explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:111: Firefox and Witchcraft - The Connection?

2023-11-07T20:47:33Z

162.158.154.175: /* E-Commerce/Blog Content Writer */ new section

Correlation does not equal causation.... I think that's one of the underlying points of this. That, and people who use IE don't understand that. {{unsigned ip|‎108.162.219.56}}

The link to Revelation 22 is misleading. It was written several centuries before the Bible was compiled, and the phrase "this book" presumably refers to the Book of Revelation. A better scripture to link to is [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+4%3A2&version=ESV Deuteronomy 4:2]], which prohibits editing the words that god commands you. That's not the entire bible, but it's enough that you could realistically call it closed source. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.90|199.27.128.90]] 00:23, 2 August 2014 (UTC)

The use of the open-source closed-source terminology is flawed here: open-source simply means that the source code (the program for IE and words for the Bible) is available to be read.

It does NOT mean that you can edit it (even if you don't distribute it) as anybody who owns a TiVo or has tried reading a Terms of Service document knows; that 'right' would come under the more important "Free Software" umbrella, as [https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html this article by Richard Stallman] explains.
[[User:YatharthROCK|YatharthROCK]] ([[User talk:YatharthROCK|talk]]) 06:03, 3 August 2014 (UTC)
:Open source does mean you can edit it. See the [http://opensource.org/osd-annotated Open Source Definintion]: "The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.189|108.162.219.189]] 02:48, 2 November 2014 (UTC)
::Wouldn't that be opensource.org's definition? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.124|108.162.237.124]] 22:50, 21 November 2014 (UTC) Steven

It looks like Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster's statistics on the relation between pirate's numbers and global temperature[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PiratesVsTemp(en).svg].--[[User:Anodibdogb|Anodibdogb]] ([[User talk:Anodibdogb|talk]]) 12:50, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

The Microsoft + Christianity is probably a reference to Microsoft acquiring Christianity. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.65|108.162.216.65]]

This comic was in June, not August, so it might not be brought to life like us three. EDIT: Sorry, I was wrong. He was actually brought to life and became one of the comic incarnates. And today's his birthday. [[User:Missed Connections|935: Missed Connections]] ([[User talk:Missed Connections|talk]]) 23:53, 17 April 2023 (UTC)

== E-Commerce/Blog Content Writer ==

Hello,

I'm Rob, a skilled E-Commerce Content Writer and Blog Writer. I specialize in crafting SEO-friendly product descriptions, product reviews, service descriptions, website copy, keyword research, topic research, and content uploads for websites.

Feel free to contact me at RobertJohnson122023@outlook.com if you have any specific needs.

Talk:2319: Large Number Formats

2020-06-13T11:14:44Z

162.158.154.175: correction

I've added the way I'm familiar with (Polish) to the "normal person in Europe outside of UK" caveat, but I think this still might be over-generalization to say that all Europe outside UK uses "." separator; I've actually never seen it used, but I've seen "'" used, even though I have no connection whatsoever with Switzerland. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.175|162.158.154.175]] 11:13, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

== Scientist avoiding rounding ==

Would love an explanation of the scientist avoiding rounding one. Would make sense to me with 2.525997..., but as 2.5997... I'm at a loss! {{unsigned ip|198.41.238.106|22:19, 12 June 2020 (UTC)}}

: Truncating the number just before a digit less than 5 so that the final digit is not rounded up. (I do this all the time, and, I am a scientist.) {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.172|00:48, 13 June 2020‎ (UTC)}}

(The above was posted (anonymously?) seconds before I could get mine in, so here it is in the original format.)

This is probably completely irrelevant but it seems Randall made a small typo when trying to show a "Scientest trying to avoid rounding up."
I assume it should be 2.525997*10^13. It seems he left out a 5 and a 2 and I say such because whether he forgot the 52 or 25 is up for debate.

Relevant screenshot: [[https://i.imgur.com/NrvOivy.png]]

Also, if I'm just being completely daft and am missing something completely, please feel free to criticize me harshly and I'll go back to my little hideyhole. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.24|108.162.237.24]] 22:21, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

: In reality, a scientist would probably say 6.416*10^13 cm. (Although possible counterpoint, this comic is really about the ''number'' 25,259,974,097,204, not the distance 25,259,974,097,204 inches.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.207|172.69.33.207]] 22:47, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

:: Centimetres are not an SI unit. it would be 6.416*10^11 m [[Special:Contributions/172.68.255.14|172.68.255.14]] 01:51, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

I believe the "2.5997" was intentional, or at least I thought it was when reading it. At first I thought it was a typo, but Randall calls that number "Scientist ''trying'' to avoid rounding up" which makes me think Randall intentionally made that "mistake" as if the scientist had accidentally forgotten the first two digits (25) and used the remainder of the number (259974...), rounding it to "2.5997x10^13" [[User:Kirypto|Kirypto]] ([[User talk:Kirypto|talk]]) 23:03, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

: Randall fixed it! [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 05:43, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

: Looks like that was just a typo, Randall replaced it with a new version. [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 02:55, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

As a (not so?) old British person, I approve. Let the Trillions come around later, when it's ''worth'' increasing the prefix to "level 3". Don't waste them on the more petty numbers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.122|162.158.155.122]] 23:13, 12 June 2020 (UTC)
:I'm also a not-so-old British person, and therefore use the short-scale as a matter of course. But, although I'm too young to ever have used the long scale, I regret its passing, for all that. On a visual level, if a million gives us a chunk of six zeroes, there's a simple elegance to the "bi-", "tri-", "quad-" (etc.) prefixes numerating two chunks, three chunks, four chunks, etc. From a less visual, more linguistically neat perspective, if you've got a million^2, a million^3, a million^4 and so on, then using "bi" to mean two, "tri" to mean three, "quad" to mean four makes sense...because that's what those things mean.[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 10:32, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

== "Engineering" notation omitted? ==

I find it somewhat strange that Randall doesn't offer '''25e12''' or any of those variants ('''25.259...*10^12'''). I feel like a lot of "non-normal" people would map billion to E12 instead of requiring a single digit to the left of the decimal point. shrug [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 23:09, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

: Honestly I thought "engineering" notation was a myth invented by HP's calculator division. But I'm personally offended that the programmers' notation 25_259_... was omitted. Maybe Randall still uses Python 2. :-) [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 05:47, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

==Actual scientist: ==

"What's an inch?" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.119|162.158.62.119]] 23:18, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

: The imaginary nano-scale multiple of the speed of light times Planck's constant. Which, dimensionally, would seem to be kg.m³/s²? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.73|162.158.154.73]] 00:15, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

As an article pointed out to me the other day that seemed obvious after it was said it's a non-tariff trade barrier used as American protectionism that doesn't get tariffed back. {{unsigned ip|172.69.63.81|00:10, 13 June 2020 (UTC)}}

== Can someone explain the set theory notation? ==

Can someone explain the set theory notation? {{unsigned ip|172.68.255.14|01:56, 13 June 2020 (UTC)}}

: You can use only sets to construct the natural numbers, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_number#Constructions_based_on_set_theory - {{unsigned ip|172.68.215.76|02:20, 13 June 2020 (UTC)}}

==Title Text 10^13.4024==

It seems nobody has pointed out that the power of 10 in the title text is really just the log(x) of the number, which is in fact very common in scientific contexts -> log(25,259,974,097,204) = 13.4024 [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 02:31, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

== Old Sweden ==
We have kept the olden ways here in the north. Miljon (10^6), miljard (10^9), biljon (10^12), biljard (10^15). Also, "biljard" is the same word as the game of pool in Swedish.
[[User:Embridioum|Embridioum]] ([[User talk:Embridioum|talk]]) 07:17, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

Also Italian uses the long scale for large numbers, and also in Italian the word for the game of pool coincides with 10^15. Albeit I have to say that I've never heard anyone use bilione and biliardo referring to numbers. We usually stop at miliardo, saying things like "un milione di miliardi" when we need to say those large numbers, or use the scientific notation. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.198.106|172.68.198.106]] 09:04, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

While we're on different languages, how about this one: 1262998704860-vingt-quatre - French person. --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 11:11, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2319: Large Number Formats

2020-06-13T11:13:29Z

162.158.154.175: Europe way

I've added the way I'm familiar with (Polish) to the "normal person in Europe outside of UK" caveat, but I think this still might be over-generalization to say that; I've actually never seen the "." separator used, but I've seen "'" used, even though I have no connection whatsoever with Switzerland. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.175|162.158.154.175]] 11:13, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

== Scientist avoiding rounding ==

Would love an explanation of the scientist avoiding rounding one. Would make sense to me with 2.525997..., but as 2.5997... I'm at a loss! {{unsigned ip|198.41.238.106|22:19, 12 June 2020 (UTC)}}

: Truncating the number just before a digit less than 5 so that the final digit is not rounded up. (I do this all the time, and, I am a scientist.) {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.172|00:48, 13 June 2020‎ (UTC)}}

(The above was posted (anonymously?) seconds before I could get mine in, so here it is in the original format.)

This is probably completely irrelevant but it seems Randall made a small typo when trying to show a "Scientest trying to avoid rounding up."
I assume it should be 2.525997*10^13. It seems he left out a 5 and a 2 and I say such because whether he forgot the 52 or 25 is up for debate.

Relevant screenshot: [[https://i.imgur.com/NrvOivy.png]]

Also, if I'm just being completely daft and am missing something completely, please feel free to criticize me harshly and I'll go back to my little hideyhole. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.24|108.162.237.24]] 22:21, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

: In reality, a scientist would probably say 6.416*10^13 cm. (Although possible counterpoint, this comic is really about the ''number'' 25,259,974,097,204, not the distance 25,259,974,097,204 inches.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.207|172.69.33.207]] 22:47, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

:: Centimetres are not an SI unit. it would be 6.416*10^11 m [[Special:Contributions/172.68.255.14|172.68.255.14]] 01:51, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

I believe the "2.5997" was intentional, or at least I thought it was when reading it. At first I thought it was a typo, but Randall calls that number "Scientist ''trying'' to avoid rounding up" which makes me think Randall intentionally made that "mistake" as if the scientist had accidentally forgotten the first two digits (25) and used the remainder of the number (259974...), rounding it to "2.5997x10^13" [[User:Kirypto|Kirypto]] ([[User talk:Kirypto|talk]]) 23:03, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

: Randall fixed it! [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 05:43, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

: Looks like that was just a typo, Randall replaced it with a new version. [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 02:55, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

As a (not so?) old British person, I approve. Let the Trillions come around later, when it's ''worth'' increasing the prefix to "level 3". Don't waste them on the more petty numbers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.122|162.158.155.122]] 23:13, 12 June 2020 (UTC)
:I'm also a not-so-old British person, and therefore use the short-scale as a matter of course. But, although I'm too young to ever have used the long scale, I regret its passing, for all that. On a visual level, if a million gives us a chunk of six zeroes, there's a simple elegance to the "bi-", "tri-", "quad-" (etc.) prefixes numerating two chunks, three chunks, four chunks, etc. From a less visual, more linguistically neat perspective, if you've got a million^2, a million^3, a million^4 and so on, then using "bi" to mean two, "tri" to mean three, "quad" to mean four makes sense...because that's what those things mean.[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 10:32, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

== "Engineering" notation omitted? ==

I find it somewhat strange that Randall doesn't offer '''25e12''' or any of those variants ('''25.259...*10^12'''). I feel like a lot of "non-normal" people would map billion to E12 instead of requiring a single digit to the left of the decimal point. shrug [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 23:09, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

: Honestly I thought "engineering" notation was a myth invented by HP's calculator division. But I'm personally offended that the programmers' notation 25_259_... was omitted. Maybe Randall still uses Python 2. :-) [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 05:47, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

==Actual scientist: ==

"What's an inch?" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.119|162.158.62.119]] 23:18, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

: The imaginary nano-scale multiple of the speed of light times Planck's constant. Which, dimensionally, would seem to be kg.m³/s²? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.73|162.158.154.73]] 00:15, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

As an article pointed out to me the other day that seemed obvious after it was said it's a non-tariff trade barrier used as American protectionism that doesn't get tariffed back. {{unsigned ip|172.69.63.81|00:10, 13 June 2020 (UTC)}}

== Can someone explain the set theory notation? ==

Can someone explain the set theory notation? {{unsigned ip|172.68.255.14|01:56, 13 June 2020 (UTC)}}

: You can use only sets to construct the natural numbers, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_number#Constructions_based_on_set_theory - {{unsigned ip|172.68.215.76|02:20, 13 June 2020 (UTC)}}

==Title Text 10^13.4024==

It seems nobody has pointed out that the power of 10 in the title text is really just the log(x) of the number, which is in fact very common in scientific contexts -> log(25,259,974,097,204) = 13.4024 [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 02:31, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

== Old Sweden ==
We have kept the olden ways here in the north. Miljon (10^6), miljard (10^9), biljon (10^12), biljard (10^15). Also, "biljard" is the same word as the game of pool in Swedish.
[[User:Embridioum|Embridioum]] ([[User talk:Embridioum|talk]]) 07:17, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

Also Italian uses the long scale for large numbers, and also in Italian the word for the game of pool coincides with 10^15. Albeit I have to say that I've never heard anyone use bilione and biliardo referring to numbers. We usually stop at miliardo, saying things like "un milione di miliardi" when we need to say those large numbers, or use the scientific notation. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.198.106|172.68.198.106]] 09:04, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

While we're on different languages, how about this one: 1262998704860-vingt-quatre - French person. --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 11:11, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

2319: Large Number Formats

2020-06-13T11:09:38Z

162.158.154.175: /* Explanation */ Poland

{{comic
| number = 2319
| date = June 12, 2020
| title = Large Number Formats
| image = large number formats-2.png
| titletext = 10^13.4024: A person who has come back to numbers after a journey deep into some random theoretical field
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic shows how different people express large numbers. This number in question is approximately the distance from the planet Earth to the planet Jupiter as of June 2020, in {{w|inch|inches}} (1 inch = 2.54 cm).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Number
! Type of person
! Notes
|-
| 25,259,974,097,204
| Normal Person
| This is the full number, written out in the normal fashion, with commas to indicate powers of 1000. Note that this convention is only considered normal in the Anglo-Saxon world; conventions for writing large numbers in full vary considerably across cultures. For example, in countries where the comma is used as a {{w|decimal separator}} (including Europe outside the UK), one would write the number as 25.259.974.097.204 (or 25'259'974'097'204 in Switzerland, or 25 259 974 097 204 in Poland). Under the {{w|Indian numbering system}}, this number would be written as 25,25,997,40,97,204.
|-
| 25 Trillion
| Normal Person
| This is the number, rounded to trillions in the normal fashion.
|-
| 25 Billion
| Old British Person
| In current English usage, across the anglophonic world with some hold-outs, an n-illion means 10^(3n+3) as per the {{w|short scale}} system popularised by American influence in international trade, so a trillion means 10^12, as above. However, older British English use had an n-illion meaning 10^(6n) (i.e. the simpler calculation of ''million^n''), so a billion meant 10^12. The change stems from a 1974 commitment by Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister of the UK at the time, to change from the {{w|long scale}} (previously often described as the British system) to the short one for all official purposes.

Though not instantly widely adopted for common usage, the mid-'70s could therefore be considered the key turning point between when an older or younger British person learns (as the change filters through the system at various stages of education) what their "Billion"s and "Trillion"s are supposed to represent.

(The 1971 transition to decimalised currency may also date a person's experiences, but was a more comprehensive and immediate change for everyone who handled any money at all, in the UK, and thus was a more definite point of change apart from the extended survival of the "12 times table" being taught by rote in primary education, rather than ending at the 10s.)

As well as 'traditionalist' British use, the Long Scale is widely used in the non-anglophone world, in local language versions, though while the British system tended to infill n-and-a-half powers of the million with the term "thousand n-illion", the suffix "-illi''ard''", or equivalent, is often used for the thousands multiple directly atop the respective "-illion" point.
|-
|2.526x1013
|Scientist
|This number is formatted in {{w|scientific notation}}, using the exponent 1013.
|-
| 2.525997x1013
| Scientist trying to avoid rounding up
| Using as many decimal places as necessary until hitting a digit (0-4) that results in rounding down, even if it goes against the common scientific practice of reporting the correct amount of "significant figures". A previous version of the comic had a typo (the number was ''2.5997x1013''), but Randall updated the comic.
|-
| 2.526e13 or
2.526*10^13
| Software developer
| Computer code cannot typically use the superscripts or other types of rich text formatting, so the exponent is indicated with the {{w|caret}}. "e13" is {{w|Scientific notation#E notation|(scientific) E notation}} for the expression "10 raised to the power of 13".
|-
| 25,259,973,541,888
| Software developer who forgot about floats
| This is the number after being converted to the limited precision of a {{w|32-bit floating point|32-bit float}}.
|-
| 1013
| Astronomer
| For extremely large distances, astronomers typically only care about orders of magnitude, i.e. 1013, not 1012 or 1014. Randall often jokes about the lack of precision needed by astronomers, such as in that one xkcd (#[[2205]]) where the astronomer-cosmologist is equally willing to make pi equal to one, or ten. The original number is rounded to the nearest power of ten.
|-
| {∅,{∅},{∅,{∅}},{∅,{∅},{...
| Set theorist
| In {{w|Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory}}, the natural numbers are defined recursively by letting 0 = ∅ (the {{w|empty set}}), and ''n'' + 1 = ''n'' ∪ {''n''}. So, every natural number ''n'' is the set of all natural numbers less than ''n'', and since 0 is defined as the empty set, all numbers are nested sets of empty sets. This notation is a bit unpractical for large numbers - without the ellipsis, the expression would reach much farther than to Jupiter.
|-
| 1,262,998,704,860 score and four
| Abraham Lincoln
| In the {{W|Gettysburg Address}}, Lincoln speaks the number "87" as "four score and seven" ("score" meaning "20"). Here, the original number is rewritten in "score" (multiples of 20) plus a remainder (four).
|-
| 10^13.4024 ''(title text)''
| A person who has come back to numbers after a journey deep into some random theoretical field
| In some fields of mathematics, especially those dealing with very {{w|large numbers}}, numbers are sometimes represented by raising ten (or some other convenient base) to an oddly precise power, to facilitate comparison of their magnitudes without filling up pages upon pages of digits. An example of this is {{w|Skewes's number}}, which is formally calculated to be ''e''''e''''e''79, but is more commonly approximated as 10101034. 13.4024 is the {{w|common logarithm}} of 25,259,974,097,204 (log10 25,259,974,097,204 = 13.4024329009); thus, this "format" is still mathematically correct to use, but is not commonly used.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A panel only with text. At the top there is four lines of explanatory text. Below that there are 5 rows of number formats. There are 2 columns in each row. Each numerical format is in red, with black text explaining the format below it.]

:<big>What the way you write large</big>
:<big>numbers says about you</big>
:(Using the approximate current distance
:to Jupiter in inches as an example)

:[First row:]
:25,259,974,097,204
:Normal person
:25 trillion
:Normal person

:[Second row:]
:25 billion
:Old British person
:2.526x1013
:Scientist

:[Third row:]
:2.525997x1013
:Scientist trying to avoid rounding up
:2.526e13 or 2.526*10^13
:Software developer

:[Fourth row:]
:25,259,973,541,888
:Software developer who forgot about floats
:1013
:Astronomer

:[Fifth row:]
:{∅,{∅},{∅,{∅}},{∅,{∅},{...
:Set theorist
:1,262,998,704,860 score and four
:Abraham Lincoln

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category: Programming]]
[[Category: Math]]
[[Category: Astronomy]]
[[Category: Science]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]

Talk:2224: Software Updates

2019-11-10T00:07:01Z

162.158.154.175:

Not related to this comic in particular, but the advertisements on this site have become a little (well, actually well past that) too obtrusive for use on a computer that won't let you install an ad blocker (like, uh, a managed Chromebook). Oh, imagine trying to use a computer that won't let you install something as necessary in 2019 as an ad blocker in 2019. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.59.42|172.68.59.42]] 01:11, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
:Yup. I've added the ongoing discussion to the bottom of this talk page. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 12:03, 5 November 2019 (UTC)

Really? For me it's only a tiny rectangular ad in the bottom left when I disable my blocker. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.20|172.69.34.20]] 01:53, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
:I saw bunches of ads artificially injected in here between these comments last week, this week I see literally none, so I think whoever added them - so horribly intrusively that it sparked an ongoing discussion that transcended the separate comics - saw the complaints and turned them back off. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]])

I bet that this is in reference to the removal of close other tabs from Chrome. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.37|173.245.54.37]] 03:23, 5 November 2019 (UTC)

: I doubt it. The feature is easily duplicated by simply tearing out the tab you want to keep and then closing the other window. I doubt that would be a dealbreaker. Plus, well, Chrome doesn't play nice with trying to stay on the older version. [[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 03:29, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
:: Yeah, there are far too many other examples of unwelcome changes to far too many pieces of software to think this is referring to this in particular.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.166|162.158.75.166]] 10:35, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
::: However, there are quite lot of very unwelcomed changes specifically in major browsers ... Mozilla's decision to stop supporting original format of their extensions comes into mind ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 04:43, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

It's not so clear to me that SaaS requires the software to run in the Cloud. Adobe's Creative Cloud is argued to be Software as a Service, but the programs actually run on the local system. [[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 03:29, 5 November 2019 (UTC)

The definition in the Wikipedia article on SaaS includes that requirement. I would describe Adobe Creative Cloud more like the way its Wikipedia article does, as providing a combination of software applications delivered on a subscription model, mobile apps, and cloud services, with only the latter being the SaaS part. [[User:Bugstomper|Bugstomper]] ([[User talk:Bugstomper|talk]]) 03:51, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
:Yes, Photoshop is installed on my machine, and I can run it when I'm not connected to the Internet. Definitely not SaaS. SaaS doesn't have to be from the cloud, but it must be something served when you use it. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 06:20, 5 November 2019 (UTC)

I think the explanation is probably misinterpreting the intent of the title text. Given the point of the main comic, rather than saying some have very fast ping times, I think it's saying they may have very slow ping time, on the order of months or years, between times when they decide to download an updated version. The explanation written here definitely feels off, as lots of software running doesn't involve even a local office server, but runs entirely on the computer in front of the user, and again it doesn't relate to the main comic.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.46|108.162.216.46]] 06:58, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
:I was going to say the same. Cloud software will include some frontend code to display data to the user; often some javascript in a webpage. I think the title text is treating 'regular' software as if the developers and their computers creating updates are the part which runs "in the cloud". In some cases, this might mean actually sending off for disks for an update (a 'ping time' in weeks), and the timeout before disconnection causes an error could be years or longer. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.50|141.101.77.50]] 09:22, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
:: The part about a "server in the same office" should just be removed. Software ''on your own computer'' is also running in the cloud - there's no fundamental difference between software running locally or remotely except for the connectivity issues (latency and packet loss etc.) in transferring the data. Your own computer is a "cloud server" with extremely fast (a few milliseconds) ping, whereas accessing a server on another continent may cause latency of a few hundred milliseconds (or more, if packet loss is bad enough) and this is what the "ping times vary a lot" line is referring to. I don't think it's referring to software updates. -- [[User:Pureawes0me|Pureawes0me]] ([[User talk:Pureawes0me|talk]]) 09:45, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
::: Again, that interpretation would be a lot more credible if the primary topic of the main comic wasn't about updating software with very long intervals in between. Making the point you are saying doesn't match at all, and isn't nearly as clever or entertaining of an observation. The very absurdity of claiming waiting weeks or months for a software update is a "ping time" (which is normally something measured in milliseconds) seems to match the typical kind of humor of this comic. Reminds me of that comic a bit ago with the fruit vending machine that required you to wait for a tree to grow.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.166|162.158.75.166]] 10:35, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
::::It could refer to both. Therefore they vary a lot.

Oh, hey, that looks like my Android version (because Google apparently thinks no one would want to record their own calls). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.118|162.158.142.118]] 09:50, 5 November 2019 (UTC)

Would just like to mention that the definition of 'software as a service' is actually that you pay for a subscription, that is a regular reoccurring fee. That's not usually the case. 17:28, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
:If you have to be compatible with other users and the file formats (or whatever) change, it could end up being a "regular recurring" fee for all practical purposes, paid at whatever interval your friends or colleagues allow before they expect you to have upgraded. [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 18:14, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
::That would be an 'irregular' reoccurring fee, as opposed to a 'regular' one. A 'regular' one is one that's periodic and the period is the same each time. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 18:39, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

I am confused about the location of the label '''Newest version'''. Wouldn't the newest version be located at the highest line in the diagram? Unless the lines above "Newest version" are future versions? [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 18:02, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
:The arrow is pointing to the upper edge of the shaded region. The upper edge of that region represents the "newest version" at any moment in time, while the lower edge of the shaded region represents the oldest supported version. [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 18:14, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
::Thanks, now it makes sense. It would be a little clearer if the arrow for Newest version was pointing to the upper horizontal line and the arrow for Oldest version was pointing to the lower horizontal line of the shaded area, instead of pointing to the vertical lines. To my interpretation, vertical lines mark points in time and horizontal lines mark versions. What do you think? [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 18:32, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
:::I think it is only because you saw it the wrong way to begin with. The arrow points to the two darker gray lines, surrounding the light gray area. The lines represents the newest version number existing and the oldest version number supported. It does not matter which part of the line that the arrows point to, as it is the entire line that is representing what the labels say. It is not where the arrow point to the lines that is important. As the label is for the entire line. This is unlike the two points marked with dots on the black line, which is a particular point in time. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:05, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

Speaking of unsupported... Now that Apple is dumping all support for 32-bit apps, it's worse than just using an unsupported app: those of us with "legacy" 32-bit apps will have to run an unsupported '''Operating System''' that no doubt will not work with all sorts of upcoming apps. I don't even want to think about the number of apps that I will have to pay to upgrade to 64bit. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 12:23, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

There is one app, that I think we can all agree is a blessing that it has gone away, '''Flash Player'''! Good riddance! [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:08, 6 November 2019 (UTC)
:No, we do not all agree. :) Also I won't consider it gone until sites stop using it, and I haven't seen that yet. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:00, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

Funny, this comic so well encapsulates where I just got with iTunes. Except that "break" was intentional, LOL! Idiots split off Books and a few other things into separate apps, because of course people would rather have 10 programs clogging up their computers than just 1. Since I actually use the Books feature, to sync to my iPad, that's a deal breaker, no more updates for me. And "app" doesn't sound like something available for a Windows computer, just mobile devices and strangely Macs because Apple is a collection of weirdo idiots who've lost touch with the real world. LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:00, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

I'm not telling you whether this comment is being written on my Dell Latitude laptop (still running XP) or my Tab 3 (still running Android 4.4.2), but this comic relates to me in so many ways... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.175|162.158.154.175]] 00:07, 10 November 2019 (UTC)


{{Talk:2220: Imagine Going Back in Time/Ads}}

Talk:2012: Thorough Analysis

2018-06-29T09:42:44Z

162.158.154.175:

I started the explanation. Things that need investigation: Is this an actual scientific paper somewhere? Can anyone find the original source? If not, perhaps still based on real events? [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 18:06, 27 June 2018 (UTC)
:The earthquake was a real event: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1811-1812newmadrid/summary.php & https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-great-midwest-earthquake-of-1811-46342/ (this one mentions the church bells) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.130|162.158.63.130]] 18:15, 27 June 2018 (UTC)david0mp
::A quick search of Google scholar doesn't turn up anything close to this paper. Tried various combinations of New Madrid Earthquake, Bell, Church, etc. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 19:47, 27 June 2018 (UTC)

Maybe its ‘cause I’m dumb, but I originally interpreted the caption as meaning that these papers investigated minor details *about* the thoroughness of the 9/11 commission’s report. As in, the 9/11 commission mentioned this bell tower somewhere, and this report is debunking it. The explanation on here should probably make clear what the intended meaning is. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.162|172.68.47.162]] 19:08, 27 June 2018 (UTC)

It looks like this paper covers the earthquake and church bells (https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2000JB900110), but the church bell mentioned is in Georgia and not South Carolina. Close enough I guess? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.10|172.68.54.10]] 19:34, 27 June 2018 (UTC)

Wikipedia quotes the John Reynolds account suggesting a church bell was heard to ring in Cahokia, Illinois.
Interestingly New Madrid is in the Kentucky Bend exclave - which I assume would have been simplified when the border was straightened to fix survey errors. Unsigned

My favorite genre of [website] are exhaustive [1000]-page [wikis] that [explain] some minor [webcomic] with the obsessive thoroughness of the 9/11 commission report.
Is Randall trolling you guys? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.88|198.41.238.88]] 12:40, 28 June 2018 (UTC)
:I don't know, but it's a good one. [[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 14:12, 28 June 2018 (UTC)

Any utility in mentioning that while Charleston, SC is not in the New Madrid seismic zone, it had its own {{w|1886 Charleston earthquake|7.0-ish earthquake in 1886}}? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.97|173.245.52.97]] 16:26, 28 June 2018 (UTC)

I find it amusing that the explanation of this comic (including the stuff about who could comment on the bell structure) is a good example of exactly the phenomenon the comic is talking about - over-detailed research (not that in this case it's a bad thing) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.175|162.158.154.175]] 09:42, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

Talk:461: Google Maps

2017-09-20T17:07:06Z

162.158.154.175:

By the end, it's really starting to sound like a text-based fantasy adventure game, or possibly a game of D&D. This adds an additional level of humour: using Google Maps to navigate around virtual worlds.

I particularly liked the "Go pi miles", and the "Careful" instructions in the Google Maps "Action" column on the right. ''--[[User:MisterSpike|MisterSpike]] ([[User talk:MisterSpike|talk]]) 18:58, 26 June 2013 (UTC)''

:Yes it is very much like old text games. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 04:18, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

:To me, it actually looks like a '''walkthrough''' for an adventure game of some sort. Or possibly a hint book considering the "official-sounding" last part. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.234|108.162.231.234]] 06:38, 25 December 2013 (UTC)

The Spectral Wolf plays a role in World of Warcraft, but as I am not a WoW player, I don't feel qualified to update the explanation. Any WoWians want to add a paragraph on the Spectral Wolf?[[User:Nsimonetti|NikoNarf]] ([[User talk:Nsimonetti|talk]]) 19:17, 14 November 2013 (UTC)
:I am one, but the Reins of the Spectral Wolf were not released until the Cataclysm expansion (December 2010). Thus a WoW-related explanation for the wolf would be anachronistic. [[User:Amurfalcon|Amurfalcon]] ([[User talk:Amurfalcon|talk]]) 21:07, 10 December 2013 (UTC)
:I am one as well. There was a quest that Tauren did in their starting region, where they had to follow a spectral wolf. If I remember correctly, it was in Vanilla WoW. No anachronism here. {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.98}}

I'm not sure what is meant by the use of the term "Straw Man" instead of scarecrow or some other spooky or Halloween-themed equivalent. Perhaps it is a reference to the fallacy, but the fallacy is unassociated with "waking" unless maybe it's loosely related to the aggression that generally accompanies the attack of a straw man. {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.66}}

:"They also apparently woke the Straw Man."
I don't think there's more implied than that they lost time getting past, or detouring around, 'the Straw Man'. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.203|108.162.219.203]] 14:13, 25 December 2013 (UTC)

Looks like "Zork" to me. Anyone remember Zork? {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.229}}

The Spectral Wolf would make all of this work so worthwhile. I mean... you would be getting a SPECTRAL WOLF! I wish I had a real one. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 13:41, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

Does anyone know if the name Charlie means something?{{unsigned|Dontknow}}

;Googles directions weren't just suboptimal in some cases they were crazy

IIRC I saw one set of directions that told the reader to "swim across the atlantic ocean" not once (well docuemnted easter egg) but twice as well as driving round most of europe to get to a destination in the same country they started in. -- plugwash [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.66|108.162.219.66]] 23:29, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

This comic describes a real place. Googling "rt-22 and lake shore road" will result in a ferry crossing in Essex, NY. Route-22 (Station ST) becomes Lake Shore road through a left turn near Pink Pig Cottage Antiques. About 300 feet from that T intersection is a small, unnamed, road on the right leading to the Essex-Charloette ferry route. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.103|173.245.52.103]] 22:34, 13 November 2014 (UTC)

:And thanks to [https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@44.310745,-73.351234,3a,75y,66.75h,75.32t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1scRAKgyvNh43nlSL6Et9CNQ!2e0 Streetview] we can see the ferry [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.99|141.101.98.99]] 21:22, 10 April 2015 (UTC).

There is the additional joke of going around the lake twice looking for a ferry. Wherever along the lake shores the ferry was going to go, they already passed by driving around the lake. Also, I think "godspeed" maybe another pun (meaning both "good luck," and implying you will travel at the speed of the gods). [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 11:29, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

"Godspeed" is a traditional term of farewell to someone about to take a possibly dangerous journey. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.123|108.162.241.123]] 20:12, 6 October 2016 (UTC)

Although the title text says, "Google assumes you're traveling during the ferry's normal operating hours", at the time the printout was made the ferry may have been operating.

1806: Borrow Your Laptop

2017-03-03T08:13:10Z

162.158.154.175: /* We go out on limbs, not limps */

{{comic
| number = 1806
| date = March 3, 2017
| title = Borrow Your Laptop
| image = borrow_your_laptop.png
| titletext = If used with software that could keep up, a scroll wheel mapped to send a stream of 'undo' and 'redo' events could be kind of cool.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|First attempt at a full explanantion. More details about what is possible and what is reasonable could b needed (and speel check).}}
In this comic [[White Hat]] asks if he can borrow [[Cueball|Cueball's]] laptop to load something. Cueball has no problem with this, but before White Hat can use his laptop there is just a "short" list of very special configurations that he has to know.

In the caption it is revealed that Cueball represents [[Randall]] who claims that once he has used a computer for a while he has made so many of these special configurations that no one else will ever be able to (or wish to) use it again.

As many other computer users Randall likes to customize his PC. Of the three items in Cueball's list of customizations only one seems like a real and relevant settings. That is the first where he tells that hitting both shift keys simultaneously will change the keyboard back to QWERTY. The {{w|QWERTY}} keyboard is the standard in the US (and other places using roman letters). It has been a [[:Category:Dvorak|recurrent theme]] for Randall to refer to the {{w|Dvorak Simplified Keyboard|Dvorak}} keyboard layout, and although he doesn't say so, it seems safe to assume that this is the current setting. Supporters keeps claiming that typing speed is faster on a Dvorak keyboard although this has never been proven and is a reason Randall often makes jokes about it. (See more details [[:Category:Dvorak|here]]).

The next point on the list makes no sense as Cueball has changed his keyboard layout so caps lock acts as the control key and then he has moved capslock so that is activated when hitting spacebar, the largest and most used key on the keyboard. Thus it makes absolutely no sense, and what is worse he doesn't tell White Hat where he has hid the space bar, although it could of course be the ctrl keys, which would at least give him to spacebars to use on either side of the keyboard.

Finally he goes out on a limb with an impossible setting that has made his scroll wheel able to move through time instead of through "space" as in up and down on the screen. However, only when using two-finger scroll, whatever that means? And it is clear that this was not the last important point, as Cueball's list ends with another point which is not included in the comic.

In the title text it is revealed that Cueball actually did not mean moving in real time, like time travel, but rather that the scroll wheel would act as an undo-redo button. In the title text Randall says that he would actually find such a feature cool, but that he doesn't think that the programs on his laptop could follow up if his scroll wheel was mapped to send a stream of undo/redo commands to them as he used it.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat walks toward Cueball's desk pointing at his laptop while looking back at Cueball standing behind him.]
:White Hat: Can I load it up on your laptop?
:Cueball: Sure!
:Cueball: Oh, just hit both shift keys to change over to QWERTY.
:Cueball: Caps lock is control. And spacebar is capslock.
:Cueball: And two-finger scroll moves through time instead of space.
:Cueball: And-

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Once I've used a computer for a while no one else will ever use it again.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Time]]