explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2757: Towed Message

2023-04-07T19:18:35Z

162.158.74.3: /* Transcript */ "propel plane" isn't correct English terminology... Giving one of the more correct ones (if even needed), and adding wing-configuration too...

{{comic
| number = 2757
| date = March 31, 2023
| title = Towed Message
| image = towed_message_2x.png
| imagesize = 613x236px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "Hi, what you do is fly over a designated zone and detach the--" "WE'RE SORRY, THE MOBILE CUSTOMER YOU ARE TRYING TO REACH IS OUT OF SERVICE"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an UNLANDABLE PLANE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, an {{w|Aerial_advertising#Banner_towing|aircraft is towing a banner}}. Notably, these aircraft do not take off or land with the banner in tow, but instead have a hook and release mechanism to [https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2022/09/02/the-surprising-way-those-beach-plane-banners-get-airborne add and drop the banner in flight]. The banner ''could'' be interpreted as a recruitment ad by an aerial advertising company looking for additional pilots. But the humorous interpretation is that the banner is a distress signal – the pilot of the aircraft doesn't know how to land, and is hoping that someone will see the banner and give assistance. This makes the banner self-referential, because the presence of the banner (which makes landing difficult) is the very reason for displaying the banner. It is paradoxical, because printing and deploying the banner requires planning,{{Citation needed}} and if the pilot had anticipated that they would need assistance to land with a banner, they could have simply chosen not to deploy a banner in the first place.

The title text features a caller who dials the phone number from the banner and starts to explain the correct method for landing (detach the banner over a designated empty location then land the plane regularly), but the call is disconnected halfway through. Presumably the number is that of the pilot's cellphone. The call could have disconnected because the aircraft moved out of range of the {{w|cell site}} the phone was connected to and the phone failed to automatically connect to an adjacent cell; or possibly the cell network detected the call on {{w|Cellular_network#Frequency_reuse|multiple sites}} due to the phone's {{w|Mobile_phones_on_aircraft#Technical_discussion|altitude}} and disconnected it from the network; or the plane crashed and the phone was destroyed on impact.

Alternatively this is a joke and the number used is one of the fake 555 numbers, thus of course there is no one on the other end. It could be this was supposed to be a kind of {{w|April fools' joke}}, made by the pilot. But then this comic was released a day too soon on March 31st. But this was the first year since 2017 that [[Randall]] missed the opportunity to release an [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comics]] on April 1st. And the next comic released on April 3rd, [[2758: My Favorite Things]], has even less April fools' vibe over it.

==Transcript==
:[A small prop-powered high-wing airplane tows a banner from left to right. Around the plane and banner there are four small clouds, two above and two below. There are also five birds far in the background, three above and two below the banner. The text on the banner reads:]
:Do '''''you''''' know how to land a plane that's towing a banner? Call '''555-0127''' now!

==Trivia==
* In a similar joke, a pilot used {{w|skywriting}} to write [https://laughingsquid.com/comedian-hires-pilot-to-skywrite-a-joke-over-los-angeles/ "How do I land?"] as a prank in 2013.
* A similar concept was shown in [[1897: Self Driving]].
* Banner towing is generally safe for an experienced pilot, [https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2020/november/pilot/imperiled-pickup though not entirely without risk].
* The comic may have been inspired by a recent article in the Washington Post [https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2023/03/22/how-hard-is-it-land-plane/] on how a person who is not a pilot is unlikely to be able to land a plane.
* The aircraft in the illustration is similar to a {{w|Piper J-3 Cub}}, which is popular for towing banners due to its low operating cost and good performance at low {{w|airspeed}}.
* Aircraft communication is usually done using {{w|radio}}. The {{w|aircraft emergency frequency}} at 121.5 MHz is reserved for aircraft emergencies including pilots in distress and needing assistance.
* Phone numbers beginning with "{{w|555 (telephone number)|555}}" are commonly used for {{w|fictitious telephone numbers}} in movies, TV shows, and other related media. The numbers 555-0100 through 555-0199 are specifically reserved for fictional use in North America, and are used to avoid inadvertently publishing someone's real phone number, which might get the owner of the number bombarded with unwanted calls from curious callers.
* The emphasis on the word "you" in the banner is reminiscent of ads such as the well-known {{w|Uncle_Sam|US Army recruitment poster}}.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Airplane banner]]
[[Category:Aviation]]

1933: Santa Facts

2023-04-07T19:08:32Z

162.158.74.3: "Mythologically accurate eight-legged spider"? Tongue firmly in cheek there, perhaps. And not well edited (could have a link there) with seemingly personal opinion that the old text is''not'' correct, so reverting until better editing justifes changes...

{{comic
| number = 1933
| date = December 25, 2017
| title = Santa Facts
| image = santa_facts.png
| titletext = We've gotten him up to 20% milk and cookies through an aggressive public campaign, but that seems to be his dietary limit. Anything above that and he starts developing nutritional deficiencies.
}}

==Explanation==
This, the second [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comic]] in a row, provides some dubious "Facts" and "Figures" of the creature known as "Santa". We can see from the drawing that this is obviously meant to be either {{w|Santa Claus}} or a parody of Santa Claus. It is the third comic using [[:Category:Facts|Facts]] in the title.

This comic is reminiscent of the [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phones series]].

'''Type: Flying/Psychic'''
:A reference to {{w|Pokémon}}. The {{w|Gameplay_of_Pokémon#Pok%C3%A9mon_types|type}} of a Pokémon describes and determines its abilities (including attacks), affinities, and general nature. In most stories Santa Claus rides a sled pulled by flying reindeer (all other [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Flying_(type) Flying-type] Pokémon fly under their own power) and some kind of magical power. Psychic possibly refers to his ability to know a child's activities and behavior, including when they are {{w|Santa_Claus_Is_Comin%27_to_Town| sleeping or awake}}, implying a psychic ability to read minds. There is a Pokémon based on Santa, [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Delibird_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Delibird], although it is Ice/Flying instead of Flying/Psychic.

'''Plural: "Santa"'''
:The plural form of 'Santa' conveniently parallels that of 'reindeer' (as well as those of all species of Pokémon and the term "Pokémon" itself). In real life, "santa" means "saint" in most {{w|Romance languages}}. However "santa" is not plural in any of these languages (for example, in Portuguese the proper plural would be "santos"). Under the most common English approach for making a plural noun, Santa would have a plural of "Santas". Taking "Santa Claus" as a separate noun, the plural would be "Santa Clauses".

'''Active warrants: 5'''
:There is an active warrant for Santa's arrest in 5 jurisdictions, presumably for breaking and entering or for operating a flying sleigh without the proper licensing, while drunk, or over the speed limit.

'''Lubricated for easy passage down chimneys'''
:The diagram indicates that Santa's attire is lubricated to ease his traditional method of ingress and egress. This explanation is incomplete, however, as a great many chimneys have cross-sectional area substantially smaller than that of a normal human body, let alone a portly one, as commonly described. The common presence of chimney caps, fireplace dampers, and the like would also impede Santa's passage down a great many chimneys. That said, if we take the classic poem "{{w|A Visit from St. Nicholas}}" into account, the statement is technically true, just "lubricated" with magic rather than physical lubrication. A less classic example of Santa going down the chimney with help of magic can be seen in The Santa Clause [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBaQwGTHCL8]. "Lubricated" is also a reference to lubricated condoms - see "Ribbed" below.

'''Vertical Leap: 14 Miles'''
:For a non-magical being or object, a vertical leap of 14 miles (~23 km), ''ignoring air resistance'' would require an initial launch velocity of slightly more than 2180 feet per second (665 m/s), somewhat over twice the speed of sound. Achieving this velocity by means of bending then straightening the legs would require an acceleration of roughly 25,000 G, placing extraordinarily high demands on the strength of the legs. As Santa does not have a particularly aerodynamic shape, air resistance would increase the launch velocity and launch acceleration requirements substantially. Santa may be able to overcome these problems due to his magical nature; however, there is clearly still a limit to what this can achieve, as there is a maximum to his leaping ability.

'''Sleigh Flag of Convenience: Panama'''
:The {{w|Flag_of_convenience|Flag of Convenience}} identifies the country in which an ocean-going vessel has its registration information. Panama maintains one of the top three open registries. Owners of a vessel may choose to use an open registry to avoid labor or safety regulations of the owner's country. They may also choose such a registry to help obscure ownership of the vessel. Which concern applies in the case of Santa's sleigh is not stated, or (more likely) not known. It may also be the only type of registration available, since the north pole is not in any country, so there is no "owner's country".

:However, a ship's flag state exercises regulatory control over the vessel and is required to inspect it regularly, certify the ship's equipment and crew, and issue safety and pollution prevention documents. One suspects that this does '''not''', in fact, happen regularly with Santa's sleigh. Also, as a ''flying'' sleigh, the registry for ''ocean-going'' vessels is not applicable. Instead, it would be registered as an aircraft, with the FAA (in the U.S.), EASA (in Europe), or the equivalent in another country. Civilian aircraft have their registration number painted on their tails, but are not required to display a "flag". (However, U.S. Airways used a stylized version of a U.S. flag as a corporate logo prior to its merger with American Airlines.)

:The country being Panama may be a reference to the {{w|Panama Papers}}

'''9th in Presidential Line of Succession'''
:The {{w|United_States_presidential_line_of_succession|Presidential Line of Succession}} specifies the order in which persons may become or act as {{w|President of the United States}} if the incumbent President becomes incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office. Having Santa as the 9th in that order would place him above the {{w|United States Secretary of Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture}}. An alternative interpretation would hold that Santa '''is''' the present Secretary of Agriculture, {{w|Tom Vilsack}}.

:Assuming Tom Vilsack is not Santa Claus, Santa is likely ineligible for the Presidency, as most origin stories of Santa have him a natural-born citizen of a European country (or of Turkey) rather than the United States. Alternately, Santa might be old enough to qualify under the "citizen at the time of the adoption of this constitution" clause, although in light of the information that Santa is actually an arthropod and/or a vampire (see below), his status as an American citizen is dubious.

'''Not technically an insect — actually an arthropod'''
:This "fact" uses an absurd misconception to correct a relatively common misconception. Absurdly, Randall has mistaken Santa for a lobster, given his bright red coloration and the surname Claus (which is pronounced the same as a lobster's "claws"). This may be an homage to the film the Nightmare Before Christmas, where Jack Skellington believes Christmas Town is led by "Sandy Claws" who is "like a lobster, huge and red".

:There is a relatively common misconception that lobsters are insects. In fact, lobsters are crustaceans, but there is a kernel of truth to the misconception, as crustaceans and insects are related (both are arthropods). Thus, the "fact" states that Lobster-Santa is not technically an insect; he is actually an arthropod.

'''Only known vampire able to enter house without being invited'''
:In traditional vampire folklore, a vampire {{tvtropes|MustBeInvited|cannot enter an abode without an invitation from the owner of the same}}. Santa, however, seems to be able to enter houses even without explicit invitation (although plenty of children do welcome him, either via written notes or by their general sentiments), so if he is a vampire he is the exception to that rule. This juxtaposes interestingly with the previous point about his arthropod nature.

:His being a vampire is perhaps related to his dressing all in red, and alleged immortality.

'''Works with Alexa'''
:May have any of several meanings, including that Alexa (Amazon's virtual assistant) is Santa's colleague, that Santa uses Alexa in his work, that Santa is somehow functionally compatible with Alexa, or a reference to various Santa-themed 'skills' that Alexa can be associated with. A common advertisement states that a product is compatible with Amazon's smart device, Alexa. But it could also be a play on the idea or fear that Alexa may be used to spy on people from the privacy of their own homes, much like what is claimed of Santa ("he sees you when you're sleeping, [...]"). Finally, several skills designed to entertain users of Alexa are themed around Santa Claus, including asking Alexa where Santa is on Christmas Eve, whether or not you've been naughty or nice, or even leaving the jolly old elf a voicemail.

'''Ribbed'''
:A reference to condoms, which have ridges or ribbing in order to promote pleasurable stimulation during coitus (see "Lubricated" above). This also puns on the fact that, as a humanoid, Santa presumably has a rib cage. (This might directly contradict the claims about his being an arthropod.)

'''IUCN Red List: Critically endangered'''
:The [https://www.iucn.org/about International Union for Conservation of Nature] (IUCN) monitors the size and viability of populations of organisms; 'critically endangered' marks a population as being highly susceptible to extinction. Santa, being one (or possibly two, if we include his wife) of a kind and lacking any offspring (and, indeed, likely being incapable of effectively producing any), will most likely be the last member of his population; thus extinction will arrive with his or his wife's death. Note, however, that the presence on the Red List implies that "Santa" is a biological species, not a fantasy, robot, or other non-biological entity. This is consistent with Santa being an arthropod and/or vampire, but would suggest that there are many specimens of Santa, while other 'Facts' (such as having a definite ranking in the Presidential Line of Succession) suggest Santa to be a single individual.

'''Diet: 80% Reindeer'''
:A mocking allusion to Santa Claus's sleigh, usually pulled by reindeer. Usual folklore depict Santa Claus being extremely fond of his reindeer, thus making it a humorous contrast to suggest he'd be ''eating'' reindeer meat on a daily basis.

'''Liability Insurance: None'''
:As a result of his diet (see above), alleged criminal activity (ditto), species ambiguity, and occupation, Santa would find the cost of liability insurance quite high. He instead chooses to 'go bare' and operate without any.

The title text states that as a result of intervention Santa's diet is now 20% milk & cookies, implying that previously it was 100% Reindeer. It is a tradition to leave out milk and cookies as a "gift" for Santa. If he is indeed a vampire, it is odd that Santa could survive on a diet of reindeer, milk, and cookies, since vampires supposedly need human blood to survive. Of course, his entering without being invited already shows Santa to be a highly unusual vampire. Additionally, it is possible that he consumes ''reindeer'' blood as part of his reindeer diet (vampires living off animal blood is not unheard of in modern fantasy). Related to that may be the observation that he seems to develop "nutritional deficiencies" when going below 80% reindeer meat, as that would logically result in him consuming less blood and thus starvation due to his vampiric nature.

==Transcript==
:[An annotated picture of Santa is shown.]
:'''Santa'''
:Facts and Figures

:Type: Flying/Psychic
:Plural: "Santa"
:Active Warrants: 5
:Lubricated for easy passage down chimneys
:Vertical leap: 14 Miles
:Sleigh flag of convenience: Panama
:9th in presidential line of succession
:Not technically an insect—actually an arthropod
:Only known vampire able to enter house without being invited
:Works with Alexa
:Ribbed
:IUCN red list: Critically endangered
:Diet: 80% Reindeer
:Liability Insurance: None

==Trivia==
*If the proposed line of succession from [[2003: Presidential Succession]] is used in place of the real one, Santa's place in the line would correspond to either a person who does not live in Washington, D.C, nominated at the start of the President's term and confirmed by the Senate, if the five people have an order of succession between themselves, or the governor whose state is the most populous at the most recent census, if they take up a joint presidency.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Facts]]
[[Category:Animals]]

2745: Obituary Editor

2023-03-03T22:57:19Z

162.158.74.3: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2745
| date = March 3, 2023
| title = Obituary Editor
| image = obituary_editor_2x.png
| imagesize = 383x232px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = As the editor has reportedly defeated Death in a series of games of skill, no further obituaries are expected.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an AUTO-POST SYSTEM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
An {{w|obituary}} is a usually short paragraph in a newspaper describing a local person who has recently passed away. They usually offer a few words of praise and a list of a few relatives, as well as a scheduled time for memorial services to be held some time after the obituary is published.

Apparently, the editor of this newspaper's obituary has just died. However, instead of somebody writing their obituary after the fact, as is conventionally done, the editor has seemingly taken matters into their own hands and written their own obituary. They (somewhat vainly) describe themselves as cool, attractive, and universally beloved, a dubious claim at best. The following sentence reveals that the editor had pre-arranged the scheduled release of this obituary, after their death, probably {{w|Dead man's switch|entirely automatically}}. Obituaries are often pre-written for famous people, ahead of their actual need arising, as this (not-so-famous) person has done for themself. Though this is generally to avoid needing to rush the writing of every biography, including carefully ensuring it is accurately written and sufficiently complete, leaving only minor circumstantial updates and detailing to be inserted and checked as and when events lead up to its actual publication.

Rather than the names of some close family (usually parents, a spouse, and children), the editor is allegedly survived by 8 billion people, or the current population of the entirety of Earth, who further are all heartbroken by the loss. All public spaces will now be reserved for a memorial service of the editor every single day (or, at least, the editor hopes they will be). Given that the entire population of earth is unlikely to care about one editor at a local newspaper,{{citation needed}} they are most likely exaggerating the effect which their death will have.

The title text references a common trope in culture, in which a person who has just died decides to challenge Death, or the {{w|Grim Reaper}}, to a game of skill ({{tvtropes|ChessWithDeath|usually chess}}). Apparently, it is (possibly prematurely) claimed by the editor that they have challenged death to a series of games of skill (probably most or all variations of the trope, including chess), and defeated Death in all of them. Rather than gaining themselves a "second chance at life," however, as is usually the reward promised by Death for the dead person's victory, the editor's victory over Death has been so absolute that Death itself has been nullified for all of humanity. Hence no more obituaries will ever be required, as every human currently alive (and presumably future ones) will now live forever. Randall has referenced this trope in [[393: Ultimate Game]], as a tribute to Gary Gygax, the inventor of ''Dungeons and Dragons''.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Text on the top-left corner of a newspaper page:]

:Obituaries
:<hr width="50" style="background-color:black" align="left">
:The cool, attractive, universally beloved
:editor of the obituary section has died,
:hopefully of natural causes after a long
:life. They take with them the password to the
:heretofore unrevealed auto-post system.

:They are survived by 8 billion heartbroken
:people. Memorial services will be held
:daily in all public spaces from now on.
:<hr width="50" style="background-color:black" align="left">

{{comic discussion}}

2745: Obituary Editor

2023-03-03T22:54:50Z

162.158.74.3: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2745
| date = March 3, 2023
| title = Obituary Editor
| image = obituary_editor_2x.png
| imagesize = 383x232px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = As the editor has reportedly defeated Death in a series of games of skill, no further obituaries are expected.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an AUTO-POST SYSTEM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
An {{w|obituary}} is a usually short paragraph in a newspaper describing a local person who has recently passed away. They usually offer a few words of praise and a list of a few relatives, as well as a scheduled time for memorial services to be held some time after the obituary is published.

Apparently, the editor of this newspaper's obituary has just died. However, instead of somebody writing their obituary after the fact, as is conventionally done, the editor has seemingly taken matters into their own hands and written their own obituary. They (somewhat vainly) describe themselves as cool, attractive, and universally beloved, a dubious claim at best. The following sentence reveals that the editor had pre-arranged the scheduled release of this obituary, after their death, probably {{w|Dead man's switch|entirely automatically}}. Obituaries are often pre-written for famous people, ahead of their actual need arising, as this (not-so-famous) person has done for themself. Though this is generally to avoid needing to rush the writing of every biography, to carefully ensure is accurately writtten and sufficiently complete, leaving only minor circumstantial updates and detailing to be inserted and checked.

Rather than the names of some close family (usually parents, a spouse, and children), the editor is allegedly survived by 8 billion people, or the current population of the entirety of Earth, who further are all heartbroken by the loss. All public spaces will now be reserved for a memorial service of the editor every single day (or, at least, the editor hopes they will be). Given that the entire population of earth is unlikely to care about one editor at a local newspaper,{{citation needed}} they are most likely exaggerating the effect which their death will have.

The title text references a common trope in culture, in which a person who has just died decides to challenge Death, or the {{w|Grim Reaper}}, to a game of skill ({{tvtropes|ChessWithDeath|usually chess}}). Apparently, it is (possibly prematurely) claimed by the editor that they have challenged death to a series of games of skill (probably most or all variations of the trope, including chess), and defeated Death in all of them. Rather than gaining themselves a "second chance at life," however, as is usually the reward promised by Death for the dead person's victory, the editor's victory over Death has been so absolute that Death itself has been nullified for all of humanity. Hence no more obituaries will ever be required, as every human currently alive (and presumably future ones) will now live forever. Randall has referenced this trope in [[393: Ultimate Game]], as a tribute to Gary Gygax, the inventor of ''Dungeons and Dragons''.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Text on the top-left corner of a newspaper page:]

:Obituaries
:<hr width="50" style="background-color:black" align="left">
:The cool, attractive, universally beloved
:editor of the obituary section has died,
:hopefully of natural causes after a long
:life. They take with them the password to the
:heretofore unrevealed auto-post system.

:They are survived by 8 billion heartbroken
:people. Memorial services will be held
:daily in all public spaces from now on.
:<hr width="50" style="background-color:black" align="left">

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1688: Map Age Guide

2023-01-27T13:00:40Z

162.158.74.3:

After the fall of Constaninople it was also known as Ḳosṭanṭīnīye for a while in the Islamic World which you could argue is Constantinople?

I think we should make the second-right and far-right column wider. [[User:Blacksilver|Blacksilver]] ([[User talk:Blacksilver|talk]]) 16:12, 14 November 2017 (UTC)

-----

Well, I have no clue how to upload the image, it just displays the title text.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.91|108.162.216.91]] 12:47, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
:Done. Guess the bot failed because there is a larger one when you click the image on xkcd? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:08, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
::The BOT didn't fail. The was an 404 error, the picture wasn't available at the first time. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:03, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
I feel like the title seriously lacks the word "political", there's all sorts of nice things with dating non-modern world maps. -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.104|141.101.104.104]] 13:34, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

It doesn't just cover political maps -- there is a section on telling when you are with physical maps via the presence or absence of bodies of water. In fact, there are four or five main branches: fictional maps, topographical maps, not a map, and political maps (which have two branches, based on the naming of Istanbul (was Constantinople) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.174|108.162.237.174]] 13:42, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

I like how that this flow chart also describes what I've drawn[[Special:Contributions/162.158.26.220|162.158.26.220]] 14:05, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

The 1992-1996 range (top right corner) could be narrowed down further with the independence of Eritrea 1993. Am I getting something wrong or did Randall actually overlook this? :-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.141|162.158.85.141]] 14:49, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
:Or the splitting of Czechoslovakia, also in 1993... There are probably others for different time ranges, too. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.95.25|141.101.95.25]] 16:28, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

----
Noone else has started work on this and I'm bored so... (feel free to reorder and/or add more detail where appropriate)
Relevant Events

'''Is there a big lake in Southern California? (Created by Mistake)'''
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea Salton Sea] A previously dry lakebed accidentally flooded in 1905 while attempting to increase irrigation to the area from the Colorado River

Vietnam unification: the two Vietnams were not united in 1975. Although the communist victory took place with the capture of Saigon in April of that year, the state of South Vietnam continued to exist, under the rule of the Provisional Revolutionary Government, until 1976. The two nations were formally united as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on July 2, 1976. Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Revolutionary_Government_of_the_Republic_of_South_Vietnam [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.100|162.158.75.100]] 14:28, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
'''How far East do the American Prairies reach?'''
The Northwest Territory was incorporated in pieces ~1820s, there may be something more relavent to draw the line at Indiana though.

'''Is there a big lake in the middle of Ghana? (Created on Purpose)'''
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Volta Lake Volta]

'''The US's southern border looks'''
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_Purchase Gadsden Purchase]

'''"Buda" and "Pest" or "Budapest"''' [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest#Etymology Buda and Pest] were originally two different cities

'''Does Russia Border the Sea of Japan?''' Russia currently borders the sea of Japan so the 1867 upper limit is because of Tokyo not existing higher in the chain. The 1858 limit is to do with the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Aigun Treaty of Aigun]

'''Rhodesia?''' The dates down the chain suggest this is about [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesia_(region) Rhodesia the Region] not [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesia Rhodesia the Unrecognized state] nor [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia] the British Colony {{unsigned ip|162.158.214.218}}

:We are talking about physical/stellite maps at this point of the chart. Incorporation is not relevant. This is about the movement or size change of the American prairies. Climate change, perhaps. Haven't found anything relevant on that, though. Maybe it is about untouched land, as in not having settlements. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.183|162.158.85.183]] 16:05, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

----

Should the relevant links above be added directly to the transcript, or to a separate section? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.29.127|172.68.29.127]] 14:29, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

:The transcript is only for faithful transcription of the comic. It exists for users who would otherwise be unable to view the regular comic, and should contain nothing but the contents of the comic. Links go in the explanation, if relevant. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:56, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

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Istanbul is not the capital of Turkey! (It's Ankara) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.131|162.158.86.131]] 14:41, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
----

Maybe a better way of organizing this is chronologically, i.e., show the state of the world each year.

That being said, is every year accounted for? For example, 1857 appears to be missing. {{unsigned ip|162.158.60.41}}

----
From the left and roughly in chronological order (only partial, might add more later):

'The Holy Roman Empire?'
1806 - Dissolution of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire Holy Roman Empire] by Emperor Francis II

'Do Any of These Exist?'

1867 - British North America act passed, marking Canadian independence

- Alaskan Purchase by US from Russian Empire

- Meiji Restoration (in 1869, Emperor Meiji moves to Edo, which is renamed Tokyo)

'Texas is...'

independent - 1836? 35? 34? Texas Revolution

'Florida is part of...'

The US: 1818 - US basically controls East Florida after [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole_Wars#Jackson_invades_Florida First Seminole War] (Spain officially cedes the territory in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams%E2%80%93On%C3%ADs_Treaty Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819].

'Venezuela and or Ecuador?'

1830 - Both Venezuela and Ecuador become independent as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Colombia Republic of Gran Colombia] dissolves in late 1830, early 1831.

'Does Russia border the Sea of Japan?'
1858 - China cedes territory to Russia under the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Aigun Treaty of Aigun], bordering the Sea of Japan (sort of? There's also the Treaty of Beijing)

'South Africa?'
1910 - the Union of South Africa created, thanks to the South Africa Act 1909 enacted by British parliament

'Is Bolivia landlocked?'
1884 - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Valparaiso Treaty of Valparaiso] signed ceding Bolivian territory to to Chile, leaving Bolivia landlocked (see also [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Pacific War of the Pacific]

'Buda and Pest or Budapest?'
1873 - Buda and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pest,_Hungary Pest] merge to become Budapest

'Is Norway part of Sweden?'
1905 - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_union_between_Norway_and_Sweden Sweden-Norway dissolved], Norway becomes an independent monarchy

'Rhodesia?'
Rhodesia was named [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_rule_in_Rhodesia under the British South Africa Company in 1895]

'Austria-Hungary?'
1918 - Austria-Hungary officially separates into Austria and Hungary

'Albania?'
1912 - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Declaration_of_Independence Albania declares independence] from the Ottoman Empire

'Leningrad?'
1924 - Petrograd ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg Saint Petersburg]) changes its name to Leningrad

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]]

You know there are times where I suspect he's just making some of his comics intentionally hard to explain or very ambiguous just to watch us do somersaults trying to describe them and make it clear, not necessarily for this comic but definitely with some of them it just seems that way. I don't know if he does or not, or how much he even pays attention to this wiki, just a thought. Of course maybe he does just because we're prime nerd sniping material. [[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 16:00, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

----
I'm pretty sure 'is it larger than a breadbox' is a reference to 20 questions. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.77|108.162.216.77]] 16:11, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

:From the Wikipedia page for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadbox 'Breadbox']: "The most common reference to breadboxes is the phrase "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" when trying to guess what some surprise object may be. This question was popularized by Steve Allen on the American game show What's My Line? where he initially asked the question on 18 January 1953. It remains a popular question in the parlor game 20 Questions." [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.16|141.101.98.16]] 17:48, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

Note that it is very hard to even ''find'' Jan Mayen on an actual world map (even a political one), never mind figure out which country it belongs to. So anyone actually following these questions might (in some cases) get derailed fairly easily. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.81.77|141.101.81.77]] 18:20, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

::You will only get there if you can't find Istanbul/Constantinople, you can't find the Ottoman Empire, you can't find North Korea, and Soviet Russia can't find you. Note that the "no" box actually says "not yet". If you can find any of those four, you will never reach the Jan Mayen box. You will also never answer "yes" to the Jan Mayen box, as that would contradict the Soviet Union and North Korea not existing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 20:34, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

::I tried to explain that a response of "What?" is interpreted to be unable to find Norway, not Jan Mayen, for this reason and that the name didn't exist until 1620, but then I couldn't eliminate that the map is from 1299 or earlier, because the kingdom of Norway is not that old. As for the "Yes" response, for a short period between November 1 and December 28, 1922, neither the Soviet Union nor the Ottoman Empire existed, and Norway had already received jurisdiction over Jan Mayen then.--[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 07:16, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

::I stumbled on this when trying to apply the test to the Yakko's World map (which is normally mid-1990 - total of Yemens and Germanys is 3; of course, that's because there's 2 Yemens and 1 Germany, and the intended date was probably in 1991). As it happens, the Soviet Union is labelled "Russia", Korea is shown as unified, and Istanbul is not labelled at all but the country is Turkey, so we get to the Jan Mayen question. (I hadn't looked at thar map precisely enough to figure out if Jan Mayen is there at all, but it must be Norwegian if it does appear. However, even if we answer "yes", it would not be possible to reach the 1990 option anyway [we get 1954-57, in fact]. OTOH, if we accept that the Soviet Union is there, we correctly reach the Micronesia question, and the mid-1990 option is close enough to that to be able to guess correctly.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.30|141.101.80.30]] 13:56, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

----

Update picture, please: The "giant French blob" "yes" option points to the correct box (Pakistan) on xkcd.com but not on this page (Bangladesh), and the incorrect version leaves out approximately 1930-1960. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 20:34, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

I fleshed out the Narnian section with links to the original illustrated maps from several books (but this gets weird in a hurry because there is no consistency of illustrations across the various editions of the books). I think it deserves to be mentioned in the article (although I did not try) that Randall is being slightly disingenuous with the history of maps of Narnia. For instance, there is no published map with sufficient detail to determine if Beruna has a ford or a bridge, neither can I find a map that includes Aslan's Country. On the other hand, it is also not an accurate history of the geopolitics of Narnia; for instance, Calormen existed during the time of the first three books even if it wasn't listed on any of the authorized maps. Also, it is the first time I have helped to edit an article, so I apologize for the quirkiness (especially the reliance on non-wikipedia links). [[User:Mwdaly|Mwdaly]] ([[User talk:Mwdaly|talk]]) 02:55, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

The introduction to the Narnia section reminds me of Douglas Adams' discussion of the difficulties of tense formation in time travel [http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Time_Traveler's_Handbook_of_1001_Tense_Formations], differences between writing/publication order and reading order are very like time travel. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.217|141.101.70.217]] 16:24, 4 June 2016 (UTC)
----
Any particular reason the Crimea description was edited to be so much more condemning of Russia? I could understand if it was originally written that way, but it was changed essentially to put Russia's actions in a negative light. Is that something that needs to be done? {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.174}}

;My map doesn't fit the chart... I think?

I've got a Stanford's General Map of the World (On Mercator's Projection) from 1968. My answers:

Istanbul '''->''' The Soviet Union exists '''->''' West Africa is ''not'' a giant French blob '''->''' Only one Vietnam '''->''' Jimmy Carter is fine... I think? The only animals on my map are Poseidon and a seahorse '''->''' Sinai is mostly Egyptian...

Bangladesh exists, and below Victoria is Tanzania; so where's the second Vietnam I've failed to locate on my map? [[User:Mr FJ|Mr FJ]] ([[User talk:Mr FJ|talk]]) 20:44, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

:Your map is optimistic in suggesting there is only one Vietnam, as 1968 was in the heart of the Vietnam War. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.123|141.101.98.123]] 22:42, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

;Saint Trimble's Island

I think the real question is: how long until there actually is one on this planet, even though Randal claims to have made it up.
--[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 03:30, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

Perhaps this should refer to Sandy Island. [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/22/sandy-island-missing-google-earth] [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.217|141.101.70.217]] 16:18, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

There was a Trimble Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Island [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.136|162.158.159.136]] 11:51, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
----

Appearantly the year of an event is included in intervals after the event, but not in those prior. How do we handle it? [[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 03:46, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

;Flaws

Going on the path '''neither''' - '''no ottoman empire''' - '''no soviet union''' - '''no north korea''' - '''jan mayen is norwegian''' I will get results that all belong to a time were the soviet union existed. Am I doing it wrong?--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.175|162.158.92.175]] 08:01, 2 June 2016 (UTC)
:This path implies a time interval between November 1 and December 28, 1922, so it is unclear why it is linked to the Istanbul Division, which is 1928 or later.--[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 08:28, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

;Did it work on your map?
;Worked:
I just tried this out on an old Danish world atlas (''Lademann Verdensatlas'' with most English names also included). And although I could not determine the capital of Micronesia, I found out that it was still called Upper Volta not Burkino faso and thus the map should be from 1982-1984. First then did I check the release date for this map and true enough it was from 1982! Cool. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:41, 2 June 2016 (UTc)

it can guess modern maps
;Didn't work:
A map [http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47db-b011-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99#/] in the New York Public library, dated 1840, is given a date of 1818-1830. Notably this map has Texas as part of Mexico (though mentioned as in captials indicating a district within Mexico. It is also missing independent Paraguay, Ecuador and Venezuela. [[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 10:04, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

Apparently most Mars maps were made in 1922-1932. No Istanbul/Constantinople, no Ottoman Empire, Soviet Union exists (e.g. Mars 3 and Mars 6), no Saudi Arabia... --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.62|173.245.52.62]] 11:18, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

I have been evaluating world globes (subset of maps of course) for several years, and find this quite amusing. A note of interest: Apparently Randall knows that maps often do include copyright or other dates, while globes with very few exceptions do not include a date. There are other guides to finding the date of presentation of a globe of course, which may or may not pin the date down more precisely. [[User:Pault151|Pault151]] ([[User talk:Pault151|talk]]) 05:38, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

Hugo Giraudel made a command line version of this: https://github.com/HugoGiraudel/map-dater (full disclosure: I helped) [[User:Haroenv|Haroenv]] ([[User talk:Haroenv|talk]]) 16:24, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Starting at the Istanbul Division, the Question Date Range no longer fits the definition at the top of the table, and now includes the effects of the Prior Date Range. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.5|172.68.46.5]] 07:03, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

I tried to apply this to a map of Pangaea and ended up being taken to the "you made this yourself" part... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.106|162.158.78.106]] 09:49, 27 August 2017 (UTC)
:It's very nice.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.249|162.158.58.249]] 12:22, 25 October 2017 (UTC)

How come Istanbul can both exist and not exist on a map of the same date. They can both lead to Zare/Zaire. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:04, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

Munroe writes: "(Assuming it's complete, labeled in English, and detailed enough)" which is unfortunately not enough of an assumption. Some publishers are notorious for updating slowly. Like looking at the light that left a galaxy several years ago, you may be looking at a map that reflects reality the last time the publisher really updated it (and did not just slap a new date on it). Also, there's Constantinople. Which still shows up on maps of Greece, published in English, in Greek. In fact, the list of facts that map-makers deny or have denied for political reasons is huge. It's why this game (which I used to play when I was a kid - 2 Pakistans and the name of the Congo were major indicators) can be frustrating. And no, we did not use UAR, since different mapmakers handled it differently.
Hey, I found this one with Smyrna: https://www.greektravel.com/maps/greece.html Can someone find one with Constantinople?
Oh, oh, and I used to be a cartographer. It doesn't make me right, but I like saying it. [[User:Jd2718|Jd2718]] ([[User talk:Jd2718|talk]]) 23:41, 21 December 2020 (UTC)

The alert box at the top of every page needs to be changed, as this explanation is no longer incomplete.
: Agreed. maybe change it to 1975: Right Click? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.62|172.69.62.62]] 17:21, 7 August 2021 (UTC)Bumpf

Um... o-oh dear. We should probably start keeping an eye out for those spiders... [[User:LendriMujina|LendriMujina]] ([[User talk:LendriMujina|talk]]) 19:53, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

Can Colorado hurry up and have a nuclear meltdown? It's 2022. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 23:16, 24 February 2022 (UTC)

Regarding "A map that does not include either the HRE or the USA must be older than the HRE, which would put the map sometime prior to 1000 AD, when there really were no countries, and English wasn't used yet, hence Randall's comment". " I could be wrong, but my interperation of this was that a map that isn't in English wouldn't list the HRE or USA ''under those names'', regardless of when it was made. Like, I'm imagining someone going through the flowchart thinking "Nope, I'm seeing something called the Sacrum Imperium Romanum, but no Holy Roman Empire." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.3|162.158.74.3]] 13:00, 27 January 2023 (UTC)

2718: New Year's Eve Party

2022-12-30T23:03:00Z

162.158.74.3: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2718
| date = December 30, 2022
| title = New Year's Eve 2023
| image = new_years_eve_2023_2x.png
| imagesize = 306x274px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [Earlier, at the eye doctor] 'No, for the last time, the numerals on the paper aren't my prescription, it's the shape I want you to make with the laser.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a "2023" LASER EYE SURGEON - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|New Year's glasses}} are novelty glasses typically worn at New Year's Eve parties and are shaped like the digits of the upcoming year. They were popularized in the late 1990s and early 2000s since the middle digits (9 and 0) had holes large enough to look through or mount lenses into.

[[Ponytail]], [[White Hat]], [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are at a party. The first three are wearing such glasses in the shape of the numerals "2023", in honor of the upcoming New Year. It appears that Cueball has pursued a different approach and may have obtained laser eye surgery. Usually, this is geared towards adjusting a person's corneas towards correcting long- or short-sightedness, so that glasses are less necessary in everyday life.

Here, it has clearly ruined his vision enough that he momentarily mistakes a [[Hairy]]-like individual, who it seems has just arrived at the party and not yet divested himself of his outdoors jacket, as [[Rob]] (generally shown as a Cueball, himself). Realising he's probably in error, an immediate second guess is that the new arrival is someone called Mike, but we don't know if Cueball is any more correct in this.

In the title text, it becomes clear that this is because he has had the laser actually shape and/or burn the digits straight onto his eyeballs, obviously without any regard to his normal vision (not notably having required correction, before now).

In actuality, {{w|scleral tattooing}} can be done for 'cosmetic' reasons, with {{w|corneal tattooing}} claiming both cosmetic and vision-improvement benefits, but the efficacy and safety of the process is not universally accepted.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[Ponytail, White Hat, Megan, Cueball, and Hairy are standing around. Ponytail, White Hat, and Megan are wearing glasses in the shape of the number 2023.]
Cueball: Hey Rob! Or, Uh... Sorry, is that Mike?

Caption: I'm regretting my New Year's Eve novelty "2023" laser eye surgery.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]

2143: Disk Usage

2022-12-29T19:06:26Z

162.158.74.3: /* Explanation */ Better place for the comma (unnecessary as list-ender, useful as clause break)

{{comic
| number = 2143
| date = April 29, 2019
| title = Disk Usage
| image = disk_usage.png
| titletext = Menu -> Manage -> [Optimize space usage, Encrypt disk usage report, Convert photos to text-only, Delete temporary files, Delete permanent files, Delete all files currently in use, Optimize menu options, Download cloud, Optimize cloud , Upload unused space to cloud]
}}

==Explanation==
Many personal computers provide a way to obtain a graphical breakdown of how their storage space is being used, most commonly by representing the filesystem as a pie chart in which each slice represents the proportion of the total storage space being taken up by a particular item.

In this comic, Randall has illustrated the usage of his hard disk drive in just such a way, although as is common for him, the items in his hard drive start off seemingly normal and become increasingly strange:

;Photos
:Digital photographs are a common item to be stored on a hard disk; many people take lots of photographs with their smartphone or a camera, and will commonly transfer them to a disk drive for safekeeping, editing and/or organizing. With the high resolution of modern cameras and the ease of taking photos, it is common for photo collections to consume a significant amount of disk space.
;Good photos
:On the flipside, the ease of taking photographs means that it is very easy to take ''bad'' photographs, particularly as most people are not experienced at photography. The pie chart is rather bluntly indicating that of the many photographs Randall has taken, only a vanishingly small fraction of them are actually good.
;Documents
:On a file system, "Documents" is generally used as a catch-all term for the user's personal files.
;Everything you've streamed since 2017
:Streaming is a term that refers to accessing audio or video content on the Internet without downloading the entire media file first - it is instead played while it's being retrieved. An example of streaming is watching a YouTube video. Assuming a weekly 2h live stream (@4Mbps) between 2017-01-01 and 2019-04-29, these recordings would be 425GB in size. When these files take up 6% of all the used disk space, the full amount of used space would be roughly 7TB, which is plausible, given the [https://www.anandtech.com/show/10106/western-digital-introduces-its-consumer-helium-drives rise of 10TB hard disks in 2016].
:It might also be referring to temporary media files that were stored on the disk while it was being "streamed" for viewing or listening from the Internet and never deleted when done.
;A single five-year old PowerPoint presentation
:Almost a tenth of the entire disk space is taken up by a single file, a presentation made five years ago in {{w|Microsoft PowerPoint}}. It's unclear why Randall has kept this file or why it is so huge - possibly it is important to him for some reason, or perhaps he can't bear the thought of throwing information away, regardless of how much storage it requires.
:While it's possible that the file may genuinely be long or detailed enough to require so much space, it could also be that the file is bloated due to PowerPoint's strategy of [http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00062_Why_are_my_PowerPoint_files_so_big-_What_can_I_do_about_it-.htm converting compressed graphics to full-resolution bitmaps for historical cross-platform compatibility]. This has been known to result in PowerPoint decks that are much larger than the sum of their component files.
;"System"
:This would be files related to the computer's {{w|Operating System}}. While these files will generally show up on a disk usage analysis, it is generally recommended to leave them alone, as they may be critical to the computer's operation. A well-known trolling tactic involves tricking unsuspecting users into deleting their critical system files (eg. the "System32" folder on Windows), which renders the operating system unusable.
;Unused
:{{w|Parkinson's law}}, the computer storage corollary, says that data expands to fill the space available for storage. As such, this sliver representing the unused portion of the storage device will always be tiny.
;"Cache"
:The operating system and other programs often keep copies of data they've used or downloaded in case they need to use that data again; such data is usually stored in cache files. Often these can be deleted without too much ill effect, but some programs have different ways of deleting their own cache files.
;"Other"
:People attempting to organize their files will often end up creating a directory called "Other" or "Misc" for any files that they could not categorize. On Randall's hard disk, this "Other" directory takes up a significant amount of disk space, indicating that either his categorization system isn't working very well, or he doesn't have the discipline to properly maintain his file organization. Alternatively, this could be a category defined by the usage report, which would include anything it can't categorize - often a strangely large portion of the files.
;Why are there two full backups of my phone from 2015 deep in a settings folder?
:Full backups of an old phone may have been stored to "settings" by a version of backup or {{w|file synchronization}} software which wanted to keep the resulting backup images in a location away from user control so they would be less likely to modify any of their component files, which might, for example, tend to clobber new versions with the modified old versions. Renaming a device under such circumstances might lead to duplicate backup images.

Another possible explanation is that folder names like "Other", "Cache" and "System" refer to storing porn while trying to hide this fact by using unsuspicious folder names. Hence the quotes.

Alarmingly, the "Unused" portion of the pie chart is extremely small, which means the disk is nearly full with very little remaining capacity. Users don't usually worry about what is using space on their computer disk until they get an alert about the disk running out of space - this is likely when a user would resort to viewing this type of graph to figure out what they can delete to free up disk space.

The title text references the management UI of a hypothetical disk cleaning utility. The following options are mentioned in its menu:
;Optimize space usage
:A common nondescript phrase often found in such tools.
;Encrypt disk usage report
:Often, one might want to encrypt data on the disk, not reports about said data. This may suggest that the unusual disk usage is embarrassing enough that the user may want to encrypt the usage report, preventing other people from reading it.
;Convert photos to text-only
:Plain-text documents take less space than pictures. The most high-compression option would be to replace the photo file with a text file containing a short description of the photo, for example using an AI algorithm like [https://www.captionbot.ai/ CaptionBot]. Scanned documents can be automatically transcribed (OCR). However, applying such an algorithm to photos will result in garbage. One alternative, could be that the tool turns image files into text files by changing the extension to .txt. This would not save any space, and would only make the files more difficult to open. Another alternative would be converting the images into so called {{w|ASCII art}}, by converting regularly sampled blocks of pixels to ASCII characters that closely approximate the general shape and at times color of those pixels, potentially saving a general impression of the content of the images while significantly reducing file size.
;Delete temporary files
:Another real option. Temporary files are often not deleted automatically, so deleting them can save a significant amount of disk space.
;Delete permanent files
:A made-up term, that might refer to the user's documents, pictures, etc. You would not want to delete them.
;Delete all files currently in use
:Deleting files that are in use would most definitely result in data loss or program crashes, including perhaps even the program doing the deleting, making it effectively single-use. Windows explicitly disallows deleting open files & Linux, etc. provide locking mechanisms to prevent it, since it can cause data loss. Deleting all open files would be catastrophic, especially if it included system utilities & the kernel. If the program is capable of deleting all files in use anywhere on the planet, it would be considerably worse{{citation needed}} (& looking at these options, it's hard to say for sure the program won't try to go that far).
;Optimize menu options
:Those options could really do with some optimization. (a reference to the first entry?)
;Download cloud, Optimize cloud
:Here, the cloud probably refers to {{w|cloud storage}} (online storage). Cloud storage would be too large by many orders of magnitude to fit, let alone download onto a desktop computer, but in [[908: The Cloud]], the cloud is depicted as (ultimately) running on a single desktop-sized server in [[Black Hat]]'s house. Perhaps the "Optimize cloud" option would be used to enable such an arrangement.
;Upload unused space to cloud
:"Uploading empty space" is a) impossible and b) would result in less space being available, which is the opposite of what a disk cleaner utility is supposed to do. Note that "unused space" may contain actual data. Often, when a file is deleted, the operating system just marks the content as available. The result is that it stays there until overwritten by new data. There are many data recovery tools that takes advantage of it in order to "undelete" files.

==Transcript==
:[This comic shows a pie chart with 10 slices, each with a label and a line pointing to these ten different sized slices. There is a caption above the chart:]
:Disk Space Usage Report

:[The labels on each slice is given in anti-clockwise order starting from the 12 o'clock position. The percentages are estimated from the image and are noted in the square brackets before the transcript:]

:[18%] Photos
:[1%] Good Photos
:[3%]: Documents
:[6%]: Everything you've streamed since 2017
:[9%]: A single five-year-old PowerPoint presentation
:[21%]: "System"
:[2%]: Unused
:[9%]: "Cache"
:[23%]: "Other"
:[8%]: Why are there two full backups of my phone from 2015 deep in a settings folder?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Pie charts]]

2704: Faucet

2022-11-29T10:25:28Z

162.158.74.3: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2704
| date = November 28, 2022
| title = Faucet
| image = faucet_2x.png
| imagesize = 315x414px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's okay, they can figure out which control positions produce scalding water via a trial-and-error feedback loop with a barely-perceptible 10-second lag.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SCALDING AND CONFUSED FAUCET - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

A variety of faucet controls have been designed for the control of a shower or sink's output; however, Randall seems to find all the existing options to be inadequate in some way and posits in this comic that engineers share a desire to create a more ideal design. The comic shows one such engineer, looking distraught and rambling like a madman as he explains to an off-screen character how his new faucet design works. The off-screen character promptly tells him that he should get some sleep, a request which he ignores in search of the "perfect" water faucet.

In general, a faucet's output has two independent parameters: flow velocity and temperature; some particularly frustrating faucet controls only offer one degree of freedom which simultaneously turns up the flow rate and the temperature, and thus cannot fully explore the shower-space (making it sometimes difficult to find a comfortable setting). Some faucets can adjust both parameters but only have a single lever which must be angled along degrees of freedom which are not always labeled clearly, and this may also irk Randall. Other faucets have two independent controls for the flow of cold water and hot water, however while these are highly granular, it can be difficult to adjust the parameters independently e.g. change the temperature without changing the flow, or changing the flow without changing the temperature.

While two-handle faucets may seem simple in the abstract, they are imperfect in practice. In older houses or those with hot water systems based on tankless or instant hot water heaters, the hot water pressure is rarely the same as the cold water pressure. This can cause problems with cold water flowing back into the hot line, creating temperature drifts, unexpected changes in temperature based on slight input changes, and non-reproducibility in shower settings.

Newer systems include "Thermostatic Valves" which are designed to alleviate these problems; ideally, they contain one control for temperature and one for flow, which would seem to fit the "non-confusing" brief and solve Randall's problems. However, designing a system technically functional and making it intuitive (and making it work in practice for all water supply systems) is non-trivial, so Randall may have had trouble with even these faucets in the past.

The title text is a hyperbolic and slightly sarcastic explanation of the merits of a faucet system, presumably from the engineer who designed it. It describes that the user can identify an undesirable result, e.g. of scalding water, through a trial-and-error feedback loop. But, with a decidedly long delay in response time as the scalding (then non-scalding) mix works its way through the system, it means that they are left waiting for any adjustments made to prove themselves as useful (or not) whilst still experiencing the prior state of the water.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[A man with short, messy hair and a scuffed face stands in front of a whiteboard. He is holding a pen and sketching above his head height. On the whiteboard are various scribbles, pieces of illegible text, drawings of waves, arrows, and side views and cross sections of a faucet. In the centre of the whiteboard, drawn with soft, sketched lines is the faucet. It has a vertical wall-mounted square base with a semicircle above. Attached to the semicircle is a tightly curled helical tube that curls twice. Below it is a box shape that dispenses water through a circle. On the floor around him is an upright can, 7 pieces of crumpled or ripped paper and one flat one.]

:Man: ...So you tighten the spiral to make the water hotter, and to adjust the flow rate you just:

:Offscreen: You need to sleep.

:Man: '''''No! I can do this!'''''

{{comic discussion}}