items that can appear, here below in the [[#Items_in_the_garden|tables]].<br /> <br /> ===Growth development===<br /> *'''After a few weeks''' growth not only seems to appear when the garden is actively running in a browser window (maybe only in the original users browser?)<br /> *There continued to appear new items that was not available on the release day.<br /> **This lasted about a week (maybe 8 days).<br /> **For instance many new items and animals like the columns and the owls started to appear after a few days.<br /> **Also tulips and lightning poles did not appear at first.<br /> ***A last burst of new animals occurred about a week after release (either 11th or 12th of April). This burst included the following animals:<br /> ***Herons, Wadding birds, Sharks fins, jumping fish and flying fish plus actual flying fish (flying without water), armadillos and no less than 12 different linsangs (see [[1663:_Garden#Linsang_-_cat_like_animal|Linsang - cat like animal]]).<br /> *But it also seems to change what might appear, so that the result of a particular color will change dramatically, not only by adding new, but also by not growing what used to be.<br /> **A clear example of this is that for the first half week pure blue light resulted in lots of octopuses all along the ground and also Cueballs cheeking for rain.<br /> **Later also columns appeared.<br /> ***But after a week the growth rate under blue light almost stopped, and it seems that octopuses now only grow over the pond to the left, and much less Cueball and no columns under that color.<br /> **See details here: [[1663:_Garden/Screen-shots#Growth_speed_vs_blue_light|Growth speed vs blue light]].<br /> <br /> ===Debug mode===<br /> {{notice|Anyone who can explain what the debug mode is, how it works, why it is there and why there is difference between the linden and the normal xkcd?}}<br /> *By changing the url address it is possible to get into a debug mode.<br /> **This may not work from for internet explorer, but seems to work from Firefox and chrome.<br /> *Normal mode: https://xkcd.com/1663/#ID <br /> **[https://xkcd.com/1663/#98dc3452-fcf2-11e5-8010-42010a8e0008 Normal mode example].<br /> *Debug mode works from this address https://xkcd.com/1663/?debug#ID<br /> *https://linden.xkcd.com/?debug#ID does not work anymore.<br /> **[https://linden.xkcd.com/?debug#98dc3452-fcf2-11e5-8010-42010a8e0008 Linden debug mode].<br /> **In this mode each item can clearly be seen as the image is framed, and thus invisible lifter images for flying things can be seen.<br /> ***See this [https://linden.xkcd.com/?debug#d12a0932-faaa-11e5-8012-42010a8e0006 example].<br /> **This last mode can be used to find the names of the [[1663:_Garden/Images#Images|images of each item]] in a garden.<br /> ***See this section on [[1663:_Garden/Images#How_to_find_new_links|How to find new links]].<br /> ***By preventing the browser from loading specific images (''e.g.'' with an ad blocker), all instances can be pruned temporarily.<br /> *On the forum, [https://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&amp;t=114415&amp;start=600#p3959056 yan provides some jQuery] which can be entered in the javascript console to add an interactive sidebar listing the objects in the garden.<br /> <br /> ===Limitations===<br /> *The beam produced by each lamp is normally restricted to spread between 0&amp;deg; (which results in no growth) and 95&amp;deg;. The &quot;create new light&quot; button chooses a random angle between 45&amp;deg; and 90&amp;deg;.<br /> *Attempting to view several gardens simultaneously may cause some to hang on the &quot;loading&quot; image, likely due to the server refusing additional connections. The maximum number which can load successfully is usually six, but may be as low as three.<br /> <br /> ===Bugs===<br /> *There have been several bugs mentioned already after the first day. Please include any spotted here:<br /> **Also some problems that may now be fixed.<br /> *May not run on some tablets or smart phones (i.e. touch-screen only devices).<br /> *There are some browser versions of Chrome and Firefox where it doesn't run.<br /> *The lamps may be invisible for a few seconds after loading.<br /> *The whole page refreshes at random intervals. This has been patched.<br /> **It still does on April 5th.<br /> **Sometimes (in some browsers?) the garden is reloaded when refreshing.<br /> ***This may though be because of the url which is a [[#Saving garden with url|link to a given garden]].<br /> ***See examples of this [[1663: Garden/Users gardens|here]].<br /> ***Seems to be dependent on the browser type.<br /> *Some lamps jumped back to their starting position after a few minutes, without the whole page reloading.<br /> *For a few hours after its apparition, the loading didn't seem to stop for some people, making them think that the rotating tree was the whole joke, with people expected to &quot;relax&quot; while looking at it.<br /> *Occasionally invisible objects are added. They can be deleted, and they have bounding boxes in the [[#Debug mode|debugger]]: [https://linden.xkcd.com/?debug#d12a0932-faaa-11e5-8012-42010a8e0006 Example].<br /> *Doesn't work over https, you have to use http instead.<br /> *It is possible to save the image in Chrome and in Firefox, but not in Explorer.<br /> **It is possible to save the visible portion of the image (in any browser) by pressing the Print-Screen key to perform a screen capture.<br /> **But in Chrome the image is black where there is no light.<br /> **In Firefox everything is visible, wth the light cones (in color) shown.<br /> *Appears to have a memory leak at least in some Windows/Firefox versions, as keeping the page open for a long time will cause Windows to kill Firefox for insufficient memory.<br /> **On the forum, Weeks tries to summon davean! [https://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&amp;t=114415&amp;start=320#p3951923]<br /> *Does not work in many Linux versions.<br /> *Tree trunks will sometimes grow endlessly without leaves depending on the lights hitting them.<br /> *If you are dragging a light, the arrow, or the color slider when a refresh happens, the refresh will enter an infinite loop.<br /> **This seems to cause corruption of the garden because refreshing the whole page will result in a loop that never loads the page.<br /> **Clearing your local data for xkcd.com solves the issue but also makes you unable to edit your garden.<br /> *On April 6, gardens viewed from [https://xkcd.com/1663/#7877bdfc-fc03-11e5-8001-42010a8e000c https://xkcd.com/1663/] links began to include double-size objects, while they appeared &lt;s&gt;normally&lt;/s&gt; with different objects enlarged when viewed from [https://linden.xkcd.com/#7877bdfc-fc03-11e5-8001-42010a8e000c https://linden.xkcd.com/].<br /> **Apparently some of the server's art files were &lt;s&gt;misdirected to the larger versions&lt;/s&gt; replaced with new large images. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160407054439/https://linden.xkcd.com/art/rover.png] [https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-rover.png]<br /> **New giant objects are still placed according to their original sizes. [https://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&amp;t=114415&amp;start=320#p3951908]<br /> **This was suddenly fixed on April 7, possibly inducing browser memory issues at that time. [https://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&amp;t=114415&amp;start=360#p3952207]<br /> ***However, some giant images remained cached (where?) for a long time. [https://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&amp;t=114415&amp;start=400#p3952527]<br /> *Although there are six bee images, they have not been reported in any gardens[[File:Garden_Bee_1.png]]<br /> <br /> ==Trivia==<br /> *There are three different title text in this comic, as there are also one over each of the two icons. <br /> **This is special as with some of the newest &quot;game like comics&quot; there are [[:Category:No title text|no title text]]!<br /> **The normal one &quot;Relax&quot; is mentioned above in the main explanation.<br /> **The other two are explanations for what the two icons in the top right corner does and appear when the cursor hovers over them.<br /> ***They are ''Create new light'' explaining that this icon introduces new lamps and<br /> ***''Remove selected (delete key)'', which explain that this icon can be used to remove (delete) selected items like lamps, plants or items. It also explains that the delete key can be used instead of the icon.<br /> <br /> ===Linsang - cat like animal===<br /> *In the second week of release no less than 12 [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/38/Garden_Linsang_1.png images] of the animal called {{w|linsang}} appeared [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/1d/1663_garden_My_first_linsang_cat_like_creature_in_SC.png in the garden].<br /> **See all of them [[1663:_Garden/Images#Images|here]].<br /> *This animal was referenced in ''[[Thing Explainer]]'' in ''Tree of life'' where the animal is drawn in the ''cat-shaped'' section with the following caption:<br /> ::'''Almost cat'''<br /> ::This animal looks like a cat with a long neck. It's the closest thing to a cat that's not actually in the cat family.<br /> ::*Next to the section another one is drawn in front of Cueball (obvsiously it's Randall).<br /> ::*The linsang says &quot;Mrowl?&quot; and Cueball says &quot;I wan't one!&quot;<br /> *Randall has in an interview discussed these [https://www.wsj.com/articles/randall-munroe-creator-of-xkcd-on-google-search-tricks-and-cat-like-creature-videos-1447945313 Cat-Like-Creatures] and in is quoted for saying<br /> ::Q: '''An animal I’m obsessed with is:'''<br /> ::A: The linsang, which looks almost like a cat but has this weird long neck. I find them both unnerving and adorable. I found some footage of one running; it’s like watching a cat video from a parallel universe.<br /> ::*The linsang is related to the animal {{w|Genet (animal)|genet}}, and here are two videos/photos of a genet running:<br /> ::**[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRdJSVlPrGo Genet on a rhino]<br /> ::**[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehq3ssg7zwk Genet on other things]<br /> <br /> ===Monday 4th of April release===<br /> *Due to technical problems (or to make [[#April Fools' header text|fools of his fans?]]) the comic did not go live until Sunday evening (after midnight, so technically first on '''Monday April 4th''').<br /> **There was thus no Friday release in the week before<br /> **So the Wednesday comic [[1662: Jack and Jill]] got a lot more attention than it would usually have had. <br /> *This comic thus turned in to the Monday release instead, as no other comic was released later that Monday, as this would have taken attention away from this very special comic.<br /> **But it was called the ''April 1st comic'' and later the ''Friday comic'' in the [[#April Fools' header text|header text]] displayed at the top of xkcd to explain why there was no Friday comic. <br /> ***A header text continued to stay a the top but changed two more times until the release past midnight Sunday in the US. It was even past midnight {{w|Pacific Time}}, but not yet on Hawaii.<br /> **There were thus only two comics released in the week before this Monday, which may be the first time since xkcd went live on {{xkcd||xkcd.com}} in 2006.<br /> <br /> ===April Fools' header text===<br /> *There is some debate as to whether this comic is an April Fools' comic or not.<br /> **Was instead the April fools' joke the text written above the comic in the header of xkcd?<br /> **There is reason to believe this was [[#April Fools' comic|not the case]] based on among other thing these [[Header text|header text]], see also [[Header text#2016-04-01_-_April_1st_comic_-_technical_difficulties|here]].<br /> *Below it a list of the different header text displayed from Friday until the comic was just released.<br /> **The header text continued to change regularly [[#Header text after release|after release]] in regard to this comic at least until next Friday (April 8th).<br /> **Here below is the different header text with info on when it appeared.<br /> ***Links are given when possible to a [[1663:_Garden/Screen-shots#Screen-shots_of_header_text|screen shots]] on the word ''message'' and to a webarchive in another link when both are available.<br /> *On Friday, April 1st, 2016, the xkcd website changed to a new [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/8/81/1663_garden_April_1st_comic_is_currently_experiencing_technical_difficulties.png message] where the standard message &quot;XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.&quot; usually is. (This [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/69/1663_garden_Commercial_header_text_before_April_1st_problems.png message] had, however, up to this point and for a long time been a [https://web.archive.org/web/20160401175527/https://www.xkcd.com/ commercial] for ''[[Thing Explainer]]''). But now it [https://web.archive.org/web/20160401204749/https://xkcd.com/ began displaying] this instead:<br /> ::The xkcd April 1st comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties. <br /> ::Please stand by!<br /> *Early Saturday April 2nd the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/e0/1663_garden_Calendar_systems_in_which_Saturday_is_April_1st.png message] was [https://web.archive.org/web/20160402050932/https://xkcd.com updated]:<br /> ::The xkcd April 1st comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties.<br /> ::Status update: Please stand by.<br /> ::Status update: This is fine. Everything is fine.<br /> ::Status update: Everything is on fire.<br /> ::Status update: Searching for calendar systems in which Saturday is April 1st.<br /> *Later on Saturday the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/06/1663_garden_Delayed_until_Sunday_night.png message] was again [https://web.archive.org/web/20160402175822/https://www.xkcd.com changed] to:<br /> ::The Friday xkcd comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties<br /> ::[Editor's note: Everything is on fire] and has been delayed until Sunday night.<br /> *The comic did not come out until past midnight in the entire North America (coming out just before midnight in Hawaii).<br /> *It was finally released very early on Monday April 4th, and the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/53/Garden_Loading_screen_shot.png message] then [https://web.archive.org/web/20160404123555/https://xkcd.com/ returned] to the [[Header text#2016-04-04_-_Return_to_standard_as_Garden_came_up|old standard text]] for xkcd for a short while:<br /> ::xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.<br /> <br /> ===Header text after release===<br /> *During April 4th, after the release the [[Header text#2016-04-04_-_Protip_on_Garden|xkcd Header text changed]] from the old standard to display a [[:Category:Protip|Protip]]:<br /> ::'''Protip:''' If you don't like how your garden is growing, you can click to prune it.<br /> *And then later on April 4th, the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a2/1663_garden_Protip_and_url_hint.png message] was again [https://web.archive.org/web/20160404185353/https://www.xkcd.com/#5dbfbb82-fc20-11e5-8001-42010a8e000d changed] to:<br /> ::'''Protip:''' If you don't like how your garden is growing, you can click to prune it.<br /> ::You can copy the URL to share your garden. From other browsers, it will be view-only.<br /> *When the next comic came out, the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/61/1663_garden_Note_if_seeing_todays_comic.png message] then [https://web.archive.org/web/20160408105110/https://xkcd.com/1663/#4b04323a-fddc-11e5-8001-42010a8e0016 changed], (also for the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160406194653/https://xkcd.com/1664/ new comic]) to<br /> ::'''Protip:''' If you don't like how your garden is growing, you can click to prune it.<br /> ::You can copy the URL to share your garden. From other browsers, it will be view-only.<br /> ::Note: If you're seeing today's comic in place of your garden, change the URL from xkcd.com/#&lt;your code&gt; to xkcd.com/1663/#&lt;your code&gt;.<br /> *[https://web.archive.org/web/20160408145017/https://xkcd.com/ After] the Friday comic came out on April 8th, the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/c5/1663_garden_Back_to_pro_tips_only_after_Friday_comic.png message] then [https://web.archive.org/web/20160408195958/https://xkcd.com/ changed] back to<br /> ::'''Protip:''' If you don't like how your garden is growing, you can click to prune it.<br /> ::You can copy the URL to share your garden. From other browsers, it will be view-only.<br /> *The [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/c6/1663_garden_Still_pro_tip_on_Friday_22nd_comic.png message stayed] like the one above at least until Friday April 22th before that Friday's comic [https://web.archive.org/web/20160422102754/https://xkcd.com/ was released]. But either at the time of release or at least on Saturday the day after the release the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/ae/1663_garden_Back_to_normal_text_after_Friday_22nd_comic.png message returned] to [https://web.archive.org/web/20160423103108/https://xkcd.com/ the original].<br /> ::XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.<br /> :*The pro tip, however, remained as [https://web.archive.org/web/20160425022201/https://www.xkcd.com/1663/ the header text] when displaying the {{xkcd|1663|Garden comic}}.<br /> <br /> ===April Fools' comic===<br /> *This comic '''was indeed supposed to be''' the Friday 1st of April, April Fools' comic!<br /> **This statement is based on several things, which can can be deduced from the above header text and the subsequent issues with the many [[#Bugs|bugs in this comic]].<br /> *It is clear that this comic did actually come out as promised, at least as promised in the third message about release on Sunday night.<br /> **It is also clear that it is regarded as the Friday comic, even in the last update before the release, which was two days after April 1st.<br /> *It is also clear that this was a very complex comic, and it is realistic that Randall did have problems with making it work. <br /> **On day two there still seemed to be several minor bugs, which seemed to improve over time so Randall was still working on it after release.<br /> ***But then new bugs appeared when the next comic was released.<br /> *Both of the last two April Fools' comics, [[1350: Lorenz]] and [[1506: xkcloud]], have had no real meaning or joke in the comic. The jokes appeared from user input, and here it comes from waiting.<br /> **This makes people who spend too much time on these comics ''April Fools''' (or if they rather wish to be called a ''nerds'' than fools, then they can claim to have been a victim of [[356: Nerd Sniping|nerd sniping]]).<br /> **So, even if Randall ''did'' play a joke on people who [[Talk:1662: Jack and Jill#What happened to Friday's comic|eagerly awaited the comic]], then he did deliver as promised a spectacular comic Sunday night.<br /> *There are several reasons to believe that Randall would have preferred the comic to get out on Friday April 1st.<br /> **Apart from it being a time consuming comic that in it self is April Fools' comic material, then by getting it out Friday this special comic, which he obviously have used a lot of time to prepare, would have had one more day as the first comic.<br /> **Getting it out before a weekend would have let many more users spend time looking at their garden. Now many would not spend enough time to appreciate the comic, as it came out right when the new work week began.<br /> ***And it is a very complicated comic that just to get to understand how to really use it could take a days time even for someone with time.<br /> ***And this is not talking about how the comic works, but just how to use the program, i.e. the whole [[#Functionality|functionality]] of the comic is way more complex than even a game like [[1608: Hoverboard]].<br /> **And before next weekend two more comics were released taking some of the focus away from this one too soon, and also before the next weekend. <br /> ***Of course die hard fans will not forget this one, but many xkcd fans may only come by in the weekend etc. and such a hard to come by comic like this, that demands patience and that you return does not profit from being bumped down to number three as it would be next Friday.<br /> *Randall lives of his fans goodwill and to deliberately make a pun on them like this would probably not seem like a good business proposal, apart from the fact that the comic now gets less attention than by coming out before the weekend.<br /> <br /> ==Items in the garden==<br /> *Below in the section are several tables displaying all the known images of items that may grow (appear) in the garden. <br /> **They have been sorted based on type like characters, animals (by type), plants (by type), platforms, others and helper structures.<br /> **In time each item will have a link to a screen shot where they appear.<br /> **Also explanations for each item can be written in these tables<br /> *For colors reference refer (also) to the numbers in this image:&lt;br&gt;<br /> *[[File:1663 garden Numbered color scale 1-17.png]]<br /> **The color under which a given item may grow should be noted. <br /> ***Particularly if they can grow under just one color if light (maybe a range, but with only one lamp lit as one specific color). <br /> ***But almost more important if some items needs more than one color<br /> ****Especially if the items base, the base on which they have to grow, needs another color than they do, as seems to be the case with flower blooms and the lamp to go at the top of the lamp poles.<br /> *All the images can be seen without the table here: [[1663: Garden/Images|Images of items]].<br /> ===Characters===<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable collapsible collapsed&quot; |<br /> ! Characters<br /> ! Description of images<br /> ! Relevant colors<br /> ! Link to screen-shots<br /> |-<br /> ! [[Cueball]]&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Man 1a.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-man-1a.png Man 1a]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Man 2a.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-man-2a.png Man 2a]<br /> | <br /> *Here are the two different images of Cueball.<br /> *The first Cueball just stands with his hands down. <br /> **In this position he always looks left.<br /> **Some items can grow on his head, most obviously [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/27/1663_garden_One_color_Between_blue_and_light_blue_6d.png the hat], turning him into [[Black Hat]]. But also animals like the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/92/1663_garden_Blitz_Girls_UFO_and_birds_garden.png water bird], [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/32/1663_garden_One_color_Between_Blue_White_and_White_6d.png standing bird or cats] and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/d/d4/1663_garden_Crazy_cat_peoples_garden.png owls] can perch on his head. <br /> **He never seems to appear in pure blue light, and also only appears when the light is turned left of white.<br /> *The second Cueball has one hand out.<br /> **In this position he always looks right.<br /> **He is the only character that appears under pure blue light (color 1).<br /> **It seems like he cannot wear the hat or anything else on his head.<br /> **Instead he can hold object on his hand, like a [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/1e/1663_garden_S_shaped_empty_balloon_string_left.png balloon string] (later [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/0e/1663_garden_Office_space_with_two_herons_in_lake_and_huge_balloon_on_long_string.png with balloon] or the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/c2/1663_garden_Blitz_Girls_strong_Megan_garden.png huge balloon]), the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/e5/1663_garden_Blitz_Girls_Armadillo_tower.png small platform] or some of the smaller animals like [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/32/1663_garden_One_color_Between_Blue_White_and_White_6d.png the bird], the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/09/1663_garden_Cueball_holds_a_Turtle_in_front_of_Megan_looking_like_a_cap_on_her.png turtle], or [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/d/d4/1663_garden_Crazy_cat_peoples_garden.png cat and owls].<br /> *There is a third version of Cueball with both hands up.<br /> | <br /> *Standing Cueball with color [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/92/1663_garden_One_color_Between_blue_and_light_blue_2d.png 2 blue], [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/c9/1663_garden_One_color_Light_blue_12h.png 3 light blue], [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/e4/1663_garden_Color_04_2_5d.png 4 light blue] and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/b/b2/1663_garden_One_color_Blue_white_2d.png 5 Blue white]<br /> *Hand out Cueball with color [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/b/bf/1663_garden_One_color_Blue_6d.png 1 blue], [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/92/1663_garden_One_color_Between_blue_and_light_blue_2d.png 2 blue], [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a6/1663_garden_Color_03_5d.png 3 light blue], [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/5e/1663_garden_One_color_Between_light_blue_and_Blue_White_6d.png 4 light blue] and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/d/d1/1663_garden_One_color_White_Blue_12h.png 5 Blue white]<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/c9/1663_garden_One_color_Light_blue_12h.png Standing]<br /> [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/e5/1663_garden_One_color_Blue_18h.png Hand out]&lt;br&gt;<br /> |-<br /> ! [[Megan]]&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Woman 1a.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-woman-1a.png Woman 1a]&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Handfig 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-handfig-1.png Handfig 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Handfig 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-handfig-2.png Handfig 2]&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Sword fig.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-sword-fig.png Sword fig]&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Flying fig.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flying-fig.png Flying fig]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of Megan. <br /> **Megan with sword seems to only occur on top of a platform or a piece of furniture. <br /> ***She seem to not be willing to pull out the sword when just standing on the ground.<br /> ***This means that she can only occur under a one color setting if that setting can also produce a platform. This is the case though see the color column.<br /> | <br /> *Standing (Yellow 9 standard)<br /> *Hands up (L and R) (White 7)<br /> *Sword ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/9c/1663_garden_One_color_Light_yellow_9d.png Yellow 9 standard] and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/6d/1663_garden_One_color_Between_Light_yellow_and_yellow_2d.png Yellow 10])<br /> *Flying (Orange 15)<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/cb/1663_garden_One_color_Light_yellow_12h.png Standing ]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/99/1663_garden_One_color_White_12h.png Hands up]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/6b/1663_garden_Megan_with_sword%2C_trees_octopuses_with_Cueball_bunny_ducklings.png Sword-tree platform]&lt;br&gt; [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/cb/1663_garden_Megan_with_sword_and_owl_on_gate.png Sword-gate]&lt;br&gt; [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/1d/1663_garden_My_first_linsang_cat_like_creature_in_SC.png Sword-desk] &lt;br&gt; <br /> [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/8/87/1663_garden_One_color_Orange_d7.png Flying]<br /> |-<br /> ! [[Beret Guy]]&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Beret shrub.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-beret-shrub.png Beret shrub]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of Beret Guy.<br /> | White 7 or mix of yellow and blue<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/99/1663_garden_One_color_White_12h.png In lake]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/24/1663_garden_Shark_finn_and_Beret_Guy_in_same_bird_bath_fish_boat_heron_and_more.png In birdbath]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/9b/1663_garden_Three_colors_more_separate_Beret_Guy_in_shrubbery_and_Octopus_on_office_desk.png In shrub]<br /> |-<br /> ! [[Ponytail]]&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Fig 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-fig-1.png Fig 1]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of Ponytail.<br /> *She is also shown with a long stick, which she bends.<br /> | Bendy-stick Ponytail occurs in Yellow 9.<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/eb/1663_garden_Ponytail_and_two_Cueballs_cat_pillar_and_trunk_sE.png Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Stilt girl&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Stilt walker.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-stiltwalker.png Stilt walker]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the girl on stilts.<br /> | Light yellow 10<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/1b/1663_garden_One_color_Between_Light_yellow_and_yellow_First_thing_stilts_right.png Example]<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Animals===<br /> ====Mammals====<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable collapsible collapsed&quot; |<br /> ! To see/hide images click here:<br /> ! Description of images<br /> ! Relevant colors<br /> ! Link to screen-shots<br /> |-<br /> ! Armadillo&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Armadillo L.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-armadillo-l.png Armadillo L]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Armadillo R.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-armadillo-r.png Armadillo R]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of Armadillo.<br /> | Color: Combination of 17 and 9, 15<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Cats&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Cat Balanced.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cat-balanced.png Cat Balanced]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cat Ground.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cat-ground.png Cat Ground]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of cats.<br /> **Look similar to the cats in the mobile game ''Neko Atsume''.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Deer&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Deer 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-deer-1.png Deer 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Deer 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-deer-2.png Deer 2]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of Deer.<br /> | 10, 11<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Bunny&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Important bun.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-important-bun.png Important bun]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the Bunny.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Linsang&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Linsang 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-linsang-1.png Linsang 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Linsang 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-linsang-2.png Linsang 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Linsang 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-linsang-3.png Linsang 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Linsang 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-linsang-4.png Linsang 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Linsang 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-linsang-5.png Linsang 5]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Linsang 6.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-linsang-6.png Linsang 6]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Linsang 7.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-linsang-7.png Linsang 7]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Linsang 8.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-linsang-8.png Linsang 8]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Linsang 9.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-linsang-9.png Linsang 9]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Linsang 10.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-linsang-10.png Linsang 10]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Linsang 11.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-linsang-11.png Linsang 11]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Linsang 12.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-linsang-12.png Linsang 12]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of linsangs.<br /> **See more about [[#Linsang - cat like animal|Linsang - cat like animal]] in the trivia section.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/68/1663_Garden_Ophiocordyceps_linsang.png Linsang infected by fungus]<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ====Birds====<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable collapsible collapsed&quot; |<br /> ! To see/hide images click here:<br /> ! Description of images<br /> ! Relevant colors<br /> ! Link to screen-shots<br /> |-<br /> ! Flying birds&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Bird 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-bird-1.png Bird 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Bird 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-bird-2.png Bird 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Bird 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-bird-3.png Bird 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Bird 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-bird-4.png Bird 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Bird 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-bird-5.png Bird 5]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of flying birds.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Standing bird&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Bird standing.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-bird-standing.png Bird standing]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of Standing bird.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Duck &lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Duck 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-duck-1.png Duck 1]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the duck.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Heron&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Heron L.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-heron-l.png Heron L]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Heron R.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-heron-r.png Heron R]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of Herons.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Owl&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Owl.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-owl.png Owl]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the Owl.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Wading bird&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Wading bird L.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-wading-bird-l.png Wading bird L]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Wading bird R.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-wading-bird-r.png Wading bird R]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of wading birds.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Water bird&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Water bird 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-waterbird-1.png Water bird 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Water bird 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-waterbird-2.png Water bird 2]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of water bird.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ====From the sea====<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable collapsible collapsed&quot; |<br /> ! To see/hide images click here:<br /> ! Description of images<br /> ! Relevant colors<br /> ! Link to screen-shots<br /> |-<br /> ! Fish &lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Fish 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-fish-1.png Fish 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Fish 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-fish-2.png Fish 2]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of Fish.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Flying fish&lt;br&gt;[[File:Flying fish 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flying-fish-1.png Flying fish 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Flying fish 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flying-fish-2.png Flying fish 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Actual flying fish 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-actual-flying-fish-1.png Actual flying fish 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Actual flying fish 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-actual-flying-fish-2.png Actual flying fish 2]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of Flying fish.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [https://forums.xkcd.com/download/file.php?id=51476&amp;mode=view Flying fish in Megan's hair] [https://forums.xkcd.com/download/file.php?id=51543&amp;mode=view Flying fish and UGO]<br /> |-<br /> ! Octopus&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Octopus.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-octopus.png Octopus]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Octopus hat capable.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-octopus-hat-capable.png Octopus hat capable]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of Octopuses.<br /> | Color: Blue (Only On the Pond)<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Sharks&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Shark fin L.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-shark-fin-l.png Shark fin L]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Shark fin R.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-shark-fin-r.png Shark fin R]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the shark fins.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/6e/1663_Garden_Megan_there%27s_a_shark_in_the_water.png Shark in birdbath]<br /> |-<br /> ! Tentacle&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Tentacle 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-tentacle-1.png Tentacle 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Tentacle 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-tentacle-2.png Tentacle 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Tentacle 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-tentacle-3.png Tentacle 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Tentacle 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-tentacle-4.png Tentacle 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Tentacle 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-tentacle-5.png Tentacle 5]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Tentacle 6.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-tentacle-6.png Tentacle 6]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of tentacles.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ====Reptiles====<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable collapsible collapsed&quot; |<br /> ! To see/hide images click here:<br /> ! Description of images<br /> ! Relevant colors<br /> ! Link to screen-shots<br /> |-<br /> ! Snake&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Snake 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-snake-1.png Snake 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Snake 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-snake-2.png Snake 2]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of snakes.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Turtle&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Turtle 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-turtle-1.png Turtle 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Turtle 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-turtle-2.png Turtle 2]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of turtles.<br /> | Color reddish? Orange 15<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/6c/1663_Garden_octopus_turtle_capable.png Octopus turtle capable]<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ====Insects====<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable collapsible collapsed&quot; |<br /> ! To see/hide images click here:<br /> ! Description of images<br /> ! Relevant colors<br /> ! Link to screen-shots<br /> |-<br /> ! Bees&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Bee 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-bee-1.png Bee 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Bee 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-bee-2.png Bee 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Bee 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-bee-3.png Bee 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Bee 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-bee-4.png Bee 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Bee 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-bee-5.png Bee 5]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Bee 6.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-bee-6.png Bee 6]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of bees.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Beehive&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Beehive-base.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-beehive-base.png Beehive-base]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Beehive entrance a.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-beehive-entrance-a.png Beehive entrance a]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Beehive section.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-beehive-section.png Beehive section]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images that construct the beehive.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [https://forums.xkcd.com/download/file.php?id=51487&amp;mode=view BlitzGirl's beehive]<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Plants===<br /> ====Trees====<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable collapsible collapsed&quot; |<br /> ! To see/hide images click here:<br /> ! Description of images<br /> ! Relevant colors<br /> ! Link to screen-shots<br /> |-<br /> ! Tall trunks&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Tall trunk 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-talltrunk-1.png Tall trunk 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Tall trunk 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-talltrunk-2.png Tall trunk 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Tall trunk 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-talltrunk-3.png Tall trunk 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Tall trunk 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-talltrunk-4.png Tall trunk 4]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of tall trunks.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Trunks&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Trunk 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-trunk-1.png Trunk 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Trunk 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-trunk-2.png Trunk 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Trunk 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-trunk-3.png Trunk 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Trunk 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-trunk-4.png Trunk 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Trunk 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-trunk-5.png Trunk 5]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Trunk 6.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-trunk-6.png Trunk 6]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Trunk 7.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-trunk-7.png Trunk 7]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Trunk 8.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-trunk-8.png Trunk 8]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of smaller trunks.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Branches&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Branch 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-1.png Branch 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-2.png Branch 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-3.png Branch 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-4.png Branch 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-5.png Branch 5]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 6.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-6.png Branch 6]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 7.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-7.png Branch 7]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 8.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-8.png Branch 8]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 9.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-9.png Branch 9]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 10.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-10.png Branch 10]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 11.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-11.png Branch 11]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 12.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-12.png Branch 12]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 13.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-13.png Branch 13]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 14.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-14.png Branch 14]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 15.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-15.png Branch 15]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 16.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-16.png Branch 16]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 17.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-17.png Branch 17]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 18.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-18.png Branch 18]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 19.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-19.png Branch 19]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 20.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-20.png Branch 20]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 21.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-21.png Branch 21]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 22.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-22.png Branch 22]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 23.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-23.png Branch 23]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Branch 24.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-branch-24.png Branch 24]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of branches.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Leaves&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Leaves 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-1.png Leaves 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-2.png Leaves 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-3.png Leaves 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-4.png Leaves 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-5.png Leaves 5]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 6.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-6.png Leaves 6]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 7.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-7.png Leaves 7]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 8.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-8.png Leaves 8]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 9.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-9.png Leaves 9]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 10.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-10.png Leaves 10]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 11.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-11.png Leaves 11]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 12.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-12.png Leaves 12]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 13.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-13.png Leaves 13]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 14.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-14.png Leaves 14]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 15.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-15.png Leaves 15]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 16.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-16.png Leaves 16]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 17.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-17.png Leaves 17]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 18.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-18.png Leaves 18]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 19.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-19.png Leaves 19]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 20.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-20.png Leaves 20]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 21.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-21.png Leaves 21]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 22.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-22.png Leaves 22]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 23.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-23.png Leaves 23]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 24.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-24.png Leaves 24]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 25.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-25.png Leaves 25]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 26.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-26.png Leaves 26]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 27.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-27.png Leaves 27]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 28.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-28.png Leaves 28]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 29.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-29.png Leaves 29]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Leaves 30.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-leaves-30.png Leaves 30]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of leaves.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ====Flowers====<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable collapsible collapsed&quot; |<br /> ! To see/hide images click here:<br /> ! Description of images<br /> ! Relevant colors<br /> ! Link to screen-shots<br /> |-<br /> ! Blooms&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Flower bloom 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-bloom1.png Flower bloom 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Flower bloom 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-bloom2.png Flower bloom 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Flower bloom 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-bloom3.png Flower bloom 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Flower bloom 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-bloom4.png Flower bloom 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Flower bloom 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-bloom5.png Flower bloom 5]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Flower bloom 6.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-bloom6.png Flower bloom 6]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Flower bloom 7.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-bloom7.png Flower bloom 7]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of blooms.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Hilt&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Flower hilt 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-hilt1.png Flower hilt 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Flower hilt 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-hilt2.png Flower hilt 2]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of hilt.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Stem segments&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Flower base.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-base.png Flower base]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Flower segment 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-segment1.png Flower segment 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Flower segment 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-segment2.png Flower segment 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Flower segment 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-segment3.png Flower segment 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Flower segment 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-segment4.png Flower segment 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Flower segment 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-segment5.png Flower segment 5]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Flower segment 6.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-segment6.png Flower segment 6]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Flower segment 7.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-segment7.png Flower segment 7]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Flower segment 8.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-segment8.png Flower segment 8]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Flower segment 9.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-segment9.png Flower segment 9]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Flower segment 10.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-segment10.png Flower segment 10]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Flower segment 11.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-segment11.png Flower segment 11]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Flower segment 12.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-flower-segment12.png Flower segment 12]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the base and segments of the flower stems.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Star plant&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Star Plant.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-starplant.png Star Plant]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images the star plant.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Tulips&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Tulip 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-tulip-1.png Tulip 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Tulip 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-tulip-2.png Tulip 2]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of Tulips.<br /> | Orange 15<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/03/1663_Garden_tulip_Megan.png Tulip Megan]<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ====Other plants====<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable collapsible collapsed&quot; |<br /> ! To see/hide images click here:<br /> ! Description of images<br /> ! Relevant colors<br /> ! Link to screen-shots<br /> |-<br /> ! Cactus &lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Cactus 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cactus-1.png Cactus 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cactus 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cactus-2.png Cactus 2]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of cactus.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Grass&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Grass 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-grass-1.png Grass 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Grass 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-grass-2.png Grass 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Grass 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-grass-3.png Grass 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Grass 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-grass-4.png Grass 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Grass 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-grass-5.png Grass 5]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Grass 6.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-grass-6.png Grass 6]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Grass 7.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-grass-7.png Grass 7]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Grass 8.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-grass-8.png Grass 8]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Grass 9.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-grass-9.png Grass 9]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of grass.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Reeds&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Reeds 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-reeds-1.png Reeds 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Reeds 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-reeds-2.png Reeds 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Reeds 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-reeds-3.png Reeds 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Reeds 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-reeds-4.png Reeds 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Reeds 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-reeds-5.png Reeds 5]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Reeds 6.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-reeds-6.png Reeds 6]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Reeds 8.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-reeds-8.png Reeds 8]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Reeds 9.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-reeds-9.png Reeds 9]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Reeds 10.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-reeds-10.png Reeds 10]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Reeds 11.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-reeds-11.png Reeds 11]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Reeds 12.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-reeds-12.png Reeds 12]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Reeds 13.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-reeds-13.png Reeds 13]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of reeds.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Shrub&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Shrub 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-shrub-1.png Shrub 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Shrub 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-shrub-2.png Shrub 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Shrub 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-shrub-3.png Shrub 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Shrub 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-shrub-4.png Shrub 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Shrub 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-shrub-5.png Shrub 5]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Shrub 6.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-shrub-6.png Shrub 6]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Shrub 7.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-shrub-7.png Shrub 7]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Shrub 8.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-shrub-8.png Shrub 8]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Shrub 9.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-shrub-9.png Shrub 9]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Shrub 10.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-shrub-10.png Shrub 10]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Shrub 11.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-shrub-11.png Shrub 11]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of shrubs.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Wavy plant&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Wavy plant 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-wavyplant-1.png Wavy plant 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Wavy plant 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-wavyplant-2.png Wavy plant 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Wavy plant 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-wavyplant-3.png Wavy plant 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Wavy plant 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-wavyplant-4.png Wavy plant 4]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of wavy plants.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Platforms===<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable collapsible collapsed&quot; |<br /> ! To see/hide images click here:<br /> ! Description of images<br /> ! Relevant colors<br /> ! Link to screen-shots<br /> |-<br /> ! Tree platform&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Left platform.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-left-platform.png Left platform]&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Right platform.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-right-platform.png Right platform]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of platforms in trees.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Platform&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Platform 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-platform-1.png Platform 1]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the basic platform.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Platform Column&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden PlatformColumn 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-platform-column-1.png PlatformColumn 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden PlatformColumn 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-platform-column-2.png PlatformColumn 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden PlatformColumn 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-platform-column-3.png PlatformColumn 3]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of platform columns.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Stone Platform&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Stone Platform 1 Wide.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-stone-platform-1wide.png Stone Platform 1 Wide]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Stone Platform 3 Wide.png]]&amp;nbsp; [https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-stone-platform-3wide.png Stone Platform 3 Wide]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Stone Platform 5 Wide.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-stone-platform-5wide.png Stone Platform 5 Wide]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of stone platforms.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Tall platform&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Tall platform.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-tall-platform.png Tall platform]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the tall platform.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Other items===<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable collapsible collapsed&quot; |<br /> ! To see/hide images click here:<br /> ! Description of images<br /> ! Relevant colors<br /> ! Link to screen-shots<br /> |-<br /> ! Balloon&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Balloon.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-balloon.png Balloon]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Balloon Huge.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-balloon-huge.png Balloon Huge]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Balloon Segment.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-balloon-segment.png Balloon Segment]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Balloon segment short.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-balloon-segment-short.png Balloon segment short]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of balloons and their strings.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/34/1663_garden_S_shaped_empty_balloon_string_right.png S-shaped balloon string]<br /> |-<br /> ! Birdbath&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Birdbath.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-birdbath.png Birdbath]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the birdbath.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a1/1663_garden_Purple_garden_with_Heron.png Birdbath legged deer]<br /> |-<br /> ! Boat&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Boat 1 L.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-boat-1-l.png Boat 1 L]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Boat 1 R.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-boat-1-r.png Boat 1 R]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of boats.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Cairn stones&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Cairn Base 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-base-1.png Cairn Base 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Base 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-base-2.png Cairn Base 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Base 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-base-3.png Cairn Base 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Base 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-base-4.png Cairn Base 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Base 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-base-5.png Cairn Base 5]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Mid 1.png]]&amp;nbsp; [https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-mid-1.png Cairn Mid 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Mid 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-mid-2.png Cairn Mid 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Mid 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-mid-3.png Cairn Mid 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Mid 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-mid-4.png Cairn Mid 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Mid 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-mid-5.png Cairn Mid 5]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Top 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-top-1.png Cairn Top 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Top 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-top-2.png Cairn Top 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Top 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-top-3.png Cairn Top 3]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Top 4.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-top-4.png Cairn Top 4]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Cairn Top 5.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-cairn-top-5.png Cairn Top 5]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the stones used to form cairns.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/23/1663_Garden_An_Engineer_cairns.png Gigantic rock pile]<br /> |-<br /> ! Furniture&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Desk 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-desk-1.png Desk 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Desk lamp.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-desk-lamp.png Desk lamp]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Table 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-table-1.png Table 1]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of furniture for the office and other places.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Giant Planter&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Giant Planter.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-giant-planter.png Giant Planter]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the giant Planter.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/1a/1663_garden_Underground_light_gives_large_tub_on_top_of_pillar_then_filled_with_trees.png Giant planter with trees]<br /> |-<br /> ! Hat&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Hat 1a.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-hat-1a.png Hat 1a]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the black hat.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Lamppost&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Lamp crossbar left.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-lamp-crossbar-left.png Lamp crossbar left]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Lamp crossbar right.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-lamp-crossbar-right.png Lamp crossbar right]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Lamppost 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-lamppost-1.png Lamppost 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden lamp-topper.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-lamp-topper.png lamp-topper]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images that may form the complete lamppost. <br /> *The lamp post looks exactly like the one in [[665: Prudence]], and that is the one from {{w|Narnia}} which actually grew up in the forest when Narnia was created in the chronologically first book {{w|The Magician's Nephew}} when Aslan created Narnia.<br /> <br /> | Color?<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/7a/1663_garden_Blitz_Girls_lamp_posts_and_flowers_garden.png Example with lamp]&lt;br&gt; [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/8/81/1663_garden_Lamp_post_poles_and_mars_rover.png Example with crossbar]<br /> |-<br /> ! Obelisk&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Obelisk.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-obelisk.png Obelisk]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the obelisk.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Pot&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Pot 1.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-pot-1.png Pot 1]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Pot 2.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-pot-2.png Pot 2]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Pot 3.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-pot-3.png Pot 3]<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of pots.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Rover&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Rover.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-rover.png Rover]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the Mars rover.<br /> | Color 16<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/3f/1663_garden_One_color_Between_orange_red_and_red_First_thing_Mars_rover.png Mars rover]<br /> |-<br /> ! Sale sign&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Sale sign.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-sale-sign.png Sale sign]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the sale sign.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |-<br /> ! Saucer&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Saucer.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-saucer.png Saucer]<br /> |<br /> *Here is the image of the flying saucer.<br /> | Color?<br /> | [https://forums.xkcd.com/download/file.php?id=51432&amp;mode=view BlitzGirl's UFO garden]<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Helper structures===<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable collapsible collapsed&quot; |<br /> ! To see/hide images click here:<br /> ! Description of images<br /> ! Relevant colors<br /> ! Link to screen-shots<br /> |-<br /> ! Bird riser&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Bird riser.png]],&amp;nbsp;[[File:Garden Bird riser with background.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-bird-riser.png Bird riser], and with background&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Bird riser root.png]]&amp;nbsp;[[File:Garden Bird riser root with frame.png]][https://linden.xkcd.com/art/2x-bird-riser-root.png Bird riser root], and with frame&lt;br&gt;<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of the bird riser and it's root. <br /> **They only seem to appear in the orange color range.<br /> **The riser is invisible (white) and would have to have a background to be seen (both versions are shown to the left). This will never be the case in the garden as the raiser does not show up in front of other black items.<br /> ***However, the risers can be seen using the [[#Debug_mode|debug mode]], and this is used as the example to the right.<br /> ***Also using the debug mode on this [https://www.xkcd.com/1663/#1e853af8-055f-11e6-8001-42010a8e000f garden] the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/e0/1663_garden_Color_13_2_5d_debug_with_count.png number of items can be counted] as shown in the link. <br /> ****From this link it is clear that there are three bird risers attached to two of the seven bird riser roots. <br /> ****Here only single bird risers are displayed, but they can be connected see below.<br /> **The root can often be seen on the ground, but it can be hidden behind other objects. <br /> ***Also the root has the first short part of a bird riser above the root, which is invisible (by any means). The bird riser takes hold at the top of this invisible part. That it is there can best be seen by putting a frame around the image of the root, to see that it is twice as high as the root itself. Such an image is also shown to the left. (But the end can also be seen in the debug mode images).<br /> *The riser are used to make items fly in the air. <br /> **I.e. the five types of flying birds, the saucer, flying Megan and the two &quot;actual flying fish&quot;, can attach them selves to the end of a bird riser.<br /> **Whereas the risers need to have a root to begin, then more risers can attach to the end already existing risers, thus getting much higher up in the air than one riser (all the way up!).<br /> **Risers can have any angles to each others, even going further down, which can explain birds and other flying objects touching the ground (even making an object be situated partially beneath the ground, like [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/cf/1663_garden_One_color_Orange_6d.png this flying Megan] from this [https://xkcd.com/1663/#0d6bca62-fcf3-11e5-8019-42010a8e0005 garden] or maybe even outside the frame, see last example below).<br /> **As opposed to anything else the light that creates a bird (or other flying item) does not need to touch the actually bird, but rather the place from where the bird riser is rooted. <br /> ***This indicates that the birds etc. can grow from light touching the base of the risers rather than the tip. <br /> ****Since many bird risers can grow in layers above the first riser it is clear that the bird riser does not appear with a bird on them in one go! <br /> ***There are many examples with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/4/48/1663_garden_One_color_Orange_9d.png birds] or [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/4/4f/1663_garden_One_color_Between_orange_and_orange_red_8d.png flying Megan] &quot;growing&quot; outside the light, where no light ever was, as seen from some of the [[1663:_Garden/Users_gardens#Locked_gardens_only_for_explanation_use|locked experimental gardens]].<br /> *When selecting a bird riser root all bird risers and all flying things connected to these will also be selected (and deleted if the root is deleted).<br /> **Here are two examples from the same [https://xkcd.com/1663/#578b80bc-fd96-11e5-8001-42010a8e000a garden] where two different roots have been selected:<br /> ***In this [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/b/b9/1663_garden_14_Between_orange_and_orange_red_15d_selected_bird_riser_root.png example] the selected root is hidden by the tulip in the red circle. Seven birds are selected both right and left of this root. (Two of them on top of each other).<br /> ***In this [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/27/1663_garden_14_Between_orange_and_orange_red_15d_selected_bird_riser_root_Megan.png example] the root in the red circle is completely hidden by turtles etc. It connects to three birds and one flying Megan, showing that it is the bird riser roots that also connect to her.<br /> **In this next example [https://xkcd.com/1663/#59246c86-fcce-11e5-8001-42010a8e0010 garden] the links between a root and four birds are displayed in detail.<br /> ***The [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/73/1663_garden_SF_final.png first image] is just the normal garden view screen-shot (lamps deleted). 10 birds can be seen; there are six birds over the lamp post; two near the ground under the high platform; one near the right crown of the tree; and one to the left that looks like it is a part of the linsang. Several bird riser roots (at least five) can be seen on the ground from the middle of the platform and right past the cat (two under it) and then at the sign.<br /> ***In the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/8/8d/1663_garden_SF_final_selected.png second image] the root at the foot of the Sale sign has been selected. Four birds have been selected, spread out over the entire section with birds, including the lowest, the highest, the left most and one over the lamp post.<br /> ***In the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/73/1663_garden_SF_final_debug.png third image] debug mode has been used. All the long purple lines (of equal length) indicate bird risers.<br /> ***In the last [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/35/1663_garden_SF_final_debug_drawing.png fourth image] the links between the root and the four birds have been indicated. A zero (0) has been written under the root. Then 1 indicates the single bird riser that goes to the right bird over the lamp post. Bird riser 2, 3 and 4 connect to each other from the root up to the highest bird right of the crown. Then bird riser 5 goes from that to the bird near the linsang left of the tree, and finally bird riser 6 and 7 goes straight back and down to the lowest bird near the ground. <br /> ****Several bird risers seems to go beneath the ground!<br /> **That bird risers can go beneath the ground has already been show with flying Megan partly under ground.<br /> ***In this last example it is made clear that birds can then appear either under ground (or under the top of other structures blocking their view) or even totally outside the frame (as indicated above the bird risers seem to be able to sprout items outside the cones of light, as long as they grow in the light them selves).<br /> ***The proof for this comes in this [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/16/1663_garden_Color_13_5d_debug_with_count.png example] with the debug version of this [https://www.xkcd.com/1663/#fa1b5c92-055e-11e6-8001-42010a8e000f garden] showing the count:<br /> ****At the time of [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/73/1663_garden_Color_13_5d.png these images] there where only 8 visible birds<br /> ****But the count lists 20 birds, indicating that no less than 12 birds are hidden from view!<br /> | Color [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/4/48/1663_garden_One_color_Orange_9d.png 13 Orange] and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/4/4f/1663_garden_One_color_Between_orange_and_orange_red_8d.png 14 Orange].<br /> | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/e7/1663_garden_Color_13_2_5d_debug_bird_risers.png Bird riser debug]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/5e/1663_garden_Color_14_3d.png Root]<br /> |-<br /> ! Null&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Null.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-null.png Null]&lt;br&gt;[[File:Garden Null continue.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-null-continue-air.png Null continue]&lt;br&gt;<br /> [[File:Garden Null continue air.png]],&amp;nbsp;[[File:Garden Null continue air with background.png]]&amp;nbsp;[https://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-null-continue-air.png Null continue air], and with background&lt;br&gt;<br /> |<br /> *Here are the images of ''null''. They cannot normally be seen, the air version even have to have a background to be seen (both versions are shown). They are used for ??.<br /> | Color<br /> | [ Example]<br /> |}<br /> <br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:April fools' comics]] &lt;!-- This was delayed but if not directly an April fools' comic then the comments leading up to it was, and this is the only comic to list as April fools' this year --&gt;<br /> [[Category:Comics with color]]<br /> [[Category:Dynamic comics]]<br /> [[Category:Interactive comics]]<br /> [[Category:Comics with animation]] &lt;!-- The trees and plants wave in the breeze --&gt;<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] <br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]] <br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] <br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]] &lt;!-- Can appear when a Cueball gets on the Black Hat, but that would thus turn him into Black Hat --&gt;<br /> [[Category:Animals]]<br /> [[Category:Sharks]] &lt;!-- Shark fins appeared after more than a week --&gt;<br /> [[Category:Mars rovers]]<br /> [[Category:Protip]]<br /> [[Category:Buns]]<br /> &lt;!-- The tip given in the header of xkcd as a reaction to the comic. Maybe that will not be permanent, but it will be mentioned in the explanation here and should stay--&gt;<br /> [[Category:Chronicles of Narnia]]<br /> [[Category:Stilts]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1193:_Externalities&diff=330842 2023-12-15T11:29:41Z

<p>141.101.98.135: </p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1193<br /> | date = April 1, 2013<br /> | title = Externalities<br /> | image = externalities.png<br /> | titletext = Mouse over words and things to see where they come from.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color:grey&quot;&gt;Different title text:&lt;/span&gt; This comic went up on April 1st, and the panels changed throughout the day in response to readers doing things like breaking hashes, edited a rapidly-shuffling set of target Wikipedia articles, and donating to Wikimedia Foundation. (The vandalism is over now and CMU won the hashing contest.)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color:grey&quot;&gt;Different title text:&lt;/span&gt; Happy April 1st, Everyone!&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color:grey&quot;&gt;Different title text:&lt;/span&gt; uic has the third best hash. See the full standings at http://almamater.xkcd.com/best.csv&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color:grey&quot;&gt;Different title text:&lt;/span&gt; The dog gains a pound for every $10 donated to the Wikimedia Foundation via this link. Currently at $51135.33<br /> }}<br /> {{TOC}}<br /> ==Explanation==<br /> This was the fourth [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. This comic isn't a static image - even the title text changes depending on which part of the image you're hovering over. It presented a competition for students to see who could come closest to breaking a {{w|Skein (hash function)|Skein hash}} but also an aid appeal for the Wikimedia Foundation.<br /> <br /> The comic references multiple times {{w|Baidu}}, a large Chinese Internet services company. Baidu controls the predominant Internet search provider of China and is sometimes called the &quot;Google of China&quot; for the similar services it provides. Baidu Search results follow the censorship dictates of the Chinese authorities, causing it to return censored responses to searches for politically sensitive terms when executed by web browsers in China. Megan's reply &quot;But nothing about Tiananmen Square.&quot; in the first panel is a reference to the {{w|1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre}} that killed hundreds of civillians. &quot;It takes great minds to stifle other great minds.&quot; and &quot;Let's block Canada&quot; in the second panel are also references to the arbitrary government censorship of Baidu and other Chinese companies<br /> <br /> The blank regions in the above image are dynamically generated from various sources.<br /> *The university that is being recruited changes depending on which university is winning the hash finding competition in the fifth panel.<br /> *The company doing the recruiting is randomly selected from a pool of companies. It was formerly the first NASDAQ-100 company mentioned on a varying Wikipedia page.<br /> *The text in the second panel may vary: See [[1193: Externalities#Second Panel|this section]].<br /> *The text in the third panel may vary: See [[1193: Externalities#Third Panel|this section]].<br /> *The text in the fourth panel may vary: See [[1193: Externalities#Fourth Panel|this section]].<br /> *The text in the fifth panel [[1193: Externalities#Fifth Panel|changes]], depending on which university is currently in third place in a hash finding competition. Clicking on the panel takes you to [http://almamater.xkcd.com/ a webpage] where people can enter their school's domain name and hash data, and ranks schools on how close their students can come to matching a Skein 1024 1024 hash value.<br /> *The text in the top half of the sixth panel may vary. See [[1193: Externalities#Sixth Panel|this section]]. The second half of the panel is always the same.<br /> *The last panel varies with the amount donated to the Wikimedia Foundation via [https://donate.wikimedia.org/?utm_medium=socialmedia&amp;utm_campaign=xkcd_april1 this link]. For past images, see [[1193: Externalities#Seventh Panel|this section]].<br /> <br /> ===Hashing Competition===<br /> For the two days until comic 1194 appeared, a competition was underway to see who could come closest to breaking a {{w|Skein (hash function)|Skein hash}}. The first text line of the first panel contains a link to http://almamater.xkcd.com. This page contained the text:<br /> <br /> :Currently looking for Skein 1024 1024 input matching<br /> &lt;pre&gt;5b4da95f5fa08280fc9879df44f418c8f9f12ba424b7757de02bbdfbae0d4c4fdf9317c80cc5fe04c6429073466cf29706b8c25999ddd2f6540d4475cc977b87f4757be023f19b8f4035d7722886b78869826de916a79cf9c94cc79cd4347d24b567aa3e2390a573a373a48a5e676640c79cc70197e1c5e7f902fb53ca1858b6&lt;/pre&gt;<br /> <br /> On this page, users were invited to enter &quot;Your school's domain name&quot; — presumably intended to be their college alma mater. (At least in the beginning, only a few top-level domains were accepted.) If the user entered an acceptable domain (by xkcd's rules, which apparently changed during the 48 hours of the competition), they could then enter data values one at a time. For each data value entered, xkcd returned a hash value and the number of bits by which it differed from the target value. The object was to achieve the lowest possible number of differing bits, ideally zero.<br /> <br /> A ranking page showed the lowest value achieved for each domain name entered, but not the data that achieved it. The first name on the list was substituted in various panels, and the third-place school showed in panel five. No data values were reported by xkcd, but various results were posted by users of the xkcd forums and on other websites, leading to copycat submissions, so that occasionally large numbers of institutions would show the same moderately low value.<br /> <br /> After the end of the contest, the data submission page vanished, replaced by the final list of rankings, which shows that Carnegie Mellon University achieved the best score with 384 bits incorrect out of 1024. The rankings only show a few hundred out of the several thousand domains submitted&amp;mdash;presumably Randall chose to chop the copycat submissions off the end of the list, retaining only honestly obtained results.<br /> <br /> ===First Panel===<br /> In some cases, Megan's reply seems to correspond to the company.<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable table-padding&quot;<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Have you applied to [company] yet?<br /> :Megan: The recruiter hasn't emailed me back in over three minutes.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Have you applied to [company] yet?<br /> :Megan: The recruiter hasn't emailed me back in over an hour!<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Have you thought of a career at [company]?<br /> :Megan: I'm not that good at math.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Have you thought of a career at [company]?<br /> :Megan: What do they even do?<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Have you thought of a career at [company]?<br /> :Megan: I don't like monopolies.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Have you thought of a career at [company]?<br /> :Megan: Only in my darkest moments.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Be part of the Apple experience!<br /> :Megan: I'm not really a fan of turtlenecks.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Come work at Microsoft!<br /> :Megan: I only came to this tech talk for the xbox giveaway.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Y U No Work Yahoo?<br /> :Megan: I like working from home!<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Become a partner at Starbucks!<br /> :Megan: But green's not my colour.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Come work in the Amazon!<br /> :Megan: I don't have to actually move to South America, do I?<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Have you thought of a career at [company]?<br /> :Megan: Not after that presentation.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Thought about working for Intel?<br /> :Megan: I'm not that great at division.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Dude, you should work at Dell!<br /> :Megan: That catchphrase is so old.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Ahoy, carnegie melonites!<br /> :Have you thought of a career at [company]?<br /> :Megan: Not after that presentation.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Have you looked for a job at Kraft Foods?<br /> :Megan: I'm allergic to sugar<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :How about working for Whole Foods?<br /> :Megan: Could I afford the food if I did?<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Come work at EBay!<br /> :Megan: Maybe if they made a good bid.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students!<br /> :Come work for Activision... er... Blizzard... er...<br /> :Megan: Activision Blizzard?<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Hey, [university] students! &lt;nowiki&gt;|&lt;/nowiki&gt; Ahoy. Carnegie Melonites!<br /> :Come find your future at Baidu!<br /> :Megan: But nothing about Tiananmen Square.<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Second Panel===<br /> The text in the second panel is based on the company in the first panel:<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable table-padding&quot;<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :When the Singularity happens, it will happen here.<br /> :Ponytail: [Company] has outgrown us.<br /> :Men: It is time.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Think of ways to make things smaller and smaller!<br /> :Ponytail: I'm worried mine is too big.<br /> :Men: Yeahhh<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Think of ways to make things smaller and smaller!<br /> :Ponytail: But will it blend?<br /> :Men: Yeahhh<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :You'll be part of a dynamic research team envisioning the future.<br /> :Ponytail: It probably looks cool.<br /> :Men: Yeahhh<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :You'll be creating the future of commerce platforms!<br /> :Ponytail: More recommendations.<br /> :Men: Yep.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :You'll be an insignificant cog in our giant machine<br /> :Ponytail: We should improve Notepad<br /> :Men: Nah<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :We can't tell you what you'll be working on.<br /> :Ponytail: [Confidential]<br /> :Men: [Redacted]<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :You'll be an insignificant cog in our giant machine<br /> :Ponytail: Needs more Bob.<br /> :Men: Nah<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :You'll help set the future of the company<br /> :Ponytail: Wait. You hired a college grad as the CFO?<br /> :Men: Yeahhh<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :At Qualcomm, we know you're born mobile.<br /> :Ponytail: Born mobile!<br /> :Men: Texting!<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Short or tall, we've got a grande job for you!<br /> :Ponytail: How many job openings are there?<br /> :Men: Ele-venti or so.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :You'll help direct the future of nutrition<br /> :Ponytail: Microwaveable toast<br /> :Men: Delicious<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Help us find and provide the best healthy, local, and sustainable products.<br /> :Ponytail: Hey guys, how about kale cookies?<br /> :Men: Sounds great!<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :We're the Classmates.com to Facebook's Craigslist.<br /> :Ponytail: Maybe we should use game theory.<br /> :Men: Why Bother?<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Whatever. Come create the future of gaming!<br /> :Ponytail: Call of Duty 14.<br /> :Men: That's genius!<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :It takes great minds to stifle other great minds.<br /> :Ponytail: Let's block Canada<br /> :Men: Sounds good.<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Third Panel===<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable table-padding&quot;<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :We're a convenient four hour drive from New York City (15,000 hours by Roomba)<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Only a short commuter flight away!<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Travel to us by Roomba, we're *that* close!<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :We're so close you can get to us by Roomba.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Free Roomba rides every morning while you have coffee.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Your Roomba comes in black &amp; slate, or white &amp; silver<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Just a short Roomba ride up the coast, try not to fall off.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :We know what everyday life is like for your generation:<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Fourth Panel===<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable sortable plainlinks table-padding&quot;<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Our recruiting team is on the lookup for promising young [university] graduates.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :We hired a new recruiting startup to help us hire [university] students.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :We borrowed the botanical gardens' net to catch promising recruits.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :We prefer to recruit from [university] students, of course.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Our recruiters are on the hunt for unaware [university] graduates.<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Fifth Panel===<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable table-padding&quot;<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Or students from [university], if they're clever with their applications<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Possibly [university] grads, if their form-filling startup works out.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Or [university] graduates, provided any of them manage to fill out the application correctly.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Or [university] graduates, if they manage to fill out the application correctly.<br /> |}<br /> <br /> The text in the form varies independently of the text at the top, sometimes related to the organization in 3rd place:<br /> <br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable table-padding&quot;<br /> |-<br /> !Organization<br /> !Name<br /> !Email<br /> !Education<br /> !(Explanation)<br /> |-<br /> |MIT<br /> |Oliver Smoot<br /> |pgp encrypted<br /> |have you ever really looked at the fourier<br /> |As an undergrad at MIT in 1948, Smoot was used to measure the Harvard Bridge during a fraternity prank. This led to the introduction of &quot;{{w|smoot}}&quot; as an unusual unit of length.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> |Wheeeee<br /> |ford.com<br /> |stealing lunches from startups<br /> |-<br /> |CMU<br /> |leeroy jenkins<br /> |me@car<br /> |I can cut up melons<br /> | Le(e)roy Jenkins is an internet meme originating from a 2006 'Let's Play' video of World of Warcraft<br /> |-<br /> |CMU<br /> |pittsburgh<br /> |me@car<br /> |I can cut up melons<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> |SEGMENTATION FAULT<br /> |save trees<br /> |Contra dancing.<br /> |-<br /> |Cambridge<br /> |I'm applying<br /> |cam.gov<br /> |on going problems with birds<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> |certainly<br /> |elephant<br /> |An excellent year in the Sahara<br /> |-<br /> |Stanford<br /> |Stanford<br /> |ford.com<br /> |Stealing lunches from startups<br /> |-<br /> |Stanford<br /> |Yes Please<br /> |@twitter<br /> |Are you Stanford?<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> |Applying<br /> |For a job<br /> |I would like to work at you<br /> |-<br /> |St.Olaf<br /> |Me olaf<br /> |You Helga<br /> |Hunting wooly mammoths<br /> |-<br /> |Ohio State<br /> |Oh!<br /> |IO<br /> |O HAI O<br /> | A joke on the pronunciation of Ohio.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> |FOLLOWBACK<br /> |TOTALLY.EDU.US<br /> |CONVENIENT US DOMAIN REDIRECTS<br /> | .edu is a website suffix mostly used for (American) university websites.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> |Mancher<br /> |Outlook<br /> |Made a collage out of macaroni<br /> |-<br /> |Stanford<br /> |Yes Please<br /> |ford.com<br /> |Are you Stanford?<br /> |-<br /> |Michigan<br /> |ANN<br /> |SOUTH DETROIT<br /> |HUNT LIKE A WOLVERINE<br /> |University of Michigan is in Ann Arbor; the mascot is the Wolverine. &quot;South Detroit&quot; is referenced in the song {{w|Don't Stop Believin'}}, which is notable because there is actually no such city or neighborhood; rather, Detroit is one of the only places in the contiguous United States where you can drive south and wind up in Canada, namely in the city of {{w|Windsor, Ontario}}. Michiganders therefore often object to the bad geography in the song.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> |christopher<br /> |POBox 12532<br /> |p.s. ill find my frog<br /> |PO Box 12532 is located at Pyramid Lake in Nevada.<br /> |-<br /> |Oxford<br /> |Bond, James<br /> |Righto<br /> |We're better than Cambridge<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> |Which one<br /> |Forget it<br /> |Riding the L all night long<br /> |-<br /> |Kit<br /> |Kat<br /> |Oh dear<br /> |Something something sleep<br /> |-<br /> |Google<br /> |My G+ handle?<br /> |Any<br /> |I'm feeling lucky<br /> |G+ stands for Google+, Googles social network. I'm feeling lucky is the second option under the searchbar on Google.<br /> |-<br /> |UIC<br /> |Which one<br /> |Forget it<br /> |Riding the L all night long<br /> |Presumably University of Illinois at Chicago. &quot;Which one&quot; could be a reference to other institutions with the same initials, or people who confuse &quot;UIC&quot; with &quot;U of C&quot; (University of Chicago, a different institution altogether). The rapid transit system in Chicago is called the 'L'.<br /> |-<br /> |MY JOB NOW<br /> |@<br /> |SAVE DOCUMENT AND SEND<br /> | Could be Randall saying most jobs are just sending e-mails (@).<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Sixth Panel===<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable table-padding&quot;<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :At [company], you'll work at a scale you won't find anywhere else<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Explore the depths of expensive and undocumented tools!<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :At Apple, we believe in pushing the boundary of perfection.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :At Microsoft, you just need to relax and embrace the machine<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Yahoo management aren't just suits. We code too!<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :At [company], you'll have the opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :At Amazon, you'll be shaving the most cutting-edge of yaks.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :You get to bid first on any auction, and use other experimental tools!<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :At QUALCOMM, Device driver code quality is job #1<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :Make use of our powerful in-house game creation tools.<br /> |-<br /> |<br /> :We're even working on some experimental biotechnology<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Seventh Panel===<br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable table-padding&quot;<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog1.png]]<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog2.png]]<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog2A.png]]<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog3.png]]<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog4.png]]<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog5.png]]<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog6.png]]<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog7.png]]<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog8.png]]<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog9.png]]<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog10.png]]<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog12.png]]<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog13.png]]<br /> |-<br /> |[[File:externality-dog14.png]]<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Title Text===<br /> The title text documents the different sources of data in the comic. The different title texts are:<br /> <br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable table-padding&quot;<br /> |-<br /> !Comic region<br /> !Title text<br /> |-<br /> |Most of the comic, during the competition.||Mouse over words and things to see where they come from.<br /> |-<br /> |Most of the comic, after the competition ended||This comic went up on April 1st, and the panels changed throughout the day in response to readers doing things like breaking hashes, edited a rapidly-shuffling set of target Wikipedia articles, and donating to Wikimedia Foundation. (The vandalism is over now and CMU won the hashing contest.)<br /> |-<br /> |The part of the first panel (text and drawing) which is not a link. There is no title text at all over the part where the link is active||Happy April 1st, Everyone!<br /> |-<br /> |Fifth panel.||[University] has the third best hash. See the full standings at http://almamater.xkcd.com/best.csv (University = uic after competition)<br /> |-<br /> |Last three panels (only within a frame that would just fit around all three of them).||The dog gains a pound for every $10 donated to the wikimedia foundation via this link. Currently at [amount donated] (Amount = $51135.33 after competition).<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ===Current Version===<br /> Now that the competition is over, the comic is currently frozen. As such, what follows is the explanation of the comic in its final state.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[This was a dynamic image where the text changed during April 1st. The main title text also changed after the dynamic part was finished, and there are even different title text for different part of the comic. This transcript is of the final version of the comic, (no longer dynamic or changing), as displayed at present on xkcd, there are still four different title texts for specific panels. These four title text are for that reason included here in the transcript.]<br /> <br /> :[The basic title text for the entire comic is: &quot;This comic went up on April 1st, and the panels changed throughout the day in response to readers doing things like breaking hashes, edited a rapidly-shuffling set of target Wikipedia articles, and donating to Wikimedia Foundation. (The vandalism is over now and CMU won the hashing contest.)&quot; The other three title text are only active over certain panels.] <br /> <br /> :[The first panel with the caption and Megan below has its own title text. A part of that panel is a link, and in the section where this link is active there is no title text at all. The title text for the rest of the first panel is: &quot;Happy April 1st, everyone!&quot;]<br /> <br /> :[A panel with only text is above the first drawing. There is a link on the top part of the text to &lt;nowiki&gt;http://almamater.xkcd.com/&lt;/nowiki&gt; (the link is now broken).]<br /> :Ahoy, carnegie melonites! <br /> :<br /> :Come find your future at Baidu.<br /> <br /> :[Below, not in a frame, is Megan.]<br /> :Megan: But nothing about Tiananmen Square.<br /> <br /> :[Caption floating above the frame of the next panel:]<br /> :It takes great minds to stifle other great minds.<br /> :[Ponytail sits at a desk, hand to her chin, with two Cueball-like guys with their hands on the table.]<br /> :Ponytail: Let's block Canada<br /> :Cueball-like guys: Sounds good.<br /> <br /> :[Ponytail crouches on a moving Roomba (labeled) with a steaming mug of coffee in one hand and a smartphone in the other. Above her is a caption. The Roomba makes a noice]<br /> :We're a convenient four hour drive from New York City (15,000 hours by Roomba.)<br /> :''Whirrrrrrr''<br /> :Roomba<br /> <br /> :[Ponytail and Hairy corners Cueball as he walks out of a door, and a black haired ponytailed girl is moving towards him wielding a giant butterfly net. There is a caption above them:]<br /> :Our recruiters are on the hunt for unaware CMU graduates<br /> <br /> :[The fifth panel has its own title text only active within (or very close to) the frame. It is: &quot;uic has the third best hash. See the full standings at &lt;nowiki&gt;http://almamater.xkcd.com/best.csv&lt;/nowiki&gt;&quot; (The link is now broken)]<br /> <br /> :[There is a caption above a website application. There is three fields to be filled, with each their caption and text:]<br /> :or uic graduates, provied any of them manage to fill out the application correctly.<br /> ::Name which one<br /> ::Email forget it<br /> ::Education Riding the L all night long<br /> <br /> :[Caption floating above the frame of the next panel:]<br /> :At Baidu, Inc., you'll have the opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects.<br /> :[Cueball sits at a computer.]<br /> :Cueball: What does &quot;make dog&quot; do?<br /> :Off-screen voice: Experimental dog generator. Don't click on it; the default size isn't set, so-<br /> :'''*click*'''<br /> <br /> :[The last three panels has their own title text, only active within a frame that could contain all three panel. Outside that &quot;frame&quot; (all the way around) is the other title text. Within the title text is: &quot;The dog gains a pound for every $10 donated to the Wikimedia Foundation via this link. Currently at $51135.33.&quot;]<br /> <br /> :[Small insert panel, going in above the next larger panel: Cueball stares at the screen.]<br /> :''Kzzzt'' <br /> :''*bip*''<br /> :Off-screen voice: Uh oh.<br /> <br /> :[A giant dog looks down at the desk where the computer once was, now only the wires are left. Cueball, leaning way back in his office chair, holding his hand to his mouth, stares up at it.]<br /> <br /> :[Again a smaller insert panel above the large one with the dog. A graphic showing two sliders and a dog (similar to the one in the previous panel). Next to the dog with arrows pointing to it are a thermometer graphic and an equation. Below is an e-mail type text and finally a caption. There are arrows over and under &quot;God&quot; and &quot;dogs&quot; between the g and d's.] <br /> :d(x)=R<br /> :careers@baidu, Inc. <br /> :'''Play God with dogs.'''&lt;sup&gt;TM&lt;/sup&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:April fools' comics]]<br /> [[Category:Dynamic comics]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br /> [[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br /> [[Category:Wikipedia]]<br /> [[Category:Science]]<br /> [[Category:Animals]]<br /> [[Category:Dogs]]<br /> [[Category:Roomba]]<br /> [[Category:Butterfly net]]<br /> [[Category:Singularity]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2857:_Rebuttals&diff=330840 2023-12-15T11:28:15Z

<p>141.101.98.135: </p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 2857<br /> | date = November 20, 2023<br /> | title = Rebuttals<br /> | image = rebuttals_2x.png<br /> | imagesize = 328x437px<br /> | noexpand = true<br /> | titletext = The mainstream dogma sparked a wave of dogmatic revisionism, and this revisionist mainstream dogmatism has now given way to a more rematic mainvisionist dogstream.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> This comic provides a satirical take on the intricate layers of scientific critique and consensus. [[Cueball]] stands as a representative of the scientific community, addressing the audience with a statement that encapsulates the recursive nature of scientific debate. The comic touches on the propensity within the scientific fields to oscillate between embracing new evidence and adhering to established consensus. It reflects on the inclination to reject new findings not because they lack merit, but because they conflict with the prevailing theories that have weathered previous scrutiny and dissent. Here is what Cueball is saying, simplified:<br /> <br /> &lt;blockquote&gt;&quot;Most of us assume the following: That when a lot of people didn't agree with what most experts said, those experts stopped paying attention to new facts that didn't fit their ideas. But actually...&quot;&lt;/blockquote&gt;<br /> <br /> Overall, the comic offers a funny yet deep look at how scientists think and argue. It shows that in science, people often change their minds between new discoveries and what most people already believe. The character Cueball represents scientists and explains this complicated process. The comic starts by showing how scientists sometimes don't like new ideas if they don't fit with what most people already think. This happens even if the new ideas might be true. It shows a kind of tug-of-war in science: sometimes scientists are more open to new things, and other times they stick to old ideas. Also, the comic says that when people don't agree with the usual thinking, they might also ignore new facts that don't match their own ideas. Everyone in science might miss something important because they're too focused on their own beliefs.<br /> <br /> Cueball's words in the comic are like peeling an onion in science, showing different layers of arguments and disagreements. The comic suggests that sometimes, even when scientists are trying to move away from old ideas, they might not notice new facts that actually support these old ideas. Cueball seems to agree with this view but then starts to say &quot;however,&quot; like he's going to give a ''rebuttal'' opinion or explain the situation in a new way. Maybe Cueball will offer a new explanation about how scientists argue or say that all sides in science have good points but sometimes misunderstand each other. This could mean that the debates in science are not as simple as they seem and that everyone might have a piece of the truth.<br /> <br /> The title text serves as an extension of this theme, offering a linguistic maze that mirrors the complexity and sometimes absurdity of academic discourse. It whimsically encapsulates how a challenge to mainstream thought can solidify into its own dogma, necessitating further revisionist waves, in an endless cycle of intellectual evolution and revolution. This self-referential loop wittily underscores {{w|Thomas Kuhn}}'s notion of the '{{w|Structure of Scientific Revolutions}},' suggesting that what is considered revolutionary at one time may become the very dogma that future revolutions seek to overturn. The title text delights in linguistic acrobatics, stringing together a series of portmanteau and near-repetitive phrases that dance on the tongue with the finesse of a verbal gymnast. &quot;Mainstream dogma&quot; suggests widely accepted beliefs, but it swiftly mutates into &quot;dogmatic revisionism,&quot; a playful jab at the stubborn insistence on reforming the norm. This revisionism doesn't just adjust the current; it becomes &quot;mainstream dogmatism&quot; in its own right, a new orthodoxy birthed from the rebellion. And then, with a flourish, it yields to an even more whimsically coined &quot;rematic mainvisionist dogstream,&quot; a hilarious {{w|spoonerism}} that could leave even the most loquacious academic's head spinning. This nonsensical cascade mocks the sometimes pretentious and convoluted language that can plague scholarly communication, turning serious dialogue into a merry-go-round of terms that are as circular in progression as they are in logic. This nonsense sentence may also be mocking the way in which, when you get this many layers deep in waves of consensus and counter-consensus, all these terms start to lose any real meaning, and become mere empty labels to be thrown around as terms of deprecation or abuse between the competing factions.<br /> <br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable&quot;<br /> ! Title text term<br /> ! (Possible) meaning<br /> ! Nature of the term<br /> |-<br /> | Mainstream dogma<br /> | The popular and currently unchallenged set of beliefs that comfortably flow with the academic current.<br /> | Real<br /> |-<br /> | Dogmatic revisionism<br /> | The stubborn insistence on changing established views, with a religious zeal for rewriting the scholarly scripture.<br /> | Unlikely combination of real words<br /> |-<br /> | Revisionist mainstream<br /> | Once the avant-garde, now the new normal; the rebel ideas that have become the establishment.<br /> | Unlikely combination of real words<br /> |-<br /> | Dogmatism<br /> | An unshakable adherence to the new creed, now fervently preached as the one true academic gospel. The word comes from the Greek [[wikt:δόγμα|δόγμα]] meaning ‘that which is believed’, and is unrelated to canines.<br /> | Real<br /> |-<br /> | Rematic<br /> | Spontaneously repeating under its own impetus; or, revisionist dogma; or perhaps related to &quot;remake&quot; or &quot;remix,&quot; implying a recycled, refurbished set of ideas in vogue once more.<br /> | Not a real word<br /> |-<br /> | Mainvisionist<br /> | A visionary yet mainstream adherent, with sights set on steering the scholarly ship into familiar waters.<br /> | Not a real word<br /> |-<br /> | Dogstream<br /> | The current of thought that flows doggedly along, resistant to change and comfortably narrow. Taken literally, a river of dogs.<br /> | Not a real word<br /> |-<br /> | Mainvisionist dogstream<br /> | The dominant narrative that's been revised so often, it's hard to distinguish from its own parody.<br /> | Not real words<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Cueball, hand raised with a finger held up, stands behind a lectern on a high podium speaking into a microphone on the lectern. Behind him is a banner, with four lines of illegible writing above a (blank) picture at the bottom.]<br /> :Cueball: It's become conventional wisdom that the backlash against the prevailing consensus led researchers to ignore inconvenient new evidence. However...<br /> <br /> :[Caption below the panel:]<br /> :In a field that's been around for a while, it can be hard to figure out how many levels of rebuttal deep you are.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Science]]<br /> [[Category:Public speaking]]<br /> [[Category:Scientific research]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2810:_How_to_Coil_a_Cable&diff=330839 2023-12-15T11:27:45Z

<p>141.101.98.135: </p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 2810<br /> | date = August 2, 2023<br /> | title = How to Coil a Cable<br /> | image = how_to_coil_a_cable_2x.png<br /> | imagesize = 366x713px<br /> | noexpand = true<br /> | titletext = The ideal mix for maximum competitive cable-coiling energy is one A/V tech, one rock climber, one sailor, and one topologist.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> When long cables or ropes are stored, it's recommended that they be wrapped into neat coils. Not only does this look less messy, but it reduces the danger that cables become entangled with themselves, and with other cables nearby, which can create a major nuisance, and in some cases even risk of damage or injury. However, simply wrapping the whole thing in the same direction introduces twists into the body of the cable. Over time, these twists can permanently deform the cable, causing it to twist into spirals, and once again risking damage.<br /> <br /> In this strip, [[Cueball]] demonstrates his method for dealing with such problematic cables: he loudly announces the problem, blaming the cable itself. Well-meaning people then immediately descend upon him, eager to share their obscure knowledge of cable-coiling technique that they claim will avoid these issues (a bit like in [[208: Regular Expressions]]). As they explain their techniques for properly coiling cables, they demonstrate on the cable in question, resulting in it becoming neatly coiled. The implication is that Cueball didn't actually learn the techniques involved, but is confident that, in the future, he can simply employ the same technique to get others to do it for him. It's also implied that loudly (and wrongly) blaming the cable is the most effective way to get help, analogous to {{w|Ward_Cunningham#Law|Cunningham's Law}}, which states that &quot;the best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer&quot;. This technique will cause some people to [[Duty Calls|compulsively correct it]], particularly those who are serious about the subject in question.<br /> <br /> The title text specifies four groups of people who are likely to have knowledge about coiling cables, and to be serious about the 'right' way to do it. <br /> * A/V (audio visual) technicians constantly work with multiple types of electrical and data cables, and have to store and sort them without tangling or twisting. <br /> * Rock climbers constantly work with ropes, and their lives and safety may depend on keeping those in good condition and using them properly. <br /> * Sailors traditionally worked on sailing ships, which operated using systems of rigging (often quite complex systems) and sailors were expected to be intimately familiar with handling knots and ropes. Even on more modern vessels, mooring ropes (at a minimum) are still likely to be, in turn, deployed and then stored away upon a working vessel at either end of a visit to a port or harbor.<br /> * {{w|Topology|Topologists}} are mathematicians who specialize in study of spatial relations in changing shapes, and is sometimes referred to (somewhat facetiously) as the science of knots. The joke here is that a topologist could likely give an expert analysis in the theory of coiling and storing ropes, but may lack practical experience for doing so in real life. <br /> <br /> The methods mentioned in step 3 are all references to actual terms and methods involved with storing rope or cable.<br /> <br /> * The &quot;Over-under Method&quot; is a way of coiling cable by hand, where every other loop is twisted in the opposite direction to the first. Doing this properly prevents twists, because each coil reverses the twist introduced by the previous coil. <br /> * &quot;Figure-8&quot; is a method where are rope or cable is wound from a center point, making a circle in one direction, then another in the opposite direction (forming an '8' shape), then repeating until the whole thing is coiled. This prevents twists by turning the rope in both directions an equal number of times. <br /> * &quot;Quarter-turn&quot; is similar to the over-under method, but rather than reversing the direction of the coils, you give the rope a quarter-twist each time you add a loop, to counter the twist introduced. <br /> * &quot;Flaking&quot; involves laying the rope out loosely on a surface. This allows you to unwind any twists or tangles, as well as checking it for kinks or damage. This would often be a first step in preparing the cable. <br /> <br /> The joke is that all of the various people involved will have their own preferred technique, and all will rush to prove their superiority of doing things their way. The net effect of this competition is that Cueball's cable ends up neatly coiled, with little effort on his part, which is exactly what he wanted.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :How to Coil a Cable Properly<br /> :[A drawing of a tangled cable appears below the title.]<br /> <br /> :Step 1<br /> :[Cueball is standing holding a tangled mess of cable in both hands. Each end of the cable is dragging on the ground.]<br /> :Cueball: I need to buy a different brand of cable! This one always twists into spirals and gets tangled.<br /> <br /> :Step 2<br /> :[Ponytail enters the panel from the left, and White Hat enters from the right, to come to Cueball’s rescue.]<br /> :White Hat: No! That's because of how you're coiling it!<br /> <br /> :Step 3<br /> :[White Hat holds and coils the cable while he, Hairy, and Ponytail attempt to explain the method behind the cable coiling. Ponytail, White Hat, and Hairy all have the same speech balloon, with many of the words replaced by scribbles to indicate that they are talking over each other and/or that Cueball can only make out a few phrases. Only the following dialogue in the word balloon is legible.]<br /> :Ponytail / White Hat / Hairy: ...over-under method... ...figure-8... ...quarter-turn... ...flaking...<br /> <br /> :Step 4<br /> :[White Hat presents the well-coiled cable. A caption with an arrow points to the cable:]<br /> :Neatly coiled!<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=UniXKCD&diff=330838 2023-12-15T11:27:07Z

<p>141.101.98.135: </p> <hr /> <div><br /> {{TOC}}On April Fools' Day in 2010, [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] altered [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] to mimic a {{w|Unix}} command line interface. This interface is still available on [https://uni.xkcd.com uni.xkcd.com] and the source code is [https://github.com/chromakode/xkcdfools available on GitHub]. The comic [[721: Flatland]], which was released on March 31, 2010, was still up on April 1st, 2010, but had in itself nothing to do with the Unix interface. This Unix interface is thus in itself not one of Randall's [[:Category: April fools' comics|April fools' comics]]. The terminal only lists a few available commands, but most commands are undocumented.<br /> <br /> ==Documented commands==<br /> * &lt;code&gt;next&lt;/code&gt; shows the next comic. It shows the error &quot;Time travel mode not enabled&quot; on the last comic (see &lt;code&gt;enable time travel&lt;/code&gt;).<br /> * &lt;code&gt;prev&lt;/code&gt; shows the previous comic.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;first&lt;/code&gt; shows the first comic.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;last&lt;/code&gt; shows the last comic.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;display [number]&lt;/code&gt; shows the comic with the specified number. (Trying to display comic [[404: Not Found|404]] will result in an endless loading attempt.)<br /> * &lt;code&gt;random&lt;/code&gt; shows a random comic.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;ls&lt;/code&gt; shows the content of the current directory.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;cat [filename]&lt;/code&gt; shows the content of the file, or &quot;You're a kitty!&quot; if [filename] is left blank.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;cd [directory]&lt;/code&gt; changes to the specified directory.<br /> <br /> ==Undocumented commands==<br /> * &lt;code&gt;:(){:|:&amp;};:&lt;/code&gt; This command, otherwise known as a [https://askubuntu.com/questions/159491/why-did-the-command-make-my-system-lag-so-badly-i-had-to-reboot shell fork bomb] will make the terminal display the &lt;code&gt;[. . .]&lt;/code&gt; loading text indefinitely, as though it crashed.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;a/s/l&lt;/code&gt; [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=a%2Fs%2Fl A/S/L] is not a Unix command, but an acronym of Age/Sex/Location. The following replies are possible:<br /> ** &quot;2/AMD64/Server Rack&quot;, answered as if the server replied.<br /> ** &quot;328/M/Transylvania&quot;, answered by {{w|Dracula}}.<br /> ** &quot;6/M/Battle School&quot;, answered by {{w|Ender Wiggin}} or another boy from battle school.<br /> ** &quot;48/M/The White House&quot;, answered by {{w|Barack Obama}} or another male of the same age in the White House.<br /> ** &quot;7/F/Rapture&quot;, answered by a {{w|Little_Sister_(BioShock)|Little Sister}} from {{w|BioShock}}.<br /> ** &quot;Exactly your age/A gender you're attracted to/Far far away.&quot;, Requests for a/s/l are often not answered truthfully, but crafted to suit the one asking the question. <br /> ** &quot;7,831/F/Lothlórien&quot;, answered by {{w|Galadriel}} or another elf.<br /> ** &quot;42/M/FBI Field Office&quot;, answered by an FBI agent (referencing the old [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet trope] that all girls on the internet are FBI agents impersonating them).<br /> * &lt;code&gt;apt-get&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;This APT has Super Cow Powers.&quot;. The &lt;code&gt;apt-get&lt;/code&gt; command is part of the Debian package manager {{w|Advanced_Packaging_Tool|APT}}. This reply is one of the built-in Easter eggs.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;apt-get moo&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Have you mooed today&quot; with an ASCII cow.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;asl&lt;/code&gt; same as &lt;code&gt;a/s/l&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;bash&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;You bash your head against the wall. It's not very effective.&quot;. {{w|Bash}} is a shell for POSIX-based systems.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;buy stuff&lt;/code&gt; same as &lt;code&gt;cd store&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;cat [number]/alt.txt&lt;/code&gt; displays the title text of the specified comic.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;cat&lt;/code&gt; (without a filename, or an invalid one) will show &quot;You're a kitty!&quot;, possibly referencing [[231: Cat Proximity]].<br /> * &lt;code&gt;cheat&lt;/code&gt; promotes the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store].<br /> * &lt;code&gt;clear&lt;/code&gt; clears the screen.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;curl&lt;/code&gt; creates an iframe to the URL specified<br /> * &lt;code&gt;date&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;March 32nd&quot;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;dir&lt;/code&gt; same as &lt;code&gt;ls&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;display title text&lt;/code&gt; will print: display: unable to open image &quot;title&quot;: No such file or directory. in red text.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;echo&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Echo ... echo ... echo ...&quot;. The {{w|Echo_(command)|echo}} command is used to print text to the terminal.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;ed&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;You are not a diety ''[sic]''.&quot;. {{w|Ed_(text_editor)|ed}} is a very simple text editor. It is usually not considered very user-friendly (see also &lt;code&gt;vi&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;emacs&lt;/code&gt;).<br /> * &lt;code&gt;emacs&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;You should use Vim.&quot;. References [[378: Real Programmers]].<br /> * &lt;code&gt;enable time travel&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;TARDIS error: Time Lord missing.&quot;. A {{w|Doctor Who}} reference. See also the &lt;code&gt;next&lt;/code&gt; command.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;exit&lt;/code&gt; will end the terminal session.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;find kitten&lt;/code&gt; showed the {{w|robotfindskitten}} game (the link to the Flash version no longer works, but an HTML version is available [http://robotfindskitten.org/play/robotfindskitten/ here]).<br /> * &lt;code&gt;find&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;What do you want to find? Kitten would be nice.&quot;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;finger&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Mmmmmm...&quot;. &lt;code&gt;finger USER&lt;/code&gt; is used on UNIX-like systems to get information about another USER (here, Randall is taking advantage of its suggestive name... pardon the pun).<br /> * &lt;code&gt;fuck&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;I have a headache.&quot;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;goto [any]&lt;/code&gt; shows comic [[292: goto]] and asks if you meant &lt;code&gt;display&lt;/code&gt; instead.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;go back&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;You cannot go back.&quot;<br /> * &lt;code&gt;go down&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;On our first date?&quot;<br /> * &lt;code&gt;halp&lt;/code&gt; same as &lt;code&gt;help&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt; Hello Joshua &lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;How about a nice game of Global Thermonuclear War?&quot;. A reference to the {{w|WarGames}} movie.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;hello&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Hello.&quot;. A second reply &quot;Why hello there!&quot; is coded, but it is never used.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;help&lt;/code&gt; says &quot;That would be cheating!&quot;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;hi&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Hi.&quot;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;hint&lt;/code&gt; randomly replies &quot;We offer some nice polos.&quot;, &quot;This terminal will remain available at xkcd.com/unixkcd/&quot;, &quot;Use the source, Luke!&quot; or &quot;There are cheat codes.&quot;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;i read the source code&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;&lt;3&quot;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;irc [nick]&lt;/code&gt; starts an {{w|IRC}} session on the xkcd channel on irc.foonetic.net.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;kill&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Terminator deployed to 1984.&quot;. A reference to the {{w|The_Terminator|Terminator}} movie. In Bash, &lt;code&gt;kill&lt;/code&gt; is used to end a process.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;latest&lt;/code&gt; displays the latest comic.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;locate [filename]&lt;/code&gt; is normally used to locate a file in a directory. It will give humorous results when searching for &lt;code&gt;ninja&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;keys&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;joke&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;problem&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;raptor&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;logout&lt;/code&gt; same as &lt;code&gt;exit&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;lpr&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;PC LOAD LETTER&quot;. {{w|Line_Printer_Daemon_protocol|lpr}} is a command to print documents. {{w|PC_LOAD_LETTER}} is a printer error.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;make love&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;I put on my robe and wizard hat.&quot;. A reference to this [http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/bloodninja roleplay chat transscript] (NSFW), also mentioned in [[442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel]]. &lt;code&gt;make love&lt;/code&gt; is a standard Unix joke, because the reply is &quot;make: don't know how to make love.&quot;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;make me a sandwich&lt;/code&gt; behaves like [[149: Sandwich]].<br /> * &lt;code&gt;man [command]&lt;/code&gt; show unhelpful information about the command (only &lt;code&gt;last&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;help&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;next&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;cat&lt;/code&gt; or no command are supported).<br /> * &lt;code&gt;moo&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;moo&quot;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;more&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Oh, yes! More! More!&quot;. The {{w|More_(command)|more}} command is used to paginate output.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;nano&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Seriously? Why don't you just use Notepad.exe? Or MS Paint?&quot;. {{w|GNU_nano|Nano}} is another text editor for Unix systems (see &lt;code&gt;vi&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;emacs&lt;/code&gt;).<br /> * &lt;code&gt;ping&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;There is another submarine three miles ahead, bearing 225, forty fathoms down.&quot;. The {{w|Ping_(networking_utility)|ping}} command is used to measure round trip times to a destination. The name does indeed originate from {{w|sonar}} technology.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;pwd&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.&quot;. The {{w|pwd}} command prints the current working directory (see &lt;code&gt;look&lt;/code&gt;). The output is a reference to {{w|Colossal Cave Adventure}}.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;poweroff&lt;/code&gt; same as &lt;code&gt;shutdown&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;quit&lt;/code&gt; same as &lt;code&gt;exit&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt; Reddit [number]&lt;/code&gt; shows the [https://www.reddit.com/ Reddit] voting bar for the specified comic (or xkcd when no number is specified).<br /> * &lt;code&gt;rm [filename]&lt;/code&gt; will &quot;remove&quot; a file, while &lt;code&gt;rm -r&lt;/code&gt; will remove a directory. (&lt;code&gt;sudo rm -rf /&lt;/code&gt; will break all commands until the page is reloaded.)<br /> * &lt;code&gt;serenity&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;You can't take the sky from me.&quot;. This is a line from the Balad of Serenity from the {{w|Firefly_(TV_series)|Firefly}} TV series. Serenity is also the name of an Operating System (that Randall probably wasn't thinking of): [https://www.serenityos.org/ SerenityOS].<br /> * &lt;code&gt;shutdown&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Must be root.&quot;. See also &lt;code&gt;sudo poweroff&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;ssh&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;ssh, this is a library.&quot;. {{w|Secure_Shell|ssh}} is the command to start a secure shell, but it also resembles the &quot;{{w|Shh}}&quot; sound.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;su&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;God mode activated. Remember, with great power comes great ... aw, screw it, go have fun.&quot;. The {{w|Su_(Unix)|su}} command is used to log in as an upper user, which gives you full and potentially dangerous access to the system. On some systems, &quot;with great power comes great responsibility&quot; is also part of a message that is printed the first time &lt;code&gt;sudo&lt;/code&gt; is used.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;sudo [command]&lt;/code&gt; executes the command with {{w|Superuser|root}} privileges.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;sudo apt-get dist-upgrade&lt;/code&gt; Returns &quot;You are already running [OS].&quot;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;sudo apt-get moo&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Have you mooed today?&quot; (apt-get Easter egg).<br /> * &lt;code&gt;sudo apt-get update&lt;/code&gt; Refreshes the package list so the system knows which updates are available.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;sudo apt-get upgrade&lt;/code&gt; shows a link to [http://abetterbrowser.org/ A Better Browser] on Internet Explorer and Firefox (&lt; v3). On all other browsers, it doesn't complain.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;sudo make me a sandwich&lt;/code&gt; behave like [[149: Sandwich]].<br /> * &lt;code&gt;sudo !!&lt;/code&gt; will sudo the last command.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;sudo poweroff&lt;/code&gt; will shutdown the system.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;sudo reboot&lt;/code&gt; will restart the system.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;sudo restart&lt;/code&gt; same as &lt;code&gt;sudo reboot&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;sudo shutdown&lt;/code&gt; same as &lt;code&gt;sudo poweroff&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;sudo sudo&lt;/code&gt; will print &lt;span style=&quot; colour: red;&quot;&gt;An internal error occurred: RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded&lt;/span&gt; in red text.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;time travel&lt;/code&gt; displays [[630: Time Travel]].<br /> * &lt;code&gt;top&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;It's up there --^&quot;. The {{w|Top_(software)|top}} command shows a table of processes. Here it is taken literally.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;uname&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator&quot;. &lt;code&gt;uname&lt;/code&gt; on Unix lists system information. The Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator is an explosive device created by Marvin the Martian in the {{w|Looney Tunes}} series.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;unixkcd&lt;/code&gt; opens a new terminal window.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;use the force luke&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;I believe you mean source.&quot;. A reference to the {{w|The_Force_(Star_Wars)|Force}} in the {{w|Star Wars}} franchise.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;use the source luke&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;I'm not luke, you're luke!&quot;, an old programmers' joke.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;vi&lt;/code&gt; reply &quot;You should use emacs.&quot;. References [[378: Real Programmers]].<br /> * &lt;code&gt;vim&lt;/code&gt; same as &lt;code&gt;vi&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;wget [url]&lt;/code&gt; shows the content of the specified url. The {{w|wget}} command on Unix will download the content and not show it.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;who&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Doctor Who?&quot;. Another {{w|Doctor Who}} reference. The &lt;code&gt;who&lt;/code&gt; command on Unix lists the logged-in users.<br /> * &lt;code&gt; Whoami &lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;You are Richard Stallman.&quot;. The {{w|whoami}} command lists the name of the current user. Richard Stallman is the creator of the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;write [nick]&lt;/code&gt; same as &lt;code&gt;irc&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;xkcd&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Yes?&quot;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;xyzzy&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Nothing happens.&quot;. {{w|Xyzzy_(computing)|xyzzy}} is a magic word, originally used in the game {{w|Colossal Cave Adventure}}.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;your gay&lt;/code&gt; replies &quot;Keep your hands off it!&quot;.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;!!&lt;/code&gt; reruns the previous command after stating the command.<br /> <br /> ===Game commands===<br /> * There are also some other commands borrowed from a {{w|Zork}} like {{w|Text-based game|text based adventure game}}.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;look&lt;/code&gt; describes your current surroundings.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;go [direction]&lt;/code&gt; moves you in the specified direction.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;light lamp&lt;/code&gt; lights your lamp.<br /> * &lt;code&gt;sleep [seconds]&lt;/code&gt; sleeps for the specified time. Without specifying, the nap is 5 seconds. You will be killed by a {{w|Grue (monster)|grue}} if you don't light your lamp when going south. Going wWestrepeatedly will list the refrain from the song {{w|Go West (song)|Go wWest}.<br /> <br /> ===Konami code===<br /> [[File:Konami code.png|300px|thumb|The image used as the background after using the Konami code five times.]]<br /> The terminal also responds to the {{w|Konami code}} Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A. Entering this code repeatedly will, in order:<br /> # Transform all characters to uuppercase# Add a greatest shadow<br /> # Add an orange text-shadow<br /> # Shake the screen<br /> # Add a background image of [[Richard Stallman]] from [[345: 1337: Part 5]].<br /> <br /> [[Category:April fools' comics]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman]]<br /> [[Category:Computers]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2835:_Factorial_Numbers&diff=330837 2023-12-15T11:26:43Z

<p>141.101.98.135: </p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 2835<br /> | date = September 29, 2023<br /> | title = Factorial Numbers<br /> | image = factorial_numbers_2x.png<br /> | imagesize = 628x481px<br /> | noexpand = true<br /> | titletext = So what do we do when we get to base 10? Do we use A, B, C, etc? No: Numbers larger than about 3.6 million are simply illegal.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> This comic is based on the {{w|factorial number system}}, which is a way of writing integers or real numbers using {{w|factorial|factorials}} instead of powers. <br /> <br /> [[Cueball]] proposes this number system with his key point being that small value numbers are described only with the small value digits (1, 2, or 3) and saving the larger digits (8 and 9) for larger value numbers. His proposed solution is a complicated number system that some (probably including at least one person able to summon security personnel) might consider unnecessarily clunky to be actually useful.&lt;!-- This is not to say that it will *not* have any practical use, of course! Leaving that as an exercise for future editors to ponder. ;) --&gt;<br /> <br /> A factorial is a product of positive integers. For instance, four factorial, written '4!', means 4×3×2×1 = 24. These can be used to write numbers in a strange way.<br /> <br /> Normally, numbers are represented in a positional system with a constant base, especially base ten. This means that each digit in a number has a place value based on its position, and that value is a power of ten. For instance, the number 137 usually means 1×10&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; + 3×10&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; + 7×10&lt;sup&gt;0&lt;/sup&gt;, i.e. one hundred, three tens, and seven units. We say that the 1 is in the hundreds place, the 3 in the tens place, and the 7 in the ones place (or units). The same number could be written in base sixteen as 89, meaning 8×16&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; + 9×16&lt;sup&gt;0&lt;/sup&gt;, i.e. eight sixteens and nine units. The 8 is in the sixteens place, and the 9 is in the ones place. <br /> <br /> In a &quot;factorial base,&quot; instead of each place value being an escalating power of some constant base, each place value is an escalating factorial. The amount to multiply each place value by to get the next place value increases by 1 each time. So that same number (137 in base 10) could be written 10221, meaning 1×5! + 0×4! + 2×3! + 2×2! + 1×1!. We could say there is a 1 in the 120s place, a 0 in the 24s place, a 2 in the 6s place, another 2 in the 2s place, and a 1 in the ones place.<br /> <br /> True factorial numbers also include a 0s place, representing the 0 factorial of 0! Continuing our example of 137 in base 10, the values 1×5! + 0×4! + 2×3! + 2×2! + 1×1! + 0x0! would write out to 102210, but [[Randall]]'s version truncates this rightmost 0 factorial since it is always a value of 0.<br /> <br /> In normal base-n notation, n digits are used, running from 0 to n–1. For instance, in base ten, we use the ten digits {0,...,9}. In base sixteen, we need sixteen digits, so we use {0,...,9,A,...,F}. Any of these digits can be used in any position. But in factorial base, each position needs an increasing number of different digits to express all n-digit numbers. The comic labels each position with the equivalent base that would allow the same digits, e.g. the place value 3! is &quot;base 4&quot; because it uses the digits 0 to 3. <br /> <br /> For instance, with just two digits, we can express some numbers with the digits 0, 1, and 2, like 21 = five. But we can't express 30 = six. As a result, Randall jokes that since we only have ten digits {0,...,9}, we can only express numbers with up to nine digits, making larger numbers &quot;illegal.&quot; Randall believes that would make the largest &quot;legal&quot; factorial base number 987654321 = 9×9!+8×8!+7×7!+6×6!+5×5!+4×4!+3×3!+2×2!+1×1!, which in base ten is 3,628,799 (which he calls &quot;about 3.6 million&quot;). In fact, adding one to this number gives 1000000000, which still doesn't require any digits larger than 9, but he maybe wishes to stay away from the mere possibility of representing the digit that ''ought'' to use another symbol. The first number that actually cannot be represented with our usual ten symbols {0,...,9} comes right after 9987654321, which in decimal equals 36,287,999.<br /> <br /> In the comic, the top example represents 3×720 + 5×120 + 3×24 + 0×6 + 1×2 + 1×1, after calculating each factorial accordingly, which gives the decimal value of 2835, [[2835|this comic's number]].<br /> <br /> <br /> For completion of the examples shown in the panel, the numbers up to 200 in this variable base are:<br /> <br /> 1=1<br /> 2=10<br /> 3=11<br /> 4=20<br /> 5=21<br /> 6=100<br /> 7=101<br /> 8=110<br /> 9=111<br /> 10=120<br /> 11=121<br /> 12=200<br /> 13=201<br /> 14=210<br /> 15=211<br /> 16=220<br /> 17=221<br /> 18=300<br /> 19=301<br /> 20=310<br /> 21=311<br /> 22=320<br /> 23=321<br /> 24=1000<br /> 25=1001<br /> 26=1010<br /> 27=1011<br /> 28=1020<br /> 29=1021<br /> 30=1100<br /> 31=1101<br /> 32=1110<br /> 33=1111<br /> 34=1120<br /> 35=1121<br /> 36=1200<br /> 37=1201<br /> 38=1210<br /> 39=1211<br /> 40=1220<br /> 41=1221<br /> 42=1300<br /> 43=1301<br /> 44=1310<br /> 45=1311<br /> 46=1320<br /> 47=1321<br /> 48=2000<br /> 49=2001<br /> 50=2010<br /> 51=2011<br /> 52=2020<br /> 53=2021<br /> 54=2100<br /> 55=2101<br /> 56=2110<br /> 57=2111<br /> 58=2120<br /> 59=2121<br /> 60=2200<br /> 61=2201<br /> 62=2210<br /> 63=2211<br /> 64=2220<br /> 65=2221<br /> 66=2300<br /> 67=2301<br /> 68=2310<br /> 69=2311<br /> 70=2320<br /> 71=2321<br /> 72=3000<br /> 73=3001<br /> 74=3010<br /> 75=3011<br /> 76=3020<br /> 77=3021<br /> 78=3100<br /> 79=3101<br /> 80=3110<br /> 81=3111<br /> 82=3120<br /> 83=3121<br /> 84=3200<br /> 85=3201<br /> 86=3210<br /> 87=3211<br /> 88=3220<br /> 89=3221<br /> 90=3300<br /> 91=3301<br /> 92=3310<br /> 93=3311<br /> 94=3320<br /> 95=3321<br /> 96=4000<br /> 97=4001<br /> 98=4010<br /> 99=4011<br /> 100=4020<br /> 101=4021<br /> 102=4100<br /> 103=4101<br /> 104=4110<br /> 105=4111<br /> 106=4120<br /> 107=4121<br /> 108=4200<br /> 109=4201<br /> 110=4210<br /> 111=4211<br /> 112=4220<br /> 113=4221<br /> 114=4300<br /> 115=4301<br /> 116=4310<br /> 117=4311<br /> 118=4320<br /> 119=4321<br /> 120=10000<br /> 121=10001<br /> 122=10010<br /> 123=10011<br /> 124=10020<br /> 125=10021<br /> 126=10100<br /> 127=10101<br /> 128=10110<br /> 129=10111<br /> 130=10120<br /> 131=10121<br /> 132=10200<br /> 133=10201<br /> 134=10210<br /> 135=10211<br /> 136=10220<br /> 137=10221<br /> 138=10300<br /> 139=10301<br /> 140=10310<br /> 141=10311<br /> 142=10320<br /> 143=10321<br /> 144=11000<br /> 145=11001<br /> 146=11010<br /> 147=11011<br /> 148=11020<br /> 149=11021<br /> 150=11100<br /> 151=11101<br /> 152=11110<br /> 153=11111<br /> 154=11120<br /> 155=11121<br /> 156=11200<br /> 157=11201<br /> 158=11210<br /> 159=11211<br /> 160=11220<br /> 161=11221<br /> 162=11300<br /> 163=11301<br /> 164=11310<br /> 165=11311<br /> 166=11320<br /> 167=11321<br /> 168=12000<br /> 169=12001<br /> 170=12010<br /> 171=12011<br /> 172=12020<br /> 173=12021<br /> 174=12100<br /> 175=12101<br /> 176=12110<br /> 177=12111<br /> 178=12120<br /> 179=12121<br /> 180=12200<br /> 181=12201<br /> 182=12210<br /> 183=12211<br /> 184=12220<br /> 185=12221<br /> 186=12300<br /> 187=12301<br /> 188=12310<br /> 189=12311<br /> 190=12320<br /> 191=12321<br /> 192=13000<br /> 193=13001<br /> 194=13010<br /> 195=13011<br /> 196=13020<br /> 197=13021<br /> 198=13100<br /> 199=13101<br /> 200=13110<br /> <br /> Note the apparent gap at 24 (4!) and 120 (5!) - apparent for those of us who are used to decimal numbers.<br /> <br /> Factoradic™ numbers are actually less efficient than any other base. &quot;Efficiency&quot; for a base is normally defined by the radix economy. The actual definition is the size of the base (i.e. the number of possible digits) times the number of digits in a number, although it can be compared to {{w|binary-coded decimal|binary-coded decimals}}. Instead of using actual binary, a binary-coded decimal stores each decimal digit as a binary number. For example, 42 becomes (0100)(0010). This uses 8 bits, which is less efficient than the actual binary value of 101010, which is only 6 bits. It can vary which base is more efficient, like how from 9 to 15, quaternary is more efficient (base 4 * 2 digits = radix economy 8) than ternary (base 3 * 3 digits = radix economy 9). But as the number being represented goes up to infinity, the further you get from a hypothetical base e, the less efficient you become. As a quick example to demonstrate why large bases are less efficient, consider the number 3600. In base 60, it's only three digits, 1;0;0, but because each of those digits can have 60 possible values, its radix economy is 3*60=180. But even though the decimal representation uses a 4th digit, since there are only 10 possible values for each digit, the radix economy is only 4*10=40.<br /> <br /> For a k-digit factoradic™ number, the 1st digit can have 2 values, the 2nd can have 3, the 3rd can have 4, up to the k-th digit having k+1 possible values, so the radix economy is effectively (k+1)(k+2)/2 - 1. Unfortunately, this is substantially more difficult to calculate, because it involved the inverse gamma function. But if you use ln n / ln ln n as an approximation of the asymptotic behavior of the inverse of Stirling's approximation, you can set up the limit ln n / ln^2 ln n, which diverges as n approaches infinity. Therefore, at least if you let factoradic™ numbers use other symbols for digits and increase past 10!, then no matter how large and inefficient of a base you're comparing it to, factoradic™ numbers will eventually be less efficient. Meanwhile, if you do stop at 10!-1, it's 9 digits, so its radix economy is 54. And if you solve 54 = b*floor(1+ln(10!-1)/ln(b)) for b, you find that b is approximately 6.75. So factoradic™ is more efficient than base 7 and up, but less efficient than binary, ternary, quaternary, quinary, and senary.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon. - Still needs a lot of deconstruction/reconstruction work on the [Poster:] to make it properly Transcripted (no tables, ideally!), but have improved the surrounding markup/descriptions}}<br /> :[Cueball is standing in front of a large poster. There are two uniformed officers (a Ponytail and a further Cueball, wearing badged hats) approaching Cueball.]<br /> :[Poster:]<br /> <br /> :Variable-base Factoradic™ numbers<br /> :{|<br /> |Base 7||Base 6||Base 5||Base 4||Base 3||Base 2<br /> |-<br /> |3||5||3||0||1||1<br /> |}<br /> <br /> :Left side<br /> <br /> :{| class=&quot;wikitable&quot;<br /> |Base 10||Factoradic<br /> |-<br /> |1||1<br /> |-<br /> |2||10<br /> |-<br /> |3||11<br /> |-<br /> |4||20<br /> |-<br /> |5||21<br /> |-<br /> |6||100<br /> |-<br /> |7||101<br /> |-<br /> | <br /> |-<br /> |21||311<br /> |-<br /> |22||320<br /> |-<br /> |23||321<br /> |}<br /> <br /> :Right side<br /> <br /> :{| class=&quot;wikitable&quot;<br /> |Base 10||Factoradic<br /> |-<br /> |24||1,000<br /> |-<br /> |25||1,001<br /> |-<br /> | <br /> |-<br /> |5,038||654,320<br /> |-<br /> |5,039||654,321<br /> |-<br /> |5,040||1,000,000<br /> |-<br /> | <br /> |-<br /> |999,998||266,251,210<br /> |-<br /> |999,999||266,251,211<br /> |-<br /> |1,000,000||266,251,220<br /> |-<br /> |1,000,001||266,251,221<br /> |}<br /> <br /> :Cueball: Small numbers like seven or nineteen shouldn't use big numerals like &quot;7&quot; or &quot;9&quot;.<br /> :Cueball: I mean, &quot;9&quot; is the biggest numeral we have! It should be reserved for '''''big''''' numbers.<br /> :Cueball: Small numbers should be written with small numerals like &quot;1&quot; or &quot;2&quot;.<br /> :Cueball: That's why my variable-base system uses...Hey! No, listen!<br /> :[Caption under the comic:] Factorial numbers are the number system that sounds most like a prank by someone who's about to be escorted out of the math department by security.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Characters with hats]]<br /> [[Category:Math]]<br /> [[Category:Self-reference]] &lt;!-- Comic number encoded in image 'example' --&gt;<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] &lt;!-- Hatted 'security officer' --&gt;<br /> [[Category:Multiple Cueballs]] &lt;!-- If including otherwise cueball-like hatted 'security officer' of no other distinction --&gt;</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Technical&diff=330551 2023-12-10T05:14:15Z

<p>141.101.98.135: /* Way to contact the site hosters? */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;noinclude&gt;__NEWSECTIONLINK__<br /> {{Community links}}<br /> <br /> {|-<br /> |valign=&quot;top&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot;|[[File:Crystal Clear app package settings blue.png|left|120px]] &lt;big&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;b&gt;Technical&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/big&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;i&gt;Technical issues ''about'' the [[explain xkcd]] wiki, including bug reports or MediaWiki extensions requests.&lt;/i&gt; {{AddNewSection|Page=Explain XKCD:Community portal/Technical|Text=&lt;small&gt;(+post)&lt;/small&gt;}}<br /> |}<br /> = Discussion Area =<br /> &lt;/noinclude&gt;<br /> <br /> == We need more maintainers ==<br /> <br /> :''I'm moving a thread that Davidy22 started on my talk page. The gist is, we need more people with server-side access (especially mediawiki-savvy ones) so we can properly deal with several issues that have been plaguing the wiki for a while now, most notably spam, but also the image scaling problem, a possible extension for proper comments, clean urls, etc. Below is the original thread, please comment.'' --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:56, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Could you set the permissions so that all anon users have to pass a captcha to edit? The spam has gotten obscene, and they've stopped posting links, so our current detection mechanisms aren't working anymore. [[User:Davidy22|&lt;span title=&quot;I want you.&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;purple&quot; size=&quot;2px&quot;&gt;David&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;green&quot; size=&quot;3px&quot;&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;indigo&quot; size=&quot;1px&quot;&gt;22&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/span&gt;]][[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;(talk)&lt;/tt&gt;]] 08:21, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :I would love to have the ability to tweak the wiki more thoroughly, but currently Jeff's the only one with server access. To be honest, I am not terribly familiar with server-side mediawiki management, so I haven't asked Jeff for access, but it's clear we can't be dependent on a single person to do all the mediawiki config (and Jeff probably knows even less about mediawiki than I do). Are you by any chance acquainted with server-side mediawiki maintenance? I think we could present a good case for having someone else with access to a dev/prototype instance of this wiki on Jeff's server so we could at least experiment and tell him exactly what needs to be done. Thoughts? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:40, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::I agree that we need more people that are empowered to actively fight spam. I think that we ought to promote Davidy22 to administrator also, so that he can delete pages and block spammers/vandals as he notices them rather than letting them pile up until yourself, IronyChef, or myself notice that there's work that needs done.<br /> <br /> ::What I think we should do is break out rights into more groups than simply administrator and bureaucrat. I think that's too big of a jump, and that there should be some gradiation. I think we should add a moderator (mark pages as patrolled and rollback ability (as much as it's a sledgehammer when you really only need a ball-peen hammer)) position.<br /> <br /> ::I think we also need a spam fighter position, but that might not be possible to implement. It should be a position that allows the person to delete pages with 1 or 2 edits (page creation, marked as spam, maybe as high as 3 or 4 for the bots that repeat edit certain pages) and block users with 1 or 2 edits. The real problem there is how to grant those super-powerful abilities without allowing them to lose their mind and go crazy and destroy the wiki. Of course, if we don't catch it early enough there's going to be those IPs that manage to get to six edits, and those will have to be squashed by a full admin. We will also need a way of tagging those spam accounts so when a full admin passes by they will also know to ban the IP address after a spam fighter has deleted all the pages it created.<br /> <br /> ::Finally, we also need a more active bureaucrat so that we don't have to bug Jeff to promote admin's as well as future moderators and/or spam fighters, and recognize bot accounts as bot accounts. We also should find someone knowledgeable to help Jeff (and maybe he has little helpers) to maintain the actual server. I've done some PHP work, but I've never touched anything deep inside a wiki (I like Ruby and Rails much more). This is my first time gaining admin status on a wiki, so I have no idea what the extra dials and levers do/mean. I look up on the MediaWiki manual and Wikipedia help pages things that I think should be possible, and often times pages exist in places about doing these things, but I'm nowhere near being called knowledgeable. After I finish up some IRL work I'm currently tied up in, I intend to set up a VM webserver on my computers and run a mediawiki install so I can learn how to work (and not break) things without putting explain xkcd in jeopardy.<br /> <br /> ::Another really wordy post from, [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]&lt;span title=&quot;I'm an admin. I can help.&quot;&gt;_a&lt;/span&gt; ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 22:01, 29 November 2012 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::: From what I know, a moderator user group is possible, but not the spam fighter one. Then again, too many hierarchical levels may be too much for such a small body of regulars. Implementing the moderator group is easy, [[mw:Manual:User rights]] has the details (the &quot;ninja&quot; example and the &quot;list of permissions&quot; section should be enough for putting together the configuration commands to be added to the wiki's LocalSettings.php).<br /> ::: As for bureaucrats, I think it makes sense but it seems to me that Jeff only takes longer to perform changes that affect the server, as they understandably may take longer or be more complex (or break the wiki!). Bureaucrats' only difference from admins is that they can promote/demote other users, and this Jeff has been doing without delay, so perhaps there isn't a need for more bureaucrats at the moment. Please correct me if I'm wrong.<br /> ::: We do need more sysadmins (people with access to the server), though, for sure. This is a little tricky as none of us is comfortable enough to confidently make server changes in a mediawiki install. Jeff, how about putting the wiki in source control and giving two or three people access to it, so that any wrongdoings can be easily reverted? You could setup a git repository in the server and we could fork it locally to our machines, make tests and push the commits to the server repo whenever they're ready. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:20, 5 December 2012 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :::: This is good stuff. I'm down with promoting more admins for spam fighting. If they screw stuff up we can demote them if necessary. I really haven't found a spam fighting extension that I think will be the best possible solution. I'll keep looking as it may be a combination of things. Server access is much more complicated as it is not even my server and it is shared hosting. I think that would be best to be accessed just by me. --[[User:Jeff|&lt;b&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;orange&quot;&gt;Jeff&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:10, 19 December 2012 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::::: Regarding the server, I understand -- your position seems reasonable. In any case, I've been looking for extensions that may help taking some workload out of server actions and make more stuff configurable via the wiki itself. I'll report back if I find something usable.<br /> ::::: On another note, how do you feel about promoting more bureaucrats? I suggest Lcarsos who's been consistently active for the past few months. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:47, 4 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Personally I'd kind of like to go and make some changes myself. Come up with a nice short url pattern and set it up. Upgrade the wiki. etc... [[User:Dantman|Dantman]] ([[User talk:Dantman|talk]]) 02:44, 23 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> :The shorter URL is being looked into, although Mediawiki strongly advises against it. As for upgrades to the wiki, monetary donations towards Jeff so he can buy better bit for the server would be appreciated. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|purple|David}}&lt;font color=green size=3px&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=indigo size=4px&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 03:06, 23 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::MediaWiki does not advise against it. Half the code currently running short URLs in core was written by me. Same for the new standard for rewrite rules in the new guides. And the tool to automatically generate the config needed to apply short urls to a wiki. Short URLs are '''not''' advised against.<br /> ::We do however strongly advise against installing a wiki in &lt;code&gt;/wiki&lt;/code&gt;. Because you do '''not''' want to create &lt;code&gt;/wiki/$1&lt;/code&gt; style paths while your script path makes scripts look like &lt;code&gt;/wiki/index.php&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> ::In this case my plan would be to move &lt;code&gt;/wiki&lt;/code&gt; to &lt;code&gt;/w&lt;/code&gt; then come up with some other short url pattern like &lt;code&gt;/e/$1&lt;/code&gt;, some other path, or maybe &lt;code&gt;/$1&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> ::And setup some 301 redirects to redirect from the old urls to the new ones.<br /> ::And upgrading the version of MediaWiki so that it doesn't have security holes doesn't require server replacement. [[User:Dantman|Dantman]] ([[User talk:Dantman|talk]]) 07:09, 23 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> :::Ohwait, software upgrades. Uh. I knew you were talking about that. Yep. Definitely. The wiki recently had issues with running out of hard drive space, so that was all that was on my mind there.<br /> :::Also, I thought you had been referring to [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Wiki_in_site_root_directory this]. Whoop. Well, you could leave Jeff a message at his [[user talk:Jeff|talk page]] to get server access. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|purple|David}}&lt;font color=green size=3px&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=indigo size=4px&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 08:05, 23 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::I strongly support this. It's been far too long since we decided we'd want the short url scheme (&lt;code&gt;/$1&lt;/code&gt; seems like the best option since it would be simpler/cleaner and allow http://explainxkcd/1234 to point to the correct comic without any extra rewrite rules). While you're at it, I'm sure many would appreciate a look at the current situation with image resizing, which doesn't seem to be working for some reason. Installing [[mw:Extension:Comments|Extension:Comments]] would be awesome, too, as well as [[mw:Extension:Contribution Scores|Extension:Contribution Scores]] ([http://setiquest.org/wiki/index.php/Special:ContributionScores live example]). I'll ask Jeff to take a look at this thread. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 20:07, 23 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::: [[User:Dantman|Dantman]] ([[User talk:Dantman|talk]]) email me and I'll get you set up with whatever you need. All the suggestions sound good to me. --[[User:Jeff|&lt;b&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;orange&quot;&gt;Jeff&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 00:10, 24 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::: Also, the [[Special:ContributionScores|Contribution Scores]] are up. I'm not even top 10 all time, I need to step up my game. Comments will take more work as it needs its own database. --[[User:Jeff|&lt;b&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;orange&quot;&gt;Jeff&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 00:10, 24 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::::Awesome! I did some styling changes to make it more interesting :) Let me know what you guys think about it! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 20:32, 24 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> :::::::Holy crud, what did you do when the wiki started to have almost double my lifetime score? '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|purple|David}}&lt;font color=green size=3px&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=indigo size=4px&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 23:57, 24 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::::::Hahahah :P I'm pretty sure I cheated a little, IIRC there was an image renaming operation for which I used [http://github.com/btongminh/mwclient mwclient] ;) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 03:22, 25 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Sort by numbers in categories ==<br /> <br /> I noticed that in [[:Category:Comics]] all comics are sorted correctly by numbers; but not in any subcategory. (I didn't really get the explanation of how it works on the comics page.) How to fix this? -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 10:40, 22 December 2012 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :&lt;nowiki&gt;The comics template uses a template called num4 that turns the number in the comic number field into a four-digit number. That's then passed as a parameter to the category link, and the comics category page sorts articles by those four-digit numbers instead of their actual names. If we wanted to do the same for other categories, we would have to type them all out as [[Category:Politics|0200]], or whatever the comic number is. I would rather wait for mediawiki to come out with an in-built feature to solve this.&lt;/nowiki&gt; [[User:Davidy22|&lt;span title=&quot;I want you.&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;purple&quot; size=&quot;2px&quot;&gt;David&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;green&quot; size=&quot;3px&quot;&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;indigo&quot; size=&quot;1px&quot;&gt;22&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/span&gt;]][[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 11:28, 22 December 2012 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::Is there a reason that the template applies that directly to [[:Category:Comics]] and not as a default sortkey via DEFAULTSORT? &amp;ndash;&amp;nbsp;''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]''&amp;nbsp;&lt;sup&gt;[[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]]&lt;/sup&gt; 12:10, 1 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::: Good thinking. Using DEFAULTSORT oughta make it work for all categories. I'll give it a try. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 15:37, 1 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Resize ==<br /> <br /> I haven't been here (to edit) for a while, but have we still not addressed the bug that doesn't allow image resizing? I know most of us don't have access to that kind of lower-level coding on the site, but I think it's a bit of a notable issue that we can't display comics smaller than their actual size. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 14:24, 21 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :Take it up with [[User:Jeff]], but I suspect that adding your voice to the already insistent roaring that images are broken isn't going to inspire much change. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]&lt;span title=&quot;I'm an admin. I can help.&quot;&gt;_a&lt;/span&gt; ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:08, 23 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Incidental Ads ==<br /> <br /> as ive noticed i think you should check if someone has embeded some of your links with ads really annoying please fix<br /> <br /> --[[User:TheWeatherMan|TheWeatherMan]] ([[User talk:TheWeatherMan|talk]]) 14:00, 23 January 2013 (UTC)TheWeatherMan<br /> <br /> :Do you have any specific examples of this? By the way, using punctuation, capitalization, spell check, and complete sentences are more likely to get someone to help you. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]&lt;span title=&quot;I'm an admin. I can help.&quot;&gt;_a&lt;/span&gt; ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:10, 23 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::There is known malware (both adware and viruses) that makes Wikipedia look like it has ads. This wiki uses the same wiki software, so perhaps that malware affects our site too? &amp;ndash;&amp;nbsp;''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]''&amp;nbsp;&lt;sup&gt;[[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]]&lt;/sup&gt; 05:42, 15 February 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ==/wiki/==<br /> Now that explainxkcd redirects straight to the wiki, could we take the /wiki/ out of the url? I'd also like the wiki's edit log to be purged to clean out the history and forget about past spam, but that's probably wishing for too much. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;span title=&quot;I want you.&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;purple&quot; size=&quot;2px&quot;&gt;David&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;green&quot; size=&quot;3px&quot;&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;indigo&quot; size=&quot;1px&quot;&gt;22&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/span&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 04:06, 28 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :But seriously, could the /wiki/ go? It'll screw with the spammers for a day or two, at the very least. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;span title=&quot;I want you.&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;purple&quot; size=&quot;2px&quot;&gt;David&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;green&quot; size=&quot;3px&quot;&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;indigo&quot; size=&quot;1px&quot;&gt;22&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/span&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 11:37, 30 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ==Newbie questions: Comic dates, previous-and-next-comic buttons==<br /> Just created the my first page, [[220: Philosophy]], but I could use a little guidance. How do I find the date that an ''xkcd'' comic was originally posted, and how do I rig up the previous-comic and next-comic arrows on a page? (Actually, I've noticed several pages that should have the arrows but don't.) [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 11:19, 28 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> :Those arrows will automagically insert themselves when you make the adjacent comic explanations. There *is* a little backstage magic that needs to be taken care of, but we can do that for you. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;span title=&quot;I want you.&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;purple&quot; size=&quot;2px&quot;&gt;David&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;green&quot; size=&quot;3px&quot;&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;indigo&quot; size=&quot;1px&quot;&gt;22&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/span&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 11:40, 28 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> ** OK. How about the dates? [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 11:41, 28 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> :::Click on &quot;All Comics&quot; in the navbar on left-hand side of the site. The dates are in the form YYYY-MM-DD. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;span title=&quot;I want you.&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;purple&quot; size=&quot;2px&quot;&gt;David&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;green&quot; size=&quot;3px&quot;&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;indigo&quot; size=&quot;1px&quot;&gt;22&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/span&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 11:56, 28 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :The comic template checks for the existence of the numerical redirect for the comic before and the comic after. If it finds the page to exist it will display the next/previous button as appropriate. So, by creating the redirects listed on the [[List of all comics]] (third column, only worry about the number and title links) future pages will automatically get the links created. Redirect pages look like &lt;code&gt;&lt;nowiki&gt;#REDIRECT [[####: Comic Title]]&lt;/nowiki&gt;&lt;/code&gt; and that's it ([http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1143&amp;redirect=no here] is a link to the redirect page with redirect disabled so you can look at the source to see what I'm talking about). That's all that needs to exist on the number and title redirects. If you feel up to creating them yourself, feel free, otherwise someone else goes through occasionally and mass adds all the missing redirects. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]&lt;span title=&quot;I'm an admin. I can help.&quot;&gt;_a&lt;/span&gt; ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:55, 29 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Error message ==<br /> <br /> I've been getting this error message a lot the last cup'o days. When trying to access a page; when trying to save changes on a page. Any ideas on why? I'm getting it on both chrome and firefox.<br /> ::Database error<br /> ::A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:<br /> ::(SQL query hidden) from within function &quot;Revision::insertOn&quot;. Database returned error &quot;1142: INSERT command denied to user ::'dbo423085716'@'74.208.16.155' for :table 'text' (db423085716.db.1and1.com)&quot;.<br /> –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 22:54, 18 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :Every once in a while I get a SQL error being reported, but usually I can simply F5 and the page comes up. Every once in a while it seems like the server load is just so that somebody gets lucky enough to see the server error out. I don't think there's much we can do about this, other than move the wiki onto a more powerful server. But, there are no ads on this site, there is no revenue model, just a very kind person paying for hosting that keeps this site up. I'm more than willing to overlook a few hiccups for the continuing availability of explain xkcd. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]&lt;span title=&quot;I'm an admin. I can help.&quot;&gt;_a&lt;/span&gt; ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 07:12, 23 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::Yeah, I get those too, but St. Nerol was talking about something that happened recently with the server running out of hard drive space and throwing SQL errors every time someone tried to make large edits. I had to find Jeff on twitter because I'd get SQL errors when I tried to edit his talk page. He's looking into history deletion plugins, to clear out our vast archives of deleted spam and obsoleted prototype comic templates. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|purple|David}}&lt;font color=green size=3px&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=indigo size=4px&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 08:10, 23 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Install a caching reverse proxy to handle heavy load ==<br /> <br /> According to returned headers, this server runs from Apache directly. I would recommend setting up a reverse caching proxy in front of Apache to handle high traffic load (like, e.g. current load). The one I use is nginx (http://nginx.org/) -- admins, drop me an email if you need help setting it up [[User:Fry-kun|Fry-kun]] ([[User talk:Fry-kun|talk]]) 21:38, 26 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :The standard software to use is either Squid or Varnish. Nginx is a bit too much of a webserver to be configured in the way MW needs iirc. Although nginx would help with serving the static assets. Unfortunately there will be a need to switch to a proper server first. The site seems to be hosted on shared hosting. [[User:Dantman|Dantman]] ([[User talk:Dantman|talk]]) 04:59, 27 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::I had gotten burned before with both Squid and Varnish but Nginx had always kept my systems alive. It's extremely lightweight and works great to fix these kinds of problems. But, of course if it's a shared server where you can't use it, it won't help... [[User:Fry-kun|Fry-kun]] ([[User talk:Fry-kun|talk]]) 16:35, 27 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :::Nginx is a great webserver. It'll serve out static pages much better than Apache. But the issue here isn't the webserver. It's PHP and all the work that the database needs to do on every request. Switching webservers won't get rid of that issue. Using squid/varnish a proper reverse proxying cache will allow complete pages to be cached and served directly to readers bypassing the webserver, php, and the database entirely on some requests. That'll reduce the load the site has to cope with. [[User:Dantman|Dantman]] ([[User talk:Dantman|talk]]) 23:47, 27 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == A couple of enwiki features implemented ==<br /> <br /> I have &quot;imported&quot; {{tl|disambig}} and the related [[:Category:Disambiguation pages|category]] for the [[Exoplanets‎‎|one page]] it was needed for (to avoid having a page that was uncategorised :-) ).<br /> <br /> I have also created {{tl|unsigned ip}} (and converted the one use of {{tl|unsigned}}) and applied it for a handful of existing uses of {{tl|unsigned}}. It hardly matters, but then it's also only three more characters to type for new uses.<br /> <br /> Importantly, however, I implore you to consider including the second datestamp parameter when applying either template -- it's actually the more useful information. I know it's a pain to convert times ''back'' to UTC, but, hey, most of you don't have to deal with a half hour timezone :-) [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 16:19, 13 April 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :Urrggh, there's an option to make UTC the default display time. The template oughta be a little more automated, mebbe filling the time in automagically with five tildes if no date field is entered? The time will be a bit off when editors fill in the unsigned templates, but it'll be close enough to the actual value. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 23:59, 13 April 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::No, especially while there's existing templates to adjust, where the &quot;default&quot; datestamp would be way out. If someone wants to fix a lot of the existing usage, setting their timezone to UTC is the simplest option. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 09:14, 14 April 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == I've removed &quot;add a comment!&quot; from Discussion heading ==<br /> <br /> :''This thread has been moved to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#I've removed &quot;add a comment!&quot; from Discussion heading|The proposals board]].''<br /> <br /> == Need password reset ==<br /> <br /> Sorry to bother you all, but I seem to have lost the password to this account and don't have an email set (which requires the password). I'm still logged in thanks to the &quot;remember me&quot; feature but after 30 days I'll lose access. This isn't fixable at the MediaWiki level; someone with access to the server mysql or whatever will need to change something. Is there such a person I can email with? [[User:Splainr|Splainr]] ([[User talk:Splainr|talk]]) 03:05, 15 April 2013 (UTC)<br /> :I assume your browser isn't remembering it for you? [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 03:08, 15 April 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::Oh wow that was fast. Nope, neither Firefox not OSX keychain access know what it is. [[User:Splainr|Splainr]] ([[User talk:Splainr|talk]]) 15:18, 15 April 2013 (UTC)<br /> : I'm not sure how to solve that problem, but I know account usurpation has been done for the single-login transition in Wikimedia wikis, so technically it should be doable. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 23:04, 16 April 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> See [[mw:Manual:Resetting passwords]]. --[[User:Mormegil|Mormegil]] ([[User talk:Mormegil|talk]]) 11:59, 15 May 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Analytics ==<br /> <br /> Recently I found out about WikiApiary, an interesting site that collects analytics from mediawiki wikis. I added explain xkcd. Check the stats that have been collected so far: http://wikiapiary.com/wiki/explain_xkcd --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 00:03, 17 April 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == &quot;External&quot; hotlinking enabled to confirm issue with other car.jpg ==<br /> <br /> FYI I have [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=MediaWiki:External_image_whitelist&amp;oldid=34582 enabled] &quot;external&quot; hotlinking to this wiki's own images to show [[:File:other car.jpg]] can display correctly. See further notes about that issue [[File talk:other car.jpg|here]]. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 14:32, 21 April 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :If the problem is lack of thumbnail generation, it should display correctly even without hotlinking, simply by using the original size, e.g.<br /> :[[File:other car.jpg]]<br /> :I'm not sure why it doesn't. In any case, this image hotlinking thing reminded me, would it be a good idea to use the images hosted at XKCD.com and only upload variants to the wiki (e.g. those at [[:Category:Helper comic images]]) and images Randall for some reason deleted from the server (e.g. images with typos)? This would reduce the load on the explainxkcd server and provide a better experience for viewers since xkcd is already optimized for high loads and actually openly provides the image urls for hotlinking. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 15:01, 21 April 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Seeing as [[User:Daddy]]'s upload has fixed the wiki always attempting to display the thumbnail version (which still don't work), I have disabled the &quot;hotlinking&quot; again.<br /> <br /> [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 11:32, 22 April 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Redirect from explainxkcd.com/1234 ==<br /> <br /> It would be really cool if &lt;code&gt;http://www.explainxkcd.com/&lt;number&gt;&lt;/code&gt; redirected to the explain page for that number. That would allow people to get to the correct explanation by simply adding &lt;code&gt;explain&lt;/code&gt; to the comic url.<br /> <br /> If you are willing to do this, all you would need to do (assuming you run apache with mod_rewrite enabled) is put the following in &lt;code&gt;.htaccess&lt;/code&gt; in your web root:<br /> <br /> &lt;code&gt;&lt;pre&gt;<br /> RewriteEngine on<br /> RewriteRule ^(\d+)/?$ /wiki/index.php?title=$1 [R,L]<br /> &lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/code&gt;<br /> <br /> -[[User:Sionide21|Sionide21]] ([[User talk:Sionide21|talk]]) 22:28, 7 June 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::Yeah! I'm waiting for this. But admins seems to be rare here.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:44, 7 June 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::And it seems we both could help...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:47, 7 June 2013 (UTC)<br /> :::There are several admins here (in fact, I am, too), but what you are looking for is the sysop, the one with access to the server. Admins can delete/protect/undelete pages and block users etc. [[User:Jeff|Jeff]] is the only one that can change MediaWiki configuration or url rewriting... --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 17:08, 8 June 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::Thanks for your information, so I will try to talk to [[User:Jeff|Jeff]]. BTW: Can you edit the main page? I still miss a link to the incomplete comics on the top.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:52, 8 June 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::: At the top of the main page, there is a section that says ''&quot;We have collaboratively explained 1189 xkcd comics, and only 33 (3%) remain. Add yours while there's a chance!&quot;''. The word ''remain'' is already linked to the list. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 19:16, 8 June 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::::I was talking about the 97% comics. There are still many incomplete pages and we have a category here on that.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:36, 8 June 2013 (UTC)<br /> :::::::Ah, I see. Just did it; everyone: feel free to change the sentence, I'm not a native speaker. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 21:07, 8 June 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::::::THANKS! I'm also not native English, I'm German. But this wiki is a great challenge to get more practice, even much more as if talking to common English natives.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:27, 8 June 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::::::: This is something I want to do, so I'm putting this on my page, so I remember to add it to the .htaccess. I'm not super familiar with the .htaccess rules, can I have this along with the other rules I have in my htaccess file? --[[User:Jeff|&lt;b&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;orange&quot;&gt;Jeff&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 15:17, 22 October 2013 (UTC)<br /> :::::::::: Yes, that rule will work alongside other rules --[[User:Sionide21|Sionide21]] ([[User talk:Sionide21|talk]]) 19:28, 27 October 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::::::::: I've fixed this on our new host. (I actually had the rule in there already, I just had it in the wrong order.) I'd love to promote this feature a bunch. Any ideas how? --[[User:Jeff|&lt;b&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;orange&quot;&gt;Jeff&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 02:33, 30 October 2013 (UTC)<br /> :::::::::::: A sitenotice oughta do it. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 03:43, 30 October 2013 (UTC)<br /> :::::::::::: Woohoo, finally!!! Now if we could just have [[#We need more maintainers|clean URLs]] too, that'd be swell! ;) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 05:02, 14 November 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Incomplete – motivation ==<br /> <br /> Is it possible to fix (or is there already) a way to add a motivation with the &quot;incomplete&quot;-tag? I tried &lt;nowiki&gt;{{incomplete|the title text needs explaining}}&lt;/nowiki&gt;, which made &quot;edit it&quot; in the banner link to the uncreated page &quot;the title text...&quot;... ––[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 12:16, 10 June 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :You can use the &lt;nowiki&gt;{{notice|Your text...}}&lt;/nowiki&gt; template:<br /> {{notice|Here is my notice.}}<br /> :--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:30, 10 June 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::Thanks! I think that ideally most incomplete-notices shold carry a note on what's missing, but we aren't there, so this'll do for now. ––[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 10:21, 11 June 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Unable to Edit ==<br /> <br /> I cannot edit this latest comic's page. When I hit edit a screen appears which says &quot;This page has been protected to prevent editing.&quot; I've never edited before, but I'm annoyed by the improper use of the word candid. &quot;It would be candid and unrealistic&quot; would be better off in that sentence if candid was removed. How do I make it so I can edit the page, so I can remove this affront to the English language?<br /> :I believe you are trying to edit the main page. You can click &quot;Latest comic&quot; in the left sidebar or the &quot;Go to this comic&quot; button in the top right corner of the grey box to go to the actual page for today's comic. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 16:42, 1 July 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::That was the problem, thanks.--[[User:Holcma01|Holcma01]] ([[User talk:Holcma01|talk]]) 17:07, 1 July 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Banner ad placement ==<br /> <br /> On iPad and iPhone browsers, the banner ads obscure the top of the page. This covers up some of the useful buttons up there, like LOGIN for example. The workaround is to refresh the page. Because the banner ad is the last thing to load, you have a brief window of maybe three seconds to find and click the link you need. [[User:Gardnertoo|Gardnertoo]] ([[User talk:Gardnertoo|talk]]) 20:24, 26 July 2013 (UTC)<br /> : Fixed. --[[User:Jeff|&lt;b&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;orange&quot;&gt;Jeff&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 21:12, 25 October 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Bookmarklet for jumping to explainxkcd.com from xkcd.com ==<br /> <br /> I wrote a short {{w|bookmarklet}} for jumping from xkcd.com to explainxkcd.com. Bookmarklet form:<br /> &lt;pre&gt;<br /> javascript:var%20match%20%3D%20window.location.href.match(%2F%5Cd%2B%2F)%3B%0Avar%20suffix%20%3D%20match%20%3F%20%27%3Ftitle%3D%27%20%2B%20match%5B0%5D%20%3A%20%27%27%3B%0Awindow.location%20%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.explainxkcd.com%2Fwiki%2Findex.php%27%20%2B%20suffix%3B<br /> &lt;/pre&gt;<br /> <br /> Decoded:<br /> &lt;pre&gt;<br /> javascript:var match = window.location.href.match(/\d+/);<br /> var suffix = match ? '?title=' + match[0] : '';<br /> window.location ='http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php' + suffix;<br /> &lt;/pre&gt;<br /> <br /> If you're on a numbered xkcd page, it will go to the accompanying explainxkcd.com page automatically. If you're on the xkcd.com home page, it goes to the explainxkcd.com wiki home page. [[User:Mattflaschen|Mattflaschen]] ([[User talk:Mattflaschen|talk]]) 17:30, 19 August 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> To add this bookmarklet to your browser:<br /> <br /> # Copy the bookmarklet javascript (*not* the decoded version)<br /> # Using your browsers bookmark manager, create a new bookmark<br /> # Give the bookmark a meaningful name -- e.g. ExplainXKCD<br /> # Paste the javascript in for the bookmark URL<br /> # Save.<br /> ({{unsigned|Tomh}})<br /> <br /> :Thanks Mattflaschen and Tomh! I've started collecting these helpful tools on a [[Browser helpers|new page]], to hopefully make them easier for others to find. – [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 01:33, 29 September 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Database Error ==<br /> <br /> I have NO IDEA where this should go, but<br /> http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1011<br /> has the content<br /> <br /> Database error<br /> A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:<br /> (SQL query hidden)<br /> from within function &quot;SqlBagOStuff::set&quot;. Database returned error &quot;1142: INSERT command denied to user 'dbo423085716'@'74.208.16.155' for table 'objectcache' (db423085716.db.1and1.com)&quot;.<br /> <br /> Just thought I should report it.<br /> <br /> OOPS forgot sig. [[Special:Contributions/67.175.58.94|67.175.58.94]] 00:13, 23 September 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Edit: This has been fixed randomly. Never mind then. :X<br /> <br /> == [[mw:Extension:SyntaxHighlighter]] ==<br /> <br /> Could we maybe enable this? It would be helpful for some of the programming-heavy comics' explanations, e.g. [[1270|today's one]].[[User:PinkAmpersand|PinkAmpersand]] ([[User talk:PinkAmpersand|talk]]) 17:02, 27 September 2013 (UTC)<br /> : Done, PinkAmpersand. --[[User:Jeff|&lt;b&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;orange&quot;&gt;Jeff&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:57, 28 September 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == It's not taking me to the main page ==<br /> <br /> If I type explainxkcd.com, it redirects me to http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki which just shows a directory listing, rather than taking me to the main page (as I assume it's supposed to). [[User:Chridd|chridd]] ([[User talk:Chridd|talk]]) 02:07, 31 October 2013 (UTC)<br /> :Thaat's not supposed to happen. I'm on it. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 06:49, 31 October 2013 (UTC)<br /> :Is it fixed for you now? '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 06:55, 31 October 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::Yes [[User:Chridd|chridd]] ([[User talk:Chridd|talk]]) 14:46, 31 October 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Logo in upper left corner missing ==<br /> <br /> The logo in the upper left corner is missing, probably because of a wrong redirect. The logo should be at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/skins/common/images/explainxkcd.png, but this link takes me to the main page. The icons in the edit toolbar are missing, too, probably the same problem. You should exclude all \.png$ queries from redirects. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.177|108.162.254.177]] 10:09, 31 October 2013 (UTC)<br /> : Fixed that. Sorry about that, it was an overzealous htaccess. Thanks! --[[User:Jeff|&lt;b&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;orange&quot;&gt;Jeff&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 15:45, 31 October 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Sidebar ad overhangs content in Firefox 25.0 ==<br /> <br /> The sidebar ad on each page overhangs the content frame slightly when I view this site in Firefox 25.0 on a Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit pc. I have started Firefox in safe mode with all add-ons disabled and it still happens. Site looks fine in IE 11. {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.79}}<br /> :Have you tried hitting control-shift-R, or clearing your cache? That sounds like Firefox is disregarding part of our CSS for whatever reason. I'm running a very similar setup and I'm not getting these problems. Try giving it a wee bit of time and trying again. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 17:27, 13 November 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :What's your monitor resolution and size of your Firefox window (maximized, 50/50 split, etc)? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]&lt;span title=&quot;I'm an admin. I can help.&quot;&gt;_a&lt;/span&gt; ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:24, 13 November 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::I'm really sure that scaling isn't the issue, I made the sidebar width definite. I'll check it again. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 19:06, 13 November 2013 (UTC)<br /> :::The sidebar has a fixed width defined at the CSS style sheet. Press F5 or CTRL-R to reload this style sheet. This happened to me in the past too. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:14, 13 November 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::I changed the defined width to pixels instead of em, in the annoying edge-case that a browser uses a weird default font width. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 19:24, 13 November 2013 (UTC)<br /> :::::It looks fine now.--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.79|173.245.56.79]] 06:08, 18 November 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::::Sidebar ad overhangs content in DuckDuckGo 7.67.1.2 for iOS 15.4.1, on iPhone 12. aka 'Your sidebar ad has been crushed into a cube. You have fifteen minutes to move your cube.'<br /> <br /> == Connection problems ==<br /> <br /> Whatever the new hoster does cost, you should get your money back. Sometimes the page doesn't load at all, or the menu is missing after the browser did finish after one or two minutes. The performance here is still annoying. That cloud seems to be a dead cloud. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:33, 11 January 2014 (UTC)<br /> :It's easily more performant than our old service, and it holds up far better to traffic. I am inclined to say that it's a region specific issue, and I'll submit a ticket for that, but they've worked far better than flat shared hosting for the time that we've been using them. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 00:01, 12 January 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::More detail: The message is an Error 522 (Connection timed out).<br /> ::*You (Browser, Working) &lt;-&gt; Amsterdam (CloudFlare, Working) &lt;-&gt; &lt;nowiki&gt;www.explainxkcd.com&lt;/nowiki&gt; (Host, '''Error''')<br /> ::In December the CloudFlare did belong to Frankfurt. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:35, 12 January 2014 (UTC)<br /> :::I'm having still major problems to connect, only this this silly error message. ...and then it does work again. Still strange.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:58, 14 January 2014 (UTC)<br /> :Today I've been getting a ''lot'' of these errors with Cloudflare. (London-based CloudFlare, in my case.) &quot;Error 522 Ray ID: 2587581d8b8a350c • 2015-12-21 23:25:22 UTC&quot; is just one of the IDs. Not sure if you'd prefer another bit of the page info, instead, but the Ray ID looked unique enough to pinpoint debug info in the background.) The suggestion is made that the web server is too busy at something or other. Anyway, just so you're aware.<br /> :I had a look here, first, to see if anyone had mentioned anything (and found the above), so apologies if I'm not posting in the best bit of the best page. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.227|162.158.152.227]] 23:44, 21 December 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::It seems to be an occasional regional issue that cloudflare has with us. When I go to our server directly our site is still up, so something between us and cloudflare is failing. Not sure what though. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 03:40, 22 December 2015 (UTC)<br /> :Yesterday (and day before?) Cloudflare London insisted that the server was not responding. Not sure if that was an actual explain-server issue (not seen mention of it anywhere else, in a brief dig), only Cloudflare London being refused by the server (detecting and blanket filtering rogue traffic via my gateway) or some other issue. Meant to check for update timestamps on the latest comic article that coincided with my being unable to visit the site at the time. But FYI, assuming the cause isn't already sorted out with no further actions needed and/or possible... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.92|162.158.155.92]] 16:02, 11 February 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Wrong IP address shown ==<br /> <br /> All [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&amp;hideliu=1 edits by IPs] (well, at least all I checked, including my own edits) are recorded using IP addresses of CloudFlare ([http://www.utrace.de/whois/108.162.238.220 108.162.192.0/18], [http://www.utrace.de/whois/173.245.50.88 173.245.48.0/20] and some other ranges), i.e., it's not the address of the client, but of the server. This seems similar to [https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56681]. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.160|108.162.254.160]] 09:05, 29 January 2014 (UTC)<br /> :That's something we're working on, but current limitations with our provider are making things sow for us. When they give us what we need, we can do it. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 16:59, 29 January 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::Hmmpf! I just noticed this twelve months later and it's still the case... [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 01:59, 29 January 2015 (UTC)<br /> :::Uurrrp a couple of holdups happened, I need to do this at some point. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 04:54, 29 January 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::: I just noticed it as well [[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.197|162.158.252.197]] 04:20, 24 October 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> : CloudFlare is already providing the Real Ip address -- there are mods for Apache https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/203656534-How-can-I-set-up-Apache-mod-CloudFlare- and Nginx https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200170706-How-do-I-restore-original-visitor-IP-with-Nginx- or you can just pull it from the X-Forwarded-For HTTP header which proxy servers (like CloudFlare) typically puts the client IP address. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.197|162.158.252.197]] 04:25, 24 October 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == 1337 leads to...? === <br /> <br /> Current and latest comic page, 1337, unusually has a &quot;Next&quot; before there's even any 1338 page. (It points to 1337.) As a lowly IP, I don't feel I ought to delve too deep to see if it's a page template issue (possibly because &quot;1337&quot; is both a past title ''and'' the current number, maybe, although not too sure if that'd work out) or just because of manual editing. But bringing it to general attention. (It may of course be an issue that does not even last beyond Wednesday, and comic number 1338's arrival, even without intervention.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 13:40, 3 March 2014 (UTC)<br /> :D'aww, and I wanted to be lazy too. I'll get to fixing it, an IP took it to himself to add stuff to the comic template and he removed the auto-hiding buttons. Imma fixy. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 17:42, 3 March 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::I did revert some edits on that issue here, so for the first point it should work again. In general: The main page should not be affected like this and the test environment is called: Sandbox. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:43, 3 March 2014 (UTC)<br /> :::The issue was fixed three hours before your autorevert. This is getting excessive. The next time you autorevert a large edit without testing or making an attempt to fix things yourself, expect a three-day ban. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 22:41, 3 March 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == No confirmation email? ==<br /> <br /> I requested an email for confirmation when I registered. I got nothing, not in spam filter, not in trash, and definitely in not my inbox.<br /> <br /> Today, I requested another confirmation email. Again, nothing has appeared.<br /> <br /> Is it me? Is it my shampoo??? Enquiring minds want to know....<br /> Thanks. [[User:Karenb|Karenb]] ([[User talk:Karenb|talk]]) 22:45, 20 March 2014 (UTC)<br /> :Confirmation emails? What, are we a five-star hotel now?<br /> :Jokes aside, is this a thing you really need? You should be autoconfirmed after editing for a while without getting blocked, but if you can put forward a good reason why we should add this in, I'll do it. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 00:54, 21 March 2014 (UTC)<br /> :::Not blocked! Trying to authenticate my email, which I thought was an automatic process. Does that feature not work? That would certainly explain the lack of autoresponse.... Cheers. KB [[User:Karenb|Karenb]] ([[User talk:Karenb|talk]]) 01:35, 21 March 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> I'm having the same issue. I've requested several confirmation emails over the past few days. I have also tried changing and then resetting my email address. Nothing has worked so far, and it's not in any of my filtered inboxes. I can edit most pages. Will this fix itself even if I don't get an email? [[User:DownGoer|DownGoer]] ([[User talk:DownGoer|talk]]) 18:16, 26 June 2023 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ==Because the people visiting here are probably the people that should see this==<br /> After the server upgrades mentioned in the sitenotice, de.explainxkcd.com should exist. I'm not publicizing it yet, just want to get it up and work out implementation details before it goes fully live. Pls dun test during the downtime, there'll be plenty of time for that after it's live. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 01:14, 21 March 2014 (UTC)<br /> :Ok, so our server doesn't actually have the required dependencies to complete the upgrade, so that was slightly fruitless. Sorry about any downtime or inconvenience caused, I didn't add the German wiki again because I'm looking set up the parallel wikis on an up-to-date base. Sorry again for any inconvenience that may have caused, I'll make sure to be better prepared next time, and maybe actually succeed in performing the upgrade next time. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 02:02, 24 March 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ==Does anyone have image of Black Hat saying to Cueball &quot;It's 'cause you're dumb&quot; ?==<br /> Guys, does anyone has this image? <br /> I'm hosting Russian xkcd fanpage here - vk.com/xkcdoff and if someone would post it it would be very helpful. --[[User:KOTYAR|KOTYAR]] ([[User talk:KOTYAR|talk]]) 22:40, 24 March 2014 (UTC)<br /> :I actually can't find it either. Shame, I liked that old thumbnail. I could probably photoshop up a new version if you really want one though. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 04:53, 26 March 2014 (UTC)<br /> :<br /> ::[[File:explain xkcd blog header image.png|right]] Just going to the [[explain xkcd]] page and following [http://wayback.archive.org/web/20091026122109/http://www.explainxkcd.com/2009/07/03/extrapolating/ the first historic (internet-archived) link] allowed me to extract [http://wayback.archive.org/web/20110202213753im_/http://www.explainxkcd.com/wp-content/themes/lightword/images/header-image.png the requested &quot;header-image.png&quot;] &lt;small&gt;(the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wp-content/themes/lightword/images/header-image.png corresponding image URL on the current site] gives nothing anymore... thank you, Internet Archive!)&lt;/small&gt;. Which I uploaded to the wiki here, for convenience and because it's part of this wiki's history, in a way, and also, cool. [[File:Face-smile.svg|20px|Smile|link=]] - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 10:39, 16 April 2014 (UTC) &lt;small&gt;(PS: also, [http://www.facebook.com/explainxkcd/photos/10150144122985214 facebook.com/explainxkcd/photos/10150144122985214]; but JPEG.)&lt;/small&gt;<br /> <br /> == expxkcd.com redirect not up-to-date ==<br /> <br /> By adding &quot;exp&quot; at the beginning of the URL one can easily switch from [http://xkcd.com/1234 xkcd.com/1234] to [http://expxkcd.com/1234 expxkcd.com/1234], which redirects to the corresponding explanation here, and that's nice. But right now, [http://expxkcd.com expxkcd.com] redirects to [[1355]] (at least for me), instead of [[1356]], the latest comic. Wouldn't it be better if expxkcd.com redirected to the [[Main Page]] instead (as does correctly [http://explainxkcd.com explainxkcd.com])? - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 10:55, 16 April 2014 (UTC)<br /> :expxkcd is actually a thing that user [[user:grep]] was so kind to purchase and handle for us. I can forward this on to him for him to resolve, and give him the rewrite rules we use if he needs them. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 11:12, 16 April 2014 (UTC)<br /> :<br /> ::Nice, thank you for the quick forward to the right place. - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 11:31, 16 April 2014 (UTC)<br /> :Yeah, the reason for that is that right now, I update it manually, which is obviously a really bad idea. I plan to change this pretty soon. I don't want it to go to the main page because the main page doesn't show the discussion, and comes along with all the other, regular main page stuff. Any rewrite rules wouldn't hurt, Davidy22. {{User:Grep/signature|12:04, 16 April 2014}}<br /> ::Hrm. Ours rules point towards the main page. We have no automatically updating page that always redirects to the latest comic, but you can use Mediawiki hooks to append the contents of the page [[Template:LATESTCOMIC]] to the end of our URL. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 23:44, 17 April 2014 (UTC)<br /> :::Sorry, I don't understand. My BOT will upload the next comic on time, unless it's some new chaos by Randall a BOT just can't handle. The LATESTCOMIC template is updated and so it seems only be an issue on that damn Cloud Service Cache. Even Randall's pages are affected. At &quot;What-if&quot; I still have to use &lt;CTRL+R&gt; to get the latest content. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:26, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::::We're talking about a different thing related to shortened URLs. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 02:24, 18 April 2014 (UTC)<br /> :::That is an interesting idea, however I just made a script that automatically adds 1 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I could have it grab the number from your page and do this once a day at something like 00:10 EST (because Randall sometimes does things on other days), that's a possibility as well (other times / intervals may also be done if you wish/want). {{User:Grep/signature|04:34, 02 May 2014}}<br /> ::::Our LATESTCOMIC page and Randall's xkcd json page should both have up-to-date comic numbers for you to pull. Ours is probably the better one to pull since your site is linking to us. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 06:30, 2 May 2014 (UTC)<br /> :::::The script now checks Template:LATESTCOMIC every 30 minutes to see if the comic has changed or not. If you wish, I &lt;u&gt;might&lt;/u&gt; be able narrow this down to 11PM-&gt;6AM (for 30 minute checking) and then have it check every two hours at other times or something similar to that (if [http://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.time.html systemd.time] has a way to do it) {{User:Grep/signature|12:13, 09 May 2014}}<br /> ::::::I still do not see that problems. Please touch this wiki as less as needed, this is still the best choice. But there is still a big problem on the cache, an update on a picture lasts many hours. Some statements in &quot;LocalSettings.php&quot; should work, if not this wiki version is buggy. Problems should be solved at the cause and not be overridden by some additional scripts. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:51, 9 May 2014 (UTC)<br /> :::::::We have ample bandwidth for a bot that only checks once every half-hour. The image caching issue is irrelevant to the current topic. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 03:45, 10 May 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Explain xkcd upgraded to version 1.19.17 ==<br /> <br /> Woo! '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 17:59, 26 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> The header seems to have broken, there is no longer a link to the explanation in it. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.154|173.245.56.154]] 22:00, 26 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> :Which header are you talking about? All the links I can think of still seem to work. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 02:13, 27 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> :: It fixed itself shortly after I mentioned it. It was the incomplete explanation, the link to 428 was bold, but not a link. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.154|173.245.56.154]] 04:48, 27 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> One of the ads is broken.<br /> <br /> [[File:brokenexplainxkcdad.png]]<br /> <br /> &lt;small&gt;[[User:MrGameZone|0100011101100001011011010110010101011010011011110110111001100101]] ([[User talk:MrGameZone|talk page]])&lt;/small&gt; 04:33, 27 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :Ooh, thanks for catching that. Should be fixed now. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 17:08, 27 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Nice :) But is this update a preparation for an upcoming update to {{w|MediaWiki version history|one of the latest versions}}, or are we limited to 1.19 for some reason? I'm asking because 1.19 is only supported for {{w|mw:Version lifecycle#Version timeline|a few more months}}, and also because with newer versions we'd have access to some niceties -- for example, after version 1.20 the {{w|mw:Help:Magic words#Statistics|PAGESINCAT}} magic word accepts parameters, which would allow the count of explained comics in the main page to work using less hardcoded hacks. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:08, 27 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :Prior attempts to update the wiki have been prevented by the realization that Lunarpages doesn't give us quite as much control over our server share as we thought we had. Checking again, they seem to have upgraded the version of PHP on our server since we last attempted and failed to run one dumb update script, which should mean that it'll work next time we try it. The wiki also has quite a bit of user effort invested into it now, and I'm a little less ready to jump into .0~.3 releases than I would normally be on my own machine, so I upgraded down the LTS path that I knew would be safe. After the first ill-planned attempt, I've been eyeing the 1.23 LTS line for the next major jump, but I'm certainly not stepping into it while it's still relatively fresh. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 17:08, 27 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :: Sounds reasonable. Thanks for the details. I'll be looking forward to the next update :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:52, 28 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::Just wanting to offer, I use ARP Networks for hosting, you should check them out if you want more control. {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.154}}<br /> :::Hum, there's an option. I'll keep that in mind. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 04:35, 29 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::::It wasn't me that posted that comment. But surprisingly enough anon and I have the same first two bytes in our IP addresses. Congrats on the version upgrade. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]&lt;span title=&quot;I'm an admin. I can help.&quot;&gt;_a&lt;/span&gt; ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:31, 29 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Why does the site say I'm blocking ads when I'm not? I do use AdBlock Plus, but it's turned off for this site. Screenshot [http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj637/backagain2012/contra_zps3c6aa295.png here]. And while I'm here, that &quot;unblock us&quot; text has an error- the first &quot;and&quot; in the second sentence shouldn't be there. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 01:51, 29 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> :The text only appears when the ads fail to load. The error message actually says noscript, which means that the Javascript that the ad box uses to fetch images isn't running. How long has this been happening for you? '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 04:35, 29 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::It just started. I came over here as soon as I noticed it. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 19:07, 29 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> :::Have you recently made any changes to your browser? Does the problem persist when you hit CTRL+SHIFT+R? '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 12:43, 30 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::::Nope, no recent changes. And yes, the problem persists when I hit Ctrl+Shift+R. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 14:04, 30 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> :::::I am genuinely puzzled. The message tells me that something is causing your browser to fail to load/run the Javascript that makes the ad render and report stats, so the problem could be anything that can cause that: noscript, outdated browser, experimentation. I don't know anything about your setup, and it works on my test machines, so I can't tell currently what's wrong. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 03:10, 1 August 2014 (UTC)<br /> :Do you have privoxy installed on your machine? (this is a long shot) [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]&lt;span title=&quot;I'm an admin. I can help.&quot;&gt;_a&lt;/span&gt; ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 00:24, 3 August 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == If anything broke, complain here. ==<br /> <br /> There's a banner that says:<br /> The wiki has been updated to stable mediawiki version 1.19.17. If anything broke, complain here.<br /> <br /> So...<br /> <br /> The following have broken:<br /> Cars<br /> My previous computer<br /> A railroad train<br /> Condoms<br /> Etc.<br /> <br /> None of which has anything to do with this website.<br /> <br /> The banner should be made more specific before Randall sees it and does a comic mocking it.<br /> <br /> Or not. {{unsigned ip|173.245.48.80}}<br /> :Well, there's always that one guy. Fixed. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 05:05, 28 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::I don't see how you could have fixed that one guy. Throttled, eliminated, insulted, blocked, etc. But not fixed. [[User:Walenc|Walenc]] ([[User talk:Walenc|talk]]) 16:29, 28 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> :::See sense 6 here: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fix#Verb :P [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.154|173.245.56.154]] 02:13, 29 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::::i bet you think yer so clever. just watch me take the site down. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 04:35, 29 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Misc Request... (|&lt; &lt; Prev Comic Next &gt; &gt;| format) ==<br /> <br /> I usually browse in a very small window and the menu buttons split kind of strangely (http://i.imgur.com/wPE7szZ.png). Would it be possible to replace the spaces with nonbreaking spaces? --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.202|173.245.56.202]] 15:13, 1 August 2014 (UTC)<br /> :Annoyingly, the spaces that are giving you trouble can't be changed because they're text string inputs, and Mediawiki has no regular expression markup yet. Every other instance of formatting-critical spaces has been changed to non-breaking spaces though, thanks for the heads up! '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 18:13, 2 August 2014 (UTC)<br /> :: I think I fixed this by adding a space between the buttons. Unfortunately, this only works as long as the comic is not as wide as the button bar. I guess this is because of the surrounding table. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 20:15, 2 August 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Not receiving password reset emails ==<br /> <br /> I've forgotten my password, and password reset is not working for me. I went to [[Special:PasswordReset]], and had it send me a reset email. However, I have not received the email. I am sure that I have an email associated with my account, and it's confirmed. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.174|173.245.54.174]] 08:38, 18 August 2014 (UTC)<br /> :Tested, password reset emails seem to work for me. Have you checked your spam folder? '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 18:04, 24 August 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::I checked in Gmail in &quot;Mail &amp; Spam &amp; Trash&quot;, and it still doesn't find it. I tried a fresh reset, so we'll see if that comes through. No luck after a minute or two. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.71|108.162.216.71]] 04:59, 28 August 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ==TOR Captcha==<br /> <br /> Hi, I use TOR. To access your website, cloudfare has made it such that I have to enter a captcha. This is very inconvenient, as your site is not the only one doing this. Can you please fix this issue? You should be able to see a guide here: https://tor.stackexchange.com/questions/599/cloudflares-captcha-screen-insurmountable . Thank you for taking the time to consider this. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.60|141.101.104.60]] 11:34, 13 September 2014 (UTC)<br /> :Is it better now? '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 13:06, 13 September 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::Sorry, no. I still get the captcha. What did you try doing? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.87|108.162.216.87]] 22:09, 13 September 2014 (UTC)<br /> :::Set the threat level threshold way up. Any further steps into cheap botnet territory. For your security, you may want to reconsider the nodes through which you're operating through. Also, why do you need to use Tor to visit us? '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 04:17, 14 September 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::::Ah, okay, thanks, now I'm not getting the captcha. As for why I'm using Tor, I don't ''need'' to, but I'd rather do so just to be anonymous. I wouldn't have written if it were just your site, but since Cloudfare has made captchas the default setting for Tor, the internet is starting to become near unusable. So that everyday people aren't scared away from using Tor due to the perceived complexity of daily browsing, whenever I have to enter a captcha, I try to contact someone at the site to ask them to change the setting. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.82|108.162.216.82]] 06:52, 14 September 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Upgrade to the latest MediaWiki version? ==<br /> <br /> I think we should start trying to maintain a regular upgrade schedule of some sort. 6 months ago was the last time we've upgraded, and I think we should upgrade again. The impetus for this change would be for [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Translate translation] [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:TranslationNotifications features], [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Babel plus other multilinguality efforts that require the new versions of MediaWiki.] Localization efforts should be put into place, and the translate feature would work well for that. [[User:Chess|Chess]] ([[User talk:Chess|talk]]) 01:53, 12 November 2014 (UTC)<br /> :Plans to upgrade only include LTS releases. That said though, the recent and unintentional server downtime was actually the result of a setup for a coming mediawiki upgrade, among other things. The plan is to upgrade to 1.23 sometime in the coming months, during the weekend after a satisfactory number of bugfix releases. We're very interested in setting up translations, although mediawiki in it's current form already supports translation; the extensions you linked are mostly quality-of-life additions. It's been delayed because the plan is to eliminate all incomplete comics first so that translators have a solid base to work from. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 02:42, 12 November 2014 (UTC)<br /> ::Can I just be nitpicky and say that we last upgraded about 3.5 months ago, not 6? Thanks. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 03:17, 12 November 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Fix HTTPS access ==<br /> <br /> explain xkcd is using Cloudflare which recently enabled HTTPS for all users, but when [https://explainxkcd.com accessing it via HTTPS] it returns [https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200171916-Error-521 error 521].<br /> In order to fix this in addiction to the solution steps proposed by CloudFlare check if SSL settings are correct. {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.138}}<br /> :On it '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 18:51, 13 November 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> HTTPS is working now, there just some mixed-content warnings, mostly on style tags which being active mixed content are blocked, but it's still a good improvement as it's possible to have more privacy when browsing explain xkcd.{{unsigned ip|188.114.99.35}}<br /> <br /> : Whoever has server access, can they try changing $wgServer ([[mediawikiwiki:Manual:$wgServer|Manual:$wgServer]]) to use a protocol relative url? As the manual page says, you may also want to set $wgCanonicalServer to a fully-qualified url (hopefully defaulting to https). [[User:Behrat|Behrat]] ([[User talk:Behrat|talk]]) 04:17, 29 October 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::Done. How's it now? '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 08:42, 31 October 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::: Much better! The styles and scripts are loaded now, and the page looks good. It's still not completely green https because it's loading some images over plain http, but my browser at least appears to be allowing them for now. If you want any more suggestions on technical issues, let me know. I currently maintain my own mediawiki installation with full https, cloudflare, and short urls. [[User:Behrat|Behrat]] ([[User talk:Behrat|talk]]) 20:27, 4 November 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::::Huh. Is it the ad images? The comic pictures *should* be also done over https, no? '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 07:10, 5 November 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::::: Yeah, one of them is the ad images (http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/lunarpages_160x600.jpg). Most of them are from [[MediaWiki:Common.css]], so you could just change all the urls on that css page to protocol-relative. The only other one I see is http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/3.0/88x31.png, which I think is set at [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:$wgFooterIcons|$wgFooterIcons]], but I'm not sure. All of them appear to be accessible over https, so just changing the links should work. [[User:Behrat|Behrat]] ([[User talk:Behrat|talk]]) 01:13, 6 November 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> If I replace xkcd with explainxkcd I get a very ugly CSS-less page in Chrome on Win7. If I change the https to http, the page works [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.12|141.101.105.12]] 06:07, 3 September 2015 (UTC)<br /> :Can you provide more information about your setup? Test a different browser? Unable to reproduce. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 11:56, 3 September 2015 (UTC)<br /> :: I can reproduce in Firefox. This is due to the mixed content blocker. Usually, it should only block active content (scripts) and maybe warn about passive content (stylesheets), but at least in Firefox, it is configurable to block both. But I cannot see why the stylesheets shouldn't be served via HTTPS.<br /> :: Currently, the styles are referenced absolutely ([http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/load.php?debug=false&amp;lang=de&amp;modules=site&amp;only=styles&amp;skin=vector&amp;* http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/...]), but they should rather by referenced domain-relative (&lt;code&gt;/wiki/...&lt;/code&gt;) or at least protocol-relative (&lt;code&gt;[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/load.php?debug=false&amp;lang=de&amp;modules=site&amp;only=styles&amp;skin=vector&amp;* //www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/...]&lt;/code&gt;). --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 16:29, 3 September 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == RSS feed issue ==<br /> <br /> When attempting to access the feed for this wiki I'm told &quot;Sorry. No feed found.&quot; Is there some way that the feed can be restored to the satisfaction of Feedly? Could it be due to some [http://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fexplainxkcd.com%2Frss.xml validation issues], or should I consider changing my news reader? [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 23:08, 7 January 2015 (UTC)<br /> :Huh. The feed updates automatically with a script that I wrote a while ago, I'm very sure it passed more than this the last time I checked. Fixed a few things, left the one about the date because that's a pain to fix, and one that I can't figure out for the life of me. I think I fixed the line that was causing the actual problems though. Should update on feedly now. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 01:52, 8 January 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::Hallelujah - the feed was mixed in with other geeky material and it only took me nearly 8 months to notice that nothing was coming through from here anymore. I'm premature with my thanks though. The [http://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml RSS link] in the navigation pane to the left still doesn't want to be understood by Feedly. By contrast, other feeds such as for latest changes can be picked up. [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 02:04, 8 January 2015 (UTC)<br /> :::Hrm. Sent an email to feedly about it, Just tested and I'm having similar issues with feedly. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 02:17, 8 January 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::::It seems it's not just Feedly. When I use Chrome's [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/rss-feed-reader/pnjaodmkngahhkoihejjehlcdlnohgmp/related?hl=en RSS Feed Reader], that too also tells me &quot;No posts here yet&quot; followed by the an ever helpful &quot;Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp&quot; [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 02:33, 8 January 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::::Could it be that it's just not valid XML? I see that it ends at line 236 with &lt;/item&gt; with no other closing tags, for example. [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 03:18, 8 January 2015 (UTC)<br /> :::::Ohwait a minute, the auto updater rips old entries off the bottom and that's where there's supposed to be a closing channel and RSS tag. well. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 07:19, 8 January 2015 (UTC)<br /> It's good to know that the cause is now known - I'll let you (or someone else with the authority) get on with fixing things up :-) [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 07:46, 8 January 2015 (UTC)<br /> :[http://feedly.com/i/subscription/feed/http://www.explainxkcd.com/rss.xml Hullo.] It's not perfect that only one specific formation of the URL works, but it's a start. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 08:01, 8 January 2015 (UTC)<br /> :: You sir do God's work - and that coming from a Dillahunty-following Atheist is saying something. [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 08:11, 8 January 2015 (UTC)<br /> My reader has been refusing to process the feed for the last few days. I finally un-busied enough to poke into why. When I looked at the source at [http://www.explainxkcd.com/rss.xml /rss.xml] I saw: <br /> &lt;pre&gt;<br /> &lt;/item&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;item&gt;<br /> &lt;title&gt;1561: Water Phase Diagram&lt;/title&gt;<br /> &lt;link&gt;http://www.explainxkcd.com/1561&lt;/link&gt;<br /> &lt;pubDate&gt;Thu, 06 Aug 2015 21:51:11 -0700&lt;/pubDate&gt;<br /> &lt;guid isPermaLink=&quot;true&quot;&gt;http://www.explainxkcd.com/1561&lt;/guid&gt;<br /> &lt;description&gt;&lt;![CDATA[&lt;h2&gt;1561: Water Phase Diagram&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.explainxkcd.com/1561&quot;&gt;http://www.explainxkcd.com/1561&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;]]&gt;&lt;/description&gt;<br /> &lt;/item&gt;<br /> &lt;/pre&gt;<br /> I'm thinking that the script is broken. I could pro'ly come up with something workable, given the access. --[[User:Ericm301|Ericm301]] ([[User talk:Ericm301|talk]]) 16:50, 9 August 2015 (UTC)<br /> :What on earth is happening here I don't even know. The script seems fine, I repaired the RSS file again manually. See if it malfunctions again today. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 01:22, 10 August 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::Script is behaving very strangely. Today's update warped the feed file in a weird way, this doesn't usually happen. I'll test it on my machine to see what's happening. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 13:56, 10 August 2015 (UTC)<br /> It was fine for a minute (that must have been your edit), but now it's broke again. --[[User:Ericm301|Ericm301]] ([[User talk:Ericm301|talk]]) 19:53, 10 August 2015 (UTC)<br /> :Alright, I figured out what was going on with the feed. There was a bit of code I had in the update script that trimmed off the last entry of the RSS file and when I recreated an empty file for the feed after the inexplicable wipe, I forgot to turn it off so it was still shaving off the end of the file. This time it should be working. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 07:34, 12 August 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == &quot;Known appearances&quot; character infobox fix? ==<br /> <br /> Currently, &quot;Known appearances&quot; in the characters infobox is broken as for some pages, when the character's category serves as it's own info page. (e.g. [[:Category:Red Spiders]], [[:Category:Sharks]], [[:Category:Squirrels]], [[:Category:Barrel]] etc.) Can this be fixed?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 11:21, 29 March 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :Fixed it myself. Just use template &quot;Infobox character 2&quot; instead of &quot;Infobox character&quot; when the character's category serves as it's own info page.--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 14:55, 31 March 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Comic 1505 (30 March 2015) isn't properly showing up, I think? ==<br /> <br /> Excuse me if I'm being a n00b, but [[1505]] is posted, and the page is extant, but it's not showing on the [[Main Page]] yet. Is this supposed to happen, i.e. waiting for someone to put some content on the page, or did something break somewhere...? Again, sorry if I've just committed a massive derp. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.189|173.245.56.189]] 04:38, 30 March 2015 (UTC)<br /> :Should be showing up now. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 09:38, 30 March 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == rendering problem ? ==<br /> <br /> To me, right now, with Windows Firefox 37.0.1, [[625: Collections]] looks like this:<br /> <br /> [[File:communityportal_technical_1504_collections.png]]<br /> <br /> There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the source text.<br /> <br /> Here's the [[Main Page]] in Internet Explorer 8:<br /> <br /> [[File:communityportal_technical_1504_mainpage.png]]<br /> <br /> This is affecting everything? Or just me? [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 03:31, 6 April 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Okay, [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.140|somebody]] was messing with [[Template:w]]. I reverted it to the previous editor's version, seemed to fix things. [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 03:46, 6 April 2015 (UTC)<br /> :On that note, they made a similar template that links to rationalwiki, but didn't use it at all in any pages. Huh. It's not even a very significant site. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 05:52, 6 April 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::The IP [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=301:_Limerick&amp;oldid=84906&amp;diff=88577 preferred the Rationalwiki article] on Poe's Law to the Wikipedia version, I guess.<br /> ::[[User:452]] did not approve. [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 07:57, 6 April 2015 (UTC)<br /> :::Given the fact that he broke Template:W, and [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.140|didn't seem to know what he was doing]], I undid his other edits, sorry if this was inappropriate. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 17:51, 15 April 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Main Page ==<br /> <br /> When categories are added to the latest comic, the Main Page is also categorized in those categories.--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 13:42, 15 April 2015 (UTC)<br /> :The most obvious solution would be to put the categories inside &lt;nowiki&gt;&lt;noinclude&gt;&lt;/nowiki&gt; tags, on every page. {{unsigned|143}}<br /> ::That's ugly and labor-intensive though. I think there's something we can do with string matching to fix it in a better way. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 03:35, 16 April 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == #cscore doesn't work with #expr ==<br /> <br /> I can't use cscore with expr on my userpage.--{{User:17jiangz1/signature|10:30, 01 May 2015}}<br /> <br /> == 1545 page severely broken? ==<br /> <br /> The very tail end of the raw page source (using Internet Explorer) is<br /> &quot;wgRedirectedFrom&quot;:&quot;1545&quot;});<br /> }&lt;/script&gt;&lt;script&gt;<br /> ...and then stops, obviously unfulfilled. (I also snipped everything up until that unique-looking Redirection data, for brevity.)<br /> <br /> Compare that with the equivalent snippet from an adjacent page:<br /> &quot;wgRedirectedFrom&quot;:&quot;1544&quot;});<br /> }&lt;/script&gt;&lt;script&gt;if(window.mw){<br /> ...and then continues with a working rest of the page. (Also snipped, but this time both before ''and'' after. I've kept it short while imagining I've given enough to ID the precise breakpoint though.)<br /> <br /> Same problem encountered when using &quot;Next&quot; link from 1544 or &quot;Previous&quot; link from 1546. Page http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/List_of_all_comics ''itself'' suffers the exact same error. (Last wgVariable listed in LoaC page is ''&quot;wgSearchNamespaces&quot;:[0]'', instead, but still similarly ends after apparently the same close-script and open-script flagging point.)<br /> <br /> Does ''not'' go wrong in Mozilla-based browsers also on this machine (Firefox, Seamonkey). Page sources for 1545 look exactly like the above 1544 snippet, as expected, with no obvious funny characters or 'Little Bobby Tables' anomalies, SFAICT. In case it's a spurious downloading error that has ended up being cached, I've also &quot;shift-refreshed&quot; in my browser to force download.<br /> <br /> Utterly Baffling me, but FYI in case it's something someone needs to know about, although I'm hoping it's just local strangeness and not anything actually of significance.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 04:33, 5 July 2015 (UTC)<br /> :Opened in Internet Explorer 11, it seems to appear for me. Are any site features being impacted by this bug? '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 15:44, 5 July 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::Nothing I was previously familiar enough with to spot an adverse effect. Note that http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1545:_Strengths_and_Weaknesses - the link I tried to get from the LoaC page (but only just now tried in non-IE!) works perfectly. Even while the &quot;/1545&quot; (i.e. 'RedirectedFrom') version of the page ''continues'' to be truncated. I can only assume that (despite attempts to force things anew), it's buggily-cached iteration.<br /> ::Hang on, that gives me an idea. Which works. I changed the 1545 page (change labelled as &quot;Troubleshooting&quot; in history) and... it opens perfectly. Removed change (should probably have self-reverted, in hindesight, but suspect it'd be fixed anyway) and no further issue. &quot;List of all Comics&quot; page still as broken (because I haven't forced it to update, and am not inclined to 'interfere' with it), but I shall check again after 1547 forces its own changes upon it. Otherwise, consider this closed. Sorry to bother you. <br /> ::TL;DR; problem solved. Pretty much proven to be not even a site issue, I now think. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 21:38, 5 July 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::Ok, FYI, once 1547 'Solar System Questions' ''finally'' appeared, I check &quot;List of all comics&quot; page. First of all a lot of &quot;Waiting for page...&quot; (uh oh), but then force-refreshed page (in the way that didn't work previously) and it loaded correctly. C'est finis. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 15:02, 6 July 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == [[881]] loads as &quot;database error&quot; ==<br /> <br /> With this content:<br /> Database error<br /> A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:<br /> (SQL query hidden)<br /> from within function &quot;SqlBagOStuff::set&quot;. Database returned error &quot;1114: The table 'objectcache' is full (db423085716.db.1and1.com)&quot;.<br /> <br /> No other page gives me this error, just [[881]].--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.6|162.158.92.6]] 19:42, 2 August 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> I just got this on 564 [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.200|141.101.98.200]] 22:44, 2 August 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Database error ==<br /> <br /> I can't see [[:Category:Interactive_comics]] (&lt;tt&gt;1114: The table 'objectcache' is full (db423085716.db.1and1.com)&lt;/tt&gt;). [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.105|199.27.128.105]] 00:18, 3 August 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == RSS missing ==<br /> <br /> Hey it looks like there's an issue with the rss feed, when you browse to the url on the right it just displays an empty page, not sure what's going on. [[User:Eluvatar|Eluvatar]] ([[User talk:Eluvatar|talk]]) 14:19, 3 August 2015 (UTC)<br /> :Huh, in the last few hours the rss file was inexplicably wiped. I've restored the base of it, the bot should start populating the feed with new comics, but old ones are gone. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 16:49, 3 August 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Extra Comics ==<br /> <br /> In extra comics, the header of the comic has &quot;Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character &quot;{&quot;.&quot; such as in [[The Rise of Open Access]]. {{User:17jiangz1/signature|13:32, 13 September 2015}}<br /> :{{done}} - It was because [[0]] was created, so the logic that #ifexist:0 should be false failed. I changed it to default to -2 when number is not present, which will work as long as no one creates [[-1]]! [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 11:15, 14 September 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Explanations for all -4 comics! ==<br /> <br /> The main page header now contains this text:<br /> <br /> [http://i.imgur.com/p7VACbW.png We have an explanation for all -4 xkcd comics, and only 23 (1%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!]<br /> <br /> I'm assuming this is a bug. {{unsigned|Okofish|01:00, 15 September 2015}}<br /> <br /> : {{done}} It was a temporary artifact due to recent categorization changes. It's now fixed. Thanks for the quick report :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 01:14, 15 September 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Discussion pane missing on comic 1592? ==<br /> <br /> After checking the Discussion tab to make sure there ''was'' a Discussion, I thought that someone had removed the &lt;nowiki&gt;{{comic discussion}}&lt;/nowiki&gt; tag, and went into full-page edit to put it back. But it's there. Maybe it's just me, maybe it's just temporary, but FYI in case it isn't. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.185|141.101.75.185]] 15:06, 19 October 2015 (UTC)<br /> :Fixed. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 16:21, 19 October 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Captcha ==<br /> <br /> Captcha not appearing at all. Can't edit pages without turning off security settings (which were set to default). Chrome and &quot;Edge&quot; on Windows 10. Both yell at me about some components of the page being insecure. 15:48, 18 February 2016 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :Same issue with other browsers. reCAPTCHA won't load from an &quot;insecure&quot; resource when the wiki is accessed over HTTPS. [[User:TisTheAlmondTavern|TisTheAlmondTavern]] 15:07, 6 December 2016 (UTC)<br /> ::Oooh, I see. Alright, I'll get to fixing it now I know what the problem is. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 01:00, 7 December 2016 (UTC)<br /> Slight bug in the editing panel, when asked what webcomic we're talking about, it cannot be in all caps, it must be strict lowercase, despite appearances on xkcd.com. Could someone take a look at it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.158|108.162.249.158]] 00:54, 5 November 2015 (UTC)<br /> :It took me several months to figure out that &quot;this wiki&quot; is named &quot;explain xkcd&quot; and not &quot;explainxkcd&quot;. I spent those months answering two questions every time the &quot;what's this wiki's name&quot; question appeared (when I missed the answer, a different question appeared).--[[User:Jojonete|Jojonete]] ([[User talk:Jojonete|talk]]) 09:06, 5 November 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::I was sure both answers were correct, but never attempted to type explainxkcd, just in case. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 12:44, 5 November 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == wiki server clock has drifted - about 13 minutes fast ==<br /> <br /> As I type this, it is exactly 07:42:45 UTC. [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 07:55, 14 April 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> And thus timestamps here are 12 or 13 minutes off. [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 07:59, 14 April 2015 (UTC)<br /> :I see the same thing: 15:41:00 UTC now.... [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 15:54, 23 April 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::Huh. I'll look into it, when I get back home. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 23:19, 23 April 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Currently it's 20 minutes fast. It's 21:00 UTC and it shows 21:20 (UTC). [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 21:20, 14 July 2015 (UTC)<br /> :Sorry bout the delay, was busy for a long bit, should be fixed now. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 21:44, 26 July 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Currently it's 8 minutes fast. It's 20:56:00 UTC and it shows 21:03 UTC. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 21:03, 5 November 2015 (UTC)<br /> :do we not have ntp on the server or something, gonna reset the clock again when i get back home. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 00:33, 6 November 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Happening again: it's 11:33 UTC and the server has 11:48 UTC. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.161|141.101.75.161]] 11:49, 11 March 2016 (UTC)<br /> :Fixed again, and I'm gonna have to check our NTP installation. 06:37, 18 March 2016 (UTC)<br /> :Alright, changed some things, this shouldn't happen anymore. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 06:38, 18 March 2016 (UTC)<br /> <br /> The clock is about 13-14 minutes off again. It's currently 13:49 UTC. –''TisTheAlmondTavern'', 13:36, 17 January 2017 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Discussion template resources apparently missing ==<br /> <br /> As co-header (right-margin hugging text) to the Discussion section on all pages (or at least as many as I've just visited - and on multiple browsers, ''just in case''...) I'm getting the following, with the &lt;&gt;-tags being my own descriptive additions:<br /> &lt;redlink&gt;File:comment.png&lt;/redlink&gt; &lt;validlink&gt;add a comment!&lt;/validlink&gt; ⋅ &lt;redlink&gt;File:Icons-mini-action refresh blue.gif&lt;/redlink&gt; &lt;validlink&gt;refresh comments!Discussion&lt;/validlink&gt;<br /> Looks like the PNG and GIF files concerned have been removed, or the links in the Discussion template broken/incorrectly redirected.<br /> <br /> (Sidenote: The character between the &quot;add a comment!&quot; and the &quot;File: Icons-mini-action refresh blue.gif&quot; that I've copied here verbatim (so doubtless appears correctly for everyone else who reads this) is an 'I don't have this character on my machine' character, for me, which is obviously entirely my fault for not downloading additional fonts that I'd need. From cursory investigation, it appears to be essentially the same as &quot;·&quot;, Alt-0183, or HTML code '&amp;amp;middot;', which ''would'' render on my machine and yet (if changed) shouldn't break on those where it currently works. For your consideration, but not as vital.)<br /> [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.161|141.101.106.161]] 06:30, 7 November 2015 (UTC)<br /> :ETA - Delving around further, [[:Category:Pages with broken file links]] seems to indicate it ''is'' a widespread problem at server-side, and not somehow solely my own (except for the Sidenote issue!). And suggests a simple way to check that the issue is fixed (when suddenly the category is nowhere near as 'full'), and then discover any related ones that might need fixing (like the special Star Trek Into Darkness alternate version of the Discussion template). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.161|141.101.106.161]] 06:57, 7 November 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::Huh. I have a feeling I know what caused this, I'll get right on it. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 16:23, 7 November 2015 (UTC)<br /> :::I've seen some more of these cases, e.g. on [[explain xkcd:Community portal]]. I think these images are from Wikimedia Commons, maybe that integration broke somehow? --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 16:33, 7 November 2015 (UTC)<br /> ::::i don't know what is even happening, the images seem to be fine now but they still show up as broken file links '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 02:04, 8 November 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Update captcha text? ==<br /> <br /> The text above the posting captcha says “type the two words” but reCaptcha often doesn't use two, and they're often not words. Example: http://i.imgur.com/TdM5n5O.png<br /> <br /> Maybe we could change it to something like “type the text”?<br /> <br /> [[User:P1h3r1e3d13|P1h3r1e3d13]] ([[User talk:P1h3r1e3d13|talk]]) 23:44, 2 March 2016 (UTC)<br /> :So, the reCAPTCHA captchas are entirely provided by Google. If there's an error in it, it's likely Google's fault and a bug report should be sent in that direction instead. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 00:23, 3 March 2016 (UTC)<br /> ::I noticed that before. It's not a bug in recaptcha, but rather in ConfirmEdit, file ReCaptcha/i18n/en.json to be exact. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.217|162.158.90.217]]<br /> :::Oh huh, hadn't thought of that. I'll fix that up then. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 19:45, 3 March 2016 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Stylesheets not working? ==<br /> <br /> It doesn't look like any of the site's CSS is loading for me. I have tried purging, adding useskins to the URL, and clearing my browser's cache, and webpage content remains in Times New Roman with no special styling. Headers and bold spans of text are bold, list items are bulleted, buttons are button-y, templates and my signature display with HTML-&lt;tt&gt;style&lt;/tt&gt;-attribute-level CSS, and so on, but that's the extent of it. Is this a belated April Fools' joke, or has something gone horribly wrong between the servers and my eyes? &lt;span style=&quot;background:#0064de;font-size:12px;padding:4px 12px;border-radius:8px;&quot;&gt;[[User talk:AgentMuffin|&lt;span style=&quot;color:#f0faff;&quot;&gt;~AgentMuffin&lt;/span&gt;]]&lt;/span&gt;<br /> <br /> :I made a similar post earlier -- it seems to have vanished down a black hole. I linked these screenshots: [http://i.imgur.com/smN1a45.png] [http://i.imgur.com/qdpxhdY.png]<br /> :Note that there are no ads either! This could get to problem-level very fast. [[User:KangaroOS|Kangaro]][[User talk:KangaroOS|OS]] 01:28, 5 April 2016 (UTC)<br /> ::There are actually still ads, they're just shoved right at the bottom of the page. mysqld is clocking in at 40% cpu load, and mediawiki seems to be going into fallback mode and skipping stylesheets which is about what I'd expect from an april fools comic. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 01:31, 5 April 2016 (UTC)<br /> :::Ah, figured it was some sort of server overslow. For a while there I was getting a 503 error. [[User:KangaroOS|Kangaro]][[User talk:KangaroOS|OS]] 01:36, 5 April 2016 (UTC)<br /> :::Well, perhaps you don't need another note about this, but I noted the 'stylesheetless' appearance myself, just now. Except that it ''is'' styled, partially. (When I choose to view by Style &quot;No style&quot;, it's even more not-Styled!) Could be because a subset of styles aren't being loaded (so that the ones that ''are'' still loaded can only be identified from their enforced absence), but looks like you have this as much in hand as can be expected, so just FYI... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.137|141.101.98.137]] 04:13, 5 April 2016 (UTC)<br /> ::Have you tried switching the server off and back on ? ;-) Jokes apart, are there really so many users continuously polling ? It could be just a case of stale open connections. Really, a reboot might not hurt (although it may kill-off few sessions and you may get some angry posts, but at this point, it might be worth the try) Edit: Sorry, I was messing up the formatting while replying. I'm trying to fix it. But at this point, does it really matter? :P [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.56|162.158.255.56]] 04:21, 5 April 2016 (UTC)<br /> :::Alright guys, still having trouble with the load, but I've put a quick temporary hack in place to get the css working again for now. Fonts are a little off, I'll deal with that soon. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 08:09, 5 April 2016 (UTC)<br /> ::::Did a little more work on things, styles should be working again but it's not great on the back end. I'm going to do some rooting around to see what went wrong. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 00:07, 6 April 2016 (UTC)<br /> :::::Cool.. This is pretty good. We're almost there.. The only things I can notice that are off are - (1) Category list at the end of the page (2) Contents block at the beginning of the page and (3) Edit buttons for individual sections. By the way, I'm curious, what exactly was broken ? I didn't expect you'd have to fix things here. I expected that since the issue was caused by excess server load, it would return back to normalcy automatically once things settle down a bit in couple of days after the offending comic was more or less explained. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.56|162.158.255.56]] 03:32, 6 April 2016 (UTC)<br /> ::::::A script responsible for picking user preferences and integrating css from pages like [[Mediawiki:common.css]] was failing to complete because of server load, so I gave it a helping hand and just had it insert a static stylesheet instead. I almost certainly missed a few spots though, because the wiki does not look right. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 04:43, 6 April 2016 (UTC)<br /> <br /> (resetting indent) Yes, things are still off. The text &quot;Jump to: navigation, search&quot; is at the top of every page, but it's useless because it links to stuff already at the top of the page. Edit summaries aren't italicized, the edit boxes don't use the whole window width, links are underlined, section edit links are too big, etc. I put the Wayback Machine to good use, and found the below set of archived pages, all using the proper style. Compare them with the current appearances of the pages, and you should see most, if not all, of the issues I've seen.&lt;br&gt;[http://web.archive.org/web/20160402151417/http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page Main Page] | [http://web.archive.org/web/20150326134736/http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/NealCruco My contributions] | [http://web.archive.org/web/20150326170626/http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1486:_Vacuum&amp;action=edit The &quot;edit&quot; page for comic 1486] --[[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 21:50, 7 April 2016 (UTC)<br /> ::Is here nothing to be done about the missing styles? The tables still look horrible and there is not help when editing, for instance for signature etc. Colapsing of tables etc. also won't work which is a mess for some of the long explanations and tables [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:56, 18 April 2016 (UTC)<br /> HotCat also seems to be not working for adding categories. {{User:17jiangz1/signature|13:18, 25 April 2016}}<br /> :Yeah, load.php is failing so all gadgets and user scripts are unavailable. :-( [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 14:42, 25 April 2016 (UTC)<br /> ::Alright, figured it out. It was a deal with file permissions, not sure how those got changed on April 1st. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 18:59, 17 May 2016 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Comic navigation buttons ==<br /> <br /> You know, the buttons that look like the ones on the xkcd site. Shouldn't they also highlight like the xkcd site? I thought maybe it was due to the above CSS issue, but the links to archive.org make it seem like it's just never worked.<br /> <br /> It just seems to me that, if we're going to go that far in mimicking the actual buttons, we should probably also mimic their a:hover settings. Shut off the box shadow, change the background to white, and the link color to #6E7B91.<br /> <br /> I've tested the following CSS, and it appears to work:<br /> <br /> &lt;nowiki&gt;<br /> li.plainlinks:hover, .no-link-underline &gt; li:hover {<br /> background-color: #FFF !important;<br /> box-shadow: none !important;<br /> -moz-box-shadow: none !important;<br /> -webkit-box-shadow: none !important; <br /> }<br /> li.plainlinks:hover &gt; a &gt; span, .no-link-underline &gt; li:hover &gt; a &gt; span {<br /> color: #6E7B91 !important; <br /> }<br /> &lt;/nowiki&gt;<br /> <br /> [[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 09:14, 2 May 2016 (UTC)<br /> :Seems like a decent addition. Thanks! '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 18:52, 1 June 2016 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Captcha trouble ==<br /> <br /> For about an hour, I wasn't able to edit a page or create an account when I was trying to, because the captcha was missing. I'm not sure if it was problem on this site or captcha but I thought I'd mention it.<br /> --[[User:Anqied|Anqied]] ([[User talk:Anqied|talk]]) 08:34, 11 June 2016 (UTC)<br /> :Recaptcha appears to work for me currently. Does it work now? It seems like they may have just gone down temporarily. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 20:52, 11 June 2016 (UTC)<br /> ::I'm not certain this is the same issue, but I was just having a problem with the captcha for unregistered users trying to edit a page. I figured out that it's because you were trying to serve the captcha through HTTP even though the page was on HTTPS, so my browser was blocking the captcha. Changing to HTTP &quot;fixed&quot; the issue, but that shouldn't be the solution. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.187|108.162.215.187]] 16:45, 18 July 2016 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == wrong IP ==<br /> <br /> [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=632:_Suspicion&amp;curid=3946&amp;diff=122229&amp;oldid=100180 My edition] was attributed to 141.101.104.60, whereas my real address is 88.156.226.213 according to [https://ipinfo.io]. Wikimedia sites (Wikipedias, Wiktionaries...) recognize my IP address properly. Someting strange is going on here. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.71|141.101.104.71]] 22:40, 21 June 2016 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Just a heads up that your website is incorrectly identifying the IP address of visitors as being from the CloudFlare server that is serving the page content to them. It would be best practice if you could explicitly look for the field &quot;REMOTE_ADDR&quot; rather than &quot;X-FORWARDED-FOR&quot; as the former is unaffected by the use of intermediate proxies.<br /> PS My IP address should begin with 131.111. IP addresses beginning with 141.101 belong to Cloudflare London. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.5|141.101.98.5]] 21:08, 21 July 2016 (UTC)<br /> <br /> * This appears to still be an issue. I just [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1787:_Voice_Commands&amp;curid=19860&amp;diff=133917&amp;oldid=133916 posted] from [[Special:Contributions/172.72.47.40|172.72.47.40]], my work place and it's showing as [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.11|108.162.238.11]]. Thanks.<br /> <br /> * FYI I just created this account and the &quot;email address confirmation&quot; email I received said the account was created by a Cloudflare IP (162.158.107.199), not my own. [[User:ExcarnateSojourner|ExcarnateSojourner]] ([[User talk:ExcarnateSojourner|talk]]) 15:09, 4 July 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Captcha does not appear ==<br /> <br /> I am not a registered user (I just haven't bothered to make an account), so I have to complete a Captcha before saving any of my edits. However, I've found numerous times that the captcha does not show up when I hit [Save page]. The line of text introducing it (&quot;To help protect against automated edit spam, please type the word you see in the box below:&quot;) shows up, but the no actual captcha and thus no saved edits. '''Is this a known issue with Chrome?''' I managed to circumvent it by using IE (I assure you, it was the only other browser available), but I would much prefer to be able to edit ''explain xkcd'' pages in Chrome, my usual browser. {{unsigned ip|108.162.220.17}}<br /> :What plugins do you have installed on chrome? Do you have Javascript enabled? I'll see what can be done if you have them off. '''[[User:D?avidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 20:45, 20 July 2016 (UTC)<br /> ::I just figured out the problem and successfully edited a page. I too tried IE after Chrome but still encountered the issue... to my consternation I noticed a new icon in the address-bar, 'Blocked content'. (Apparently recaptcha is treated similarly to a pop-up.) Interacting with this new button made the captcha appear. I am in Chrome adding this comment, and after finding the similarly-functioning/corresponding button here, all is well [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.247|108.162.237.247]] 18:39, 2 August 2016 (UTC)<br /> ::Hmph, I am likely a completely different user from the foregoing, but our IP addresses are similar and both reported as from Cloudflare in TX. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.247|108.162.237.247]] 18:42, 2 August 2016 (UTC)<br /> ::I would like to address this and also point out this is the only site where I've run into this problem; other wiki-based sites can load captcha fine. According to Chrome it's blocked because it's an &quot;unsafe script&quot;. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.84|141.101.107.84]] 08:54, 4 March 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Wanted files ==<br /> <br /> [[Special:WantedFiles]]: 41 file is linked but nonexistent. <br /> <br /> Some on talk pages, user pages and project pages, but here is a list of those in main namespace:<br /> # File:Apatosaurus scale mmartyniuk wiki.png<br /> # File:Apidae - Eucera sp. (male).JPG<br /> # File:Louisae.jpg<br /> # File:Wet kookaburra 6674 Crop Edit.jpg<br /> # File:MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft.jpg<br /> # File:Bee orchids, Aller Brook Local Nature Reserve - geograph.org.uk - 833516.jpg<br /> # File:Synhalonia nest 1.jpg<br /> # File:Butterfly Voters View.jpg<br /> # File:Fusca estacionado.jpg<br /> # File:Ophrys apifera flower1.jpg<br /> # File:Galilean moon Laplace resonance animation.gif<br /> # File:PalmCellTower.jpg<br /> # File:746 telephone in red.JPG<br /> # File:Candidate Higgs Events in ATLAS and CMS.png<br /> # File:Tommy Wiseau.jpg<br /> # File:Google maps auto.jpg<br /> # File:Velociraptor dinoguy2.jpg<br /> # File:Acrocanthosaurus skeleton (1).jpg<br /> # File:Vraptor-scale.png<br /> # File:Alces alces elan trophee chateau Tanlay.jpg<br /> # File:DBCooper.jpg<br /> # File:Rick Astley - Pepsifest 2009.jpg<br /> # File:Anonymous emblem.svg<br /> # File:Eas new.svg<br /> # File:John Cage and Michael Bach in Assissi 1992.jpg<br /> I could not find why they were deleted and it's hard for me to argue for their presence in the articles. Being a newbie here, I would like to ask those who knows better to either undelete files, or upload them again, or delete file mentions from the explanations. Thanks --[[User:Ата|&lt;span style=&quot;color:SteelBlue&quot;&gt;Ата&lt;/span&gt;]]&amp;nbsp;&lt;sup&gt;[[User talk:Ата|&lt;span style=&quot;color:#80A0FF&quot;&gt;(talk)&lt;/span&gt;]]&lt;/sup&gt; 15:47, 8 August 2016 (UTC)<br /> :I tend to clean up after myself, don't recognise these file names. I believe these happen when files get moved, feel free to cut dead file links wherever you find them if you find them unnecessary.'''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 02:38, 10 August 2016 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == [[827]]/[[1721]]: Business Idea ==<br /> <br /> See [[1721#Trivia]]. Randall has accidentally named both 1721 and 827 &quot;Business Idea&quot;. He fixed it by renaming 827 to &quot;My Business Idea&quot;. I tried to reproduce by renaming the file and wiki page for 827, but it now shows the old comic on both pages. Maybe CloudFlare caching? And idea (that's not a business idea) to fix this? --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]])<br /> :Cloudflare takes a little time to update changes to an image. For immediate results, you can create an image under a different name and use that while you wait for the old one to update. Otherwise, it should update within a few hours. Is it good for you now? '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 14:48, 18 August 2016 (UTC)<br /> ::Yes, it was resolved after a few hours. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 20:25, 18 August 2016 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Mobile CSS ==<br /> <br /> I've accessed this Wiki on my mobile device more often than previously and I couldn't find any discussion about this. Honestly, 50% of the reasons I'm adding this topic is about the discussion, the rest is about making it easier for people with narrower screens.<br /> I understand that I am a new member on this Wiki and that altering [[Mediawiki:Common.css]] has site-wide effects (and I'm sure that there are some templates that won't agree with some of the options we have, even some tables, such as the one on [[893: 65 Years#Trivia]], will break a very narrow design).<br /> <br /> OK. Let me just ramble on about this, then. =)<br /> There are some obvious (but not necessarily easier) options for mobile devices. [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Mobiles,_tablets_and_responsive_design MediaWiki] lists a few Skins and Extensions. Not having ever had access to a Wiki's server, I have no idea how nerve-racking that is (or if it even makes sense for this Wiki). Even more obvious to some - and even harder to implement - is a mobile app (that I wouldn't use anyway).<br /> <br /> So, to bridge the time until maybe something more effective comes along, we ''could'' try to add some CSS ourselves. I'm no expert. But here are my thoughts.<br /> *This is about all devices with narrow screens, not just phones. Let's say anything under 600px width is considered narrow.<br /> *Most obviously, the font size should be affected. This has negative consequences for anything with fixed font size. And anything we forget. Basically, the sidebar, the search and anything else on top of each page can be massively smaller depending on the screen and fixing that won't be as easy.<br /> *Of course we could disregard the sidebar, or rather, push it to the bottom (which is easy, it's artificially placed on the left instead of the bottom). There are a number of reasons why a lot of people wouldn't want that. One of those reasons is that the ads would basically disappear for anyone who doesn't scroll down. We would have to figure out where else we can put it, on the top maybe. On the plus side, we could have the entire width of the screen just for the article.<br /> *Another thing that breaks the design regularly: comic images. We could make them fit. The navigation might be more challenging.<br /> *There's a whole lot of paddings and margins to get rid of.<br /> *Maybe make the search box a lot bigger?<br /> <br /> A short snippet for the comic images and for the font:<br /> <br /> @media handheld,screen and (max-width: 600px),screen and (max-device-width: 600px){ /* because some mobile browsers like to work with a higher resolution than the resolution of the screen */<br /> <br /> #bodyContent{<br /> font-size:initial; /* resetting font to full size */<br /> }<br /> <br /> td &gt; img{ /* maybe add a class for the table in [[Template:comic]] */<br /> display:block;<br /> margin:auto;<br /> max-width:100%; /* make image fit into box */<br /> height:auto;<br /> }<br /> <br /> }<br /> <br /> I don't know... What do you think?<br /> Oh, also, Mediawiki says this can be added to [[Mediawiki:Mobile.css]] but I guess that is for extensions? We'd probably have to add that to [[Mediawiki:Common.css]] if we ever want to add it.<br /> [[User:Ret Samys|Ret Samys]] ([[User talk:Ret Samys|talk]]) 16:21, 15 September 2016 (UTC)<br /> :Getting on a plane soon, but I'll take a look at this when I get off and get moved in again. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 14:07, 16 September 2016 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == HTTPS Links Back to XKCD Interfere with Random Button ==<br /> <br /> ''(I've moved this from &quot;Proposals&quot; to here, now realising this is the proper location.)''<br /> <br /> The Links back to the comics that are present just above the comic itself on the wiki pages (and adjacent to the next and previous links) provides an HTTPS link back to XKCD. However, this interferes with users who want to click that link, and then click &lt;code&gt;random&lt;/code&gt; - because &lt;code&gt;c.xkcd.com&lt;/code&gt; does NOT support HTTPS, and thus clicking &lt;code&gt;random&lt;/code&gt; after returning to xkcd from explainxkcd via the button on a comic's article does not work. These links should be switched back to HTTP.<br /> <br /> --[[User:9000 volts|9000 volts]] ([[User talk:9000 volts|talk]]) 22:53, 24 December 2016 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :What makes you suspect &lt;code&gt;c.xkcd.com&lt;/code&gt; does not support SSL? It features a perfectly valid wildcard certificate from GeoTrust (currently valid from Dec 14 00:00:00 2016 GMT, so it should already have affected you), although it's different from the multi-site certificate from Fastly used on the comic and what-if.xkcd.com and, yet again, different from the Let's Encrypt ones used on the blag and store.<br /> <br /> :On the other hand, there is a compelling argument for HTTP links: Most interactive comics break with HTTPS. –''TisTheAlmondTavern'', 14:19, 17 January 2017 (UTC)<br /> ::I can't reproduce the issue with random comics, but the benefits of using SSL for links to a site that stores no user data probably don't outweigh the issues that some people seem to be having. Changed. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 22:34, 10 February 2017 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == &quot;Retry for a live version&quot; and stuff not responding ==<br /> <br /> Every now and then, I'd just be browsing around the site, then all of a sudden I'd run into an issue with it saying that there was an error with the explainxkcd.com host and that I would need to wait for the servers to restart. This is happening rather often for me, but goes away quickly. Sometimes, it happens on my own wiki pages too... weird. Other times, things would just freeze. Is it something on my end, or is it with the site? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 14:05, 5 January 2017 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Support for timezones? ==<br /> <br /> I live in the timezone PST, and because of that, the clock seems to be ahead of my time by about 7 hours and 40 minutes. Can someone add support for different timezones?<br /> For example, at my time of posting, it is 7:56 PM on March 8, 2017. The time the wiki thinks it is is shown on my signature: [[User:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8]] ([[User talk:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|talk]]) 03:40, 9 March 2017 (UTC)<br /> :You can actually set your own time zone. Go to Preferences-&gt;Date and Time, and there should be a time offset option for you to pick your time zone. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 07:36, 9 March 2017 (UTC)<br /> ::The thing is, I do have my time zone set to PST, but on the wiki it is still showing up as the wrong time. [[User:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8]] ([[User talk:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|talk]]) 15:24, 9 March 2017 (UTC)<br /> :::Oh, the timestamps recorded in signatures are in UTC for everyone. That doesn't change, because it makes it easier to follow the timeline of a conversation in a talk page. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 17:24, 9 March 2017 (UTC)<br /> ::::Uhhh, the timestamp isn't UTC at all. My latest BOT upload was 06:02, 8 March 2017 CET or 05:02, 8 March 2017 UTC and it is recorded here as 04:45, 8 March 2017. So we still have an offset 17 minutes to the past. That's an old problem.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:33, 9 March 2017 (UTC)<br /> :::::It is UTC, server inaccuracy doesn't change the time zone, it just makes it inaccurate. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 19:13, 9 March 2017 (UTC)<br /> ::::::And even if you don't like me for this: The server time is currently UTC-00:17 and not UTC. This odd offset confuses users. But I know nobody can change this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:36, 9 March 2017 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Mailserver-problem ==<br /> <br /> Hello, &lt;br/&gt;<br /> I tried to reset my password today, but there is a problem with your mail-server: The sender-adress of your password-reset-mail is expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com, but the (sub-)domain vps.explainxkcd.com does not exists, and so the eMail is rejected by my mail-server (and most others too). Could that please be fixed? Thank you very much. --DaB.<br /> <br /> == When did InstantCommons get disabled? ==<br /> <br /> I was just about to add some photos of the ISS transiting the sun to [[1828|today's explanation]], but saw that it's no longer possible to just enter the names of {{w|c:|Wikimedia Commons}} photos and for them to render. I know of at least one explanation&amp;mdash;[[1400]]&amp;mdash;that previously had such images, but now just has redlinks. I presume that at some point someone must have disabled {{w|mw:InstantCommons|$wgUseInstantCommons}} in the config settings. May I ask what the reason for that was? And is there any chance that that could be reverted? Obviously there aren't a lot of articles where it makes sense to have Commons images up, but IMHO it's a useful feature to have for the rare occasion where it makes sense, like with today's comic. [[User:PinkAmpersand|PinkAmpersand]] ([[User talk:PinkAmpersand|talk]]) 21:20, 24 April 2017 (UTC)<br /> :'''Solved.''' You now can embed pictures from Commons like local files. The link &lt;nowiki&gt;[[File:DBCooper.jpg|thumb|Cooper]]&lt;/nowiki&gt; shows the picture from Commons because it doesn't exist here. There is no need to use a template. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:57, 25 May 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Wikipedia template stopped working ==<br /> <br /> Some time ago the template used for links to Wikipedia stopped working correctly. If you see here link to Halloween on Wikipedia, it works again:<br /> {{w|Halloween}}. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 22:21, 25 June 2017 (UTC)<br /> <br /> : Known issue, there's currently an anon doing boring vandalism. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.172|108.162.241.172]] 22:37, 25 June 2017 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == CAPTCHA does not work for HTTPS visitors ==<br /> <br /> I am a fervent believer in encrypting everything (I am the crypto nut in [[1269: Privacy Opinions]]), and have configured the NoScript plugin to force the use of HTTPS instead of HTTP for all sites that aren't on a special list in my configs. Hence, I tend to visit sites on HTTPS that most people visit on unencrypted HTTP, discovering all the bugs in people's HTTPS implementations in the process...and this site is not exempt from the bugfinding.<br /> <br /> In order to edit pages, you need to enter a CAPTCHA. However, the script that makes this captcha work is fetched from Google over unencrypted http (the src tag in the script specifies http: not https:). When I visit this site over HTTPS, the use of active content served over unencrypted HTTP onto an encrypted page causes Firefox to have a spasm and block the script. Since Google fully supports HTTPS, the script's src tag should just be changed to say https: instead of http:, and that SHOULD fix it. Better yet, omit the protocol at all, and do something like:<br /> <br /> src=&quot;//www.google.com/recaptcha/(rest of url)&quot;<br /> <br /> Most modern browsers will interpret that as &quot;fetch www.google.com/recaptcha/(rest of url) over the same protocol used to serve this page.&quot;<br /> <br /> (Sadly, NoScript is not smart enough to fix this by itself and just change the script's src to https: client-side...)<br /> <br /> [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.89|162.158.79.89]] 11:12, 20 August 2017 (UTC)<br /> <br /> The CAPTCHA also doesn't work for https while using Chrome. 01 September 2017<br /> <br /> == Deprecation of reCAPTCHA v1 ==<br /> <br /> The wiki currently uses reCAPTCHA v1 to validate users as human, which [https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/docs/faq#what-happens-to-recaptcha-v1 beginning in November will show public deprecation notices] and stop working altogether on March 31, 2018.<br /> <br /> Are there already plans to migrate to reCAPTCHA v2 or a different CAPTCHA algorithm? –[[User:TisTheAlmondTavern|TisTheAlmondTavern]] ([[User talk:TisTheAlmondTavern|talk]]) 20:05, 31 October 2017 (UTC) (wiki clock is several minutes late again, BTW)<br /> <br /> :I do intend to update the CAPTCHA, I got the email notice from Google. I've been away from the site for longer than I'd like, been busy but it looks like a bunch of stuff has piled up while I was gone. I'll try to fix what I can with the time I have. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 03:38, 12 November 2017 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::Any update on this? It has &lt;6 weeks of life left, and the user messaging has just got angrier. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.26|162.158.155.26]] 09:22, 20 February 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :::10 days left. I wonder what happens then. Right now, it just says &quot;V1 SHUTDOWN ON 2018-03-31&quot; and expects me to type it as an answer. {{unsigned ip|172.68.110.46}}<br /> <br /> ::::You can hit the refresh button and it will display an actual catch. 4 days before they shut it down. [[User:TheMageKing|TheMageKing]] ([[User talk:TheMageKing|talk]]) 12:22, 27 March 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Either the kludge of simply typing the message about shutdown still works, or the Captcha system is just not working: I'm not autoconfirmed here but I was able to edit today, 9 days after v1 presumably went &quot;poof&quot;. [[User:Yngvadottir|Yngvadottir]] ([[User talk:Yngvadottir|talk]]) 18:12, 9 April 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> The new reCAPTCHA v2 is now online. I apologize for the delay but many updates were required and I tried to keep the server downtime as short as possible. [[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:53, 19 May 2018 (UTC)<br /> == RSS bot stopped? ==<br /> <br /> The master RSS feed only goes up to 1912, although the wiki is already up to 1914. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.18|141.101.105.18]] 11:20, 11 November 2017 (UTC)<br /> :Sorry, been busy, the feed should be up and running again. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 03:38, 12 November 2017 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Captcha doesn't work on my browser ==<br /> <br /> I can't make any edits to the comic pages because the captcha simply doesn't appear when I'm trying to edit the comic pages. {{unsigned|WilliamBrennan}}<br /> :Please check your add blockers and activate JavaScript. [[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:53, 19 May 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Hi &amp; Thanks heaps! I finally created an account after years of pleasurable &amp; enlightening explanations. It took me over 5 minutes to get past the Captcha, and I've seen a few in the last week registering for sites such as XDA-developers and the like. Not sure how it all works but it feels like it's set to &quot;ultra-difficult&quot; or some-such...and this is the place where things are *easy* for *stupid people* like me ;) Cheers &amp; thanks again {{unsigned|Munchywok}}<br /> :The Captcha is from Google (Big Brother...) and based on an sophisticated software in which you sometimes even don't have to solve it at all when it is convinced that you are a human. But it depends on your browser installation, especially your add ons. My best experience is using Google Chrome without any extensions. Firefox with extensions is the hell. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 09:25, 15 August 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == New High Resolution comics ==<br /> <br /> I've noticed Randall has been making the comics higher resolution to look good on HiDPI/Retina displays. But the copies on ExplainXKCD are the old low resolution copies.<br /> <br /> Perhaps we'll have to go through at some point and update these? {{unsigned ip|162.158.75.58}}<br /> :I am aware of this. Randall started to provide two different resolutions at standard comics more than a year ago, and he also provides the larger resolutions to older comics since than. Technically the image tag provides links to two pictures and the browser decides based on the screen resolution what is shown. Since this wiki is now at the latest version the use of [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgResponsiveImages $wgResponsiveImages] may be possible. But this has to be tested first. Stay tuned... [[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:53, 19 May 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Should the HTTP urls redirect to HTTPS? ==<br /> <br /> Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but shouldn't the HTTP urls be redirecting to HTTPS? Right now, the HTTP and HTTPS endpoints seem to have different login states, which is possibly confusing. I was stumped for a long time on why I couldn't login to my account, because I kept getting the error message &quot;There seems to be a problem with your login session; this action has been canceled as a precaution against session hijacking. Go back to the previous page, reload that page and then try again.&quot; And then I noticed the &quot;Use secure connection&quot; button, and when I clicked it, it took me to the HTTPS site where I was already logged in! But even now, if I go to an HTTP url, I'm still logged out there. [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 00:43, 21 August 2018 (UTC)<br /> :Of course HTTP and HTTPS are different endpoints. Login via HTTPS and your credentials are encrypted and this will be never converted into plain text for HTTP. And I just successfully tested both connections with Google Chrome. Maybe we should redirect always to HTTPS like xkcd does, right now it's just your choice. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:46, 21 August 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::Ah, I see. If I log in from the HTTP site, I'm logged in on both the HTTP and HTTPS sites. But if I login from the HTTPS site, then I'm only logged in on the HTTPS site, and not on the HTTP site. Furthermore, if I'm logged into the HTTPS site and I try to login from the HTTP site, I get the error message that I quote from above. Fair enough.<br /> <br /> ::I guess one contribution to my confusion was the fact that the HTTPS site doesn't have the green padlock in Chrome. That would have made the difference between the HTTPS and HTTP site a bit more obvious. (I rarely type in the entire URL directly; I usually just let the Chrome address bar autocomplete do its job... and unfortunately that autocomplete takes me to the HTTP site, and I keep forgetting about that.) Right now, on any HTTPS page here, Chrome still says that it's insecure: &quot;Attackers might be able to see the images you're looking at on this site and trick you by modifying them.&quot; Firefox says something similar: &quot;Parts of this page are not secure (such as images).&quot; Perhaps someone should look into that? (I think it might be the ad image.) [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 03:09, 23 August 2018 (UTC)<br /> :::Thanks for your remarks. I'm aware of this but the site isn't insecure, only a few local images and some from wikimedia are hard coded to a http link. It's not much so I'll fix it soon.<br /> :::In general every http request should be redirected to https, but that's not trivial at our current environment. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:35, 23 August 2018 (UTC)<br /> ::::It took some time to find all the places of hard coded images via http (insecure) but now you should see the green secure remark in your browser when logging in via https. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:50, 24 August 2018 (UTC)<br /> :::::in my holy opinion at least the login page should only be served securely. people are notoriously bad at not-reusing-passwords. [[User:Gir|//gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 12:23, 10 September 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Just noting that basically every major site out there redirects from HTTP to HTTPS (including http://en.wikipedia.com, http://xkcd.com, http://stackoverflow.com, and even other wiki communities like http://wiki.puella-magi.net, http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Touhou_Wiki, and http://wiki.documentfoundation.org). So it would really cool if we could get that redirect action happening on this site, too :) I was browsing the site today and I was just struck once again by how odd it was that I wasn't logged in, until I remembered that I was on the HTTP site, not the HTTPS site. A real user experience annoyance, if you ask me. [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 21:34, 19 October 2018 (UTC)<br /> :Of course you're right. I still have other issues but this will be done soon. Stay tuned... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:08, 20 October 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Captcha too picky ==<br /> <br /> I just had to solve the &quot;select all street signs&quot; Captcha at least 10 times in a row. I never know when/whether to include slivers, backs of signs, sign posts, walk/wait lights. Captcha already doesn't follow my definition of street sign (I only call the sign that has the street name a &quot;street sign&quot;, but I realize what I call &quot;road signs,&quot; Captcha also calls &quot;street signs&quot; and I can adjust for that. But I haven't figured out the other issue yet, and I suspect Captcha is dinging me on choosing slivers. But that's only a guess, since it never tells you what you got wrong, it just gives you another Captcha. {{unsigned|Thisisnotatest}}<br /> :My advice is installing Google Chrome and it works fine. Since that Captcha software is also from Google (Big Brother...) I believe that's on purpose. Firefox is the hell as you described; I'm not sure how it works at MS IE/Edge. In general you have to select not less than three and not more than four squares. But on Firefox, even when it seems definitely to be correct, the chance of getting an error message is more than 80%. You probably use FF. Nonetheless right now there are no other adequate Captcha tools supported by Mediawiki, the software this Wiki runs on. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:57, 27 August 2018 (UTC)<br /> :I second this. Big Brother's Captchas on Firefox are nearly unsolvable (granted, I'm browsing with JS off and blocking 3rd party cookies). And recaptcha requires 1) JavaScript and 2) a connection to google. [[User:Gir|//gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 12:23, 10 September 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Cannot create a user page ==<br /> <br /> i have tried to make a user page for myself and cannot seem to do it, i'm sorry if this has been addressed already, but i couldn't find it. [[User: Nintendo Mc]] ([[User talk:Nintendo Mc|talk]]) 13:07, 28 September 2018 (UTC)<br /> :New user don't have the rights. Do some more edits and wait a few days until you can create new pages. Your user page is created by me for now. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:00, 28 September 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::'''Good Question!''' is there some place '''that everyone''' [who is cool] '''can find,''' that explains '''how many''' edits one has to do (and/or, '''how long''' one has to wait) in order to cause the&lt;blockquote&gt;[...] but you do not have permission to create this page.&lt;/blockquote&gt; <br /> ::'''[error] message''' to ... '''&quot;no longer&quot; appear,''' when some limitation or rule is no longer blocking or &quot;preventing&quot; allowing creation -- by that user -- of his own '''&quot;User:&quot;''' page? (OR ... of ''her'' own '''&quot;User talk:&quot;''' page?) <br /> <br /> ::I have done [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Mike_Schwartz very few edits] here, but ... a couple of them were almost '''3 years ago.''' <br /> <br /> ::For what it's worth (FWIW), '''I did not plan to say much''' on my &quot;User:&quot; page here. Probably something like: <br /> ::::This user is not a frequent flyer here on this Wiki (at &quot;explainxkcd&quot;); ...but he has done [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Mike_Schwartz a 4-digit number of edits] on ''other'' Wikis ...mainly [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page English Wikipedia] (&quot;See also&quot; his [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mike_Schwartz &quot;User:&quot; page] there.) <br /> <br /> ::&lt;big&gt;&lt;big&gt;Any comments?&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/big&gt; Thanks for listening. --[[User:Mike Schwartz|Mike Schwartz]] ([[User talk:Mike Schwartz|talk]]) 07:43, 7 April 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :::According to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#Permission request|here]] and [[:explain xkcd:Autoconfirmed users]], you need to accumulate 10 edits (as well as your account being active for at least 3? or 7? days), then you become an &quot;autoconfirmed user&quot; and gain the [[Special:ListGroupRights|right]] to create pages. – [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 02:09, 29 September 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Accessibility issues ==<br /> <br /> [First post - hello, everyone!]<br /> <br /> I have 15 years of experience of using MediaWiki, and have been heavily involved in some of the accessibility work on Wikipedia.<br /> <br /> When we use colons (&lt;code&gt;:&lt;/code&gt;), semicolons (&lt;code&gt;;&lt;/code&gt;), and asterisks (&lt;code&gt;*&lt;/code&gt;) to indent dialogue, discussions, etc we actually cause MediaWiki to generate HTML lists.<br /> <br /> If we leave a bank line between indented lines/ paragraphs, we cause the start of a new HTML list.<br /> <br /> Since the start of each list is read out by the kind of software used by (for example) people with severe visual impairments, this generates barrier to their use of the site. <br /> <br /> The solution is to not leave blank lines; to always indent replies by just one step; and to maintain consistency in the type of character used.<br /> <br /> You can see examples and more explanation at {{w|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility#Lists}}<br /> <br /> Please consider adopting Wikipedia's recommended best practice for such lists, on this site. &lt;span class=&quot;vcard&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;fn&quot;&gt;[[User:Pigsonthewing|Andy Mabbett]]&lt;/span&gt; (&lt;span class=&quot;nickname&quot;&gt;Pigsonthewing&lt;/span&gt;); [[User talk:Pigsonthewing|Talk to Andy]]; [[Special:Contributions/Pigsonthewing|Andy's edits]]&lt;/span&gt; 19:20, 5 November 2018 (UTC)<br /> :Thanks for your input and welcome here. At first you should know that this Wiki doesn't follow every Wikipedia standard, but there is a --relatively new-- [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ|FAQ]] and we should talk at that discussion page about any enhancements. And please consider to keep it short, a typical editor here isn't a Wikipedean and doesn't read tons of manuals.<br /> :There are many ugly layouts here, most written before the FAQ did exist, but when I and others see them the explanation or transcript gets an incomplete tag for that reason. And the biggest problem in the past was the use of overwhelming tables.<br /> :BTW: Using a new-newline for each sentence isn't also a nice layout. Never mind... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:54, 5 November 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == suggest adding info to pages ==<br /> <br /> I see &quot;Title text&quot; here on explainxkcd, but not on the comic itself. <br /> <br /> Eg. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1313:_Regex_Golf shows &quot;Title text: /bu|[rn]t|[coy]e|[mtg]a|j|iso|n[hl]|[ae]d|lev|sh|[lnd]i|[po]o|ls/ matches the last names of elected US presidents but not their opponents.&quot;<br /> <br /> I don't see that anywhere on https://xkcd.com/1313/ Why not? {{unsigned ip|172.68.174.106}}<br /> <br /> :First of all: Please sign your comments<br /> :&lt;s&gt;Second: I am not sure this is the right place for such a question, so please do not wonder if someone removes it.&lt;/s&gt;<br /> :And finally: the &quot;title text&quot; can be seen by hovering the mouse over the image on the &quot;regular&quot; xkcd page. Here it is made more visible by mentioning beneath the picture additionally. More details can be found at the page about the title text :) https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/title_text [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 15:09, 12 November 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> @[[User:Lupo|Lupo]], no honest comment will be removed here, even if it should be posted at the [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Miscellaneous|Miscellaneous]] section. @IP, the proper internal link is here: [[title text]], and I see that this wiki needs a simple page to explain all the terms and characters used in a general short way. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:43, 12 November 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Mediawiki exception on some pages ==<br /> <br /> I get the following MedaiWiki exception on some of the pages:<br /> <br /> &lt;pre&gt;MediaWiki internal error.<br /> <br /> Original exception: [0beebcc3efaec7ded86aea14] 2018-12-05 23:25:16: Fatal exception of type &quot;MWException&quot;<br /> <br /> Exception caught inside exception handler.<br /> <br /> Set $wgShowExceptionDetails = true; at the bottom of LocalSettings.php to show detailed debugging information.&lt;/pre&gt;<br /> <br /> See for example sites https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2034:_Equations or https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User:Dgbrt<br /> <br /> [[User:Sztupy|Sztupy]] ([[User talk:Sztupy|talk]]) 23:29, 5 December 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :Also having this. Seems to happen when “math” in Preferences-Appearance is set to “MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools)” [[User:DrMeepster|DrMeepster]] ([[User talk:DrMeepster|talk]]) 08:01, 8 December 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :New error: If that math option is set to “Latex source” than an error relating to the page-ruining setting replaces any latex code: Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response (&quot;Math extension can not find Restbase URL. Please specify $wgMathFullRestbaseURL.&quot;) from server &quot;invalid&quot;:): &lt;LATEX CODE HERE&gt; [[User:DrMeepster|DrMeepster]] ([[User talk:DrMeepster|talk]]) 07:50, 11 December 2018 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::Sorry for my late reply. I will check and solve this issue soon, right now only the plain PNG image setting does work. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:15, 15 February 2019 (UTC)<br /> <br /> : The problem appears to not be solved. In addition to the above pages (which are still broken), I've noticed it on the following: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2292 and https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2311. The workaround of configuring my account to render math as PNG works, but someone with the knowledge and access to fix this needs to do so. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:43, 3 June 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == “All 2126 Comics have an Explanation” ==<br /> <br /> There are 2127 comics, and the main page seems to update automagically, so I’m not sure what the issue is. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 15:58, 25 March 2019 (UTC)<br /> :I think you posted this before the &quot;new robot&quot; comic came up? keep in mind that the number 404 is not linked to any comic. (There is an explain page for 404, but no comic 404. Therefore it is actually 1 comic less than you might think based on the number. On the other hand there are I think 2 or 3 additional special comics (not numbered), such as the latest entry to the 5 minute comic series, or the one about open source, etc. [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]])<br /> ::I posted after it came up. I know about the unnumbered comics, so assumed they didn’t count, but I always forget about 404. Accounting for the non-comic, all seems right in the world. Thanks Lupo. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 14:01, 26 March 2019 (UTC)<br /> :::Just checked and they just subtract 1 in the source code??????? [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 16:58, 12 April 2019 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == API ==<br /> <br /> Hi, I'm working on a project focused on docs, and wondered if there's some API or database I can access to pinch some of the tagging info from this site?<br /> Even something like Randall's /json.html data from each page would work. ''[[User:Toonarmycaptain]] ([[User talk:Toonarmycaptain]] forgot to sign this edit at 03:50, 14 May 2019 (UTC)''<br /> <br /> == Unwanted Link ==<br /> <br /> In [[1467: Email]], there are two links in the title text that should be normal text. It has happened several times in other pages, and it's annoying. How do I change links like that into regular text? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 07:41, 11 July 2019 (UTC)<br /> :Not sure what you mean. Maybe it is a browser issue on your end? on my computer neither chrome nor internet explorer or edge interpret anything inside of &quot;My New Year's resolution for 2014-54-12/30/14 Dec:12:1420001642 is to learn these stupid time formatting strings.&quot; as a link... [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:00, 11 July 2019 (UTC)<br /> ::Just checked. iPad misinterpreting part of them as phone numbers, appeared as link. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 09:29, 11 July 2019 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Captcha not working? ==<br /> <br /> I've been experiencing some problems when trying to solve captcha when posting comments and topics. It's gotten much harder than before, I fail a lot more often, and occasionally, when I finish it, it reloads the page with an &quot;Incorrect or Missing Captcha&quot; error, and forces me to retry. Has anybody else experienced this problem? Am I the only one with Captcha issues? '''Has it been working properly in recent times?'''[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.244|108.162.241.244]] 18:40, 8 November 2019 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == DgbrtBOT ==<br /> <br /> The bot seems to have been down since December 13, 2019, and Dgbrt hasn't made a single edit since March, 2019. He hasn't responded to the comments in DgbrtBOT's talk page, either. Is there any way for an someone to contact him? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 13:12, 1 January 2020 (UTC)<br /> :The bot has resumed its extremely helpful work again this week, but no word yet on why it was MIA for a solid month. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:06, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Google Ads appearing all over the page ==<br /> <br /> Google seems to have changed something in AdSense again, and the ads have been appearing in random positions again since December, 2019. [https://wpadvancedads.com/adsense-in-random-positions-auto-ads/ This page] might have a solution? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 13:20, 1 January 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Links to xkcd pages sould be withoult &quot;www.&quot; part ==<br /> <br /> There is an issue with loading resources on pages, that are opened with &quot;www.&quot; part in URL.<br /> For example commic [https://www.xkcd.com/1975/ 1975].<br /> If viewed from https://www.xkcd.com/1975/, comic is not interactive. On the other hand, https://xkcd.com/1975/ works like a charm.<br /> <br /> Page failes to load resorces from https://xkcd.com/1975/alto/root with error caused by CORS policy:<br /> <br /> * Access to fetch at 'https://xkcd.com/1975/alto/root' from origin 'https://www.xkcd.com' has been blocked by CORS policy: No 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header is present on the requested resource. If an opaque response serves your needs, set the request's mode to 'no-cors' to fetch the resource with CORS disabled.<br /> <br /> All links to commics in headers (button ''Comic #1975 (April 1, 2018)'') include &quot;www.&quot; part, for example this explanation:<br /> https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1975:_Right_Click<br /> <br /> IMO links in headers (buttons ''Comic #xxx (date)'') should be updated to exclude &quot;www.&quot; part.<br /> <br /> == Can't create my userpage ==<br /> <br /> I just registered, and can't seem to edit/create my own userpage. I've been editing MediaWiki wikis for a very long time and it's currently part of my career, so I'm pretty sure I'm doing everything right. Is there a prerequisite number of edits or something before I can create my userpage? [[User:Equazcion|Equazcion]] ([[User talk:Equazcion|talk]]) 22:18, 6 April 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :I do not know the answer to that, but ... if one of us finds out &quot;sooner&quot; than the other, then, let's &quot;share&quot; the answer. Yours might appear here, and mine ... might appear about eleven &quot;sections&quot; up, in this same &quot;Technical&quot; portal ... &lt;s&gt;at the URL&lt;/s&gt; in the section &quot;[[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Technical#Cannot_create_a_user_page|Cannot create a user page]].&quot; (see [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=explain_xkcd%3ACommunity_portal%2FTechnical&amp;type=revision&amp;diff=190166&amp;oldid=190127 the DIFF listing]...) <br /> <br /> :Maybe I should have &quot;seconded the motion&quot; '''here''', instead of adding my own question, -- which is very similar! -- to a different section, up '''there?''' Pardon me ... --[[User:Mike Schwartz|Mike Schwartz]] ([[User talk:Mike Schwartz|talk]]) 08:15, 7 April 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::[[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#Permission_request]] might help. [[User:A(l)Chemist|AlChemist]] ([[User talk:A(l)Chemist|talk]]) 11:06, 22 June 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :::Yes, according to that page, your account must be at least one week old, AND you must have made at least 10 edits. There's a new page, [[:explain xkcd:Autoconfirmed users]], which says it's three days (rather than one week) and 10 edits – after that, you become an &quot;autoconfirmed user&quot;, and gain the right to create pages ([[Special:ListGroupRights|among other things]]). – [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 02:01, 29 September 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == List of all comics incomplete/overflowing ==<br /> <br /> The [[List_of_all_comics | List of all comics]] and the full list are incomplete, stopping with 2289. Taking a look at [[List_of_all_comics_(full) | List of all comics (full)]] nets that it belongs to the category 'Pages where template include size is exceeded', so I'm assuming it just hit the limit. I'm sadly not well versed in MediaWiki, so I have no idea what a workaround would look like<br /> <br /> == 2138 page issues ==<br /> <br /> This first came up when following a link from on of the other Code Quality pages.<br /> <br /> when you go to https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2138:_Wanna_See_the_Code%3F you get a blank pag that says &quot;No input file specified.&quot;<br /> <br /> however when you go to https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2138 you get the actual page via redirect but when you reload the page it goes back to &quot;No input file specified.&quot;<br /> <br /> not sure what causes this but i tested in chrome (incognito mode to avoid extensions), old edge (not chromium) and chrome iOS via mobile data. all test had the same result.<br /> <br /> sorry if this is the wrong place for this but not sure where else to put it. [[User:TomW1605|TomW1605]] ([[User talk:TomW1605|talk]]) 14:44, 21 June 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :This problem seems to be common to all comics ending with a question mark: [[2236]], [[2138]], [[2065]], [[1841]], [[1205]]. My best guess is that the url is being interpreted as a query, but since there is nothing after the question mark this results in an error. Whether this is a new error or just hasn't been noticed before I don't know. Renaming the pages without the question mark could work, but would require every reference to these comics on the wiki to be updated. [[User:A(l)Chemist|AlChemist]] ([[User talk:A(l)Chemist|talk]]) 10:07, 22 June 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::i think it is new, i recently (not sure when but after 2138 was released) went through the Code Quality series using the links and it worked fine then. i don't think it is being interpreted as a query because the question mark is encoded. i would amazed if it would still interpret this as a query because that would completely defeat the point of encoding the url in the first place. [[User:TomW1605|TomW1605]] ([[User talk:TomW1605|talk]]) 09:35, 22 June 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :::here is a full list of broken pages: [[58]], [[111]], [[259]], [[1205]], [[1705]], [[1841]], [[1913]], [[2065]], [[2138]], [[2236]]. i wrote a quick javascript to extract a full list of urls from [[List of all comics (full)]] (then added the recent ones manually, [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Technical#List_of_all_comics_incomplete.2Foverflowing|see above]]). then ran a python script to get the content of each page and check if it is broken (with a 2 sec delay to minimise server load) and saved the list if broken ones. [[User:TomW1605|TomW1605]] ([[User talk:TomW1605|talk]]) 13:34, 22 June 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :::: Note that you can view the comic by changing the URL from &lt;code&gt;index.php/...&lt;/code&gt; to &lt;code&gt;index.php?title=...&lt;/code&gt; ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=58:_Why_Do_You_Love_Me%3F example]). —[[User:Galaktos|Galaktos]] ([[User talk:Galaktos|talk]]) 13:03, 14 May 2021 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == &quot;All comics&quot; from left sidebar is not updating ==<br /> <br /> https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/List_of_all_comics<br /> <br /> [https://imgur.com/a/J287JBz image]<br /> <br /> == Attention needed to some List pages ==<br /> <br /> I just (mis)clicked on &quot;All Comics&quot;, and thought it looked odd.<br /> DGBRTBot needs a prod, or something, given the current months-old state and commented prediction in https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=List_of_all_comics&amp;action=history<br /> <br /> (Oh, and the [[List of all comics (full)]], which I then checked has a redlinked Category of &quot;Pages where template include size is exceeded&quot; and seems to have been previously given a badly-included &quot;...and everything before #501&quot;. Not sure if the first problem is easily solvable, but as I'm here I thought I'd mention it, and you could properly add 1-500 ''and'' 501-1000 to sort the Include Size issue, maybe?)<br /> <br /> I could be way off-piste, but as it looks like nobody has noticed anything yet I thought I'd at least raise the issue, and then leave the fixing to someone with a bit more Wiki-Fu..? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.120|162.158.155.120]] 20:48, 3 August 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :For [[List of all comics]], looks like [[User:DgbrtBOT|DgbrtBOT]] is working again, and [[User:Btx40]] already went back and added the missing entries, so that should be all good now.<br /> :For [[List of all comics (full)]], not sure if I correctly understand what you mean by &quot;''you could properly add 1-500 ''and'' 501-1000 to sort the Include Size issue''&quot;? But I think the &quot;''badly-included '...and everything before #501' ''&quot; you mentioned wasn't so much ''badly-inluded'' – its code looked correct to me – rather, the inclusion makes the page so big that it ''causes'' the page to exceed the &quot;template include-size&quot; limit. See the following Wikipedia articles for more about how this &quot;template include-size&quot; limit works in MediaWiki:<br /> :* {{w|Wikipedia:Template limits#Post-expand include size}}<br /> :* {{w|Wikipedia:Post-expand include size}}<br /> :So ''as a result of'' exceeding the limit, the parser ''excludes'' the template that caused the limit to be exceeded (i.e. it excludes the 1-500 list at the bottom of the page), so as to keep the page under the size limit; and instead of the ''actual'' content, the parser just inserts a ''link'' to the content. And it so happens that in this case, the ''content'' includes the control-characters for constructing the table rows – so because those control characters are excluded along with the content, then the link shows up in the last existing cell of the table, and ''appears'' to be badly-included.<br /> :I'm not sure how to fix it, but some options could be:<br /> :* Somehow reduce the content of the page so that the full list of #1-to-#current doesn't exceed the limit.<br /> :** Each &quot;row&quot; of the table produces about 700 characters in the resulting HTML; around 200 of that is the hidden &quot;create&quot; link (from [[Template:comicsrow]]) that I think ''would'' appear if the comic's page didn't exist yet. I would say that at this point, since all the comics already have pages, then that &quot;create&quot; link is only useful for the most recent comic, and could probably be omitted to significantly reduce the size of the page.<br /> :*** (Actually, it looks like DgbrtBOT might automatically create the page for each new comic, so the &quot;create&quot; link might not be needed ''at all'' anymore.)<br /> :** There are some other elements that could be removed from each table row to save space, such as the &lt;code&gt;title&lt;/code&gt; attributes of the links, etc.<br /> :** Not sure if all of that would create enough headroom for the 1-500 list though?<br /> :* Increase &lt;code&gt;$wgMaxArticleSize&lt;/code&gt; on the server? ([https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgMaxArticleSize See here].)<br /> :** Not sure of the risks of that; and in any case, it's only that one page that currently exceeds the limit, so may not be worth it.<br /> :For now, I've added a note to the page explaining that 1-500 are missing and why, and I've tweaked the bottom of the table to make the link to 1-500 a bit more presentable in the meantime.<br /> :– [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 06:41, 3 October 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Strange error—maybe edit conflict? ==<br /> <br /> I happened to be looking at my edit history, and I noticed that something insane happened back in June: I made an edit to [[2319: Large Number Formats]], and it somehow combined my edit with someone else's. The entirety of my edit (as I crafted it) was confined to the article's categories; I added one and put the set in alphabetical order. But the edit, {{diff|193595|as it was logged}}, is a massive alteration, with all sorts of questionable changes. It was (rightly, I think) undone by [[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] a couple days later. Did I somehow overlook an edit-conflict error and accept some (now anonymous) users edit? I can see myself making some kind of oversight at that time of night, but it seems antithetical to the wiki process to have an edit misattributed in this way. (I certainly don't like having that change connected with my name, but I also wonder how this intersects with important issues of public ownership integral to wiki communities.) I'd appreciate any insight fellow editors could provide. [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] &lt;small&gt;([[User talk:Jameslucas|&quot; &quot;]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]])&lt;/small&gt; 22:24, 3 August 2020 (UTC)<br /> :As I'm passing through, I shall note that I'm the IP that added the &quot;(The 1971 transition[...]&quot; paragraph you see 'added' there. It was actually part of a larger edite that was later (than my edit, earlier than yours) understandably removed for being irrelevent. During this {{diff|193424|5-day-earlier revision}}. But I had absolutely nothing to do with pretty much every other change in your above-logged diff, SFAICS from a quick skim, so honestly don't know why it features there. But hope this info is useful. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.66|162.158.159.66]] 23:05, 3 August 2020 (UTC)<br /> ::That's actually quite helpful because it caused me to go look at older versions of the article. It looks like my edit {{diff|193595&amp;oldid=193386|used a very early version as a starting point}} (thereby reverting all changes made later). My best guess is that I had gone back to an old version because Randall changed this comic after it was published and was trying to convince myself that I wasn't crazy. No, not crazy, but spacey. Wikipedia puts a big red warning across the page when you're ending an old version, and this wiki uses only a bit of bold text—that apparently wasn't enough to draw my attention. Thanks! [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] &lt;small&gt;([[User talk:Jameslucas|&quot; &quot;]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]])&lt;/small&gt; 01:33, 4 August 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Unable to view &quot;what if?&quot; page ==<br /> <br /> The link to the page for the [[what if?]] blog displays an error: &quot;No input file specified.&quot; [[User:JBYoshi|JBYoshi]] ([[User talk:JBYoshi|talk]]) 03:38, 21 August 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :This also happens to me on [[1205: Is It Worth the Time?]] Must be something with the ?s in the titles. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.66|172.69.22.66]] 15:46, 25 August 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::I've noticed that as well. I made a page in my userspace that redirects to the what if page, and for some reason that seems to work. ([[User:Blue screen of life/whatiflink|here is the link to the page]]) [[User:Blue screen of life|Blue screen of life]] ([[User talk:Blue screen of life|talk]]) 20:09, 31 August 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :::I have also noticed this but it is not just on pages with questions marks. Both [[259]] and [[1705]] show the same thing. A full list (as of 22 June 2020) of the ones i found is in the last reply to my report found here [[#2138_page_issues]] [[User:TomW1605|TomW1605]] ([[User talk:TomW1605|talk]]) 12:20, 22 September 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::::Both [[259]] and [[1705]] have an ({{w|E acute|e-with-accute-accent}}, Unicode U+00E9) in the URL, so for those pages, I wonder if that has anything to do with it?<br /> ::::For the &quot;what if?&quot; page, I had recently added a redirect from [[what if (blog)]] to get to it, and the [[What If]] disambiguation page has been updated with it, so at least we can get to it that way; and for the comic explanations, at least we can get to them by linking to their number-redirects (as [[58]] instead of [[58: Why Do You Love Me?]]); but not sure how to fix it overall. At the following page, it suggests tweaking an {{w|Apache HTTP Server|Apache}} {{w|Rewrite engine|rewrite}} directive in {{w|.htaccess}} (or a {{w|Common Gateway Interface|CGI}} setting in {{w|PHP}} if it's running on {{w|Internet Information Services|IIS}}):<br /> ::::* https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:Vmaw1tu5kkhyon0n<br /> ::::So maybe something about that has changed recently? Documentation:<br /> ::::* [https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_rewrite.html#rewriterule Apache mod_rewrite &lt;code&gt;RewriteRule&lt;/code&gt; directive]<br /> ::::* [https://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.cgi.force-redirect php.ini &lt;code&gt;cgi.force_redirect&lt;/code&gt; directive]<br /> ::::Summarizing a few points from [[User talk:SlashMe#Homeopathic Wiki|this related discussion]]:<br /> ::::* Only one of the site's [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ListUsers?group=sysop 10 administrators] has made recent edits ([[Special:Contributions/SlashMe|SlashMe]]).<br /> ::::* Neither of the site's [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ListUsers?group=bureaucrat 2 bureaucrats] ([[Special:Contributions/Jeff|Jeff]] and [[Special:Contributions/Lcarsos|Lcarsos]]) have made any edits recently.<br /> ::::* For admin access to the ''server'' itself, my limited understanding is that [[Special:Contributions/Jeff|Jeff]] might actually own the server, but may have also given admin access to [[Special:Contributions/Dgbrt|Dgbrt]]; however, neither of them have made edits recently.<br /> ::::But &quot;most recent edit&quot; might not be a good indicator, so I wonder of some of these folks are still involved in the project?<br /> ::::– [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 05:10, 29 September 2020 (UTC)<br /> : Looks like it happens for any page that has a percent-encoding in the title. [[User:PoolloverNathan|PoolloverNathan]]&lt;sup&gt;&lt;nowiki&gt;[&lt;/nowiki&gt;[[Special:Contributions/PoolloverNathan|s]][[User talk:PoolloverNathan|talk]] [[Wikipedia:WP:SEAOFBLUE|the blue seas]]&lt;nowiki&gt;]&lt;/nowiki&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; 16:32, 16 March 2021 (UTC)<br /> <br /> === Known broken pages ===<br /> (Redirects work, whereas links to the actual page are broken.)<br /> <br /> Title containing e-accute-accent:<br /> * [[259]] ↳ [[259: Clichéd Exchanges]] &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=259:_Clich%C3%A9d_Exchanges What links here])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> * [[1705]] ↳ [[1705: Pokémon Go]] &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1705:_Pok%C3%A9mon_Go What links here])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> <br /> Title ending with question mark:<br /> * &lt;del&gt;[[what if (blog)]] ↳ [[what if?]] &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=What_If%3F What links here])&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/del&gt; &lt;ins&gt;fixed – content now exists at [[what if]], and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if&amp;limit=500 broken links] are in the process of being updated (see below)&lt;/ins&gt;<br /> * [[58]] ↳ [[58: Why Do You Love Me?]] &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=58:_Why_Do_You_Love_Me%3F What links here])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> * [[111]] ↳ [[111: Firefox and Witchcraft - The Connection?]] &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=111:_Firefox_and_Witchcraft_-_The_Connection%3F What links here])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> * [[1205]] ↳ [[1205: Is It Worth the Time?]] &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1205:_Is_It_Worth_the_Time%3F What links here])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> * [[1841]] ↳ [[1841: Who?]] &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1841:_Who%3F What links here])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> * [[1913]] ↳ [[1913: A ?]] &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1913:_A_%3F What links here])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> * [[2065]] ↳ [[2065: Who Sends the First Text?]] &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2065:_Who_Sends_the_First_Text%3F What links here])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> * [[2138]] ↳ [[2138: Wanna See the Code?]] &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2138:_Wanna_See_the_Code%3F What links here])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> * [[2236]] ↳ [[2236: Is it Christmas?]] &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2236:_Is_it_Christmas%3F What links here])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> <br /> === Moved ===<br /> I moved the [[what if?]] page to the [[what if (blog)]] page which I then changed to simply [[what if]] to fix this issue and because anyone new to this site would type that any way to see it.&lt;span&gt; — [[User:Sqrt-1|The &lt;b&gt;𝗦𝗾𝗿𝘁-𝟭&lt;/b&gt;]] &lt;sup&gt;[[User talk:Sqrt-1|&lt;span style=&quot;color: blue&quot;&gt;talk&lt;/span&gt;]] [[Special:Contributions/Sqrt-1|&lt;span style=&quot;color: blue&quot;&gt;stalk&lt;/span&gt;]]&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/span&gt; 06:47, 29 September 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> :Still trying to wrap my head around it – so just to summarize, we currently have:<br /> :<br /> :* '''[[whatif]]''' &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=whatif&amp;redirect=no no-redirect link])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> :** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if?]]''' (see below)<br /> :* '''[[What If?]]''' – page broken &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=What_If%3F&amp;redirect=no no-redirect link]) ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=What_If%3F What links here])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> :** ↳ ''also redirects to'' '''[[what if?]]''' – page broken &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&amp;redirect=no no-redirect link]) ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=what_if%3F What links here])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> :*** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''<br /> :*** ''content manually moved from'' &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&amp;diff=198070&amp;oldid=197859 diff])&lt;/small&gt; '''[[what if?]]''' ''to'' &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if&amp;diff=198071&amp;oldid=197486 diff])&lt;/small&gt; '''[[what if (blog)]]''' &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if_(blog)&amp;redirect=no no-redirect link])&lt;/small&gt; (''[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&amp;action=history previous revision history] remains at'' '''[[what if?]]''')<br /> :**** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''<br /> :<br /> :For completeness, we also have...<br /> :<br /> :* '''[[what if book]]''' &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if_book&amp;redirect=no no-redirect link])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> :** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if#The book]] – actual content'''<br /> :** Suggestion: for consistency, also add a '''[[what if (book)]]''' page that redirects here?<br /> :<br /> :...and the disambiguation page...<br /> :<br /> :* '''[[What If]]''' &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=What_If&amp;redirect=no no-redirect link])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> :** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[What If (disambiguation)]]''' – disambiguation page<br /> :*** ''links to'' '''[[17: What If]]''' (↲ '''[[17]]''' redirects here &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=17&amp;redirect=no no-redirect link])&lt;/small&gt;)<br /> :*** ''links to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''<br /> :*** Suggestion: mention the ''book'' here as well, and link to its section in the [[what if]] page?<br /> :<br /> :...and these troubleshooting pages from [[User:Blue screen of life]]:<br /> :<br /> :* '''[[User:Blue screen of life/redirecttest]]''' – test page &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Blue_screen_of_life/redirecttest&amp;redirect=no no-redirect link])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> :** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[User:Blue screen of life/whatiflink]]''' – test page &lt;small&gt;([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Blue_screen_of_life/whatiflink&amp;redirect=no no-redirect link])&lt;/small&gt;<br /> :*** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[What If?]]''' (see above)<br /> :<br /> :Given that the actual content of the &quot;what if?&quot; article now lives at '''[[what if]]''', I've started updating pages &lt;ins&gt;(except for Talk pages)&lt;/ins&gt; to link directly there instead of the other redirect pages. All that's left to do are pages that link to the '''[[what if?]]''' redirect-page (which is broken). &lt;del&gt;Its [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if%3F &quot;What links here&quot;] special page is broken too, so it's difficult to find what pages link there – but now that it redirects to the [[what if]] page, you can see them indirectly from ''that'' page's [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if&amp;limit=500 &quot;What links here&quot;] special page.&lt;/del&gt; &lt;ins&gt;[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=what_if%3F These] are the pages that still link there.&lt;/ins&gt; There are still a lot of them to go.<br /> :<br /> :Also, should the following redirect-pages be simplified to have them redirect straight to the new [[what if]] page, instead of redirecting through the intermediate '''[[what if?]]''' page (which itself redirects there anyway)?<br /> :* '''[[whatif]]'''<br /> :* '''[[What If?]]'''<br /> :– [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 17:20, 29 September 2020 (UTC)<br /> :: Fixed the double redirects, don't ask me why we have so many pages for the same thing. [[User:PoolloverNathan|PoolloverNathan]]&lt;sup&gt;&lt;nowiki&gt;[&lt;/nowiki&gt;[[Special:Contributions/PoolloverNathan|s]][[User talk:PoolloverNathan|talk]] [[Wikipedia:WP:SEAOFBLUE|the blue seas]]&lt;nowiki&gt;]&lt;/nowiki&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; 16:29, 16 March 2021 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Discussion not displaying with comic ==<br /> <br /> I am using FireFox on a Win10 machine. When I come to the site I can see the comic, explanation and transcript. But the discussion section is hidden. Even when logged in.<br /> <br /> Any ideas?<br /> <br /> : You say &quot;when I come to the site&quot;. If the address bar says you are on Main_Page and you see the heading &quot;Latest comic&quot;, then it's simply working as designed. Above the comic, click on &quot;Go to this comic explanation&quot; and you will see the comic plus discussion.<br /> <br /> : Also, Steve, please sign your comments every time, with four tildes. That expands into your user name and a timestamp. Like this -- [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 10:10, 29 September 2020 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Random page sometimes takes me to an invalid address ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes, when clicking on &quot;Random page&quot; in the left sidebar, the site will be blank apart from the text &quot;No input file specified. &quot;.<br /> <br /> An example of such an URL is: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/111:_Firefox_and_Witchcraft_-_The_Connection%3F<br /> <br /> <br /> :I've noticed this happens for ''all'' URLs to comics that end in a question mark (or possibly any special character). Interestingly, this doesn't happen if you go to the comic from the search bar. [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 23:04, 27 January 2021 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Bug on the main page ==<br /> <br /> Bug Enviroment(Might work on other enviroments):<br /> Ubuntu 20.04LTS <br /> Firefox85.0 <br /> 2021.2.7 <br /> <br /> Bug: <br /> The front page reads: `Welcome, Main Page, to explain xkcd!` with `Main Page` formatted as a username,can someone fix this?<br /> <br /> [[User:Xkcdjerry|Xkcdjerry]] ([[User talk:Xkcdjerry|talk]]) 09:48, 7 February 2021 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Occasional error via Cloudflare ==<br /> Just a note that I'm getting Cloudflare errors of &quot;origin not reachable&quot; (sounds wrong to me, in my head it should be 'destination', but never mind) three times now in the last ten to fifteen minutes - of maybe a dozen general site-requests.<br /> <br /> I've also been getting seemingly .CSSless formatted pages over the past few days, which I've been putting down to slightly dodgy wifi at my end (not unknown) but if I'm getting Cloudflare's error cleanly then perhaps it's been entirely upstream/downstream/however-you'd-describe-the-Explain-server. (Obviously CSS resource requests, as with images, are additional HTTP calls, but I still lump it into the single site-request ''per page'' in my 'dozen' estimate above. No obviously lost images, though, in incomplete pages - not that can't be explained by .CSS non-following, anyway.)<br /> <br /> I had copy-buffered some of the exact info, but due to incompetence I recopied over it before coming here. If it happens again, I'll try to bring it over here. But (the way these things go) maybe it won't. FYI, though. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.52|141.101.98.52]] 12:04, 5 March 2021 (UTC)<br /> : Not a Cloudfare error (looks like an error of the actual explainxkcd server) but every now and then (like just a few minutes ago) I get an error page that generally goes away if I immediately refresh. To whit:<br /> Service Unavailable<br /> The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.<br /> <br /> Additionally, a 503 Service Unavailable error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.<br /> : Not really a problem (occasionally happened while submitting an exit, and I have to confirm to the browser that I wish to repost the data, but this particular copied instance was through a more 'read-only' link-click, like most of the instances) but... in case someone finds this to be new and useful information... here you are! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 03:45, 12 March 2021 (UTC)<br /> :OP, here, of the above 503 error report/casual mention. Obviously this is the same message that happened for an ''extended'' period of time over a number of days, but I've only just happened to find the site responding again and have not yet looked to see if it is explained as the same or different cause to the old intermittent issues (at root). I hope things are resolved from the major outage (server quota? bill payments? renewal/reconfiguration blips?) but wonder if I should report any future minor outages? I'm still smarting from the total loss of the fora.xkcd.com platform, a few years back, and while I'm not active enough here to consider a proper login (lurking as a freeloading anon-IP is good enough, usually, for my intellectual enjoyment, with all due apologies) I did have a slight pang of emptiness while it was out-of-order. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 15:48, 16 June 2021 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Add TemplateData ==<br /> <br /> Add the {{mw|Extension:TemplateData|TemplateData}} extension to allow setting data for templates. This will help editors because they will be able to see the data of templates.<br /> <br /> == MediaWiki 1.30.0?! ==<br /> <br /> This wiki is [[Special:Version|currently]] on [[mw:MediaWiki 1.30|MediaWiki 1.30.0]] ([[mw:Release notes/1.30|release notes]]), the first of three releases of a version of MW that reached end-of-life in June of 2019 ([[mw:Version lifecycle]]). It's thus missing multiple important security updates from 1.30.1 and 1.30.2, not to mention the two years' worth of security updates since 1.30.x reached end-of-life. Even 1.31.x will be reaching end-of-life in just over a month.<br /> <br /> If the sysadmins here update to [[mw:MediaWiki 1.35|MediaWiki 1.35.2]] ([[mw:Release_notes/1.35|release notes]]), that version will be maintained till September of 2023, with only a few security updates in the meantime. I would '''strongly''' encourage y'all to update to 1.35.2; to promptly update if there's a .3, .4, etc.; and to make sure you switch to the next LTS release (which will presumably be 1.39) well in advance of September of '23. (Note that this will also require updating to PHP 7.3.19 or later.) [[User:PinkAmpersand|PinkAmpersand]] ([[User talk:PinkAmpersand|talk]]) 07:17, 30 April 2021 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Uptime ==<br /> Did the website just go down? &lt;span style=&quot;text-shadow:0 0 8px black&quot;&gt;[[User:Beanie|&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:11pt;color:#dddddd&quot;&gt;Beanie&lt;/span&gt;]]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;sup&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-shadow:0 0 7px #000000&quot;&gt;[[User talk:Beanie|&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:8pt;color:#dddddd&quot;&gt;talk&lt;/span&gt;]]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; 13:06, 28 May 2021 (UTC)<br /> <br /> It was definitely down this weekend! <br /> https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/nxrm65 <br /> [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:21, 15 June 2021 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Comic template lappend breaks for standalone comic links ==<br /> <br /> For example, https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html is changed to https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html/ which isn't valid [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.15|172.69.90.15]] 15:51, 13 October 2021 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Template here, I think it needs to be changed to solve this https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Template:comic<br /> <br /> exkcd page here https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Blue_Eyes<br /> <br /> == May not be your problem, but FYI. ==<br /> <br /> My typcal setup: Android tablet, with Chrome for Android (latest update), but also Firefox for Android (ditto), using default Gboard (likewise) for input.<br /> <br /> Occasionally (notably within the last few weeks/maybe a month or so), when going in to edit an explainxkcd page through Chrome (it's how I divide up my browsing), I'm getting the cursor in the textarea box which ''can'' be used to Cut/Copy/Paste (as applicable and useful), but the on-screen keyboard isn't popping up. Page is fully loaded (can be refreshed, doesn't have the &quot;stop loading&quot; alternative), can go back (page viewing) and try to go back to the page editor (often to same result). Sitting and waiting doesn't pop the keyboard up, either (sat there for minutes). Happens both on home wifi and mobile connection.<br /> <br /> If I transfer my attentions to the page to Firefox (copy URL, to use there... but I don't use that by default for expxkcd stuff) there's no problem, but then if I come back to Chrome again it seems to start working again ''anyway'' so not sure if it's just avoiding/flushing a transient problem that would also initially crop up with Firefox if I used that more.<br /> <br /> Because editing is a different (mobile-optimised) process on Wikipedia and I can't be sure about any the equivalence of any other wiki out there (and it doesn't happen with anything else I regularly key into on Chrome) it's not something I've reproduced outwith this site, and of course desktop page-editing doesn't require touch-screen keyboard because there's a physical one.<br /> <br /> Not getting much feedback with Chrome (really can't get on with their bugrep processes, it's too huge a project to make headway, IME), not even tried to pester the Gboard team and I've not ''seen'' anything said on here about this being a site-issue (not sure how it could be, as it's outside the remit of the core web-page rendering process and more an Android or App level of incompetence), but I thought I'd make a note of it here for future reference. Make of it what you will. Annoying but not game-breaking. And I just wanted to vent a little. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.147|172.70.162.147]] 16:54, 25 December 2021 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == [[special:interwiki]] ==<br /> <br /> where'd it go? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.200|172.69.68.200]] 05:07, 7 January 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Please update MediaWiki + AbuseFilter ==<br /> <br /> Seriously. Many scripts and such built for modern, supported versions of MW do not work here because it is so unbelievably undated. PinkAmpersand above basically covers the reason why. I also highly recommend adding the extension AbuseFilter (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AbuseFilter) as it immensely makes removing vandalism easier (by straight up disallowing or blocking those that do, esp if it's like the current formulaic massive-replacement vandalism.) [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 00:48, 21 May 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == ↑ ? ==<br /> <br /> Why do some pages have ↑ at the very start? They can all be spotted by searching ↑ <br /> Is it a technical thing, vandalism, some sort of glitch? Maybe I'm just uninformed or being an idiot.<br /> :Edit logs tell me that an IP user manually reverting vandalism somehow inserted one or more extra characters while manually reverting vandalism. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 13:59, 22 May 2022 (UTC)<br /> ::Should it be removed? It's not necessary and might be confusing for screenreaders... [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 09:00, 23 May 2022 (UTC)<br /> :::Maybe not en-mass, I'd say. But I've dove in to delete a rogue leading &lt;nowiki&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/nowiki&gt; tag left from a part of a prior vandalism (likewise, just before the {{template|comic}}-element) and I've promised myself that I'll remove any more that I spot (and now that arrow) in any future whole-page edit I make. Plus a small shopping-list of inessential but useful edits like making {{template|Citation needed}}s flow better when they're mispunctuated/etc.<br /> :::But that's my solitary opinion. I'm sure hunting out and squishing this isn't a problem at all. I'm just balancing my own peculiar brand of OCD with what is somehow my also my own version of casual apathy towards other details. (Also, it probably looks better for a named account of recognised good standing to start editing potentially hundreds of pages in a session, rather than myself... potentially indistinguishable from the IP who seems to relish worn out memes in a general page-trashing.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.121|162.158.159.121]] 12:20, 23 May 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Is there anything else we can do to prevent vandalism? ==<br /> <br /> There's been quite a significant uptick in vandalism recently, and I don't feel we have any effective tools to combat it. I believe one of the biggest issues here is due to the way logged-out editing works on this wiki. Blocks are completely ineffective at slowing vandals, and IP editors can vandalize with basically nothing we can do to thwart them other than revert-warring. '''Is there a better way?'''<br /> <br /> There's been some discussion of installing AbuseFilter, but I'm not sure anything became of it. We could disable logged-out editing, but that would likely be counterproductive as we get lots of legitimate contributions from logged-out users. If there's a way to switch to location-based IPs, we could rangeblock problematic users as well as proxies. Does anyone have any ideas? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.145|162.158.78.145]] 16:11, 1 June 2022 (UTC)<br /> :I'm sort of making server side changes via telegraph so an extension is probably going to take a while to get installed. Takes a bunch of emails and followups to get single variables changed in the mediawiki settings file. There is an email verification option, and some edit frequency variables that could be set to make spam more time consuming. Don't love range blocks but wouldn't mind getting the CDN IPs dealt with so we can actually use the IP bans again. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 17:16, 1 June 2022 (UTC)<br /> ::I'm very grateful that you're working on changes under the hood. What do you think is the best way to deal with disruption in the meantime? [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User talk:Vandalbane|talk]]) 17:19, 1 June 2022 (UTC)<br /> :::Could borrow a patrol bot like the ones people on main wikipedia have, could ask around. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 18:53, 1 June 2022 (UTC)<br /> ::::There's not really a drop-in solution that you can use, especially since the server's MediaWiki version is not in sync with Wikipedia's (so a lot of the APIs etc have completely changed; when initially reverting vandalism I tried importing some scripts from enwiki but they failed as a result), but also because the bots have gotten pretty complex (using machine learning provided by the Wikimedia Foundation, for example). [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 03:56, 2 June 2022 (UTC)<br /> :::::Oh I do notice mediawiki hasn't been upgraded in a while. Looks like new version of mediawiki should be dropping extremely imminently, would be nice timing for an upgrade '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 04:45, 2 June 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Rollback ==<br /> <br /> Does the rollback permission exist on this wiki? [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User talk:Vandalbane|talk]]) 17:00, 1 June 2022 (UTC)<br /> :The rollback permission of course exists but there's no group called &quot;rollbacker&quot; like you'd find on Wikipedia (limited to admins). You'd need the sysadmin to change the configuration to add one, which as established is not really an option right now. [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 03:58, 2 June 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == What happened to custom JavaScript? ==<br /> <br /> I put some code in &lt;code&gt;[[User:Some user/common.js]]&lt;/code&gt;, but it is not alerting 'hi' every time I load a page. Why can't we execute JavaScript anymore? Is it in response to the [[Project:Crap|crapping]] incident? [[User:Some user|Some user]] ([[User talk:Some user|talk]]) 21:16, 27 June 2022 (UTC)<br /> :Entirely because of that, yeah. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;u&gt;{{Color|#707|David}}&lt;font color=#070 size=3&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;font color=#508 size=4&gt;²²&lt;/font&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 04:51, 28 June 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == My IP ==<br /> <br /> Why is my IP address a Cloudflare address in Norway? Is this a joke of some kind that I'm missing?<br /> <br /> Other wikis like Wikipedia are showing me my actual IP when I go to [[Special:MyContributions]], so I suspect this is a wiki misconfiguration. It changed again while I was typing this. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.194|162.158.222.194]] 16:55, 19 November 2022 (UTC)<br /> :All IPs (as this one will be) are from Cloudflare gateway IPs, because that's the default IP that the Wiki understands as the source. Cloudflare mediates all the traffic, and perhaps to some advantage (not being privvy to the logs, I can only guess how much it insulates the true server from extreme problems, but I bet it does in some way).<br /> :There have been suggestions before to change some setting (in the MediaWiki implementation? ...can't recall exactly) to have it pick up and use the IP that the gateway reports (in its meta-request) was the origin, but that's not been enacted for Idunnowhat reason.<br /> :Because the black-box that is the Cloudflare traffic shapes in various ways, you will find that a single user will jump around 'apparent' IPs, and I've also been in the relatively embarassing situation of replying to another IP's info and finding that I've registered on the exact same IP so that it looks like I'm stooging myself, or something.<br /> :On the whole, though, it's a harmless quirk. And given the trivial nature of deliberately spoofing origins (even on top of assuming you get an effectively static NAT from your ISP in the first place) I don't personally see it as a problem to 'solve' this. But neither would I complain if the 'fix' were implemented if this query reminds someone that they ''were'' going to try and do the necessary tweak.<br /> :As a lay-answer, I hope that fills you in a little. ''If'' those who have more knowledge/control of the process want to add anything or correct me, I'm sure they'll do so as soon as they can, but here's a reply to keep you going for now... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.24|172.70.85.24]] 01:19, 20 November 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Main page in categories==<br /> {{notice|'''This discussion is marked as duplicate.''' See [[#Main Page|this discussion]].}}<br /> [[Main_Page]] was found wrongly appearing in some newly-created categories, such as [[:Category:Cosmology]]. Could you fix it? --[[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 17:49, 12 January 2023 (UTC)<br /> :Never noticed this myself, but I'll take it as read. Before checking myself, I'm wondering if this could be when the main page 'inherits' tags from the Current Comic that it features. And thus solve itself (whilst gaining others) upon a newer Current Comic. (Must surely inherit &quot;Monday Comics&quot;/etc, on schedule every week.)<br /> :If it is that, perhaps the solution lies in the details contained within https://m.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Categories#Categories_and_templates_(transcluded_pages)<br /> :Or maybe I'm wrong about it. But I have no rights to edit (thus at least examine the 'code' of) the Main page, to check my snap theory, as with most people. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.46|172.70.162.46]] 19:21, 12 January 2023 (UTC)<br /> <br /> This happened again in [[:Category:Airplane banner]]. [[User:I27.O.O.I|I27.O.O.I]] ([[User talk:I27.O.O.I|talk]]) 09:00, 28 February 2023 (UTC)<br /> :Yes, and it lasted as long as the latest comic was still one with particular categories. I don't intend to worry about it. If someone goes to a category that interests them and looks at the main page, as temporarily advertised, they're likely to find (as part of it) a comic which is indeed in that category. Doesn't sound like a big problem to me, except for determinin why some cats (e.g. Friday Comics) ''don't'' link to the Main page when they might be expected to...<br /> :(PS, I know for sure that I27.O.O.I isn't the same person as ColofulGalaxy (and various others, beyond even those with the bloomin' obvious &quot;CG&quot; initials or other recent spoofs on the RFC1918 addresses), and I don't think I mind too much, but faking disagreements between your various IDs isn't helping, anyone... smells too much of trying to establish alibis in advance of your next attempt to vandalise the site with stupid stuff. And doesn't impress me, so I doubt it impresses anyone else either. As long as you're just doing sane things, however, I'll accept your little idiosyncracies.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.32|162.158.74.32]] 19:37, 5 March 2023 (UTC)<br /> :(PPS: You left your fingerprint on this latter attempt to 'rescue' [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2659:_Unreliable_Connection&amp;curid=25530&amp;diff=307289&amp;oldid=307282 this page]. - Spammer a few minutes before midnight, my IP reversion happened shortly after. A little later &quot;Elisabeth&quot; then re-spammed (modified), then another IP immediately jumps on it to restore it but with the modified undo-summary line clearly indicating that some sort of a game is being played. Please don't, it's not clever.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.34|172.70.90.34]] 02:22, 7 March 2023 (UTC)<br /> <br /> This doesn't happen to date categories, but it happens in manually added categories such as [[:Category:Statistics]]. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 21:49, 27 March 2023 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ==Cannot create user page==<br /> It says: There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs, but you do not have permission to create this page. [[2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[Talk:2659: Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 22:56, 26 March 2023 (UTC)<br /> :(Removed alternative text in the link involved, to not hide behind trickery.) I think you know that there's no problem with [[2659: Unreliable Connection]] itself, except that it had become one of several pages targeted for spamming, the only one then locked down, then finding that the spammers just retargeted to its Talk page, etc.<br /> :I'm torn between &quot;not assuming bad faith&quot; and &quot;don't feed the trolls&quot;, as competing principles, so I'm spelling out the situation. However much a tribute you might think it could be, I don't think there's a future in having a new username that's directly referencing a comic which has become so frequently seen in the recent history of this wiki's edits.<br /> :Obviously any genuine contributions are more than welcome. So prove me wrong, why don't you? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.151|172.70.91.151]] 03:20, 27 March 2023 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::Could you help now? [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 09:13, 29 March 2023 (UTC)<br /> <br /> : I've created your talk page. I guess that what you intended is to have a backup or mirror page for comic [[2659]]. Am I right? [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 20:16, 2 April 2023 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Fanmade comics ==<br /> A fanmade comic appeared on xkcd. Could you edit the template? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.100|172.69.23.100]] 07:21, 28 April 2023 (UTC)<br /> :You're going to have to say more about it, at least for me. Apart from the Sandbox attempt to make a page, I haven't seen the comic you're describing anywhere. Certainly not anywhere official. Link, for our benefit? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.66|172.70.85.66]] 10:04, 28 April 2023 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ==Why doesn't this code block work?==<br /> Does anybody know why the code block at the end of [[Transcript on xkcd|this page]] doesn't work? I've tried everything and it still looks like plain text<br /> <br /> == Can't add RSS feed because of pubDate value on 27 Nov 2015 ==<br /> <br /> When I try to add the RSS feed in Nextcloud News feed reader I get an error &lt;code&gt;Impossible to convert date : Fri, 27 Nov 2015 17:24:34 Pacific Standard Time&lt;/code&gt;.<br /> <br /> [https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexplainxkcd.com%2Frss.xml W3C Feed validation] says that &lt;code&gt;pubDate must be an RFC-822 date-time&lt;/code&gt; and points &quot;Pacific Standard Time&quot; portion as the cause of the error: &lt;code&gt;&lt;pubDate&gt;Fri, 27 Nov 2015 17:24:34 Pacific Standard Time&lt;/pubDate&gt;&lt;/code&gt;. Can you please fix the timestap for this?<br /> <br /> == Admin request posted here because of vandalism ==<br /> <br /> I can not currently access the admin requests page because it has been vandalized... can someone please protect the latest comic page (2805). There is some pretty childish vandalism going on there right now. Thanks!<br /> :It's not the latest, seems like ALL. I went back to 2804, 2803, jumped back like 15 comics, all the same thing. To me the most offensive part is doing it with a nonsensical image. And why pipe it through Archive somehow? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 02:33, 24 July 2023 (UTC)<br /> ::UGH. the vandals are back at it again... we need to lock xkcd pages @NiceGuy [[Special:Contributions/172.70.39.2|172.70.39.2]] 00:59, 25 July 2023 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Way to contact the site hosters? ==<br /> <br /> As many have pointed out the software this wiki runs on is horribly outdated. WikiEditor also isn't here for some reason. Quite a bit of messages here have seen no action. Is there some kind of contact form to reach the hosters? {{unsigned|Aaron Liu|00:36, 10 October 2023}}<br /> : There are various levels of admin who do intervene, as and when jecessary, but I understand that the (active) ones closest to the actual hosting level of intervention are not really ready to do the (increasingly greater) degree of uprooting necessary to get a &quot;working&quot; system to be &quot;marginally better working&quot;, by way of that very dangerous middle-ground of potentially being ruined entirely.<br /> : I appreciate and anticipate the counter-arguments regarding letting it go totally unupdated, of course, just I've personally seen enough failures (participated in some, or been the actual invokee, myself) to be very sympathetic to the &quot;if it aint (too) broke, don't fix it&quot; tendency. But that inertia is not the only factor, of course, and the full motivations (or lack of them) of those involved is not for a lowly IP like me to explain, even if I think I know... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.42|172.69.195.42]] 01:24, 10 October 2023 (UTC)<br /> :: Have they posted some sort of statement? It also is most definitely not “marginally” better working, compare the source editor to that of Wikipedia and look at topic subscription etc features. Not to mention a lot of security fixes haven’t been added and this version has reached EOL long ago. Updating also would not ruin this entirely…[[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 17:22, 12 October 2023 (UTC)<br /> :: Some have also said that quite a bit of assistive scripts for modern versions don’t work. Visual Editor, while horrible, is still easier for new people to get started with. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 17:23, 12 October 2023 (UTC)<br /> I've found a new reason: This wiki doesn't even allow loading userscripts! [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 01:34, 9 December 2023 (UTC)<br /> :That might actually have been a conscious decition, after a 'certain user' caused chaos here, not so long ago. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]] 19:01, 9 December 2023 (UTC)<br /> ::Huh? What happened? Is there a place to request gadgets then? [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 02:04, 10 December 2023 (UTC)<br /> :::&quot;What happened&quot; involved automated vandalism (from someone who been doing it manually, then found the &quot;better way&quot;) though I couldn't tell you the exact details, there were automated 'unvandalism's made in response, and theusafBOT/etc does some of that still, in response to non-automated(/off-site scripted) vandalism/errors that it can actually catch before ordinary users (or IPs like me) can. But certainly a certain brand of scripting was turned off to curtail the 'high intensity' vandalism phase.<br /> :::You're more or less in the best place to request things, right here. Whether updates, (re)adding functionalitu or tweaking site settings. Can't tell if those who ''can'' do these things can't or won't do them... Or are actually absent, instead of just not replying. The cavalry has been known to come running in when necessary (e.g. when &quot;what happened&quot; happened) so it could be any manner of non-response (until you get one). Not necessarily the best state of affairs, but better than being confirmed absentees.<br /> :::As an occasional but infrequent actual-Wikipedia editor, too, I must say that if the Visual Editor is what I currently have to use for that (at least as an anonIP when using a mobile device, which tends to be when I get the urge most) then I like the unaugmented editor here more. Straight up, honest, un'wizarded' interface, where you only have to get used to markup details and not a WYSIWYG editing environment (as well?). Not sure I'd be happy with an even ''more'' 'assistive' script imposed upon me, like I dislike modern generations of Windows (and 'user friendly' linux dists). So can I just ask that functional/visible changes of the kind you seem to be asking for, if made available, aren't overimposed/left as options rather than the default (or only) choice...? Ok, so I can (or would have to) adapt, but I'd rather not. Of course, I have no weight to pull in this matter, it's just an afterthought (even as I wish you good luck with raising an admin's eyebrow, in some useful manner). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.135|141.101.98.135]] 05:14, 10 December 2023 (UTC)</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2642:_Meta-Alternating_Current&diff=288585 2022-07-11T15:29:51Z

<p>141.101.98.135: /* Explanation */ Clse paren</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 2642<br /> | date = July 6, 2022<br /> | title = Meta-Alternating Current<br /> | image = meta_alternating_current.png<br /> | titletext = It's always bothered me that you can't cancel out an inverter by putting a second inverter after it.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|Created by a CHAIN OF INVERTERS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br /> {{w|Direct current}} is a unidirectional flow of electrons from a power source to something being powered, through one or more conductors, before returning to the power source via one or more other conductors, thus completing the circuit. Batteries produce direct current. It is commonly used in electronics applications, including computers. {{w|Alternating current}}, on the other hand, frequently reverses the direction of electron flow, and is commonly used for longer-distance transmission (such as from the power plant to an outlet).<br /> <br /> This comic proposes a humorous ''Meta-Alternating Current'', which uses a series of adapters to &quot;alternate&quot; between DC and AC current along the length of a connector. This is absurd in part because typical {{w|power inverter}} efficiency is 90%, and maximum {{w|bridge rectifier}} efficiency is about 99% for 120 V, so an {{w|extension cord}} made of in this manner would lose about 10% power per such pair. <br /> <br /> The title text bemoans that an inverter, which converts direct current to alternating current, does not work in the other direction, as a layman's interpretation of the word &quot;inverter&quot; might appear. Rather, a separate device, a {{w|rectifier}}, also pictured in the comic, must be used for this second conversion. (However, a similar circuit to an inverter may be used to rectify in a process called {{w|active rectification}}.)<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br /> <br /> :Cursed Connectors #120<br /> <br /> :[Drawing of a chain of rectifiers and inverters. There are seven pairs of rectifier/inverter. The chain starts on the left by a mains plug (type B), followed by the first rectifier. It ends with the last inverter, and a female mains plug (type B socket).]<br /> <br /> :Meta-alternating current extension cord<br /> :(alternates between AC and DC)<br /> <br /> ==Trivia==<br /> This comic replaced [[No One Was Hurt]] as comic 2642 after it was taken down from [[xkcd]]'s website.<br /> <br /> This comic does not have a high-resolution (2x) image for high-DPI displays, making it look more blurry than usual on such devices (such as smartphones). This is probably because it was uploaded hastily to replace No One Was Hurt quickly.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Cursed Connectors]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2538:_Snack&diff=287227 2022-06-21T02:27:28Z

<p>141.101.98.135: added category</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 2538<br /> | date = November 5, 2021<br /> | title = Snack<br /> | image = snack.png<br /> | titletext = Although grad students, suddenly reminded that food exists, tend to just grab and devour both without further discussion.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> Many psychological studies involve participants being asked to make decisions under varying conditions, to determine how those conditions influence decision making. A common example is to give subjects a choice between eating a healthy snack (such as an apple) or a tasty snack (such as a cookie), which may be used as a simple proxy for whether they're prioritizing long-term health or short-term gratification. In most cases they are not made aware of the nature of the experiment, as knowing the premise of the study is liable to influence their behavior and alter the results. Instead subjects may deliberately be given a false impression of the purpose of the study, or they may be offered a choice under conditions where they're not aware that they're part of an experiment at all.<br /> <br /> Examples of experiments like this are the {{w|Stanford marshmallow experiment}} and [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8656339/ this study].<br /> <br /> This sort of psychological study is most commonly done by universities, which means that using university students as subjects is generally the most convenient option. This means both that psychological studies tend to be heavily skewed towards the demographics of college students, and that university students have a pretty good chance of being invited to participate in a study at some point.<br /> <br /> The joke in this strip is based on the premise that psychology majors are sufficiently aware of such studies that it would make them suspicious of any circumstances which ''could'' be part of a study. If they've studied (or even conducted) such experiments, anything that reminded them of such a study could cause them to become suspicious. In [[Cueball]]'s case this is exaggerated into outright paranoia, and [[Ponytail]] is apparently playing on that to prank him, offering options that could easily be part of such an experiment just to spook him into suspicion.<br /> <br /> Studies done on humans are subject to important ethical controls, particularly if the subjects are not fully informed of the study's purpose. &quot;IRB&quot; stands for {{w|Institutional Review Board}}, which is a committee (for example, at a university) which must approve such research to ensure that there's no significant risk of doing harm to the subjects of the study. <br /> <br /> The title text jokes that graduate students have so much work to do that they are liable to forget to eat entirely and stereotypically too impoverished to afford adequate amounts of food; when presented with an offer of a snack, they don't ponder the implications or potential ulterior motives; they just eat it quickly and get back to work.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Ponytail, holding a cookie up in one hand and an apple up in the other, addresses an alarmed Cueball. His alarm is shown by seven lines radiating away from his head, and he also holds his arms stretched out.]<br /> :Ponytail: Hey, do you want a cookie? Or an apple?<br /> :Cueball: '''''Who are you!? Did the IRB approve this!? Is everyone here an actor!?'''''<br /> <br /> :[Caption beneath the panel:]<br /> :The best prank you can play on psych majors is just to offer them a snack.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Science]]<br /> [[Category:Food]]<br /> [[Category:Psychology]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1289:_Simple_Answers&diff=273621 2022-05-22T09:35:37Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Undo revision 273580 by 108.162.245.181 (talk)</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1289<br /> | date = November 11, 2013<br /> | title = Simple Answers<br /> | image = simple answers.png<br /> | titletext = 'Will [ ] allow us to better understand each other and thus make war undesirable?' is one that pops up whenever we invent a new communication medium.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> This is [[Randall]]'s commentary on some of the baseless skepticism and equally baseless optimism directed at new technologies. Related: [[1215: Insight]] and [[1227: The Pace of Modern Life]]. While it's always healthy to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of cutting-edge tech before blindly diving in and adopting it, it's not healthy to base that evaluation on unrealistically high standards and expectations.{{Citation needed}} New developments will have pros and cons, and it's hard to tell whether they make the world a better place or not.<br /> <br /> Randall has set up a Q&amp;A for this kind of questioning. Most of the them are straightforward, but we'll provide some commentary on selected questions.<br /> <br /> ''Will [ ] destroy whole industries? Yes.'' A widely adopted technology usually causes another to gradually phase out, and industries will rise and fall as technologies do. This is a bit of a loaded question because &quot;destroy industries&quot; sounds negative, and only covers half the effect — instead of merely destroying them, we're also {{w|Creative destruction|replacing}} them with something (hopefully) better.<br /> <br /> ''Will teens use [ ] for sex? Yes. Were they going to have sex anyway? Yes.'' Sex is pretty important to almost everyone, so it'll find its way into most generic technologies. Hormone-crazed tech-savvy teenagers are a particularly strong intersection of the two. Parents fearing teen sex might be worried about how their kids would use the technology, but the second question refutes these concerns quite concisely.<br /> <br /> ''Will [ ] destroy music/art? No.'' Every new technology for reproducing musical and artistic works (such as [https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2004/03/wicked-player-piano player pianos] and [http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbarro/2012/01/18/thirty-years-before-sopa-mpaa-feared-the-vcr/ video cassette recorders]) has been accompanied by warnings that it will destroy the industry that supplies it content. The reality is a special case of the &quot;destroy industries&quot; question - old business models will fall but new ones will arise in their place, and art and music as a whole will survive.<br /> <br /> ''But can't we go back to a time when— No.'' Elderly people {{tvtropes|WhenIWasYourAge|express their disapproval}} of today's technological luxuries, nostalgically longing for a time before Foo or Bar came around. That's just how the stereotype goes, but there is a large helping of truth to it. Usually, their sentiments are not a fair judgement, but an emotional attachment to the olden days and a {{tvtropes|TheyChangedItNowItSucks|resistance to change}}.<br /> <br /> ''Will [ ] bring about world peace?- No.'' People have been trying to bring about world peace for centuries; sadly, other people are in no such hurry and insist on more conflict to solve their own problems.<br /> <br /> The final answer is a depressing and strangely beautiful comment on human nature: ''Will [ ] cause widespread alienation by creating a world of empty experiences? We were already alienated.'' Skeptics may be concerned that a new technology will make people's pleasures and interactions more artificial and shallow; Randall comments that this is already something well known in our society.<br /> <br /> From the Title Text, ''Will [ ] allow us to better understand each other and thus make war undesirable?'' describes the usual theory that a technology might use to bring about world peace. Unfortunately, not only does the answer seem to be &quot;no&quot; to World Peace either way, but there's no indication that increased global communication actually facilitates understanding and empathy between distant communities. In fact, many cynics say the Internet has in fact caused the opposite effect, causing people to fracture into like-minded cliques rather than intermingle.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Caption above the chart:]<br /> :The '''simple answers''' to the questions that get asked about every new technology:<br /> :{| class=&quot;wikitable&quot;<br /> |Will [ ] make us all geniuses?||align=&quot;center&quot;|No<br /> |-<br /> |Will [ ] make us all morons?||align=&quot;center&quot;|No<br /> |-<br /> |Will [ ] destroy whole industries?||align=&quot;center&quot; |Yes<br /> |-<br /> |Will [ ] make us more empathetic?||align=&quot;center&quot; |No<br /> |-<br /> |Will [ ] make us less caring?||align=&quot;center&quot; |No<br /> |-<br /> |Will teens use [ ] for sex?||align=&quot;center&quot; |Yes<br /> |-<br /> |Were they going to have sex anyway?||align=&quot;center&quot; |Yes<br /> |-<br /> |Will [ ] destroy music?||align=&quot;center&quot; |No<br /> |-<br /> |Will [ ] destroy art?||align=&quot;center&quot; |No<br /> |-<br /> |But can't we go back to a time when-||align=&quot;center&quot; |No<br /> |-<br /> |Will [ ] bring about world peace?||align=&quot;center&quot; |No<br /> |-<br /> |Will [ ] cause widespread&lt;br /&gt;alienation by creating a world&lt;br /&gt;of empty experiences?||align=&quot;center&quot; |We were&lt;br /&gt;already&lt;br /&gt;alienated<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ==Trivia==<br /> * Robinson Meyer of {{w|The Atlantic}} [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/xkcd-is-amazing-but-its-latest-comic-is-wrong/281422/ rather disagreed] with [[Randall Munroe]] on this one...<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Charts]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1069:_Alphabet&diff=270586 2022-05-20T15:27:43Z

<p>141.101.98.135: /* Let's fix English spelling! */ Fix markup.</p> <hr /> <div>That would ''probably'' work anyways. I hear women love it when you play hard to get like that. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;span title=&quot;I want you.&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;purple&quot; size=&quot;2px&quot;&gt;David&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;green&quot; size=&quot;3px&quot;&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;indigo&quot; size=&quot;1px&quot;&gt;22&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/span&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 13:38, 8 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Is it not also relevant that the &quot;ea&quot; in heart and beat are pronounced differently, an example of the irregularity of English orthography. {{unsigned ip|91.89.211.18}}<br /> :In &quot;rearrange&quot; (used in the comic) the letters &quot;ea&quot; comprise two syllables, and the schwa is more stressed than in &quot;realize&quot;, which is barely audible when pronounced at all (although it might depend on regional accents).<br /> [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.89|108.162.237.89]] 02:26, 2 December 2016 (UTC)<br /> :...and also in learn, bread, break, beard, bear, create, reality, realize, sergeant. So, 11 different pronunciations. Did I miss any? ––[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 22:11, 28 April 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::In what way are the pairs beat/beard and learn/bread pronounced differently? [[Special:Contributions/161.49.249.254|161.49.249.254]] 21:18, 5 August 2013 (UTC)<br /> :::Beat/beard seems the same. Mistake. [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/learn?s=t Learn] has the same vowel as &quot;surge&quot;, and [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bread?s=t bread] is pronounced with the short &quot;e&quot;-sound, as in &quot;best&quot;. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 22:15, 6 August 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::Those vowels all sound different to me. It all depends on your accent. [[User:Tarkov|Tarkov]] ([[User talk:Tarkov|talk]]) 09:03, 2 January 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> /hɑɹt/<br /> /biːt/<br /> /lɝn/<br /> /bɹɛd/<br /> /bɹeɪk/<br /> /bɪɹd/<br /> /bɛɚ/<br /> /kɹiːˈeɪt/<br /> /riˈæləti/<br /> I couldn't find realize and sergeant. You can see it isn't just the vowels that are different. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 01:34, 26 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> *beat/beard /biːt/ vs /bɪɹd/ or /bɪəd/<br /> *learn/bread /lɜɹn/ vs /bɹɛd/. The difference between ''learn'' and ''bread'' is similar to the difference between ''stir'' /stɜɹ/ and ''stare'' /stɛɹ/, which are not homophones.<br /> *realize /ˈɹiːəlaɪz/<br /> *sergeant /ˈsɑːɹdʒənt/<br /> [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 13:34, 10 August 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> It's a nice touch that Cueball's second sentence entirely omits the vowel 'u' thus forgetting &quot;about 'U' in a heartbeat&quot;[[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.82|162.158.202.82]] 14:05, 6 June 2018 (UTC)<br /> :almost def a coincidence but still cool. also see jan misali's spelling reform videos. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.35.70|172.70.35.70]] 14:07, 16 September 2021 (UTC)Bumpf<br /> <br /> == Let's fix English spelling! ==<br /> <br /> Let's start a thread here, adding more logical rules for English spelling. Please add more rules! Each rule must be written following all prior rules.<br /> <br /> Replace all uses of &quot;c&quot;, except in &quot;ch&quot;, with &quot;s&quot; or &quot;k&quot;. &quot;City&quot; and &quot;copy&quot; are now &quot;sity&quot; and &quot;kall&quot;. Because &quot;ch&quot; is actually &quot;tsh&quot; and the letter &quot;c&quot; is otherwise unused, replace &quot;sh&quot; with &quot;c&quot;. &quot;Ship&quot; and &quot;church&quot; are now &quot;cip&quot; and &quot;tcurtc&quot;. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.105|172.70.130.105]] 14:56, 20 May 2022 (UTC)<br /> :&quot;Copy&quot;-&gt;&quot;'''kopy'''&quot; and &quot;'''call'''&quot;-&gt;&quot;kall&quot;, I presume you mean. And you missed out on vowels/vowel-likes (&quot;siti&quot; and &quot;kopi&quot;, definitely, and maybe &quot;kol&quot; unless you want to go for &quot;kawl&quot; or even repurpose 'y' for &quot;kyl&quot; as even the likes of &quot;yacht&quot; might be better rewritten as &quot;uot&quot;), if we can pursuade people to assume a common accent. (&quot;buoy&quot; -&gt; &quot;boi&quot; or &quot;bui&quot; or...? That'll be an argument!)<br /> :Can I keep the 'ch' in &quot;loch&quot;, though? Hint: it aint either &quot;lok&quot; ''or'' &quot;loc&quot;, even if we now have the likes of a &quot;kiroprakter&quot; or &quot;ciropodist&quot;. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.135|141.101.98.135]] 15:27, 20 May 2022 (UTC)</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1069:_Alphabet&diff=270585 2022-05-20T15:27:04Z

<p>141.101.98.135: /* Let's fix English spelling! */</p> <hr /> <div>That would ''probably'' work anyways. I hear women love it when you play hard to get like that. '''[[User:Davidy22|&lt;span title=&quot;I want you.&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;purple&quot; size=&quot;2px&quot;&gt;David&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;green&quot; size=&quot;3px&quot;&gt;y&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;indigo&quot; size=&quot;1px&quot;&gt;22&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/span&gt;]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|&lt;tt&gt;[talk]&lt;/tt&gt;]] 13:38, 8 January 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Is it not also relevant that the &quot;ea&quot; in heart and beat are pronounced differently, an example of the irregularity of English orthography. {{unsigned ip|91.89.211.18}}<br /> :In &quot;rearrange&quot; (used in the comic) the letters &quot;ea&quot; comprise two syllables, and the schwa is more stressed than in &quot;realize&quot;, which is barely audible when pronounced at all (although it might depend on regional accents).<br /> [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.89|108.162.237.89]] 02:26, 2 December 2016 (UTC)<br /> :...and also in learn, bread, break, beard, bear, create, reality, realize, sergeant. So, 11 different pronunciations. Did I miss any? ––[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 22:11, 28 April 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::In what way are the pairs beat/beard and learn/bread pronounced differently? [[Special:Contributions/161.49.249.254|161.49.249.254]] 21:18, 5 August 2013 (UTC)<br /> :::Beat/beard seems the same. Mistake. [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/learn?s=t Learn] has the same vowel as &quot;surge&quot;, and [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bread?s=t bread] is pronounced with the short &quot;e&quot;-sound, as in &quot;best&quot;. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 22:15, 6 August 2013 (UTC)<br /> ::::Those vowels all sound different to me. It all depends on your accent. [[User:Tarkov|Tarkov]] ([[User talk:Tarkov|talk]]) 09:03, 2 January 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> /hɑɹt/<br /> /biːt/<br /> /lɝn/<br /> /bɹɛd/<br /> /bɹeɪk/<br /> /bɪɹd/<br /> /bɛɚ/<br /> /kɹiːˈeɪt/<br /> /riˈæləti/<br /> I couldn't find realize and sergeant. You can see it isn't just the vowels that are different. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 01:34, 26 July 2014 (UTC)<br /> <br /> *beat/beard /biːt/ vs /bɪɹd/ or /bɪəd/<br /> *learn/bread /lɜɹn/ vs /bɹɛd/. The difference between ''learn'' and ''bread'' is similar to the difference between ''stir'' /stɜɹ/ and ''stare'' /stɛɹ/, which are not homophones.<br /> *realize /ˈɹiːəlaɪz/<br /> *sergeant /ˈsɑːɹdʒənt/<br /> [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 13:34, 10 August 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> It's a nice touch that Cueball's second sentence entirely omits the vowel 'u' thus forgetting &quot;about 'U' in a heartbeat&quot;[[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.82|162.158.202.82]] 14:05, 6 June 2018 (UTC)<br /> :almost def a coincidence but still cool. also see jan misali's spelling reform videos. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.35.70|172.70.35.70]] 14:07, 16 September 2021 (UTC)Bumpf<br /> <br /> == Let's fix English spelling! ==<br /> <br /> Let's start a thread here, adding more logical rules for English spelling. Please add more rules! Each rule must be written following all prior rules.<br /> <br /> Replace all uses of &quot;c&quot;, except in &quot;ch&quot;, with &quot;s&quot; or &quot;k&quot;. &quot;City&quot; and &quot;copy&quot; are now &quot;sity&quot; and &quot;kall&quot;. Because &quot;ch&quot; is actually &quot;tsh&quot; and the letter &quot;c&quot; is otherwise unused, replace &quot;sh&quot; with &quot;c&quot;. &quot;Ship&quot; and &quot;church&quot; are now &quot;cip&quot; and &quot;tcurtc&quot;. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.105|172.70.130.105]] 14:56, 20 May 2022 (UTC)<br /> :&quot;Copy&quot;-&gt;&quot;'''kopy' '&quot; and &quot;'''call'''&quot;-&gt;&quot;kall&quot;, I presume you mean. And you missed out on vowels/vowel-likes (&quot;siti&quot; and &quot;kopi&quot;, definitely, and maybe &quot;kol&quot; unless you want to go for &quot;kawl&quot; or even repurpose 'y' for &quot;kyl&quot; as even the likes of &quot;yacht&quot; might be better rewritten as &quot;uot&quot;), if we can pursuade people to assume a common accent. (&quot;buoy&quot; -&gt; &quot;boi&quot; or &quot;bui&quot; or...? That'll be an argument!)<br /> :Can I keep the 'ch' in &quot;loch&quot;, though? Hint: it aint either &quot;lok&quot; ''or'' &quot;loc&quot;, even if we now have the likes of a &quot;kiroprakter&quot; or &quot;ciropodist&quot;. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.135|141.101.98.135]] 15:27, 20 May 2022 (UTC)</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2621:_Mainly_Known_For&diff=270550 2022-05-20T01:40:03Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Remains of vandalism?</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 2621<br /> | date = May 18, 2022<br /> | title = Mainly Known For<br /> | image = mainly_known_for.png<br /> | titletext = Oh sure, I know Keira Knightly, from the first movie in that series by The Land Before Time producer. You know, the franchise with the guy from Jurassic Park and Ghostwriter, and script work by Billie Lourd's mom?<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|Created by that guy from NASA, what was his name? Something Munroe - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br /> [[Megan]] points out an uncanny resemblance between someone's dad and {{w|Steve Jobs}}. However, she is uncertain that Steve's last name is Jobs, so she refers to Jobs as &quot;the Pixar guy&quot;, asking Cueball if Jobs is the correct name. Jobs is ''mainly known for'' (hence the comic's title) being the co-founder and twice CEO of {{w|Apple Inc.}}, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s (between his stints at Apple), he was the chairman of {{w|Pixar Animation Studios}}, which is what Megan knows him for. <br /> <br /> Frequently, when people can't remember a celebrity's name, they will point out other works they are known for in hopes someone else will recognize them from that and remind them of the name. The comic, for its demographic of nerds, is joking on how it can come across to have lived a life separate from popular culture, where one learns things for different reasons than most people do.<br /> <br /> [[Cueball]] points out that Megan's tendency to avoid the &quot;main&quot; association and instead go with a much more secondary one is weird, which confuses her. To demonstrate how weird her associations are, Cueball asks her, &quot;Who is {{w|John Lennon}}?&quot; Lennon is a famous songwriter who played and wrote for {{w|The Beatles}} before they broke up, and later continued on a solo music career. Megan recognizes Lennon as a musical artist, but is unable to remember the name of The Beatles. She instead asks about the band he was in with {{w|Ringo Starr}}. Ringo, however, is not mainly memorable to her for his role in The Beatles, but rather as Mr. Conductor from the first season of the 1989 children's television show ''{{w|Shining Time Station}}''. The Beatles' fame seems to have escaped Megan, which vexes Cueball. Also Ringo may be considered as the least known of The Beatles, unless that would be {{w|George Harrison|'the quiet one'}}. Definitely less well-known than {{w|Paul McCartney}}, who was often as prominent a writer-performer as Lennon at the time and has continued to prominently perform individually (or headlining collaborations) across all the intervening decades since that era. <br /> <br /> Hoping to show that she really does know Lennon and that her associations aren't weird, she points out that she remembers John doing a song with {{w|David Bowie}}. But she cannot remember that it was called &quot;{{w|Fame (David Bowie song)|Fame}}&quot;. The song is from 1975 and Lennon co-wrote it with Bowie and performed backing vocals and guitar on it. Also she cannot remember Bowie's name, recognizing him instead for his acting role in ''{{w|Labyrinth (1986 film)|Labyrinth}}''. When Cueball states Bowie's name and adds, presumably sarcastically, that he think he is famous for other stuff than those two things Megan mentions, she also remember another movie with Bowie, ''{{w|Zoolander}}'', rather than his more famous musical career (such as his smash hits &quot;{{w|Space Oddity}}&quot; or &quot;{{w|Let's Dance (David Bowie song)|Let's Dance}}&quot;).<br /> <br /> Sensing Cueball's annoyance, but failing to understand it, she attempts to excuse herself for not remembering ''Zoolander'' to begin with, because it came out a long time ago, during the {{w|Presidency of George W. Bush}}. ''Zoolander'' was indeed released in 2001. Apparently unable, again, to remember the president's name, she identifies him as &quot;{{w|Jenna Bush}}'s dad&quot;. Jenna Bush is a TV personality and much less widely known than her father.<br /> <br /> While the kind of associations people make like Megan in this comic, are often prone to the {{w|Mandela effect}}, Megan's information about all the celebrities is, in fact, correct, but apparently they are never what those people are best known for. This is what makes Cueball sigh and facepalm in the final panel, when she mentions Jenna instead of George Bush. He likely also does this because, even though he just demonstrated her weird tendency to remember people for their lesser known works, he is unable to reach her and let her understand that she is weird.<br /> <br /> In the title text, Megan refers to &quot;{{w|Keira Knightley|Keira Knightly}}&quot; [''sic'' -- her surname is spelled Knightley], who is probably best known for her roles in the {{w|Pirates of the Caribbean (film series)|''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films}} and the {{w|Pride &amp; Prejudice (2005 film)|2005 ''Pride and Prejudice'' film}}, by referencing her small role in ''{{w|Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace}}'' (as Sabé, who funnily enough is a handmaiden and ''decoy'' for Queen Padmé Amidala, a main character played by Natalie Portman). <br /> <br /> Megan continues her unusual references by identifying the film as the &quot;first movie&quot; (it was the first in the plotline, but the fourth one made) in &quot;that series by ''The Land Before Time'' producer&quot; ({{w|George Lucas}}, creator of {{w|Star Wars}}, was also one of the executive producers of the 1988 animated film ''{{w|The Land Before Time (film)|The Land Before Time}}''). <br /> <br /> Seeming to think that identifying George Lucas doesn't narrow it down at all, she identifies another actor in the ''Star Wars'' series, {{w|Samuel L. Jackson}}, by his roles in ''{{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}} ''(an extremely successful film, but one in which Jackson had a relatively small role) and the PBS children's series ''{{w|Ghostwriter (1992 TV series)|Ghostwriter}}'' (in which Jackson appeared in only a few episodes). In addition, Megan mentions that the ''Star Wars'' series had &quot;script work by {{w|Billie Lourd}}'s mom&quot;, referring to {{w|Carrie Fisher}}, who [https://www.slashfilm.com/548436/carrie-fisher-script-doctor/ contributed uncredited script-doctoring work] to the ''Star Wars'' franchise. However, Fisher is more closely associated with ''Star Wars'' for having played the major role of {{w|Princess Leia Organa}} in six films in the series.<br /> <br /> ''Ghostwriter'' was previously featured in [[130: Julia Stiles]], which described a scene from the show as &quot;the best thing ever to appear on TV&quot;.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Megan holds he hand palm up towards Cueball.]<br /> :Megan: ...And her dad looks ''exactly'' like the Pixar guy. Steve what's-his-name? Jobs?<br /> :Cueball: &quot;Pixar guy&quot;?<br /> :Cueball: You always know famous people for such weird reasons.<br /> <br /> :[Megan puts her hand down.]<br /> :Megan: What do you mean?<br /> :Cueball: Who is John Lennon?<br /> :Megan: Wasn't he in a band? With Ringo from ''Shining Time Station''.<br /> :Cueball: How is '''''that''''' your main association?<br /> <br /> :[In a frameless panel Megan holds a finger up in front of Cueball.]<br /> :Megan: I also know he once did a song with the guy from Labyrinth!<br /> :Cueball: You mean David Bowie? I think he's famous for some other stuff, too.<br /> <br /> :[Megan puts her hand down while Cueball facepalms. The line connecting his is curved.]<br /> :Megan: Oh yeah, he was also in Zoolander!<br /> :Megan: I forgot that movie, it came out back when Jenna Bush's dad was president.<br /> :Cueball: ''*Sigh*''<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Steve Jobs]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br /> [[Category:Star Wars]]<br /> [[Category:Fiction]]<br /> [[Category:Jurassic Park]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1475:_Technically&diff=268618 2022-05-11T18:49:18Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Undo revision 265755 by 👖🔥 (talk)</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1475<br /> | date = January 19, 2015<br /> | title = Technically<br /> | image = technically.png<br /> | titletext = &quot;Technically that sentence started with 'well', so--&quot; &quot;Ooh, a rock with a fossil in it!&quot;<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> When the word &quot;technically&quot; is used to start a sentence, the remainder of the sentence tends to follow one of a number of patterns:<br /> <br /> {| class=&quot;wikitable&quot;<br /> ! Sentence pattern<br /> ! Example<br /> |-<br /> | An explanation which is far more complex than the listener needs/wants.<br /> | &quot;Technically, a {{w|Hemiptera|bug}} is a very specific order of insects, including aphids, cicadas...&quot;<br /> |-<br /> | A justification of a particular (usually unpopular) viewpoint through an unusual technical definition.<br /> | &quot;Technically a tomato is a fruit, so there is no reason it shouldn't be used in a fruit salad.&quot;<br /> |-<br /> | A pedantic overapplication of rules or laws, often to avoid the inquiry through a technical and usually unrelated loophole.<br /> | [http://factually.gizmodo.com/technically-american-flag-napkins-are-illegal-1599774198 &quot;Technically, American flag napkins are illegal.&quot;]<br /> |-<br /> | The speaker repeating a 'little known fact', believing that he/she sounds incredibly knowledgeable. In many cases these 'facts' are actually false, as in the example to the right (see {{w|Ten_percent_of_brain_myth|the 10% of the brain myth}}).<br /> | &quot;Technically we only use 10% of our brains, so imagine what we could do if we used 100%!&quot;<br /> |-<br /> | An attempt to disguise an outright lie as a simple misunderstanding in point of view.<br /> | &quot;Technically, we're not cows. We're aardvarks.&quot;<br /> |}<br /> <br /> [[Cueball]], possibly representing [[Randall]], has decided that any sentence beginning with the word &quot;technically&quot; is highly likely to be completely worthless for him to listen to; so whenever he hears it at the beginning of a sentence, he allows himself to be distracted by anything which happens to be around.<br /> <br /> There are many cases where an item is classified in what appears to be an illogical way. Some fairly well known examples are 'Tomatoes are a fruit', 'Strawberries are not berries', 'Peanuts are not nuts' and so on. The reasoning behind these seemingly unusual classifications is typically down to the technical definition of the class, which may differ from the intuitive understanding that the general public have learned. It is not unusual for people to try and appear knowledgeable by demonstrating that they are aware of correct technical classifications.<br /> <br /> [[White Hat]] starts to pedantically answer the typically incredulous rhetorical question “Are you on drugs?!” by explaining that according to the technical definition, food is classed as a drug. This classification is false due to his incorrect interpretation of the word &quot;drug&quot; and lack of understanding of the role of food in human physiology, and would fall under the fourth example in the chart above. Indeed, &quot;drug&quot; is defined as &quot;a substance used to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, or modify a chemical process in the body for a specific purpose&quot;, followed by a secondary definition of &quot;a psychoactive substance, especially one which is illegal and addictive&quot;. Food, on the other hand, is defined as &quot;any substance that can be consumed by living organisms, especially by eating, in order to sustain life&quot;. In other words, food is consumed in order to sustain the normal, innate state of the body, while drugs are consumed in order to alter certain states. The Wikipedia {{w|drug|article}} for drug goes so far as to explicitly disqualify food from the definition of “drug.”<br /> <br /> Regardless of whether or not the classification was valid, Cueball has already allowed himself to be distracted by a passing bug.<br /> <br /> The title text starts to pedantically over-apply Cueball's rule to the comic panel, noting that technically White Hat's sentence started with the word 'well' instead of the word 'technically', and thus Cueball is wrong to have ignored it. This would fall under the second or third example in the chart. Halfway through the sentence, this argument is cut off by the discovery of a rock with a fossil in it, correctly applying the rule to a sentence that began with the word &quot;technically&quot;.<br /> <br /> This comic is similar to [[1240: Quantum Mechanics]], in that they both suggest ignoring sentences containing a certain word or phrase indicating a pedantic attitude.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[White Hat talks to Cueball who looks at a flying insect.]<br /> :White Hat: Well, technically, food is a &quot;drug&quot;, since it's a substance that alters how your body works, so yes, I'm—<br /> :Cueball: Hey, look at that weird bug!<br /> <br /> :[Caption below the panel:]<br /> :My life improved when I realized I could just ignore any sentence that started with &quot;technically.&quot;<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br /> [[Category:Food]]<br /> [[Category:Pedantic]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=473:_Still_Raw&diff=268540 2022-05-11T18:48:53Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Undo revision 266472 by 👖🔥 (talk)</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 473<br /> | date = September 8, 2008<br /> | title = Still Raw<br /> | image = still raw.png<br /> | titletext = We actually divorced once over the airplane/treadmill argument. (Preemptive response to the inevitable threads arguing about it: you're all wrong on the internet.)<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> This comic shows [[Cueball]] and his significant other undergoing a domestic dispute. The debate is heated, enough to tear apart a romantic relationship, and although the end result is Cueball being thrown out of his other's house, he resolves that he will stand by his point of view no matter what.<br /> <br /> Of course, in the last panel, we learn that the argument is over something that should be, in the context of romance, utterly trivial: Cueball has been thrown out simply because he believes that {{w|Pluto}} should never have been a {{w|planet}}.<br /> <br /> Pluto was the ninth planet in our {{w|solar system}} between 1930 and 2006, during a time when &quot;planet&quot; had no formal definition. (Jupiter was thought to be the ninth planet [http://spaceweather.com/swpod2006/13sep06/Pollock1.jpg from 1807 to 1845.)] In 2006, the {{w|IAU}} created a formal definition for &quot;planet&quot;; Pluto didn't make the cut, and it was reclassified as a {{w|dwarf planet}}. The reasons are {{w|IAU_definition_of_planet|complicated}}, but the basic issue is that like {{w|1 Ceres|Ceres}}, {{w|2 Pallas|Pallas}}, {{w|3 Juno|Juno}}, and {{w|4 Vesta|Vesta}}, Pluto is too small to {{w|clearing the neighbourhood|function as a planet}} in the solar system. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_2gbGXzFbs A better explanation can be found here.]<br /> <br /> In the title text, the airplane/treadmill argument starts when someone asks whether an airplane can take off while it is on a treadmill that is opposing its progress (pulling it backward). The question usually leads to arguments because it is posed ambiguously. Properly defining the question shows that the airplane can indeed take off (because its forward motion is provided by its propeller/jet engine, not its wheels, which are free to spin at any speed) and experiments (such as Mythbusters') bear this out. Randall also takes a crack at the issue [http://blog.xkcd.com/2008/09/09/the-@#$%&amp;!-airplane-on-the-@#$%&amp;!-treadmill/ here], and more info can be found [http://www.airplaneonatreadmill.com/ here].<br /> <br /> The statement about being wrong is likely a reference to [[386: Duty Calls]].<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Cueball laying on sidewalk outside a house, surrounded by his belongings.]<br /> :She threw me out yelling, &quot;You don't say those words. Not in ''this'' house.&quot;<br /> :It's been two years. I thought the wounds had healed.<br /> :But I stand by what I said.<br /> :Pluto never should have been a planet.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2562:_Formatting_Meeting&diff=268423 2022-05-11T18:48:18Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Undo revision 265601 by 👖🔥 (talk)</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 2562<br /> | date = December 31, 2021<br /> | title = Formatting Meeting<br /> | image = formatting_meeting.png<br /> | titletext = Neither group uses iso 8601 because the big-endian enthusiasts were all at the meeting 20 years ago.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> In the {{w|United States}}, it's common to write {{w|Calendar dates|dates}} numerically in the {{w|Calendar date#Date format|format}} ''{{w|Month|month}}/{{w|Day|day}}/{{w|Year|year}}'' -- 2/3/22 means February 3, 2022 (the century is often omitted when it's obvious that the date is around the current time). In Europe, the {{w|Calendar date#Gregorian, day–month–year (DMY)|usual order}} is ''day/month/year'' - so 2/3/22 is 2nd March, 2022.<br /> <br /> &quot;{{w|Internationalization and localization|Localization}}&quot; is the technique used in software to make it accept input and display output in the formats most natural to users in their locations. For example, in the United States numbers use commas &quot;,&quot; to separate thousands and a {{w|Decimal separator#Countries using decimal point|decimal point}} &quot;.&quot; to separate the decimal values, while in large areas of the EU {{w|Decimal separator#Countries using decimal comma|it is the reverse}}. And the textual output will be translated to the local language. Naturally, this also includes displaying dates in the local format, as described above. Localization may also include the adoption of the tax law to the location, for instance when adopting tax software made for the US to the UK. <br /> <br /> The joke in this {{w|Comics|comic}} is that two dates are shown, on the same {{w|Display device|display}}, relating to meetings regarding localization. The date of the meeting of the US team is localized in the US format while the EU team's meeting is localized in the European format, and these two dates (about a month apart) happen to be formatted the same (there are 64 such pairings of dates, as long as the day of the month of one is between 1 and 12 and not equal to the presumed month of the other). [[Cueball]] needs to explain that the European meeting will be a month later than the US meeting to avoid any confusion due to the ambiguity. Which is {{w|Irony|ironic}}, since the aim of localization is to reduce such {{w|Confusion|confusion}}.<br /> <br /> A further interpretation, which extends also into the title text, is that these groups may have been supposed to meet on the same day. But even the committee that was supposed to fix these problems messed this up. Cueball may be 'explaining' the staggered approach to cover up that the two groups are already reading the date(s) for the meeting quite differently.<br /> <br /> {{w|ISO-8601}} (that is, standard number 8601 as promulgated by the {{w|International Organization for Standardization}} since 1988) specifies a date format of YYYY-MM-DD (e.g., 2021-12-31), which results in dates being listed in chronological order when sorted stringwise. The ISO format is called &quot;{{w|big-endian}}&quot;, which refers to the fact that the most significant unit in the date (the year) comes first. The European format is instead &quot;{{w|little-endian}}&quot;, as the front-end value represents the finest possible distinction the date can convey - the particular day. The American format is &quot;{{w|middle-endian}}&quot;, or occasionally &quot;mixed-endian&quot;, since the value given first is the one which is neither the one with greatest significance nor the most precise.<br /> <br /> In the above, the 'value groups' are not usually internally checked for '{{w|Endianness|endianness}}', but regular numerals are also usually written with the largest place values on the left – for example, the first 2 in {{w|2021}} is the thousands place – though whether this convention is big-endian or little-endian depends on whether the writing system of such numbers is in the context of left-to-right or right-to-left text. The concept of endianness is most often used in reference to the storage order, whether of indivisible binary bits or of values built up of successive value groups. Pairs of hexadecimal values are individually usually represented in big-endian 'numeric' order, where bitwise distinctions are not necessary, but it is useful to know if a system stores a multibyte value in big-endan or little-endian packing, i.e., whether the value 0x01 0x02 (values 1 and 2, on their own) is treated as a value of 258 (0x01*256 + 0x02*1) or 513 (0x01*1 + 0x02*256). (The term was taken in inspiration from a [https://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Spring_2003/ling538/Lecnotes/ADfn1.htm Jonathan Swift story] about a war over which end of a boiled egg one should cut into, a useful metaphor for many other situations where diametrically opposed self-justifications for one ''or'' another practice may lead to standing by vague principles rather than agreeing upon a unifying resolution.) This standard was also mentioned in [[1179: ISO 8601]] and used in [[1340: Unique Date]].<br /> <br /> The joke in the title text is that it appears some people attempted to interpret the improperly formatted date as if it were expressed in the more ISO-8601 style of format of &quot;Y/M/D&quot;. They read the date as ''20''02, March 22, so they already went to their meeting almost 20 years ago. Unless the announcement of the meetings was made 2 decades in advance, there's a {{w|Paradox|paradox}} that these participants would have taken the date from an announcement in the far future. However, a strict interpretation of the date would make this incorrect: ISO-8601 format specifies four-digit years (which also avoids having to assume the century), two-digit months, and two-digit days. Therefore &quot;2/3/22” ''can by specification not'' be an ISO-8601 date, as &quot;2&quot; can only be rendered as &quot;0002&quot;, and &quot;3&quot; must be &quot;03&quot;. Even if the leading {{w|0|zeroes}} were omitted in violation of ISO-8601, the year would become {{w|AD 2|Year 2}}, not Year 2002. Since the standard always uses a 4 digit 'YYYY' format in the first field, and no common formatting uses YYYY-DD-MM, any date written in ISO-8601 is easily recognized and (comparatively) {{w|Ambiguity|unambiguously}} interpretable as YYYY-MM-DD. Dates written as if Y-M-DD or other distortions should be considered formatted improperly, and unwisely.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[A screen is shown which displays five rows of text, the top three above a dividing line. To the right of the screen the upper part of Cueball is visible as he delivers a message concerning the text on the screen:] <br /> :Localization working group<br /> :Upcoming meetings<br /> :-----------------<br /> :US Team: 2/3/22<br /> :EU Team: 2/3/22<br /> <br /> :Cueball: And the European formatting and localization team will meet a month later...<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Calendar]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=82:_Frame&diff=268346 2022-05-11T18:47:56Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Undo revision 265630 by 👖🔥 (talk)</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 82<br /> | date = March 29, 2006<br /> | title = Frame<br /> | image = frame.jpg<br /> | titletext = ...<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> [[Cueball]] is standing in the middle of the first square panel, but then the panel's frame starts warping away from being square and starts to form into tendrils that move toward him, then slowly wrap themselves around him, and finally retract, reforming the frame again, but pulling him apart in the process, in a rather macabre comic.<br /> <br /> Typically, the frame on a cartoon is used to separate different periods of the action. Here, this has been subverted by the frame becoming a character, the main protagonist, and sole survivor of the strip.<br /> <br /> There is some indication that Cueball is also just part of a drawing, since his upper torso, with parts of each arm, is left hanging in the air without any tendrils touching it. If it was not stuck in the center of the image, it would fall down, but more importantly, even if all tendrils pulled very fast at the same time, it is highly unlikely that they could pull so precisely that the body would split in four pieces around this remaining body cross, and one of the tendrils should have pulled this part along with either an arm, the head, or the lower torso. This could be some comfort for those who think that this is too much. Of course, it could also just be something that [[Randall]] did not think was important in such a {{w|Surrealism|surreal}} comic. <br /> <br /> Comics often use artifacts on the frame to add mood to the comic. This comic then makes those artifacts a major feature of the comic, like a {{w|Chekhov's gun}} (&quot;If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off.&quot;) The use of creative panel layouts and effects was first made possible in newspaper comics at the insistence of Bill Watterson, author of Calvin and Hobbes (which it is known that Randall has been influenced by), requiring lengthy negotiations due to the printing technology of the time. The creative use of panel layout and effects is thus part of the artistic legacy of Calvin and Hobbes. xkcd, among others, has continued along that path of pushing the boundaries of the medium.<br /> <br /> The title text &quot;...&quot; could indicate that Randall wasn't being very serious about this comic. But perhaps it was an idea to creatively use parts of the comic nobody thought about, and it spoke for itself and needed no extra comment. The three dots also indicate that something more will happen soon. The reader may visualize the final result and empty square panel, ready for the next unfortunate person to walk into this trap. Alternatively, it could mean that Randall found the comic so bizarre, even he couldn't comment on it (see [[#Trivia|Trivia section]]).<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Cueball stands alone in the center of this almost normally framed panel. But there are four small indentations two both left and right and maybe also one top right.]<br /> <br /> :[Tendrils from the frame develop and grow inwards while breaking the outer frame down. The tendrils comes close to Cueball. There are 13, three from three of the four sides and four from the right.]<br /> <br /> :[The tendrils have now completely broken the outer frame down and 11 have reached Cueball and these begins to wind themselves around him. There are tendrils around his forehead, neck, cheek, left arm, left wrist, left hand, right wrist, right hand, lower torso, left leg and right leg. Those around his legs spiraling almost up to his crotch. 14 other tendrils have not reached him yet. All those reaching him was among the 13 from the previous panel. Only the two from the bottom right corner did not make contact. The other 12 not reaching him where new.]<br /> <br /> :[Finally the 11 tendrils that have reached Cueball retract along with the other 14 tendrils back to the frame, tearing Cueball apart in 9 pieces, leaving one central piece (his upper torso with a part of each arm) floating in the center without tendrils on it. His head has been split in two by three tendrils, that keep the parts close together. The left arm with one tendril has been split from the hand with two tendrils, whereas the two holding the wrist and hand kept their part of the arm in one piece. The two legs have been separated from the lower torso at the crotch, and they as well as the lower torso is all being pulled away by one tendril. The other tendrils have almost reached the frame, three of them are already gone leaving 11 near the frame. The frame has also nearly reformed it self again.]<br /> <br /> ==Trivia== <br /> *This is one of two comics featured with [[Blue Eyes]]: The Hardest Logic Puzzle in the World, the other being [[37: Hyphen]].<br /> *The concept of a panel frame destroying its characters would be reused in [[240: Dream Girl]]<br /> *The title text &quot;...&quot; has been used twice later also with somewhat surreal comics, both about the black hat of [[Black Hat]]; [[412: Startled]] and [[455: Hats]].<br /> *There is a striking similarity to the opening scene in the movie {{w|Hellraiser}} (1987) (read the {{w|Hellraiser#Plot|plot}} here - Spoiler).<br /> **The way the room resets after killing the person in it also reminds of the opening scene in the movie {{w|Cube (film)|Cube}} (1997). Although it is a very different way of doing it, that person is also divided into small pieces.<br /> **Although the Hellraiser trap also resets, it is not like it is a room that does the damage or resets, so there is reason to compare to both movies.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1833:_Code_Quality_3&diff=268273 2022-05-11T18:47:35Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Undo revision 265605 by 👖🔥 (talk)</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1833<br /> | date = May 5, 2017<br /> | title = Code Quality 3<br /> | image = code_quality_3.png<br /> | titletext = It's like a half-solved cryptogram where the solution is a piece of FORTH code written by someone who doesn't know FORTH.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> This comic is the third in the [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality]] series:<br /> * [[1513: Code Quality]]<br /> * [[1695: Code Quality 2]]<br /> * [[1833: Code Quality 3]]<br /> * [[1926: Bad Code]]<br /> * [[2138: Wanna See the Code?]]<br /> <br /> In the first panel, Ponytail references {{w|query string|query strings}}, which store information, such as search queries or page numbers, relevant to the URL. Query strings are not meant to be especially human-readable (eg. &quot;&amp;sxsrf=APq-WBvn82l8oTeNNzZeCkI7B9nM5nxoVg%3A1647235405067&quot;), so a song based on one would likely not be a good one.{{fact}}<br /> <br /> A tactical flashlight is a light that can be mounted on a gun for use in low-light scenarios. They tend to be very durable and very bright. Different models have different features and capabilities, so they are given cool-sounding model numbers. [http://www.json.org/ JSON] (JavaScript Object Notation) is a subset of JavaScript used, by many programming languages, as a convenient way of recording structured data. It's not clear what else would be in the table (tables typically have more than one column) and JSON technically has arrays and objects (dictionaries) but not tables, but a JSON array of objects of these model numbers would look something like:<br /> <br /> [ { &quot;model&quot;: &quot;TACT X700&quot;},<br /> { &quot;model&quot;: &quot;Atomic Beam USA 5000&quot; },<br /> { &quot;model&quot;: &quot;E2D LED Defender&quot; },<br /> { &quot;model&quot;: &quot;J5 Tactical V1-Pro&quot; }<br /> ]<br /> <br /> {{w|Alan Turing}} was a British theoretical computer scientist, often considered the father of the field. His [https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Turing_Paper_1936.pdf 1936 paper] outlined Turing machines, a theoretical model for computing, as well as computability and the halting problem. Theoretical computer science is very different from practical coding; understanding the contents of the paper would not at all help a coder to understand today's algorithms, design patterns, and best practices. This is not helped by a page of JavaScript example code. {{w|JavaScript}} is a popular programming language which makes web pages responsive to user inputs, and while JavaScript arguably solves the problem in a practical manner (as opposed to Turing's very theoretical work), it does get a lot of criticism - for instance it is {{w|Strong and weak typing|nearly untyped}}, which allows the programmer to do very interesting things, like {{w|JSFuck}}. Then, example code is used to explain a concept in programming or demonstrate how a program works, but it does not actually run on any computer. &quot;Guessing everything in between&quot; would involve attempting to write code using skills that could range anywhere from the most basic programming to Turing's extremely advanced ideas.<br /> <br /> In the final panel, Ponytail references {{w|leet|leet-speak}}, in which symbols are replaced with similar-looking symbols, and a {{w|manifesto}}, a statement of a person or group's beliefs and intentions. A manifesto from a survivalist cult leader might be nonsensical, even before being translated to leet-speak. Memory allocation is a low-level computer programming concept; most modern languages have features that take care of memory allocation for the programmer, possibly implying that Cueball does not know how to use these features.<br /> <br /> At this point Cueball, quickly becoming impatient with Ponytail's sass in what is supposed to be a formal code review, retorts that if she can't start giving him the constructive criticism that he's looking for, he can always find someone else to replace her. Ponytail smugly responds that nobody else would be able to stomach his code for more than one sitting, and that she's the only one he's got.<br /> <br /> {{w|Forth_(programming_language)#Programmer.27s_perspective|Forth}} is an old programming language that tends to be difficult to read. It is stack-based, meaning that values to be operated on are moved on a {{w|Stack (abstract data type)|stack}} before the operation to be performed is given. Using stacks can be considered different from programming languages that resemble natural human language (e.g. {{w|COBOL}}). While stack-based computing makes some problems very simple (for example, it is relatively simple to design a Forth compiler, or reversing the order of an array) and uses less computing resources, such programming languages are not easy to learn. Since Forth allows the programmer to rewrite the language, or define their own language, and it does not enforce restrictions like data types, it may be especially easy for novices to write cryptic code.<br /> <br /> A {{w|cryptogram}} is a cipher puzzle, generally one easy enough to be solved manually. The title text implies that the code is so bad that it looks like unreadable Forth code that is missing random characters.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Ponytail sitting in front of a computer screen typing. Cueball speaks only off-panel, but since this is a direct continuation of comic 1513 and 1695: Code Quality and Code Quality 2 where Cueball is shown, there can be no doubt it is him.]<br /> :Ponytail: Your code looks like song lyrics written using only the stuff that comes after the question mark in a URL.<br /> :Cueball (off-panel): Sorry.<br /> :[Zoom in on Ponytail's upper body.]<br /> :Ponytail: It's like a JSON table of model numbers for flashlights with &quot;tactical&quot; in their names.<br /> :[Zoom back out again. Ponytail has lifted her hands off the table and is slightly leaning back against the chair.]<br /> :Ponytail: Like you read Turing's 1936 paper on computing and a page of JavaScript example code and guessed at everything in between.<br /> :[Zoom in again on Ponytail's face.]<br /> :Ponytail: It's like a leet-speak translation of a manifesto by a survivalist cult leader who's for some reason obsessed with memory allocation.<br /> :Cueball (off-panel): I can get someone else to review my code.<br /> :Ponytail: Not more than once, I bet.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:Code Quality]]<br /> [[Category:Comics sharing name|Code Quality 03]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br /> [[Category:Programming]]<br /> [[Category:Computers]]<br /> [[Category:Cueball Computer Problems]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1788:_Barge&diff=268204 2022-05-11T18:47:14Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Undo revision 265580 by 👖🔥 (talk)</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1788<br /> | date = January 20, 2017<br /> | title = Barge<br /> | image = barge.png<br /> | titletext = My life goal is to launch a barge into the air and have it land on one of Elon Musk's rockets.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> This is another one of the &quot;[[My Hobby]]&quot; series, where [[Randall]] tells about a strange hobby. This one is depicted with three drawings illustrating the core concept, and explained in details in the caption.<br /> <br /> The launch company {{w|SpaceX}} has developed a reusable rocket system, where the {{w|multi-stage rocket|first rocket stage}} is capable of landing back on either the launch pad or an {{w|autonomous spaceport drone ship}} after launch (See [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEr9cPpuAx8 this video] displaying both types of landing, from when the sea landing was successful the first time). The landing pads and ships are decorated with a &quot;X&quot; symbol from the SpaceX logo, with the center of the X being the desired landing spot.{{Citation needed}}<br /> <br /> Randall imagines creating a similar-looking barge and placing it near the intended landing site, except his barge's platform would be hollow in the middle with only a sheet of paper supporting the part where the rocket would land. Since the paper is painted to look just like the real landing platform, the goal of this setup is presumably to trick a returning first stage rocket into falling into the sea. This is the same concept as the old {{w|trapping pit}}. If a rocket attempts to land on Randall's barge, it will quickly burn through the paper and fall through the hole.<br /> <br /> There are several reasons why this setup would not work in real life. First, the rocket actually navigates to the landing site using GPS coordinates shared with the real barge. It does not use cameras to identify its landing site and will not recognize another barge based solely on a painted logo. Also, a wide area around the rocket's flight path would be restricted around the launch window due to safety concerns. Vessels that are not part of the official launch plan would not be allowed in the area. Even if the fake barge manages to enter the area and does not get removed by authorities, at most it will cause the launch to be canceled for the day.<br /> <br /> This &quot;my hobby&quot; is probably the most destructive one so far, as it would result in the total loss of the first stage containing nine space rocket engines. The costs associated with buying and remodeling a barge would also likely make this the most expensive hobby, even disregarding the costs to others, though it could potentially be reused if it did not get destroyed by the falling rocket. This hobby seems more appropriate for [[Black Hat]], considering that he is a real [[classhole]], and goes to show that Black Hat is as much part of Randall's personality as [[Cueball]].<br /> <br /> The title text plays on the incredible difficulty of landing a rocket on a barge. Reusing rockets like this is a feat that has only recently become possible, some 60 years after the launch of the first satellite {{w|Sputnik 1}}. SpaceX, founded by {{w|Elon Musk}}, was the first (and so far only) organization to do so successfully. {{w|Blue Origin}} is also currently testing reusable rockets and achieved [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNRs2gMyLLk landing their first stage] before SpaceX, albeit [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8c7RUjNFDo only on land and only with a sub-orbital rocket].<br /> <br /> Thus Randall imagines an even more implausible idea of turning the scenario upside down and getting a barge to land on one of Elon Musk's rockets. That would be a spectacular feat of engineering, and the challenges it presents as well as its inherent irony appear to satisfy Randall so much that he would make it into one of his life goals. Launching a barge in the first place would be tremendously difficult - they are big, heavy and not very {{w|aerodynamic}}. Maneuvering it through the air precisely enough to come down on top of a rocket would be difficult as well. The barge (and probably the rocket) would have to be redesigned if the goal is a soft landing, otherwise the falling barge would certainly destroy the rocket and possibly itself.<br /> <br /> This comic was published on the week following SpaceX's {{w|List_of_Falcon_9_and_Falcon_Heavy_launches#2017|Iridium 1 mission}}, where the first stage of the rocket which delivered 10 satellites into orbit successfully landed on a barge near California. This was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLz-M7pki7U filmed from the returning stage 1] and also [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78AxtAyW4Vo from further away]. More details of the launch are available [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8wy5sQ2JDE here]. It marked the seventh time SpaceX successfully landed and recovered its booster on a commercial mission.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[There is one panel in this comic with the main drawing at the bottom. Two smaller drawings are inserted above this drawing to explain the idea.]<br /> <br /> :[The first insert shows a barge with no center and a large piece of paper with the SpaceX logo above the barge.]<br /> <br /> :[The second insert shows the paper stretched over the hole.]<br /> <br /> :[The main drawing at the bottom shows a cross-section of the barge in water, showing there is only water below the paper. Above the paper the large first stage, without the top part with the payload, of a reusable rocket is attempting to land on the paper on the SpaceX logo (not visible in this view). It is still so high above the fake barge that the exhaust fire below the rocket is nowhere near the paper.]<br /> <br /> :[Caption below the panels:] <br /> :My hobby: Hollowing out the center of a barge, stretching paper over the hole painted with the SpaceX logo, and leaving it floating offshore near launch sites.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:My Hobby]]<br /> [[Category:Space]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Elon Musk]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1035:_Cadbury_Eggs&diff=268141 2022-05-11T18:46:57Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Undo revision 265680 by 👖🔥 (talk)</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1035<br /> | date = March 28, 2012<br /> | title = Cadbury Eggs<br /> | image = cadbury_eggs.png<br /> | titletext = When they moved production from New Zealand to the UK and switched from the runny white centers to the thick, frosting-like filling, it got way harder to cook them scrambled.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{w|Cadbury Creme Egg|Cadbury Eggs}} are a chocolate egg-shaped candy with a filling. They are supposed to replicate a real egg with a hard exterior and soft interior. However, unlike real eggs, the exterior is edible.{{Citation needed}}<br /> <br /> In this comic, [[Cueball]] is trying to say that sodas have way too much sugar to even be appealing as beverages, because they contain as much sugar as 2 or 3 Cadbury Eggs, and one Cadbury Egg alone makes him feel gross. (A 12 oz can equals 355 mL, while a 20 oz bottle is about 590 mL.)<br /> <br /> However, [[Megan]] interprets this in precisely the opposite way to what Cueball intended. Instead of comparing soda to Cadbury Eggs, she compares Cadbury Eggs to soda. If a [[1070|few]] Cadbury Eggs have the same amount of sugar as soda, Megan can eat as many as she wants year-round in place of soda, with no additional guilt. Cadbury Eggs are usually consumed around {{w|Easter}} — which is anywhere between March 22nd and May 7th, depending on whether one is consulting the Catholic or Orthodox calendar.<br /> <br /> The title text mentions the closure of the {{w|Cadbury Creme Egg#Manufacture in New Zealand|manufacture in New Zealand}} in 2009 and the change of the filling from runny to thick as a consequence. The joke here is the comparison to real eggs, which can be cooked {{w|Scrambled_eggs|scrambled}}, the new thick filling is not liquid enough to be cooked in a pan, as was the old runny filling.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Two Cadbury eggs, one in the foil, the other out of the foil and broken open to reveal the gooey center.]<br /> :A Cadbury egg has about 20g of sugar. (25g outside the US.) &quot;One Cadbury Egg&quot; is a nice unit of sugar content.<br /> <br /> :[A can of soda with an equals sign and two eggs; a bottle of soda with an equals sign and three eggs.]<br /> :One 12oz. can of soda has about two Cadbury eggs worth of sugar. One 20oz. bottle has three.<br /> <br /> :[Two unwrapped Cadbury eggs, with an arrow indicating they should be placed in a glass of water.]<br /> :One Cadbury egg is enough to make me feel kinda gross. Now when I see Coke or Snapple or Nestea or whatever, I imagine drinking a couple of dissolved Cadbury eggs.<br /> <br /> :[Megan puts her hand to her chin in thought, Cueball has his arms out in exclamation.]<br /> :Megan: Wow. Huh. So the takeaway is... I can eat Cadbury eggs by the handful all season and feel no worse about it than I do about soda?<br /> :Cueball: That's not really— <br /> :Megan: This is ''awesome!''<br /> :Cueball: *sigh*<br /> <br /> ==Trivia==<br /> *Cadbury Eggs and the high sugar content of soda are referenced again in [[1793: Soda Sugar Comparisons]].<br /> *The Cadbury egg/soda comparison is also mentioned in the what if? {{what if|74|Soda Planet}}.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br /> [[Category:Comics with color]]<br /> [[Category:Food]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2617:_Maps&diff=265397 2022-05-10T15:38:08Z

<p>141.101.98.135: /* Explanation */</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 2617<br /> | date = May 9, 2022<br /> | title = Maps<br /> | image = maps.png<br /> | titletext = OpenStreetMap was always pretty good but is also now *really* good? And Apple Maps's new zoomed-in design in certain cities like NYC and London is just gorgeous. It's cool how there are all these good maps now!<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|Created by a BIG BIG APPLE APPLE MAP- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br /> <br /> {{w|Apple Maps}} was quite bad when first released, attracting lots of criticism from iPhone users who were accustomed to the superior {{w|Google Maps}}. In [https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/apple-maps-gets-drivers-lost-in-australian-outback-police-warn/ one instance], it sent drivers 40 miles out of their way into the Australian desert with no water supply. Randall/Cueball is surprised that it is now pretty good. His surprise is exaggerated to the extent that it is comparable to some fundamental constant of the universe, such as the speed of light or pi, being changed to some other number.<br /> <br /> The term &quot;map&quot; carries a double meaning. While it refers to an actual map, it also refers to the concept of &quot;map and territory,&quot; where your map is your model of the universe, and the territory is the universe itself. Cueball has a map of the universe where Apple Maps is bad, and is surprised to discover that the map no longer fits the territory, and thus has to update his map.<br /> <br /> The title text mentions {{w|OpenStreetMap}}, an open source/crowd sourced mapping tool, which has also improved since Randall has last checked. He marvels at the number of &quot;good&quot; mapping options now!<br /> <br /> Google Maps itself, and especially its satellite coverage outside the US, was considered quite bad when it launched in 2006. The maps displayed back then led to mockery among &quot;real&quot; cartographers that the service couldn't really be considered a map, either: It was called &quot;map-like&quot;, given that it was just a visualization running on an extensive geodatabase, and didn't have a fixed scale. However, Google's popular mapping approach revolutionized how maps were perceived all over the world, blurring the lines between traditional paper maps, GIS (geo-informational systems) and digitally rendered maps on screen. The process of &quot;mapping&quot; - as it is referenced here - has since moved almost completely into the digital realm.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br /> <br /> :[Megan and White Hat face Cueball, who is staring down at his open palms.]<br /> :Cueball: You look around one day and realize the things you assumed were immutable constants of the universe have changed.<br /> :Cueball: The foundations of our reality are shifting beneath our feet.<br /> :Cueball: We live in a house built on sand.<br /> <br /> :[Caption below panel]<br /> :The day I discovered that Apple maps is kind of good now<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br /> [[Category:Maps]]<br /> [[Category:Philosophy]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2617:_Maps&diff=265395 2022-05-10T15:35:33Z

<p>141.101.98.135: /* Explanation */</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 2617<br /> | date = May 9, 2022<br /> | title = Maps<br /> | image = maps.png<br /> | titletext = OpenStreetMap was always pretty good but is also now *really* good? And Apple Maps's new zoomed-in design in certain cities like NYC and London is just gorgeous. It's cool how there are all these good maps now!<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|Created by a BIG BIG APPLE APPLE MAP- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br /> <br /> {{w|Apple Maps}} was quite bad when first released, attracting lots of criticism from iPhone users who were accustomed to the superior {{w|Google Maps}}. In [https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/apple-maps-gets-drivers-lost-in-australian-outback-police-warn/ one instance], it sent drivers 40 miles out of their way into the Australian desert with no water supply. Randall/Cueball is surprised that it is now pretty good. His surprise is exaggerated to the extent that it is comparable to some fundamental constant of the universe, such as the speed of light or pi, being changed to some other number.<br /> <br /> The term &quot;map&quot; carries a double meaning. While it refers to an actual map, it also refers to the concept of &quot;map and territory,&quot; where your map is your model of the universe, and the territory is the universe itself. Cueball has a map of the universe where Apple Maps is bad, and is surprised to discover that the map no longer fits the territory, and thus has to update his map.<br /> <br /> The title text mentions {{w|OpenStreetMap}}, an open source/crowd sourced mapping tool, which has also improved since Randall has last checked. He marvels at the number of &quot;good&quot; mapping options now!<br /> <br /> Google Maps itself launched in 2006 and especially its satellite coverage outside the US was considered quite bad. The maps displayed back then lead to mockery among &quot;real&quot; cartographers that the service couldn't really be considered a map, either: It was called &quot;map-like&quot;, given that it was just a visualization running on an extensive geodatabase, and didn't have a fixed scale. However, Google's popular mapping approach revolutionized how maps were perceived all over the world, blurring the lines between traditional paper maps, GIS (geo-informational systems) and digitally rendered maps on screen. The process of &quot;mapping&quot; - as it is referenced here - has since moved almost completely into the digital realm.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br /> <br /> :[Megan and White Hat face Cueball, who is staring down at his open palms.]<br /> :Cueball: You look around one day and realize the things you assumed were immutable constants of the universe have changed.<br /> :Cueball: The foundations of our reality are shifting beneath our feet.<br /> :Cueball: We live in a house built on sand.<br /> <br /> :[Caption below panel]<br /> :The day I discovered that Apple maps is kind of good now<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br /> [[Category:Maps]]<br /> [[Category:Philosophy]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1640:_Super_Bowl_Context&diff=231629 2022-04-30T23:24:00Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Undo revision 231620 by 172.70.126.215 (talk) Nope</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1640<br /> | date = February 8, 2016<br /> | title = Super Bowl Context<br /> | image = super_bowl_context.png<br /> | titletext = Why did the chicken cross the road? It begins over five thousand years ago with the domestication of the red junglefowl in southeast Asia and the development of paved roads in the Sumerian city of Ur.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> <br /> [[White Hat]] tries to make normal conversation with [[Cueball]] about the recent (at the time of comic publishing) {{w|American football}} game, {{w|Super Bowl 50}}.<br /> <br /> When asking Cueball if he watched the game, Cueball begins with a simple ''Yes'', but then continues to add the contextual fact that about a third of the US population watched the event, which is an incredibly high percentage in today's [http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-definition/media%20landscape media landscape]. And according to Cueball this [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-super-bowl-50-862888 fraction is increasing], despite [http://moneyterms.co.uk/media-fragmentation/ media fragmentation]. Thus, even though there are today more and more different ways to watch news, sports and other entertainment, the Super Bowl continues to gain more viewers every year.<br /> <br /> It turns out that Cueball has a problem. He cannot just reply to a simple question without trying to put the conversation into some kind of {{w|Context (language use)|context}} which does not necessarily have anything to do with the question asked, or at least not with the expected answer. From White Hat's reply it is obvious that he has had conversations like this with Cueball before, as he asks if they could ''just talk without your weird need to give context for everything?''<br /> <br /> Cueball feels the need to disseminate any information he finds interesting, even in trivial conversation. Normally people like to have context-free conversations{{Citation needed}} and White Hat invites Cueball to try to fit in with normal people's conversational style.<br /> <br /> Cueball apologizes and agrees to try, but even though he really tries hard, with his fists clenched and White Hat encouraging him to just reply normally to a question about the [http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/02/01/report-peyton-manning-has-told-close-friends-hell-retire/ rumored retirement] of {{w|Peyton Manning}}, he cannot stop himself from including context in his reply again. White Hat probably wanted Cueball to join in such minimal-context speculation. But, failing miserably again, White Hat finally gives up, and suggests they should try another conversation in a year, when Cueball might have learned to talk about the Super Bowl without context (hence the title).<br /> <br /> This time he goes off on a tangent about Peyton as a {{w|mammal}}, and then adding the process of {{w|aging}} and mentioning two reasons for this (which are not well understood). The first he mentions is {{w|Ageing#Damage-related factors|accumulation of damage}}, which includes {{w|mutations}} that can lead to diseases such as {{w|cancer}}. The other process he mentions is {{w|Ageing#Programmed_factors|timed factors}} which includes {{w|telomeres}}. These have been linked to {{w|senescence|biological aging}} because of the shortening of telomeres at each {{w|Cell cycle|cell division}}; when telomeres become too short, the cells die (and so do mammals).<br /> <br /> To cap it off, he mentions that {{w|retiring}} is a recent concept. But this only makes sense when compared to how long there have been mammals, not compared to how long there have been sports and games, where people could be too old, and thus need to retire long before they would die from old age. Before humans began to enjoy things for fun, the concept of retiring made no sense. You worked/fought for a living, until you got too old and died.<br /> <br /> Cueball in this comic may represent [[Randall]], as much of [[xkcd]] is spawned from, or occasionally poking fun at, his own hyper-analytical tendencies. And it is also common knowledge that Randall is not very interested in sport, though there are several xkcd [[:Category:American football|comics about American football]]. The year before this one he made another comic in relation to the final, and in this comic, [[1480: Super Bowl]], he even mentions the fact that he does not know much about [[:Category:Sport|sports in general]]. So this is the second year in a row a comic has been released in conjunction with the Super Bowl final. But before 2015, there has only been one other comic like this, which was in 2006 with [[60: Super Bowl]].<br /> <br /> The title text continues the joke with Cueball replying to the old {{w|anti-humor}} joke: &quot;{{w|Why did the chicken cross the road?}}&quot; Cueball replies with a preposterous amount of information instead of the cliched simplistic answer: &quot;To get to the other side.&quot;<br /> <br /> Cueball begins with the origin of {{w|chickens}}. They are believed to be descendants from domestication of the {{w|Red junglefowl}}, which occurred at least five thousand years ago in Asia, as Cueball correctly explains. Before there were chickens, there could not be one crossing a road. It also couldn't be called &quot;crossing the road&quot; without a {{w|Road surface|pavement}}. The {{w|History_of_road_transport#Wheeled_transport|first development of paved roads}} was in the city of {{w|Ur}} in the ancient {{w|Sumer|Sumerian}} civilization about 4000 BC (6000 years ago) (also partly explained in Cueball's reply).<br /> <br /> As a trivial note, this comic is a rare instance of White Hat not being the fall guy for the joke. But already in his next discussion with Cueball ([[1657: Insanity]]) he was again the butt of the joke.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[White Hat and Cueball are walking together.]<br /> :White Hat: Did you watch the Super Bowl?<br /> :Cueball: Yes, like a third of the country.<br /> :Cueball: A fraction that is steadily ''increasing'' despite media fragmentation.<br /> <br /> :[White Hat stops and Cueball turn towards him.]<br /> :White Hat: Can't we just talk without your weird need to give context for everything?<br /> :Cueball: Sorry. I'll try.<br /> <br /> :[As White Hat asks Cueball another question Cueball bunches his hands into fists. He is clearly struggling.]<br /> :White Hat: Sounds like Peyton Manning's probably going to retire.<br /> :Cueball: Yes, I... ...It...<br /> :White Hat: C'mon, you can do it...<br /> :Cueball: He...<br /> <br /> :[Cueball spreads out his arms a little as he replies with two long sentences, while White Hat walks away from him.]<br /> :Cueball: ''—Mammals like Peyton age via a process that involves both the accumulation of damage and poorly-understood timed factors.''<br /> :Cueball: ''Yet the concept of retirement itself is surprisingly recent...''<br /> :White Hat: Okay, good try. Maybe next year.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br /> [[Category:American football]]<br /> [[Category:Animals]]<br /> [[Category:Social interactions]]<br /> [[Category:Super Bowl]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=60:_Super_Bowl&diff=231628 2022-04-30T23:23:19Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Undo revision 231619 by 108.162.245.43 (talk) Nope</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 60<br /> | date = February 6, 2006<br /> | title = Super Bowl<br /> | image = super bowl.jpg<br /> | titletext = The Super Bowl is actually an elaborate ruse, concocted by a shadowy group in the mid sixties for this purpose. The &quot;watch it for the ads&quot; addition was a master stroke.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> The third in the &quot;[[My Hobby]]&quot; series. The {{w|Super Bowl}} is the championship {{w|American football}} game of the {{w|National Football League}}, which is usually played each February, and the final game of the 2006 season, {{w|Super Bowl XL}}, was played on the evening of 2006-02-05, the day before this comic was released.<br /> <br /> As the game is one of the most watched television broadcasts in North America, {{w|Super Bowl commercials|advertising during the game}} has become increasingly expensive (among the most expensive advertising rates of any broadcast) to the point where corporations produce their best, most expensive advertisements to air during the game, to ensure that they would get value out of the expensive spots. The Super Bowl has thus become notorious for the &quot;best&quot; commercials, with some viewers purportedly tuning in solely to see the commercials, rather than the actual football game. News reports the next day often highlight the best and worst Super Bowl commercials, as do websites devoted to Super Bowl commercials.<br /> <br /> Realizing that the Super Bowl is viewed by a large percentage of the population, [[Randall]], somewhat tongue-in-cheek, states that those people would be quite distracted during that time, and therefore it would be possible to steal cars without fear of being caught. The title text takes this even further, suggesting that the entire Super Bowl was invented entirely for the purpose of being a distraction for car thieves. Naturally, the addition of the ads would make this even more effective, as it would attract even more viewers and ensure that they stayed in front of the TV during commercial breaks as well as the game.<br /> <br /> The phrase &quot;I steal cars&quot; also provides a contrast to the fact that many viewers are only watching for the advertisements, making their smug sense of superiority seem petty compared to the fact that they but not Randall are not stealing cars and that they therefore are morally superior to Randall in this respect. This calls into question whether or not they really are significantly superior by comparing this marginal superiority to not being criminals. Alternatively, Randall may resent these people for feeling superior even though they aren't actually superior (at least in the eyes of Randall) and therefore steal their cars as punishment. Or Randall might be implying that they have no reason to being smug as they are being duped into having their cars stolen, and the thief is the one in the best position to be smug.<br /> <br /> Randall may have chosen to use a car as a reference to the large number of car commercials that play during the Super Bowl, in addition to the ease of stealing a car at that time.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[A green car with text above and next to it.]<br /> :My hobby:<br /> :While everyone is watching the Super Bowl, feeling smugly superior because they're &quot;Only watching for the ads,&quot; I steal cars.<br /> <br /> ==Trivia==<br /> <br /> In a distant future (2015), Randall (or [[Cueball]]) spends his time differently during the Super Bowl - see [[1480: Super Bowl]]. (This was the second time that two xkcd comics have shared the [[:Category:Comics sharing name|exact same name]].) In between this comic and the one nine years later, no other comics came out related to the Super Bowl. The year after (2016), there was a comic ([[1640]]) about the Super Bowl, and in 2018 a comic ([[1951]]) appeared about a Super Bowl watch party.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Comics with color]]<br /> [[Category:My Hobby]]<br /> [[Category:American football]]<br /> [[Category:Comics sharing name|Super Bowl]]<br /> [[Category:Super Bowl]]<br /> [[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2612:_Lightsabers&diff=231423 2022-04-29T08:00:37Z

<p>141.101.98.135: /* Reverted from vandalism */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> Not sure what's going on here. Are {{W|electric arcs}} what's happening between the lightsabers? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.242.207|172.70.242.207]] 12:48, 27 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Could be based on properties of plasma? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.72|172.70.211.72]] 12:53, 27 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Probably something like {{W|cold welding}}. The fields keeping the light saber beam coherent would not be able to differentiate between the two plasma beams, and would join together. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.36|172.70.91.36]] 13:22, 27 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> :That's my take. The effect that confines the laser (to make it a [[1433: Lightsaber|handy length]], at the very least) is potentially too 'self-sticky', but certainly with that of the opposing blade after a bit of awkward cross-resonance. And then the deactivation/withdrawing (typoed that as &quot;sithdrawing&quot;!) still drags the other blade-tip inwards too. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.63|172.70.90.63]] 13:35, 27 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> ::My reaction: And THAT's why the two dueling Jedis should have different color of the blade! -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 19:47, 27 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Very good job on the transcript (except a few minor grammar errors). I didn't envy someone trying to describe all the imagery. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:25, 27 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Lots of comics about lightsabers. Maybe it's time to make a category for them? Many things got categories after just 4-5 appearaces. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.249|141.101.105.249]] 17:20, 27 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> This is potentially inspired by a scene from Spaceballs where two lightsabers &quot;tangle&quot;, although in thta scene they don't actually connect. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.134|141.101.104.134]] 19:11, 27 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> I see your Schwartz is almost as big as mine. <br /> <br /> In panels 10 and 11, the bodies seem to cast shadows on the ground. I don't recall seeing this previously on XKCD, is this the first time? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.249|141.101.105.249]] 19:58, 27 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == That’s not what’s happening ==<br /> <br /> “In this situation one Jedi tries to shake the beam, maybe to break the bond, but instead the wave travels down the combined beam to also shake the other Jedi's hand-held hilt.”<br /> <br /> Nuh uh. One tries to shake loose, then the other tries, also. Why do people make up complex explanations for obvious simple things?[[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.72|172.70.211.72]] 20:07, 27 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Reminds me of the ''Priori Incantatem'' stuff in Harry Potter where wands with the same core source connect with each other :) <br /> : My first thought was 'This is why you &quot;don't cross the streams.&quot;' <br /> :[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:57, 28 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> <br /> == Reverted from vandalism == <br /> The most recent edits were all converting the explanation to &quot;pig latin&quot;. (No explanation in English.) I've undone them. If it gets vandalized again, please address that? [/br]<br /> [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:57, 28 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> :I just reverted the pig Latin twice. Can someone block our IP vandal, please? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 22:01, 28 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> ::Just did another reversal. [[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 22:04, 28 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> :::What exactly is going on with the edit summaries they're sending? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.221|141.101.98.221]] 22:10, 28 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> ::::Trying to get a sort of ransom out us apparently. We’re not doing that of course. [[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 22:18, 28 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> :::::Apparently we did, sort of. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.211|172.70.90.211]] 22:32, 28 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> ::::::Wouldn’t say so. We did nothing but undo edits, having no regard for any demands. Eventually the user took measures to fulfill his own demands and called that a win 💁🏻 [[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 22:40, 28 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> :::::::I've been noticing quite a bit of vandalism recently (page blanking, &quot;disaster&quot;/&quot;last xkcd&quot;, and now pig Latin). Is there any way to stop this? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.33|172.70.178.33]] 03:29, 29 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> ::::::::I'm done vandalizing this page, because I got the emoji I wanted. --[[User:🎄|🎄]] ([[User talk:🎄|talk]]) 04:38, 29 April 2022 (UTC)<br /> :::::::::And no doubt you'll be back to vandalise something ''else'', later, because you're pathetic and imagine you've discovered a new game that only you have the skill and wit to accomplish. Pathetic and predictable. But small things amuse small minds... See you next Tuesday, I'm sure. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.135|141.101.98.135]] 08:00, 29 April 2022 (UTC)</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2049:_Unfulfilling_Toys&diff=231201 2022-04-26T17:17:16Z

<p>141.101.98.135: /* Title-text: Falling-Apart Rubik's cube */ If anybody cares. But if you care, you probably already know, I suppose.</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 2049<br /> | date = September 21, 2018<br /> | title = Unfulfilling Toys<br /> | image = unfulfilling_toys.png<br /> | titletext = We were going to do a falling-apart Rubik's cube that was just 27 independent blocks stuck together with magnets, but then we realized it was actually really cool and even kind of worked, so we cut that one.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> This comic lists and illustrates six different classic toys that are missing a key piece or attribute that makes them work and/or that makes them unique or fun.<br /> <br /> ====Rigid Slap Bracelet====<br /> {{w|Slap bracelet}}s are flexible curved strips of spring steel that roll up and become a bracelet when you slap them against your wrist. This function operates on the same principle and basic design as the rolled band of metal inside a tape measure. A rigid one would not twist and would be deeply frustrating and potentially painful.<br /> <br /> ====Sealed Stomp Rocket====<br /> A {{w|stomp rocket}} has a rubber pouch full of air, connected via a hose to a vertical cylinder contained snugly within the base of an air-propelled rocket. By stomping on the pouch, the air is forced out the top end of the cylinder, launching the rocket into the air. By sealing the air channel, the rocket would stay on the cylinder and the person would just be bounced into the air by the pouch — acting like the world's smallest bouncy house — or the pouch will burst, rendering the toy even more useless.<br /> <br /> ====Pump-only Supersoaker====<br /> A {{w|Super Soaker}}™ is a brand of water gun that works by first pumping air into the gun, thereby introducing pressurized air above the water, then releasing the water using the gun's trigger &amp;ndash; the extra pressure from the pumped air makes the water go much further than a traditional water gun which relies upon the pressure generated from a single pump of the trigger itself. In [[Randall]]'s version, the water cannot be released, so the fun part of the water gun &amp;ndash; getting to spray your friends &amp;ndash; isn't available.<br /> <br /> ====Glass Glow Stick====<br /> <br /> In a classic {{w|glow stick}}, made of flexible plastic, one must first bend it enough to break the glass cylinder inside. This allows the chemicals inside to mix and begin glowing within the plastic tube. If the entire tube were made of actual glass, however, it would not only shatter into many sharp glass pieces but would also cover the hands of the unfortunate user with a mixture of mild but not harmless chemicals. Also, depending on this contraption's construction and/or luck, the chemicals either won't mix and not glow at all, defeating the purpose of the glow stick, or stain your hands, clothes, and surroundings with a glowing liquid, which would be rather unfortunate.<br /> <br /> ====Wingless Sky Dancer====<br /> <br /> In the {{w|Sky Dancers|original toy}}, a doll or figure with folded-up wings sits on top of a hand-held device with a wrapped string or other mechanism that lets it spin the doll very fast. As the doll spins, [[123|centrifugal]] force causes the wings to unfold and provide lift, and the doll rises up in the air and flies, spinning, sometimes going quite high. Without the wings, the doll will spin but otherwise remain flightless.<br /> <br /> ====No-strings-attached Yo-yo====<br /> In a traditional {{w|yo-yo}}, one attaches a string to their finger and the other end of the string is looped around the shaft of the yo-yo, in such a way that it will hold the yo-yo but the yo-yo can still spin. In this case, the string is presumably included but not attached to the yo-yo, so when the yo-yo reaches the end of its string it will fall off, instead of coming back to the person or spinning at the end of the string.<br /> <br /> Nonetheless {{w|Yo-yo#Off-string|off-string}} yo-yoing technique exists that has been a division of the {{w|World Yo-Yo Contest}} since 2003. The division specifies that the string is tied to one finger but not the yo-yo. It was popularized by yo-yo player Jon Gates. It differs from the manipulation of a {{w|Diabolo}} because the string is tied to one finger instead of being tied to two sticks. The return is accomplished with a twist of the string called a bind. Diabolos don't return. A good example is here at [https://youtube.com/watch?v=tVpuh5aMhTQ this video titled &quot;Crazy Stringless Yoyo Tricks!&quot;].<br /> <br /> Note that the phrase &quot;no strings attached&quot; is an {{w|idiom}} and usually refers to something being available without special conditions or restrictions, a favor being done with nothing expected in return, or a relationship intended to be very casual. In this case, it is literal rather than an idiom, in that the string that is normally attached to the yo-yo is literally not attached.<br /> <br /> ====Title-text: Falling-Apart Rubik's cube====<br /> In order to build the magnetic {{w|Rubik's Cube}}, you would need to embed magnets in the inward-facing sides of each cube. This actually can be achieved by using a checkered pattern for the polarity of each piece, a single piece uses the same polarity at all its connecting sides while the immediate neighbor is configured in the opposite. This [https://youtube.com/watch?v=Xb8ENlS-5Go video] shows the principle and even a working 5x5x5 magnetic cube.<br /> <br /> Because such a cube doesn't fall apart Randall had to remove it from his &quot;deeply unfulfilling versions of classic toys.&quot;<br /> <br /> It is also worth noting that although Randall said that there were 27 small magnetic cubes, only 26 small 'cubes' (or 'cubelets') appear in a traditional Rubik's cube, of three main types. There is no center block in a traditional Rubik's cube, instead there is a pivoting armature connecting the six face-centres (with just a single flat face) together while allowing their individual rotation, each of which can keep the 12 edge-centres (two externally-flat faces) rotatably-anchored to at least one face at a time by a form of dovetailed tab on those edge pieces and, similarly, those hold the eight corners (with three outer faces) in place even as they are follow a single face's rotation primarily held by the two most currently relevent of the adjacent edges.<br /> <br /> It might also refer to various square-shaped neodymium magnet-based toys, like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j0KRK2MZic this one] or [https://magneticcube.com/ this one], which although they can be taken easily apart, they are successful and very fulfilling products on their own.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[The comic presents toys in six different frames.]<br /> <br /> :[Cueball slaps his wrist with a strap-like item in his hand.]<br /> :''Smack''<br /> :Rigid slap bracelet<br /> <br /> :[Cueball jumps on top of a pouch full of air connected via a hose to an air propelled rocket. The pouch does not budge and the rocket remains connected to its base.]<br /> :Sealed stomp rocket<br /> <br /> :[Ponytail holds a water gun and makes use of its hand-operated pump system.]<br /> :''Pump pump pump''<br /> :''Pump''<br /> :''Click''<br /> :Pump-only SuperSoaker<br /> <br /> :[Megan pulls an item apart between her hands. The middle section breaks into many pieces on the ground and liquid is falling from the end parts.]<br /> :''Pop''<br /> :Glass glow stick<br /> <br /> :[Cueball holds a figurine sitting on top of a hand-held device and pulls a string connected to it.]<br /> :''Spin''<br /> :Wingless sky dancer<br /> <br /> :[Megan holds a yo-yo until the yo-yo falls from the string and starts rolling on the ground.]<br /> :''Roll''<br /> :No-strings-attached yo-yo<br /> <br /> :[Caption below the frames:]<br /> :My least successful product line was probably &quot;deeply unfulfilling versions of classic toys.&quot;<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:502:_Dark_Flow&diff=129743 2016-11-01T13:52:51Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Missing limb syndrome</p> <hr /> <div>Awww. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 23:38, 5 March 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Me after reading first two panels: lol cheesy jokes are great.<br /> Me after all panels: *hysterical sobbing* {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.131}}<br /> <br /> What's &quot;A.S.T.&quot;? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.102|108.162.210.102]] 20:46, 9 July 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> The acronym &quot;AST&quot; probably stands for &quot;Aerospace Science and Technology&quot; [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.147|108.162.245.147]] 06:34, 12 January 2016 (UTC) JC<br /> <br /> I think Cueball is reading not playing. {{unsigned ip|162.158.90.191}}<br /> <br /> The Pioneer anomaly has been solved. It is due to a miniscule thrust from the RTG. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.76}}<br /> <br /> What happened to Cueball's legs in panel 2? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.135|141.101.98.135]] 13:52, 1 November 2016 (UTC)</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=143:_Parody_Week:_TFD_and_Natalie_Dee&diff=128944 2016-10-21T14:25:08Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Spelling/grammar fixes and changed title text description from being a duplicate of the title text itself</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 143<br /> | date = August 16, 2006<br /> | title = Parody Week: TFD and Natalie Dee<br /> | image = tfd_nataliedee.png<br /> | titletext = Although bees with tires would be kinda funny.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> This comic is a part of the [[:Category:Parody Week|Parody Week]], just joking about other {{w|webcomics}}. This series was released on 5 consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule and is comprised of the following five {{w|parodies}}:<br /> *[[141: Parody Week: Achewood]]<br /> *[[142: Parody Week: Megatokyo]]<br /> *[[143: Parody Week: TFD and Natalie Dee]]<br /> *[[144: Parody Week: A Softer World]]<br /> *[[145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics]]<br /> <br /> This comic parodies two comics in one go <br /> TFD is an acronym for {{w|Toothpaste For Dinner}} which is a daily one-panel cartoon written and drawn by {{w|Married_to_the_Sea#NatalieDee|Drew Fairweather}}. Each comic features small, simple drawings, paired with short captions or dialogue.<br /> <br /> {{w|Married_to_the_Sea#NatalieDee|Natalie Dee}} is the author of the daily comics [http://nataliedee.com/ Natalie Dee]. This webcomic comprises various sketches illustrating amusing or anecdotal situations from every day life.<br /> <br /> Drew and Natalie are husband &amp; wife, and are also the authors of the webcomic {{w|Married to the Sea}}.<br /> <br /> In similar style to their simple comics we see xkcd's [[Cueball]] ask the two creators of the two comics what's funny. The woman in color represents Natalie who do color drawings that could include animals, and she thinks {{w|bees}} are funny. The man is Drew drawn like his own characters with a weird head shape. He thinks tires are funny. Then Natalie combines those to say that bees with tires are funny, and he is like, ''whatever''. <br /> <br /> The title text points out that it would be funny to see bees with tires. This is because bees, like other living creatures, have no wheels.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Cueball is standing to the left in this frame less comic, talking to a woman and man. She has long black hair, black eyes and a very wide mouth going from side to side of the part of her head visible for the hair. She wears a blue shirt, green shorts and white shoes. She stands with her arms bend with her hands in her sides. 14 bees are swarming around her head. The man next to her is bald with a strange distorted face tilting down from right to left, and his eyes align with this tilted forehead. His mouth is a round O. He is wearing a white t-shirt and pants with black shoes. He holds up his left arm, hand in front of his breast. To the right there lies two tires, the top one lies halfway up on the bottom tire. Where Cueball speaks using the normal all capital letters of xkcd, the other two speaks only in lower case letters.]<br /> :Cueball: So guys what is funny this week?<br /> :Natalie: '''''bees!'''''<br /> :Drew: '''''tires.'''''<br /> :Natalie: '''''bees with tires!'''''<br /> :Drew: '''''whatever'''''<br /> <br /> ==Trivia==<br /> *This was the [http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/index.php?date=081606 TFD strip] released the same day as this comic.<br /> *This was the [http://www.nataliedee.com/index.php?date=081606 Natalie Dee strip] released the same day as this comic.<br /> *This was the [http://www.marriedtothesea.com/index.php?date=081606 Married to the Sea strip] released the same day as this comic, which makes it clear that it is the other two that were the target of the parody.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:Parody Week]]<br /> [[Category:Comics with color]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Animals]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1736:_Manhattan_Project&diff=127499 2016-09-21T13:57:51Z

<p>141.101.98.135: /* Transcript */</p> <hr /> <div>[[]]{{comic<br /> | number = 1736<br /> | date = September 21, 2016<br /> | title = Manhattan Project<br /> | image = manhattan_project.png<br /> | titletext = On the plus side, we definitely killed that cancer over there, even if we caused a bunch more everywhere else.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project Manhattan Project] was a big, expensive, secret research and development project that produced the first nuclear weapons during World War II. It is an example of getting all the top minds of a subject together to solve a massive problem, generally with massive government spending. The phrase [https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&amp;ion=1&amp;espv=2&amp;ie=UTF-8#q=%22we+need+a+new+manhattan+project%22 We need a new Manhattan Project] is sometimes used to suggest that the top minds should get together to solve another problem. In this comic the suggestion is implied that all the top minds for cancer research should get together to find a cure, but the idea is taken literally instead and the New Manhattan Project develops a nuclear bomb again.<br /> <br /> The title text comments that the radiation from the blast will cause cancer in the survivors, but kills everything at the blast site.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Ponytail next to Cueball]<br /> :Ponytail: What we need to cure cancer is a new Manhattan Project<br /> <br /> :[Both Seaking to a crowd. Ponytail gesticulating.]<br /> :[Banner: Research Initiative]<br /> <br /> :[Research from Cueball, Megan and Ponytail goes on. They are using Erlenmeyer flasks.]<br /> <br /> :[They watch a mushroom cloud in the background while standing behind two low barriers in the foreground.]<br /> <br /> :[Ponytail wearing safety specs]<br /> :Ponytail: Wait.<br /> <br /> Title Text: <br /> On the plus side we definitely killed that cancer over there, even if we caused a bit more everywhere else. <br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1455:_Trolley_Problem&diff=121270 2016-06-02T15:39:20Z

<p>141.101.98.135: /* Explanation */</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1455<br /> | date = December 3, 2014<br /> | title = Trolley Problem<br /> | image = trolley_problem.png<br /> | titletext = For $5 I promise not to orchestrate this situation, and for $25 I promise not to take further advantage of this ability to create incentives.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> The {{w|trolley problem}} is a thought experiment often posed in {{w|philosophy}} to explore moral questions, with applications in {{w|cognitive science}} and {{w|neuroethics}}. The general version is that an out of control trolley (or train) is heading towards 5 people on the track who can't get out of the way. On an alternative branch of the track is 1 person who can't get out of the way. The trolley can be diverted by using a lever, with the consequence of saving the 5 people but killing the 1 person. The question posed is whether or not it is morally right to pull the lever.<br /> <br /> This results of [http://www.philosophyexperiments.com/fatman/Default4.aspx this test] report that around 86% of respondents choose the utilitarian option of diverting the trolley. Utilitarian ethics holds that the morally correct option is that which results in the most amount of good for the greatest number of people; in this case choosing to sacrifice the 1 person for 5 people.<br /> <br /> After discovering a variation on this problem posed in a strip of the [http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3556#comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal] webcomic (which can be seen on the tablet he is carrying), [[Cueball]] presents it to [[Black Hat]]. Before Cueball can finish explaining the problem, Black Hat questions whether he would need to get up to reach the lever and how much it would interrupt his other activities. As usual, he cares nothing at all about what happens to other people. This response is linked to another theory in philosophy, that of {{w|self interest}} or {{w|egoism}} or {{w|Objectivism (Ayn Rand)|Objectivism}}, in which a person will choose the action with the most benefit for them personally.<br /> <br /> Black Hat then poses an offer: he promises to divert the trolley if Cueball is one of the five endangered people, provided that Cueball pays him $1 now. Again Black Hat is twisting the situation to his own benefit, in this case monetary. In the case of self-interest, the $1 could be the price at which Black Hat values his time and effort, below which he feels there is no benefit to himself in pulling the lever. Cueball decides that there is no point posing the problem to someone like Black Hat and gives up. This further shows that it is challenging for people with different ethical frameworks to function together without a common understanding, either mutually or with one side using that understanding to motivate a mutually agreeable or horrible solution.<br /> <br /> The title text follows this up by continuing Black Hat's offers. For $5 he will not deliberately arrange this situation and for $25 he will quit looking for further incentives. These attempts to exploit the thought exercise for personal gain further demonstrate Black Hat's cynical amorality.<br /> <br /> Black Hat's offer makes Cueball himself the subject of the trolley problem: Cueball now has a choice of expending $1 to save 5 people while sacrificing one person, or $5 to save all 6 people. Of course, he could dismiss the offer as a joke, if not for the person making it, which, as we know from other comics, is very much capable of such exploits.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :Cueball: Ever heard of the trolley problem?<br /> :Black hat: No. What is it?<br /> <br /> :Cueball: A trolley is barreling towards five helpless people on the tracks. You can pull a lever to direct it onto another track, but-<br /> <br /> :Black hat: Can I reach the lever without getting up?<br /> :Cueball: Wait, I'm not-<br /> :Black hat: In this scenario, how busy am I?<br /> <br /> :Cueball: I guess I forgot who I was talking to.<br /> :Black hat: For a dollar, I'll promise to pull the lever if one of the five people is you.<br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Philosophy]]<br /> [[Category:Comics with color]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1546:_Tamagotchi_Hive&diff=96904 2015-07-03T14:14:01Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Suggesting a &quot;My Hobby&quot; category</p> <hr /> <div>Should we have a &quot;My Hobby&quot; category? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.135|141.101.98.135]] 14:14, 3 July 2015 (UTC)</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1324:_Weather&diff=92182 2015-05-03T21:05:03Z

<p>141.101.98.135: /* Explanation */</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1324<br /> | date = January 31, 2014<br /> | title = Weather<br /> | image = weather.png<br /> | titletext = At least if you're really into, like, Turkish archaeology, store clerks aren't like 'hey, how 'bout those Derinkuyu underground cities!' when they're trying to be polite.<br /> }}<br /> ==Explanation==<br /> Social norm accepts casual small-talk as an ice breaker for interaction — usually it is always safe to talk about the weather without hitting any disagreements as there are rarely any personal view points about the weather — in contrast small-talk is never about political subjects or similar where chances are that there are strong personal view points.<br /> <br /> In this strip [[Cueball]] is an expert on {{w|meteorology}} and {{w|weather forecasting}}. When [[Hairy]] makes a comment about the weather, Cueball launches into a detailed technical discussion, not realizing Hairy is simply trying to engage in small-talk. Only weather experts would have this problem, but this topic is a common opening for a conversation in casual small-talk. Cueball switches to small-talk once he realizes that Hairy is confused and didn't expect this level of technical information.<br /> <br /> As to the jargon:<br /> *{{w|Jet stream|Jet streams}} are strong air currents high in the atmosphere which have a big influence on the weather. <br /> *18z is 18:00 {{w|Coordinated Universal Time|UTC}} (6 PM in Greenwich, England, 10 AM in California). See {{w|ISO 8601}} at Wikipedia. The letter &quot;Z&quot; is used as 'Zulu' in the {{w|NATO phonetic alphabet}}, meaning just UTC.<br /> *GFS is the {{w|Global Forecast System}} (also known as NCEP-GFS). It is a computer model used by the {{w|National Weather Service}} to predict the weather up to 16 days in advance. The model is run 4 times a day and the output is distinguished by the UTC hour it was started (18z in this case).<br /> *Part of the prediction is the {{w|atmospheric pressure}} expressed in {{w|Bar (unit)|mbar}} (or mb). 960 mbar is very low pressure, which is usually associated with seriously bad weather (record low pressure for Minnesota was 963 mbar till 1998).<br /> *&quot;Think it'll verify?&quot;: A forecast &quot;verifies&quot; when an analysis of observations at the forecast time are found to match the forecast. Cueball is asking if Hairy thinks the prediction of a 960mbar low will be shown to have been correct.<br /> <br /> The title text clarifies the problem weather nuts like Cueball here have: Unlike other geeky pursuits (like, say, the {{w|Derinkuyu Underground City|Derinkuyu Underground Cities}}, one of the most well-known {{w|History of Turkey|archaeological sites in Turkey}}) weather is a fairly common small talk subject. As a result, weather geeks have to be constantly vigilant so as not to launch into technical monologues.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Cueball and Hairy are talking.]<br /> :Hairy: So, how 'bout this weather?<br /> :Cueball: I ''know,'' right? The whole jet stream layer is ''nuts!''<br /> :Hairy: Um, sure...<br /> :Cueball: The 18z GFS forecasts 960mb by Tuesday. Think it'll verify?<br /> :Hairy: What?<br /> :Cueball: ...Right. Sorry. Uh, yeah! Weather sure has been crazy.<br /> <br /> :Weather geeks have it tough.<br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1482:_NowPlaying&diff=84034 2015-02-04T09:26:17Z

<p>141.101.98.135: </p> <hr /> <div>So what song is it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.10|108.162.242.10]] 06:11, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> :I believe it is the Main Theme from Jurassic Park. --[[User:Duhsn|Duhsn]] ([[User talk:Duhsn|talk]]) 06:13, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> :If you have good ears you can check for yourself: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w-58hQ9dLk Link] --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.134|108.162.254.134]] 09:05, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> E major, is a chord, not a note...[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.169|108.162.249.169]] 06:36, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> You can listen to the sequence of notes here: http://onlinesequencer.net/65475 <br /> (All notes the same length, and just guessing which octave each should be in...) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.169|108.162.249.169]] 06:36, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> Just because I want to get it stuck in your head :D, Added a bit to the beginning and end and changed octaves. http://onlinesequencer.net/65487 --[[User:Duhsn|Duhsn]] ([[User talk:Duhsn|talk]]) 07:40, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> The image on this page is NOT the same one as on the actual xkcd page. The original comic does not contain the reference to E Major. [[User:Andries|Andries]] ([[User talk:Andries|talk]]) 07:42, 4 February 2015 (UTC)Andries<br /> <br /> Is he rick rolling us? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.182|199.27.128.182]] 07:48, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> He must have agreed with your comment about E major not being a note and changed it. --[[User:Duhsn|Duhsn]] ([[User talk:Duhsn|talk]]) 07:54, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> &quot;and his friends Mike and Caitlin appear to be becoming concerned about his choice of music&quot;... really? I thought they were upset that they were getting spammed by a post every second or so?<br /> &quot;and the notion that someone could become concerned about you based on a list of notes is even more ridiculous.&quot;... similarly, not so ridiculous if they're concerned about you spamming them with too many postings!<br /> Finally, &quot;The comic's title alludes to the fact that you can &quot;play a song&quot; but can also &quot;play a note.&quot; It may also allude to the visual similarities between the hash/pound/number sign (#) and the sharp sign (♯).&quot;... I don't get either of these references. The hash/sharp comparison is cute, except that the sharp sign doesn't appear in the comic. I took it as a simple extension of the usual someone is listening to some song messages linking to searches for that song &quot;on various online music stores&quot; if you click on them... that is, if you click on a particular note, it'll link to a search for songs that include that note - equally as useless as posting the individual notes of a song in the first place.<br /> Extra-finally, I'd love to see Mike &amp; Caitlin's reactions if Brian listened to anything with a glissando...<br /> Haven't made any of these as changes as I'm not sure they're more than just my own opinion. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.220|108.162.249.220]] 07:55, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> :Okay, so I've redone the second paragraph for facts, but haven't touched any of the other opinion bits. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.220|108.162.249.220]] 08:40, 4 February 2015 (UTC) Text may also be a reference to an old joke about a composer who writes, and copyrights, a composition consisting of a single note: middle C. All other composers who later included middle C would thus be quoting his composition, entitling him to royalties; all composers who used any OTHER note would be simply transposing the original composition into another key, and would still owe the royalty...&quot;<br /> I've changed the thing about Mike &amp; Caitlin being concerned about music choice, as this is (as noted by other commentators) *much* less likely than their being concerned about having their news feeds spammed.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.135|141.101.98.135]] 09:25, 4 February 2015 (UTC)</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1482:_NowPlaying&diff=84033 2015-02-04T09:25:24Z

<p>141.101.98.135: </p> <hr /> <div>So what song is it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.10|108.162.242.10]] 06:11, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> :I believe it is the Main Theme from Jurassic Park. --[[User:Duhsn|Duhsn]] ([[User talk:Duhsn|talk]]) 06:13, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> :If you have good ears you can check for yourself: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w-58hQ9dLk Link] --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.134|108.162.254.134]] 09:05, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> E major, is a chord, not a note...[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.169|108.162.249.169]] 06:36, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> You can listen to the sequence of notes here: http://onlinesequencer.net/65475 <br /> (All notes the same length, and just guessing which octave each should be in...) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.169|108.162.249.169]] 06:36, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> Just because I want to get it stuck in your head :D, Added a bit to the beginning and end and changed octaves. http://onlinesequencer.net/65487 --[[User:Duhsn|Duhsn]] ([[User talk:Duhsn|talk]]) 07:40, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> The image on this page is NOT the same one as on the actual xkcd page. The original comic does not contain the reference to E Major. [[User:Andries|Andries]] ([[User talk:Andries|talk]]) 07:42, 4 February 2015 (UTC)Andries<br /> <br /> Is he rick rolling us? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.182|199.27.128.182]] 07:48, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> He must have agreed with your comment about E major not being a note and changed it. --[[User:Duhsn|Duhsn]] ([[User talk:Duhsn|talk]]) 07:54, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> <br /> &quot;and his friends Mike and Caitlin appear to be becoming concerned about his choice of music&quot;... really? I thought they were upset that they were getting spammed by a post every second or so?<br /> &quot;and the notion that someone could become concerned about you based on a list of notes is even more ridiculous.&quot;... similarly, not so ridiculous if they're concerned about you spamming them with too many postings!<br /> Finally, &quot;The comic's title alludes to the fact that you can &quot;play a song&quot; but can also &quot;play a note.&quot; It may also allude to the visual similarities between the hash/pound/number sign (#) and the sharp sign (♯).&quot;... I don't get either of these references. The hash/sharp comparison is cute, except that the sharp sign doesn't appear in the comic. I took it as a simple extension of the usual someone is listening to some song messages linking to searches for that song &quot;on various online music stores&quot; if you click on them... that is, if you click on a particular note, it'll link to a search for songs that include that note - equally as useless as posting the individual notes of a song in the first place.<br /> Extra-finally, I'd love to see Mike &amp; Caitlin's reactions if Brian listened to anything with a glissando...<br /> Haven't made any of these as changes as I'm not sure they're more than just my own opinion. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.220|108.162.249.220]] 07:55, 4 February 2015 (UTC)<br /> :Okay, so I've redone the second paragraph for facts, but haven't touched any of the other opinion bits. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.220|108.162.249.220]] 08:40, 4 February 2015 (UTC) Text may also be a reference to an old joke about a composer who writes, and copyrights, a composition consisting of a single note: middle C. All other composers who later included middle C would thus be quoting his composition, entitling him to royalties; all composers who used any OTHER note would be simply transposing the original composition into another key, and would still owe the royalty...&quot;<br /> I've changed the thing about Mike &amp; Caitlin being concerned, as this is (as noted by other commentators) *much* less likely than their being concerned about having their news feeds spammed.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.135|141.101.98.135]] 09:25, 4 February 2015 (UTC)</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1482:_NowPlaying&diff=84032 2015-02-04T09:22:34Z

<p>141.101.98.135: /* Explanation */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;noinclude&gt;:&lt;small&gt;''The correct title of this page is '''1482: #NowPlaying'''. It appears incorrectly here because of {{w|mw:Manual:Page title|technical restrictions}}.''&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/noinclude&gt;<br /> {{comic<br /> | number = 1482<br /> | date = February 4, 2015<br /> | title = #NowPlaying<br /> | image = nowplaying.png<br /> | titletext = If you click on the post, it takes you to search results for the note on various online music stores.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> <br /> There are a variety of applications that post a user's music-listening habits on their preferred social network. In this comic, Randall takes that notion to its extreme, envisioning a program that does this note-by-note, rather than just song-by-song. As notes are much shorter than songs{{Citation needed}}, this would lead to the flooding of friends' notification streams. In the example, the software is sharing the notes Brian is listening to; and his friends Mike and Caitlin are getting annoyed with the amount of posts they are receiving.<br /> <br /> There are typically many hundreds of notes in any song, and any song with more than a single line of music contains multiple different notes at the same time (see {{w|Harmony}} or {{w|Chord_(music)|Chord}}). It's not clear how the service would describe such notes, or if it only reports notes from the primary {{w|Melody}} line. Even if only the primary melody is reported by the service, all but the slowest songs will still require reporting dozens to hundreds of notes every minute (a single {{w|Glissando}} may cover a dozen or more notes in less than a second), meaning that anyone who can see your stream of posts will be [[Literally|literally]] inundated by posts from the service. Even if you could keep up with the speed of the posted notes that someone is listening to, the similarity in {{w|Phrase_(music)|phrases}} in many songs (especially pop songs{{Citation needed}}) means that many different songs may include the same sequence of notes, though possibly in different {{w|Octave|octaves}} or at different speeds.<br /> <br /> The comic's title alludes to the fact that you can &quot;play a song&quot; but can also &quot;play a note.&quot; It may also allude to the visual similarities between the hash/pound/number sign (#) and the sharp sign (♯).<br /> <br /> Of note: Some of the tweets are out of order. Brian is now Listening TO A is timestamped at 3:29, with Caitlin on the next line timestamped st 3:28, with the next note likewise at 3:28.<br /> <br /> Here are some synthesized versions of the notes in the order they appear in the comic. [https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1079661/65467.ogg OGG] [https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1079661/65467.mid MIDI] They appear to be the beginning of &quot;I'll Be There For You&quot; by The Rembrandts, the title music of the TV series &quot;Friends&quot;.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :Brian is now listening to: E Major<br /> :Today - 3:28 PM<br /> <br /> :Brian is now listening to: A<br /> :Today - 3:28 PM<br /> <br /> :Brian is now listening to: B<br /> :Today - 3:28 PM<br /> <br /> :Brian is now listening to: D<br /> :Today - 3:28 PM<br /> <br /> :Brian is now listening to: C Sharp<br /> :Today - 3:28 PM<br /> <br /> :Mike What the hell<br /> :Today - 3:28 PM<br /> <br /> :Brian is now listening to: B<br /> :Today - 3:28 PM<br /> <br /> :Brian is now listening to: A<br /> :Today - 3:29 PM<br /> <br /> :Caitlin Can someone call him?<br /> :Today - 3:28 PM<br /> <br /> :Brian is now listening to: A<br /> :Today - 3:28 PM<br /> <br /> :Brian is now listening to: E<br /> :Today - 3:29 PM<br /> <br /> :Brian is now listening to: A<br /> <br /> My new social music service notifies your&lt;br/&gt;friends about what notes you're listening to.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1304:_Glass_Trolling&diff=55365 2013-12-16T20:31:17Z

<p>141.101.98.135: </p> <hr /> <div>In google now, you can use &quot;OK glass&quot; instead of &quot;OK google&quot;.--[[User:Mralext20|Mralext20]] ([[User talk:Mralext20|talk]]) 05:23, 16 December 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> There are actually privacy activists who call for grabbing such gadgets and destroying them by stomping on them. Google for &quot;#camover&quot; in combination with &quot;google glass&quot; to find hints. --[[User:Kigana|Kigana]] ([[User talk:Kigana|talk]]) 08:58, 16 December 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> I don't know, aren't dioptric glasses correcting more complicated problems like astigmatism also costly? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:55, 16 December 2013 (UTC)<br /> : Speaking in gross costs, yes. My new glasses cost well over $400 USD. Thankfully, due to decent vision insurance, I only paid $53 for exam ($10), frame/lenses ($20) and the upcharge (discounted) for polycarbonate lenses. Context: I have heavy astigmatism (especially my left eye) plus farsightedness. --BigMal // [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.57|108.162.216.57]] 13:37, 16 December 2013 (UTC)<br /> <br /> Made a major edit to the article, it is now much clearer and more informative IMHO. Feel free to tweak. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.135|141.101.98.135]] 20:31, 16 December 2013 (UTC) (actually [[User:NeatNit]], cba to log in)</div>

141.101.98.135 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1304:_Glass_Trolling&diff=55364 2013-12-16T20:29:10Z

<p>141.101.98.135: Major rewrite, should be more clear and more informative.</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1304<br /> | date = December 16, 2013<br /> | title = Glass Trolling<br /> | image = glass_trolling.png<br /> | titletext = Plus, when someone finally grabs your glasses and stomps on them, it costs way less than $1,500 to replace them.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|Is there really much to say?}}<br /> {{w|Google Glass}} is a set of glasses frames worn like typical glasses that features an optical display and internet connectivity. It responds to voice commands starting with [https://support.google.com/glass/answer/3079305 &quot;OK glass&quot;], for example to initiate video recording or to check tomorrow's weather. Strangers and other people surrounding the user would often find it annoying to hear someone talking to &quot;himself&quot;, or to Glass.<br /> <br /> Cueball is checking tomorrow's weather, but says &quot;OK, glass&quot; to his phone while wearing regular glasses. Apparently this is even more annoying to the out-of-frame bystander than if he actually had Glass. In the title text, a bystander is eventually fed up with the annoyance and smashes the glasses to the ground. If they were an actual Google Glass, they would have cost a fortune to replace, but as the text explains regular glasses are much less costly.<br /> <br /> <br /> The &quot;OK, Glass&quot; keyword is not useless outside of Glass; In the Android/iOS app Google Now, &quot;OK, Glass&quot; can be used instead of &quot;OK, Google&quot; to initiate a voice command. It is likely that Cueball is using this app in the comic.<br /> <br /> This is another strip in the [[My Hobby]] series.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :My Hobby:<br /> :Cueball: Ok, Glass, check tomorrow's weather.<br /> :Cueball: Ohh, snow!<br /> :Off-frame-bystander: Oh my god, it's somehow even ''more'' annoying than if you had it.<br /> :Saying &quot;Ok, Glass&quot; before everything while wearing regular glasses.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:My Hobby]]</div>

141.101.98.135