explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2989: Physics Lab Thermostat

2024-09-24T05:28:30Z

162.158.62.243:

Assuming I did the math right (Units proved the units worked out, but I wouldn't otherwise assume that), holding the energy constant at "room temperature with the normal, global Boltzmann constant" this thermostat varies from 13°C (56°F) on the left to 28°C (82°F) on the right. Holding the ''temperature'' constant gives a much harder to interpret range of energies from 4.2 zeptojoules on the left to 4.0 zJ on the right. Turning those back into temperatures with the normal Boltzmann constant gives 29°C (84°F) to 15°C (59°F). Given the reversed scale, I'd assume the former is the intended interpretation, and this thermostat has no effect on local thermal energy, it just adjusts the temperature scale so the number on your (local physical constant variance-compliant) measuring device matches what you asked for.

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.243|162.158.62.243]] 05:28, 24 September 2024 (UTC) Will

Talk:2017: Stargazing 2

2018-07-10T07:38:39Z

162.158.62.243: xkcd fake news

In the description for the earlier comic, it is quite emphatically asserted that this is not Megan (although it certainly is drawn like her) but is, instead, a male TV host. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.28|172.68.174.28]] 20:21, 9 July 2018 (UTC)MrBigDog2u
:Thanks, but I believe the transcript of the former comic was interpreted false. People are often outlined as male when they are in fact women. AND in this comic it's clearly a female without any doubt. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:11, 9 July 2018 (UTC)
:Actually if you go to /1646/info.0.json , you'll find the presenter referred to as he twice. Unless you're saying Megan uses he, it seems unlikely to be a female. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ For what it's worth, I assumed it was a female until I read the explanation for 1644. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.37|162.158.107.37]] 22:57, 9 July 2018 (UTC)
::Two questions about that:
::1.) I don't see any use of the word "he" in that transcript. Where do you see that?
::2.) Why 1646? Isn't that one with Cueball writing a Twitter bot?
::Looking at xkcd.com/1644/info.0.json, xkcd.com/1646/info.0.json, & xkcd.com/2017/info.0.json, I can't find a reference to gender in ''any'' of them.
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 23:37, 9 July 2018 (UTC)
:::Hey Zarquon, if you look again at [https://xkcd.com/1646/info.0.json], you can see the star guide referenced as “he” a couple times if you carefully read the whole transcript. If alternatively your contribution to this wiki is that of trolling, you are making this rather obvious. If you’re getting different contents for that file than we are, maybe you could upload it to ipfs or something for comparison and tell us the ip addresses that xkcd.com resolves to for you, so that somebody can debug the issue. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.243|162.158.62.243]] 07:38, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
"Don't bother trying to catch them"??? What stellar object would you catch? Unless this is a reference to asteroid mining? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.28|172.68.90.28]] 22:47, 9 July 2018 (UTC)SiliconWolf
:Those stellar objects are so close compared to all the others, who wouldn't try?? Could you imagine actually meeting another object in this universe of distant interstellar bodies? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.46|172.68.54.46]] 23:11, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

1994: Repairs

2018-05-18T00:45:49Z

162.158.62.243: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1994
| date = May 16, 2018
| title = Repairs
| image = repairs.png
| titletext = I was just disassembling it over the course of five hours so it would fit in the trash more efficiently.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| lacks cross references/ analogies to similar cartoons, and the ups and downs in the graph need to be explained individually.}}

A graph depicts the sentiment created by the act of repairing something, depending on the time it took (x-axis) and ensuing result (y-axis). The degree of triumph and exultation (expressed in sentences in quotes inside the graph) is strongly enhanced by the time the operation takes, and is also positively correlated with the result (if any). Actions during the repair process are described in sentences without quotes.
The conclusions are rather optimistic; the most negative feeling expressed (after the maximum time of repair with minimum degree of success) is a threat against other objects that might have plans to break.

The graph shows a main path most of his fixes apparently usually take (solid line) along with some variations they sometimes take (dotted lines). Projects usually start out with items that mostly work, but have minor problems. Occasionally they just need a cleaning (first dotted line). If that doesn't work, he takes them partly apart, and then there are times he's able to put them back together and get them to either work completely (one branch of a dotted line) or get it back to the condition it started out in (other branch of a dotted line), at which point he doesn't tempt fate by continuing, knowing what's likely to happen if he continues messing with it. When it's still not working, he takes it apart more completely, starts doing less reversible things like cutting wires, and finally starts watching YouTube videos hopefully showing the right way to fix it, or at least how others fixed it. After all that, there can be several results: One dotted line shows it's fully fixed and he feels victorious and proud that all the hard work payed off. The next dotted line is when he gets it partially working again, and gives up, satisfied to at least not have completely destroyed it. The third, main path result is total failure, which he could take as a personal failure but to which he instead responds with humor by admonishing the rest of his possessions to not break otherwise the same total destruction might happen to them.

The title text shows another excuse for failure. Nobody would spend five hours being a trash compactor.

A similar sentiment was expressed in [[349: Success]].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the diagram:]
:'''<big>How well something works</big>'''
:After I decide to fix it

:[The comic shows a graph with a solid curve that decreases in 8 different sized steps from the top left to the bottom right. The X-axis shows time passes and gives the time from zero to five hours with 6 ticks with labels beneath. The Y-axis shows how well something works with 8 ticks, but only four of them labeled.]

:Works great
:Has minor problems
:Doesn't work

:Will never work again

:0 hours   1 hour   2 hours   3 hours   4 hours   5 hours

:[The solid line has six labels with eight arrow pointing to different sections, two times the same label has two arrows pointing to different sections the first two places where the lines takes a step down, and the second to two plateaus on either side of a step. In total the arrows point four times on both steps and plateaus. Both the first and final plateau has a dot has added to the line, and the arrows point to those. Above the solid line there are three dotted lines going up from three plateaus just before the solid line takes a step down, the last two of these lines split up in two, with one going higher. At the end of each of these five dotted lines there is a sentence spoken. The solid line begins at the 2nd tick on the Y-Axis and finishes at the last. The three dotted lines going up ends up at the 1. tick on the Y-axis, for the last two there are also a line ending at the 2nd tick and 3rd tick respectively. Only the first label being above the first tick on the X-axis but the last three labels are all above the last tick on the X-Axis. Here is a list of all the labels in chronological order according to the position on the X-axis. For those that has the same time stamp the top one will be mentioned first. Those at the end of a line are indented:]
:I start trying to fix it
::"It just needed cleaning!"
:Take it apart
::"Fixed it!"
::"Well, at least it's not ''more'' broken than when I started."
:Take it apart more
:Watch YouTube instructional videos
:Take a deep breath and cut wires
::"That was heroic and I deserve a Nobel prize."
::"Well, it ''sort'' of works now."
:(Turn to other possessions)
::"...And let that be a lesson to you."

==Trivia==

The initial version of the normal sized image at xkcd was [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/d/de/20180516052839%21repairs.png broken]. This was later repaired, with the result that this comic now works great.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]

Talk:1529: Bracket

2018-03-29T00:59:08Z

162.158.62.243:

Interesting to me that no one has noted the order of the doctors. Doctor Octopus is from a comic, Doctor Manhattan is from a graphic novel and, trying to avoid spoilers here, the atomic bomb plays a key role in the story. The atomic bomb was the product of the Manhattan project (a fact not lost on Alan Moore), and the subject of the movie referenced by the next line, Dr Strangelove ("or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb"). I can't believe this order is arbitrary. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.108|173.245.48.108]] 04:55, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

What's the connection between Rip Torn and Natalie Imbruglia? {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.183}}
:Answer: Her song, Torn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV1XWJN3nJo-{{unsigned|Stumpy}}
Rip Torn could have a preliminary match with Prof. Lance Rips  {{unsigned|Mitch Marks uchicago|16:34, 25 May 2015 (UTC)|please sign your posts appropriately with the appropriate user and talk page links using <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>. the original signature was an inexistent template.}}

Any pairings that you'd add, given the opportunity? Personally I always confuse [[wikipedia:Wilson Pickett|Wilson Pickett]] and [[wikipedia:Wilson Phillips|Wilson Phillips]]. [[User:Studley|Studley]] ([[User talk:Studley|talk]]) 08:28, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
[[wikipedia:Will Ferrell|Will Ferrell]] and [[wikipedia:Pharrell Williams|Pharrell Williams]] for me! -{{unsigned|Stumpy}}
Bill Paxton should be followed by Bill Bixby... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.92|108.162.254.92]] 09:10, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

How about George Washington and George Washington Carver? and the George Washington Bridge?

At one time, the White House had both a Donald Regan and a Ronald Reagan.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.190|108.162.215.190]] 17:14, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Why do some first round pairings have more than two people? Beyoncé starts at the third round, so it can't be just because of the number of people. There has to be a joke in them but I don't see it. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.176|141.101.104.176]] 08:45, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
:Possibly an in-joke at the NCAA bracket's First Four round. Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers is a more "traditional" reference to the First Four. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.103|108.162.219.103]] 10:32, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
: Beyoncé starts first, before the first round. She's singing the national anthem before the players start competing. She doesn't compete until the third road because she needs time to change clothes since you don't wear the same thing to sing the national anthem as you wear as a competitor. :-) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.189|108.162.215.189]] 04:22, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps it's worth adding to a trivia section that (assuming every person/thing has an equal chance of winning every matchup, Beyonce has the highest odds of winning (1/32 = 3.125%) while Kurt Russell, Russell Crowe, Russell Brand, and Russell Simmons are all tied for having the worst starting odds (1/256 = .391%).[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.91|108.162.219.91]] 09:19, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

I may be worth mentioning that the bracketing trees resemble hierarchical clustering dendrograms in which some string similarity metric was used as a distance function. {{unsigned dip|141.101.91.7}}

Although the comic is formatted as a tournament bracket, there are hints that it is in fact a dendrogram based on string similarity, in a similar way to how trees of evolutionary relationships between proteins are formed. We see this especially in the "Russell" group where there is equal similarity between any name containing "Russell" and so that group is not resolved into two separate forks. If readers wish to recreate such an analysis for themselves they can take the text on [http://pastebin.com/DRqjaDHH here] paste it into a [http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Tools/msa/clustalw2/ multiple sequence aligner], press Submit, then after processing click Phylogenetic Tree and scroll down. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.74|141.101.99.74]] 12:46, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Somewhat disagree. There is no "string similarity" between domino and checker. The connection between the names seems to be that there are games named Dominos and Checkers. They would not be together if it was based on strictly on string similarity or generated automatically by software without human intervention.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.190|108.162.215.190]] 17:09, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Is there any significance to the number of entries? 52 on the left side but only 51 on the right? {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.84}}

Should it be noted at all that Chubby Checker's name was inspired by Fats Domino? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.121|108.162.215.121]] 21:05, 26 May 2015 (UTC)Akiosama

;Title text
Changed the reference of the Title Text from Doctor Who (who is already listed in the comic) to Dr. Dre, as the phrasing of the Title Text seems like a very direct reference to the 2001 song "Forgot About Dre." {{unsigned|Conquistador}}
:Probably would have been better to add it as an option since we're clearly far from certain -{{unsigned|Stumpy}}

Why not Zoidberg? --RhyvenNZ [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.41|198.41.238.41]] 09:55, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Pretty sure Doctor Who is covered by "The Doctor". He doesn't go by "Who" in the show. He's just the Doctor. I think the missing doctor is House. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.127}}

Dr. Pepper, maybe? Does "staring" or "forgotten" have to do with it? {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.156}}

Whatagainnow? {{unsigned ip|108.162.222.178}}

Dr. Oz? Dr. Phil? Dr. Watson? Dr. Kavorkian? Dr. Seuss? Wasn't there a famous literary work, The Lost Island of Dr. Moreau? I agree that Dr. House and/or house calls could be a missing candidate for the bracket. But then, there are a ton of 'Sirs' that didn't make the list.  {{unsigned|GAKDragon||please sign your posts appropriately with the appropriate user and talk page links using <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>}}
:[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Teeth_and_The_Electric_Mayhem Doctor Teeth!] [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:50, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
:Pete Docter? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.191|108.162.249.191]] 11:27, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

Or is "The Doctor" http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/The_Doctor? {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.108}}
:The Doctor is already in the bracket. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.49|141.101.99.49]] 10:40, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

It's Doctor House - definitely and finally! {{unsigned|Raydleemsc}}

Definitely "Doc" Brown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Brown {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.171}}

::It's clearly Dr. Doolittle. Can't imagine why no one has realized this yet. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.193}}

Could the joke simply be "there are way too many famous doctors", so even though it's arguably the most numerous category in the bracket, some are still "forgotten"? {{unsigned ip|108.162.254.164}}

Probably not talking about doctor who, however he could be referencing The Silence, which is a an alien race, on that show, which you immediately forget about after losing sight of it. {{unsigned|KroniK907}}

I immediately thought of Amy's wedding in Dr Who S5Ep13 where she needed to remember the doctor to bring him back. Too obscure? [[User:Blu003|Blu003]] ([[User talk:Blu003|talk]]) 13:07, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
:Hardly. You want obscure, try The Doctor's granddaughter. Yep, he had/has one. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.144|108.162.237.144]] 13:41, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

:Dr. Martha Jones, from Doctor Who? The Doctor Donna? Even the companions on the show are Doctors. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.178|108.162.222.178]] 03:55, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

I'm disappointed that no one thought of Julius "Dr. J" Irving, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Erving given the similarity to a Basketball tournament style graphic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.165|108.162.219.165]] 17:35, 3 June 2015 (UTC)

When this comic first went up, I emailed xkcd the same day to say that "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" had been missed out. -- @WPSCrimsonshade 20:48, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

Y'know, I can't help but feel that this is a little to bland and unfinished for xkcd. I'm willing to bet that the picture updates with winners. May be sorely disappointed though. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.119|108.162.219.119]] 15:02, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Can't help but feel that there's a better way to lay this explanation out, but I haven't been able to come up with it. Maybe some sort of table listing all the different groups, with people allowed to be in more than one group? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.232|141.101.98.232]] 15:18, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

:I personally don't love the large listing of people. It is a bit bland, but more importantly, it doesn't really show the linkages between the participants (though most people ought to be able to figure out these overt links Jeff Gordon... Jeff Daniels... it doesn't need explanation. That said, the current format doesn't quite demonstrate the chain-link nature of some matchups like:
:*'''Body''' Shop
:*'''Bath''' and '''Body''' Works
:*Bed '''Bath''' & '''Beyond'''
:*'''Beyond''' Thunderdome
:* '''Beyon'''cé.
:I wouldn't mind a format with that kind of bolding. I think that shows the chain of links better than the first to being grouped "businesses with the word "body" and the second two "things with the word beyond" and "Beyoncé" separately. Similarly, Jeff Daniels belongs to both the "Jeff"s and the "J. Daniels"es. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 15:48, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

I wouldn't categorize Fats Domino and Chubby Checker (just) as games. Given that they're directly under Ryan Adams and Bryan Adams, I'd have identified them as 50's singers, with some physical similarities. [[User:KenWhitesell|KenWhitesell]] ([[User talk:KenWhitesell|talk]]) 16:17, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Agree. I put in the identification about games without knowing who Chubby Checker was.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.190|108.162.215.190]] 17:09, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
:Then you are one of today's lucky 10,000! [[1053]] {{w|Chubby Checker}}[[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 21:32, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

;celebrity deathmatch

This reminds me of Celebrity Deathmatch. Then have:
* Charles Manson vs. Marilyn Manson
* Backstreet Boys vs. Beastie Boys
* The Three Stooges vs. The Three Tenors
* Kevin Costner vs. Kevin Smith
* John Cusack vs. John Malkovich
* David Blaine vs. David Copperfield
* Corey Feldman vs. Corey Haim
* Jack Black vs. Jack White

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Celebrity_Deathmatch_episodes {{unsigned|Bart9h}}

Who is Jeff Gordan? There's an extremely famous NASCAR driver named Jeff Gordon, but I don't know of a Jeff Gordan. Significant or typo? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.182|108.162.238.182]] 16:07, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Where is Colin Furze? And Arnold Swarzenegger? And all other people I never heard of? -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.116|141.101.104.116]] 21:12, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

What about my favourite triple: Robbie Williams, Robin Williams and Robyn Williams? -- Ian N. {{unsigned ip|162.158.3.11}}

And who can forget Dermot Mulroney and Dylan mcDermott?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.164|108.162.254.164]] 09:34, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

This is a major "Get Out Of My Head, Randall" comic for me. The day before this comic was posted, my friend and I were discussing a "Hunger Games" type simulation being done on 8chan involving loads and loads of characters across genres, and he had asked me about the probability of a particular match-up occurring with a desired outcome. It led to a long and detailed math conversation. The original match-up has been bumped out of existence, but [http://i.imgur.com/ESeMXOI.jpg this image] still lives on. Appropriately, the comic was posted on my birthday. 2spooky4me. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.177|108.162.210.177]] 06:01, 26 May 2015 (UTC)
: It reminds me of a song - The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WgT9gy4zQA [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 13:59, 1 June 2015 (UTC)

I would have added Amanda Plummer. Will confuse Plummer with Palmer any day. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.191|108.162.249.191]] 23:19, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Just as well we don't have to deal with Paul Ryan - Ayn Rand - Rand Paul...Ron Paul, Les Paul, Saint Paul, John Paul, John Paul Jones...Wolfgang Pauli, Pollyanna...[[User:Taibhse|Taibhse]] ([[User talk:Taibhse|talk]]) 11:41, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

Surprised Tommy Lee and Tommy Lee Jones aren't there. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.124|108.162.238.124]] 12:31, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

Personally I think its pointless having the probabilities listed as if they mean something. We don't know what the competition is, but its almost certain that the result of say 'The Body Shop' vs Beyonce is '''not''' going to be a 50:50 probability. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 15:41, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

Are the probabilities listed half what they should be? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.165|108.162.237.165]] 17:16, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers also refers to "Mr. Rogers" of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. I don't think there's a reference for the last combination, "Mister Astaire", other than to Fred Astaire.

Kevin Kline vs. Calvin Klein would also have made a good match. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.88|108.162.229.88]] 20:15, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

What about Johnny Cash v Johnny Paycheck? To which one could then add Johnny Carson v Johnny Unitas v Johnny Depp? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.98|173.245.48.98]] 16:36, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

----

;Cory Doctorow described as "real person"?

Well, yeah, but he's famous for some actual things. Perhaps "blogger and author" would better describe him. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.143|141.101.98.143]] 22:56, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

What about the Silents from series 6 of Doctor Who?
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.144|108.162.250.144]] 04:20, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

I'm disappointed John McCarthy isn't there. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.127|173.245.52.127]] 12:46, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

While I'm of the opinion that the doctor he is "forgetting" is CLEARLY Dr. Dre, I can see why we put the rest of the doctors on there since we don't know for sure. However, I'm removing the multiple long, rambling, and unnecessary references to The Doctor since he's already listed. [[User:Ul2006kevinb|Ul2006kevinb]] ([[User talk:Ul2006kevinb|talk]]) 16:43, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

I don't agree with the removal to be honest. I agree it got a bit long-winded, but the Doctor still could be either one of the two (Doctor Who and ST:Voyager). To then ask the question "Doctor Who?" would be a very valid joke/ question imho. Also, the list is now again referring to him as "Dr. Who", whereas his name is simply "the Doctor". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.107|141.101.75.107]] 01:39, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

Dr. Livingstone, I presume? --[[User:Eraoul|Eraoul]] ([[User talk:Eraoul|talk]]) 07:28, 6 June 2015 (UTC)

This description probably needs to be updated with the factoid given in https://twitter.com/xkcdbracket/status/612221512133816320, if it can be verified [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.87|141.101.99.87]] 12:34, 20 June 2015 (UTC)

It should be updated with "[https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Q6Prudh-yLx_wV5NgR9_C35ZS5S8ZRM7BBWgfKET43k/viewform?c=0&w=1 The Doctor, alien explorer of time]" [https://twitter.com/xkcdbracket/status/611994813488099328] [[User:Dorus|Dorus]] ([[User talk:Dorus|talk]]) 09:29, 24 June 2015 (UTC)

Am I the only one who thinks that the Transcript shouldn't be updated to match the unofficial Twitter Bracket feed? It should be on the page, but the transcript section should be related to the comic as it appears on xkcd.com only. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:47, 20 July 2015 (UTC)
:No that is correct. The transcript is always only what occurs on the original comic at xkcd. I have corrected the error. If someone wish to do a trivia section on the result they should feel free to include that. I have linked to the twitter account in the explanation as it is interesting since Randall links to it on xkcd. The trivia entry could be linked from that paragraph. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:43, 28 July 2015 (UTC)

:: Two comments: First, if that is the case, then several pages need to be updated; the fact that wetriffs.com was created in response to [[305: Rule 34]] is not "in the comic itself" nor is the fact that Randall was responsible for (another example, [[1485: Friendship]] triggered a movement to delete the wikipedia Bromance article - and a third example [[1190: Time]] triggered multiple twitter followings and web communities that are referenced in the explanation); if we purge #xkcdbracket from this, we need to purge all of those too for consistency. Second, transcript is what happens in the comic, but explanation includes background and consequences of comic; this consequence was featured by Randall for several weeks, if that's not canon, then nothing is. I have moved the explanation to trivia as requested, but filled in the victor. If you want to remove, please discuss first and also clean up the other pages I just listed. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 15:43, 30 July 2015 (UTC)
::: More pages that need to be purged of references to internet consequences and followings inspired by comics: [[1185]] inspired someone to make stacksort, [[239]] inspired people to photoshop capes onto Cory Doctorow, [[Little Bobby Tables]] refers to a website created (not by Randall) to teach people to properly sanitize database inputs, [[1167]] inspired wikipedia vandalism that temporarily caused a page to be protected (as did [[1193]]) [[576]] inspired someone to create a service that does what is described, I'm sure that given 10 more minutes I could find 10 more examples. '''None''' of these were featured as banners on the xkcd.com page by Randall and yet '''all''' are in explainxkcd.com. Please remove all of those references from explainxkcd.com (as well as fixing [[305]], [[1485]], and [[1190]] '''before''' deleting the reference to #xkcdbracket on this page. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 16:04, 30 July 2015 (UTC)
::::I do not know what I (or Pudder) wrote to get this response from Djbrasier. I agreed that the transcript should not be updated to match the brackets on the twitter account, and that the results written in the transcript (full results with results of all individual matches, that I removed when updating the transcript to look more like the comic) should be in the trivia if anyone wished them to be on this page. I do not think there is anything wrong (and also wrote that) with linking to the bracket. I actually linked my self to that bracket on twitter. And I don't even think the link should be a trivia item as it is important since Randall links to it. But the results (apart from the final, which is fine to have in the main explanation) is not for the explanation and definitely not for the transcript. So all the other pages and talk you write about purging explain xkcd from what happens because of xkcd has nothing to do with the subject here. And of course these thing should be a part of this page. So we agree on that! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:18, 31 July 2015 (UTC)

NOOOOO!! I bet everything on Scallions![[User:Saspic45|Saspic45]] ([[User talk:Saspic45|talk]]) 11:14, 18 June 2016 (UTC)

No love for Sandra Day O'Connor and Sinead O'Connor? They're practically the same person!
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.243|162.158.62.243]] 00:59, 29 March 2018 (UTC)My winner is George Orwell.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.243|162.158.62.243]] 00:59, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1559: Driving

2018-02-22T22:28:35Z

162.158.62.243: Added a comment as to the distinction between self-driving and driverless cars

They're probably in California, seeing as that's the only place self-driving cars are actually on the road. [[User:Wmss|Wmss]] ([[User talk:Wmss|talk]]) 09:46, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

If there are self-driving cars, what about self-filling cars? So these cars are able to make long distances without the driver's interaction. Maybe he is sleeping. [[User:GeorgDerReisende|GeorgDerReisende]] ([[User talk:GeorgDerReisende|talk]]) 10:47, 3 August 2015 (UTC)
: Yeah, for some reason that does not exist yet -- the self-driving car on the other hand DOES exit and I can see them driving down my street every day [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 01:07, 4 August 2015 (UTC)

::People have no problem entrust the self-driving cars with their lives, but did you saw how much the petrol costs? Too risky. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:26, 4 August 2015 (UTC)

Should've used hitchBOT instead of a rock. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.82|108.162.216.82]] 12:46, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

Could this have been a semi-tribute? Showing how some malicious people will abuse technology that is programmed to be too trusting? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.138|108.162.216.138]] 20:56, 3 August 2015 (UTC)
: Could you explain with an example [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 01:07, 4 August 2015 (UTC)

I disagree with the part of the explanation that claims that the comic must take place in the continental US. The title text doesn't specify "exactly two" border crossings; it merely implies that there is more than one. That could be anywhere in mainland (or attached-to-the-mainland-by-bridge) North America, north of the Darien Gap, except for most of Canada (from most of the population centers of Ontario, Google Maps wants to route through Michigan, for a total of three border crossings). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.149|108.162.221.149]] 14:18, 3 August 2015 (UTC)
:Correct. It "implies" more than one, but doesn't require it. Only that there be at least one. So they could be in Canada. Essentially anywhere on the continent (or an island connected by bridge to the mainland (e.g., Florida Keys)) north of the Darien Gap but outside Alaska. - Equinox [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.172|108.162.238.172]] 23:15, 3 August 2015 (UTC)
::I disagree. Randall makes comic in the mainland US and if there is no indication we are outside it is safe to assume they are in the mainland US. And the title text clearly indicated more than one border crossing. You are making it way to complicated. I have corrected accordingly.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:02, 4 August 2015 (UTC)

It is likely that the car's owner can locate it via the Internet, via an app and location logic provided by the car's manufacturer. E.g., OnStar. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.157}}

"At the time of the release of this comic there were no places where these cars could be used privately." That is not true, as there are no restrictions on vehicle use on private property. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.7|108.162.212.7]] 16:35, 3 August 2015 (UTC)
: You are correct, and I have fixed that -- the true statement is that they are not for sale to private individuals [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 01:03, 4 August 2015 (UTC)

The only US state that both borders Canada and permits self-driving cards is Michigan. Assuming that the logic in self-driving cars prevents them from driving on streets where they are not legal, the conversation would have to take place in that state (but then again, wouldn't the car know that it is not allowed to drive in Alaska?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.64|162.158.92.64]] 19:38, 3 August 2015 (UTC)
:Maybe it's exactly a matter of what knowledge the car has. It ''could'' be linked up to something proprietry, or possibly a Cortana information-engine, to control a virtual "GPS fence", based on current legal and possibly licence-based limits. I'll bet it can be reprogrammed to ignore/extend such limits, though. (Which is why I'm dubious about the idea of 'hard limiting' flying drones from entering restricted airspace. A little hardware/software/firmware hacking should be simple enough for anyone who needs to get around such limits.)
:I can also imagine the following conversation: "How far does your car's self-driving system let you go on automatic?" "I'll ask her..."(/Alaska...) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.188|141.101.98.188]] 00:33, 4 August 2015 (UTC)
:Yes the car would know that it was not permitted to drive in Alaska, however that would not prevent it from setting of with that destination in mind assuming that the person would take over control and entering manual driving in places where automatic were not permitted. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 01:03, 4 August 2015 (UTC)
::In that case, the "border" in the title text could be a state border... [[User:Sabik|Sabik]] ([[User talk:Sabik|talk]]) 06:13, 4 August 2015 (UTC)
:::But you are still assuming this is the present. If this comic is set in the future they could be anywhere in the US and drive all the way through the country, then through Canada and finally to the destination in Alaska. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:02, 4 August 2015 (UTC)
::::I think you mean North Montana, hasn't been called Canada in years [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.156|162.158.255.156]] 16:59, 4 August 2015 (UTC)
:::::We always used to call Anchorage "North Seattle." Also, once we casually said "good morning" to a stranger on the street in Inverness (Scotland) and got the instant response "Vancouver!" We said "No, Seattle." The response to that was "Oh, same thing." [[User:Taibhse|Taibhse]] ([[User talk:Taibhse|talk]]) 10:49, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
:There's no reason to assume that the same laws apply in XKCD world, where velociraptors spontaneously attack people who use GOTO. There is also no direct indication that the self-driving car was being operated legally. I feel that trying to pin down the location of this comic is overthinking the matter. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.155|108.162.238.155]] 22:37, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
:I agree -- we're wasting valuable time that should be spent arguing that Black Hat is not in fact carrying a sand bag, but rather a large rock!
Many years ago, a major oil company approached an auto research company to come up with both a means to describe as well as coordinates in that system of every fuel filling location on every vehicle. The thought at the time was that the company was seeking to create an automated filling station that could eliminate both the attendant and self-serve. It is only a matter of time. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.5}}

I can't believe no one is raising the really important question about self-filling cars and/or automatic filling stations: would they be legal on the New Jersey Turnpike? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.52|162.158.255.52]] 17:55, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

It should be noted that this comic refers to a driverless car, which is very different from a self-driving car. In short, having a self-driving car means you can set the steering to keep you in your lane, the cruise control to keep you at a safe following distance, maybe even to observe red lights. It can’t make turns or really much of anything without *some* driver interaction. Driverless cars function as the comic describes; the driver enters a destination and the car goes there. It is illegal to test driverless cars on the roads of any state except Michigan. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.243|162.158.62.243]] 22:28, 22 February 2018 (UTC)

1774: Adjective Foods

2016-12-19T15:42:29Z

162.158.62.243: Deeper explanation

{{comic
| number = 1774
| date = December 19, 2016
| title = Adjective Foods
| image = adjective_foods.png
| titletext = Contains 100% of your recommended daily allowance!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|First draft}}
This comic shows one of [[Randall]]'s goals in life- creating foods with 'adjective-only' names, where rather than Glazed Donuts or Lite Beer, just Glazed and Lite. This may be a jab at how food is marketed, usually relying on adjectives and words that bring up certain feelings and based on how the food is 'supposed to be'. An example of this is something like 'lean and tender beef'.

The title text furthers this with 'recommended daily allowance of XXX' and removing 'of XXX', making it vague enough to be meaningless.

==Transcript==
{{notice|Format}}
:[An arrangement of labeled foodstuffs, from left to right and top to bottom:]
:Premium Stone-ground ''Bespoke'', Cage-free
:''Gourmet'' Fire-roasted Glazed ''flambé''
:Organic All-natural Locally-sourced Artisenal, Kosher, Grade A
:''Craft Barrel-aged Smoked'' Authentic Homemade Sun-dried Whole Extra Sharp
:Low-calorie ''Lite'' Original Flavor
:[Caption:] I'm trying to trick supermarkets into carrying my new line of adjective-only foods.

{{comic discussion}}

345: 1337: Part 5

2016-12-14T20:19:43Z

162.158.62.243: Fixing my typo

{{comic
| number = 345
| date = November 16, 2007
| title = 1337: Part 5
| image = 1337_part_5.png
| titletext = This digital music thing will probably reach its endgame sometime in the next decade or so. These are very exciting times.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Missing great explanation of Stallman proposal to join GNU and what about his encourage sharing in the public mind? Defacing websites? Title text explanation?}}
This is the fifth and last part of five in the "[[:Category:1337|1337]]" series. The title 1337 is "L-eet", or "elite", using the {{w|Leet}} alphabet.

All comics in the series:
*[[341: 1337: Part 1]]
*[[342: 1337: Part 2]]
*[[343: 1337: Part 3]]
*[[344: 1337: Part 4]]
*[[345: 1337: Part 5]]
This series was released on 5 consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.
The comic is narrated by [[Cueball]] as seen in part 2 comic, but that Cueball is not shown here, but still he is part of this comic series, and thus also this comic, as he narrates the epilogue.

{{w|Richard Stallman}} is the ardent defender of freedom and believer in {{w|copyleft}}, he also founded the {{w|GNU Project}}. (He is not really a sword fighter but is always depicted with swords when [[:Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman|featured in xkcd]], which is in this series and in [[225: Open Source]]).

In the previous part he came to the rescue of [[Mrs. Roberts]] and her Daughter [[Elaine Roberts]]. Stallman and Elaine quickly overpower the two enemies with black bowler hats that represent the {{w|Motion Picture Association of America}}, (MPAA) and the {{w|Recording Industry Association of America}} (RIAA) use the {{w|Digital Millenium Copyright Act}} who had found out about the Roberts hacking.

Just when the two men have been defeated Elaine asks how Stallman knew they where in trouble and he tells it was his friend that told him about it. The friend enters by climbing down a rope from the sky with red cape and goggles. It turns out it is {{w|Cory Doctorow}}, a blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the weblog {{w|Boing Boing}}. He is an activist in favor of liberalizing copyright laws and a proponent of the {{w|Creative Commons}} organization. He does not really travel around in a balloon or (usually) wear a red cape, but [[Randall]] introduced this idea in [[239: Blagofaire]] and has continued it in later [[:Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow|comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]. So he in climbing down from his ballon.

He uses the balloon to construct the {{w|Blogosphere}}, which is a name used to refer to all blogs on the Internet, many of which frequently link to and refer to other blogs. Here, the Stallman character talks about it as though Cory Doctorow actually constructs it and Cory Doctorow talks about it as if it were a portion of the atmosphere 20 km up over the tag clods...

Blogs often label posts with keywords, known as tags. A {{w|tag cloud}} is a way of displaying the tags on a site where the more common tags appear in larger type than less-common ones. It has no relationship to actual water vapor clouds in the sky, but in the comic, the Doctorow character suggests that tag clouds are actually in the air, below the new blogosphere.

At this point we see that Mrs. Roberts still sits programming while this fight and discussion takes place. Her son [[Little Bobby Tables]] comes and tells her he is hungry, but mommy does not have time when she is coding, and tells him that he ate yesterday, so what's the problem. It seems that he is still a kid, even though it must have been some years since the young Elaine left and grew up. But she may still be a very young adult, in which case her little brother could still be lower than his mom.

Stallman gives Elaine a proposal to join {{w|GNU}} as a coder. GNU is supposed to be the pinnacle of open source; an operating system with no restriction, allowing the user to modify and customize anything they want about the computer. Stallman likely wants Elaine for her coding abilities, similar devotion to open source and freeware, and use her reputation as a hacker and open source pioneer to spread the word and further his project. But she is not ready yet as she wished to take down the industry of MPPA and RIAA as ''Music doesn't need these assholes.'' In the meantime Cory Doctorow throws the bowler hat guys out and asks them never to "darken our comment threads again".

Stallman is against her idea of going for straight war with the industry, and suggest she helps encourage sharing in the public mind. And then Doctorow chimes in with a suggestion that she has the ability to build a better {{w|P2P}} systems. To which she asks if they mean straight up piracy? And this leads up to the punch line of the pun, when Doctorow says she would make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts!

Peer-to-peer (often abbreviated P2P) system is a network system where tasks are partitioned between participants with equal privileges, in contrast with the client-server model, where the client makes requests and the server provides service. A common example of a peer-to-peer system is the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol, which is often (mis)used for distribution of pirated software and media.

The {{w|Dread Pirate Roberts}} is a fictional character from the book and movie {{w|The Princess Bride}}. Roberts is the most feared pirate on the seas. But, "Dread Pirate Roberts" is merely a title that has been passed down as previous "Roberts" have gained enough money (from piracy) to retire comfortably. Westley, one of the main characters from The Princess Bride, becomes the Dread Pirate after being taken prisoner by the preceding Pirate Roberts. It is anyone's guess whether the entire 5-comic story, starting from the choice of Mrs. Roberts' name, began as just a lead-up to this one joke. At the end of the movie, Inigo Montoya has won the vengeance he has sought all his life, and expresses to Westley that he doesn't know what to do next. Westley suggests Montoya succeed him as Roberts, saying, "Have you ever considered piracy? You'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts." Cory Doctorow's line in the comic therefore mimics that line from the movie.

{{w|Silk Road (marketplace)|Silk Road}} was an online black market designed to allow criminals to trade in drugs, guns and other illegal items, run by a person also using the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts. However, this black market did not exist until four years after this comic was published.

In the epilogue several items of interest is revealed about the Roberts later life.

Elaine shared her ideas with {{w|Bram Cohen}} who went on from that to found {{w|BitTorrent}}, a distributed method of downloading files. People can and do use BitTorrent both for lawful file downloads and also for sharing media files unlawfully. Its distributed nature, where someone does not download a file from just one other computer but rather in many pieces from many other computers with the same file, makes it more difficult for record and movie industry groups to police, and therefore a person with Elaine's motivations might be interested in helping design such a system.

Mrs. Roberts developed for {{w|Ubuntu}} which is probably the most well known distribution of GNU/{{w|Linux}}. A GNU/Linux distribution (often referred to simply as "Linux") is any operating system that is based on GNU software and the Linux {{w|kernel}}.

She also went after any website (defacing them) that made {{w|Your Mom|''Your'' mom}} jokes about her daughter. To deface a website is like putting up graffiti or tearing down signs; she likely replaces the url's content from the original site to another image, text box, or other message as revenge. This is a [[:Category:Your Mom|recurring theme]] on xkcd.

Finally a bit more info is given on how Elaine continues her fight, joins communities, help with codes etc. And then sometimes she streams her music live on a IP address, and if you happen to find one of these with a streaming audio player you can hear her rock out (a reference to her music career mentioned at the end of the third part).

The final phrase "Happy Hacking" often accompanies an autograph from Richard Stallman.

The title text is likely referring to the argument over {{w|Digital Rights Management}}, or DRM-locked content. These so-called 'DRM wars' are concerned about how DRM restricts the freedoms of people who buy them legitmately, and how it restricts creativity and innovation on the internet. A large part of the debate is digital music, or music you would buy and download on the internet through sites like Amazon or iTunes.

==Transcript==
:[The two men in black bowler hats (RIAA and MPAA agents as known from the previous comic) with their katana swords are attacked by Elaine Robert with her folding knife and Richard Stallman with his own two katana swords. Elaine kicks the RIAA man to the left in the back of his leg, while Stallman jumps over the MPAA man to the right, flying high over him from right to left in a flying maneuver hitting his sword while hanging parallel to the ground above the man.]
:Elaine: Thanks, Stallman!
:Richard Stallman: 'Tis my pleasure.

:[Elaine stands to the left with her knife in one hand having folded it down again. Richard Stallman stands between the two men with bowler hats who are now lying on the floor on either side of him each with one of Stallman's sword pointing at their throat. Stallman has both arms fulle stretched towards them as he looks straight out of the panel. The left (RIAA) man lies flat on his back his hat and katana sword lying behind him. The right (MPAA) man is sitting on his knee leaning as far back as he can, since the sword is almost touching his skin on his throat. He wears his hat, but the sword lies behind him, out of reach, even though he is leaning back on one hand close to it. To the far right a rope comes down from the top of the panel falling down on the ground so a section of it stretches even farther right in the picture. Down this rope comes a man with googles and a red cape, which is black on the inside. This is Cory Doctorow. He holds on to the rope with two hands one over one just under his head.]
:Elaine: So, wait - how did you know we were in trouble?
:Richard Stallman: My friend here was tracking these thugs from his balloon.
:Richard Stallman: He called me and I thought I'd stop by
:Cory Doctorow: -Hi!
:Cory Doctorow: -Cory Doctorow - It's a pleasure to meet you.

:[Elaine has shifted the knife to the other hand. Richard Stallman has moved to the left of the RIAA man, so both bowler hat men are between him and Cory Doctorow. Stallman still points his sword in their direction, but they are lowered. The RIAA man closest to him, has picked up his hat in one hand and reaches for his sword with the other hand. The MPAA man now lies on his back, one arm up leaning on the other. His sword is gone. It does not seem like Doctorow could have taken it. Behind him Doctorow has reached the ground, the rope hangs behind him. He points left.]
:Elaine: Balloon?
:Richard Stallman: Aye. They're up there constructing something called a "Blogosphere."
:Cory Doctorow: Yup! It's twenty kilometers up, just above the tag clouds.

:[The scene is contracted, so to the left Mrs. Roberts at her desk with her chair and laptop becomes visible (from the previous comic). This witout the other people have moved closer. She still types as her son Lille Bobby Tables enters and lifts a hand in his mothers direction. He is drawn as a child version of Cueball. Elaine has put the knife away, and looks at Richard Stallman who now stand straight looking at her, with the swords crossed in front of his legs. Behind him just right of the rope hanging down, Cory Doctorow lift one of the bowler hat guys up by the throat while looking right and talking to him. The other bowler hat guy has left the panel. The one he holds has his hat but no sword.]
:Little Bobby Tables: Mom, I'm hungry.
:Mrs. Roberts: Hush! I'm coding. You ate yesterday.
:Richard Stallman: You know, Roberts, GNU could use a good coder like you. Ever thought of joining us?
:Elaine: Maybe someday. Right now I've got an industry to take down.
:Elaine: Music doesn't need these assholes.
:Cory Doctorow: Begone! And never darken our comment threads again!

:[Zoom in on Elaine, Richard Stallman and Cory Doctorow. She stand straight looking at Stallman who faces towards her swords now on his back crossed. Doctorow is also facing her and holds out both arms towards her. The rope is now outside the panel as are both bowler hat men.]
:Richard Stallman: Well, you won't fix the industry with random exploits. You need to encourage sharing in the public mind.
:Doctorow: Hey; With your music and coding backgrounds, you should get into building better P2P systems.

:[The final panel is only a third of the length of the previous panel. The three are still in the panel but they have moved and are also drawn somewhat smaller. Elaine still faces them right, but now Cory Doctorow is in front of Richard Stallman swords as before. All have their arms down.]
:Elaine: What? Straight-up piracy?
:Cory Doctorow: Sure- have you ever considered it? You'd make a wonderful dread pirate, Roberts

:[To the right of the final panel is a two column epilogue narrated by Cueball as seen in part 2. It is split in three paragraphs and a "signature". The caption above is centered over the two columns]
:<big>Epilogue</big>
:Cueball (narrating): Elaine shared her ideas with Bram Cohen, who went on to develop BitTorrent.
:Cueball (narrating): Mrs. Roberts spends her time developing for Ubuntu, and defacing the websites of people who make "your mom" jokes to her daughter.
:Cueball (narrating): Elaine still stalks the net. She joins communities, contributes code or comments, and moves on. And if, late at night, you point a streaming audio player at the right IP at the right time - you can hear her rock out.
:Cueball (narrating): ~Happy Hacking.~

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:1337|05]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|1337]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Elaine Roberts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Mrs. Roberts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Your Mom]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Music]]

444: Macgyver Gets Lazy

2016-12-14T18:22:24Z

162.158.62.243: Adressed the problem considered incomplete

{{comic
| number = 444
| date = July 2, 2008
| title = Macgyver Gets Lazy
| image = macgyver_gets_lazy.png
| titletext = At the time of this writing, Wikipedia has a wonderful article titled 'List of problems solved by Macgyver'
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|MacGyver}} was a 80s and early 90s TV character, famed for improvising complex devices in a matter of minutes in order to escape dangerous situations. In this comic MacGyver suggests an unusually direct plan—shooting the guard in the head. However, he still manages to describe his plan in a rather 'complex' manner.

It is worth noting that in the show, MacGyver was adamantly against the use of guns and never used one (at least, not for its intended purpose) in the entire run of the old series.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGyver_(2016_TV_series) A MacGyver reboot was made in 2016], and was not well received (38% on Metacritic, 4.6/10 in iMDb). It has only one season so far.

The Wikipedia page referenced by the title text redirects to the main MacGyver entry since September 2012. The Wikipedia page can [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_problems_solved_by_MacGyver&oldid=252847639 still be found in history], and the content has been moved to [http://macgyver.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_problems_solved_by_MacGyver MacGyver wikia] and expanded.

==Transcript==
:[Outside of a building with a door marked No Entry and a guard standing outside, Cueball and MacGyver are hiding.]
:Cueball: Any ideas?
:MacGyver: I can use the trigger mechanism of this gun to ignite a small explosive charge, propelling a metal slug into the guard's head.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

345: 1337: Part 5

2016-12-14T18:11:25Z

162.158.62.243: Addresses the parts of this explanation that are considered incomplete (still not complete, may be wrong on a few points), fixed typo

{{comic
| number = 345
| date = November 16, 2007
| title = 1337: Part 5
| image = 1337_part_5.png
| titletext = This digital music thing will probably reach its endgame sometime in the next decade or so. These are very exciting times.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Missing great explanation of Stallman proposal to join GNU and what about his encourage sharing in the public mind? Defacing websites? Title text explanation?}}
This is the fifth and last part of five in the "[[:Category:1337|1337]]" series. The title 1337 is "L-eet", or "elite", using the {{w|Leet}} alphabet.

All comics in the series:
*[[341: 1337: Part 1]]
*[[342: 1337: Part 2]]
*[[343: 1337: Part 3]]
*[[344: 1337: Part 4]]
*[[345: 1337: Part 5]]
This series was released on 5 consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.
The comic is narrated by [[Cueball]] as seen in part 2 comic, but that Cueball is not shown here, but still he is part of this comic series, and thus also this comic, as he narrates the epilogue.

{{w|Richard Stallman}} is the ardent defender of freedom and believer in {{w|copyleft}}, he also founded the {{w|GNU Project}}. (He is not really a sword fighter but is always depicted with swords when [[:Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman|featured in xkcd]], which is in this series and in [[225: Open Source]]).

In the previous part he came to the rescue of [[Mrs. Roberts]] and her Daughter [[Elaine Roberts]]. Stallman and Elaine quickly overpower the two enemies with black bowler hats that represent the {{w|Motion Picture Association of America}}, (MPAA) and the {{w|Recording Industry Association of America}} (RIAA) use the {{w|Digital Millenium Copyright Act}} who had found out about the Roberts hacking.

Just when the two men have been defeated Elaine asks how Stallman knew they where in trouble and he tells it was his friend that told him about it. The friend enters by climbing down a rope from the sky with red cape and goggles. It turns out it is {{w|Cory Doctorow}}, a blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the weblog {{w|Boing Boing}}. He is an activist in favor of liberalizing copyright laws and a proponent of the {{w|Creative Commons}} organization. He does not really travel around in a balloon or (usually) wear a red cape, but [[Randall]] introduced this idea in [[239: Blagofaire]] and has continued it in later [[:Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow|comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]. So he in climbing down from his ballon.

He uses the balloon to construct the {{w|Blogosphere}}, which is a name used to refer to all blogs on the Internet, many of which frequently link to and refer to other blogs. Here, the Stallman character talks about it as though Cory Doctorow actually constructs it and Cory Doctorow talks about it as if it were a portion of the atmosphere 20 km up over the tag clods...

Blogs often label posts with keywords, known as tags. A {{w|tag cloud}} is a way of displaying the tags on a site where the more common tags appear in larger type than less-common ones. It has no relationship to actual water vapor clouds in the sky, but in the comic, the Doctorow character suggests that tag clouds are actually in the air, below the new blogosphere.

At this point we see that Mrs. Roberts still sits programming while this fight and discussion takes place. Her son [[Little Bobby Tables]] comes and tells her he is hungry, but mommy does not have time when she is coding, and tells him that he ate yesterday, so what's the problem. It seems that he is still a kid, even though it must have been some years since the young Elaine left and grew up. But she may still be a very young adult, in which case her little brother could still be lower than his mom.

Stallman gives Elaine a proposal to join {{w|GNU}} as a coder. GNU is supposed to be the pinnacle of open source; an operating system with no restriction, allowing the user to modify and customize anything they want about the computer. Stallman likely wants Elaine for here coding abilities, similar devotion to open source and freeware, and use her reputation as a hacker and open source pioneer to spread the word and further his project. But she is not ready yet as she wished to take down the industry of MPPA and RIAA as ''Music doesn't need these assholes.'' In the meantime Cory Doctorow throws the bowler hat guys out and asks them never to "darken our comment threads again".

Stallman is against her idea of going for straight war with the industry, and suggest she helps encourage sharing in the public mind. And then Doctorow chimes in with a suggestion that she has the ability to build a better {{w|P2P}} systems. To which she asks if they mean straight up piracy? And this leads up to the punch line of the pun, when Doctorow says she would make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts!

Peer-to-peer (often abbreviated P2P) system is a network system where tasks are partitioned between participants with equal privileges, in contrast with the client-server model, where the client makes requests and the server provides service. A common example of a peer-to-peer system is the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol, which is often (mis)used for distribution of pirated software and media.

The {{w|Dread Pirate Roberts}} is a fictional character from the book and movie {{w|The Princess Bride}}. Roberts is the most feared pirate on the seas. But, "Dread Pirate Roberts" is merely a title that has been passed down as previous "Roberts" have gained enough money (from piracy) to retire comfortably. Westley, one of the main characters from The Princess Bride, becomes the Dread Pirate after being taken prisoner by the preceding Pirate Roberts. It is anyone's guess whether the entire 5-comic story, starting from the choice of Mrs. Roberts' name, began as just a lead-up to this one joke. At the end of the movie, Inigo Montoya has won the vengeance he has sought all his life, and expresses to Westley that he doesn't know what to do next. Westley suggests Montoya succeed him as Roberts, saying, "Have you ever considered piracy? You'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts." Cory Doctorow's line in the comic therefore mimics that line from the movie.

{{w|Silk Road (marketplace)|Silk Road}} was an online black market designed to allow criminals to trade in drugs, guns and other illegal items, run by a person also using the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts. However, this black market did not exist until four years after this comic was published.

In the epilogue several items of interest is revealed about the Roberts later life.

Elaine shared her ideas with {{w|Bram Cohen}} who went on from that to found {{w|BitTorrent}}, a distributed method of downloading files. People can and do use BitTorrent both for lawful file downloads and also for sharing media files unlawfully. Its distributed nature, where someone does not download a file from just one other computer but rather in many pieces from many other computers with the same file, makes it more difficult for record and movie industry groups to police, and therefore a person with Elaine's motivations might be interested in helping design such a system.

Mrs. Roberts developed for {{w|Ubuntu}} which is probably the most well known distribution of GNU/{{w|Linux}}. A GNU/Linux distribution (often referred to simply as "Linux") is any operating system that is based on GNU software and the Linux {{w|kernel}}.

She also went after any website (defacing them) that made {{w|Your Mom|''Your'' mom}} jokes about her daughter. To deface a website is like putting up graffiti or tearing down signs; she likely replaces the url's content from the original site to another image, text box, or other message as revenge. This is a [[:Category:Your Mom|recurring theme]] on xkcd.

Finally a bit more info is given on how Elaine continues her fight, joins communities, help with codes etc. And then sometimes she streams her music live on a IP address, and if you happen to find one of these with a streaming audio player you can hear her rock out (a reference to her music career mentioned at the end of the third part).

The final phrase "Happy Hacking" often accompanies an autograph from Richard Stallman.

The title text is likely referring to the argument over {{w|Digital Rights Management}}, or DRM-locked content. These so-called 'DRM wars' are concerned about how DRM restricts the freedoms of people who buy them legitmately, and how it restricts creativity and innovation on the internet. A large part of the debate is digital music, or music you would buy and download on the internet through sites like Amazon or iTunes.

==Transcript==
:[The two men in black bowler hats (RIAA and MPAA agents as known from the previous comic) with their katana swords are attacked by Elaine Robert with her folding knife and Richard Stallman with his own two katana swords. Elaine kicks the RIAA man to the left in the back of his leg, while Stallman jumps over the MPAA man to the right, flying high over him from right to left in a flying maneuver hitting his sword while hanging parallel to the ground above the man.]
:Elaine: Thanks, Stallman!
:Richard Stallman: 'Tis my pleasure.

:[Elaine stands to the left with her knife in one hand having folded it down again. Richard Stallman stands between the two men with bowler hats who are now lying on the floor on either side of him each with one of Stallman's sword pointing at their throat. Stallman has both arms fulle stretched towards them as he looks straight out of the panel. The left (RIAA) man lies flat on his back his hat and katana sword lying behind him. The right (MPAA) man is sitting on his knee leaning as far back as he can, since the sword is almost touching his skin on his throat. He wears his hat, but the sword lies behind him, out of reach, even though he is leaning back on one hand close to it. To the far right a rope comes down from the top of the panel falling down on the ground so a section of it stretches even farther right in the picture. Down this rope comes a man with googles and a red cape, which is black on the inside. This is Cory Doctorow. He holds on to the rope with two hands one over one just under his head.]
:Elaine: So, wait - how did you know we were in trouble?
:Richard Stallman: My friend here was tracking these thugs from his balloon.
:Richard Stallman: He called me and I thought I'd stop by
:Cory Doctorow: -Hi!
:Cory Doctorow: -Cory Doctorow - It's a pleasure to meet you.

:[Elaine has shifted the knife to the other hand. Richard Stallman has moved to the left of the RIAA man, so both bowler hat men are between him and Cory Doctorow. Stallman still points his sword in their direction, but they are lowered. The RIAA man closest to him, has picked up his hat in one hand and reaches for his sword with the other hand. The MPAA man now lies on his back, one arm up leaning on the other. His sword is gone. It does not seem like Doctorow could have taken it. Behind him Doctorow has reached the ground, the rope hangs behind him. He points left.]
:Elaine: Balloon?
:Richard Stallman: Aye. They're up there constructing something called a "Blogosphere."
:Cory Doctorow: Yup! It's twenty kilometers up, just above the tag clouds.

:[The scene is contracted, so to the left Mrs. Roberts at her desk with her chair and laptop becomes visible (from the previous comic). This witout the other people have moved closer. She still types as her son Lille Bobby Tables enters and lifts a hand in his mothers direction. He is drawn as a child version of Cueball. Elaine has put the knife away, and looks at Richard Stallman who now stand straight looking at her, with the swords crossed in front of his legs. Behind him just right of the rope hanging down, Cory Doctorow lift one of the bowler hat guys up by the throat while looking right and talking to him. The other bowler hat guy has left the panel. The one he holds has his hat but no sword.]
:Little Bobby Tables: Mom, I'm hungry.
:Mrs. Roberts: Hush! I'm coding. You ate yesterday.
:Richard Stallman: You know, Roberts, GNU could use a good coder like you. Ever thought of joining us?
:Elaine: Maybe someday. Right now I've got an industry to take down.
:Elaine: Music doesn't need these assholes.
:Cory Doctorow: Begone! And never darken our comment threads again!

:[Zoom in on Elaine, Richard Stallman and Cory Doctorow. She stand straight looking at Stallman who faces towards her swords now on his back crossed. Doctorow is also facing her and holds out both arms towards her. The rope is now outside the panel as are both bowler hat men.]
:Richard Stallman: Well, you won't fix the industry with random exploits. You need to encourage sharing in the public mind.
:Doctorow: Hey; With your music and coding backgrounds, you should get into building better P2P systems.

:[The final panel is only a third of the length of the previous panel. The three are still in the panel but they have moved and are also drawn somewhat smaller. Elaine still faces them right, but now Cory Doctorow is in front of Richard Stallman swords as before. All have their arms down.]
:Elaine: What? Straight-up piracy?
:Cory Doctorow: Sure- have you ever considered it? You'd make a wonderful dread pirate, Roberts

:[To the right of the final panel is a two column epilogue narrated by Cueball as seen in part 2. It is split in three paragraphs and a "signature". The caption above is centered over the two columns]
:<big>Epilogue</big>
:Cueball (narrating): Elaine shared her ideas with Bram Cohen, who went on to develop BitTorrent.
:Cueball (narrating): Mrs. Roberts spends her time developing for Ubuntu, and defacing the websites of people who make "your mom" jokes to her daughter.
:Cueball (narrating): Elaine still stalks the net. She joins communities, contributes code or comments, and moves on. And if, late at night, you point a streaming audio player at the right IP at the right time - you can hear her rock out.
:Cueball (narrating): ~Happy Hacking.~

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:1337|05]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|1337]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Elaine Roberts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Mrs. Roberts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Your Mom]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Music]]

331: Photoshops

2016-12-14T17:43:02Z

162.158.62.243: adds another possible interpretation of the comic

{{comic
| number = 331
| date = October 19, 2007
| title = Photoshops
| image = photoshops.png
| titletext = When I look into your eyes, I see JPEG artifacts. I can tell by the pixels that we're wrong for each other.
}}

==Explanation==
This whole comic including the title text are a play on the then-popular {{w|internet meme}} "[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-looks-shopped This Looks Shopped]". It may also be making fun of how everything and anything you find on the internet has someone insisting it's 'fake' or 'photoshopped', regardless of whether it's true in actuality.

{{w|Adobe Photoshop}} is a popular {{w|Graphics software|image manipulation tool}}. It is used to manipulate photographic images and for drawing.
Of course, Photoshop and similar tools like Paint Shop Pro can only be used for imagery, not for real life objects.

The title text contains the second part of the internet meme, the complete text of which is: "THIS LOOKS SHOPPED / I CAN TELL FROM SOME OF THE PIXELS AND FROM SEEING QUITE A FEW SHOPS IN MY TIME."

Quite a few interesting images have been uncovered as "shopped" using various techniques. Some examples: shadows are in the wrong direction, extra hands appear, movie stars are made thinner, wrinkles or spots removed and objects added or removed. This of course triggered the start of the meme.

{{w|JPEG}} is an image compression algorithm that works by finding frequencies in blocks of 8x8 pixels and saving that instead of the original pixels. This works remarkably well, but sometimes leaves artifacts that can be seen when zooming in enough. The iris of an eye contains all kinds of odd colored spots - and there's not a JPEG algorithm in sight.

This is another strip in the [[My Hobby]] series.

==Transcript==
:[Megan holds a sword while Cueball looks on.]
:My hobby: Insisting that real-life objects are photoshopped.
:Megan: This sabre is a 19th-century family heirloom.
:Cueball: It looks photoshopped.
:Megan: Huh?
:Cueball: Yeah, the reflections are all wrong. Definitely photoshopped.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]

1772: Startup Opportunity

2016-12-14T17:31:37Z

162.158.62.243: Considers how the allusion to cursed food and magical items may explain his eating habits in other comics

{{comic
| number = 1772
| date = December 14, 2016
| title = Startup Opportunity
| image = startup_opportunity.png
| titletext = While there's no formal regulation, it turns out their industry group is NOT one you want mad at you.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Draft.}}
[[Beret Guy|Beret Guy's]] [[:Category:Beret Guy's Business|company]], first seen in [[1032: Networking]], [[1293: Job Interview]] and [[1493: Meeting]], returns, and its purpose is as vague as ever.

Analysts, brought in to advise his company, can't work out what industry it serves. The mention of "industry" immediately reminds Beret Guy of {{w|SimCity}}, where Industrial (along with Residential and Commercial) is one of the three main zone types - it allows factories and farms to develop. {{w|Disruptive innovation|Disruption}} means coming up with a product that redefines what the market expects and leaving existing competitors in the dust (for instance, smartphones disrupted mobile, digital photography disrupted film, and air travel disrupted rail and sea travel (and is in turn being disrupted by high-speed rail)) - it's now an industry buzzword and virtually every company claims to be "disruptive".

When pointed in the right direction, Beret Guy realizes that the main industry he deals with is weird disappearing shops selling cursed goods. This is [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday a common trope] in horror stories, but it also bears more than a passing resemblance to many dodgy {{w|startup companies}}. These appear suddenly with a lot of promotion and a marketable idea, looking for {{w|venture capital}} (or, in the modern world, pre-orders on {{w|Kickstarter}}). However, many startups fail - either because they didn't take into account the difficulties involved in bringing a product to market, or because they were an active scam - and disappear without a trace, leaving customers either empty handed or with a buggy product that falls short of promises. As [[Cueball]] notes, these cursed shops are actually the perfect startup, at least from a moneymaking perspective. This humorously ignores the more obvious larger problem, that such a business would be impossible to create due to not actually having magical items to sell. Apparently, the business may become one, if he does spend most of his money there.

As with most Beret Guy comics, there are multiple layers of absurdity. For a start, the fact that he-and by extension, the rest of the cast-live in a world including supernatural shops is, while not inconsistent, still supernatural. The assertion that this is where he buys most of his materials and other products is also curious, given the shops inherent temporary nature, as it implies either something about him causes these shops to appear, or that he is drawn to these shops instinctively. Most absurdly, he apparently purchases his FOOD from these establishments (which may also serve as an explanation his 'soup outlet' in [[1293: Job Interview]]), despite previously stating everything they sell is cursed, conjures troubling images in the mind of HOW exactly food would be cursed-and its effects.

The tooltip alludes to the fact that irrespective of whether or not there is formal regulation, it is unwise to anger a group of people who have access to cursed magical items. It is easy to imagine numerous ways they could make one's life substantially worse off.

==Transcript==
[Beret Guy is sitting in a board meeting]
:White Hat: We've discovered that your company doesn't do anything.
:Beret Guy: How is that possible?! We have so many chairs!

:White Hat: You need to find an industry to disrupt.
:Beret Guy: An...industry?
:Beret Guy: Oh, yeah!
:Beret Guy: The zoning thing from SimCity!

:White Hat: No, like, a kind of business.
:Beret Guy: How do I find those?
:White Hat: I don't know. What's something you spend a lot of money on?

[Beat panel]

:Beret Guy: You know those mysterious shops that sell you magical items, and then it turns out they're cursed, but when you go back later there's no sign the shop was ever there?
:Beret Guy: I get most of my stuff from those.
:Beret Guy: Like groceries.

:Hairy: We should go.
:Hairbun: Wait. High-value sales, no regulation, and when customers try to complain, they can't find you...
:Cueball: Maybe this ''is'' the perfect startup.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]