explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2859: Oceanography Gift

2023-12-03T11:06:24Z

141.101.98.246:

{{comic
| number = 2859
| date = November 24, 2023
| title = Oceanography Gift
| image = oceanography_gift_2x.png
| imagesize = 586x360px
| expand = true
| titletext = Shipping times vary. Same-ocean delivery may only take a few years, but delivery from the Weddell Sea in Antarctica may take multiple decades, and molecules meant for inland seas like the Mediterranean may be returned as undeliverable by surface currents.
}}
==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Randall]] seems inspired by the timing of {{w|ocean current}}s, much as he has previously been with [[2805: Global Atmospheric Circulation|air currents]], although he may even have already considered some of the technicalities [[1675: Message in a Bottle| before that]]. As supporting evidence, he provides a DOI reference to a 2016 Jönsson & Watson open-access article in Nature Communications, '[https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms11239 The timescales of global surface-ocean connectivity]'.This would be extremely impractical, since in ten years, it's possible that you and the recipient broke connections, or one of you (or both of you) passed away. If these scenarios are not the case, ten years is a long time to wait for a present.

In this specific (fictional) example, the water dumped into the ocean today will take ten years to circulate to the depicted neighbouring coastline (wherever that is). This implies significant planning ahead is necessary before posting water to someone. And a lot of presumption about the lack of any other dispersal/dilution, or that some degree of fungibility is acceptable, so long as it is ''{{w|Ship of Theseus|philosophically}}'' the same group of molecules involved. Of course, some of the water molecules may take a shortcut by being evaporated and then precipitated closer to the delivery site.

The title text mentions that "same-ocean delivery" may only take a few years, as the coastlines are in the same general body of circulating water, and don't have to pass around large obstacles (like continents) or through small gaps (straits). But if you wish delivery from {{w| the Weddell Sea}} it may take decades. The Weddell lies near the {{w|Antarctic Peninsula}}, part of the {{w|Southern Ocean}} whose circulation can be considered largely isolated from the neighbouring bodies of water by the {{w|Antarctic Circumpolar Current}}. In particular, that area contains the {{w|Weddell Gyre}} one of the two {{w|ocean gyre}}s in that area.

The title text also mentions {{w|inland sea}}s, which can be generalised as bodies of water that are very large in area but either surrounded by dry land or connected to an ocean only by a river or a strait. He mentions the {{w|Mediterranean Sea}} which is only connected to the {{w|Atlantic Ocean}} through the narrow {{w|Strait of Gibraltar}}; the title text intends to suggest that water molecules dumped in an ocean would not get to appear in such a sea (except by {{w|evaporation}} and re{{w|precipitation}}) into its catchment area) and thus they can only ever circulate back to the dumping point (deemed 'undeliverable').

In reality, the Mediterranean Sea is not completely cut off from the main oceans and surface currents do reach into and around the Mediterranean. The natural loss from evaporation is not fully compensated for by the inflow of the incident rivers from southern Europe, North Africa and Asia, directly or via other attached bodies of water (e.g. the Black Sea). The movement of water also involves the deeper Levantine Intermediate Waters layer (a subsurface current) which exits via Gibraltar and helps to further draw current inwards at the surface level. As such, except for a limited amount of water which reverses direction within the extreme western end of the Mediterranean, it is more true to say that ''surface'' currents cannot transport water from within the sea outwards into the Atlantic (and beyond). (This explanation ignores flow through the Suez Canal.)

The {{w| the Caspian Sea}} is a real inland sea that has no outlet to any oceans and only inlets from rivers, one of several [[2325: Endorheic Basin|endorheic basins]] that are also {{w|Endorheic lake|lakes}}, and thus trivially isolated from all other maritime currents.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are standing thigh deep, at either edge of a stretch of water between two steep but walkable shorelines.]

:[Cueball, at the left, is opening bottles of water and pouring them into the sea while recording himself.]
:Cueball: Happy birthday! I got you these water molecules.
:[Sound effects:] (click) (pour)

:[The water between has a morass of short swirling arrows indicating movement. In the air as there is a square-brbracketedlabel']
:[Label:] 10 years pass 

:[Megan, at the right, is dipping bottles into the water to fill them]
:Megan: Aww, thank you!
:[Sound effect:] (scoop)

:[Text below comic:]
: Global surface ocean connectivity times are ≤10 years (Jönsson & Watson, 2016, DOI:10.1038/ncomms11239), so if you're willing to plan you can pour water into the ocean while wishing someone a happy birthday, and then in 10 years know they can pick up their gift at the nearest coastline.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

2861: X Value

2023-12-03T11:04:38Z

141.101.98.246:

{{comic
| number = 2861
| date = November 29, 2023
| title = X Value
| image = x_value_2x.png
| imagesize = 291x192px
| expand = true
| titletext = The value of n is still unknown, but new results constrain it to fall between 8 and 10^500, ruling out popular 'n=1' and 'n=2' theories.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A SET OF N^2 MATHEMATICIANS TRYING TO FIND THE VALUE OF Y - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In algebra, a {{w|Variable (mathematics)|variable}} is any symbol used to represent a number that has not been determined or chosen. The most familiar algebraic variable is ''x'' (the unknown input), with ''y'' often being the yet-to-be-determined output (its value being dependent on ''x''). According to the comic, the value of ''x'' has finally been found, being 4.1083. The joke is that a general-purpose variable, which may take different values in different scenarios, turns out to have a specific value, as though it were a constant. Constants in mathematics and other scientific fields are also often represented by a single symbol - some of the most well-known are {{w|Pi|''π''}} (3.14159...), ''e'' ({{w|E (mathematical constant)|Euler's number}}, 2.71828...), ''I'' ({{w|Imaginary number}}, equal to √-1), and ''c'' (the {{w|speed of light}} in a vacuum, 299,792,458 m/s (670,616,629 mph, 1,079,252,848.8 km/h, 1.8026x10<sup>12</sup> {{w|FFF system|fur/ftn}})).

The specific number 4.1083 does not have any notable significance or special role in the contexts of physics, chemistry, finance, astronomy or cryptography. This number to 3 decimal places, 4.108, was referenced previously in a comic [[899: Number Line]].

The '''title text''' declares the value of ''n'' is unknown. ''n'' is often used as an unknown/undetermined ''integer'' value. In {{w|Sampling (statistics)|statistics}}, it might be used to specify the size of a sample. For example, a list where ''n = 50'' would mean the list contains 50 data points, for which that number of iterations or a larger number of cross-comparisons might be expected.

According to the title text, however, the value of ''n'' ''has'' been narrowed down to somewhere between 8 and 10<sup>500</sup>, or one hundred quinsexagintacentillion. This narrowing-down isn't particularly narrow, although it is perhaps quite specific compared to the 'pre-narrowing' possibilities of being absolutely any finite value at all.

The title text also says that this narrowing has ruled out the (usually) simplest values of 1 or 2. Saying "n=1" or "n=2" is a popular way to disclaim or discredit a story implying causality. An anecdote followed by the disclaimer "n=1" typically involves a personal experience or observation that someone shares as a point of reference or evidence, but then acknowledges that it's just a single instance and may not be representative of a broader trend or truth.

For example, someone might say, "I started eating a spoonful of honey every morning, and ever since then, I haven't caught a cold. It must be boosting my immune system." Then, realizing that this is just their personal experience, they add, "But of course, that's just my experience - n=1. It's not scientific evidence that honey prevents colds."

In this example, "n=1" is used to acknowledge that the claim is based on a single instance (n refers to the sample size in a study, with 1 indicating only one subject or data point) and may not be a reliable or generalizable conclusion.

If values of 1 or 2 have been ruled out, that implies that all causality claims based on observations technically have at least 8 observations (whether known or unknown). In the honey-cold example, that means at least 7 other people have had the same experience.

==Transcript==
:[A math formula is circled.]
:<big><big>x = 4.1083</big></big>

:[Caption below the panel:]
: Big math news: They finally figured out the value of x.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Math]]

2861: X Value

2023-12-03T11:04:12Z

141.101.98.246:

{{comic
| number = 2861
| date = November 29, 2023
| title = X Value
| image = x_value_2x.png
| image size = 291x192px
| expand = true
| titletext = The value of n is still unknown, but new results constrain it to fall between 8 and 10^500, ruling out popular 'n=1' and 'n=2' theories.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A SET OF N^2 MATHEMATICIANS TRYING TO FIND THE VALUE OF Y - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In algebra, a {{w|Variable (mathematics)|variable}} is any symbol used to represent a number that has not been determined or chosen. The most familiar algebraic variable is ''x'' (the unknown input), with ''y'' often being the yet-to-be-determined output (its value being dependent on ''x''). According to the comic, the value of ''x'' has finally been found, being 4.1083. The joke is that a general-purpose variable, which may take different values in different scenarios, turns out to have a specific value, as though it were a constant. Constants in mathematics and other scientific fields are also often represented by a single symbol - some of the most well-known are {{w|Pi|''π''}} (3.14159...), ''e'' ({{w|E (mathematical constant)|Euler's number}}, 2.71828...), ''I'' ({{w|Imaginary number}}, equal to √-1), and ''c'' (the {{w|speed of light}} in a vacuum, 299,792,458 m/s (670,616,629 mph, 1,079,252,848.8 km/h, 1.8026x10<sup>12</sup> {{w|FFF system|fur/ftn}})).

The specific number 4.1083 does not have any notable significance or special role in the contexts of physics, chemistry, finance, astronomy or cryptography. This number to 3 decimal places, 4.108, was referenced previously in a comic [[899: Number Line]].

The '''title text''' declares the value of ''n'' is unknown. ''n'' is often used as an unknown/undetermined ''integer'' value. In {{w|Sampling (statistics)|statistics}}, it might be used to specify the size of a sample. For example, a list where ''n = 50'' would mean the list contains 50 data points, for which that number of iterations or a larger number of cross-comparisons might be expected.

According to the title text, however, the value of ''n'' ''has'' been narrowed down to somewhere between 8 and 10<sup>500</sup>, or one hundred quinsexagintacentillion. This narrowing-down isn't particularly narrow, although it is perhaps quite specific compared to the 'pre-narrowing' possibilities of being absolutely any finite value at all.

The title text also says that this narrowing has ruled out the (usually) simplest values of 1 or 2. Saying "n=1" or "n=2" is a popular way to disclaim or discredit a story implying causality. An anecdote followed by the disclaimer "n=1" typically involves a personal experience or observation that someone shares as a point of reference or evidence, but then acknowledges that it's just a single instance and may not be representative of a broader trend or truth.

For example, someone might say, "I started eating a spoonful of honey every morning, and ever since then, I haven't caught a cold. It must be boosting my immune system." Then, realizing that this is just their personal experience, they add, "But of course, that's just my experience - n=1. It's not scientific evidence that honey prevents colds."

In this example, "n=1" is used to acknowledge that the claim is based on a single instance (n refers to the sample size in a study, with 1 indicating only one subject or data point) and may not be a reliable or generalizable conclusion.

If values of 1 or 2 have been ruled out, that implies that all causality claims based on observations technically have at least 8 observations (whether known or unknown). In the honey-cold example, that means at least 7 other people have had the same experience.

==Transcript==
:[A math formula is circled.]
:<big><big>x = 4.1083</big></big>

:[Caption below the panel:]
: Big math news: They finally figured out the value of x.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Math]]

Talk:1116: Traffic Lights

2013-11-08T21:43:18Z

141.101.98.246:

I doubt that this comic carries any deeper meaning. [[Special:Contributions/108.233.253.211|108.233.253.211]] 16:29, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

Traffic signals really are one of the most inscrutable inventions to ever be made. I mean, red means stop, yellow means caution, green means go. Unless you're in a turn lane, which means you have to watch for the green arrow, if there is one, or wait for an opening. Unless you're turning right, which is permitted to turn at any time providing there aren't any cars. Unless there's a sign that says "No Right Turn On Red". There's also the crazy cities that have special right turn lights. Then there's the intersections that have a sign for each lane telling what can and cannot be done. Or, if you're really lucky one of those intersections that has the LED screen that dynamically changes what the lane can and cannot do. And to top it all off, the Colorado Department of Transportation (as well as a few other states I'm sure) are testing out a 4-stage left turn light to increase the safety of drivers. [https://www.auroragov.org/cs/groups/public/documents/document/003604.pdf] Yes, you read that pamphlet correctly. There is a special 4th light, just to blink yellow, because you couldn't just make the yellow light blink, like it does anyway after 9pm. No. There has to be a whole special light that indicates when a left-turn-er must use special caution to turn.

: Note that New York City doesn't allow right turns on red, unless a sign is posted that says otherwise. I suppose this helps reduce the incidence of pedestrians being run into/over. You might also think it helps keep vehicles out of crosswalks, but it doesn't. [[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 01:13, 6 October 2012 (UTC)

: What about turning left on red from a one way street onto another one way street? I don't know how prevalent that is but it's fairly common in downtown Columbus Ohio (my locale) and to a lesser extent some smaller towns around here. [[Special:Contributions/74.218.18.210|74.218.18.210]] 12:30, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Nope. I'm done driving. Bring on the self-driving cars, people are officially idiots. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:52, 4 October 2012 (UTC)
: There is a problem with a blinking yellow arrow. Blinking yellow is already used. It means you have the right of way, but the other direction may proceed as well. What is wanted here is blinking red, which means that you stop, but may proceed, as someone else has the right of way. As for adding a fourth light, this just confuses things even more, particularly with respect to color blind individuals. Having said that, Virginia's variant is to have lights with both left arrows and solid greens. If it is green arrow, you have the right of way, while solid green means the other direction also has a green. There is almost always a sign reading "left turn yield on <solid-green-circle>" [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 18:19, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

::so the blinking yellow left arrow generally means the same as a round green light - you can go when it's clear, but the opposite traffic has a green light too. I love this idea because a lot of the time where there is a separate left-turn signal, there are advanced lefts for both ways, and then left turners get a red left arrow and have to stop while people going straight get a green - so even where there's no oncoming traffic, you can't turn. this way, you just lose your "advance" status and go back to the regular rule of "turn if you can, otherwise you end up turning as the lights go yellow"

::I think what Lcarsos is pointing out if you check the PDF link, is that the new left-turn lane has 4 lights, all of which are left-arrow shaped. Thus, his point is why couldn't they make the 2nd light (yellow left arrow) blink, instead of installing a third light which is also a yellow left arrow whose job is to blink?

::I can think of a few possible reasons - first, perhaps an all-blinking light has different bulbs which are more efficient for blinking and won't burn out as much; second, because they want to distinguish between the two lights more strongly (i.e. if you glance over between blinks, you don't have to wait a moment to see if it will blink - if you see the 3rd light up, you know it's going to blink without waiting for it to actually blink); similarly, I suppose there could be colour blindness issues where they want to make it clear which light is which.

::PS: Right on Red is more common in north america than other places, but even here there are a few exceptions that do not allow right turns on red lights. New York City is one. Montreal is another. Most of Mexio is a third. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 21:19, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

::You can also white a white 'cigar' light that is inteded for busses only.

:From the first traffic light in London 1868 until standardization in the 1920s people tried out many crazy lights (see http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/T-VT.1970.23426) including---literally---bells and whistles to announce changes. It seems this phase is still not really over.[[Special:Contributions/134.169.34.172|134.169.34.172]] 10:33, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

Hmm... not one to do the actual analysis, I still wonder whether there could be some message encoded in the pattern of lights -- in binary ASCII, baudot, Morse, or something. Hmm... [[Special:Contributions/208.54.40.227|208.54.40.227]] 19:12, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

This explanation mentions a lot of hands where no hands exist. "The right-hand lane," for example. This is a pet peeve of mine. People just adding the word, "hand" randomly into a sentence. It's superfluous and it's annoying. It should be removed before someone slaps whoever did it with their right-hand hand.[[Special:Contributions/173.25.252.230|173.25.252.230]] 14:35, 14 June 2013 (UTC)

:I believe "right-hand" is used to differentiate "the opposite from the left" from "the opposite of wrong". If I say "get in the right lane", there is a chance for confusion and/or a cliche joke. If I say "get in the right-hand lane", my meaning is clearer.{{unsigned|Tryc}}

;Red and yellow

In Poland you can sometimes stumble upon '''red and yellow''' -- while yellow alone means that there shortly would be a red, and you can proceed if you are at or almost at crossing, but stop otherwise, red and yellow is to mean that there shortly would be green (go), and to prepare oneself. But it is quite rare. [[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 06:45, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

:In Germany all traffic lights behave this way. [[User:Joha.ma|Joha.ma]] ([[User talk:Joha.ma|talk]]) 07:45, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

::At least some lights in Czech behave this way too. -- [[Special:Contributions/89.177.52.2|89.177.52.2]] 08:04, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

This is the way ALL UK lights behave.

Some lights in the US use '''red and yellow''' to mean that a pedestrian is crossing, although I've only seen this when the light is blinking red/yellow to start with (yes, I've seen full 3-bulb traffic lights that are only used to flash red/yellow). [[User:Zer0keefie|Zer0keefie]] ([[User talk:Zer0keefie|talk]]) 11:42, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

In Brazil some cities have greens and red in a row, and they decrease to indicate how long the green or red will last. something like http://www.guiasjp.com/fotos_noticias/foto_1165344648.8822.jpg [[Special:Contributions/189.125.162.182|189.125.162.182]] 20:22, 5 October 2012 (UTC)
In BRazil too, in Goiânia there's a nice one here for pedestrians, with leds, that show an animated pedestrian walking and when the time is running out HE RUNS FASTER! Like, it's about to go green for the cars, but feel free to cross... IF YOU'RE FAST!

In Tianjin China they have a traffic signal that is a single bar of light. If it is green it starts subtracting bar length segments. When there is about a quarter left it turns yellow and then red. It then start subtracting bar length segments from the other end until it gets to about a quarter length and then turns green again. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bob406/3428844012

;Obvious

It's how traffic engineers troll you when you are going the wrong way on a one-way. Learn to read signs!

;Reference to previous comic

This comic has some tongue in cheek self reference to [[277: Long Light]]. #Meta And definite trolling, by [[Randall]]

:What about [[781: Ahead Stop]]?

:Turing Machine?

Any chance it is one?

;Etc

I was almost expected to see the Konami code in the left light, though I'm not sure how "B A Start" would have been shown. [[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 01:13, 6 October 2012 (UTC)

;Music

I am no musician, but I can't help but wonder if there could be a hidden music chart in there somehow.
Also, if you want confusing, try understanding parking signs in Montreal.

:Might be, but depending on what pitches or sounds you assign to the lights, you could get pretty much every degree of harmony or cacophony you want. - Another possible music reference: Anybody reminded of Hendrix' "The Wind Cries Mary"? "The traffic lights, they turn, uh, blue tomorrow." [[Special:Contributions/89.0.230.165|89.0.230.165]] 08:14, 10 September 2013 (UTC)

;And You thought 4 stage was bad enough

Here In BC, in older installations, and I'm not sure whether any still exist, there used to be lights with 5 stages. It wasn't really any different than the standard red-yellow-green-turn combo you generally see where the turning light may come on, it just had the yellow arrow shown when the turning arrow is about to expire in it's own lamp. It behaves pretty expectantly, but it looks very imposing.

;Race cars

The second light has quite a resemblance to the "christmas tree" that governs the start of a drag race, where the lights change colors according to a pattern <nowiki>http://www</nowiki> dot nhra dot com/nhra101/basics.aspx [[Special:Contributions/69.121.10.82|69.121.10.82]] 04:32, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

I sat and watched this increasingly surreal show for about three minutes, then I broke down laughing when one of the lights turned purple. [[Special:Contributions/174.239.196.155|174.239.196.155]] 06:09, 11 September 2013 (UTC)

In UK, ALL lights go Red -> red AND yellow -> green -> yellow on it's own -> red again. Red and yellow means it's about to go green and yellow on it's own means it's about to go red. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.246|141.101.98.246]] 21:43, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1110: Click and Drag

2013-11-08T21:22:44Z

141.101.98.246:

I went all the way west, but when I tried going east when I got to the mario bit I went down and got lost :( [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.246|141.101.98.246]] 21:22, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

Newbie editor here (ducks abuse and fires back). When I saw the lighthouse with Megan and Ponytail @ 1 North, 13 West, I immediately went to [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=59:_Graduation]. --[[User:Philo Pharynx|Philo Pharynx]] ([[User talk:Philo Pharynx|talk]]) 18:23, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

This is great! Keep up the good work! The servers are melting, but keep refreshing if you get a 500 error. Let's get that chart filled out. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:05, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

I've been dragging for ages, and it hasn't looped back on itself yet. Source diving tells me that it's freakin' massive, and it loads in a million separate tiles. Please, let me cry in a corner at the impossible majesty of it all. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 06:59, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
:I'm source diving, and I've managed to extend the boundaries massively. Trying to find a way to remove the click and drag restriction on this monstrosity, think I've figured it out. Will have obscenely massive image uploaded within the next few hours. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 07:24, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

I swear, it's like he found out about us, and is now saying "Oh, yeah? Well how about this?" Other than the gripes of how hard it's going to be to get this thing explained, this one is pretty epic. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 08:08, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

I started to comment some easter eggs. Come on, we can make it :-). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:00, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

I found the left hand boundary of the page reasonably quickly. Once you cross the sea you get their pretty fast. I also found an X-Wing coming out of the ground quoting a line from just after the death star trench run. {{unsigned|Chrisnoise}}

==Different methods of viewing the world==
For those who get impatient scrolling around (and are a little savvy): download the .html file for the comic ([http://xkcd.com/1110/index.html index.html]), and also the file [http://imgs.xkcd.com/clickdrag/1110.js 1110.js]. Edit the .html file to use your 1110.js instead of the one from xkcd.com. Then edit 1110.js:
* remove the line "overflow: 'hidden',"
* change the "1"s into "4"s in "for(var y=-1;y<=+1;y++)" and in "for(var x=-1;x<=+1;x++){"
* optionally, remove the line "$remove.remove();" (warning: this will make it take up a lot of memory eventually!)

Then open the local copy in your web browser. Zooming out, scrolling, and zooming back in helps find the easter eggs.
{{unsigned|75.111.63.192}}

The above can be done, without downloading, by putting Chrome or Chromium into developer mode by hitting F12, then altering the very same setting in the page, as you view it --[[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 22:28, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

*This Page's instructions say to zoom in and out when browsing the modified local file. My browser skills are rusty. I have Firefox, and when I zoom in and out, it zooms the whole page, rather than just the interesting bit. However, seeing as how there are 16000+ panels, I don't think I want to zoom it out quite so very far anyway. Firefox is notoriously bad when there are lots of images on a page (and yes, it cratered while I was exploring the original page). In any case, can someone clarify the use of zoom? [[Special:Contributions/24.57.210.141|24.57.210.141]] 08:40, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

All is revealed here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4542367 - seriously. Links to downloads, full images, how to link directly to a point of interest and so on. {{unsigned|145.64.134.242}}

Another full view, with pan and zoom http://www.mrphlip.com/xkcd1110/ {{unsigned|207.114.139.254}}

For the pack rats, [http://www.mediafire.com/?u7dac458418phyn here] is a .tar.gz of all the pngs. You can use these to reference where in the comic you are. Files are named <tt><number><north/south><number><east/west>.png</tt>. So 1n8w.png is 1 north, 8 west. Let's get this thing done. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 09:12, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

I've made a full-screen version with cursor control: http://ares.aylett.co.uk/xkcd/ [[User:Axa|Axa]] ([[User talk:Axa|talk]]) 12:51, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

:Seems I'm really too slow, plus I have CSS problems (there are gaps between my rows) but I'll share what I did anyway. Create a file with <code>.html</code> extension with the following content (if you've downlaoded all the images already, you can change the code to use your local files) and you get a map of the world.
<pre class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<!doctype html>
<html><head><title>Click and Drag</title>
<style>
table {
border-collapse: collapse;
}
td {
padding: 0px;
}
td.s {
background-color: black;
}
</style>
</head><body><table><script>
var x, y, src, cssClass;
for (y = -13; y <= 18; y++) {
document.write('<tr>');
for (x = -33; x <= 47; x++) {
src = (y>=0?(y+1)+'s':-y+'n')+(x>=0?(x+1)+'e':-x+'w');
cssClass = y>=0?'s':'n';
url = "http://imgs.xkcd.com/clickdrag/" + src + ".png";
//url = src + ".png"; // Remove comment to use local files
document.write('<td class=' + cssClass + '><a HREF="' + url + '"><img width="64" height="64" title=' + src + ' src="' + url + '"></a></td>');
}
document.write('</tr>');
}
</script>
</table>
</html>
</pre>
:--[[Special:Contributions/132.230.1.28|132.230.1.28]] 09:58, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
:: I've created a file which looks the very same :-) The gaps between the rows seem to come from the <code><img></code> elements being displayed as inline content, adding some whitespaces to the cells. I now use this css code:
<pre style="margin-left:4em;">* {
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
border: 0;
}
table {
border-collapse: collapse;
border-spacing: 0;
table-layout: fixed;
}
td {
width: 2048px;
height: 2048px;
}
img {
display: block;
}</pre>
::--[[Special:Contributions/84.181.110.126|84.181.110.126]] 15:06, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

This is the best full-size view of the comic: http://xkcd-map.rent-a-geek.de/ [[Special:Contributions/77.191.21.108|77.191.21.108]] 15:02, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

== ZIP upload ==

Hi,

I’ve locally downloaded all the tiles (there is 225 PNG files) and made a ZIP file of them, but when trying to upload it here the [[Special:Upload]] page says: “Permitted file types: png, gif, jpg, jpeg.”
Do I have to upload each tile one by one or is there a way to exceptionally bypass this restriction?
Thanks. — [[User:Ethaniel|Ethaniel]] ([[User talk:Ethaniel|talk]]) 09:13, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
:Mh, seems I’m hours too late… — [[User:Ethaniel|Ethaniel]] ([[User talk:Ethaniel|talk]]) 09:14, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

:I'm not sure we should upload each individual frame for this one. Though, we do need to have a discussion about how we're going to handle/archive/explain this one, because it's going to be big and tedius. Maybe some adventurous and hardy soul can stitch together grids of this so that we don't have the problem of having too much image (a single terapixel image will kill anyone's PC if they try to load it) and having so little (while the grids Randall's created are nice and bite-sized, it's hard to see the whole thing). [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 09:20, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

::I’m going to upload the 225 tiles in few hours: which path is best?
::* <nowiki>[[File:1n1e.png]]</nowiki>
::* <nowiki>[[File:1110/1n1e.png]]</nowiki>
::* <nowiki>[[File:1110: Click and Drag/1n1e.png]]</nowiki>
::There will be of course a template (<nowiki>{{1110|1n1e}}</nowiki>) allowing easy access to individual tiles. ;)
::[[User:Ethaniel|Ethaniel]] ([[User talk:Ethaniel|talk]]) 10:36, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

:::If you are really going to do this, then I think doing <nowiki>[[File:1110: Click and Drag/1n1e.png]]</nowiki> would be the best spot. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 13:53, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

::::Finally I only did the template: direct link to the original tiles is fine too.
::::Thanks for the answer, it may be useful someday. — [[User:Ethaniel|Ethaniel]] ([[User talk:Ethaniel|talk]]) 14:04, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

:::::Sorry for the late response, I had to go to bed (I only got 4 hours of sleep anyways) to be able to get up for work today. The template is massively helpful. I crown you champion. It might be interesting to split up each page into sub-pages of this, and then transclude in the first paragraph from the subpage. So, <nowiki>[[1110: Click and Drag/1n1e]]</nowiki> would have a full description, including links to adjacent/related tiles, but have another template transclude in the synopsis and transcript into the table on this page. That's pie-in-the-sky thinking, and definitely should not be done today while the server is being hammered like it is. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:08, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

It doesn't seem to be a terapixel. There are 225 images of 2048x2048 pixels. The full range is 81x32 tiles, resulting in a 165888x65536 images, at approximately 10 gigapixels. The naming conventions is numberlatitudenumberlongitude.png, where lat can be either n or s, and long can be either e or w. E.g. 1n1e.png, which is the starting image, and they are located at http://imgs.xkcd.com/clickdrag/. {{unsigned|Aufgehaben}}

There's far more than 225 images >> http://lebbeo.us/2012/09/19/not-bbq-fetching-component-images-of-xkcd-comic-1110/ [[Special:Contributions/114.79.57.76|114.79.57.76]] 11:17, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Seems to me what should happen is that someone should setup a "slippy map" without having to use the browser's zoom in/out capabilities. Think openlayers. -- [[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 13:35, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

==Raptors==

I found two raptors. I couldn't even begin to tell you where they are. Follow the left side. Past the oceans and in some grass...somewhere. This is a lot to draw...I wonder how he did it. The shear size of each image, combined with the fact that they seamlessly transition together...when did he start? How much time did he put in? He should have waited one more to get comic 1111, I think. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 09:29, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
:The far right also quotes the very first xkcd comic ever. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 09:39, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

==Black hat==

I found him in 2 locations, with a weapon both times. The Gatling gun he has on the building above the XKCD What if? cranes looks like he could be waiting to shoot something. Did anyone find anything he might be trying to shoot? [[Special:Contributions/171.161.160.10|171.161.160.10]] 13:09, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Nevermind. There's nothing there. But there is a hot air balloon below the area I suspected. [[Special:Contributions/171.161.160.10|171.161.160.10]] 13:16, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

==End of the JS file comment==

At the end of the JavaScript file responsible for the map code, there's a comment "/* 50:72:6f:50:75:6b:65:20:69:73:20:61:77:65:73:6f:6d:65 */". Interpreted as hex codes for ASCII text, this reads "ProPuke is awesome". {{unsigned|134.102.219.116}}

Interesting. Google tells me that ProPuke is the handle of a programmer from the UK. This morning, [http://twitter.com/ProPuke on his twitter feed], he posted "57:68:79:2c:20:74:68:61:6e:6b:20:79:6f:75:21". This translates from hex as "Why, thank you!" Also, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ProPuke his Wikipedia user page] tells us a lot about him too. I wonder if he contributed to the code? [[Special:Contributions/71.201.53.130|71.201.53.130]] 23:24, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

== ==

I've been dragging and clicking for an hour, and I accidentally found the right edge. I started going left, and when I got to the island, I went into the Earth. I followed tunnels and caves down (at one point, there's a massive underground lake and a tree with a man sitting pensively by it (possibly Dawson?)) there until I found the tunnel that ends up going back to the surface in MarioWorld (complete with flag and castle), and went right from there. After the wind turbines, there's a bridge. On the other side of the bridge is a fencepost joke (If you're having fencepost problems, I feel bad for you son: I've got 99 problems but solved for 101). After that, there's a Burj Dubai reference (I assume the radio tower representing it is drawn to scale - it's very tall). After that, I went up a hill that had random farm callouts scattered on it, and on the other side of the hill is a large water tower. After that, there's grassland until the edge, which has Balloon Randall again saying, "I wonder where I'll float next." {{unsigned|67.52.249.244}}

:I'm going to say this is a perfect example of what Randall wanted by creating a world so huge you can explore for hours, get lost, not care, and find yourself again, and keep wondering what you'll discover next. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:20, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

==IRC logs or it didn't happen==
When I get home I'll post the logs I have (didn't think to have logging turned on until after the discussion started) so that it won't seem like I'm crazy. I remember Randall saying that a full, uncompressed, single rectangular image would be near a terapixel (the figure was something like 800 gigapixels). [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:04, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

== ICC sections ==

The following files have ICC sections:

<pre>
$ grep -l iCCPicc xkcd_grab/*.png
xkcd_grab/11s11e.png
xkcd_grab/11s11w.png
xkcd_grab/16s1e.png
xkcd_grab/17s1e.png
xkcd_grab/19s7e.png
xkcd_grab/1n30e.png
xkcd_grab/1n39e.png
xkcd_grab/2n3w.png
xkcd_grab/3n25e.png
xkcd_grab/4s17w.png
xkcd_grab/6n2w.png
xkcd_grab/8n1w.png
</pre>

(source of the images for me: '<code>git clone "https://github.com/danielribeiro/xkcd_grab.git"</code>')

At first I thought the white/black tiles were a hint to some steganography embedded in the images. Then I found those ICC sections and thought it was just a pun to add a color profile to a black image. But not all of the above are just black and having a color profile for white image parts can actually make sense, so maybe someone else has a clue, why those (and only those) tiles have color profiles...

-- [[User:Xorg|Xorg]] ([[User talk:Xorg|talk]]) 19:55, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Do a binary compare on the files.

== Jesus ==
Seems that the description insinuates that the "Jesus" reference (1n21w) is intended to be vocative, not expletive. Can somebody substatiate that conclusion, as opposed to the position that Randall meant s/Jesus/Cripe/... ? (I guess this is just a long-winded way of saying [Citation Needed].) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 03:43, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

Reference to 'footsteps in the sand'. Not expletive.

== dot-code ==
In [http://imgs.xkcd.com/clickdrag/1n7e.png 1 North 7 East] there are dots and lines. What do they mean?

I think its a reference to Super Mario.--[[Special:Contributions/62.180.229.43|62.180.229.43]] 08:47, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

This is a sad, sad day that this had to be explained to someone who reads this comic.

No it's not! It's a Ten Thousand day http://xkcd.com/1053/. --[[User:Ohbejoyful|Ohbejoyful]] ([[User talk:Ohbejoyful|talk]]) 01:24, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

== Bob Ross ==

The reference on 1n 33w seems to be related to Bob Ross, he used similar expressions about where items should live on a canvas
"You know, this is a nice spot. Let's just live here. "

I would like to note that "Bob Ross" would be an excellent name for a ninja turtle.--[[Special:Contributions/98.225.182.131|98.225.182.131]] 08:23, 21 September 2012 (UTC)

la raja amo a bjork y estoy demasiado feliz que venga, pero debeira venir con portishead, ella es la raja y seria un honor presenciar tan buena musica, y teniendo a dos exponentes del trip hop juntas..suerte ojala sea seguro y no se suspenda.ahh y smashing pumpkins es de las bandas que me aconpa;o en su creciemiento, en la adolescencia ojala venga, seria espectacular, por favor si hay que se pueda hacer, avinsen para hacer firmas y weas, ojala viniesen.gracias por los maravillosos conciertos que han estado en chile este ultimo anosuerte!!!

== 48? ==

How are we certain that the maximum radius of the world is only 48 tiles? If I'm reading everything correctly, didn't Randall say that it was much larger than everybody is measuring? Isn't one explanation for this that there may be more than we've found? Does anybody have a script running that is still exploring?

Answer: This line in the 1110.js source file: "var size=[14,48,25,33];" That controls how far you can scroll. Having hit all the edges you know those are the limits too. There are no actual tiles as far down as 25 or as far up as 14, but it means the page just fills that with white or black as needed. It does mean you can't find the whales by simply going to the top left and going along the top to the right since they will be one tile further down. Same with the tunnel at the bottom. It is a number of tiles above the bottom edge of the image. [[User:Lsorense|Lsorense]] ([[User talk:Lsorense|talk]]) 18:12, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the answer. In a world filled with secrets, I still wonder if there's a file on the server in more outer-realm locations. :)
: Would be an interesting little project to (lightly) hit the server with out-of-bounds requests, to see what comes back instead of 404s -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:10, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

== More Trivia ==
* There is one (dark dark) green pixel in 9s7e.png. The remainder is all grayscale.
* A number of the images have apparently been updated. Probably with a PNG optimizer, since the displayed data is unchanged.
* The complete 10 gigapixel image, changed to grayscale, can fit into a 15 Megabyte PNG image. (Though having made it, I can't load it in my normal viewers.)
--[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:21, 21 September 2012 (UTC)

----

== Updated ==

How do you know the pictures are not uptdated or completed from time to time, adding or moving tiles?

== Locked ==
Will this be unlocked at some point? There are still a number of un-filled-in cells! [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 11:07, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

: I think it was locked as a guard against spam. That was a while ago though, maybe the admins forgot about it. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:10, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

:: [{{fullurl:Special:Log|page=1110:_Click_and_Drag}} Special:Log] shows that the unlocking will occur automatically on December 7. Also, [{{fullurl:Special:ListUsers/Jerodast|limit=1}} Special:ListUsers] shows that your account was created on 3 December 2012 at 13:01 UTC. After 3 days and 10 edits, it will be automatcally promoted to autoconfirmed, so tomorrow by this time you will be able to edit semiprotected pages like this one. Only full protection prevents everyone except admins from editing the page (e.g. the main page). Hope this helps :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 14:51, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

==Transcript==
Is there really any need for the bolded Transcript sections for tiles where there is no dialogue? It seems like it just makes the chart heavier. And for example at 1N, 22W, is there any real distinction between the description used before the "'''Transcript'''" compared to the stage directions that come after? [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 14:20, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

1125: Objects In Mirror

2013-11-08T20:45:09Z

141.101.98.246: /* Explanation */ grammar fix: added a comma

{{comic
| number = 1125
| date = October 24, 2012
| title = Objects In Mirror
| image = objects_in_mirror.png
| titletext = Universes in mirror, like those in windshield, are larger than they appear.
}}

== Explanation ==
For all people who are not from USA, India, Canada and Korea: "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear" is a required, although marginally ridiculous, "safety warning", required to be engraved on passenger side mirrors of motor vehicles. These mirrors in these countries are typically the only ones that are slightly convex, making objects appear smaller (and farther away) than their true size. Other countries often have convexity in driver-side and passenger-side rearview mirrors to give a larger field of view, at the cost of natural distance proportions of the mirror image, without making any statements about it on the mirror itself using engravings.

This comic is a reference to the phenomena known as {{w|redshift}}/{{w|blueshift}}. Due to the {{w|Doppler effect}}, objects that are moving toward an observer appear bluer than they actually are (known as blueshift). Objects moving away from the observer (e.g. objects viewed in the rear-view mirror of a moving vehicle) appear redder than they actually are (known as redshift), and thus the objects are in reality bluer than they appear. This is generally relevant only in terms of high speed motion such as observation of the expansion of the universe in astrophysics. The joke is that the relative speed of any object visible in a side-view mirror would create an insignificant and unobservable redshift.

Edwin Hubble was an astronomer credited ({{w|Stigler's law of eponymy|amid some controversy}}) with "{{w|Hubble's Law}}," which states that a Doppler shift can be observed for objects in deep space moving with relative velocity to Earth and that their velocity is proportional to their distance from Earth. Probably the most famous application of the law was measurement of relative velocities of galaxies, such as those seen in the picture known as {{w|Hubble Deep Field}}, taken by the {{w|Hubble Space Telescope}}. The results proved that most galaxies keep getting farther apart as a result of expansion of the universe. This is one of many pieces of evidence supporting the {{w|Big Bang}} theory.

The title text references that we see the universe as it was in the past (due to the distances involved and the speed of light), when it was smaller than it is today. It may may also be a reference to comic [[1110: Click and Drag]].

== Transcript ==
:[View of a car mirror that reads "Objects in mirror are bluer than they appear"]
:Caption: Edwin Hubble's car

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:1170: Bridge

2013-11-08T20:05:06Z

141.101.98.246:

I am ''definitely'' going to do this to someone!
~tartilc

Ahhh it's been a while since the last classic. This one is instant.
-Adam

Note that the Cueball's argument doesn't really defeat the idea behind the phrase. Jumping off the bridge JUST because your friends did is still bad idea. What you should do is analyse situation. In best case, FIND the logical reason why your friends jumped, although it's true that spending too much time analysing can be dangerous. Also, look WHERE are your friends jumping too and if they landed alive. In many catastrophic scenarios, panic can kill more people that the catastrophe. That said, statistically speaking, if all your friends jumped off the bridge, there probably IS reason why they did it and you WILL probably do the same - not because they jumped, but for the same reason they jumped. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:01, 6 February 2013 (UTC)
:But cueball didn't go for reasonably check why they jumped before making the decision. From what I understood, his argument, even if not the best idea, is to trust the friends judgement and jump too. Jump first, ask questions later. [[Special:Contributions/189.123.129.34|189.123.129.34]] 18:11, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

In Hong Kong, Moms use "jump off the building" instead of bridge. (Too many skyscrapers, tall apartments right here, only really rich people live in houses). Ok, next time I will argue with her with this when I am going to do something stupid LOL [[Special:Contributions/123.202.19.132|123.202.19.132]] 09:08, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

I probably one of the people who will not jump right away, at least think and looking around first. Yes it need some time and may cost me, but that's me. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 21:37, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

Cueball's argument assumes that each of his friends made independent decisions to jump off a bridge. However, if his other friends were reasoning in a similar fashion to Cueball, they may have come to the conclusion that the bridge was on fire after only a single person jumped. This herd behaviour is exactly what the adage is to remind one of. --[[Special:Contributions/128.135.70.143|128.135.70.143]] 21:56, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

I always was of the opinion that if '''all''' my friends DID jump off a bridge, I would probably jump off too, because I'd be far too depressed at the thought of all my friends being dead. Can you imagine living with that trauma? And who exactly is going to console you through it? All the likely candidates are dead! - [[User:KeithTyler|KeithTyler]] ([[User talk:KeithTyler|talk]]) 21:58, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, did a comic similar to this one in 1999: [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1999-11-21/ Young Dilbert] --[[Special:Contributions/24.145.230.202|24.145.230.202]] 01:10, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

I think the point is that if you choose your friends wisely you can trust their logic. If they ALL jumped, ther must be a reason, unless you hang out with morons.
-Adam
:Or they have been all influenced by some gas or radiation, so cannot reason logically. :-) [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 17:16, 8 February 2013 (UTC)
:Or, you know, blood control or something. Except I'm the A positive...maybe they'd have the sense not to let me jump. --Prairie

I can't help but notice: We've all heard this, right? So basically, a lot of persons repeat saying that after having heard another say it. Should it make them question their logic? Not really. Saying this adage is kind of a fine example where doing something just because so many others did it, is rather stupid.
-thelvin

I wonder what Cueball and his friends were going to do? On the face of it, it didn't appear to be anything all that dangerous. His mother, if she was using this argument out of reflex, probably just got her comeuppance for applying it in an inappropriate context. Poor mom. She probably already has too much on her hands, working for a living and raising a very intelligent kid, and now she has the extra chore of checking her metaphors carefully before use. This should push her right to that old favorite, "Because!"[[Special:Contributions/24.79.11.46|24.79.11.46]] 20:42, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

So Mom, got her comeuppance? Isn't this exactly what she wanted her son to do, examine what was going on and make a logical decision based on it... the fact that he said "their must be a reason", means she failed of course and must retrain him. So now she just has to say..."Ok, you can go as long as you can demonstrate to me the value of you attending (said function) and those that will be denied to you by not attending and doing something more socially responsible!18:24, 11 February 2013 (UTC) MI Ranger 11 Feb 2013

I want to do this! Except that it requires having friends...
Wait... All my friends are doing it is still a valid argument, since any expression of the form 'All X are Y' is always true whenever X (my friends) is an empty set! (vacuously true)[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 21:57, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Talk:251: CD Tray Fight

2013-11-08T19:12:46Z

141.101.98.246:

This may be a reference to a bug in certain old versions of FUSE that causes the CD tray to load almost immediately after being ejected. [[Special:Contributions/162.72.40.137|162.72.40.137]] 13:18, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Incomplete because there is a missing Terminator reference or something???--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:46, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

The opposite of this kept happening to me, when I tried to burn Ubuntu to a disc Windows kept opening the disc drive whenever I clicked on Burn, then informed me that the disc drive was open. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.246|141.101.98.246]] 19:12, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

Talk:251: CD Tray Fight

2013-11-08T19:12:19Z

141.101.98.246:

This may be a reference to a bug in certain old versions of FUSE that causes the CD tray to load almost immediately after being ejected. [[Special:Contributions/162.72.40.137|162.72.40.137]] 13:18, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Incomplete because there is a missing Terminator reference or something???--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:46, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
The opposite of this kept happening to me, when I tried to burn Ubuntu to a disc Windows kept opening the disc drive whenever I clicked on Burn, then informed me that the disc drive was open. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.246|141.101.98.246]] 19:12, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

1286: Encryptic

2013-11-05T00:34:31Z

141.101.98.246:

{{comic
| number = 1286
| date = November 4, 2013
| title = Encryptic
| image = encryptic.png
| titletext = It was bound to happen eventually. This data theft will enable almost limitless [xkcd.com/792]-style password reuse attacks in the coming weeks. There's only one group that comes out of this looking smart: Everyone who pirated Photoshop.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Triple DES}} is an older but still relatively secure encryption algorithm that works on 64-bit (8 character) blocks. Assuming that the passwords are stored in plain ASCII, this means that each sequence of 8 characters on the same position is always encrypted to the same result and therefore two passwords starting with “12345678” would start with the same block after being encrypted. Furthermore, this means that you can actually get a very good idea of the length of the password since anything with only one block is a password with length between 1 and 8 characters, with two blocks it has between 9 and 16 characters etc.

This way of storing passwords does not follow the recommended way of using a suitable cryptographically-secure {{w|Hash function|hash function}} that yields only a single block so that there is no way to tell the length of the password from the result. It is also a good practice to {{w|Salt (cryptography)|add a salt}} specific to each user (like their username) so that two users with the same password would not have the same hash.

Adobe also stored hints users created for their passwords. That means that an attacker knows not only if the same 8 characters are used for multiple passwords but also has some hints for guessing them. That means that common password portions should be easy to recover and that any user may be “compromised” by someone else using a part of the same password and providing a good hint. As an example, a password having three hints “Big Apple”, “Twin Towers” and “If you can make it there” is probably “New York” (or a simple variation on that). The weakness here is that no decryption and therefore no hard cracking has to take place, you just group the passwords by their encrypted blocks and try to solve them like a crossword puzzle.

It seems the examples are not taken from the actual leaked file as that [http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/11/how-an-epic-blunder-by-adobe-could-strengthen-hand-of-password-crackers/ uses a different format].

The title text makes a reference to [[792|Black Hat’s trouble with what to do with stolen passwords]]. It also states that users of pirated Photoshop are the winners here. This is because in order to make Photoshop pirate-able, it was modified (cracked) by removing the requirement for registration so their passwords were not sent to Adobe and therefore are not present in the leaked file.

The title itself is a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptic_crossword cryptic crosswords]

==Passwords==
Note that characters in the passwords could be upper or lower case, and they may involve common substitutions like "0" (number zero) for "O" (letter O); therefore, the clues cannot guarantee that the answer shown here is precisely correct. Nevertheless, we have plenty of information for a brute force attack.

{|class="wikitable"
! Input
! Hint
! Password
! Explanation
|-
|<tt>4e18acc1ab27a2d6</tt>
|weather vane sword
|<tt>matthias</tt>
|In ''Redwall'', several characters are associated with a sword hung from a weather vane, but only Matthias shares the name of an apostle (6 lines down).
|-
|<tt>4e18acc1ab27a2d6</tt>
|
|<tt>matthias</tt>
|Although no hint was used, we know this password too, since it matches the previous one.
|-
|<tt>4e18acc1ab27a2d6 a0a2876eb1ea1fea</tt>
|name1
|<tt>matthias1</tt>
|Even without knowing the user's name, we already know how this starts, so the clue gives us a pretty good idea how it finishes (and another block useful 2 lines down)
|-
|<tt>8babb6299e06eb6d</tt>
|duh
|<tt>password</tt>
|Unfortunately, this is all too common, and the user practically told us that it's an easy one.
|-
|<tt>8babb6299e06eb6d a0a2876eb1ea1fea</tt>
|
|<tt>password1</tt>
|Although no hint was used, we know this by combining the previous two.
|-
|<tt>8babb6299e06eb6d 85e9da81a8a78adc</tt>
|57
|<tt>password57</tt>
|Since we know how this begins, this is a good guess.
|-
|<tt>4e18acc1ab27a2d6</tt>
|favorite of 12 apostles
|<tt>matthias</tt>
|This has only 12 possibilities to begin with (plus variant spellings, variant lists, and one replacement), but actually we know already which one by combining with the clue 6 lines up.
|-
|<tt>1ab29ae86da6e5ca 7a2d6a0a2876eb1e</tt>
|with your own hand you have done all this
|<tt>Judith1510</tt>
|This is a quotation from Judith 15:10.
|-
|<tt>a1f9b2b6299e7a2b eadec1e6ab797397</tt>
|sexy earlobes
|<tt>Charlie Sheen</tt>
|This refers to an episode of ''Two and a Half Men''. Other answers are possible, but only this one fits the next line.
|-
|<tt>a1f9b2b6299e7a2b 617ab0277727ad85</tt>
|best TOS episode
|<tt>Charlie X</tt>
|"TOS" refers to the original series of ''Star Trek''. Although this had dozens of episodes, only one fits the previous line.
|-
|<tt>39738b7adb0b8af7 617ab0277727ad85</tt>
|Sugarland
|<tt>HoustonTX</tt>
|Sugarland is a suburb of Houston, Texas. This fits with the previous line.
|-
|<tt>1ab29ae86da6e5ca</tt>
|name + jersey#
|<tt>Judith15</tt>
|Even if we knew this user's name, we wouldn't know their jersey number. But the clue 4 lines up already gave us the answer.
|-
|<tt>877ab7889d3862b1</tt>
|alpha
|<tt>abc</tt>
|This password is also far too common, but this clue still isn't enough to narrow it down. Combine with the clue 3 lines below, however, and it's quite easy.
|-
|<tt>877ab7889d3862b1</tt>
|
|<tt>abc</tt>
|No hint, but the same as the surrounding passwords.
|-
|<tt>877ab7889d3862b1</tt>
|
|<tt>abc</tt>
|No hint, but the same as the surrounding passwords.
|-
|<tt>877ab7889d3862b1</tt>
|<tt>obvious</tt>
|<tt>abc</tt>
|Same as the surrounding passwords.
|-
|<tt>877ab7889d3862b1</tt>
|Michael Jackson
|<tt>abc</tt>
|Michael Jackson did many songs, but only one was alphabetical (3 lines up).
|-
|<tt>38a7c9279cadeb44 9dca1d79d4dec6d5</tt>
|
|
|No hint, but the same as the one below.
|-
|<tt>38a7c9279cadeb44 9dca1d79d4dec6d5</tt>
|he did the MASH, he did the
|
|
|
|-
|<tt>38a7c9279cadeb44</tt>
|Purloined
|
|
|-
|<tt>a8ae5754a2b7af7a 9dca1d79d4dec6d5</tt>
|fav water-3 Pokemon
|
|''possible second block per [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Water_3_%28Egg_Group%29 Bulbapedia] are "el", "l", "le", "r", "t", "ta"''
|-
|}

==Transcript==
:Hackers recently leaked '''''153 million''''' Adobe user emails, encrypted passwords, and password hints.
:Adobe encrypted the passwords improperly, misusing block-mode 3DES. The result is something wonderful:

<pre>
User password Hint
------------- ----

4e18acc1ab27a2d6 weather vane sword
4e18acc1ab27a2d6
4e18acc1ab27a2d6 a0a2876eb1ea1fea name1
8babb6299e06eb6d duh
8babb6299e06eb6d a0a2876eb1ea1fea
8babb6299e06eb6d 85e9da81a8a78adc 57
4e18acc1ab27a2d6 favorite of 12 apostles
1ab29ae86da6e5ca 7a2d6a0a2876eb1e with your own hand you
have done all this
a1f9b2b6299e7a2b eadec1e6ab797397 sexy earlobes
a1f9b2b6299e7a2b 617ab0277727ad85 best tos episode
39738b7adb0b8af7 617ab0277727ad85 sugarland
1ab29ae86da6e5ca name + jersey#
877ab7889d3862b1 alpha
877ab7889d3862b1
877ab7889d3862b1
877ab7889d3862b1 obvious
877ab7889d3862b1 Michael Jackson
38a7c9279cadeb44 9dca1d79d4dec6d5
38a7c9279cadeb44 9dca1d79d4dec6d5 he did the MASH, he did the
38a7c9279cadeb44 Purloined
a8ae5754a2b7af7a 9dca1d79d4dec6d5 fav water-3 pokemon
</pre>

:The greatest crossword puzzle in the history of the world

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]