explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1700: New Bug

2016-07-04T09:58:51Z

162.158.85.147: Added Firefox codemoji infos

I'm new. For the explanation: A bug, as in a computer (programming) bug, can be reported and tracked, and many systems allow collaboration on the reporting and tracking of problems, or bugs, in code, and their solutions. Cueball reported a problem (bug) he found in the code, which presumably caused the server (program)—which he wrote as part of his project—to try to read the passwords as URLs before storing them. This exposes serious cross-site scripting attacks and other serious security vulnerabilities, and since handling password and user account information usually requires a lot of programming, this would be difficult to fix, which is why the character off-panel suggests burning the project down, as that would be much easier, and would solve any security problems, much more quickly than fixing the bug would. The comment text refers to Cueball's horrid solution to a horrid problem: Instead of solving the problem that is causing the server to read passwords as URLs, he can instead leverage a known problem in the programme which reads URLs which prevents it from reading a particular way of representing text in binary form, by adding a few characters to the user's password that the URL-reading program can't read. This would also "salt" the user's password, which is a security technique that makes passwords harder to figure out when they are stored properly. Cueball thinks this would solve the original problem, and two other problems at the same time, the second problem being the fact that user's passwords aren't salted (a security problem). The third solved problem is difficult to deduce. &emsp;[[User:Zyzygy|Zyzygy]] 05:40, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

: The third bug is the unicode handling, which would need to be solved in order to salt passwords with emoji since these are unicode only character. Although I'm not sure if salting with emoji really increases security since as a rule i'd say nobody uses emoji in their passwords. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.123|162.158.85.123]] 06:34, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

::Password: 👍🐎🔋Π [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.131|141.101.98.131]] 10:11, 29 June 2016 (UTC)
:::That is a really funny password, [[936: Password Strength|but is it strong ennough?]] :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:22, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

:Actually, nobody using emoji in their password would be reason salting with emoji is MORE effective. Salting doesn't really increase security of single password, but it does increase security of whole password database, because you can hash some string - like, [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/01/26/most-common-passwords-revealed---and-theyre-ridiculously-easy-to/ 123456] and check whole database for users having that as password. If every password is salted with different emoji, this strategy will not work, because while you KNOW which emoji is used - the salt is stored unhashed with the password hash - it's always different so you need to compute new hash for every line in password database. Hashing takes MUCH more time than just comparing strings. And how it's even more effective? Because someone might actually get multiple databases and search for entries with same salt, hoping there will be enough of them to be worth it. And salt with emoji likely wouldn't be so common ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:54, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

From 108.162.221.22 (long rant)
:Two comments: first, the explanation on password salting is incorrect. The current version says "Salting passwords increases security by adding random data to the passwords which primarily helps defend against dictionary attacks.". Password salting only protects against particular kinds of (common) attacks in specific situations. Most importantly, it is designed to protect passwords only in the event ofa database breach, when a malicious user has gained direct access to the database itself. Password salting provides no protection when brute force attacks (aka dictionary attacks) are directed at the application itself, as the application automatically takes hashes into account. Instead, proper password salting randomizes the hash for each password, ensuring that if two users have the same password, they will not have the same hash. This makes it much more difficult to guess passwords through attack vectors like lookup tables, reverse lookup tables, and rainbow tables. However, because the salt has to be stored with the password (otherwise the application would not be able to make sense of the hash itself), password salting does not secure passwords against dictionary attacks even in the event that a malicious user has managed to acquire the database itself. I will update the explanation with a brief description of what password salts do.
:Finally, I think there is a big misunderstanding throughout this explanation. In a web services context the "server" (referenced in the comic) is a very different thing than the application that a programmer builds. A server can refer to either the computer itself or the software that is responsible for responding to web requests and executing the actual application. In a professional context, the application (which is what cueball would be building) would never be referred to as the "server". It is possible that this is a mis-use of terminology on the part of cueball or Randall, but I suspect that the term was used properly and intentionally. The reason is because if cueball's application is crashing the *server*, it takes the level of incompetence up to completely new (and unusual) levels, in much the same way that he has done in the past. Normally the programming language used to build the application, the software hosting the application, and the operating system itself have a number of safe guards in place to ensure that if an application misbehaves, the only thing that crashes is the application itself. For cueball's application to break through all those safeguards and crash the server itself (either the operating system or the web server software) would require cueball to have developed a program that operates *well* outside the bounds of normal procedures. Just for reference, as someone who has been building web software for over 15 years, I wouldn't even know where to start to crash the server from within an application. It would probably have to involve either exploiting a previously unknown bug in the programming language or some *very* poorly designed system calls. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.22 15:11, 29 June 2016‎ 108.162.221.22]] (Rememeber to sign your comments)

::If you by 'server' means Apache it is not completely unexpected that a sloppy coded extension to Perl or PHP could crash part of the server – and I still maintain mod_perl code that does 'fancy' stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if Cueball still wrote web-application as he did when mod_perl was the hot stuff. Today it is a common setup to have a chain of servers. In the front nginx for SSL termination, maybe an application level firewall filtering out spooky requests, then Varnish for caching and load-balancing and finally the application server running the actual web-application – all layers implementing the HTTP protocol. Which of these are 'the server'? At least it is often easy for the application developer to make the last server in the chain unresponsive (i.e. crashed). [[User:Pmakholm|Pmakholm]] ([[User talk:Pmakholm|talk]]) 12:08, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

:::Writing an extension to your language of choice would probably be a good way of crashing the server, although I would say that writing extensions to the language itself is not a common thing for most people to do. I suppose I'm arguing from experience (which is not always accurate) but in years of PHP and python programming I've never once had to write a language extension, nor did I ever need to for my very complicated thesis work. So I would say that the general point still stands: if Cueball is crashing any part of the server, he is doing things very wrong or at least very different.[[User:Cmancone|Cmancone]] ([[User talk:Cmancone|talk]]) 12:58, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Regarding those last two points: sorry for my long unsigned rant. Didn't realize I wasn't logged in. Still haven't figured out how to sign comments. Gonna try it this time. [[User:Cmancone|Cmancone]] ([[User talk:Cmancone|talk]]) 16:51, 29 June 2016 (UTC)
:You made it ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:22, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

Explanation says "There is no reason for password handling code to access urls" but that is somewhat wrong -- Password handling code frequently perform heuristics on the password to assess the strength, for example checking if part of the password is a dictionary word -- similar heuristics could be done to check thatthe password is not a URL, such as "xkcd.com" applying DNS and other internet resources as an extention of the concept of "dictionary". [[User:Spongebog|Spongebob]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 16:11, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

:I think http://xkcd.com/correct/horse/battery/staple/ would be a perfectly fine password, even though it is also an URL – but a heuristic that just looks at the length of the password and if it only contains alphanumeric characters would probably be fooled. Trying to detect the scheme used to generate the password could be helpful in choosing a relevant heuristic for deciding the password strength. Ont the other hand, I would consider it very bad to actually test whether the URL is resolvable in any way that leaks information about the password to the outside. [[User:Pmakholm|Pmakholm]] ([[User talk:Pmakholm|talk]]) 11:11, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Currently the explanation says: "Finally, emoji will often include unicode characters, which means that, if one can effectively salt passwords with emoji, then the passwords should be able to be stored in unicode (although that *probably* doesn't require anything outside the Base Multilingual Plane, so that might not need full unicode support after-all)." I'm fairly convinced that this doesn't make sense and is incorrect. Regardless of what character encoding the password is in, hashing will convert the entire thing into binary. This binary is then typically stored as a base64-encoded string in the database. Ergo, it doesn't matter whether the original password strings were in unicode or not: they will be stored in the database as ascii (or binary), not unicode. I'm going to go ahead and remove this comment from the explanation. I'm pretty certain that there isn't enough information in the comic to figure out why salting passwords with emoji would fix a unicode-handling bug in the URL request library. So I suspect that there is no explanation there: either Cueball is entirely confused and his statement makes no sense, or there is simply not enough information given to help us understand why this solution might fix the problem. However, I'm not going to make any updates to the explanation about this yet, because perhaps I'm missing something someone else will notice. [[User:Cmancone|Cmancone]] 12:50, 29 June 2016 (ETC)
:I suspect that the salting with emoji is to ensure that the password does not resolve as a URL (since the library cannot understand the encoding), and thus the issue of the crash is resolved, the issue of unsalted passwords is solved, and the issue of the unicode handling bug is "solved" by virtue of it now being a feature relied on by the system. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.68|173.245.56.68]] 20:50, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

I removed from the explanation the discussion about how Cueball's system might be checking passwords to see if they are resolvable URLs as a check against weak passwords. The problem with this explanation is that if that is where the crash was happening, then salting the password with emoji would not fix the crash. For salting to fix the crash (as Cueball suggests it will) requires that the crash be happening during the hashing process, not during password validation. The reason is because password validation is performed on the original password itself, while only hashing happens on the salted password. So for salting to fix the crash it must be happening during hashing, not validation. If the bug is happening while checking passwords for strength then Cueball's suggestion of fixing it by adding in a salt will not actually fix the crash at all. It could be that Cueball is simply completely wrong about everything, but I think it makes more sense to go with an explanation where the title text didn't just get everything wrong.[[User:Cmancone|Cmancone]] ([[User talk:Cmancone|talk]]) 13:12, 30 June 2016 (UTC)

In the nomenclature I am familiar with mailto:somebody@example.com is a URL. If you accept that mailto (and other protocols) are also URLs some of the description is untrue. Fortunately the untrue bits are also unnecessary and can be deleted or generalized.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.11|108.162.219.11]] 04:51, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Definitely a sequel to 1084[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.92|108.162.221.92]] 08:27, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

The explanation of 'Resolveable URL' is very confusing and mostly wrong, it is mixing up technologies like HTTP and DNS and is confusing FQDN's with URLs. Though admittedly, the term 'resolveable URL' is a bit of a misnomer by itself. URLs are typically not resolved, they contain an FQDN that is resolved via DNS to an IP(v6) address and optionally port. The remainder of the URL can be used to identify a resource on that server, but how this is done and signaled is quite application/protocol dependent (and shouldn't be called 'resolving'). So if you hit a 404 the FQDN actually resolved but the HTTP resource could not be found. A non-resolveable URL would give a browser error like 'unknown host'. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.83.198|162.158.83.198]] 09:59, 1 July 2016 (UTC)
:Feel free to adjust the text as desired. I think in this case it is best to understand "Resolvable URL" as Cueball meant it, which (I think) is as any valid URL you might stick in your web browser. I don't think he meant any of the more technical possible definitions. In that sense a resolvable URL would be something that points to a server, potentially followed by a resource on the server. At least, that is how I would think to describe it. Feel free to give it a go. {{unsigned|Cmancone}}

Around the time this comic was published, Firefox linked on its start-page to https://advocacy.mozilla.org/en-US/encrypt/codemoji/2, where a webapp Codeempji is available. With this webapp one can use emojis to scramble messages with a Caesar-cipher like method. This might be the reason for the emoji reference in the title text.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.147|162.158.85.147]] 09:58, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

1688: Map Age Guide

2016-06-02T06:00:53Z

162.158.85.147: /* Explanation */ Added explanation for Budapest.

{{comic
| number = 1688
| date = June 1, 2016
| title = Map Age Guide
| image = map_age_guide.png
| titletext = Does the screeching chill your blood and herald death? If yes, banshee. If no, seagull.
}}

*A [http://xkcd.com/1688/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Many is still missing.}}
Flowchart depicting various ways to tell what era a map is from based on present country borders and land forms. (Except in the Not a Political Map Branch (from "Can you see the familiar continents?" downwards), the comic assumes a political map.) Most of the options are very serious, with a few bizarre options (mistaking a seagull and breadbox for a map) or references to things like the {{w|Discworld}} books and Middle-earth, the setting of the Lord Of the Rings series. He also mentions US President Jimmy Carter being attacked by a giant swimming rabbit, an event previously referenced by [[204]].

Additionally, (possible) future maps including a "Radioactive Exclusion Zone" in the place of Colorado are mentioned. It predicts that some kind of nuclear incident will occur in Colorado (possibly at Rulison or Rio Blanco nuclear testing sites) in 2022. It also predicts that the area will be infested by radioactive spiders one year later.

The title text continues the path where the user has confused a seagull for a map by inquiring if the (presumed) seagull might be a banshee based on the effect of its screams.

There is no recursive loop.

(First Draft, please expand.)

Going through the flowchart, taking the leftmost path first, recursively. See {{w|Depth-first search}}. "Prior Date Range" is the range determined immediately before the question, carried over from the previous question; "Question Date Range" is the range each answer choice implies; "New Date Range" is the intersection of the Prior Date Range and the Question Date Range for each choice, and is the range determined by all questions hiherto answered.

{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
! # !! Question !! Explanation !! Prior Date Range !! Question Date Range !! New Date Range
|-
! 1
| '''Istanbul or Constantinople'''
| The largest city in Turkey is famous for having different names at different times or to different people. Variations on both names go back at least 1,000 years. Other names have also been used at various points. {{w|İstanbul}} has been the official name since the 1920's, although Western maps often referred to it as Constantinople as late as the 1960's; on the flowchart, the choice of name appears to go with the 1920's date. The name changes are the subject of a [http://mentalfloss.com/article/60314/original-istanbul-not-constantinople song], originally by the Four Lads, but now mainly known for the They Might Be Giants recording.
| '''Start here'''
|
* Constantinople: -329 - 1928
* Neither: inconclusive
* Istanbul: 1928+
|
* Constantinople: -329 - 1928 (Go to 2)
* Neither: inconclusive
* Istanbul: 1928+
|-
| colspan="6" | '''Note:''' the chart splits here into three divisions, each from a choice in question 1. The Neither Division will attempt to use other indicators to sort maps into one of the other two divisions or branches thereof, or, after 5 failures to find a country, conclude that the "map" in question is not a political map and proceed to find out what it is (the Not a Political Map Branch). The Constantinople and Istanbul Divisions are linear except where the Neither Division joins them as stated above.
|-
! colspan="6" | Constantinople Division
|-
! 2
| '''Do any of these exist?'''
* '''Independent Canada'''
* '''US Territory of Alaska'''
* '''Tokyo'''
| All these seem to specify a date cut-off of 1867/8, but there are caveats attached to each:
* Canada gained its independence gradually, but it would appear as its own country on maps some time between the {{w|Constitution Act, 1867}} (which created Canada as a British dominion) and the {{w|Statute of Westminster 1931}} (which made Canada largely self-governing).
* The {{w|Territory of Alaska}} existed between 1912 (previously, it was a US district) and 1959 (when it became a state). The US has owned Alaska since the 1867 {{w|Alaska Purchase}}, but it was not a territory then.
* {{w|Tokyo}} was once called Edo. It was renamed Tokyo (which means "Eastern Capital") when it became the capital in 1868. [https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Tokyo%2CTokei&year_start=1870&year_end=1880&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CTokyo%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CTokei%3B%2Cc0 Most English books around then] would actually have called it "Tokei", the Chinese reading. The name Tokyo didn't take off until {{w|Hepburn romanization}} was popularized in the 1880s.
| -329 - 1928 (From 1)
|
* No: 1867-
* Yes: 1868+
|
* No: -329 - 1867 (Go to 3)
* Yes: 1868 - 1928 (Go to 11)
|-
! colspan="6" | Holy Roman Empire Branch
|-
! 3
| '''The Holy Roman Empire'''
| The predecessor to modern Germany, the {{w|Holy Roman Empire}} was a union of hundreds of small states in Central Europe. Nationalism and the concept of the {{w|nation state}} hadn't taken off yet, so countries as we know them didn't really exist. There were just small lands, often with keenly contested borders, owned by minor aristocracy who pledged allegiance to one of the big powers. The HRE was dissolved in 1806 after it was invaded by Napoleon, arguably the first leader to realise the potential of making a nation salute a flag.
| -329 - 1867
|
* Yes: 899 - 1806
* No: 899- or 1806+
|
* Yes: 899 - 1806 (Stated in comic as 1805-, since modern map-making was fuzzy as a concept prior) ('''Stop''')
* No: -329 - 899 or 1806-67 (Go to 4)
|-
! 4
| '''The United States?'''
| The original 13 colonies declared independence in 1776. A map that does not include ''either'' the HRE ''or'' the USA must be older than the HRE which would put the map some time prior to 1000 AD, when there really were no countries, and English wasn't used yet, hence Randall's comment.
| -329 - 899 or 1806-67
|
* No: 1776-
* Yes: 1776+
|
* No: -329 - 899 (Not stated in comic, since a map in this period is probably not in English, which violates a proviso of the comic) ('''Stop''')
* Yes: 1806-67 (Go to 5)
|-
! 5
| '''Texas is... Part of Mexico? Independent? Part of the US?'''
| Mexico occupied the area modern day Texas from around 1718 ([[w:Spanish Texas|when the first permanent Spanish settlements were founded]]) to the {{w|Texas Declaration of Independence}} in 1836 (the comic appearantly cited 1834 as the date) - the land called "Texas" was only a small part of the modern day state. The {{w|Republic of Texas}} only lasted a decade, and joined the US in 1846.
| 1806-67
|
* Part of Mexico: 1718 - 1836
* Independent: 1836-46
* Part of the US: 1846+
|
* Part of Mexico: 1806-36 (Go to 6)
* Independent: 1836-46 (stated in comic as 1834-45 - a discrepancy) ('''Stop''')
* Part of the US: 1846-67 (Go to 9)
|-
! 6
| '''Florida is part of... Spain? The US?'''
| Spain occupied {{w|Florida}} (as East Florida and West Florida) but frankly they didn't actually want it - it was expensive to send people to settle it, and there wasn't much economic value in it. So they gave it to the US for free in the 1819 {{w|Adams–Onís Treaty}} (which took effect in 1821) in exchange for the US giving up parts of Mexico and paying off angry Spanish settlers. (For some reason, the comic treats Florida as part of the US in 1818; see questions 7 and 8.)
| 1806-36
|
* Spain: 1565 - 1763 or 1783 - 1821
* The US: 1821+
|
* Spain: 1806-21 (Go to 7)
* The US: 1821-36 (Go to 8)
|-
! 7
| '''{{w|Paraguay}}?'''
| Declared independence from Spain in 1811 (although it might appear on older maps as the Spanish Province of Paraguay).
| 1806-21
|
* No: 1811-
* Yes: 1811+
|
* No: 1806-11 (stated in comic as 1806-10) ('''Stop''')
* Yes: 1811-21 (stated in comic as 1811-17 - a discrepancy (see question 6)) ('''Stop''')
|-
! 8
| '''{{w|Venezuela}} and/or {{w|Ecuador?}}'''
| Both declared independence from {{w|Gran Colombia}} (Greater Colombia) in 1830.
| 1821-36
|
* No: 1830-
* Yes: 1830+
|
* No: 1821-30 (stated in comic as 1818-29 - a discrepancy (see question 6)) ('''Stop''')
* Yes: 1830-36 (stated in comic as 1830-33 - a discrepancy (see question 5)) ('''Stop''')
|-
! 9
| '''Does Russia border the Sea of Japan?'''
| The 1858 {{w|Treaty of Aigun}} brought the Russian border to the Sea of Japan.
| 1846-67
|
* No: 1858-
* Yes: 1858+
|
* No: 1846-58 (Go to 10)
* Yes: 1858-67 ('''Stop''')
|-
! 10
| '''The US's southern border looks... Weird Normal'''
| The last southward expansion of the US is the 1854 {{w|Gadsden Purchase}}, where the US bought a chunk of what is now Arizona and New Mexico so they could build a railway that avoided unfavourable terrain. The southern border looks "weird" before that because we are accustomed to the current border shape.
| 1846-58
|
* Weird: 1854-
* Normal: 1854+
|
* Weird: 1846-54 (stated in comic as 1846-53) ('''Stop''')
* Normal: 1854-58 (stated in comic as 1854-56 - a discrepancy (where is 1857?)) ('''Stop''')
|-
! colspan="6" | South Africa Branch
|-
! 11
| '''{{w|South Africa}}?'''
| The Union of South Africa was created in 1910, although South Africa was then not yet fully independent from the United Kingdom (which would not happen until 1931).
| 1868 - 1928
|
* No: 1910-
* Yes: 1910+
|
* No: 1868 - 1910 (Go to 12)
* Yes: 1910-28 (Go to 16)
|-
! 12
| '''Rhodesia?'''
| The region Rhodesia (or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia]) was known as South Zambezia until 1895. In the present day it's known as Zimbabwe.
| 1868 - 1910
|
* No: 1895-
* Yes: 1895+
|
* No: 1868-95 (Go to 13)
* Yes: 1895 - 1910 (Go to 15)
|-
! 13
| '''Is Bolivia landlocked?'''
|
|
|
* No: 1884-
* Yes: 1884+
|
* No: (Go to 14)
* Yes: ('''Stop''')
|-
! 14
| '''"Buda" and "Pest" or "Budapest"?'''
| Budapest has become the official name of the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary when it was part of Austria-Hungary. Before 1873, it would appear in official records as "Pest-Buda" — a name that was abandoned because, when printed on maps, the word "Pest" would appear on the "Buda" side, west of the {{w|Danube}} river, and vica versa.<ref>[{{w|[hu:Budapest_nevének_eredete]}}</ref>
|
|
* Buda and Pest: 1873-
* Budapest: 1873+
|
* Buda and Pest: 1868-1872 ('''Stop''')
* Budapest: 1873-83 ('''Stop''')
|-
! 15
| '''Is Norway part of Sweden?'''
|
|
|
* Yes:
* No:
|
* Yes: ('''Stop''')
* No: ('''Stop''')
|-
! 16
| '''Austria-Hungary?'''
|
| 1910-28
|
* Yes: 1918-
* No: 1919+
|
* Yes: 1910 - 1918 (Go to 17)
* No: (Go to 18)
|-
! 17
| '''Albania?'''
| Albania declared independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912.
| 1910 - 1918
|
* No: 1912-
* Yes: 1912+
|
* No: 1910 - 1912 ('''Stop''')
* Yes: 1913 - 1918 ('''Stop''')
|-
! 18
| '''Leningrad?'''
| Before 1924, Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) was named Petrograd.
| 1919 - 1929
|
* No: 1924-
* Yes: 1924+
|
* No: 1919 - 1923 ('''Stop''')
* Yes: 1924 - 1929 ('''Stop''')
|}

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

'''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

'''Does the Soviet Union exist?'''
The Soviet Union is one of the largest countries ever to exist consisting of Russia and large portions of eastern Europe and central Asia. It was a major political force from 1922, when several allied Soviet republics united, to 1991, when it broke up. It's very simple to find on any map that has it.

This question actually appears twice on the graph — once if you choose "Istanbul", once if you choose "neither". If you choose Istanbul, it's given that the period in which the Soviet Union does not exist is the period ''after'' the Soviet Union rather than the period before.

'''Saudi Arabia?'''
This entry can only be accessed in the Neither branch. Saudi Arabia was established in 1932, so any maps without it would have been from before then.

'''North Korea?'''
If the Soviet Union does not exist, it was in one of two periods: the period before North Korea existed (which would have been pre-1922), and the period in which North Korea does exist (which would be post-1991). If North Korea does exist, then the period is the same period in which the capital of Turkey was called Istanbul, so they both lead to the same question about Zaire.

=== West Africa branch (1930-1991) ===

'''Is most of West Africa a giant French blob?'''
Before 1960, most of West Africa consisted of a number of French colonies united under [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_West_Africa French West Africa].

'''Pakistan?'''
Pakistan was officially recognized as its own country separate from India in 1947.

'''How many Germanys are there?'''
During WWII, the Nazi Party invaded a large swath of Europe, which would make Nazi Germany huge on the map during that period. After the war, it split up into two countries — West Germany which was part of NATO, and East Germany which was part of the Warsaw Pact.

'''Persia or Iran?'''
Persia was renamed Iran in 1935.

'''Cambodia?'''
Cambodia (or Kampuchea) declared independence from France in 1953.

'''Eritrea is a part of...'''
Eritrea declared independence from Italy in 1952, joining Ethiopia to create the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Ethiopia_and_Eritrea Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea].

'''Canada is...'''
In 1949, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_of_Newfoundland Dominion of Newfoundland] became a part of Canada. Before that, it was marked as its own region on the map, so maps from 1948 and before would have Canada "missing a piece" on its east coast as compared to how it looks today.

'''How many Vietnams are there?'''
On April 30, 1975, forces from North Vietnam captured Saigon, and reunified the country, in an event known as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reunification_Day Reunification Day], which marked the end of the Vietnam War. Maps before this date would have "North Vietnam" and "South Vietnam" on them rather than a single "Vietnam".

'''Bangladesh?'''
Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan in 1972.

'''Is the area south of Lake Victoria...'''
The area called Tanganyika declared independence from Britain to form its own country in 1961, and unified with Zanzibar to create Tanzania in 1964.

'''The town on I-25 between Albuquerque and El Paso is [Hot Springs 1948-49] or [Truth or Consequences 1950-52]'''
I-25 didn't exist for any of the years listed for this item, since the Interstate Highway System wasn't launched until 1956. The highway designation on maps printed during the years listed was U.S. 85. The town continues to be called "Truth or Consequences", although locals say that it provides more of the latter than of the former.

This question is also for the wrong time period, as the search tree leading to a British Tanganyika is only the period from 1960-1961.

'''Jimmy Carter is...'''
On April 20, 1979, Jimmy Carter was attacked by a giant swimming rabbit, a fact referenced in [[204|204: America]]. This fact would not normally be referenced on a map, however, and is simply a joke entry that leads to the next question.

'''The Sinai is part of what country?'''
In 1979, Israel signed a piece Treaty in which it would gradually retreat from the entire Sinai Peninsula, handing that area to Egypt. This happened over a period of three years, completing in 1982.

'''What's the capital of Micronesia?'''
The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federated_States_of_Micronesia Federated States of Micronesia] are a group of small islands in the Pacific Ocean. Their capital was Kolonia until 1989, when it changed to Palikir, on the same island.

'''Republic of the Upper Volta or Burkina Faso?'''
Burkina Faso was named the Republic of the Upper Volta until 1984, when the president Thomas Sankara decided to rename it.

'''(Number of Yemens) + (Number of Germanys) = ?'''
In 1990, two unification events took place: the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_unification Yemeni unification] on May 22, and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_reunification German reunification] on October 3. Before these events, in early 1990, there would have been four Yemens and Germanys total. In mid-1990, when only the Yemeni unification had taken place, there would be one Yemen and two Germanys, for a total of three. and in late 1990, after both events took place, there would be one of each for a total of two.

=== Post-Soviet branch (1991-) ===

'''Zaire?'''
Zaire was one of a series of names for what is today called the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1996 a (successful) revolt began to oust the reigning government from power. As part of this revolution, the country was renamed. The original name change away from 'Congo' was part of an 'Africanisation' naming campaign, although 'Congo' is in origin an authentic African name for the river that set the boundaries of the nation.

'''Serbia and Montenegro are...'''
Serbia and Montenegro were a remnant of Yugoslavia. Montenegro voted to become its own country in 2006.

'''East Timor?'''
East Timor is a nation north of Australia and south east of Indonesia. During the dutch colonization of Indonesia east Timor remained in Portuguese hands. While occupied and annexed by Indonesia since 1976, east Timor retained its own culture and voted for independence, then had a nasty militia action that required UN peacekeeping action, and finally become independent in 2002.

'''How many Sudans are there?'''
In 2011, after a long history of violence between the two portions of the country (which can be characterized as Islamic vs. Christian and Traditional Religions), South Sudan became independent from its northern neighbor.

'''Is Crimea disputed?'''
In 2014, a revolution ousted the current Ukrainian president. Crimea had its own civil unrest, and Russian troops exploited the unrest to launch an invasion. A referendum, where many nations, including all member states of the EU, the USA, and Canada, disputed the democratic legitimacy of the referendum, was held during this and ostensibly decided in favor of russian annexation.

====Radioactive Colorado Subbranch====

'''"Colorado" or "Danger—Radioactive Exclusion Zone—Avoid"?'''
This entry and the one below it are now referring to hypothetical future events: specifically, a huge radioactivity event in Colorado that takes place some time in 2022.

'''Does the warning mention the spiders?'''
Presumably some time in 2023, the radioactive exclusion zone also becomes infested with mutant spiders.

=== Not a Political Map Branch ===

'''Can you see the familiar continents?'''
This question asks if the usual continents are present on the map, after the reader has indicated that Jan Mayen is not on the map. This means that either the map is not a political map (in which case it is a satellite image), or it is not a map of Earth at all, in which case the question starts asking about characteristics of fictional maps instead.

==== Topological Map / Satellite Image Subbranch ====

'''This sounds like a physical map or satellite photo.'''
The following questions are about physical geography. Many of these features are not generally tracked accurately in maps - many maps still show the Aral Sea, even though it's now mostly evaporated - but are clearly visible in photos.

'''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

'''How far East do the American Prairies reach?'''
The Northwest Territory was incorporated in pieces ~1820s, there may be something more relevant to draw the line at Indiana though. Likely this [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_removals_in_Indiana]

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

====Fitional Map / Non-Map Subbranch====

'''Rivers 'Sirion' or 'Anduin'?'''
The rivers Sirion and Anduin are part of Middle Earth, the fictional setting of J.R.R. Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' books. If either of these rivers are present on the map, then the map is of Middle Earth, in which case the questions following are questions to determine which age the map is of. If these rivers are not present, then the questions continue trying to determine which fictional world the map represents.

'''Cair Paravel?'''
[[http://narnia.wikia.com/wiki/Cair_Paravel Cair Paravel]] is the capital of the Kingdom of Narnia. It is a common point for all the books in the Chronicles of Narnia except for The Magician's Nephew (which covers the period of history before the castle was built). It is sufficiently important that it would presumably be included in any map accompanying a Narnia book, even if none of the action in the story occurs there.

=====Narnia Subbranch=====

'''Calormen?'''
[[http://narnia.wikia.com/wiki/Calormen Calormen]] is an foreign empire in the Chronicles of Narnia. While it was indirectly referenced in the first three books C.S. Lewis published, it was not included in maps until the later books in the series.

'''Weird Recursive Heaven?'''
This refers to the last book in the Narnia series, The Last Battle, where the protagonists find themselves in [[http://narnia.wikia.com/wiki/Aslan's_Country Aslan's Country]], a glorious afterlife of which Narnia (along with Earth and presumably every other world) is only a shadowy reflection.

'''Lotta Islands?'''
This refers to [[http://www.charliewstarr.com/_Media/mapdawntreader.gif this map]] from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which focused on a ship voyage from Cair Paravel to the eastern edge of the world and back.

'''Beruna (Ford/Bridge)'''
This refers to [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-54_2TDRUbHY/TpJHzFBzmiI/AAAAAAAALOA/q3RnPSvfdJ0/s1600/IMG.jpg the map]] of Narnia originally published in Prince Caspian. During the time of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the people of Beruna crossed the Great River via a ford, but it had been replaced by a bridge at the beginning of Prince Caspian.

'''Narnia Subbranch ends'''

'''Mossflower'''
A forest from the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwall Redwall] book series.

======Not a Map Branch======
'''Is it larger than a 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. However, instead of asking further questions to narrow down the choices, the comic just gives a guess for each response. It is worth noticing that the comic guesses a breadbox itself as something about the same size as a breadbox.

==Transcript==

Guide to figuring out the age of an undated world map

(Assuming it's complete, labeled in english, and detailed enough)

Start:
* Istanbul or Constantinople?
** Constantinople:
*** Do any of these exist? Independent Canada; US Territory of Alaska; Tokyo.
**** No:
***** The Holy Roman Empire?
****** Yes:
******* 1805 or earlier (before this point, the modern idea of a complete political map of the world gets hard to apply.)
****** No:
******* The United States?
******** No:
********* How sure are you that this map is in english?
******** Yes:
********* Texas is...
********** Part of Mexico:
*********** Florida is part of...
************ Spain:
************* Paraguay?
************** No: '''1806-10'''
************** Yes: '''1811-17'''
************ The US:
************* Venezuela and/or ecuador?
************** No: '''1818-29'''
************** Yes: '''1830-33'''
********** Independent: '''1834-45'''
********** Part of the US:
*********** Does Russia border the Sea of Japan?
************ No:
************* The US's southern border looks...
************** Weird: '''1846-53'''
************** Normal: '''1854-56'''
************ Yes: '''1858-67'''
**** Yes:
***** South Africa?
****** No:
******* Rhodesia?
******** No:
********* Is Bolivia landlocked?
********** No:
*********** "Buda" and "Pest" or "Budapest"?
************ Buda and Pest: '''1868-72'''
************ Budapest: '''1873-83'''
********** Yes: '''1884-95'''
******** Yes:
********* Is Norway part of Sweden?
********** Yes: '''1896-1905'''
********** No: '''1906-09'''
****** Yes:
******* Austria-Hungary?
******** Yes:
********* Albania?
********** No: '''1910-12'''
********** Yes: '''1913-18'''
******** No:
********* Leningrad?
********** No: '''1919-23'''
********** Yes: '''1924-29'''
** Neither:
*** Does the Ottoman Empire exist?
**** Yes: '''[[#canada-alaska-tokyo]]'''
**** No:
***** The Soviet Union?
****** Yes:
******* Saudi Arabia?
******** Yes:
********* Is most of West Africa a giant french blob?
********** Yes:
*********** Bangladesh?
************ No:
************* Is the area south of Lake Victoria...
************** British:
*************** The town on I-25 between Albuquerque and El Paso is...
**************** Hot Springs: '''1948-49'''
**************** Truth or Consequences: '''1950-52'''
************** Tanganyika: '''1961-64'''
************** Tanzania: '''1965-71'''
************ Yes: '''1972-75'''
********** No:
*********** How many Vietnams are there?
************ Two:
************* [[#bangladesh]]
************ One:
************* Jimmy Carter is...
************** Being attacked by a giant swimming rabbit: '''April 20, 1979'''
************** Fine:
*************** The Sinai is part of what country?
**************** Israel: '''1976-79'''
**************** Mostly Israel: '''1980'''
**************** Mostly Egypt: '''1981'''
**************** Egypt:
***************** What's the capital of Micronesia?
****************** Kolonia:
******************* Republic of the Upper Volta or Burkina Faso?
******************** Upper Volta: '''1982-84'''
******************** 1985-88
****************** Palikir:
******************* (number of Yemens) + (number of Germanys) = ?
******************** Four: '''1989-early 1990'''
******************** Three: '''mid-1990'''
******************** Two: '''late 1990-1991'''
******** No: '''1922-1932'''
****** No:
******* North Korea?
******** Yes:
********* Zaire? or: '''"Hong Kong (UK)"'''
********** Yes: '''1992-96'''
********** No:
*********** Serbia/Montenegro are...
************ One country:
************* East Timor?
************** No: '''1997-2001'''
************** Yes: '''2002-06'''
************ Two countries:
************* How many Sudans are there?
************** One: '''2007-11'''
************** Two:
************** Is Crimea disputed?
*************** Yes:
**************** "Colorado" or "Danger—Radioactive Exclusion Zone—Avoid"?
***************** Colorado: '''2014-21'''
***************** Danger:
****************** Does the warning mention the spiders?
******************* No: '''2022'''
******************* Yes: '''2023 or later'''
*************** No: '''2012-13'''
******** No:
********* Saint Trimble's Island
********** No:
*********** Is Jan Mayen part of the Kingdom of Norway?
************ Not yet:
************* [[#canada-alaska-tokyo]]
************ What?
************* Can you see the familiar continents?
************** Yes:
*************** This sounds like a physical map or satellite photo.
**************** Yes, that's it
***************** Is Lake Chad missing?
****************** No:
******************* How far east do the American Prairies reach?
******************** Indiana: '''before 1830'''
******************** The Mississippi: '''1830s-80s'''
******************** Nebraska:
********************* Is there a big lake in the middle of Southern California? (created by mistake)
********************** No: '''1860s-1900s'''
********************** Yes: '''1910s'''
******************** What prairies?
********************* Is there a big lake in the middle of Ghana? (created on purpose)
********************** No: '''1920s-50s'''
********************** Yes: '''1960s-70s'''
****************** Yes:
******************* Is the Aral Sea missing?
******************** No: '''1970s-90s'''
******************** Yes: '''2000s+'''
************** No:
*************** Rivers "Sirion" or "Anduin"?
**************** Yes:
***************** Mordor?
****************** No:
******************* Beleriand?
******************** Yes: '''First Age'''
******************** No: '''Early Second Age'''
****************** Yes:
******************* Númenor?
******************** Yes: '''Late Second Age'''
******************** No:
********************* The forest east of the Misty Mountains is...
********************** Greenwood: '''Early Third Age'''
********************** Mirkwood: '''Late Third Age'''
********************** The Wood of Greenleaves: '''Fourth Age'''
**************** No:
***************** Cair Paravel?
****************** Yes:
******************* Calormen?
******************** No:
********************* Lotta Islands?
********************** No:
*********************** Beruna
************************ Ford: '''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'''
************************ Bridge:
********************** Yes: '''Prince Caspian'''
******************** Yes:
********************* Weird recursive heaven?
********************** No: '''one of the random later books'''
********************** Yes: '''The Last Battle'''
****************** No:
******************* Mossflower?
******************** Yes:
********************* Redwall
******************** No:
********************* Is the world on the back of a turtle?
********************** Yes: '''Discworld'''
********************** No:
*********************** Are you ''sure'' this is a map?
************************ Yes:
************************* Did you make it yourself?
************************** Yes:
*************************** It's very nice.
**************************** Thank you!
************************ No:
************************* Is it trying to bite you?
************************** No:
*************************** Is it larger than a breadbox?
**************************** Yes: '''tuba'''
**************************** No: '''stapler'''
**************************** About the same: '''breadbox'''
************************** Yes:
*************************** If you let it go, what does it do?
**************************** Hisses and runs away: '''cat'''
**************************** Screeches and flaps around the room breaking things: '''seagull'''
************ Yes:
************* Pakistan?
************** No:
*************** How many Germanys are there?
**************** One:
***************** Persia or Iran?
****************** Persia: '''1930-34'''
****************** Iran: '''1935-40'''
**************** One, but it's ''huge'': '''1941-45'''
**************** Two: '''1946-47'''
************** Yes:
*************** Cambodia?
**************** No:
***************** Eritrea is part of...
****************** Italy:
******************* Canada is...
******************** Missing a piece: '''1948'''
******************** Fine: '''1949-52'''
****************** Ethiopia: '''1952-53'''
**************** Yes:
***************** The United Arab Republic?
****************** No: '''1954-57'''
****************** Yes: '''1958-60'''
********** Yes: '''No, I made that one up.'''
** Istanbul:
*** Does the Soviet Union exist?
**** Yes:
***** [[#west-africa-french-blob]]
**** No:
***** [[#zaire]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Time]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Geography]]