explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1766: Apple Spectrum

2016-11-30T19:03:48Z

162.158.214.230: /* Explanation */ The two dimensions of the spectrum extend past the named apples

{{comic
| number = 1766
| date = November 30, 2016
| title = Apple Spectrum
| image = apple_spectrum.png
| titletext = If I were trapped on a desert island, and could have an unlimited supply of any one type of apple, I'd be like, "How did this situation happen?"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Explain Granny Smith}}
The comic shows a {{w|spectrum}} of different types of apples, with {{w|Red Delicious}} towards the bad end of the spectrum, and {{w|Honeycrisp}} towards the good end of the spectrum. Although most spectrums are only one-dimensional, {{w|Granny Smith}} is on some side branch, implying that the taste is so different from the other two that it deserves its own category. (Perhaps this refers to the fact that the Granny Smith is primarily a cooking apple while the named apples on the main spectrum are eating apples. Additionally, Granny Smith apples have a tart, or sour, flavor with a subtle sweetness.) The rest of the apple types fall somewhere in between. [[Randall]] has previously shown his disdain for Red Delicious apples in [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]] and footnote 1 in [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgZIBAAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA97#v=onepage&q&f=false this what if].

In the title text Randall observes a common type of hypothetical question. If he was on a desert island with an unlimited supply of any one type of apple, what would the type be? However, Randall dodges the question by questioning the logic of the system, and asking why he was in this particular situation, as most people who are stuck on a desert island wouldn't have an unlimited supply of apple. The question is designed to figure out what a person likes the best, however it completely backfired, as the person, instead of answering, questioned the plausibility of the situation.

==Transcript==
[A flowchart, showing types of apples. Each apple is in a bubble]
<div style="text-align: center;">
Bad <-- Red Delicious -- Regular apples -- Honeycrisp --> Good
 |
 |
 Granny Smith
 |
 V
 Doing their own thing
</div>

{{comic discussion}}

954: Chin-Up Bar

2016-11-22T03:44:18Z

162.158.214.230: Typos and special characters

{{comic
| number = 954
| date = September 21, 2011
| title = Chin-Up Bar
| image = chin up bar.png
| titletext = Those few who escaped found the emergency cutoff box disabled. The stampede lasted two hours and reached the bottom three times.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] has a plan to block traffic on the {{w|Escalator#Longest individual escalators|longest single-tier escalator}} in the Western hemisphere. At the time of the comic's publishing, that placed the comic in the {{w|Wheaton (WMATA station)|Wheaton station}} in {{w|Washington D.C.}}'s {{w|Washington Metro}} subway system, where the 70-meter (230-foot) escalator is. An {{w|escalator}} is a motorized stairway. It's clear that Black Hat knows it is the longest and that this is the reason he has chosen this exact escalator for his evil plan.

Black Hat caries a {{w|chin-up bar}} over his shoulder up the escalator, resulting in a conversation with his friend [[Cueball]], riding up behind him, about Black Hat's motives for doing such, where Black Hat uses sly conversing methods to avoid saying his true motives. First he counters the question with another question: ''Why aren't you wearing a hat''. Cueball's reply is a normal ''I'm not really a hat person'', whereas Black Hat's copy reply is not a real answer; ''I'm not really a not-carrying-a-chin-up-bar person'', is probably a sentence never used before this comic. It takes Cueball a second to process this answer. But he doesn't give up and asks again, but Black Hat just continues avoiding him by stating that ''I'm not a psychologist''—so how should he know why he does these strange (and evil) things. (Regarding psychologist the see [[#Trivia|trivia section]]).

After this they reach the top and after they get off Black Hat quickly turns around and locks the bar in place at about waist height (i.e. as high up as possible on an escalator), just before the moving part of the escalator ends.

Chin-up bars are typically capable of holding up a 300 pound (130 kg) person without moving, and a bar like Black Hat has brought with him can be [https://www.amazon.com/Sunny-Health-Fitness-Door-Chin/dp/B0016BNDXI/ref=sr_1_6?s=sports-and-fitness&ie=UTF8&qid=1470541509&sr=1-6&keywords=chin+up+bar installed easily in a doorway], or in the opening of an escalator…

The unexpected appearance of a solidly attached bar at the top of a crowded escalator could be disastrous. The first people would probably stumble backward to avoid it or hit it and topple backwards, and collide with the passengers immediately behind them, knocking them off their feet and likely creating a {{w|domino effect}} all the way down. And this is exactly what happens in the last panel. A psychologist would probably be very interested in the fact that Black Hat is not even looking back at the mayhem he has thus created. His friend Cueball is not so detached and has turned around looking showing he is clearly consternated about what Black Hat has been doing. But now it is just the right time to get away as quickly as possible. Actually from the looks of it, they should be lucky not to get hit by someone falling all the way over in their descending side of the escalator… (But such a thing just doesn't happen to Black Hat!) Since they are most likely on the way down to a subway, it should be easy to get away on the next train, before anyone has a chance to try and find the perpetrator. Black Hat gets away with his evil schemes once again.

In the title text it is made clear that the few people that actually escaped the moving stairs were unable to use the emergency shutdown because Black Hat had disabled the system, presumably before ascending in the first place. And this caused the {{w|stampede}} to last for two hours and waves of falling people would end up reaching the bottom three times. The reason for this could be that only the very first people at the top of this domino effect who actually hit the chin-up-bar knows what caused the problem to begin with. Since they are likely among those people too hurt to explain anything in time, the next group of people trying to get out after the first wave of falling people came crashing down to the bottom might just proceed to run into the same problem at the top once again. Especially since it was not possible to turn the movement off, and thus even if the first person do see the chin-up-bar he cannot get away before getting tumbled back into all the other people behind him. This thus explain why it happened three times before someone managed to get the chin-up-bar away safely. That it ended up in a stampede may also relate to the last of the three times, when people at the bottom start to panic because it seems they cannot get out again. This scenario is made realistic because the escalator is so extremely long.

Considering how often people have tried to emulate some of [[Randall|Randall's]] comics, it is a somewhat dangerous comic to draw. Hopefully no one has actually tried to do this (yet)…

==Transcript==
:[Zoomed out view with Black Hat in the middle standing on an escalator with five other people as it ascends. He is carrying a pole with what looks like a bracket on each end, resting on his shoulder. In front of him is Ponytail, and in front of her is a guy with spiky hair and pimples. Behind Black Hat is Cueball. Behind Cueball is a man wearing glasses with a small goatee standing next to Megan.]

:[Zoom in on Black Hat and Cueball. In the background in front of Black Hat a girl with long black hair can be seen standing on the descending escalator. Most of the characters that appear on the descending side of the escalator is drawn in light gray instead of black.]
:Cueball: This is a long escalator.
:Black Hat: 70 meters. Longest in the country.

:[In the background the girl with long hair from the last panel has now passed the two so she is now behind Cueball, right behind Cueball passes another Cueball-like guy (drawn in black not gray), partly obscured by Cueball, and in front of Black Hat a woman with black ponytail is also descending. Beat panel.]

:[In the background the girl with black ponytail from the last panel has now passed the two so she is now behind Cueball, in front of Black Hat a man with baseball cap is descending.]
:Cueball: Why're you carrying a chin-up bar?
:Black Hat: Why aren't you wearing a hat?

:[The view returns to the original view only showing the six people ascending, only shifted so they are all a bit longer to the right.]
:Cueball: I'm not really a hat person.
:Black Hat: And I'm not really a not-carrying-a-chin-up-bar person.

:[Close up on Cueball on the escalator. Beat panel.]

:[Zoom out again to show Ponytail, in front of Black Hat, reaching the end of the escalator where the handle bends from rising to going straight. The pimpled guy has already left the panel and the escalator. The guy with goatee and Megan is still behind Black Hat and Cueball.]
:Cueball: Seriously, why did you bring it?
:Black Hat: How should I know? I'm not a psychologist.

:[Zoom in on the top of the escalator where Black Hat steps off and then turns around to quickly install the chin-up bar in the exit of the escalator clicking and twisting it into place. He did let Cueball of first, and Cueball stops and looks back at Black Hat over his shoulder.]
:''Twist''
:''Click''
:''Click''

:[View from above towards both ascending (left) and descending (right) escalators. Black Hat and Cueball has immediately moved onto the descending escalator already their heads are on height with the top handle bar. It is now revealed that Black Hat placed the chin-up bar in such a way that it blocks people from leaving the escalator sitting at about waist height. The man with glasses and a goatee is shown holding hands with Megan and they are now blocked from leaving the escalator by the chin-up bar. They are slightly higher up than Black Hat and Cueball.]

:[The final panel takes up two entire rows (the size of six of the previous nine panels). The view shows an extended section of the escalator, the top right has become a pile of people all squished together and on top of each other, making it impossible to find out who's limbs or heads belongs to which body etc. At least 18 maybe 19 people are full or partly drawn on the ascending escalator. At the very top right there seems to be two Cueball-like heads above a Ponytail-like head, then the goatee guys head, as indicated by the line from his glasses and at the bottom a Hairy-like head. Behind them are another person with hair (could be either sex as someone hold on to this hair making it difficult to tell, see below, and thus it could also be Megan from the previous panel), a third Cueball-like guy holding a hand up in front of his face, and the top of a fourth Cueball-like head at the bottom partly below the handle. Behind the guy holding a hand up is a Megan-like woman (longer hair than the Megan from the previous panels) trying to run down the escalator an arm out in both directions. A fifth Cueball-like guy is standing on that woman's head grabbing on to the the hair of the person in front of him to the right, the one with hair (either sex) in an attempt to avoid the melee below him. Below his other foot which is in the air is a sixth Cueball-like guy who is also trying to get down, both hands out in front of him, like the Megan-like woman behind him with a guy on her head. That guy is pushing one of his hands into the head of a second Ponytail-like woman, who is falling backwards throwing her arms up. Over her head is a seventh Cueball-like guy, who maybe tried the same at he guy standing on peoples head, because he is hanging in the air above her his head pointing down towards her head, his feet in he air and his arms out as he tumbles back first down the escalator. A second Hairy-like guy is behind Ponytail trying to run down the escalator, arms in running position, and he is almost reaching an eight Cueball-like guy, who holds his arms out from his body leaning back. Behind him is a second Megan-like woman holding both hands up in her hair. After that there is a small segment without people, and then a ninth Cueball-like guy holding his hands in front of his mouth stands right next to a man with flat hair and square glasses holding one arm slightly out toward the people in front. In the lower left corner, drawn with the gray lines for the ascending characters, is Black Hat standing in a relaxed position with a hand on the handlebar looking toward the bottom of the escalator, while Cueball, behind him and further up, looks back at the scene over his shoulder holding a hand up in front of his mouth.]

==Trivia==
*It would appear that the man behind Cueball with glasses and a goatee is the psychologist from [[435: Purity]], and then Megan next to him could be the sociologist from the same comic. This gives new meaning to Black Hat's line about not being a psychologist.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Psychology]]

445: I Am Not Good with Boomerangs

2016-11-22T03:34:22Z

162.158.214.230: Grammar

{{comic
| number = 445
| date = July 4, 2008
| title = I Am Not Good with Boomerangs
| image = i_am_not_good_with_boomerangs.png
| titletext = Bonus strip: just read the rightmost panels straight down.
}}

==Explanation==
The strip shows [[Cueball]] throwing a boomerang four times, each time finding a difficulty in catching it.

The first time, it merely hits him in the head. 
The second time, six boomerangs come after him. 
The third time, a shark somehow returns to him. 
The fourth and final time, his girlfriend [[Megan]] floats back to him—then she states: "I'm leaving you."

The title text refers to a bonus strip—if one reads the rightmost panels straight down, you get a strip that suggests that Megan threw multiple things at him out of anger before breaking up with him. This seems to mirror the plot of the 2006 comedy film ''{{w|My Super Ex-Girlfriend}}'', in which the eponymous character throws multiple things at the protagonist (including a shark) prior to breaking up with him.

Boomerangs return in a kind of sequel [[475: Further Boomerang Difficulties]], which might also have yet another sequel in [[939: Arrow]]. Finally boomerangs also became a main theme in the interactive comic [[1350: Lorenz]]. The same format of multiple bad endings to the same starting set-up is used in [[1515: Basketball Earth]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball throws a boomerang, but it hits him in the head when it returns.]

:[Cueball throws the boomerang again, but this time several boomerangs chase after him.]

:[Cueball throws the boomerang once more, and this time a shark inexplicably appears.]

:[Cueball throws the boomerang a final time, and Megan appears, hovering.]
:Megan: I'm leaving you.

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

Talk:1534: Beer

2016-11-11T20:31:45Z

162.158.214.230:

I hate the taste and smell and associations (such as urine and vomit where they shouldn't be). A friend used to freely admit he didn't like the taste and only drank to get drunk. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.161|108.162.249.161]] 06:24, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

This is why there are so many different styles of beers, or wines, or other alcoholic beverages. I personally don't care for IPAs, but will rarely pass up a good Pilsner.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.189|108.162.238.189]] 07:37, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

:LOL, that's exactly what Cueball is talking about. Beer is a canonical example of {{w|acquired taste}}. But even after having done so, all hoppy beers (including most IPAs and Pilsners) still taste pretty similar to me. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 11:39, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

:: Like of beer is actually a really bad example of acquired taste. I was stealing sips of beer from my dad at age 3-4, if he had an unattended open beer. Liking of beer is primarily generics, and secondary acquired taste. Now talk about {{w|Marmite}} and discuss acquired taste. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 16:21, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

:::And you, sir, are a canonical example of an ''outlier''. 😜 Seriously though, go to http://google.com and type "is an acquired taste". Google's very first autocomplete suggestion is beer. I'm not saying it's necessarily a ''good'' example, but it is about as canonical as you can get. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 03:09, 6 June 2015 (UTC)

Is it possible that the characters, being American, have only ever tasted American beer? So when Cueball says that "all beer tastes kind of bad" hat he really means is "all American beer tastes kind of bad"? That would make a lot more sense (especially if you assume that they only buy from the major brands, and haven't yet tried beer from microbreweries.) --[[User:PeR|PeR]] ([[User talk:PeR|talk]]) 09:30, 5 June 2015 (UTC)
:Well the other character mentions "Stouts", which the major American brands don't really produce (or at least don't heavily market). I think from that it's safe to assume that these characters are basing their opinions on American Craft brews, and not just Budweiser. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.87|173.245.52.87]] 14:02, 6 June 2015 (UTC)
:entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem. I think too many people forget Occam's Razor here, and are too eager to engage in deeper analysis than the content can really support without help from, say, an interview with Randall. No offense intended; this is a trend on this wiki in general. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.201|108.162.221.201]] 13:18, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

::I'm kind of tired of people automatically assuming is someone doesn't like beer, it's because the person saying so has only been exposed to bad ones due to their locality. I don't like beer at all because it tastes like a mouthful of yeast and medicine. Alcohol in general is an acquired taste for most people, who usually only start drinking it due to social pressure or as a recreational drug. Yeasty foods are as well, especially yeasty breads, and beer is basically fermented bread juice when you get down to it. There's also a genetic link behind whether or not someone will like alcohol, and it's usually he effect rather than the taste that makes it appealing. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.111.209|188.114.111.209]] 14:45, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

::: You need to read the research -- it is actually linked to genetic differences in taste-buds. You may not like it, which is not unlikely, but that does not say that is the same for others who may be genetically disposed otherwise [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 18:54, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

:: ''...people are too eager to engage in deeper analysis than he content can support...'' - Isn't overanalyzing every minute detail the entire point of this wiki? Of course the explanations should be concise, but that doesn't apply to the wild mass guessing happening in the discussion. - [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.96|108.162.254.96]] 14:25, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

: It is also possible that (from my perspective as an American) most people grow up thinking only certain flavors taste good, and anything outside of that is bad. For example, food that has spoiled taste bad, however both sour cream and buttermilk (both which have a flavor similar to spoiled food) taste pleasant once you associate that taste with good. And people that like "simple" beer (such as pilsners) may initially have trouble with a stout, or IPA, or anything that has a bitter taste in it, because "bitter" is associate with being "bad". On the other hand, some cultures can't stand overly-sweet foods, since that wasn't part of their upbringing.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.42|162.158.75.42]] 00:13, 9 October 2016 (UTC)

Speaking from personal experience, I've never tried any form of alcohol that I've liked. And if you must know my experience is mainly centered around beer that's highly recommended by friends and family. The last case was at a tour of a local microbrewery that seems to be doing extremely well. I'm sure if I pulled a large scale taste test I'd aquire enough of a taste to delude myself into thinking that something or other is actually worth drinking but I don't see why I should go through the effort just to conform to a social norm. --not the mama[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.180|108.162.238.180]] 14:30, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

: You should NOT conform to social norm but drink what YOU feel taste good -- 10.000 years ago, humanity needed portable water -- west of the Urals, humans stared to use fermentation as a method to keep bacteria out of the drinking water, where east they started to brew tea -- their descendant responded genetically over the next 10.000 years with European developing genetic traits to be tolerant and liking the fermented brew. Beer is predominantly limited to north Europe as it has lower alcohol levels compared to wine -- the higher alcohol volume is needed to keep bacteria out in the warmer southern Europe -- HENCE unless you are of northen european decent you may not genetically be programmed to like (or tolerate) the taste of beer -- just don't drink beer if you don't like it !!! [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 19:06, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

::I'm 1/16th northern European (Dutch), 1/4th southern European, Native American too. Guess I didn't get the North Europe beer gene. Why'd the even northerner Europeans like the Russians and Scottish become distilled spirit drinkers? Did their beer freeze too easily so they made vodka and whiskey? If this is why the north developed a beer culture then why'd Egyptians and Mesopotamians drink beer? It's very hot there. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.59|108.162.215.59]] 20:08, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

:: Wait. Alcohol was a method of keeping drinking water clean? That's a terrible way to stay hydrated. Alcohol makes you pee more. What is this I don't even. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.169|108.162.215.169]] 11:17, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

::::In the past they drank something called small beer for the water which was at least as low alcohol as lite beer today. Google it to see if it's lighter than lite beer, I don't care enough to check. They drank the full-strength beer when they wanted to party. Children drank a lower alcohol version of small beer (well they *did* die so disproportionately from germs anyway before we even get to the water germs). Similarly, nobody drank wine for thirst, they mixed it with water. Since water hydrates and full-strength beer dehydrates maybe they put enough water that they could live without drinking gallons of weak booze per day. I don't know how Islam survived with a Prohibition like that though. I think anything that makes you slightly "buzzed" if you drink as much as humanly possible is illegal. Even now the Saudi oil monopoly's "Western-style walled-off city" is under uncodified sharia law and a wine cooler would only be legal if you watered down with 1 or 19 parts water (I don't know if they have a statutory limit but if you can manage to drink 15 US gallons of 50% diluted wine cooler within 15 hours then you would get a little "buzzed" (= 12 US oz of beer). (They do sell beer dealcoholized to under 0.05% for the Islamic market (10% of Prohibition-legal "near-beer", and 5% of a wine cooler) so people can enjoy the horrible flavor without any possibility of getting "buzzed" (about 1/10th of a beer "drunk" if you drink a US gallon an hour *without stopping for 15 hours*, the importance of not stopping cannot be overstressed. If you stop for even 6 minutes near the end you will "sober up" 100% and you'll have to do this a whole nother 15 hours again) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.155|108.162.238.155]] 19:04, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

:::::About the "buzzed" rule, the emirs tried to ban coffee, but every one loved it so much they eventually realized they weren't going to squash the habit and decided, hey, at least it's a stimulant, those who drink it can a lot more of God's work done than they could without. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.23}}

::: (1) "predominantly" and "exclusively" are to different words; they are also brewing wine in England. (2) Distilled alcohol for mass consumption is relatively new (~500 years), before that the process was known but not used for this purpose. (3) Many Europeans drink tea these days -- culture and fashion travels. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 00:55, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

:::: Global warming has the power to make England the best place to grow champagne. Chalky. Kent. Soil. Mmmmmm. Bordeaux will have to make whatever wine they now make in Spain. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.94|108.162.215.94]] 16:53, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

Agreed. Major brands suck, but probably in most countries, even Germany, where people usually have very high opinion about German beer. There are thousands of small breweries, though, some with a very old tradition (like in monasteries), and many just popping up recently. At some microbreweries you have to order weeks in advance, but the brew you get is really exceptional, and you'll drink it at room temperature from wine glasses. Absolutely not meant for getting drunk. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.107|108.162.254.107]] 10:47, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

I am disliking to indifferent to most of brands of beer, but I like a few specific ones, like Ginger's Beer, or gingerbread beer from local brewery. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 11:34, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

I know that beer is generally considered to be an acquired taste, but some people acquire that taste really quickly. The first beer I ever drank was a Miller that I stole from a case that my dad had left sitting in the kitchen for months. I was 12, and it is still probably the worst thing I've ever tasted. I decided I didn't like beer, and from ages 12 to 17 the only alcohol I drank was wine. At 17, I tried keg beer and was utterly indifferent to it. By the time I turned 19 I was into good local beers, but if I've been in the heat for a long time, I'll drink watery mediocre beer and it will be divine. And then there's shower beer...oh, shower beer!12:27, 5 June 2015 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|108.162.225.36}}

The only thing worse than a pilsner is an IPA... which is just a stronger version of a pilsner. Most beer just has way too high of an IBU rating. At least malts aren't entirely awful and oatmeal malts are somewhat palatable. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.83|162.158.255.83]] 14:25, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

Culturally, for me, the common booze is 'a pint of bitter' (or 'best'). I apparently had my first sip when a toddler. I 'sneakily' took a sip from the top of a glass sat in front of my father, before screwing my face up most amusingly, I am told. I then went straight back in for another... it's not obvious to me if I was being influenced to 'want to like it'. Perhaps it was just the novelty. Anyway, I will admit I don't ''love'' the taste of bitter, but at least it's got an significant taste that all the seemingly anonymous mass-produced lagers can't match. (OTOH, cider's quite stimulating, but I take against the overly fizzy ones.) When it comes to non-alcoholic beverages, I will actively ''refuse'' a cup of tea (the social norm for adults, especially someone like me in their fifth decade), however socially awkward and unexpected, and politely turn down the offer of a coffee, if possible, on the basis that I might not be staying long. (I don't like teas at all, even fruit ones, but I can stand coffee if sweetened.) But it's ''amazing'' what we tend to eat and drink, just because it's expected. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.59|141.101.99.59]] 14:26, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

Great comic. This is just for me. I do not like beer. Any kind. And I do rarely drink them. Same with cofee ans tee which I never drink. It is not always easy - so nice to see this comic. :) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:33, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

I'm a stout man (will drink stout alone, if it is dark enough and if the hop content is small enough), but will admit that any beer is better after the fifth glass of it.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:40, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

;"Acquired Taste"

Part of the explanation refers to acquired tastes as being a response to social pressures and to avoid cognitive dissonance. This doesn't match the description of what the '''linked to''' wikipedia page for acquired tastes, as that page distinguishes authentic acquired tastes from those meeting the author's description.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquired_taste#Intentional_acquisition_of_tastes

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.190|108.162.238.190]] 15:08, 5 June 2015 (UTC)Aaron E

Budweiser tastes like urine. It's the most popular beer in the US. Immediately after trying it I tasted a drop of my urine to see if the urine was still worse and that wasn't enough urine to decide. Anyone care to put a larger amount of urine in their mouth for science? This is the crap they make Bud..Weis..Er and Wassuuuuuuup! commercials about? They actually make a Lite version of this so people can enjoy it while getting less drunk or fat? Extroverts are weird. Also, out of the legion of OKcupid questions the best predictor of the promiscuity question is "I like the taste of beer, true or false". So if you want to have sex quick, you want to hear "Beer tastes awesome! Woo! [Burp] [Vomit] Ooh!Ooh!" [drinks vodka from bottle] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.59|108.162.215.59]] 16:55, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

Strangely, many animals acquire a taste for alcohol, and they must do it quickly because they don't live long enough to do it slowly. Case in point-- robins and other birds, gobbling up fermented fallen fruit, and then stumbling around like human novice drinkers do. They only live 2-3 years, and they only have access to the stuff for a couple of weeks in the autumn, and yet, there they go, staggering down the sidewalk and tripping over imaginary twigs. And then there's my puppy, who was begging droplets of strong beer and black coffee off my fingertips from eight weeks old. (Good Canadian beer, by the way.) I wonder if a taste for bitterness might be adaptive, as many bitter plants are also medicinal? [[User:NoniMausa|NoniMausa]] ([[User talk:NoniMausa|talk]]) 22:46, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

Okay, some people don't like beer. That doesn't mean everyone who does is faking it. I gravitate towards IPAs, stouts, rye IPAs and barrel-aged strong beers. I also like scotch, rye, and some bourbons. I fucking love dark roasted black coffee. I savor all of these in company and alone. Stop being so solipsic.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.163|173.245.48.163]] 03:32, 6 June 2015 (UTC)

I actively dislike the taste of every beer that I have tried. That includes Guiness on tap in Dublin. I sort of got into trouble for it the few days I was there agus ag labhairt na Gaeilge. But this discussion is one of the most amusing and enjoyable arguments I have seen yet on this website. Go ahead on, folks! [[User:Taibhse|Taibhse]] ([[User talk:Taibhse|talk]]) 03:48, 6 June 2015 (UTC)

I've been scratching my head over this one since I saw it come out, and I still can't tell what Randall is trying to say. Are we meant to take it at face value, where Cueball is right on and Hairy is simply unwilling to admit that deep down he (just like apparently every other beer drinker everywhere) dislikes beer, and everyone is pretending because of social pressure? Or is this a subversion of the expected, and meant as a dig at the kind of person who would so arrogantly think that their personal dislike of something popular simply means everyone who claims to like it is pretending to do so out of social pressures or internalized expectations (no pun intended)? In this comic, Cueball comes across to me as kind of a passive-aggressive jerk (which is normally Hairy's role) as he openly derides something that someone else may genuinely enjoy by claiming everyone is pretending, and when reminded that it's fine for him to not drink it, he responds with bitter sarcasm. So who's the butt of the joke here? Hairy because he can't see that he's only doing something from social pressure? Or Cueball for assuming that Hairy (as well as the other millions of people who regularly enjoy beer around the world) is only doing something and pretending to like it because of social pressure.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.118|173.245.52.118]] 06:20, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

: +1 above comment. I'm on the side of the second interpretation, but my (possibly prejudiced guess) is that Randall may dislike beer!
: [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.186|108.162.238.186]] 13:00, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

:: Maybe both interpretations are valid, and this helps us see the problem of empathy here. The same way cueball can't be objectively sure about hairy faking it or not, we can't be absolutely sure about it either, not knowing if cueball is exposing harsh truths or being an unempathetic jerk. Our interpretation will be based on our own biases on the subject.[[Special:Contributions/188.114.99.29|188.114.99.29]] 13:28, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

::: Well said! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:42, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

I think this is a wildly fascinating conversation! First, it's interesting we all care so much about a beverage. Clearly, we view our own preference for beer as much more than a taste, but rather a statement of identity. Second, the popularity of objectively terrible and tasteless beers (originally from the US, but now mindlessly copied by practically every country on the planet) shows that it '''is''' possible that we beer lovers are deluding ourselves (and also that beer-avoiders are deluding themselves as well). The identity statement of preferring or avoiding beer may be so strong that we may not really know if we like beer or not.

Beer is diverse, and indeed if someone truly dislikes all of it for flavor reasons, they would be expected to also dislike either bread, bitter herbs, other alcohols, or all of the above. From the comments here, it seems that those who dislike beer also dislike other alcohol, so perhaps it is alcohol itself that can be highly distasteful. Ethanol doesn't have a flavor, so let's assume it's either the somewhat burny mouthfeel, or perhaps the mental effects of alcohol that are disliked.

It also seems that those who dislike beer have indeed not tried very much of it "I...dislike...every beer that I have tried. That includes Guiness..." provides fodder for those who would suggest, "Well, if Guiness is your idea of a beer, then you haven't nearly tried enough to know you dislike it!" However, as some have pointed out here, it is highly unfair to expect that someone who truly dislikes beer will try all of the thousands of varieties of it, presumably disliking every one, until we accept that the dislike is genuine.

Even the comic shows that Randall rejects beer without knowing much about it. That Hairy suggests two categories of beer to be "stouts" and "lagers" is telling. Stout is a specific style of beer, while lager is a giant category that includes beers as dissimilar as light american lager and Baltic Porter. Someone who likes and is interested in beer would not ask the question Hairy does. Yet Randall's beer ignorance may stem from avoidance due to a true dislike, and it would be unfair to expect him to gain competence in everything he finds offensive before we allow him his opinion. {{unsigned ip|Drummstikk}}

Lots to think about here! [[User:Drummstikk|Drummstikk]] ([[User talk:Drummstikk|talk]]) 19:21, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

Drinking alcoholic drinks of any description is just a stupid idea from the start. "Oh yeah, lets drink this thing that hampers our ability to think clearly and undermines several important inhibitions that stop us from hurling ourselves into traffic while puking! Clearly nothing can go wrong with this!". -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.221|162.158.2.221]] 23:48, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

:I don't know if you've actually been drunk to see what it's like or are thinking of others. When I was drunk, I bounced off of buildings cause home was so far and I realized that since square root of two is 141%, I could shorten my zig zag trip over 10% if I aim somewhat towards the wall and get pulled by the alcohol every few steps. (also, it was fun, like an amusement ride or a holodeck program I'd like to write). If I helped the drunk pull slightly (except fighting it near the sides to keep from slamming into the wall or breaking a tempered glass bus shelter) I could carom at least 8 feet off the bus shelters and buildings like a zig-zag billiard ball before it didn't feel like real artificial gravity was doing most of the work. I could say hey baby to every woman I passed and not attract a single one which is crazy. I still never lost the ability to add up the 12 and 18oz cans and fractions of cans of Bud I drunk, in ounces, subtract 12oz for each hour and fraction since I drunk those ounces and try to get halfway to 120 which is unconscious, except multiply by 125lbs/175lbs for a margin of safety because I do *not* want to black out, and estimate how many times over 0.08 DUI I was, all in my head. I held onto the banister with both hands for dear life. I even had the good judgement to switch to crawling the last flight or two. But I (and maybe you) have lots of IQ to spare. Since your average party/party "DUDE yeah!" dumbass is about 85 *sober*, they need all the IQ they can spare and must be literally retarded (= <70) when drunk. My dumbass father actually wanted me to go back down 5 flights of stairs, climb 8 ft down a fucking air shaft ladder and retrieve the keys I dropped. I don't care if you're mad I dropped my keys, I'm not leaving home till tomorrow. My father almost died several times. Once waded to floating depth with no lifeguard and can't swim (waves exist idiot), once crossed a cliff and could've drowned if he fell, once walked miles up a double-track funicular and didn't die cause he was never trapped. For more stupidity, a flight instructor c. 1950 died cause he got out and shut his door on clothing. Dad saw the pilot flying a human being like a flag until they ran out of time and he went off to land. He did not survive the taking off and landing while tied to the plane. Scarves kill. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.155|108.162.238.155]] 06:21, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

:: I've never been drunk. A lifetime of seeing otherwise intelligent people act like complete idiots under the influence and an almost neurotic need to maintain as much self control I can muster makes it an entirely undesirable state to be in. I'm glad you enjoy it, I guess, but the rest of your words don't inspire any more confidence in me regarding being drunk. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.221|162.158.2.221]] 23:47, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

::::I didn't say it was worth it. The hangover's horrible. Nor do I enjoy it. I enjoy*ed* it, that night in 2010. It was cool that there is a drug that lets you play with the gravity and time and doesn't hurt your body just to try once or is illegal or addictive to many like most drugs (I wouldn't have done it if there was an alcoholic in my family but I guess I took a risk there that I had a hidden alcoholism gene, probably not now I know). When I sat down I saw time alteration, lol. I didn't feel it till a remarkable number of milliseconds after my eyes told me I sat. I said "whee!" while experiencing the "artificial gravity" but I allowed myself to see how far I could go. Clearly I wouldn't have done that if someone could hear. Artifical gravity strong enough to hurt you but weak enough to fight: That's what the muscle instructions that cause straight walking when sober feel like when you mildly augment the oscillating left-right pull you feel therefore adding a little extra m/s^2 to the fictitious oscillating sideways force you're already feeling. If I knew the level of hangover I was getting into and how little alcohol it takes my genes to get drunk I would've never done that. Trust me, doing the crazy thing of saying "hey baby" to every female barhopper that passed was the most I could do. I did that to find out what alcohol can do and it wouldn't make me lose my virginity to a barhopper even if I felt obliged to. You are probably more inhibited than me if that's possible (maybe you're also conscientious and not open to experience so that explains it). I'm not conscientious at all and open to experience though not at the extremes. You would be a great candidate for keeping your inhibitions. But if you're very conscientious or very uncurious or especially both then you should keep on not drinking. It's more like having children, not so inherently wonderful that everyone should do it (like falling in love is). But I would never recommend getting anywhere near vomiting, hangovers can make you feel absolutely terrible for 4 hours and continue the headache till the next evening. I haven't drunk since then. It's just not as fun since you know what it's like already and probably can't reach artifical gravity time alteration mildly psychoactive levels cause you'll take it easy once you had that level of hangover once. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.59|108.162.215.59]] 02:24, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

::: There are whole different levels of being drunk. There's nothing wrong with having a drink or two, more so because you lose part of your inhibitions. Dismissing something as a stupid idea just leads to never investigating those stupid ideas which may have their own strong points. It's actually beneficial for your EQ to have a drink or two, just to lose the natural inhibitions. But yeah, to each their own. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.147|173.245.53.147]] 08:10, 10 June 2015 (UTC)

::::How would it benefit your EQ? What is EQ anyway, it seems like it means almost whatever the speaker wants it to mean. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.59|108.162.215.59]] 02:24, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

::::: Less social inhibitions to talk to people. A high social skill is in any definition I've seen important to EQ... Not easy if you're afraid to talk to people. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.147|173.245.53.147]] 07:49, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

:::::: Ah, you see you're trying to mix up social skills, extroversion, empathy, the autism spectrum (from Kim Kardashian to someone who can't learn language, emotion reading ability and I don't know, not being an unfeeling person when we've already determined the traits with the most informative power and non-imaginaryness (compare clutch batting) which is the big 5 and IQ. If you have 120 EQ and 80 IQ you might not be able to get a job. One that's any good anyway. You'd be the loser that does manual labor and goes to Insane Clown Posse concerts and might live in a trailer park. You'd make a good prostitute if you're uninhibited enough, though. If you have 120 IQ and 80 EQ you'd be as smart as many lawyers and could easily get a job writing software or something and own a home. Which do you think is more useful? And some woman will marry you because she's lazy and doesn't like work or something. And a person that's hard working with 120 EQ can compensate enough with EQ and connections to be a rich executive or lawyer but a person of mundane work ethic with 140 IQ and low EQ could be any kind of doctorate he wants and has a good chance of making $200K+. That's because high IQ people will always enjoy something and find it easy even if they're otherwise lazy. What do you think is more useful? Would hard work and stupidity and mundane social skills get you $200+K/year? Would great social skills, stupidity, and mundane work ethic get you $200+K/year? Face it, social skills are common as dirt and will get you jack shit wages if the social person is not unusual in also being able to stand books enough to get a masters degree or is really, really sexy or unrealistically extreme goodness at something (model, prostitute, porn star, singing, acting, sports). Frankly, even in sports you don't need the social skills, only if you're almost too bad to get on a professional team. IQ is the only one of the three that you can be mundane in the other two and and still make millions (even diplomats can't be stupid). That's why they pay some people with high EQ so much, it's hard to find one with IQ much above average. Gifted social-er than average children are 1 in 4 (of the gifted children). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.94|108.162.215.94]] 14:53, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

:::::: Okay, some people have social anxiety but others just don't feel like talking that moment. We're self-reliant. We don't need a whole web of connections with connected people because we write good software (or design planes well or..). That is a natural urge I think, it's called reserved. Men don't want to ask for directions. Men don't want to ask where X is. As long as the things that come out of your mouth are interesting or helpful I don't see why you must talk before you have something good or adds anything at all. You can help social anxiety. But you can't cure stupid. I totally agree that empathy for your lover, kids and close family and some for the rest of humanity and ability to feel is good to have but you're conflating this with extroversion. Traits shouldn't have little correlation between their subtraits, that's why we have the big 5. It's also good to not be handiness clueless and poor at math, have no common sense, and be too dim to learn to set a VCR clock. When I see social people I think of people that can't stand to be alone and converse with volleyballs from day 1 (rent Cast-Away), only have an astrology book in their house, can't know it's 6 cans in two triangles without counting (every one!) and counted out loud from the *first* Saturday when they need to know how many days Saturday to Wednesday in a week and a half is (11). I actually saw the last three and could tell the the first and last ones' EQ was through the roof. If EQ was a car the last group would make a sonic boom. But the last group was just nurses, the first person moved *into* a ghetto cause $600 a month in roommate rent became not enough to pay for their entertainment "needs", big TV, and useless crap which covers the wall. The woman who used her finger to count two triangles of cans out loud scans supermarket goods for a living. I have a cousin who got a bachelor's in chemistry from a semi-third world country through high conscientiousness, was allowed to try for a U.S. degree since 1986, is socialer than average, and cleaned strangers' clothes for a living for 2 decades. Boxers, panties, socks, anything that goes in the laundromat's let the employee do your laundry for you counter. He's lived in the US 43 years, just retired, will be a miser till death (never had kids to save money?), stole any gold chains or cash in the clothes and said someone else must've did it (I'm serious) yet only has about $100K gross worth (and net, too). Also cleaned out cupfuls of lint. I don't need more EQ than is needed to get by.

:::::: Sorry for the B minus C minus essay skill. I never was great at that and am too lazy to put as much effort into this as the SATs. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.94|108.162.215.94]] 14:53, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

"I don't like A, therefore everyone that does like A is wrong." This is the first xkcd I've seen that is just dumb. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.164|173.245.52.164]] 19:30, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

:You are making the assumption that Cueball is expressing Randall's sentiment. But consider Hairy's last statement. I think there is intentional ambiguity over which one of them is misguided. [[Special:Contributions/103.22.200.180|103.22.200.180]] 01:15, 10 June 2015 (UTC)

:: I wouldn't know, the title text states the same sentiment as Cueball. I also agree it's a bit too easy to claim that everyone drinking beer does it because of peer pressure. I brew beer, and it certainly has to do with cultural backgrounds (I'm Belgian) but I enjoy doing it and I enjoy the taste of several different kinds of beer without peer pressure. Doesn't mean I like all beers though. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.147|173.245.53.147]] 08:18, 10 June 2015 (UTC)

Yes, that's the way I feel about beer; except I don't pretend and then just I don't drink beer, so they think I'm weird. I'm cool with that :P [[Special:Contributions/108.162.214.239|108.162.214.239]] 08:14, 10 June 2015 (UTC)

It has been a long time since a comic has created so much debate ;-) I have now changed the explanation to incorporate the two possible interpretations. Either that Cueball is right about beer or that he is just a jerk about other peoples pleasures, that he do not share. Feel free to improve. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:45, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

: Good job. I tried to edit the text a bit to make it more coherent and less opinionated, let me know what you think :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:42, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Should the actual article mention that Cyanide and Happiness ran a very similar comic (or at least one with a similar theme) a few years ago? http://explosm.net/comics/3111/ Regarding the discussion going on above... I've tried several varieties of beer, both in the States and abroad, and I haven't come across one I could unabashedly say I like. Wheat beer did seem to be the least offensive, but the taste of the alcohol overpowered that of the drink in all of them. At least it doesn't taste much like it smells; if it did I think I would gag. I guess I'm just more the type for margaritas. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.93|173.245.50.93]] 05:48, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

A coworker points out that the tone of this comic is the opposite of [[1480: Super Bowl]], in which Cueball advocates for people to prioritize friendship over differences in tastes. It's also worth noting that both beer drinking and interest in sports have class inflections; looking down on them can be seen as "punching up" against a majority opinion, but can also be seen as "punching down" towards the lower socioeconomic status correlated with these preferences -- so it's a bit complicated. -- [[User:Phyzome|Phyzome]] ([[User talk:Phyzome|talk]]) 03:10, 14 June 2015 (UTC)

Beer does not always taste the same. It depends on what you are eating with it or what you are doing. I love the Negra Modelo when having enchiladas at Mariachi's. But with Pizza? Nope. I cannot imagine anything finer than an IPA after coming inside from a hot day on the farm, the first bottle disappears in 10 seconds and I'm already on to the second. But with dinner? Well, maybe, but I'd prefer red wine. {{unsigned ip|162.158.255.97}}

Salut to Cueball in this comic!! {{unsigned ip|162.158.83.216}}

Actually kind of convenient to see that people don't like beer (despite the fact that it sells very well), since I'm a mormon and I'm always kind of curious to see what it tastes like, despite the fact that it's against our religion to drink something like that. Kind of helpful to see that it tastes bad, because it's been something that's been in my mind for a while. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 13:00, 10 October 2016 (UTC)

Amazing how much tension that a statement like this creates. Yes, there are plenty of people who legitimately enjoy beer--I'm definitely one of them. No, not all American beer tastes like piss--there are tons of great craft breweries in this country. Yes, there is a tradition of social pressure surrounding alcohol consumption--many of my close friends feel pressure to drink even though they do not enjoy alcohol. Yes, overconsumption of alcohol can have negative effects on your physical and mental health. No, not everybody who enjoys a drink (or even getting drunk occasionally) turns into a bumbling fool or destroys their brain cells--I've consumed a lot of alcohol in my lifetime and have definitely gone overboard on occasion, but I still managed to get a BS in math and land a somewhat lucrative IT job.

Randall does make a fair point about social pressure, and the comic is amusing overall, but I feel that Cueball's statement is pretty ignorant if taken literally. I find tomatoes to be absolutely disgusting, but that certainly doesn't mean that everybody who likes tomatoes is just pretending. Of course I understand that my example isn't directly analagous (I don't really feel any social pressure to eat tomatoes), but to me it's a pretty big stretch to say that ''nobody'' actually likes beer just because Cueball (or Randall, presumably) doesn't like it.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.230|162.158.214.230]]

Talk:1756: I'm With Her

2016-11-07T21:19:46Z

162.158.214.230:

Instead of comic, post contained a political statement. I am not amused. I want a refund. I don't vote, and I don't even live anywhere near USA. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.102|141.101.96.102]] 18:40, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

The "I'm with her" and H with an arrow are CLEARLY the respective campaign slogan and campaign logo for Hillary Clinton, not some vagueness having to do with bringing a significant other. --[unsigned]
:I see it more as him endorsing voting regardless of who you vote for (as evidenced by half the comic is about "Here's how you vote" without any mention of candidates or issues) and the endorsing Clinton part is an add-on as if to say "This is how I'm voting; vote for her if you agree with me." [[User:Jeudi Violist|Jeudi Violist]] ([[User talk:Jeudi Violist|talk]]) 18:39, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Has Randall endorsed a presidential candidate before? --[[User:Dfeuer|Dfeuer]] ([[User talk:Dfeuer|talk]]) 17:14, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
He supported Obama on his blog in '08, not in the comic though.

He could have said any number of clever things about the election, and all he did was put up a campaign sign. Disappointing. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 17:37, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

what a cuck --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.63|172.68.51.63]] 17:45, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:: leaving aside the most ridiculous slur of the past few years, I don't know what else did you expect from Randall. I guess you must have stumbled upon this wiki by chance and have never heard of xkcd before.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.130|141.101.98.130]] 17:59, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:: AHAHAHAHA. *Ahem.* Hooray for pejorative misappropriation of a kink. /s [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.55|108.162.246.55]] 19:07, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

This is the first time I still don't get the joke even after reading the explainxkcd page [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.123|108.162.219.123]] 18:09, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:It isn't a joke. [[Randall]] is simply encouraging people to vote. [[User:GizmoDude|GizmoDude]] ([[User talk:GizmoDude|talk]]) 20:55, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
== Bit disappointing... ==

I was hoping for a comic today. oh well. Interesting to see how he's planning to vote, though - it's a shame that there are no candidates this year in favor of strong encryption.

Funny how females outdo males in this 'comic' but in terms of frequency and of elevation. Oh well. xkcd has long been overrepresenting females, it was to be expected. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>

Seriously? You're whinging 'what about the men?' in a geek web comic?! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.212|108.162.215.212]] 18:21, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

The only disappointing this are comments like those two above. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.201.96|162.158.201.96]] 18:11, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
: Females being overrepresented in comics like xkcd (but also other ones) with respect to their controlled interest in science in reality is a fact. Therefore, you are calling facts disappointing. How geeky of you. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>
:: So, your real problem is that Randall likes using female stick figures, yes? Also, why are you afraid to "un-nowiki" your signature...? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.201.96|162.158.201.96]] 19:15, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
::: No. Allow me to repeat my point as you had apparently misunderstood: 'females being overrepresented'. This is something else than 'females being represented'. The more you know, the less chance there is for you to accidentally twist another person's words as misogyny/sexism. Also, identity is not relevant to discussion. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>
:::: I understood you perfectly fine. My point still stands: You don't like Randall's preference for female stick figures. I never said you're being misogynic/sexist, so please don't imply I did. Thing with your "hidden" identity is that it's plain visible in the history of this page, so there's really no need to nowiki the signature, that's all. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.201.96|162.158.201.96]] 20:42, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
::::: You are extremely skilled at saying things that are false and asserting that they're true. First you confused objecting to female overrepresentation (over-presence) with objecting to female representation (presence) ('your real problem is that Randall likes using female stick figures'). Then you moved to confusing objecting to female overrepresentation with objecting to *Randall's* female overrepresentation. My objection does not pertain to who is doing overrepresenting, but to the mere fact of it. I would have objected identically to any other writer. Also, your attributing of opposition to female presence in comics (after doing which which you proceeded to asserting my being personally hostile to Randall) is accusing of sexism/misogyny by definition. Also, I am obviously aware of edit history; my use my signature constitutes a reminder that identity is, as I said, irrelevant in discussion. It does not serve to obscure anything. You have a remarkable record of falsehoods. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>

A little disappointing to have a normally lighthearted comic dive seriously into politics, if even for one strip. Not really a fan of either candidate, but would like to see stuff like this stay above the fray.
:Completely agreed. [[User:SeanAhern|SeanAhern]] ([[User talk:SeanAhern|talk]]) 18:27, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

This is a first... comics 500 and 1130 (possibly 1131 too) were related to the election, but didn't endorse a candidate. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.89|108.162.219.89]] 18:41, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:I think Randall is pretty much just saying '''OH GOD PLEASE DONT VOTE FOR TRUMP''' [[User:GizmoDude|GizmoDude]] ([[User talk:GizmoDude|talk]]) 20:59, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

I came here to see what the tone of the comments were going to be. I was half expecting to find an all-out flamewar in progress. I was happy to see that the comments have not devolved into the kind of attacks that one would expect to find pretty much anywhere else on the Internet. Geeks are the best people. :) [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 18:47, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

I'm very dissappointed. Randall never took sides before and - be it as it may - this comic is not a comic but plain out political campaign. Up until now I held xkcd in EXTREMELY high esteem - this comic put a serious dent in that opinion..
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.60|162.158.91.60]] 18:56, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
: I'm really torn about this one. On the one hand I feel that you HAVE to take sides in this one, if your only other option is Donald Trump... on the other hand, I never liked when web comics express political opinions. It will always end in a flame war and almost never have anything to do with the web comic itself. Randall should've just put up a "go vote becaues it's important" sign without taking sides. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.201.96|162.158.201.96]] 19:17, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
: Don't let the door hit you on the way out. I'm sure there are other comics out there that would agree with your ideology. [[User:Sturmovik|Sturmovik]] ([[User talk:Sturmovik|talk]]) 19:25, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:Randall should do whatever Randall thinks he should do. Should he put up "go read about global warming" comics instead of take the side of AGW? If you think this example is an inappropriate one to use in contrasting this comic with the current political election cycle then you've completely ignored the stances of the two popular candidates. But back to the original point: if you don't like XKCD anymore because of this one comic then go find another comic or start your own. All of art is an expression of the person. Randall knew not everyone would like his beliefs when he pushed this out to the world and is obviously prepared to deal with any consequences of taking a stand on his website. I, for one, applaud him for doing so
:: Randall did a comic about global warming a while back, which was very interesting. Because I heard the "earth has warmed up before" argument before and even used it myself at least once. The difference about the global warming comic is that he backed it up with scientific facts, which is well within the scope of this comic. Political opinions aren't (or did the slogan change to ''A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language and politics''?). Yes, of course he can do with his web comic whatever he wants to. But readers can express their opinions about what he does with it. It's called "freedom of speech", you know?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.201.96|162.158.201.96]] 20:47, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:::[[1357|There's a comic for that.]] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.230|162.158.214.230]] 21:19, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Can you help list all the characters in the transcript? From left to right; they're Joanna (ponytail with EMP cannon) from [[322]]; Black Hat; unknown with kite; White Hat; possibly Miss Lenhart (but his hair is somewhat different from [[1519]]); unknown possibly Megan; cueball; unknown woman with glasses; Hairbun; Beret Guy; Cueball with toy sword from [[303]]. [[User:B jonas|B jonas]] ([[User talk:B jonas|talk]]) 19:10, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Good for Randal. I had been noticing how many Hillary leaning artists had been pulling their punches this election, likely out of fear of trolling or loss of revenue. You want to know what courage looks like? This is is. [[User:Sturmovik|Sturmovik]] ([[User talk:Sturmovik|talk]]) 19:25, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Title text hasn't been explained yet. Is it a reference to the German chancellor Angela Merkel's phrase "Wir schaffen das!'? Don't know if Clinton has a slogan like Obama's "Yes, we can!".

I find (linking to )this civicinnovation website rather questionable. They want to audit peoples address books based on who the names in there might vote for? That sounds like Erich Mielkes wildest dreams come true. Even German newspapers (where i'm from), which are 100% anti-Trump, have in the last days noted concern about the methods of Clintons supporters bullying the other side, and this is a disquieting new piece in that picture. I'll hope this is just a ploy to step up with Trump on the ''bad manners'' side. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.160|162.158.91.160]] 19:37, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

== Not all comics have to be humorous ==

From [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics#Etymology]
:The English term ''comics'' derives from the humorous (or "[[wikt:comic|comic]]") work which predominated in early American newspaper comic strips; usage of the term has become standard for non-humorous works as well.

:The problem is that this isn't a comic, this is a campaign ad. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.38|162.158.238.38]] 20:32, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

== Could we please just NOT get politics involved in the comments, guys? ==

Just... please? [[User:Papayaman1000|Papayaman1000]] ([[User talk:Papayaman1000|talk]]) 20:34, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Randall has taken a side in a political Argument before: Not counting the near-invisible easter egg, comic 1005 consists solely of Randall taking a stance on something political and providing links to show how you can help. That wasn't too long ago, but no one freaked out about a serious, political strip back then.
[[User:CJB42|CJB42]] ([[User talk:CJB42|talk]]) 20:39, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1756: I'm With Her

2016-11-07T17:17:44Z

162.158.214.230:

The "I'm with her" and H with an arrow are CLEARLY the respective campaign slogan and campaign logo for Hillary Clinton, not some vagueness having to do with bringing a significant other. --[unsigned]

Has Randall endorsed a presidential candidate before? --[[User:Dfeuer|Dfeuer]] ([[User talk:Dfeuer|talk]]) 17:14, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
He supported Obama on his blog in '08, not in the comic though.

1752: Interplanetary Experience

2016-10-29T04:56:10Z

162.158.214.230: SOME OF US STILL DREAM

{{comic
| number = 1752
| date = October 28, 2016
| title = Interplanetary Experience
| image = interplanetary_experience.png
| titletext = But instead of hitting the ocean, you should land in an overheating hot tub on a sinking cruise ship, sending it crashing through the floor into the burning engine room as the ship goes under.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More details?}}
This comic lists ten {{w|celestial bodies}}: all the other seven {{w|planets}} (than {{w|Earth}}), the {{w|dwarf planet|(dwarf) planet}} {{w|Pluto}} and two {{w|moons}}, the Earth's {{w|Moon}} and {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}, the largest moon of {{w|Saturn}}. It then asks what places on Earth people could go to for a real '''Interplanetary Experience''', as if they were explorers on these planets. It turns out that none of these ten other worlds are very nice to visit...

This is a parody on organizations that in preparation for future planetary exploration organize half-realistic experiments in human behavior on other planets, trying to emulate or mock-up - often on low budget - the conditions in which future explorers are to live and work. For this purpose, they build mock-up bases, habitats etc. in places that ''look like'' other planets or have the environmental conditions ''somewhat'' similar to other celestial bodies' surfaces. They seek out desolate places like deserts or polar regions for this purpose.

In this comic [[Randall]] tries to identify places on Earth that ''actually'' have environmental conditions as close to these other worlds' as can be possible on the surface of the Earth. Some of the places suggested by Randall are borderline-survivable for a human, but most will kill you extremely quickly without a lot of high-tech gear - whether through {{w|hypothermia#severe|severe hypothermia}}, {{w|conflagration}}, crushing, or whiplash from violent winds.

Basically nowhere in the {{w|solar system}} is even close to survivable (except Earth). There is no planet or moon with a breathable atmosphere, or where the temperature stays within the human -tolerable range of roughly −20°C to 40°C (−5°F to 105°F, 250-310 K). The only place humans have so far ventured off-world is the Moon, and only during lunar morning while wearing thick pressurized spacesuits. Some celestial bodies, like {{w|Venus}} and {{w|Jupiter}}, may ''never'' be visitable by humans without either huge advances in {{w|material science}} or full-scale {{w|terraforming}}. Some places, like the centers of any planet (for example, the {{w|gas giants}} or even Earth itself), will probably never be visited, even by robots. (The title text suggests what happens when falling towards the center of a gas giant).

Below is a [[#Table of celestial bodies|table]] going through the seven suggested places on Earth. Due to the low pressure and temperature on the top of {{w|Mount Everest}} it is mentioned no less than three times, but using different time of day to represent different celestial bodies. In the first entry it even takes care of three in one go. Two of those are the Moon and Mercury, but for both only on their night side facing away from the sun. They are thus each mentioned twice, as there is a huge difference in environmental conditions between the sunlit faces of these two and their night sides. On the other end of the temperature scale are mentions of {{w|lava}} and a {{w|blast furnace}}; also high pressure environments are suggested to simulate other planets. The last goes for the gas giants, which are all mentioned together in the last entry.

The two groupings explains why there are only seven places mentioned for ten celestial bodies. The reason that the Moon is mentioned is of course that it is the closest companion to Earth and that we have actually visited. That the only other moon mentioned is likely because it is the only really cold celestial body that actually has an atmosphere as well as a surface humans could stand on. But there are many other large moons that would be interesting to visit, like the {{w|Galilean moons}} especially {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}. But that could probably be compared to being on Pluto, except the sun is a bit larger. That Pluto is included as the only dwarf planet is probably because it was still a planet when Randall was a kid (see [[473: Still Raw]]) and is the most recent (new) celestial body visited by a space probe at the time of release of this comic. This was celebrated by Randall in [[1551: Pluto]].

The title text is just a continuation of the last entry about falling down through the atmosphere of a gas giant, and it is also explained in the table below. This was also explored in the [[what if?]] {{what if|138|Jupiter Submarine}}.

==Table of celestial bodies==

{|class="wikitable"
! Celestial bodies
! Place on Earth
! Explanation
|-
| {{w|Pluto}}, {{w|Moon}} (night) {{w|Mercury (planet)|Mercury}} (night) || Mt. Everest at night || The {{w|dwarf planet}} Pluto is a small icy rock so far away from the {{w|Sun}} that it practically makes no difference if it is day or night, the Sun is just the brightest star in the sky of Pluto's "day" side . But for both the {{w|Earth|Earth's}} Moon and Mercury (the innermost and smallest {{w|planet}} of the {{w|solar system}}) it makes a huge difference, which is why there is both a day and a night experience mentioned for these two celestial bodies (see below). Although they are very much closer to the Sun than Pluto this makes no difference during their night time (when they face away from Sun). They are both relatively small, rocky bodies with practically no atmosphere and relatively slow rotation. Therefore their surfaces not illuminated by the Sun will cool down to very low temperatures (around -170 °C, -290 °F, 100 K), making their nighttime hemispheres desolate, dark and cold places. Randall proposes the summit of {{w|Mount Everest}} (the tallest mountain on Earth) as the place that will emulate the conditions most closely. It is a rocky, desolate and cold place. Even though it is not the coldest place on Earth, it is the highest point on land, therefore it has the lowest atmospheric pressure. It cannot be compared to the near-zero pressure and 100 Kelvins conditions on the aforementioned bodies, but it is as close as you can get on Earth. The top of Mt. Everest has an air pressure just 1/3 of what it is at sea level, and the oxygen levels are so low that they are barely survivable although a few people have [http://adventureblog.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/21/how-climbing-everest-without-oxygen-can-go-very-wrong/ reached the top without oxygen tanks], but others have died after losing their supply, making it as close as you can get on Earth to the near-vacuum found on these worlds.
|-
| {{w|Moon}} (day)|| Mt. Everest at noon under a tanning lamp || As explained above, Mount Everest is as good emulation of the Moon surface at night as you can get. During the Moon's day, its surface gets about as much Sun's radiation as Earth at noon, because both bodies' distance from the Sun is almost the same. The Earth's atmosphere, however, stops most of the Sun's {{w|ultraviolet radiation}}. A {{w|tanning lamp}} is a device emitting mostly ultraviolet radiation for the purpose of artificial {{w|tanning}}; here it is used to augment the filtered Sun's radiation in an attempt to emulate Moon's daytime conditions better. Since the Moon does not have any atmosphere it is hard to discuss the temperature experienced on the Moon, but still the [http://planetfacts.org/temperature-on-the-moon/ surface of the Moon reaches temperatures] above waters boiling point (100°C or 212 °F) during the day with an average daytime temperature of the Moon at 107°C (224.6 °F). This effect will not be very well emulated on the tip of Mount Everest or even in the hottest (non volcanic) place on Earth's surface that reaches 53.9°C (129°F) - see the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|152|Flood Death Valley}}''.
|-
| {{w|Mercury (planet)|Mercury}} (day) || A lava flow at a volcano at noon || Mercury's surface never quite reaches {{w|lava}} temperatures (if it did, it would be molten), but it gets close. At noon, Mercury's equator reaches 420°C (800°F, 700 K). Lava is a liquid usually at temperatures from 700 to 1,200 °C (1,292 to 2,192 °F, 970 K to 1470 K) but depending on what type of rock it's formed from, [http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/archive/2003/03_04_17.html lava can erupt] at temperatures as low as 500°C-600°C (930°F-1100°F, 770-870 K). Standing on a {{w|volcano}} on a partially solidified lava flow (which, it goes without saying, is incredibly dangerous) would expose you to similar temperatures. Near the poles, Mercury's surface temperature is always very low as the axial tilt is almost zero meaning that the poles do not get much direct sunlight and their temperature is constantly below −93 °C (−136 °F, 180 K).
|-
| {{w|Venus}} || A heat-shrink wetsuit in a blast furnace || The average surface temperature on Venus is around 470°C (870°F, 740 K) (enough to melt {{w|lead}} at 327 °C (620°F, 600 K), which is the {{w|Atmosphere_of_Venus#Troposphere|usual comparison}}), and the pressure is 92 bar (by comparison, pressure on earth is only about 1 bar). A {{w|blast furnace}} is a bit too hot - the blast itself is 900 °C to 1300 °C (1600 °F to 2300 °F, 1170 K to 1570 K), and they can reach 2000 °C - but either temperature is enough to kill you in seconds. As the blast furnace would emulate Venus temperature but not pressure, Randall proposes a daring volunteer shall wear a hypothetical heat-shrink wetsuit. A {{w|wetsuit}} is an elastic garment worn mostly over the whole body by swimmers, divers etc. {{w|Heat-shrink tubing}} is an elastic tube made of a material that shrinks when heated, used to provide extra insulation and mechanical or environmental protection in electrical and electronics work - you put a length of tubing over your wire, connector, or a joint and heat it with a hot air gun, making it shrink and crimp over your device. A hypothetical heat-shrink wetsuit worn while sitting in a blast furnace supposedly would shrink rapidly in the extreme temperature, extorting great pressure on your body, thus emulating Venus surface atmospheric pressure. In other words, do not go to Venus!
|-
| {{w|Mars}} || Mt. Everest at sunset || Again use Mount Everest's thin atmosphere and very cold temperatures to emulate the planet, but Mars's dusty, greenhouse-gas-containing atmosphere means it's not as cold as Mercury at night, nor as hot as the Moon during the day. Also the sun is much farther from Mars than from the Earth/Moon system, but much much closer than Pluto, so it should be colder than on the day side of the Moon. But the Sun still looks like a sun rather than a star from Mars, unlike on Pluto. The sunset will also make the sky reddish-purple, similar to [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PIA17944-MarsCuriosityRover-AfterCrossingDingoGapSanddune-20140209.jpg the way the Martian sky often looks].
|-
| {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}} || Waist-deep in an outgassing Siberian swamp || Titan, the largest of {{w|Saturn}} moons (and one of the largest moons in the solar system) is one of the promising worlds for life - given that its surface temperature is −180°C (−290°F, 95 K), that says a lot about how inhospitable the rest of the solar system is. The chemistry of the planet is interesting - there are lots of nitrogen compounds and hydrocarbons and the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and methane. It has been confirmed that methane lakes exist on Titan's surface. It thus follows that there is likely also some precipitation of methane "snow", similarly to how water forms lakes and falls down as sleet on Earth. Similar compounds are produced by rotting material in {{w|swamps}}, hence the comparison to a cold {{w|Siberian}} swamp. Due to the global warming large area of the {{w|tundra}} in Siberia that used to be permanently locked in {{w|permafrost}} are now heating up enough to {{w|Arctic methane emissions|release these gases}}. It might thus be possible to end up waist deep in one of these "heated" swamp areas due to the resulting {{w|outgassing}}. Sadly for the global temperature this outgassing just increases the release of greenhouse gasses, making the global warming increase even faster. This may very well be the reason Randall chooses to mention it here, as another call back to recurring theme of [[:Category:Climate change|Climate change]] and to the recent comic [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]]. One key difference though is that on Earth, swamps are mostly water. On Titan - if they exist at all - they're liquid methane. Siberia also has some of the most extreme temperature differences on Earth, while Titan is just consistently cold. The coldest place in Siberia is the {{w|Pole of Cold}}, the coldest point in the {{w|Northern hemisphere}} having reached −71.2 °C (−96.2 °F, 202 K). Not quite Titan levels of cold, but certainly deadly enough. But in such cold places there would be no outgassing, so on Earth it is not possible to have both the cold and the outgassing.
|-
| {{w|Jupiter}}-{{w|Neptune}} || Jumping from a high-altitude balloon over an Antarctic Ocean winter storm || Note that it is Jupiter to Neptune thus including also {{w|Saturn}} and {{w|Uranus}}. They are under one called {{w|gas giants}} for a reason. All the planets are very cold and have stormy weather (Uranus is the least active, and Neptune is the most active) and a very dramatic temperature and pressure gradient. On the edge of the atmosphere, conditions aren't much different to space, but as you fall in, the temperature and pressure rapidly increases past freezing point (allowing clouds of ice and water). This environment is simulated by jumping out from a {{w|high-altitude balloon}} (low pressure and cold) and then falling down into an {{w|Antarctic Ocean}} winter storm, a very cold and violently windy place to fall through. Of course the storms on the gas planets can be much more violent than any storm on Earth. On Neptune the storms can reach 2,100 km/h (580 m/s, 1,300 mph), whereas the {{w|Great Red Spot}} of Jupiter only goes at 430 km/h (120 m/s, 268 mph). The {{w|Wind_speed#Highest_speed|highest wind speed}} on Earth (outside {{w|tornadoes}}) has been measured at 408 km/h (113 m/s, 253 mph), and that was only the gusts. This last entry's description of the place on Earth continues in the title text, see below.
|-
| {{w|Jupiter}}-{{w|Neptune}} (continued from above in '''title text''')|| But instead of hitting the ocean, you should land in an overheating hot tub on a sinking cruise ship, sending it crashing through the floor into the burning engine room as the ship goes under. || The title text continues the last entry in the main comic. So this explanation is also a direct continuation of the above entry. The very dramatic temperature and pressure gradients mentioned does not stop when the atmosphere temperature and pressure increases past freezing point. But soon the temperature reaches past boiling point, and up to thousands of degrees and unimaginable high pressures increasing further until the central core. The cores of Neptune and Uranus most likely consist of rock (superheated silicates, iron and nickel) or in the case of Saturn and Jupiter of liquid {{w|metallic hydrogen}}, where the extreme high-pressure and temperature causes {{w|hydrogen}} to behave like a metal. This is a theory as it is not something our technology is currently able to reproduce. The suggested simulation of this environment is to fall into a super hot bath tub that falls into the burning engine room of a ship that is sinking, and thus is about be become crushed by the water pressure of the deep ocean. This is the closest imaginable representation of the pressure and temperature conditions of the inner parts of the gas giants that can be imagined on Earth, but of course the cores of these planets are far, far more inhospitable than that as mentioned above. Descending into Jupiter was also explored in the [[what if?]] {{what if|138|Jupiter Submarine}}.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:<big>Where to go on Earth to get the Interplanetary Explorer Experience</big>

:[A chart with seven rows with celestial bodies on the left side of seven lines and a description on the right side. The first entry has three celestial bodies in two rows, the rest are in one row, although the last entry encompasses a list of planets. Four times the day/night side of the celestial bodies is mentioned in brackets.]
:{|class="wikitable"
|-
| Pluto, Moon (night)
|rowspan="2" | Mt. Everest at night
|-
| Mercury (night)
|-
| Moon (day) || Mt. Everest at noon under a tanning lamp
|-
| Mercury (day) || A lava flow on a volcano at noon
|-
| Venus || A heat-shrink wetsuit in a blast furnace
|-
| Mars || Mt. Everest at sunset
|-
| Titan || Waist-deep in an outgassing Siberian swamp
|-
| Jupiter-Neptune || Jumping from a high-altitude balloon over an Antarctic Ocean winter storm
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Space]]

1726: Unicode

2016-08-29T20:51:55Z

162.158.214.230: Japanese is syllabic, not logographic

{{comic
| number = 1726
| date = August 29, 2016
| title = Unicode
| image = unicode.png
| titletext = I'm excited about the proposal to add a "brontosaurus" emoji codepoint because it has the potential to bring together a half-dozen different groups of pedantic people into a single glorious internet argument.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|first time making page. Needs much more work including links, sources and the Brontosaurus reference.}}

Cueball, along with two other figures, is placing traffic signs in a river. As rivers flow according to the landscape, this plan will not work and the river will continue on its course. Cueball is very frustrated by this and is still trying to make the river obey traffic laws. The caption lays out the punchline: the comic compares the useless approach of Cueball attempting to divert a flowing, moving river with fixed signs that do nothing, with the {{w|Unicode Consortium}}'s attempt to define the diverse and ever-changing human language with strict technical standards.

{{w|Unicode}} is a largely successful attempt to have a standard for representing all possible letters, numerals, digits and symbols that make up human writing in all languages. This includes the roman letters used in this article, characters with modifiers like ê (both with the common characters as well as the modifiers selectable separately), pictographic characters like in Chinese, syllabic writing system like Japanese, right-to-left and/or top-to-bottom writing systems, mathematical symbols, emoji, and many other writing systems. As can be imagined, coping with the wide variety of character sizes, orientations, ways they can be modified, capitalization rules, etc. can get to be very challenging as the Unicode Consortium tries to write rules that accommodate how printed language is actually used.

The title text refers to a proposal to add three dinosaur heads to the official list of emoji. This is likely to stir debate between the following opposing camps:
*those who favor the inclusion of more emoji vs. those who oppose emoji on principle
*those who accept the existence of ''Brontosaurus'' vs. those who deny its status as a species unique from ''Apatosaurus''
*those who favor a traditional, scaly image of dinosaurs vs. those who have accepted the feathered-dinosaur paradigm

===See also===
[[636: Brontosaurus]]

[http://unicode.org/L2/L2016/16072-jurassic-emoji.pdf Jurassic Emoji proposal]

==Transcript==
[Single panel scene: [[Cueball]] is standing waist-deep in a river. With one arm he is holding on to a traffic sign that says "Detour" with an arrow pointing to the right. The other arm is pointing horizontally. Further up the river is another street sign apparently in around 0.5 metres of water; this sign has an exclamation mark inside a triangle. In the distance on one bank of the river, two people are standing and making gestures, with a sign lying on the ground next to them. Behind them is a parked car on a road that crosses a bridge over the river.]

Cueball: No, go ''this'' way, not —

Are you even ''listening''!?

… ''Hey! That's not what this area is for!''

[Caption]

Watching the Unicode people try to govern the infinite chaos of human language with consistent technical standards is like watching highway engineers try to steer a river using traffic signs.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

1695: Code Quality 2

2016-06-17T18:43:37Z

162.158.214.230: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1695
| date = June 17, 2016
| title = Code Quality 2
| image = code_quality_2.png
| titletext = It's like you tried to define a formal grammar based on fragments of a raw database dump from the QuickBooks file of a company that's about to collapse in an accounting scandal.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|first edits}}

The comic is a continuation of [[1513: Code Quality]], in which we see [[Ponytail]] being introduced to the {{w|source code}} [[Cueball]] has written, and where he is warning her that he is self-taught so his code probably won't be written the way she is used to.
She then continues to describe poetically the total mess of a code she encounters, using references to recipes created by corporate lawyers or the transcript of a couple arguing at IKEA.

The second panel makes a reference to "OCR" ({{w|Optical Character Recognition}}), a technique for recognizing text in a picture using software. In this case she is referring to a picture of a {{w|Scrabble}} game, which is a popular word-making game in which players have a pseudo-randomized set of letters and must arrange them on a grid to form interlocking words. OCR software is notoriously imperfect at the time of writing, and the criss-crossing semi-random words on a Scrabble board fed through an OCR program would likely produce dubious results, certainly not fit for current code standards. This is further compounded by Ponytail's suggestion that Cueball made rampant use of JavaScript reserved words in his declarations, which is [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Lexical_grammar#Keywords strictly forbidden] by the language. Scrabble's point system is based on the value of individual letters, combined with certain modifier squares on the game board which can boost points. "Triple points" is the highest class of modifier available in the game (though it can be for triple points on a specific letter, or the entire word) and is highly-sought-after by players.

The third panel continues Ponytail's rant, this time referencing naval weather forecasts, avian interference and indentation. A weather forecast is a complex, multidimensional array of data used in predicting or assessing the atmospheric conditions of a geographical area over a set time. One such example of a "naval weather forecast" [https://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/wxmap_cgi/cgi-bin/wxmap_DOD_area.cgi?area=efs_nvg_nlant&set=EFS may be this one], which would generally be unreadable to an untrained individual. Transcribing it would be a long and typing-intensive process which could result in an even more unreadable product, further complicated by a {{w|woodpecker}} (a bird noted for its rapid successive pecking motions) "hammering" (pecking) the Shift key on the keyboard, which would result in many letters being randomly capitalized. Indentation is the practice of shifting a section of text further from the starting margin, which in coding is typically used to organize functions and statements, but if done "randomly" would only serve to scramble the code hierarchy.

The fourth panel references famous poet {{w|E. E. Cummings}} and user name suggestions. E. E. Cummings was noted for his "unusual" style of poetry which combined words and phrases in ways that were atypical for English speech, resulting in constructs that might easily confuse someone who doesn't natively speak the language. Websites that offer membership often also require that users create a pseudonym (known as a "username") for use in tracking/authenticating their actions on the site, as well as identifying them to the site's community. Many of these sites also require usernames be unique. On popular sites, many common words, phrases and names have already been reserved by users, so when signing up for them many people run into situations where the name they want has already been taken. On many sites where this happens, the site may suggest alternate usernames, usually based on the one that was entered to begin with. For example, if the username "Hedgeclipper" is already reserved, the site may recommend "Hedgeclipper1234" or "H3dg3clipp3r" instead, depending on the algorithm behind the suggestions. An E. E. Cummings poem written entirely out of these semi-random suggestions would make the resulting poem even more "unusual" than his work is already considered.

The last panel's simile involves {{w|Markov chaining}}, {{w|Chatterbot|chat-bots}} (presumably), bus schedules and potential [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Air-India-plane-unfit-to-fly-may-be-scrapped-after-bus-crash/articleshow/50307194.cms gross vehicular negligence]. Applied Markov chaining is a process used in many computer algorithms that try to simulate real-world concepts such as speech simulation and decisions-making. Its inherent randomness also makes it a candidate for unpredictable things such as stock market analysis and speech recognition. Bus schedules are [http://elb-jpinstances-1463028547.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com/ccg3/XSLT_STT_REQUEST?mode=direct&line=ccg:01065:%20:H:y15&sessionID=0&requestID=0&itdLPxx_template=tableResults&type_stt=any&language=en&coordOutputFormat=WGS84%5Bdd.ddddd%5D&outputFormat=0&name_stt=10111816&contentFilter=allstops often complicated and full of notation], and are notorious for confusing people who are not used to reading them. Chat-bots using applied Markov chains to recognize and respond to speech/text rely on the input being clear and well-organized in plain language. "Feeding" bus schedules to such a bot would likely result in the returns being complete gibberish and unreadable. The issue is further complicated when Ponytail suggests that the schedules are from a city where "the [http://www.heapsoffun.com/pictures/20120106/funny_bus_crash_1002.jpg buses] [http://data.whicdn.com/images/45882595/original.jpg crash] [http://blog.taxiforsure.com/wp-content/uploads/indian-traffic-bus.jpg constantly]", which would be horrifying if it happened so [http://i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/002/842/unexplainable.jpg regularly] that the schedules actually took [http://baddogneedsrottenhome.com/images/emails/527927c6cbfff.jpg crashes] into account. Even more horrifying would be the further unpredictability of the output of the chat-bot from such unpredictable input.

Cueball finally comments that "...it runs fine for now" which indicates he knows the code has problems but it reluctant to fix them because it's more-or-less serving its function. Ponytail quips back that "So does a [http://scarboroughwhat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/bitch-im-a-burning-bus.jpg burning bus]", which is technically true, but the "for now" part implies that disaster and injury could result at any moment, as would likely happen on a burning bus.

==Transcript==
Side view of Ponytail sitting at a computer in all five panels.

First panel, tall vertical. 
Ponytail: Ugh, I hate reading your code. 
Offscreen: I know, I know.

Second panel is wider, shows her in an office chair. 
Ponytail: It's like you ran OCR on a photo of a Scrabble board from a game where Javascript reserved words counted for triple points. 

Third panel zooms in and shows just her head. 
Ponytail: It looks like someone transcribed a naval weather forecast while woodpeckers hammered their shift keys, then randomly indented it. 

Fourth panel, similar to second, though slightly narrower. 
Ponytail: It's like an e e cummings poem written using only the usernames a website suggests when the one you want is taken. 

Fifth panel zooms in, shows her head and the screen. 
Ponytail: This looks like the output of a Markov bot that's been fed bus timetables from a city where the buses crash constantly. 
Offscreen: Whatever, it runs fine for now. 
Ponytail: So does a burning bus.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1689: My Friend Catherine

2016-06-03T18:03:56Z

162.158.214.230:

I can't get any work done because My Friend Catherine is sitting on my leopard. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:07, 3 June 2016 (UTC)
*I genuinely expected to see leopard in the alt text.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.230|162.158.214.230]] 18:03, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

I'm not so sure that it does conflict with car->cat. This is "my cat"->to " my friend Catherine", i.e. car->cat->my friend Catherine wouldn't happen. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.137|108.162.237.137]] 15:15, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

*Being a dog person, my dog-->my friend Doug would also be a fun substitution. [[User:Jake|Jake]] ([[User talk:Jake|talk]]) 15:43, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

*You would have to make sure that "my cat" came before "cat" in the script, else it would first replace all cats with cars and thus never see the phrase "my cat".[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.230|162.158.214.230]] 18:03, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

1689: My Friend Catherine

2016-06-03T13:51:12Z

162.158.214.230: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1689
| date = June 3, 2016
| title = My Friend Catherine
| image = my_friend_catherine.png
| titletext = I can't get any work done because my friend Catherine is sitting on my keyboard.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Only added in the category subtitutions.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
New Favorite Substitution:
My Cat --> My Friend Catherine
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Substitutions]]

1683: Digital Data

2016-05-20T04:31:02Z

162.158.214.230: /* Explanation */ Initial draft. A few markers to where it can be improved.

{{comic
| number = 1683
| date = May 20, 2016
| title = Digital Data
| image = digital_data.png
| titletext = Ã¢â¬ÅIf you can read this, congratulationsÃ¢â¬âthe archive youÃ¢â¬â¢re you're using still knows about the mouseover textÃ¢â¬Â!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Initial draft.}}
Digital information, strictly speaking, does not degrade. While physical media themselves (such as books, or hard drives) may degrade as the universe continues, information, by itself, does not decay over time, and can be copied indefinitely with no changes. [This could be phrased much better.]

However, in this comic, Randall points out that while information itself doesn't degrade, things that are on the internet are often degraded through copying, because the copy is not 1:1. As the frames continue, they gain the appearance of images which have been screenshotted repeatedly, with a resulting loss of quality due to compression of the original resolution. In the last frame, this is taken to an extreme, as the frame appears to have been very sloppily screenshotted off of a smartphone or two, and covered in watermarks from various websites and programs.

[9Gag is well known, maybe also provide the example of iFunny. Talk about things like "unregistered HyperCam" and the phenomenon in more detail.]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

[Cueball and a White Hat are walking.]

Cueball: The great thing about digital data is that it never degrades.

[The next panel is slightly pixelated]

Cueball: Hard drives fail, of course, but their bits can be copied forever without loss.

[The third panel is more pixelated, the white is slightly discolored, and it contains part of the interface of some program]

Cueball: Film degrades, paint cracks, but a copy of a century-old data file is identical to the original.

[The fourth panel is even more pixelated and discolored, and contains watermarks and more 'frame' elements]

Cueball: If humanity has a permanent record, we are the first generation in it.

White Hat: Amazing.

{{comic discussion}}

1680: Black Hole

2016-05-13T04:51:28Z

162.158.214.230: /* Transcript */ Preliminary transcript. The visual details could be described a bit better.

{{comic
| number = 1680
| date = May 13, 2016
| title = Black Hole
| image = black_hole.png
| titletext = It also brings all the boys, and everything else, to the yard.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|First draft.}}
This comic is a simple joke. Cueball is curious as to why Black Hat has a miniature black hole on his table; Black Hat responds that it "really brings the room together", making a pun on both the black hole aesthetically completing the room (which seems unlikely [citation needed]), as well as it literally "bringing the room together" through its gravitational pull.

The title text makes a joke on a well-known song lyric from the song "Milkshake" by Kelis. [Insert explanation of lyric meaning], however, in this case, since gravity does not discriminate between which things it will attract [citation needed], it brings "the boys, and everything else", to Black Hat's yard.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

[Cueball is standing near a coffee table as Black Hat approaches. They are presumably in Black Hat's living room. The coffee table has a miniature black hole on top of it, resting on a small pedestal.]

Cueball: Why do you have a miniature black hole on your coffee table?

Black Hat: It really brings the room together.

{{comic discussion}}

1680: Black Hole

2016-05-13T04:49:19Z

162.158.214.230: /* Explanation */ First draft, just noticed this comic was posted.

1676: Full-Width Justification

2016-05-04T05:27:35Z

162.158.214.230: /* Transcript */ This is massively incomplete. The effects on the text, as well as how much is visible, need to be accounted for with either in-line notes or clever formatting (most likely both).

{{comic
| number = 1676
| date = May 4, 2016
| title = Full-Width Justification
| image = full_width_justification.png
| titletext = Gonna start bugging the Unicode consortium to add snake segment characters that can be combined into an arbitrary-length non-breaking snake.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|hasty & impatient placeholder. Still an early draft; needs citations, fact-checking, and it also needs the Wikipedia links to be fixed.}}
The comic refers to an irritating problem in laying out text in narrow spaces, as in newspaper columns or some web pages: the problem of [[:w:justification|justification]]. Sometimes, as before a long word like "[[:wikt:deindustrialization|deindustrialization]]," there's no universal good way to make the typography work. It is a difficult problem to make text look good and be easily legible in a narrow space, with the biggest issue being how to handle words that are too long or too short to fit nicely.

The comic shows several solutions to this problem, some realistic and others less so, but each unsatisfying. "Giving up" is ugly, leaving a line break which doesn't fit with the rest; hyphenating is visually confusing and hard to read ("deindus-" looks like an independent, unfamiliar word, pronounced "deign-duss"); stretching is unnatural, probably hard to code or render, unfamiliar and quite ugly; adding "filler" words, a radical solution, makes the writing worse (in the case of the example, making the tone too informal); and adding a meaningless snake image, just long enough to fill the extra space, is a novel (and quite bizarre) solution which probably wouldn't actually be used by a serious typographer.

The title text suggests that in order to facilitate this last method of "solving" the problem, the [[:w:Unicode consortium|Unicode consortium]], the organization in charge of the common text standard [[:w:Unicode|Unicode]], should add "snake-building characters", similar to the ones already available for constructing boxes [add note about that here?], allowing variable-length snakes to be used as filling. This suggestion is quite ridiculous; the Unicode consortium is very specific about which characters are added [citation needed], and always require a good reason before adding a character or set of characters to the standard. Thus, while humourous, Randall's suggestion would likely be rejected.

Note that in Arabic, it is common to stretch the lines connecting letters as a relatively elegant and satisfying resolution to this problem. This trick is called "[[:w:kashida|kashida]]" (كشيدة) and is explained and illustrated [http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/creative-arabic-calligraphy-kashida-tajim-and-tashkil--cms-23240 here].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

Strategies for full-width justification

[Below this headline is a column of boxes, each showing a different "strategy" which is annotated beside it.]

Giving up

Letter spacing

Hyphenation

Stretching

Filler

Snakes

==Trivia==
The full text (with alternate changes) reads:

''...their famous paper on the relationship between [crap like]/[ 🐍 ] deindustrialization and the growth of ecological...''

{{comic discussion}}

1676: Full-Width Justification

2016-05-04T05:21:19Z

162.158.214.230: /* Explanation */ Added a bit more explanation and cleaned up a little. Still a rough draft, needs citations and clarification, and the wikipedia links fixed.

{{comic
| number = 1676
| date = May 4, 2016
| title = Full-Width Justification
| image = full_width_justification.png
| titletext = Gonna start bugging the Unicode consortium to add snake segment characters that can be combined into an arbitrary-length non-breaking snake.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|hasty & impatient placeholder. Still an early draft; needs citations, fact-checking, and it also needs the Wikipedia links to be fixed.}}
The comic refers to an irritating problem in laying out text in narrow spaces, as in newspaper columns or some web pages: the problem of [[:w:justification|justification]]. Sometimes, as before a long word like "[[:wikt:deindustrialization|deindustrialization]]," there's no universal good way to make the typography work. It is a difficult problem to make text look good and be easily legible in a narrow space, with the biggest issue being how to handle words that are too long or too short to fit nicely.

The comic shows several solutions to this problem, some realistic and others less so, but each unsatisfying. "Giving up" is ugly, leaving a line break which doesn't fit with the rest; hyphenating is visually confusing and hard to read ("deindus-" looks like an independent, unfamiliar word, pronounced "deign-duss"); stretching is unnatural, probably hard to code or render, unfamiliar and quite ugly; adding "filler" words, a radical solution, makes the writing worse (in the case of the example, making the tone too informal); and adding a meaningless snake image, just long enough to fill the extra space, is a novel (and quite bizarre) solution which probably wouldn't actually be used by a serious typographer.

The title text suggests that in order to facilitate this last method of "solving" the problem, the [[:w:Unicode consortium|Unicode consortium]], the organization in charge of the common text standard [[:w:Unicode|Unicode]], should add "snake-building characters", similar to the ones already available for constructing boxes [add note about that here?], allowing variable-length snakes to be used as filling. This suggestion is quite ridiculous; the Unicode consortium is very specific about which characters are added [citation needed], and always require a good reason before adding a character or set of characters to the standard. Thus, while humourous, Randall's suggestion would likely be rejected.

Note that in Arabic, it is common to stretch the lines connecting letters as a relatively elegant and satisfying resolution to this problem. This trick is called "[[:w:kashida|kashida]]" (كشيدة) and is explained and illustrated [http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/creative-arabic-calligraphy-kashida-tajim-and-tashkil--cms-23240 here].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

==Trivia==
The full text (with alternate changes) reads:

''...their famous paper on the relationship between [crap like]/[ 🐍 ] deindustrialization and the growth of ecological...''

{{comic discussion}}

1663: Garden/Images

2016-04-05T14:57:03Z

162.158.214.230: /* Permalinks */

*Here images for the interactive comic [[1663: Garden]] can be posted.
*Try to keep the naming scheme so to always include the following:
**''1663 garden description.png''

==Images==
===Screen shots===
[[File:Garden Loading screen shot.png]] 
[[File:Garden Lamp screen shot.png]] 
:[[File:Garden Red Lamp screen shot.png]] 
:[[File:Garden Three Lamp screen shot.png]] 
[[File:aprilfool-2016-xorg.png]] 
[[File:1663 garden Megan Monolith Animals and more.png]] 
[[File:1663 garden Fast growing tree - leafless.png]] 
[[File:1663 garden Fast growing tree - lots of leaves.png]] 
*Does this link display this image below to anyone else?
**http://www.xkcd.com/#0d11a2c8-fa8f-11e5-8001-42010a8e000e:
**[[File:1663 garden tree turtle birdbath.png]] 
**'''NO IT CHANGES'''. Less than a day later (April 5th) the garden seen via the link look like this:
**[[File:1663 garden Flying birds deer gate with cactus turtles snake etc.png]]
** multiple trees http://xkcd.com/1663/#9adb3010-fa62-11e5-8001-42010a8e0018
 

===Saved image from xkcd===
[[File:1663 garden Deer and tall gate.png]]
[[File:1663_garden_cueball_on_top_of_platform_with_turtles,_cacti,_and_offices.png‎]] 

===Permalinks===
*Plants [http://xkcd.com/#b818944a-faa5-11e5-8002-42010a8e0014 grow toward the lights].
*Intense blue light creates an [http://xkcd.com/#87f799b0-faa9-11e5-8001-42010a8e000c octopus garden]. (And that octopus has a hat. Relax.)
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/#9de9a12a-fab1-11e5-8014-42010a8e0005 Megan fighting an octopus army]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/#f4e1105e-fad8-11e5-8001-42010a8e000e Plants appear to prefer red light to blue, and fountains are capable of growing in trees.]
*Some of the grass is [http://xkcd.com/1663/?debug#1c23832a-fab8-11e5-8001-42010a8e0017 very flexible].
*These links where all made on the same day (April 5th). Here described what was in them when created. Interesting to see development. (Have screen shots, will add later):
**[http://xkcd.com/#cdb6d0e8-fb02-11e5-8014-42010a8e0006 Deer, two trees, birdbath with grass and four grass]. (Was already three birdbath when posting link).
**[http://xkcd.com/#99b78eb8-fb02-11e5-8001-42010a8e000d Three colors covering everything only one small tree].
**[http://xkcd.com/#d58a46f6-fb02-11e5-8001-42010a8e000f Three colors deer and stick].
**[http://xkcd.com/1663/#90277934-fb35-11e5-8001-42010a8e0010 Two yellow lamps - nothing yet].
**[http://xkcd.com/#c82f4e84-fb02-11e5-8015-42010a8e0005 Three red all over turtle cactus].
**[http://xkcd.com/#1bd5e766-fafc-11e5-8002-42010a8e0014 Three different red turtle cactus].
**[http://xkcd.com/#fbbdebcc-fafb-11e5-8001-42010a8e0016 One blue light three octopuses]
**[http://xkcd.com/#984b4570-fafc-11e5-8001-42010a8e0019 Three blue light four octopuses].
**[http://xkcd.com/#0a4d51a0-fafc-11e5-8001-42010a8e0011 Three yellow lights Bird bath and grass].
**[http://xkcd.com/#f5152f7e-fafb-11e5-8001-42010a8e0017 One yellow light long stick and tree].
**[http://xkcd.com/1663/?debug#01811958-fa89-11e5-8001-42010a8e0013 A little bit of everything]

===Images of items===
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/background.png Background]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/balloon.png Balloon]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/balloon-segment.png Balloon segment]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/beehive-base.png Beehive-base]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/beehive-entrance-a.png Beehive entrance a]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/beret-shrub.png Beret shrub]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/bird-1.png Bird 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/bird-2.png Bird 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/bird-3.png Bird 3]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/bird-4.png Bird 4]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/bird-5.png Bird 5]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/bird-riser.png Bird riser]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/bird-standing.png Bird standing]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/birdbath.png Birdbath]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-1.png Branch 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-10.png Branch 10]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-11.png Branch 11]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-12.png Branch 12]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-13.png Branch 13]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-14.png Branch 14]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-15.png Branch 15]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-16.png Branch 16]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-17.png Branch 17]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-18.png Branch 18]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-19.png Branch 19]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-2.png Branch 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-20.png Branch 20]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-21.png Branch 21]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-22.png Branch 22]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-23.png Branch 23]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-24.png Branch 24]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-3.png Branch 3]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-4.png Branch 4]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-5.png Branch 5]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-6.png Branch 6]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-7.png Branch 7]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-8.png Branch 8]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-9.png Branch 9]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/cactus-1.png Cactus 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/cactus-2.png Cactus 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/cat-balanced.png Cat Balanced]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/cat-ground.png Cat Ground]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/deer-1.png Deer 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/deer-2.png Deer 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/desk-1.png Desk 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/desk-lamp.png Desk lamp]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/duck-1.png Duck 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/fig-1.png Fig 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/flower-base.png Flower base]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/flower-segment1.png Flower segment 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/flower-segment2.png Flower segment 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/flower-segment3.png Flower segment 3]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/flower-segment4.png Flower segment 4]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/grass-1.png Grass 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/grass-2.png Grass 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/grass-3.png Grass 3]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/grass-4.png Grass 4]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/grass-5.png Grass 5]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/grass-6.png Grass 6]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/grass-7.png Grass 7]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/grass-8.png Grass 8]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/grass-9.png Grass 9]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/handfig-1.png Handfig 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/handfig-2.png Handfig 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/hat-1a.png Octopus hat 1a]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/important-bun.png Important bun]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/lamppost-1.png Lamppost 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-1.png Leaves 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-10.png Leaves 10]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-11.png Leaves 11]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-12.png Leaves 12]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-13.png Leaves 13]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-14.png Leaves 14]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-15.png Leaves 15]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-16.png Leaves 16]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-17.png Leaves 17]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-18.png Leaves 18]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-19.png Leaves 19]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-2.png Leaves 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-20.png Leaves 20]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-21.png Leaves 21]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-22.png Leaves 22]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-23.png Leaves 23]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-24.png Leaves 24]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-25.png Leaves 25]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-26.png Leaves 26]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-27.png Leaves 27]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-28.png Leaves 28]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-29.png Leaves 29]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-3.png Leaves 3]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-30.png Leaves 30]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-4.png Leaves 4]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-5.png Leaves 5]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-6.png Leaves 6]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-7.png Leaves 7]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-8.png Leaves 8]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-9.png Leaves 9]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/left-platform.png Left platform]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/man-1a.png Man 1a]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/man-2a.png Man 2a]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/null.png Null]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/null-continue-air.png Null continue air]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/obelisk.png Obelisk]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/octopus.png Octopus]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/octopus-hat-capable.png Octopus hat capable]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/platform-1.png Platform 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/pot-1.png Pot 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/pot-2.png Pot 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/pot-3.png Pot 3]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/right-platform.png Right platform]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/rover.png Rover]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/shrub-1.png Shrub 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/shrub-2.png Shrub 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/shrub-3.png Shrub 3]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/shrub-4.png Shrub 4]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/shrub-5.png Shrub 5]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/shrub-6.png Shrub 6]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/shrub-7.png Shrub 7]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/shrub-8.png Shrub 8]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/shrub-9.png Shrub 9]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/shrub-10.png Shrub 10]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/shrub-11.png Shrub 11]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/snake-1.png Snake 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/snake-2.png Snake 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/starplant.png Star Plant]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/sword-fig.png Sword fig]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/tall-platform.png Tall platform]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/talltrunk-1.png Tall trunk 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/talltrunk-2.png Tall trunk 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/talltrunk-3.png Tall trunk 3]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/talltrunk-4.png Tall trunk 4]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/tentacle-1.png Tentacle 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/tentacle-2.png Tentacle 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/tentacle-3.png Tentacle 3]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/tentacle-4.png Tentacle 4]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/tentacle-5.png Tentacle 5]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/tentacle-6.png Tentacle 6]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/trunk-1.png Trunk 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/trunk-2.png Trunk 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/trunk-3.png Trunk 3]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/trunk-4.png Trunk 4]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/trunk-5.png Trunk 5]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/trunk-6.png Trunk 6]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/trunk-7.png Trunk 7]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/trunk-8.png Trunk 8]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/turtle-1.png Turtle 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/turtle-2.png Turtle 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/waterbird-1.png Water bird 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/waterbird-2.png Water bird 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/wavyplant-1.png Wavy plant 1]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/wavyplant-2.png Wavy plant 2]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/wavyplant-3.png Wavy plant 3]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/wavyplant-4.png Wavy plant 4]
*[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/woman-1a.png Woman 1a]

Note: larger versions of all these pictures can be had by prepending 2x- to the filename such as [http://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-woman-1a.png 2x Woman 1a]

Talk:1638: Backslashes

2016-02-03T14:42:51Z

162.158.214.230:

It should be noted that this also occurs in almost every programming language where "\" is the escape character. i.e.
print("Hello")
> Hello
print("\"Hello\"")
> "Hello"
print("\\Hello\\")
> \Hello\
Oh, and by the way, isn't this the third comic to mention "Ba'al, the Soul Eater"? Maybe we should start a category. (Others are [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1246:_Pale_Blue_Dot 1246] (title text) and [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1419:_On_the_Phone 1419].)
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.29|173.245.54.29]] 06:14, 3 February 2016 (UTC)
:[[:Category:Ba'al|Did that]] before seeing you comment, so yes I agree. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:47, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

;I don't think the regex is invalid

According to <tt>man grep</tt> you need to specify the <tt>-E</tt> option to use extended regex; without it unescaped parentheses are not interpreted, so they don't need to match.

My - very wild - guess is that it was the command he used to find the line with the most special characters, but I am not confident enough to edit the article (if someone can confirm?). {{unsigned ip|141.101.66.83}}

If it was supposed to do that, it doesn't work. Running it on my bash history matches no lines, and I have lots of special characters in there [[Special:Contributions/197.234.242.243|197.234.242.243]] 07:12, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

Explain it to me like I'm dumb. What is this comic going on about? I think the explanation needs more examples like that hello, above, because that's almost understandable. --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.231|198.41.238.231]] 07:47, 3 February 2016 (UTC)
:I agree. But I cannot help either.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:51, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

This is the third time Randall has mentioned Ba'al the Soul Eater xD [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 08:26, 3 February 2016 (UTC)
:Yes, that was already mentioned a few hours before you comment, see the first comment. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:51, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

After passing the regex through bash, you get <nowiki>\\[[(].*\\[\])][^)\]]*$</nowiki> That is, the literal character \, followed by [ or (, followed by any number of any characters, followed by \, followed by ] or ), followed by any number of characters that aren't ) or ], until the end of the line. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.44|108.162.216.44]] 08:33, 3 February 2016 (UTC)
:It sounds like you know what you are talking about. Anyone who can explain it good enough for the explanation, and correct the explanation of the title text if it is wrong to say that it would not work. I have added this as the reason for incomplete. But maybe also examples are needed for people with not programming skills/knowledge. We also enjoy xkcd ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:51, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

For fun:
cat ~/.bash_history | xargs -d "\n" -n 1 -I {} bash -c 'chars="$(echo "$1" | grep -o "[a-zA-Z0-9 ]" | wc -l)"; echo "$(( 100 - $(( $chars * 100 / ${#1} )) )) $1"' _ {} | sort -nrk 1 | less

Outputs your bash_history, ordered by relative gibberishness. This was copied by hand from desktop to mobile, might well have a few typos.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.208|162.158.90.208]] 10:04, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

The problem in the comic is not with regexes per se but with situations when the entered text or expression passes through several interpreters, like bash -> grep/sed/awk, or program text -> external shell command. In such cases, you have to escape backslashes for each program in the sequence, and it gets worse if you have 'real' backslashes in the final text that you're processing with the utilities (Windows' file paths, for example). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_toothpick_syndrome.
Feel free to lift this to the explanation page, since I'm not good at longer and more careful explanations than this one.
Also, gotta notice that Feedly stripped paired backslashes in the title text (probably passed it through some 'interpreter' embedded in its scripts). [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 10:13, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

:A funny comment about the MediaWiki software, which is even worse than this comic: <code><nowiki><Nikerabbit> I looked the code for rlike and didn't find where it does this. Can you point me to it? <vvv> $pattern = preg_replace( '!(\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\)*(\\\\\\\\)?/!', '$1\\/', $pattern ); <Nikerabbit> I thought that was ascii art :)</nowiki></code> ([https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/P110$275 source]) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.215|162.158.91.215]] 10:18, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

Interestingly, I first looked at this on my phone (using <strike>Chrome</strike> Feedly for Android), but the title text did not display correctly in that the backslashes didn't appear (which was a little confusing!). In Chrome on my Windows desktop, the title text appeared correctly. [[User:Jdluk|Jdluk]] ([[User talk:Jdluk|talk]]) 11:36, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

enough with the harry potter fancruft. "elder" is a [[Wiktionary:elder|perfectly good word]]. just because you came across it for the first time in harry potter means you are *typing carefully* the kind of person that likes harry potter. unless this is a ''harry potter reference'' wiki, of course. in which case i'll prepare a complete list of every word that appears both here and there and put a list on every page. oh, right, no i won't. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.161|141.101.106.161]] 12:41, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

Remember that "Elder" is used in a lot of RPGs to denote high level enemies or items. I feel like that's what Randall's referring to here, more than Harry Potter or the general sense of the term "Elder."
* +1. Between the fact that harry potter (, ages, or tribes) aren't mentioned anywhere else in the text and the comic being a progressive list, I see this being the most likely explanation. Plus the metion of demons, which are easily the most* common usage of the modifier.
** (*) or second most, after "elder gods", who are, let's face it, also demons. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.180.125|162.158.180.125]] 14:41, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

Attempting to add to the discussion: This regex is not necessarily invalid or incomprehensible. It looks like he was looking for a line with a regular expression or definitely some code. You just have to work your way through the backslashes. Although it might be invalid depending on the precise rules. He has some unescaped closing brackets and closing parenthesis. If these have to always be escaped then the regex is invalid. If however you don't have to escape a closing bracket with no opening bracket, then things are fine. I'm not familiar enough with grep's regex parser to know how it handles that edge case. Presuming those unescaped paren and brackets are fine, his regex searches for:

1. A backslash

2. An opening bracket

3. An opening parenthesis (this is a character set but the only character in it is an opening paren)

4. Any number of any characters

5. A backslash

6. An opening bracket

7. A closing bracket

8. A closing paren (presuming it doesn't have to be escaped when there is no opening paren)

9. A closing bracket (presuming it doesn't have to be escaped when there is no opening bracket)

10. Any number of character that are not a closing paren or closing bracket

11. The end of the line

Basically he is looking for a string that looks like:

\[(AAAAA\[])]AAAAA

Looks like a regex to me, and it looks like this regex also doesn't escape closing paren/brackets that don't have an opening paren/bracket, so I'm guessing that he knows what he is doing and his regex is fine. Maybe he was playing regex golf?
[[User:Cmancone|Cmancone]] ([[User talk:Cmancone|talk]])cmancone

Ninjaed by Cmancone, above. I agree with that result in every respect except for the start-of-string being potentially anything, but putting my own analysis in here because it took long enough to type!
Depth-of-backslash might depend upon depth of utility. In Perl, <nowiki>''</nowiki>-quotes (among others) treat everything within as literal whilst ""-quotes (and variations) interpolates any special characters, variables, etc that you put in it. (Search for "Quote and Quote-like operators" in your favourite PerlDocs source.) '\sss' is a literal backslash followed by three 's' characters , while "\sss" is the special \s escape (a whitespace) followed by two further regular characters. You might need to define the first when you need to use it to provide a not-previously-escaped \s so that it might be escaped within another context. ''Or'' you define it as "\\sss" (escaped-\) the first time, as equivalent to '\sss'. But '\\sss' would be a literal that, later, could be interpreted as an escaped-\ to the input of a further context where the \s finally becomes 'match a whitespace'.

'\\\sss' would be literal, whilst "\\\sss" could be equivalent to '\ ss' (literal backslash, literal space, rest of characters). Then, instead of literal '\\sss', for some purpose, you could interpolate two escaped-backslashes "\\\\sss"... and so on.

Meanwhile I ''think'', just from visual inspection, "'''\\\[[(].*\\\[\])][^)\]]*$'''" in Bash should obey the interpolation rules quite nicely. The first two characters must be a literal backslash (from the escaped-backslash) and a literal open-square bracket (again, escaped). The next open-square and the close-square shortly after depict a character class that contains only an open-parenthesis, and could have been written as '''$'''.

The '''.*''' indicates zero-or-more (the asterix) instances of ''any'' character (the dot). There is then a literal backslash (from the next '''\\''' duo) and a literal open-square (the '''\[''' pair) and close-square (the '''\]''' pair). The ''')''' is literal and does not need escaping (as a parenthesis group had not yet been opened), as is the next ''']''' character. To be sure, I would have written these two as the pair escapes '''$\]''', but horses for courses...

Then there's another character class (the next '''[''' and the final ''']''') required zero-or-more times (the asterix) to use up all the rest of the characters to the end (the ending '''$''' character). As there was no '''^''' character (a.k.a. caret/circumflex/etc) at the start, the match isn't bothered about what unmatched characters appear before the original '''\('''. This character class, however, starts with a '''^''' which in this context (the very first character of a character-class definition, not somewhere where an entire match-string starts) indicates negation of the following selection, so it is all characters ''but'' those specified, which is the regular close-parenthesis and (because it needs to be contained within a '''[]''' pair) the escaped close-square.

So, all matching strings must start with '''\[(''', i.e. the backslash, open-square and open-paren. They can continue with ''any'' further text, before then having a '''\[])]''', i.e. backslash, open-and-close-squares and close-paren, close-square. After this, the match continues just as long as there are no non-closing square/classic brackets before the ending.

The minimum matching literal string would be '''\[(\[])]''' with longer variants being of the form '''X\[(Y\[])]Z''' where X and Y can be replaced by anything (or be absent), and Z can be replaced by anything (or absent!) ''so long as it doesn't contain possibly relevent close-brackets!''. The latter stipulation is likely because the Y (and X) ''is'' allowed to contain these characters, and for some reason you don't want to confuse the test by finding some other '''\[])]''' segment within the X/Y-zones. (In this context, it doesn't actually seem to matter too much. But it might do in ways I haven't spotted or just be a hang-over from a prior permutation of the test.)

The "grep -o" function is working on the output to the file being '''cat'''ed (there are alternate ways of doing this that some people might prefer), to only accept the lines in the file that match the '''X\[(Y\[])]Z''' string. These lines would appear to be lines of out.txt (a fairly generic name that reveals little to its original purpose) that are well-formed for some other purpose. A safety-escaped (i.e. not to be taken literally by any simple parser) '''[]'''-grouping containing a '''()'''-group (''not'' escaped, perhaps reasonably in context) containing potentially random text followed by an empty '''[]''' pair (again, safety-escaped). Depending on the source, the empty '''[]'''-pair could mean many things, as with the other layers. And the lines may end with any further text.

The "out.txt" file might be the result of a prior Grep (string-search function) quote possibly scanning code for lines of particular importance by another pattern and dumping the results to out.txt for further perusal. And then Randall finds the need to dig further into the first result by extracting just those already selected that all have the '''X\[(Y\[])Z]'''-ish pattern to them.

But I could be wrong, and that's way too long for an official explanation.
(Perhaps just something like the penultimate paragraph, if we're not entirely mistaken?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.89|162.158.152.89]] 14:14, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

The regex is looking for:
backslash
[ or (
any character (repeated 0 or more times)
space
backslash
[
] or )
not ] or ) (repeated 0 or more times, but there's a problem here)
end of string

The problem I mentioned is that you're only allowed to use a ] inside a character grouping [...] if it's either the first character or the second if there is a ^ (negation) first. The last bit should be [^])]*$ and not [^)\]]*$. [[User:Khris|Khris]] ([[User talk:Khris|talk]]) 14:24, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

I was reading through the regex, if using grep you run into an error with an unmatched ")". Removing this gets a string such as \[(AAAAA\[]]AAAAA$ http://regexr.com/3cng8 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.230|162.158.214.230]] 14:42, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1635: Birdsong

2016-02-01T20:13:58Z

162.158.214.230: Explanation for why the comic is not referencing Undertale

Cueball could instead be trying to capture it to figure out how what appears to be a regular bird can sing human lyrics, seeing as birds do not have anything resembling the human pharynx or diaphragm, as birds use a system of air sacs to push air into their lungs, analogous to how a mammalian heart moves blood. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.161|108.162.250.161]] 13:09, 27 January 2016 (UTC) Dom Vasta
:However, birds split the actions of each side of their trachea to vocalise two notes at once, which gives those already capable of imitating human speech (or other anthropogenic sounds) ''more'' capability than a human to sing lyrics. That they lack understanding of what they are hearing (certain study parrots possibly excepted) deprives them of the ability to sing ''meaningful'' duets with themselves, but those capable of mimicry clearly have the basic ability to sing two independent voices at once, or a single distinctive voice with at least a simple musical accompaniment of an appropriate register, were they so inclined to separate the 'channels' and not just squish it as if into a mono 'recording' of composite sounds anyway. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.89|162.158.152.89]] 13:58, 27 January 2016 (UTC)
::The interesting thing is that there's little strong evidence that even smaller birds /can't/ learn to speak in some degree. While researching the topic, I found a paper which makes a convincing mathematical argument that language formation is very unlikely in nature. http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/10/88/20130520
:That would make no sense together with the title text. Before reading this it more seems he would remove the bird from his perfect world, giving his look in the third panel! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:18, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

::The study remarkably shows how language would evolve. On the other hand, I laughed quite hard when they tried, in a deus ex machina way, to pull out of a hat the conclusion that 'humans are unique because they already have the ability to process language'. Is that not an obvious sentiment that has nothing to do with their prior research? They proved how difficult language is for nature to develop, but not that it is limited to humans. Rather, they showed that any individual can evolve which has the capacity to understand language, but that the individual requires others with the same capacity in order to benefit enough not to be selected against by evolution.

::So, if you could find a few birds with a predisposition to language, you may be able to make this happen. Getting them to understand the song on the other hand, would prove difficult. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.131|108.162.242.131]] 14:47, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

Am I the only one who thought of {{w|Undertale}} from the first panel? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.47|108.162.216.47]] 13:56, 27 January 2016 (UTC)
:I believe that you are experiencing {{w|Pareidolia}}. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.131|108.162.242.131]] 14:02, 27 January 2016 (UTC)
::True to the pareidolia - see also [[1551: Pluto]] ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:18, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

The second panel immediately reminded me of that unusual phenomenon of birds mimicking ringtones and other incidental human sounds such as car alarms, substituting their natural and beautiful "songs" for our feeble attempts. [[User:Rotan|Rotan]] ([[User talk:Rotan|talk]]) 01:05, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

The titletext could also be seen as referencing [http://amultiverse.com/comic/2014/09/10/bird-tools/ this episode] of Scenes From A Multiverse. Doubtful, as (to my knowledge) Randall has never expressed a particular love of that comic, but possible. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.253.18|162.158.253.18]] 20:35, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

So, I'm not going to outright delete it since it is rather interesting, but those are some pretty serious Undertale spoilers in the explanation. Could we give that part of the description (especially the part about the ending of the Genocide Run) some kind of spoiler tag, if we don't want to just remove it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.176|108.162.245.176]] 20:52, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

Am I the only one to think that panel 3 represents that age-old truth that a bird in the hand is safer than one overhead? Helping to explain Cueball's irritation, and the butterfly net.--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.24|173.245.48.24]] 06:04, 28 January 2016 (UTC)
:Someone did delete it all. I have no knowledge of Undertale, and though it far out when first mentioned above, but after reading the now deleted explanation, it seemed like a possible reference by Randall... Should it be deleted completely? Anyway, if anyone is interested in that part of the explanation, and do not care for SPOILERS, then read [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1635:_Birdsong&oldid=110112 this version] from just before the deletion. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:09, 28 January 2016 (UTC)
::It is not a reference to Undertale. It is more than likely a case of pareidolia from the editor having played Undertale recently and remembering the scenario. The comic is clearly a reference to the Santana song as the lyrics fit perfectly and it makes sense with the joke, and that leaves no evidence to it being a reference to the video game. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.230|162.158.214.230]] 20:13, 1 February 2016 (UTC)

Does anyone else wonder if this is a shout out to the comic that ended the main run of "A Softer World"? It starts out as "The sun is shining/and the birds are singing"...{{unsigned ip|108.162.216.42}}