1084: Server Problem

2023-11-17T22:08:54Z

162.158.34.8: Undo revision 329199 by 172.70.91.230 (talk) Introduces several typological errors/confusions. Maybe two *actual* corrections in there, but they can be redone by someone with the time.

{{comic
| number = 1084
| date = July 20, 2012
| title = Server Problem
| image = server_problem.png
| titletext = Protip: Annoy Ray Kurzweil by always referring to it as the 'Cybersingularity'.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] has messed up his {{w|Linux server}}, {{tvtropes|WalkingTechbane|apparently not for the first time}}. [[Megan]] offers to take a look at the PC and types in "ls" — a basic command that lists the files in the current directory. The computer returns a bizarre error message — it trips over one of the simplest commands, indicating that Cueball's system is messed up. ''Really'' messed up.

On Linux, most commands are executables usually found in either /bin or /usr/bin. The /usr/share folder, on the other hand, is where "architecture-independent shared data" is stored. Adobe is a software company that produces Acrobat and Photoshop. "android_vm" would likely be a virtual machine for Android. The .jar extension suggests a Java-language program. None of the above items are related to the command "ls", nor do they have anything to do with each other, with the semi-exception that Android is based on Java. Executables should also never be found within /usr/share or within directories named "example" or "doc" - indeed, by default Linux does not even look in the /usr/share directory for items that can be run unless the user {{w|PATH (variable)|tells it to do so by changing the $PATH variable}}. The presence of "ls.jar" within a folder called "android_vm" suggests Cueball was attempting to boot up a virtual Android device, but somehow wound up directing the Linux server to use the executable files meant for the virtual system instead of the correct ones in /bin or /usr/bin.

In the last frame Megan is bewildered by this result and asks ''"What did you do!?"''. Cueball suggest a course of action which mimics a common error message: "[X] is busy, please try again later." Obviously he has seen this type of message frequently enough to try it as a general cure in all similar cases (even scarier, there is a good possibility that his tech issues are so bizarre that it often works for him).

Megan then tells Cueball to "shut down the system and wait for the {{w|technological singularity|singularity}}," referring to a hypothetical future event when superintelligence can be artificially created. Since future superintelligent humans/computers transcend our comprehension, we can't predict or even understand what will happen after the singularity. One interpretation is that Megan is telling Cueball that his system is such a mess that it will take a post-singularity superintelligence to fix it (or run it in its current state, as only an intelligence beyond present comprehension would be capable of doing). It also indicates that either [[1782: Team Chat]] or [[1668: Singularity]] could be the sequel to this comic. Since the singularity is a hypothetical event that may never happen, or may happen at a date unimaginably far in the future, Megan is essentially telling Cueball to give up completely on fixing his server. This is her way of declaring that no human can fix or understand his server.

The title text is yet another [[:Category:Protip|protip]] from [[Randall]]. {{w|Ray Kurzweil}} is an author and futurist who has {{w|Singularity Summit|talked}} and {{w|The Singularity Is Near|written}} much about a ''{{w|technological singularity}}''. Presumably, mangling the jargon (by confusing the concept of the "singularity" with the science fiction term "{{w|cyberspace}}") is something Kurzweil (as an expert) would find annoying. Also, as Randall later pointed out in [[1573: Cyberintelligence]], the prefix "cyber" has not really been used for a decade...

==Transcript==
:[Cueball at his computer calls out for Megan who comes walking in to the frame.]
:Cueball: I, um, messed up my server again.
:Megan: I'll take a look. You have the ''weirdest'' tech problems.

:[Zoom in on only Megan who uses the root prompt on the computer.]
:<code><font color="gray">~#</font> ls</code>

:[Megan stands next to the computer, Cueball sits behind her on his chair. The computer returns the following:]
:<code>/usr/share/Adobe/doc/example/android_vm/root/sbin/ls.jar:
:Error: Device is not responding.</code>

:[Megan turns towards Cueball who lifts his hands with palm up.]
:Megan: What did you ''do!?''
:Cueball: Maybe the device is busy. Should I try it later?
:Megan: You should shut down this system and wait for the Singularity.

== Trivia ==

* This is the first comic to have a high-resolution (pixel-doubled) version of its image.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:Protip]]
[[Category:Singularity]]
[[Category:Cueball Computer Problems]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

Talk:2847: Dendrochronology

2023-10-29T18:05:48Z

162.158.34.8:

Hello wonderful person. IYKYK

Is the set of bones supposed to signify something? Human perhaps? I see vertebrae. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.30|172.70.46.30]] 13:27, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

: The bones depicted appear to represent a subset of "generalized vertebrate animal", including arm, leg, and jaw bones in addition to the vertebrae. Humans are cited as prey species, but the bones in this specimen are far too small to be human. If a typical tree ring is 2 mm wide, the 1635 CE ring would have to be 40 mm wide to accommodate a 20 mm diameter human femur with free space, as shown. The ring is ca. 12 mm wide. This tree ate smaller vertebrates. Of course, different tree species likely had different prey ranges, as with carnivorous animals. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.220|172.70.206.220]] 16:15, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

: Yes, that's what he means by "carnivorous", he's claiming that one year this tree was eating humans, those bones are the remains of those humans. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:01, 29 October 2023 (UTC)
:: "Carnivorous" doesn't ''necessarily'' mean "man-eater". It's eating creatures (and generally you'd go for "insectivorous" for certain eater-of-invertibrate diets, but it'll probably cover consuming anything in the Animal Kingdom, fish, fowl, etc). He actually only claims one ''human'' was eaten (the eponymous researcher of the phenomenon), even if it was possible that others also got fatally surprised by it. But it could be any arboreal creature (and maybe some unwise unarboreal but tree-adjacent ones). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.8|162.158.34.8]] 18:05, 29 October 2023 (UTC)

So this tree was cut down in late 1642? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.182|172.70.42.182]] 13:37, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

: Its year of death was indeed 1642 CE per dendrochronology. As for being cut down ... given the dense layer of calcium phosphate in the sapwood, and the saws available in the mid-1600s, the question "how?" [https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2023/10/27/amoebas-lorica-dendrochr-ohno-logy/ is nontrivial]. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.220|172.70.206.220]] 16:15, 28 October 2023 (UTC)
: Wouldn't the bark make it 1643? Isn't a ring a complete year, the bark is the current year's ring forming? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:05, 29 October 2023 (UTC)
:: The bark is on the other side of the {{w|vascular cambium}} from the xylem tissue, so it isn't part of a tree ring and doesn't count as a year, as I understand the matter. However, the drawing does permit the interpretation that a ring is forming under the bark. Since the bulk of a tree ring normally forms at the beginning of a growing season, this would indicate that the tree died in the first couple of months of the local growing season in 1643 CE. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.112|172.70.210.112]] 08:09, 29 October 2023 (UTC)

So is the year 1635 a reference to some real event, or just totally random? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.230.26|162.158.230.26]] 17:57, 28 October 2023 (UTC)
:If it was totally random it would have been 4AD! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.5|141.101.99.5]] 18:23, 28 October 2023 (UTC)
:at first I thought maybe the {{w|Carrington Event}} (similar but smaller EM storm as Miyake events), but that was 1859. The only vaguely related thing I saw for 1635 was the first recorded US hurricane... you might say I'm Stumped (and if that's the meta joke here, insert Capt Kirk "Khan!" clip here, with the subtitle "Monroe!") - [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.39|172.68.34.39]] 19:41, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1084: Server Problem

Talk:2847: Dendrochronology