explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2792: Summer Solstice

2023-06-22T10:39:52Z

162.158.62.33: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2792
| date = June 21, 2023
| title = Summer Solstice
| image = summer_solstice_2x.png
| imagesize = 238x373px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Then I'll start work on my lunar engines to line the Moon up with the ecliptic so we can have a solar eclipse every month (with a little wobble so they're not always on the equator.)
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE ENJOYER- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT look directly at the sun, unless there's a total solar eclipse.}}
[[Cueball]] celebrates the the {{w|summer solstice}} which occurred on the Day of this comics release. [[Megan]] then comments on this by saying that there will be six days to the latest sunset of the year, to which a confused [[White Hat]] exclaims ''Wait, what?''

The summer solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. Although the summer solstice is the longest day of the year for that hemisphere, the dates of earliest sunrise and latest sunset vary by a few days. This is because Earth orbits the Sun in an ellipse, and its orbital speed varies slightly during the year. White Hat, a laymen, assumed that the latest sunset would occur on the summer solstice. Similarly the earliest sunrise already happened before the solstice. This is given since the day (time the sun is over the Horizon) was longest on the solstice, but the Sun will set later for the next six days, meaning the sun will rise even later than previous days during those six days to make the days get shorter after the solstice.

The caption says that [[Randall]] is working on a giant machine capable of adjusting the Earth's orbit. And once finished the first thing he will use it for is to fix this discrepancy so the longest day will also have the latest sunset (and thus earliest sunrise). This could be accomplished by either making Earth's orbit circular, or making the solstices match the days of closest or furthest distance from the Sun (perihelion or aphelion). This "fix" would avoid people like White Hat getting confused.

The title text discusses his next plans for increasing the number of {{w|solar eclipses}} from 0-1 each year to one each month. Solar eclipses occur when the {{w|Moon}} is directly between the Sun and Earth. Because of the tilt of the Moon's orbit to the {{w|ecliptic}} (the plane of the Earth's orbit, as ''sort of'' [[1878: Earth Orbital Diagram|demonstrated here]]), most of the times when the moon is between the Sun and the Earth they're not in direct alignment, so the Moon's shadow misses the Earth and we don't get an eclipse. Randall's engine will shift the Moon's orbit so it's not tilted so far and we get eclipses every month. But if it were exactly aligned with the ecliptic, eclipses would always be near the equator, so he'll leave a little wobbling so other areas will get eclipses too. Randall thinks solar eclipses are extremely cool, as noted in [[1880: Eclipse Review]], and would prefer that some of the eclipses will be visible from where he lives. He just had one six years ago ([[Category:Total Solar Eclipse 2017|2017]]), and will soon get another ([[1928: Seven Years|2024]]), but after that there will not be any eclipses over mainland USA for many years.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, Megan and White Hat are standing. Cueball and Megan have their arms raised.]
:Cueball: Happy summer solstice!
:Megan: Only six days until the latest sunset of the year!
:White Hat: ...Wait, what?

:[Caption below the panel:]
:When I finally finish building my giant engine capable of shifting the Earth's orbit, this is the first thing I'm fixing.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Time]]

Talk:2275: Coronavirus Name

2020-03-04T04:50:04Z

162.158.62.33:

Covid-19 is more dangerous than the flu and has already killed more people. And any death rate that starts with 0.00 and then has a number other than zero can only be called "basically zero" if you value human life very little. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.132|162.158.94.132]] 21:49, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
:addendum: this seems to depend on what source you use for the chinese yearly flu death rate. number of deaths is either much higher or somewhat lower.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.123|162.158.91.123]] 21:53, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
:It's Trump taking point that the coronavirus is a hoax and no worse than the flu. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.213|162.158.74.213]] 22:14, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
:At the very least, the fact the virus has over 90,000 confirmed cases makes it a significant disease. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.246|172.69.34.246]] 22:28, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
:It doesn't seem like the point of the comic is to comment on the severity of the virus. Seems more on-topic to say things that are objectively true, like "Many people are concerned about the virus" rather than discussing disputed stats.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.132|162.158.106.132]] 22:58, 2 March 2020 (UTC) Patb
::I agree, and suggest we remove the line with stats entirely. It isn't relevant to the comic, and having it refer to "current estimates" means someone will have to keep updating it when new estimates are made. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.57|172.69.54.57]] 08:17, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
:::A running total here wouldn't be necessary, there is at least one web site especially for that (or a page for Covid-19 on a general disease outbreak tracking site). To me it looks like this virus is about equally dangerous as flu, except that this virus is only in about 70 countries and counting, so if it isn't in yours yet (as far as you know) then you are not yet in danger (as far as you know). Also, flu kills a lot of people, numerically, every year, and if this virus kills an equal number of people, every year, there are twice as many people dead, total. (ish) So it's worth trying to stop this virus from existing, while we might still do that. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 13:40, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
::Let's inject a little sanity here: Trump's "talking point" about it being no on par with the flu is, for once, correct. Most people who are infected have mild symptoms, or none at all. In fact, that's how it's suddenly turned out that the spread is so much greater than previously reported: Because most people never even know they have it. Given this, the mortality rate is a tiny fraction of what was previously reported, perhaps 0.3% instead of 3%. And it was only ostensibly 3% in a primitive region where some people still have dirt floors, and almost nobody is willing to deal with their socialized health care system except in an emergency. Therefore most of the infected were not showing up for treatment, only those in serious trouble. In fact, the vast majority of those who have died are elderly or immunocompromised, ''exactly'' the same group who are killed in the tens of thousands each year by the flu, in the US. So no, this has been a tempest in a teapot, stirred up by the unscientific CDC in order to pad their budget, the way they do periodically with a new fake pandemic threat. SARS, West Nile, bird flu, h1n1, and ebola...no competent epidemiologist would ever seriously have expected those to become a threat in the US, or anywhere else outside of primitive regions. But the CDC has continued to redouble their unearned budget on this fraudulent fearmongering. As I learned when consulting for such ilk in DC, "Fear Equals Funding". Oh, and no, 90,000 cases only make it a "significant disease" in the way that another coronavirus, the common cold, is significant. It's not significantly dangerous. In fact, it really is just a strong kind of common cold. « [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 21:32, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
:::While it doesn't seem to be more lethal than flu (or in general having more severe symptoms), either it's more contagious or the fact it's contagious for weeks before symptoms makes it spread easier. In this sense it's more serious threat - imagine for example if ALL employees of nuclear power plant would be infected leaving noone capable of caring of the reactor. That said, it seems that panic is currently more dangerous than the virus itself. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:14, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

:The 2% death rate in the explantion is outdated. [https://news.sina.cn/zt_d/yiqing0121 Here (in Chinese)] is the compiled data for all China. As of March 3rd, the death rate calculated by (death toll)/(confirmed infected patients) is 3.7% for all China and 4.6% for Wuhan city (the epicenter). The number for Wuhan is likely to grow in the following days, too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.190.86|162.158.190.86]] 20:11, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
::The mortality rate in China is only relevant if one lives in an area with a primitive socialized health care system. As with SARS, it won't turn out to have a significant death rate among people infected in the US who are not elderly or immunocompromised. Perhaps, in fact, a zero death rate outside of that high risk group. « [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 21:32, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

If the Godzilla movies have taught me anything, it's that giant insects aren't a problem biologists can solve anyways. That's more of a "nuclear paleontology" sort of job. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 01:43, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

It is legitimately difficult to tell if Ponytail's use of the word 'catchy' as a descriptor for 'coronavirus' is an intentional or unintentional pun. Either way, it's very opportune. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.239|108.162.221.239]] 03:55, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

The current chapter of Wilde Life (a totally unrelated webcomic) as a giant spider interacting with two of the main characters, starting [https://www.wildelifecomic.com/comic/710/ here]. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 05:05, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

I think they missed a trick with the naming. CORVID-19 would have reminded everyone of H5N1 'bird flu', and we could just blame the crows. Kill a magpie to avoid infection!
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.253|162.158.158.253]] 10:53, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
:What? How is CORVID-19 supposed to remind anyone of H5N1 or bird flu? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:20, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
::Corvidae is the family including crows, ravens, jays, magpies; so, CORVID~=bird. Not sure how many people would make that connection, but I think that's what the previous poster was getting at.
::(Please sign your posts!)

Yeah really dodged a bullet on those rhinoviri. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.44|172.69.22.44]] 11:36, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

Is it relevant to mention that some spiders grow larger in cities? https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105480
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:39, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

I'm not really wanting to catch COVID-19. I'm holding out for COVID-19b, which is going to be better beta-tested. (But by the time COVID-19c comes out, it's just going to be a bandwagon of planned obsolescence by then - I'd rather stick with what I've got until the next significent release version and keep a close eye on the advanced reviews and what other vendors are innovating.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.46|162.158.34.46]] 16:15, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

This is only 3 years too early to be a reference to the spiders in Colorado https://xkcd.com/1688/ especially with Megan holding bio-hazardous material. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.33|162.158.62.33]]

2256: Bad Map Projection: South America

2020-01-24T18:51:02Z

162.158.62.33: Probably Samar, maybe Negros Island, in Philippines; wording for New Guinea

{{comic
| number = 2256
| date = January 17, 2020
| title = Bad Map Projection: South America
| image = bad_map_projection_south_america.png
| titletext = The projection does a good job preserving both distance and azimuth, at the cost of really exaggerating how many South Americas there are.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic shows a {{w|Map projection|map projection}} in which every continent and large island has just been replaced with a differently scaled and rotated version of the continent of {{w|South America}}. This is the third comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]]. By [[:File:BadMapProjectionComparison.png|overlaying]] this map with the selection of map projections presented in [[977: Map Projections]], it seems that the "underlying" projection used here is the {{w|Winkel tripel projection}}, also used in [[2242: Ground vs Air]].

The comic is likely in reference to the bad map designs in which continents like Africa and South America have been swapped, or where someone will jokingly replace Greenland with South America.

The caption of the comic is a reference to the {{w|Cap'n Crunch}} cereal type that became a meme, [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/oops-all-berries-box-parodies ''Oops! All Berries''].

Interestingly on the original South America, the archipelago or main island (hard to tell) of {{w|Tierra del Fuego}} is replaced with a small South America, while all other South Americas, including the one replacing the Tierra del Fuego, include it in their shape.

The title text claims that the map projection does a good job preserving distance and azimuth, the joke being that the distance and azimuth being preserved for the non-South America continents are those of South America and not the original continent. Note that while this is true for most of the larger landmasses, many of the smaller South Americas are distorted more significantly (such as the South Americas that replace New Zealand).

From roughly left to right and top to bottom, the South Americas replace:

*North America
*3 SAs for the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (possibly Victoria Island, Ellesmere Island, and Baffin Island)
*Greenland 
*Iceland
*Ireland (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, UK)
*Great Britain, UK
*Eurasia
*Newfoundland, Canada
*2 SAs for Hokkaido and Honshu, Japan
*Africa
*Taiwan
*Cuba
*Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti)
*Puerto Rico, US
*Jamaica
*Sri Lanka
*5 SAs for Luzon, Bicol Peninsula (southeastern Luzon), one ambiguous landmass (possibly Negros Island), Samar, and Mindanao; Philippines
*Sumatra, Indonesia
*Borneo (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei)
*Sulawesi, Indonesia
*2 SAs for New Guinea: one for Bird's Head Peninsula in the northwest of the island, and one for the rest of the island
*Java, Indonesia
*Madagascar
*Australia
*Tasmania, Australia
*2 SAs for South Island and North Island, New Zealand
*Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina and Chile

These are the 28 {{w|List of islands by area|largest non-Antarctic land masses,}} plus 8 more islands.

See also related comics with map changes in comics [[1500: Upside-Down Map]] and [[1653: United States Map]].

==Transcript==
:[A map of the world, but every landmass has been replaced with South America, rotated and resized to roughly match the real landmasses they represent. South America is correct, except that the islands at the southern tip of the continent also have been switched to a small South America.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Bad Map Projection #358: Oops, all South Americas!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]

822: Guest Week: Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content)

2019-11-05T18:26:22Z

162.158.62.33: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number =822
| date =November 22, 2010
| title =Guest Week: Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content)
| image =guest week jeph jacques questionable content.png
| titletext =Guest comic by Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content, whose internal monologue hasn't been speaking to him for the past three years.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic starts with [[Cueball]]'s internal dialogue telling him what he's been thinking for some time now — that the girl he's looking at is so beautiful she seems unapproachable, and "what could she ever see in a guy like you", and typical fears that a guy has that prevents him from talking to a pretty girl.

Only to be interrupted by the ''girl's'' internal monologue, who introduces herself to Cueball's internal monologue and asks if he'd like to get a cup of coffee. As the internal monologues pair off and leave, they criticize the people whom they've been serving for so long, saying that they're made for one another, if only one of them would have the guts to start talking to the other.

The comic was guest-written by ''[http://questionablecontent.net Questionable Content]'' webcomic artist {{w|Jeph Jacques}}, whose dramatic comedy series has lasted more than 16 years and 4000 strips. The comic follows the vertical panel style typical of Questionable Content. But the art here is more in the [[xkcd]] style, showing only stick figures.

SPOILER ALERT: the following paragraph reveals some important plot details of the Questionable Content webcomic.

This comic may be a reference to Marten and Faye, two characters from Questionable Content. Marten meets Faye in QC #3 but is too shy to talk to her. Faye is less shy and introduces herself to Marten. Later, Marten and Faye are living together and have a crush for each other, but they don't get together because Faye is afraid of relationships since her father killed himself.

''Guest Week'' was a series of five comics written by five other comic authors. They were released over five consecutive days (Monday-Friday); not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule. 
The five comics are:
*[[822: Guest Week: Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content)]]
*[[823: Guest Week: David Troupes (Buttercup Festival)]]
*[[824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)]]
*[[825: Guest Week: Jeffrey Rowland (Overcompensating)]]
*[[826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)]]

==Transcript==
:[A girl is sitting on a bench, reading a book. There is a tree. Far away, Cueball has a backpack on.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: There she is. The most beautiful girl you've ever seen.

:[The focus is on the girl on the bench.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: Every day you take this route to class, she's sitting on that bench, reading.

:[It goes even closer to her face.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: You'd introduce yourself, but you wouldn't know what to say. Besides, she's way out of your league.

:[Back to the full panel.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: What chance could an average guy like you have with such a radiant-
:Girl's thought bubble: Hey.

:[The girl looks up at her thought bubble with a question mark over her head.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: E-Excuse me?
:Girl's thought bubble: I said hey. You come by here a lot.

:[The girl looks over at Cueball, who is scratching his head at his thought bubble.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: Oh, uh, yeah. On the way to class.
:Girl's thought bubble: Wanna skip class and go get a coffee?

:[Cueball is pondering what's happening.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: Sure, I'd - I'd like that a lot.
:Girl's thought bubble: Great, let's ditch these losers.
:Girl: Hey!

:[The thought bubbles are behind Cueball now, moving away.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: Man, I gotta tell you, I'm SICK of being that guy's internal monologue! So whiny!
:Girl's thought bubble: Seriously! I swear, he and Little Miss Daddy Issues over there were made for each other.

:[The two look at each other silently.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Guest Week]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

822: Guest Week: Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content)

2019-11-05T18:25:53Z

162.158.62.33: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number =822
| date =November 22, 2010
| title =Guest Week: Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content)
| image =guest week jeph jacques questionable content.png
| titletext =Guest comic by Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content, whose internal monologue hasn't been speaking to him for the past three years.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic starts with [[Cueball]]'s internal dialogue telling him what he's been thinking for some time now — that the girl he's looking at is so beautiful she seems unapproachable, and "what could she ever see in a guy like you", and typical fears that a guy has that prevents him from talking to a pretty girl.

Only to be interrupted by the ''girl's'' internal monologue, who introduces herself to Cueball's internal monologue and asks if he'd like to get a cup of coffee. As the internal monologues pair off and leave, they criticize the people whom they've been serving for so long, saying that they're made for one another, if only one of them would have the guts to start talking to the other.

The comic was guest-written by ''[http://questionablecontent.net Questionable Content]'' webcomic artist {{w|Jeph Jacques}}, whose dramatic comedy series has lasted more than 10 years and 4000 strips. The comic follows the vertical panel style typical of Questionable Content. But the art here is more in the [[xkcd]] style, showing only stick figures.

SPOILER ALERT: the following paragraph reveals some important plot details of the Questionable Content webcomic.

This comic may be a reference to Marten and Faye, two characters from Questionable Content. Marten meets Faye in QC #3 but is too shy to talk to her. Faye is less shy and introduces herself to Marten. Later, Marten and Faye are living together and have a crush for each other, but they don't get together because Faye is afraid of relationships since her father killed himself.

''Guest Week'' was a series of five comics written by five other comic authors. They were released over five consecutive days (Monday-Friday); not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule. 
The five comics are:
*[[822: Guest Week: Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content)]]
*[[823: Guest Week: David Troupes (Buttercup Festival)]]
*[[824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)]]
*[[825: Guest Week: Jeffrey Rowland (Overcompensating)]]
*[[826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)]]

==Transcript==
:[A girl is sitting on a bench, reading a book. There is a tree. Far away, Cueball has a backpack on.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: There she is. The most beautiful girl you've ever seen.

:[The focus is on the girl on the bench.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: Every day you take this route to class, she's sitting on that bench, reading.

:[It goes even closer to her face.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: You'd introduce yourself, but you wouldn't know what to say. Besides, she's way out of your league.

:[Back to the full panel.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: What chance could an average guy like you have with such a radiant-
:Girl's thought bubble: Hey.

:[The girl looks up at her thought bubble with a question mark over her head.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: E-Excuse me?
:Girl's thought bubble: I said hey. You come by here a lot.

:[The girl looks over at Cueball, who is scratching his head at his thought bubble.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: Oh, uh, yeah. On the way to class.
:Girl's thought bubble: Wanna skip class and go get a coffee?

:[Cueball is pondering what's happening.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: Sure, I'd - I'd like that a lot.
:Girl's thought bubble: Great, let's ditch these losers.
:Girl: Hey!

:[The thought bubbles are behind Cueball now, moving away.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: Man, I gotta tell you, I'm SICK of being that guy's internal monologue! So whiny!
:Girl's thought bubble: Seriously! I swear, he and Little Miss Daddy Issues over there were made for each other.

:[The two look at each other silently.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Guest Week]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

353: Python

2019-09-06T23:58:29Z

162.158.62.33: fixed spelling error

{{comic
| number = 353
| date = December 5, 2007
| title = Python
| image = python.png
| titletext = I wrote 20 short programs in Python yesterday. It was wonderful. Perl, I'm leaving you.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Python (programming language)|Python}} is a programming language designed specifically to make it easy to write clear, readable programs. Flying is often used as a metaphor for freedom and ease, and here Randall shows Cueball literally flying in response to using Python.

A {{w|"Hello, World!" program}} is a very simple program that prints the phrase "Hello, World!", used in textbooks to illustrate a given programming language. While this sounds simple, it can be nontrivial in some programming languages where you need to explicitly import a library that contains the <code>print</code> function (for instance, in C you need to begin with <code>#include <{{w|stdio.h}}></code>) or do complicated things with classes and variables (see [https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Computer_Programming/Hello_world#Java the Java "Hello, World!"] for one example). Python doesn't need any of that: <code>print("Hello, world!")</code> (or in Python 2, <code>print "Hello, world!"</code>) really is all you need to do.

{{w|Dynamic typing}} and {{w|significant whitespace}} are two controversial features of Python, which make some people—like Cueball's friend—hesitant to use the language.

Dynamic typing means that variables do not have types (like "list of short integers" or "a bunch of letters"); any value of any type can be placed in any variable. Dynamic typing allows for more flexible languages, but it means that certain kinds of errors (like trying to subtract a letter from a number) can't be caught until a program is run, and some people think this is too dangerous for the tradeoff to be acceptable.

Whitespace is a string of invisible text characters, like spaces or tabs. In programming, blocks of code controlled by a statement are usually indented under that statement. Most languages require you to use braces (<code>{…}</code>) or special keywords (<code>BEGIN…END</code>) to delimit these blocks; in Python, the indentation itself is the delimiter. Many Python programmers find that this makes code more readable, but many other programmers find it too "magical" and don't trust it.

Classes, functions and constants in Python are packed into modules. To use a module, you write "<code>import ''module''</code>" at the top of your source file. Python comes with a very powerful standard library of modules to do everything from parsing XML to comparing two sets of files for differences, and new modules can be easily installed from the PyPI repository, which has more than 79,000 more to choose from (as of April 2016). [[Cueball]] can fly because he imported the <code>antigravity</code> module. Python still works for Cueball in [[482: Height]].

In the final panel, Cueball admits that his ability to fly may actually be because he has "sampled everything in the medicine cabinet", though he's sure it is the Python anyway. An implication of this is that ingesting everything in the medicine cabinet has given him the feeling of freedom and ease that "flying" represents - or that he is hallucinating himself flying and having a conversation with the other character about it. Here, the metaphor of "feeling like you're flying" while using Python is transformed back from being literal (Cueball is actually flying) to being metaphorical (Randall feels like he is flying because Python is so easy to use... or because he had too many strange drugs).

{{w|Perl}}, mentioned in the title text, is another programming language with the same target audience as Python, as both are {{w|High-level programming language|high-level}}, {{w|General-purpose programming language|general-purpose}}, {{w|Interpreter (computing)|interpreted}}, {{w|dynamic programming language}}s.
However they strongly oppose each other in their language design:
* Perl’s philosophy for its syntax is "{{w|There's more than one way to do it}}", so each coder can choose their own coding style to do exactly the same thing,
* Python’s {{w|Zen of Python|philosophy}} for its syntax is "There should be one— and preferably only one —obvious way to do it", so the written code is more consistent.
Since he has discovered Python [[Randall]] doesn't like Perl anymore, probably because its syntax is less consistent.

==Transcript==
:[A Friend is talking to Cueball, who is floating in the sky.]
:Friend: You're flying! How?
:Cueball: Python!
:Cueball: I learned it last night! Everything is so simple!
:Cueball: Hello world is just print "Hello, World!"
:Friend: I dunno... Dynamic typing? ''Whitespace?''
:Cueball: Come join us! Programming is fun again! It's a whole new world up here!
:Friend: But how are you flying?
:Cueball: I just typed 'import antigravity'
:Friend: That's it?
:Cueball: ...I also sampled everything in the medicine cabinet for comparison.
:Cueball: But I think this is the python.

==Trivia==
*In response to this comic, the Python developers implemented the module <code>antigravity</code> in version 2.7+. When you <code>import</code> it, the default web browser will open this comic. Also, in version 3+, the module contains a [[426: Geohashing|geohashing]] function.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]

2153: Effects of High Altitude

2019-05-27T17:06:31Z

162.158.62.33: /* Explanation */ Someone wasn't thinking straight when typing this. :)

{{comic
| number = 2153
| date = May 22, 2019
| title = Effects of High Altitude
| image = effects_of_high_altitude.png
| titletext = If she'd lived in Flagstaff (elevation 6,903 feet), Cruella de Vil would only have needed 89 dalmatians for her coat.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HIGH BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic starts out with three effects of high altitude related to the air getting "thinner" and the lower air pressure. {{w|Denver}} is one mile (5280 feet or 1609 meters) above sea-level (as marked on the steps of the State Capitol). At this elevation, the [http://www.altitude.org/air_pressure.php average atmospheric pressure] is about 83% of sea level pressure, or about 840 mbar instead of 1013 mbar, and [https://www.sensorsone.com/local-gravity-calculator/ gravity] is 99.94% of gravity at sea level at the same latitude, or 9.796 m/s2 instead of 9.801 m/s2. This has a number of effects:

* Water {{w|boiling|boils}} at 202 degrees F (94 degrees C), slightly lower than the baseline 212 degrees F (100 degrees C) it takes at sea level.
* Baseballs and golf balls fly slightly farther (with the same initial velocity, the distance is inversely proportional to gravitational acceleration so it would be 0.06% farther; in addition, the lower air pressure will reduce the resistance from the air the ball will experience, therefore it will slow down at a lower rate and thus fly even farther than the 0.06% due to gravity).
* {{w|Sunburn}} develops faster because there is less atmosphere above to filter out harmful ultraviolet rays.

As usual for xkcd, the effects of high altitude are extended in a comically absurd manner, applying this "slightly less" rule to things that have nothing to do with altitude:

* {{w|Scrabble}} is a board game where each letter is assigned a point value based on its frequency of use in the edition's language. The comic claims all letters are worth 16% more. When applied to the {{w|Scrabble_letter_distributions#English|normal values for the Scrabble tiles in English}}
** Q is worth 12 instead of 10
** X is worth 9 instead of 8
** Y is worth 5 instead of 4
This point increase would have little impact in the board game when two players sit across each other. However, it would imply that scrabble played via internet should require players to state their altitude at the begin of the online game which then assigns advantages to higher-altitude players. This advantage seems arbitrary, unless the altitude difference is really significant enough to impede the thinking ability of the higher-altitude party.
* A common {{w|superstition}} states that breaking a mirror causes 7 years of bad luck. The comic claims that at higher altitudes, only 5½ years are caused. It is unclear whether this implies that people living at higher altitudes have more or less luck.
* Marketing campaigns will often state "X is the new Y" to draw the audience of Y in toward the newer X. When used with age, usually at 10 year intervals ("40 is the new 30" is the slogan referenced), it is an attempt to convince an older audience that they can share in an experience commonly associated with a younger audience. At higher elevations, the comic claims, people can use or do things designated for an even younger audience. This is contrary to facts however: Most activities, especially in sports, are more difficult in higher altitudes, not easier.
** In the base 16 ({{w|Hexadecimal|hexadecimal}}) number system, the value 28 represents 2 * 16^1 + 8 * 16^0 = 40. Thus, 40 is the new 28. Remember that, although {{w| Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything|Douglas Adams doesn't write jokes about other bases}}, Randall [[1000: 1000 Comics|does]].
* German band {{w|Nena (band)|Nena}}'s hit ''99 Red Balloons'' (an English adaptation of the original song called ''{{w|99 Luftballons}}'') is a song about a global (not necessarily nuclear) war started by a large clump of balloons mistaken for enemy aircraft (although the original German song refers to "UFOs aus dem All", the lyrics of the English-language song say "There's something here from somewhere else" which does not imply extraterrestrial origins, merely that the object is not of domestic origin; and "the war machine springs to life", which implies that a rival nation on earth is thought to be the culprit). The comic claims that if launched from a higher altitude, 94 balloons would have sufficed.
* {{w|420 (cannabis culture)|4:20}} is a code word for {{w|cannabis}} and has evolved in some circles to be the socially acceptable hour to consume cannabis. This has in turn evolved into a joke that when checking the time and finding it is exactly 4:20, people will add "blaze it" as a reference. The comic claims that, at higher altitudes, the socially acceptable time is earlier, so if there is an elevation of one mile, the socially acceptable time would be 4:17 and therefore, marijuana jokes are made earlier. This joke is probably related to the {{w|Cannabis in Colorado|legalization of recreational marijuana use in Colorado}}.

In the title text, ''{{w|One Hundred and One Dalmatians (franchise)|One Hundred and One Dalmatians}}'' is a Disney franchise (based on a children's book), where the villain, {{w|Cruella de Vil}}, aims to capture and kill 99 Dalmatian puppies (97 in the book) to have the perfect spotted fur coat. (The title includes the parents [book: and other Dalmatian caregivers] of the Dalmatian puppies.) The comic claims that, at a higher altitude in {{w|Flagstaff, Arizona|Flagstaff}} (6903 ft / 2104 m), she would only have needed 89 Dalmatians, possibly implying that puppies at higher altitudes are bigger (perhaps because there is {{w|Decompression (altitude)|less air pressure to compress them}}) or that Cruella de Vil at high altitudes is smaller (possibly because of the {{w|Wrinkle#Water-immersion wrinkling|higher humidity and lower temperature}}).

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:'''Effects of High Altitude'''
:How life is different at one mile above sea level
:(e.g. in Denver)

:[Eight small panels, each containing an image with a caption at the top:]

:Water boils at 202°F
:[A pot on a stovetop, with steam rising from the pot]

:Baseballs and golf balls fly 5-10% farther
:[A baseball flying through the air]

:Sunburns develop significantly faster
:[Five wavy arrows hitting a curved surface, two at a low point and three at a high point]

:Scrabble letters are worth 16% more
:[Scrabble tiles for letters Q, X and Y with point values 12, 9 and 5, respectively]

:Breaking a mirror only causes 5½ years of bad luck
:[Cueball looking down at a broken hand mirror on the floor]

:40 is the new 28
:[Cueball and Megan are talking. Megan is gesturing]
:Megan: 50 is the new 40, and when you account for elevation it's more like 37.

:Nuclear war can be started with only 94 red balloons.
:[Five black balloons floating]

:People make marijuana jokes slightly earlier
:[Cueball and Ponytail are talking. Ponytail is looking at her phone]
:Cueball: Hey, what time is it?
:Ponytail: 4:17 Blaze it!

==Trivia==
The effect of altitude on sports was the topic of [[852: Local g]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

1261: Shake That

2019-04-15T01:27:29Z

162.158.62.33: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1261
| date = September 6, 2013
| title = Shake That
| image = shake that.png
| titletext = How do I work it? IT'S ALREADY WORKING!
}}

==Explanation==
Visiting a club, [[Megan]] is exhorted by a phrase used in several songs, to "shake what your mama gave you", a crude euphemism typically used to encourage shaking one's body parts, referring to any of the sexually appealing anatomical parts of the dancer. Taking this exhortation extremely literally, Megan proceeds to locate a mug presumably given to her by her "mama" labeled "World's greatest daughter" and shakes it.

The phrase "shake what your mama gave ya" was in use as early as 1992, when it was the title of a song by {{w|Poison Clan}}, a southern hip-hop group that was influential from 1990–1995. Another version by Stik-E & Da Hoodz was released in 1995 by Phat Wax records. The line gained a wider audience when it was sampled by {{w|Fatboy Slim}} in the similarly titled "Ya Mama" on his 2000 album ''{{w|Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars}}''. More recently the line was featured in the {{w|Lil Jon}} single "Stick That Thang Out". In fitting with the general thematic composition of such a song, a large part of which revolves around either goading a woman to, or describing one who is dancing seductively in a nightclub - this line asks a girl to dance, thereby swaying her hips & buttocks, or breasts, the most common male 'fetishes' — making them more conspicuous in the usually dim ambiance because of the phase lag with the rest of the body, which may be attributed to non-rigidity of the elastic structures — for purposes of her male audience's gratification (whether it be solicited or voyeuristic).

The title text refers to another lyrical cliche, "work it", which typically refers to "working" one's body; again, generally seductively. The action may be considered work either from the point of mechanical work, or as a reference to a professional dancer. This naturally leads Megan to further confusion (as indicated by the title text) when taken literally, as she responds "it's already working!" It is not entirely clear if she is again referring to the mug, or simply another generic object not displayed in the comic.

[[1291: Shoot for the Moon]] may be a continuation of this, due to Megan misunderstanding common saying or references.

==Transcript==
:[Megan stands in a disco, surrounded by dancing figures. She looks confused.]
:PA system: Shake what your mama gave you
:Megan: ???
:[Megan walks out of the club door.]
:[We see a mug on a table, labelled "World's Greatest Daughter".]
:[Megan shakes the mug.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Music]]

2036: Edgelord

2018-10-23T22:27:23Z

162.158.62.33: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2036
| date = August 22, 2018
| title = Edgelord
| image = edgelord.png
| titletext = If you study graphs in which edges can link more than two nodes, you're more properly called a hyperedgelord.
}}

==Explanation==
"Edgelord" is modern slang describing a brash provocateur on social media; often in a satirical way that if taken literally would be found disturbing or insensitive. The term derives from the word "edgy", which is used to describe things which are designed to be provocative.

In mathematics, {{w|Graph theory|graph theory}} is the study of graphs, mathematical structures made up of nodes (points) which are connected by edges (or lines).

This comic plays on the fact that graphs have edges. Calling someone with a Graph Theory Ph.D. an 'edgelord' (a master of edges) is somewhat analogous to calling an engineering student a 'forcelord', an astronomy PhD a 'starlord', or a pharmacologist a 'druglord'.

Also, [[White Hat]] seems to shout "No", and is also clenching his fists in anger, which is ironic, because he seems to be on edge. Because "edgelord" is perceived as an insult by socially aware adults, [[Cueball]] is actually provoking White Hat, making Cueball an edgelord in this interaction. Similar situational humor is also found in [[2008: Irony Definition]].

The title text makes the same joke, except that the title would be hyperedgelord instead of edgelord. A {{w|Hypergraph|hypergraph}} is a generalization of a graph in which each edge may have more than two endpoints.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is talking to White Hat, who is balling his fist and has small lines above his head to indicate annoyance.]
:Cueball: So, I hear you're a real edgelord.
:White Hat: '''''No!'''''

:[Caption below the frame:]
:How to annoy a graph theory Ph.D.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

Talk:2061: Tectonics Game

2018-10-21T11:35:41Z

162.158.62.33: Asking question about explanation of achievements in comic explanation

Are you sure the second row of achievements is about atolls? It looked more like evolution of life to me (single celled, multicellular, something, fish). -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.33|162.158.62.33]] 11:35, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

'''Please never move discussions to other sections; the chronological order has to be respected.''' --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:51, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

Wrote my first transcript. Hopefully it isn't terrible, haha. [[User:IYN|IYN]] ([[User talk:IYN|talk]]) 17:13, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:Not bad, but please do not remove the incomplete tag too soon. Even my smaller changes don't convince me right now that it's complete. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:34, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:There's no explanation ''OR'' transcript for the Title-text, yet. Sooo...
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:41, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

I know very little about stars. Can anyone explain what the type in the title text is? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.70|162.158.63.70]] 18:23, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

The nice thing about this game is you could represent the Earth by a 1000-pixel wide map, and it would take over a decade before anyone could tell whether you'd actually implemented anything. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 20:53, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

In Panel 2, there is a box with the following information

<pre>
Single Multi
LT 80 GT 440 T
LM 15 GT 3 GT
LA 2 MT 0 T
LL 580 GT 0 T
</pre>

What does this mean? The measurements seem to be in gigatonnes, hence a measure of mass. CO2 releases are often measured in Gigatonnes. The geochemical carbon cycle is a significant long term negative feedback loop, so I guess these relate to CO2, but I can't guess the specifics. [[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 15:00, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

:Just a guess, but I think it could be the amount of life, as a goal is to "keep your biosphere rich". Single and multi then mean single- and multicelled, and the terms on the left could be "Life-Terrestrial", "-Marine", "Aerial" and "Littoral" [[User:Emil|Emil]] ([[User talk:Emil|talk]]) 11:29, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

'''An Actual Game'''

Here is a section for people who are looking into actually developing a game. (With time warp obviously.)

Seriously though, this could actually be a fun (and educational) simulator, similar to KSP. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.142.10|172.69.142.10]] 02:31, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

My wife is trying to physically restrain me from immediately starting to write this game...int main ( int arggggg...ow...get off [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:52, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:If the comment section of this comic is anything to go by, you could sell it for a buck a pop and get...I dunno...$12 at least? [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 19:01, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Who wants to help me make this? [[User:Blacksilver|Blacksilver]] ([[User talk:Blacksilver|talk]]) 17:24, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

With a sufficiently large time warp, this actually sounds like it would be pretty fun. [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 18:20, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Hey, guys reading your comments I can see several people, including myself, might be interested in making a game like this. Perhaps we should coordinate efforts to make one? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.246.100|162.158.246.100]] 23:15, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

I came here specifically to see if this game existed and I'm irritated it doesn't yet. People with better coding and geological skills than me, you have an interested party. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.83}}

I'm fully on board. If and when this thing hypothetically gets popular, I'll be like, "Hey, I was there!" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.5|172.68.46.5]] 04:12, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

I have a feeling that making this game would be an awful like No Man's Sky, all the physics would be extremely difficult to manage and take years to iron out fully. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.246.88|162.158.246.88]] 15:03, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

I would love to help. I'm thinking something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reus_(video_game). But just with planetary modification abilities. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.58}}

If anyone's interested I made a discord server where we can talk about making this: https://discord.gg/4MGZT7n [[User:MutedAjar|MutedAjar]] ([[User talk:MutedAjar|talk]]) 05:18, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

'''Other Real Time Games'''

This is for discussion of other real time games. (I.E. Desert Bus) --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.142.10|172.69.142.10]] 02:34, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

I have this horrible urge to find the Desert Bus source code and mod it to make "Desert Bus 2: Walt Disney Land to Walt Disney World" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.88|172.68.90.88]] 21:53, 19 October 2018 (UTC)SiliconWolf

It's like playing Desert Bus for the rest of your life... :) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.154|162.158.63.154]] 18:23, 19 October 2018 (UTC) Scott

:I thought it appropriate to add Desert Bus to the main description as a real world example of a tedious real-time game that goes to a ridiculous extreme... though much less extreme and ridiculous than the one in the comic. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:17, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Does anyone else remember the old DOS game: 688 Attack Sub? Where it felt like you were waiting forever for your torpedo to hit? I liked that they told you that, in the real world, it's much slower than it is in the game.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.6|172.68.65.6]] 18:46, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1920: Emoji Sports

2017-11-24T07:50:59Z

162.158.62.33:

It seems like in addition to the destructive sports thing, he's also playing on the emojis made from other emojis in multi character Unicode, but as it's 3 in the morning and I can't even remember what things are called I'm not gonna even try to edit right now. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.33|162.158.62.33]] 07:50, 24 November 2017 (UTC)

1854: Refresh Types

2017-11-01T23:25:13Z

162.158.62.33: /* Harder refresh */

{{comic
| number = 1854
| date = June 23, 2017
| title = Refresh Types
| image = refresh_types.png
| titletext = The hardest refresh requires both a Mac keyboard and a Windows keyboard as a security measure, like how missile launch systems require two keys to be turned at once.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Randall]] presents five different levels of refresh operations for web applications. The first three (''soft refresh'', ''normal refresh'', and ''hard refresh'') are common operations to keep the content in the browser retrieved from the server up to date. The other two (''harder refresh'' and ''hardest refresh'') are fictional operations to perform ''refresh'' operations on remote resources. The terms are probably adopted from {{w|Reboot (computing)|soft}} and {{w|Hardware reset|hard reset}} operations used to restart broken computers or e.g. smartphones.

=== Soft refresh ===
''Soft refresh'' refers to an operation in a web page, commonly known as {{w|Ajax (programming)|Ajax}}, that requests new information without reloading the entire page. The given example, {{w|Gmail}}, includes a feature that allows users to poll new emails and show it in the inbox interface. It is a command using {{w|JavaScript}} to load new contents from the server in the background and only update necessary components of the page. Since modern web applications do this also automatically in short time intervals those buttons are mostly unnecessary. In Gmail a user will see a new message instantly.

=== Normal refresh ===
The ''normal refresh'' is a browser operation that reloads the complete web page, text and other content that has changed since the original load will be updated. The operation can be triggered by refresh buttons in browsers, though it also can be requested using the common keyboard commands as listed by Randall. Many pages -- like the main page at xkcd.com -- don't have a refresh button. If the page has been opened before a new comic release, pressing F5 afterwards causes reload and the new comic is shown.

=== Hard refresh ===
What Randall calls ''hard refresh'' is a less common browser operation forcing the browser to re-download every part of the webpage, ignoring any cached content. Caching is a common way of decreasing webpage load times. Browsers save resources such as images or {{w|Cascading Style Sheets|CSS stylesheets}} on the first visit on a webpage and use the local copy on subsequent visits. It allows them to decrease amount of transfer needed to show the webpage, but can prevent showing changes made to the resources (for example a web developer changing the stylesheet). In those cases the ''hard refresh'' ensures that each part of the website is downloaded in its newest form.

If there is a {{w|Proxy server|Web-Proxy}} or a Cloud-Cache (like used for this wiki) in between the browser and the Web-Server this type of refreshing may not work. In this case, unless a purge link is available, the user has to wait until the cache entry is expired and a new request to the web server is done. A Web-developer may try to avoid this behavior by including special headers in the HTTP reply to control caching, but not all proxies or clouds follow these instructions.

=== Harder refresh ===
''Harder refresh'' is a joke that extends the existing naming scheme. The joke is that if a ''hard refresh'' resets the browser display and cache, a ''harder refresh'' should reset the source of the data by cycling power in the data center. Assuming no damage was done, this would reset the memory on the server, erasing any information that had not been written to disk, and setting the server to the state it was in at launch. This would cause considerable downtime, and would be unlikely to help the user at all.

In {{w|Orchestration (computing)|orchestrated}} environment it may indirectly cause some virtual machines in the {{w|Cloud computing|cloud}} to be rebooted and assigned to an other web server needing more workload. But a growing workload is caused by hundreds or thousands additional requests and not just a single key combination from one browser. While there are administrative web tools allowing to perform a reboot (physical or virtual server) just by clicking a single button, this is not what is being referred to in the comic. A standard (non-administrative) user rebooting an actual physical server using a common web page is not possible, unless there is a software or operating system bug that will cause exactly this. This would be considered an extremely critical problem and its resolution would be given an extremely high priority by the server owners.

The ''harder refresh'' uses six keys, including the non-standard '[https://askubuntu.com/questions/19558/what-are-the-meta-super-and-hyper-keys HYPER]' key, a feature of the {{w|Space cadet keyboard}}. Hyper could also refer to the Linux modifier key Hyper, similar to Control, Alt, and Super.

=== Hardest refresh ===
The fifth option, ''hardest refresh'', moves beyond resetting the source of the data and resets the entire internet back to {{w|ARPANET}}, an early military network which was a forerunner to the modern internet. The implications of this are not made clear, but it should be noted that it wouldn't help to fix any problems a user is experiencing in-browser, as {{w|HTTP}}, the protocol by which web pages are sent, was not developed until late 1990, the year ARPANET was decommissioned.

The ''hardest refresh'' shortcut uses fifteen keys, including non-standard ones such as Ø and ⏏. (The former is a key found on Norwegian and Danish keyboards, the latter is the "eject" key found on Mac keyboards and some laptops.) The shortcut makes amusing comparisons about a shortcut that includes not only the F5 function key, but also the keys for the letter "F" and the digit "5", as well as the similarity in appearance between O, 0, and Ø.

The title text suggests that the inclusion of both the {{w|Windows key}} and {{w|Command key}} in the ''hardest refresh'' shortcut is a security measure akin to the {{w|Two-man rule}}, as it would require two keyboards to enter. Normally this would not work in practice as the modifier keys are handled per keyboard and not combined across keyboards for most operating systems allowing more than one keyboard.

==Transcript==
:[A table with three columns is shown. The header is:]
:Refresh Type; Example Shortcuts; Effect

:[First row:]
:Soft Refresh
:[The word refresh has a border to mimic a button:]
:Gmail REFRESH Button
:Requests update within JavaScript

:[Second row:]
:Normal Refresh
:[Two PC shortcuts and the Apple command key followed by an R:]
:F5, CTRL-R, ⌘R
:Refreshes page

:[Third row:]
:Hard Refresh
:[One PC shortcut, the combination Control plus Shift, and the Apple command key followed by Shift and R:]
:CTRL-F5, CTRL-⇧, ⌘⇧R
:Refreshes page including cached files

:[Fourth row:]
:Harder Refresh
:[One single combination using Control plus Shift plus Hyper plus Escape plus R plus F5:]
:CTRL-⇧-HYPER-ESC-R-F5
:Remotely cycles power to datacenter

:[Fifth row:]
:Hardest Refresh
:[One single combination using Control plus the Apple command key plus the Windows key plus Shift plus the hash key plus R plus F5 plus F plus 5 plus Escape plus the letter O plus a slashed zero plus a slashed letter O plus an eject sign plus Scroll Lock:]
:CTRL-⌘⊞⇧#-R-F5-F-5-ESC-O-0-Ø-⏏-SCROLL LOCK
:Internet starts over from ARPANET

==Trivia==

* One of the shortcuts listed for Hard Refresh, “CTRL-⇧”, is incorrect – it should be “CTRL-⇧-R”.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Internet]]

1854: Refresh Types

2017-11-01T23:24:40Z

162.158.62.33: /* Harder refresh */

{{comic
| number = 1854
| date = June 23, 2017
| title = Refresh Types
| image = refresh_types.png
| titletext = The hardest refresh requires both a Mac keyboard and a Windows keyboard as a security measure, like how missile launch systems require two keys to be turned at once.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Randall]] presents five different levels of refresh operations for web applications. The first three (''soft refresh'', ''normal refresh'', and ''hard refresh'') are common operations to keep the content in the browser retrieved from the server up to date. The other two (''harder refresh'' and ''hardest refresh'') are fictional operations to perform ''refresh'' operations on remote resources. The terms are probably adopted from {{w|Reboot (computing)|soft}} and {{w|Hardware reset|hard reset}} operations used to restart broken computers or e.g. smartphones.

=== Soft refresh ===
''Soft refresh'' refers to an operation in a web page, commonly known as {{w|Ajax (programming)|Ajax}}, that requests new information without reloading the entire page. The given example, {{w|Gmail}}, includes a feature that allows users to poll new emails and show it in the inbox interface. It is a command using {{w|JavaScript}} to load new contents from the server in the background and only update necessary components of the page. Since modern web applications do this also automatically in short time intervals those buttons are mostly unnecessary. In Gmail a user will see a new message instantly.

=== Normal refresh ===
The ''normal refresh'' is a browser operation that reloads the complete web page, text and other content that has changed since the original load will be updated. The operation can be triggered by refresh buttons in browsers, though it also can be requested using the common keyboard commands as listed by Randall. Many pages -- like the main page at xkcd.com -- don't have a refresh button. If the page has been opened before a new comic release, pressing F5 afterwards causes reload and the new comic is shown.

=== Hard refresh ===
What Randall calls ''hard refresh'' is a less common browser operation forcing the browser to re-download every part of the webpage, ignoring any cached content. Caching is a common way of decreasing webpage load times. Browsers save resources such as images or {{w|Cascading Style Sheets|CSS stylesheets}} on the first visit on a webpage and use the local copy on subsequent visits. It allows them to decrease amount of transfer needed to show the webpage, but can prevent showing changes made to the resources (for example a web developer changing the stylesheet). In those cases the ''hard refresh'' ensures that each part of the website is downloaded in its newest form.

If there is a {{w|Proxy server|Web-Proxy}} or a Cloud-Cache (like used for this wiki) in between the browser and the Web-Server this type of refreshing may not work. In this case, unless a purge link is available, the user has to wait until the cache entry is expired and a new request to the web server is done. A Web-developer may try to avoid this behavior by including special headers in the HTTP reply to control caching, but not all proxies or clouds follow these instructions.

=== Harder refresh ===
''Harder refresh'' is a joke that extends the existing naming scheme. The joke is that if a ''hard refresh'' resets the browser display and cache, a ''harder refresh'' should reset the source of the data by cycling power in the data center. Assuming no damage was done, this would reset the memory on the server, erasing any information that had not been written to disk, and setting the server to the state it was in at launch. This would cause considerable downtime, and would be unlikely to help the user at all.

In {{w|Orchestration (computing)|orchestrated}} environment it may indirectly cause some virtual machines in the {{w|Cloud computing|cloud}} to be rebooted and assigned to an other web server needing more workload. But a growing workload is caused by hundreds or thousands additional requests and not just a single key combination from one browser. While there are administrative web tools allowing to perform a reboot (physical or virtual server) just by clicking a single button, this is not what is being referred to in the comic. A standard (non-administrative) user rebooting an actual physical server using a common web page is not possible, unless there is a software or operating system bug that will cause exactly this. This would be considered an extremely critical problem and its resolution would be given an extremely high priority by the server owners.

The ''harder refresh'' uses six keys, including the non-standard '[https://askubuntu.com/questions/19558/what-are-the-meta-super-and-hyper-keys HYPER]' key, a feature of the {{w|Space cadet keyboard}}. Hyper could also refer to the Linux modifier key Hyper, similar to Control, Alt, and Super. (Or possibly the Hyper attack from Marvel vs. Capcom)

=== Hardest refresh ===
The fifth option, ''hardest refresh'', moves beyond resetting the source of the data and resets the entire internet back to {{w|ARPANET}}, an early military network which was a forerunner to the modern internet. The implications of this are not made clear, but it should be noted that it wouldn't help to fix any problems a user is experiencing in-browser, as {{w|HTTP}}, the protocol by which web pages are sent, was not developed until late 1990, the year ARPANET was decommissioned.

The ''hardest refresh'' shortcut uses fifteen keys, including non-standard ones such as Ø and ⏏. (The former is a key found on Norwegian and Danish keyboards, the latter is the "eject" key found on Mac keyboards and some laptops.) The shortcut makes amusing comparisons about a shortcut that includes not only the F5 function key, but also the keys for the letter "F" and the digit "5", as well as the similarity in appearance between O, 0, and Ø.

The title text suggests that the inclusion of both the {{w|Windows key}} and {{w|Command key}} in the ''hardest refresh'' shortcut is a security measure akin to the {{w|Two-man rule}}, as it would require two keyboards to enter. Normally this would not work in practice as the modifier keys are handled per keyboard and not combined across keyboards for most operating systems allowing more than one keyboard.

==Transcript==
:[A table with three columns is shown. The header is:]
:Refresh Type; Example Shortcuts; Effect

:[First row:]
:Soft Refresh
:[The word refresh has a border to mimic a button:]
:Gmail REFRESH Button
:Requests update within JavaScript

:[Second row:]
:Normal Refresh
:[Two PC shortcuts and the Apple command key followed by an R:]
:F5, CTRL-R, ⌘R
:Refreshes page

:[Third row:]
:Hard Refresh
:[One PC shortcut, the combination Control plus Shift, and the Apple command key followed by Shift and R:]
:CTRL-F5, CTRL-⇧, ⌘⇧R
:Refreshes page including cached files

:[Fourth row:]
:Harder Refresh
:[One single combination using Control plus Shift plus Hyper plus Escape plus R plus F5:]
:CTRL-⇧-HYPER-ESC-R-F5
:Remotely cycles power to datacenter

:[Fifth row:]
:Hardest Refresh
:[One single combination using Control plus the Apple command key plus the Windows key plus Shift plus the hash key plus R plus F5 plus F plus 5 plus Escape plus the letter O plus a slashed zero plus a slashed letter O plus an eject sign plus Scroll Lock:]
:CTRL-⌘⊞⇧#-R-F5-F-5-ESC-O-0-Ø-⏏-SCROLL LOCK
:Internet starts over from ARPANET

==Trivia==

* One of the shortcuts listed for Hard Refresh, “CTRL-⇧”, is incorrect – it should be “CTRL-⇧-R”.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Internet]]

Category:Tribute

2017-02-13T14:50:28Z

162.158.62.33: noun - verb agreement fix

When special people (to [[Randall]]) die, he has sometimes dedicated the next comic to their memory as a tribute.
*If possible the comic occurs on xkcd already the day after the person dies.
*This has been know to disregard the usual release schedule for the comic.

So far five people have a tribute:
*{{w|Gary Gygax}} is remembered in the comic [[393: Ultimate Game]], it came out three days after his death on a Friday.
*{{w|Steve Jobs}} is remembered in the comic [[961: Eternal Flame]] which came out on a Thursday since he died on a Wednesday.
*{{w|Terry Pratchett|Sir Terry Pratchett}} is remembered in the comic [[1498: Terry Pratchett]]. He died on a Thursday, so even though the comic came out the day after, it was released on a normal release day, Friday.
*{{w|Roddy Piper}}, former wrestler known as ''Rowdy'', played the protagonist in "They Live," and he died five days prior to the publication of [[1560: Bubblegum]]. Less known than the other it is likely that Randall did not know about this the day it happened, and this may explain the delay in the tribute. It was released on a normal release day, Wednesday.
*{{w|Douglas Engelbart}} is remembered in the comic [[1234: Douglas Engelbart (1925-2013)]], which came out on a Sunday three days after his death.

[[Category:Comics by topic]]