explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2480: No, The Other One

2021-06-23T21:05:36Z

162.158.88.74:

We might want a table for this comic, with three columns: one for the name of the town, one for which state the copycat is in, and one for the original. We could also add a column for "why the original is well known," but that might be a bit much. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.124|108.162.245.124]] 20:38, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
: I agree, this feels like a very table-able comic. Especially to get all the cities and not make readers try to see "hey, did I miss one?" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.117.158|172.70.117.158]] 20:49, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
:: I think the term copy-cat should not be used here, since Lincoln, IL, for instance is older and carries the name longer than Lincoln, NE.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.74|162.158.88.74]] 21:05, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

In the map there are (at least) three Lincoln, two Jamestown, five Houston... [[User:Vdm|Vdm]] ([[User talk:Vdm|talk]]) 20:52, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

Talk:1293: Job Interview

2020-06-09T07:52:29Z

162.158.88.74: Weird question of mine

Wouldn't this be a continuation of the story in "[http://xkcd.com/1032/ Networking]" [[User:Whiskey07|Whiskey07]] ([[User talk:Whiskey07|talk]]) 09:00, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

:I completely agree, Whiskey. That comic is clearly a prelude to this. [[User:Grahame|Grahame]] ([[User talk:Grahame|talk]]) 07:35, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Isn't it [[Beret Guy]] character, and not just "employer with a hat"? --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 10:02, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Why is the soup coming out of the electrical outlet (OK, it is label "soup", but that still does not explain it) [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]])
:Who said it was an electrical outlet? It's clearly a soup outlet, it's even labeled as such. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.208|141.101.98.208]] 16:23, 20 November 2013 (UTC)
::My first thought was that this was a modern soup kitchen of some sort with the basics of public supplies. But I've never seen or heard of such a thing? Does anyone know if they exist? [[User:Grahame|Grahame]] ([[User talk:Grahame|talk]]) 01:31, 21 November 2013 (UTC)
:::It's definitely an electrical outlet. This reinforces that this is a virtual company, not a real one. [[User:Sulis|Sulis]] ([[User talk:Sulis|talk]]) 10:04, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
:My understanding of the outlet matter is that:
:# It is an actual U.S. - style electrical outlet.
:# The coil of wire seen at the chair's leg in panel 2 which beret Guy uses is actually a handheld electric heater that was commonly used to heat water in Eastern Europe before electric kettles made their way there; such heaters are still being sold here ([http://e-promedia.com/go/_info/?user_id=1812&lang=pl example (in Polish)])
:# The water in the bowl is already boiling in panel 4.
:# Beret Guy is going to add some cheap instant soup to the water, e.g. [http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2551/3900578012_6534fb3fed.jpg Chinese-style instant noodles]
:It may be worth noting that such heaters are very cheap, you can get one for an equivalent of $3-5 on a flea market. The whole Beret Guy's new business is an extremely low cost one... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.217|108.162.231.217]] 10:34, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
::I'd think it's really just a soup (or whatever liquid it is) outlet. Reasons: 1. I don't see any heating attachments while the wire isn't plugged in. 2. To me, the drawing in the last panel rather looks like liquid pouring out of a hose. 3. It even says so in the official transcript: "Something one can only hope is soup streams out of the wire into Beret Guy's bowl" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.41|108.162.231.41]] 11:25, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
:::Indeed, I don't like doing it, but I feel ''so'' strongly that this is surreality, not the more 'mundane' water-heater idea, that I actually reverted the explanation change making it so. (We don't know ''how'' he gets the soup from the outlet, or what happens if you plug a vacuum cleaner/etc into that outlet, but then we don't know how Beret Guy does ''most'' of the stuff he does. Or, when we do, ''why''..?) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.218|141.101.99.218]] 14:49, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
"We can offer you a bunch of paychecks" - but not actual money? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.215|173.245.55.215]] 16:31, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Anyone have an idea of what "There are ghosts here" means? --[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 16:34, 20 November 2013 (UTC)
:I assumed it was just part of a quirky interview. I feel it ties in to the later "interview from hell" stuff - it's not the sort of thing you want a job interviewer to raise in your interview. Even if the place does have ghosts, it's a terrible thing to mention. I think it just adds to the surrealism that others have mentioned and with which I agree. [[User:Grahame|Grahame]] ([[User talk:Grahame|talk]]) 01:31, 21 November 2013 (UTC)
::I thought it was a reference to some buzz-word that Beret Guy misunderstood, such as virtualization or intangible benefits or high spirits. I just couldn't figure out for sure what the source was. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.85|199.27.128.85]] 04:34, 21 November 2013 (UTC)
:::Probably a play on "[[wikipedia:Ghostwriter|Ghostwriter]]" [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]])
::Realized that this is probably a reference to Call of Duty: Ghost. Often tech companies will refer to the fun environment they have, and how guys will get together for LAN parties on the company equipment, and mention the games they play. Beret Guy, having heard and misunderstood, stripped this down to, "We have ghosts." [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.85|199.27.128.85]] 05:51, 27 November 2013 (UTC)
:Could it be a reference to the Snapchat mascot? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.213|141.101.98.213]] 07:44, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

I think the joke here is just that this is an example of a "job interview from hell" or at least a very surreal/oddball job interview. Basically everything Beret Guy says or does is nonsensical or a non sequitur. E.g. "this real building I found" gives the impression that it may be a vacant building that he has somehow gained entrance to. It seems unlikely that a real company would make both apps and stickers for phones. Obviously you can't get soup out of a wall by plugging a cord into an electrical outlet. The humor derives from putting oneself in the position of the interviewee being confronted with this odd situation. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.217|173.245.55.217]] 18:33, 20 November 2013 (UTC)Pat

I suspect he is being a bit dadaist on this one. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 22:46, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

It is more accurate (theologically and biblically - assuming that the biblical account (which is the only one we have) is correct) to say that God allowed the trials but they were performed and initiated by Satan. (And to those who want to dispute it being a real story or question the accuracy of the Bible - that's not the point. The point is that it's the only account we have so let's be accurate about what the account portrays.)
So I've changed the description to reflect the view that "God allowed" and "Satan did the horrible things" rather than that Job "was put through some horrendous ordeals by God to test his faith" which is partially true but technically inaccurate, but I kept that "God did it to test Job's faith". [[User:Grahame|Grahame]] ([[User talk:Grahame|talk]]) 01:31, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Forgive my ignorance, but I don't understand the reference in the explanation to "the countless humorous signs near wall outlets and faucets." I haven't run into such signs (or didn't realize they were humorous). Can someone fill me in? {{unsigned|Amz}}
:I've only encountered one such sign in person. It was near the outlet powering the web server at my last job. The sign was labeled "DOES (sic) NOT PULG (sic) OUT" in meticulously-careful handwriting. It was hung in much the same manner as the comic. While the meaning was clear, I found it funny how poor the English was, given the care taken on the calligraphy. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.211|173.245.55.211]] 05:57, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
----
;/dʒɒɒɒɒɒɒɒb/ or /dʒoʊb/
I don't think "job" is meant to be a religious reference. I think its similar that to how one might pronounce C# as "C-pound".[[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.33|108.162.222.33]] 06:13, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
:It very clearly is connected with Job in my opinion - there is piles of connection mentioned by numerous users here. Perhaps you don't see the connection because you don't know anything about Job. [[User:Grahame|Grahame]] ([[User talk:Grahame|talk]]) 08:39, 25 November 2013 (UTC)
::It's not a matter of opinion. The only word in English that is pronounced "job" with a long O, rhyming with ''globe,'' is the biblical figure. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 13:02, 26 November 2013 (UTC)
:::Well, there's also GOB from Arrested Development... -[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.160|199.27.128.160]] 07:37, 27 November 2013 (UTC)
:To elaborate, I think he is saying /dʒoʊb/ (rather than /dʒɒːːb/) because he never heard anyone say it before. For example, let's say we reverse the roles of these two guys in the comic. Suppose Beret guy looked up some buzzwords to impress the interviewer. I think the result is that Beret Guy will pronounce things like Hadoop as "Had-dop", URL as "Earl", GUI as "Guy", @ as "ear", Apache as "'A'-patch", etc. Surely someone has this problem before, *cough*.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.33|108.162.222.33]] 05:00, 27 November 2013 (UTC)
::I like the connection further up that a long 'O' could also be how a ghost may pronounce this. Given the surrealism of the comic, could it be that [[Beret Guy]] *is* a ghost? The reference to himself, then taking soup out of the wall, then 'hoping' it's a real company... maybe we're missing the clear implication you'd get if you were the guy in the chair in front of him in this situation. Steve [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.224|141.101.99.224]] 13:10, 24 December 2013 (UTC)

This, as well as networking, seem to me as commentary on the fragility of the 'typical' 'modern' job (and the 'typical' 'modern' company) - in terms of constancy of profession, livelihood security and permanency (and number of employees) - when compared to the 'typical' jobs of a few decades past. Many of today's SMEs and jobs live in economic bubbles, as well as credit bubbles: conventional metrics used to evaluate the strength of a job - monetary remuneration and monetary profit, no longer correlate well across career time-scales. Casting the quirky Beret Guy as the employer stokes cognitive dissonance (people expect a business owner/founder/employer to have the pulse of society, to be good strategists, etc.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.209|108.162.222.209]] 10:30, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

I think this is completely misunderstood. The comic is about some startups and their lack of inherent value, as demonstrated by the ridiculousness of facebook's recent attempt to acquire Snapchat for $2bn. The office is called a "real building" to emphasize that the company's product is not real. Beret guy is just throwing out a bunch of buzzwords, which demonstrates that he clearly does not have a business plan. The ghosts reference, as well as the "long 'o'", or 'joooooobs' (nothing to do with Jobe from the bible) in the alt text, which is how a ghost would pronounce 'jobs', alludes to the fact that it's a ghost company (a company that doesn't break even). Finally, the fact the he can make food, a necessity for survival, come out of a wall socket (electricity, allusion to the virtual app world) demonstrates the misconception that these app companies have real value. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.41|108.162.231.41]] 06:27, 25 November 2013 (UTC)
:I have no comment about most of what you've written but am completely convinced that Randall has Job from the bible in mind. It is not spelled "Jobe" in English. The comments Randall makes and which others have connected with the Job character make far more sense than connecting it with something which ghosts might say. [[User:Grahame|Grahame]] ([[User talk:Grahame|talk]]) 08:39, 25 November 2013 (UTC)
::I know it's spelt "Job", but wanted to avoid being ambiguous. I don't see the "piles of connection mentioned by numerous users" you mention above; the explanation contains it (which could have been written by you) and you mention it in this discussion, that's it. This interview is in no way arduous and the interviewee is not really tested as Job was. Where do you see the connection between the comic and the Book of Job? As for the ghost explanation: as a user pointed out earlier, the Snapchat logo is a ghost, he mentions ghosts in the comic, the comic came out the same week as the Snapchat offers. This comic is clearly about Snapchat and the ridiculousness of the founder turning down an offer of billions of dollars for something that doesn't generate revenue. Where does Job fit into that story? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.41|108.162.231.41]] 09:32, 25 November 2013 (UTC)
:::I edited what had already been written about Job. Check the history. You're right - I may have exaggerated "numerous users". But I agree with whoever had written the comments/explanation about Job linking it to his job being a "trial of faith". I make no claim at all that it connects directly to most of the rest of the comic. As Randall often does, he's gone off on a tangent - he especially does this in title texts - switched gears so to speak. And the connection is not to the interview but to the job. Check the title text again. And it's not exactly the "book of Job" but the character/life of Job as described in that book. And as explained by whoever originally wrote in the explanation the connection to Job. And I'm not disputing that other aspects of the comic have other connections. I'm not saying that it doesn't connect in other ways as you are seeing. What I'm saying is the title text is clearly a reference to Job. [[User:Grahame|Grahame]] ([[User talk:Grahame|talk]]) 00:27, 26 November 2013 (UTC)
::::Perhaps the Job-experience allusion also refers to Snapchat being tempted by opportunities to sell out. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.8|108.162.237.8]] 06:55, 26 November 2013 (UTC)
The term "long O" is unambiguously used to denote "the long sound of O", the vowel of ''globe'' and ''Job'', as opposed to "short O" or "the short sound of O", the vowel of ''mob'' and ''job''. Since "long O" has that specialized meaning, to describe /dʒɒɒɒɒɒɒɒb/ we must say something like "a lengthened short O". [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 13:13, 26 November 2013 (UTC)
:I wouldn't say unambiguous, but yes. This looks like the "English class" meaning of "long O", rather than the linguistics meaning, which has to deal with languages like Japanese where you ''can'' simply have a long vowel sound. [[User:Darekun|Darekun]] ([[User talk:Darekun|talk]]) 08:19, 6 December 2013 (UTC)
::The official term for the vowels described here would be a close or open O. Or more specifically close-mid and open-mid, since there are closer and opener vowels. And even more specific a close-mid back rounded and open-mid back rounded vowel. The O in globe isn't longer than that in job as far as I can tell. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 23:01, 4 September 2014 (UTC)
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My initial impression of this strip related to [[288: Elevator]]; the link between apps and stickers on phones, the "SOUP" on a slip of paper taped over the outlet, and the job description "write on our computers" come together to suggest the business is built on the operation from 288. Of course, on a higher layer, attempting to rely on that operation is interview-hell madness — but it seems clear to me it's what's supposed to be going on on the lower layer. Anyone else think this has merit? [[User:Darekun|Darekun]] ([[User talk:Darekun|talk]]) 08:19, 6 December 2013 (UTC)
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I think the person being interviewed steps into a virtual world during the interview. The stickers and the apps are both not real world goods and the job is likewise not real world. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.137}}
:Why do people seem to have difficulty understanding when something is supposed to be surreal? It's not meant to represent a virtual world, or be an allegory for startups, or anything like that. It's just a surreal little escapade. Sheesh... -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 04:50, 27 August 2015 (UTC)

----
I think in a job interview there're always two kinds of people: those who think a company must be serious and official and the attitude must be the same. And the other half of applicants - who think it's just for fun (I mean the interview) and [http://essay-grader.com tool] development is something truly exciting and does not require any particular efforts.
[[User:Briansage|Briansage]] ([[User talk:Briansage|talk]]) 07:45, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

----
How common is it to do a job interview in parallel with lunch? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.74|162.158.88.74]] 07:52, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2312: mbmbam

2020-05-28T07:15:38Z

162.158.88.74:

So ... what would the MMMbop unit be?

This has gotta be at least the third or fourth time he's referenced MBMBaM. https://what-if.xkcd.com/155/ and https://xkcd.com/1836/ I know are two more examples, but there might be more. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.13|162.158.107.13]] 00:54, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

Am I the only one thinking that mbmbam should be a unit of ''work'', not energy? Force x distance... High school physics was a long time ago though. [[User:Philosophicles|Philosophicles]] ([[User talk:Philosophicles|talk]]) 03:15, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

:Work is energy [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.154|172.69.62.154]] 05:28, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

:: The only difference could be absolute or relative energy, comparable to height above sea level vs. distance. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.193|141.101.69.193]] 06:36, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

:My first instinct was "that´s a torque". But of course angles have no unit, and so torque and energy must have the same. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.74|162.158.88.74]] 07:15, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

Talk:1909: Digital Resource Lifespan

2017-11-08T11:23:21Z

162.158.88.74: corrected CD layout

Even PDFs can be broken, which is why we have PDF/A (archive) - a subset of PDF that has no external dependencies and thus should last forever.
[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]]
:To clarify: .PDF files are *frequently* created with content such as fonts (or really anything other than the actual text) referenced within the document but not *embedded* within the document. This is usually done to reduce file size, but it's usually not advisable. Whether it's a .pdf or a .ppt or a .exe it is best to keep your dependencies embedded whenever possible!
:.PDF files (or any files) can of course also suffer from hash failure (CRC errors, etc) and PDF/A does not provide redundancy tables; Always make an extra copy on another drive (ideally both off-site & locally).
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.69.77|162.158.69.77]] 06:07, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

'''CD scratched, new computer has no CD drive anyway.''' - First, you can still buy external CD-ROM drive, for example connected via USB cable. Second, you can try recover data from scratched CD with tools such as ddrescue (free and OSS) or IsoBuster (shareware). --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 17:51, 30 October 2017 (UTC)

: Scratches on the DATA layer of any optical disk destroys that DATA. There is also the consideration that the plastics of the majority of optical disks degrade with time and heat. There are some optical media that are designed to prevent such scratching or corruption like the commercially available M-Disk or laser etching into a micro format into a crystal like a 5D disk. Even then the DATA stored must be in an ISO format to read as well as the equipment to read the media needs to be maintained. I have often told people that their data is never safe unless there is a constant effort to copy, check for quality, and make multiple backups using multiple modern mediums as often as humanly possible. All form of digital media can fail, even the extended warranty on a high end HDD will not cover the data lost and most EULAs for cloud storage will say the same.

::Pressed commercial CD-ROMs carry their information between two 0.6 mm thick plastic discs which are glued together, which makes them pretty resilient against scratches on either side – just remove some material with abrasive methods like toothpaste. Often the glue is the bigger issue with low-quality pressings in the long run. This is in contrast to recordable CDs, which are coated with the reflective layer on top of a single disc. –[[User:TisTheAlmondTavern|TisTheAlmondTavern]] ([[User talk:TisTheAlmondTavern|talk]]) 12:24, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

::: CD-ROMS *always* carry their information directly below the reflective layer on the "printed" side of the 1.2mm disk (so around 0.1mm below the print). That's necessary because otherwise the laser would not correctly focus on the data. The recordable CDs have the problem that the reflective layer may not be 100% air resistent and so oxydise the data layer, which is a dye. It's DVDs that have two 0.6mm disks, so in theory you cold flip the DVDs like an LP and use both sides - but then you don't have a surface to print information on it (except the few square cm just around the hole). BlueRay Disks inverted the CD: now the data layer is behind a 0.1mm "thick" coating on the data side. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.74|162.158.88.74]] 11:23, 8 November 2017 (UTC)

:Or cheaper than an external drive, borrow a friend's computer and copy the CD onto the cloud somewhere. --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 18:39, 30 October 2017 (UTC)

::What if you don't have any friends? (or what if none of your friends has a CD drive) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.40|108.162.216.40]]

:::You can still buy external friends that have CD drives.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.61|162.158.89.61]] 13:12, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

: Yet something affected by that would just as likely be affected by "Broken on new OS, not updated". For example, I've got a multimedia encyclopedia which runs on Win 3.11, and thus can't run on 64-bit windows.
:: Ehrm... You do realise the limitation is the other way around right? You can't run 64-bit application on 32-bit Windows, but 64-bit windows can perfectly well run 32-bit apps. Though Win 3.11 is far enough back it might actually be a fun challenge to see if it runs :D [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.202|162.158.202.202]] 10:57, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
:::You can not – Win 3.1(.1) was a 16bit operation system – and Microsoft dropped the 16-bit-layer in win7. --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 19:18, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

Interestingly, static .PDF files are intended to be electronic equivalents of printed books - an electronic microfiche if you will [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 18:57, 30 October 2017 (UTC)

I'm wondering if data on an older, static, website would still be readable. Would likely still be there (or on archive.org), but might be suffering progressive link rot. Also a little surprised that the start of microfilm is so recent; I remember the library having microfilm readers (that nobody ever used) when I was young enough to spend ages staring at a machine, trying to determine its purpose. Guess it depends on the subject, when it was put into that format. --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 18:39, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
: archive.org returns contemporary pages for links on archived pages, so that should be still safe. The worst nightmare with archive.org is a newly-set robots.txt file: Wayback Machine will just pretend to know nothing about the page even if it has been archived in the past. It sometimes crawl pages, after all. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.16|172.68.54.16]] 07:22, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

Angel, note both the My in the title and the left arrow implying that the resource (like books) were about before Randal had access. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 18:57, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
: Should those white left arrows be noted in the transcript? The gray right arrows are implied by "past", perhaps something like "Before 1980-past 2020"[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.16|162.158.63.16]] 17:39, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

"Only to realize'''d'''"? -[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.22|172.68.110.22]] 23:08, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
:This is probably a typo'''ed'''.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.61|162.158.89.61]] 13:19, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

[Subject] wiki, anyone? Wikis have rather detailed analyses of even obscure topics in my line of work/study. --[[User:Nialpxe|Nialpxe]], 2017. [[User_talk:Nialpxe|(Arguments welcome)]] (P.S. just to be clear I mean wikis maintained by researchers and professionals in [Subject] field, not Wikipedia)

There's a wealth of thought about exactly this problem by librarians; [https://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/TOC.html the Library of Congress has some recommendations] along with [https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/index.html a database evaluating over a hundred formats] along a variety of axes: is the format documented openly? Is it widely used? Is it inherently transparent to inspection even if the specification is lost? Can it contain its own metadata? What sort of external dependencies does it have? Is it patent-encumbered, and are there technical access restrictions like DRM? (tl;dr, images as TIFF, text as EPUB or PDF/A, sound as WAV. They're very conservative.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.106|108.162.249.106]] 05:07, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

Note that digital data have big advantage over books when dealing with bigger quantity. The amount of work you need to make to preserve printed book is same no matter how many books you have - so it's thousand times more when you have thousand books. Meanwhile, the amount of work needed to preserve for example collection of digital images doesn't really depend on collection size. Let's say that the used format is going out of use: you can automatically convert all images fairy quickly. Of course, harder with applications ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 08:23, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

The software not running after OS update is such a Mac problem. Linux updates would break if closed software was commonly available, but open source can be recompiled, and Windows maintain a scarry amount of backwards compatibility, and only system-admin or DRM-crippled software ever stops working.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.202|162.158.202.202]] 10:54, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
:I must strongly disagree there; Networking features have been known to break following Windows updates, & Android is *terribly* prone to breaking apps or even removing what may be considered core system features with an OS update. Search "kitkat sd", for just one good example. Even Linux can turn into dependency hell when repositories change their branch structure. Then there's the incredible variety of different hardware which only a specific version of Windows with specific hardware once supported: I still can't get an affordable analog serial port adapter that will work with my favorite flight controller.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.10|162.158.75.10]] 06:37, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

Here in the UK, the library access would also have ended some time in the last few years...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.32|162.158.155.32]] 11:33, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

Nothing lasts forever (or at least that's what seems to be true for anything observed by humanity). Data becomes corrupted and lost over time and usage, and books become damaged and lost over time and usage. Not to mention, thousands of books were burned during the Nazi regime. Human minds are inevitably subject to corrupted memories as well. We lose information all the time, and we try to recover what remains. However, it is also worth mentioning that our digital technology is still pretty young compared to books and other sources of information. Information used to be recorded on papyrus, tablets (I understand that this contradicts my point as some tablets have stood the test of time), etc. Some of the earliest Chinese inks were created with soot and animal glue. The first (attempts of) photographs required hours of light exposure and would fade away quickly. Over time, we discovered ways to improve upon these sources of information. The same could apply to our digital information today. We are essentially in the "papyrus" phase of electronic technology (one could argue with other descriptions, but this isn't significant to my statements). In time, we may achieve more successful long-term solutions to maintaining original data. There are so many avenues for the advancement of technology, and those avenues continue to multiply with each step. At this time, we just need to continue to work on our projects and experiments for the progress of humanity. [[User:NAE|NAE]] ([[User talk:NAE|talk]]) 14:29, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

Randall did a good job frightening me this Halloween... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.88|172.68.34.88]] 02:10, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

I wonder if Randall is aware of digital archiving solutions such as those provided by Preservica (https://preservica.com/), formerly part of Tessella plc. Their solutions are aimed at precisely this problem. Their library/museum clients include "the MoMA, the Frick Collection, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Yale Library, The National Library of Australia, The Royal Danish Library, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, McNay Art Museum, DC Public Library and the University of Manchester" and their archive clients include "15 leading pan-national and national archives, 18 US state archives, major corporate archives at BT, HSBC, Unilever and the Associated Press". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.88|108.162.249.88]] 03:32, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

Randall forgot my personal favorite: UTF-8 formatted .txt files. Since 1993 & counting, never had an issue opening one. I still have my first copy of The Anarchist's Cookbook, copied from a Kaypro II running CP/M on a 5-1/4" floppy to an 8088XT running MS-DOS on a 30mb hard drive to an IBM PS/2 286 on 20mb hard drive to an Asus 486 on a 3.5" floppy to a 1.2gHz Pentium on a 100mb Zip drive to a Core 2 Duo on a CD-R to an i7 system on a 128gb solid state drive, which was finally backed up to a 1tb hard drive & archived, as there's a newer copy to carry around. That original file still opens just fine on any PC I've ever used (including mobile).

Also, I believe Linus Torvalds once said (talking about code, but it applies to anything sufficiently desirable) "Only wimps use tape backup, real men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it ;)" I can certainly attest to that. I once made a torrent of all the Star Trek I'd accumulated (IE, all the Star Trek ever) & uploaded that. Two years later an old hard drive died & I was able to recover all 200+ gb in a little over 6 hours, simply by downloading my own torrent from other seeds. Thanks Trekkies![[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.10|162.158.75.10]] 07:22, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

The transcripts for the books and microfilm should state the date range as "before 1980's" to represent the arrows on the chart, just as "past ..." is used for the bars that have arrows at their right ends. I wonder if there is any significance to the fact that the arrows are done differently for "before" and "after".[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.28|162.158.126.28]] 14:58, 7 November 2017 (UTC)

1884: Ringer Volume/Media Volume

2017-09-02T14:58:20Z

162.158.88.74: /* Explanation */ most Linux-PCs are running pulseaudio, where each application gets its own level.

{{comic
| number = 1884
| date = September 1, 2017
| title = Ringer Volume/Media Volume
| image = ringer_volume_media_volume.png
| titletext = Our new video ad campaign has our product's name shouted in the first 500 milliseconds, so we can reach the people in adjacent rooms while the viewer is still turning down the volume.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Still being worked on. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Most {{w|smartphone}}s, as of the time of publication of the comic, tend to have multiple system-level sound volume settings, such as, for example, phone call alarm volume, timed alarm volume, phone communication volume, and media volume, the last of these covering video, music, games and such. For comparison, personal computers running Windows tend to expose the user to a master sound volume control by default, which affects all the sounds emitted by system. Applications that emit sound (other than basic interface sounds, such as clicking) tend to implement a separate volume control themselves.

In addition, smartphones tend to have two dedicated hardware buttons for sound volume control that naturally map to raising and lowering the sound volume. However, they don't differentiate which of the available volume controls the user wants to adjust. Smartphone operating systems tend to resolve to adjust the volume level of the currently emitted sound type, with some defaulting to the phone call alarm (ringer) in the case of sound not playing. Adjusting arbitrary volume control is usually possible using a system settings app controlled by touch screen, which can take more time than pressing dedicated buttons, and/or stopping the program currently being used, depending on the smartphone in question.

The comic demonstrates, using a time axis, a typical annoyance generated by this kind of setup. User wants to play a video clip but expects its sound volume, or sound volume of a preceding advertisement, to be louder than optimal, so they start to preemptively press button responsible for lowering sound volume. However, since video clip just started loading while user preemptively pressed the button, this leads to adjustment of phone alarm volume instead of media volume, which is not what was intended at all. User proceeds to raise the ringer volume and waits until the information box about ringer volume being adjusted disappears from screen, then tries again. This still doesn't work again, since video is still loading, and apparently needs to start emitting sound before possibility of adjusting that sound with volume buttons arises. This is exactly what eventually happens - the video starts uncomfortably loudly and user's delayed reaction while attempting to readjust ringer volume level leads, in fact, to ''raising'' the media volume. At this point, graph ends, though user is implied in the title text to proceed to reduce the video's volume directly afterwards.

Despite most applications implementing separate sound controls, Windows has also been able to adjust volume on per-activity basis since at least Windows 95. You can access this feature on the most recent (as of 2017) version of Windows 10 by right-clicking the speaker icon on the tray, and selecting the "Open Volume Mixer" option. This setup is roughly equivalent to opening system settings on a smartphone, in that user can see multiple volume controls and select to adjust some. Additionally, some versions of Windows made the system tray volume control only affect the currently focused program, sort of analogously to described smartphone behaviour, in that a single interface area can correspond to different volume controls depending on the context. This feature has been however removed, presumably to reduce user confusion.

The title text presents a method of exploiting the phenomenon presented in the main comic by putting important parts of an advertisement very early in the video clip in loud audio form. Since user may have problems with adjusting video sound volume before it starts playing, this will result in the important part of ad (here, product name) emitted very loudly, to the levels of narrator of title text expecting it to reach people in other rooms than one the smartphone is in.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Trying to turn down the volume before a video starts playing:

(A line graph is presented, with horizontal axis denoting "Time". There are two signed lines, "Ringer volume" and "Media volume". In addition there are two rows of drawings also aligned with time, one above the signed lines featuring drawings of two neighboring buttons, one below the signed lines featuring drawings of smartphones.)

(The thicker "Ringer volume" line starts one unit below the thinner "Media volume" line. At around 12% of the width of the comic, a picture of buttons with arrow pointing to lower button labelled "TAP TAP TAP TAP" corresponds to ringer volume line lowering by four units, step by step. At around 25% of the width of the comic, a picture of buttons with arrow pointing to higher button labelled "TAP TAP TAP TAP" corresponds to ringer volume line rising by four units, step by step, returning to original value.)

(At around 50% width of the comic and 60% width of the comic respectively, similar things to those described above happen, except the labels read "TAP TAP TAP" and ringer volume line shifts down and up by three units instead of four.)

(Another such figure starts at 80% of width of the comic, again involving four "TAP"s and units, but the ringer volume line stops rising two units below original value. Instead, previously stable "media volume" line raises by two units step by step afterwards. This also corresponds to "media volume" line becoming thicker and "ringer volume" line becoming thinner. The pictures of smartphone, previously displaying a loading indicator, end with one showing what appears to be a video web page with a person in speaking to the camera. The text denoting person's words in the video indicates they are loud.)

Person in the video: HELLO, AND WELCOME TO...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]