explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2284: Sabotage

2020-04-30T18:04:44Z

172.68.133.30: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2284
| date = March 23, 2020
| title = Sabotage
| image = sabotage.png
| titletext = So excited to see everyone after my luxury cruise home from the World Handshake Championships!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is the tenth comic in a row in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] about the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} - {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}.

In the wake of the virus, the advice from many professionals in the United States is to avoid public gatherings to slow the spread of the virus and "flatten the curve".

This text was removed by an "anonymous" vandal

In the title text, Cueball has stepped up his game from merely threatening to spoil everyone's fun to making them fear that they might get infected. He claims to have attended the "World Handshake Championships", which presumably would involve shaking hands with as many people as possible; this would facilitate the spread of diseases such as COVID-19. He furthermore claims to have traveled home from the championship via a cruise ship, which may also cause concern because cruise ships are known for their densely populated environments and lack of extensive medical facilities making prevention and treatment of infections very difficult or impossible. Cruise ships have been a recent topic of interest in relation to SARS CoV-2 due to many people being stranded at sea with infected patients because of COVID-19 outbreaks on board.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is seated at a desk, typing on a laptop. The top half of the image is the text he is typing in a reply message:]
:"I see you're still getting together today! I'll be there, doing my spoken-word ''Baby Shark'' karaoke all evening.
:We'll also be setting up a petting zoo for the kids. We've spent all week trapping wild skunks!"
:[Below the text is a white-on-green "reply" button.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:In the coronavirus era, desperate times call for desperate measures.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

1801: Decision Paralysis

2019-11-25T10:10:26Z

172.68.133.30: Needs more citations

{{comic
| number = 1801
| date = February 20, 2017
| title = Decision Paralysis
| image = decision_paralysis.png
| titletext = Good point--making no decision is itself a decision. So that's a THIRD option I have to research!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic illustrates a common problem in the internet era where, with the wealth of knowledge available to us at all times, one puts undue weight on otherwise arbitrary decisions.

This is taken to a comedic extreme by showing how [[Cueball]] is unable to make a critical, time-sensitive choice without putting hours of research in to justify it. Any benefit to researching the imminent decision of "which car will get us to our destination fastest" will be more than offset by the time it takes to make that decision {{Citation needed}}. The inability to make a snap judgment in this case will prove very destructive as the bomb mentioned by [[Megan]] will now likely detonate before they get to the base. The difference in time/effort needed to steal either car is likely presumed to be insignificant to this scenario.

In the caption below the comic [[Randall]] gives the reader one of his [[:Category:Protip|recurring protips]]. In the tip, he reveals a weakness for his potential opponents to exploit. Randall admits to having the same problems with decision-making as Cueball, and suggests that if he were placed in an equally urgent situation testing his (in)ability to choose, he would fail just as spectacularly, as long as he had free access to the internet. As the old saying goes, "give 'em enough rope, and they'll hang themselves"; in this case, give Randall enough internet access, and he'll get caught in an indefinite research loop.

The title text continues this absurdity by bringing a third option to the table, the choice of inaction (which by wasting his time on calculations and research, Cueball has taken), a choice here that seems unacceptable, but the time spent mentioning (and researching it) simply adds to that already spent researching the two cars. Of course this option ensures that they are not killed when the bomb explodes, because they will not be anywhere close to the base. That might make it the only reasonable choice left after wasting so much time pondering which car to steal.

That not making a choice is also a choice has often been mentioned in literature and other places, like when the band {{w|Rush (band)|Rush}} in their song {{w|Freewill (song)|Freewill}} sings "If you choose not to decide - You still have made a choice".

Supposing both of them know how to drive (and steal) a car and defuse the bomb, the best option in this situation is to leave the phone in the pocket and steal both cars, and see who gets there first to defuse the bomb. This would both ensure one of them reaches the base as quick as possible and at the same time resolve the problem of which car would be best for the problem. Of course that would also have defused the joke, [[No Pun Intended]]...

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are standing near two sport cars. Megan points excitedly at the cars while Cueball looks at his smartphone.]
:Megan: There! If we steal one of those cars, we can get to the base and defuse the bomb!
:Cueball: Hmm, the one on the left accelerates faster but has a lower top speed.
:Cueball: Ooh, the right one has good traction control. Are the roads wet?

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Protip: If you ever need to defeat me, just give me two very similar options and unlimited internet access.

==Trivia==
*The problem of choosing between cars with different accelerations and top speeds is the center of the car customization mechanic introduced in the seventh installment of the {{w|Mario Kart}} series.
*It is known that Randall has played some version of the game, as it has become a [[:Category:Mario Kart|recurring theme]].
*Although presented as a joke, this is a very real problem in electronics design. ''{{w|Buridan’s principle}}'' by none other than {{w|Leslie Lamport}} [http://research.microsoft.com/users/lamport/pubs/buridan.pdf states]:
::"A discrete decision based upon an input having a continuous range of values cannot be made within a bounded length of time."
*This is not the first time that Randall has made a comic that tells his readers how to trick him (or his friends) like in [[1121: Identity]], where he notes how to get his password from a friend.
*In [[1445: Efficiency]] Randall describes why he is so inefficient (again, demonstrating the option 3 beautifully,) and in [[309: Shopping Teams]] two nerds out shopping have to choose between two similar objects and end up in a similar situation, though without a deadly deadline.
*This was the first of two comics in a row where having access to the internet on a smartphone while out walking is a major part of the plot, the next being [[1802: Phone]], where Randall find that it is a problem that it is impossible to take a walk without being updated on his phones feed all the time.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Protip]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

787: Orbiter

2017-10-03T06:14:13Z

172.68.133.30: /* Explanation */ spelling

{{comic
| number = 787
| date = September 1, 2010
| title = Orbiter
| image = orbiter.png
| titletext = Normally, the Shuttle can't quite safely reach the orbital inclination required to pass over both those points from a Canaveral launch, but this is an alternate history in which either it launches from Vandenburg or everyone hates the Outer Banks.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The text states that Randalls incorrectly states that the shuttle cannot reach an inclination passing over Palestine and Oklahoma. However, the comic also has the shuttle passing south of Iceland, which is much further north. Could someone find out if an inclination passing far enough north that it would be described as "south of Iceland" would be possible from Cape Canaveral?}}
This comic is about disputed territories and {{w|Low Earth orbit|low Earth orbits}}.

In the early days of manned spaceflight and also the {{w|Space Shuttle}} the communication to the {{w|Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center|mission control center}} in Houston required many ground stations all around the Earth. Each station could provide a link for only a few minutes and there were still gaps between them. After 1989/90, when the geostationary {{w|Tracking and data relay satellite|TDRS}} system was fully operational, these ground stations became obsolete.

In this comic [[Cueball]], the main controller at mission control, is planning the next check-in with the Space Shuttle (also called orbiter), which is set to occur at [https://www.google.com/maps/place/32%C2%B000'00.0%22N+35%C2%B030'00.0%22E/@-1.9607689,-49.5389658,3z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d32!4d35.5?hl=en 32.0N 35.5E], approx 20 miles north-east of Jerusalem, over the hotly contested {{w|Israeli–Palestinian conflict|Israeli-Palestinian territories}}. Frank and the other off-screen character start to dispute the ownership of this geographical location, and rather than getting involved in an argument, the Cueball decides to change the check-in to [https://www.google.com/maps/place/35%C2%B012'00.0%22N+96%C2%B036'00.0%22W/@7.0800073,-69.7878505,3.25z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d35.2!4d-96.6?hl=en 35.2N 96.6W], approximately 50 miles East of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which he considers to be a neutral and non-disputed location. Unfortunately, Frank is a dick, and he then starts to make the claim that {{w|Greer County, Texas|part of Oklahoma in fact should belong to Texas}}.

In the title text [[Randall]] incorrectly states that the orbiter would require a different orbit to reach both Palestine and Oklahoma, which cannot be achieved from a launch at {{w|Kennedy Space Center|Cape Canaveral}}. Thus, Randall proposes that the comic exists in an alternate history in which the Space Shuttles launch from {{w|Vandenberg Air Force Base|Vandenberg}}. This is a reference to the plans to launch shuttles from there before the {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|Challenger accident}} occurred. After Challenger was lost, the Vandenberg missions were scrapped and Cape Canaveral became the sole launch site for the Space Shuttle. Another possibility in this alternate history is that the rules forbidding orbital launches from Cape Canaveral to a northern direction don't exist, because nobody likes the {{w|Outer Banks}} (which would be in the flight path) and thus don't care about space debris falling on them.

Randall's incorrectness was discussed in many forums and probably based on the wrong assumption that the inclination cannot be higher than the longitude of the launch site (28° at Cape Canaveral). But this is only the optimal inclination, actually all shuttle launches to the {{w|Mir|Mir station}} and the {{w|International Space Station}} did reach an inclination of 51.6°, with the cost of some payload mass. And following the ISS at [http://heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?satid=25544 Heavens above] when it moves over Israel to the south it will pass over Texas approximately an hour later. Nevertheless this orbit is not possible at the first orbit after a launch in Cape Canaveral.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Okay, people. The orbiter is passing south of Iceland. The next scheduled check-in will be at 32.0N 35.5E, over the Palestinian territories.
:Off-screen character: You mean over Palestine?
:Frank (off-screen): You mean over Israel?
:[Frameless beat panel.]
:Cueball: I've rescheduled the check-in for 35.2N 96.6W, over Oklahoma.
:Frank (off-screen): You mean occupied North Texas?
:Cueball: Dammit, Frank.

==Trivia==
*There is also a typo in the title text: ''Vandenburg'' should be ''Vandenberg''.

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

1896: Active Ingredients Only

2017-09-30T15:36:19Z

172.68.133.30: /* Explanation */ spelling

{{comic
| number = 1896
| date = September 29, 2017
| title = Active Ingredients Only
| image = active_ingredients_only.png
| titletext = Contains the active ingredients from all competing cold medicines, plus the medicines for headaches, arthritis, insomnia, indigestion, and more, because who wants THOSE things?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GUY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a reference to how all medicine typically has one (or a few) "Active" ingredient and many "Inactive" ingredients. This is played against the current trend of advertising food as containing "no additives and no preservatives".

[[Randall]] thus presents a pack of {{w|Common cold|cold}} medicine that jokingly has "Active Ingredients Only", which is the name of the brand as can be seen since it has "™" after the name. It has six active ingredients and no inactive ingredients. All this because ''We're not here to waste your time'', their slogan, which is also trademarked. Interestingly, the slogan is a registered trademark while the product name is a common law trademark. This means that the slogan likely stays the same, while the product name changes from time to time.

Since one of the inactive ingredients in any medicine in tablet form would be {{w|Binder (material)|binders}} that keep the tablet together, and keep the active ingredient(s) inside, it could be a serious problem to take this cold medicine. Though this packaging is commonly blister packs, with each dose contained seperately. Opening the box would reveal a mix of various colored powders and no way to ensure you are correctly taking the right dose. In fact, it would be extremely easy to overdose yourself on one or more of the active ingredients. Or to put it in another way, just like additives and preservatives have a real, beneficial purpose in food production, so do the inactive ingredients in medicine.

The title text says that it contains the active ingredients from all competing cold medicines, as well as almost every other medicine on the market for ''headaches, arthritis, insomnia, indigestion and more''. Some of these other conditions, but not all, often occur when you have a cold. This is in line with the "don't waste your time" slogan, since you then need to use only one cold medicine. This may be be a follow-up (or a wish from Randall) after [[1618: Cold Medicine]], where [[Cueball]] wishes to try all possible types of cold medicine at once. Note that, with this list, there should be more than those six active ingredients in the medicine than only those listed on the pack.

It correctly states that, apart from the cold you are trying to get rid of, you also do not want these "other things". But it is not advisable to take too much medicine, and often you are warned not to mix different types at the same time, or at least should ask your doctor first. This cold medicine violates these rules, which is the main joke.

Another joke is that taking any cold medicine has no effect on the cold itself, but instead treats some of the symptoms. So if you are going to go through all types of cold medicine to no avail anyway, you might as well get it over with by taking them all at once, saving some time.

==Transcript==

:[A picture of a pack of cold medicine. At the top there is a large advert in three lines. In a black line, to the right of the advert, white text states what kind of medicine is in the pack. Below to the left is a square frame listing ingredients. Most of the text inside this frame is unreadable scribbles. To the right of the frame is another advert inside a black frame. On the side of the box are also unreadable scribbles, both at the top and down next to the ingredients list. At the bottom of the box it can be seen how the pack can open up.]
:<big>Active Ingredients</big>
:<big><big>'''Only'''</big></big>TM
:We're not here to waste your time®

:Cold Medicine

:Active ingredients
:[Six lines of scribbles, with first a name, then a statement in brackets and finally a column right of this with a short line of scribbles.]

:Inactive ingredients
:None

:<big>No binders!</big>

{{comic discussion}}

1887: Two Down, One to Go

2017-09-09T01:02:49Z

172.68.133.30: /* Explanation */ expand context for daytime astronomy

{{comic
| number = 1887
| date = September 8, 2017
| title = Two Down, One to Go
| image = two_down_one_to_go.png
| titletext = The third row will probably have to wait until 2034, and maybe longer. If I see a daytime supernova, I'll replace the meteor storm with that and consider it 3/3.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Needs review and PLEASE: Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, [[Randall]] lists three of the most spectacular astronomical sights: a {{w|Solar eclipse|total solar eclipse}}, an {{w|aurora}} (Aurora Borealis in the northern hemisphere and Aurora Australis in the south), and a {{w|Meteor shower|meteor storm}}. In 2017, the first two of these phenomena happened within weeks of each other for observers in much of the US - a coincidence that Randall celebrates.

* '''Total solar eclipse''': The {{w|Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017|total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017}} was the first seen for decades in the {{w|contiguous United States}}. Randall already made [[:Category:Total Solar Eclipse 2017|several comics about this eclipse]].
* '''Aurora''': Bar Alaska, the aurora borealis is rarely visible from the continental USA. Randall bemoaned the fact he'd never seen one back in [[1302: Year in Review]] in 2013 - which also mentioned the 2017 eclipse. Randall likely finally saw it due to the [https://gizmodo.com/huge-solar-flare-disrupts-gps-satellites-1801838410 giant solar flares] in the week leading up to this comic.
* '''Meteor storm''': A meteor storm is more than just a shower - while the best typical shower gives you a meteor or two per every minute, a storm gives you meteors every few ''seconds'' or better. The {{w|Great Meteor Storm of 1833}} produced hundreds of thousands of meteors per hour.

In the title text, Randall suggests the next meteor storm could be 2034, probably because this is predicted to be [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2007JIMO...35....5M a good year for Leonids].

Randall then continues by saying that if he manages to see a {{w|supernova}} during the daytime, he will drop the goal for the meteor storm and call it 3/3. This is because such an event is so unlikely that he hasn't even included it in his bucket list, and he would be happy to switch between the two types of events if he had the chance. A few stars, when they turn supernova, could be so bright that they can be seen during the day time here on Earth. The brightest supernova recorded in human history was {{w|SN 1006}} which was sixteen times brighter than {{w|Venus}} but still not bright as the full moon. {{w|SN 1054}} is an other example. When such a very rare event happen is impossible to predict. There is a [http://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/betelgeuse-will-explode-someday (very small) chance] that the giant star {{w|Betelgeuse}} will go supernova within Randall's lifetime, allowing him to tick this off the list too. Randall even mentioned that this could not happen soon enough in [[1644: Stargazing]]. Note that if you could see it during the day time, it would be one of the brightest objects in the night sky after the Moon.

;Astronomical backgrounds
* Betelgeuse is estimated to be in a range between 613 and 881 {{w|light-year}}s from Earth, which means that its light takes more than 600 years to reach Earth. That incident must have already happened when it should reach us in the next few decades. But since all information cannot travel faster than light there is no way to find this out.
* Something about the brightness of celestial objects:
** The Sun is the brightest object at a {{w|Apparent magnitude|magnitude}} of −26.74
** The next object is the full moon at −12.90
** Venus is at −4.89 on maximum brightness, bright enough to be (barely) [http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/venus_daytime/ visible in the daytime]
** The mentioned supernovae SN 1006 and SN 1054 were at −7.50 and −6.00 respectively
** The brightness of the supernova from Betelgeuse is hard to predict. Because it's closer than the other both supernovae it could become brighter than Venus but definitely not than the full moon.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[There are three rows equally filled with squares and above are year dates beginning from 2002 until 2017. The first year is cut on the left and the color is light gray then fading in to black until 2005. Left of the three rows the text reads:]
:Total eclipse
:Aurora
:Meteor storm
:[Below the year 2017 the squares in the first two rows are checked.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Total Solar Eclipse 2017]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

Talk:1168: tar

2017-07-30T02:57:11Z

172.68.133.30:

I thought the title text would be "tar --help"
[[Special:Contributions/123.202.19.132|123.202.19.132]] 06:59, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Is it good that I could have disarmed the bomb, and I have only used tar (or for that matter, Linux) sparsely? [[User:NSDCars5|NSDCars5]] ([[User talk:NSDCars5|talk]]) 12:16, 9 May 2014 (UTC)NSDCars5

The comic is about the difficulty of the tar program options.

Even if his life depended on it and after years of usage, Bob/Randall could not come up with the right parameters without looking them up. So a situation is shown, where Bob's life depends on coming up with the right parameters:

* It shows an atomic warhead
* It has a user interface, which requests any valid tar command
* If it is not entered on the first try within 10s, the bomb is not disarmed and potentially explodes on the spot

Randall has come up with a situation, where the unix guy Bob can be the hero by knowing tar parameters. This is a pipe dream of a geek; nobody cares IRL, if you know tar parameters on the first try.

It is hilarious, that
* the bomb says in full detail the rules including that you should not cheat and it probably has no means to check whether you cheated. This is no game, but feels like one. In war and love every means is allowed - even cheating; it would also be self-defense for disarming the bomb; Bob and his colleagues are not even considering to cheat.
* the user has root access to the bomb, shown by the bomb as ~#, the tilde is the home directory, the # signifies super-user rights; even if the available programs prevent the bomb from being shutdown or disabled by a nonintended way, normally no root access is given for users of linux devices during normal usage; and disarming the bomb with official rules is normal usage of a bomb; a root prompt should not be necessary, if the bomb software is designed and configured well; possibly the unix prompt is a simulation for entering an answer
* Bob shurely needs more than 10s to come. So the bomb will have announced that questions, which require unix knowledge will follow - or has already asked other Unix questions; perhaps after 10s without entering anything a new question comes up
* this bomb can be disarmed with "common knowledge"

Small notes:
* The screen looks to be really grayscale (esp. the inverted "TEN") - not just because of the comic; it has at least 3 colors (black, white, tar gray); it could be that the "TEN" is updated dynamically and is thus inverted
* The comic is quite black: The screen and the bomb; Randall seldomly uses solid black areas; the bomb is a gloomy topic so it is black like "tar" (pun)

Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 07:24, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

I think there is a visual double pun in this strip: the bomb disarmed by a tar command is a reference to the [[wikipedia:Tar (computing)#Tarbomb|tarbombs]], but it also looks like the [[wikipedia:File:Tsar Bomba Revised.jpg|Tsar Bomb(a)]]. --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 08:24, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: I don’t think it looks like Tsar Bomba. If anything, it is much more similar to [[wikipedia:Fat Man|Fat Man]]. --[[User:Mormegil|Mormegil]] ([[User talk:Mormegil|talk]]) 08:38, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
:: Yeah, but "Fat Man" doesn't sound like "tarbomb". --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 10:48, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
:: Furthermore, the Tsar bomb was much bigger; I think I've read somewhere that it had the size of a bus. --[[Special:Contributions/95.34.7.179|95.34.7.179]] 11:11, 3 February 2013 (UTC)

I think another joke is in the fact that you don't know which Unix is running on the bomb so you don't actually know which parameter layout is supported. tar --help for example may or may not be valid since -- is a GNU extension.

tar -bvzx for a tar.bzip2 .... wait... no... argh... I've always just trusted my fingers.. --[[Special:Contributions/59.167.191.93|59.167.191.93]] 10:14, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: Will '''tar -?''' be valid everywhere?. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 19:32, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

tar -lvvb archive.tar.bz
File not found. Sorry, you're dead.
~#
[[Special:Contributions/74.82.68.68|74.82.68.68]] 12:35, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Googling tar commands would definitely take more than 10 seconds, especially considering that Rob did not take his computer. (A smartphone is an option, but...)
Then again, why would "ten" be written in letters instead of numerals? [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 13:28, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
:I think the clock is already counting down. So probably they've discovered the bomb with still some minutes on the display. They call Bob when there is a minute left, He arrives with 25 sec's on the display and 15s later the screendump is made... [[Special:Contributions/86.82.116.63|86.82.116.63]] 22:33, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
:: This makes sense. --[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 22:41, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

I think the current explantion is missing an important point: the tar commands are not that much difficult. What makes tar complicated is that there are many different implementations. The linux guy knows only gnu tar, but some unices have much different implementations and different commands. "tar --help" is certainly not available on an old hpux, for example. '''That''' make is difficult to type a valid tar command – even more if you don't know the implementation.
[[Special:Contributions/212.222.53.78|212.222.53.78]] 10:26, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: Will '''tar -?''' be valid everywhere?. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 19:32, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

I'm a Windows user, so bear with me. Couldn't he type something like "man tar" to get the proper usage of the "tar" command on this particular system? It's a "man" command, so it shouldn't count as a try towards typing a "tar" command. Of course, maybe the bomb would explode if he entered anything else. [[Special:Contributions/70.31.159.230|70.31.159.230]] 13:46, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

:Yeah, all standard Unix installations should have man installed. But many mini installations don't, so these days Google is the standard backup.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 14:58, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: Fixed comment/wasn't reading. Only thing I can say here is that I've used embedded distros without 'man'; you could probably 'strings' the binary though. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])

Randall's joke is spot on, as usual. I've been using UNIX for nearly 30 years. Windows User's solution is elegant. Before Google there was the <code>man</code> command. In all seriousness, productivity on a UNIX box can be greatly enhanced simply by keeping good notes. I keep patterns of all sorts of UNIX commands handy so I don't have to look them up. As Wikipedia implies, <code>tar -tf</code> (I prefer <code>-tvf</code>) should be memorized because one quickly learns that one should ''always'' inspect tarballs before unpacking them. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 14:11, 1 February 2013 (UTC)''

One of the reasons that tar is so useful is that it can often do exactly what you want when other, more obvious commands cannot. For instance, recursively copying a directory from one place to another (using "cp") can be tricky when symbolic links are involved, and thus people memorize incantations like "tar cf - . | (cd dest; tar xf -)". As well, it's a standard tool that's guaranteed to be found on every Unix installation (unlike zip/unzip).[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 14:58, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

tar --help. Problem solved. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:21, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: Maybe '''tar -?''' is better?. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 19:32, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

What about "tar xf foo.tar"? I always assume options without dash work everywhere because options they are the original scheme. Of course, foot.tar might be absent, but in my view, the command itself remains valid.
As to the time limit: I imagine a countdown starts when the first key is hit - that leaves little time for "man tar". [[Special:Contributions/46.142.35.251|46.142.35.251]] 16:49, 1 February 2013 (UTC) madd

It feels like a partial reference to comic [http://xkcd.com/208/ xkcd 208]--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.157.176|108.162.157.176]] 04:31, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

I don't find tar all that tricky. The situation I'm always trumped with is when copying data, using cp, scp or rsync -r, then chmod -R /data 555. Why is '-R' capitalized? --[[Special:Contributions/98.253.217.12|98.253.217.12]] 19:54, 2 February 2013 (UTC)
:Because -r is 'substract the "read" right'. More interresting question is, why ssh -p but scp -P? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:03, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

First thing that struck me here was the Jurassic Park allusion. Surprised no-one else has mentioned it.--[[Special:Contributions/58.6.184.37|58.6.184.37]] 07:01, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
:No one mentioned "What are four lowercase letters that are not legal flag arguments to the Berkeley UNIX version of `ls'?" question either ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:07, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

Does this mean we should start retroactively rename cueball to "rob"?
:Rob is ''a'' Cueball, not ''every'' Cueball, so no. [[User:JET73L|JET73L]] ([[User talk:JET73L|talk]]) 14:05, 8 February 2013 (UTC)
::By that logic, Megan is ''a'' Cutie, not ''every'' Cutie. We should only name Megan in comics where her name appears. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 17:07, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

There is something morbid in the subtext here.... I have a feeling that Randall is going to kill off Megan, Rob, and "White Hat"... [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 01:47, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

Randall, I am disappoint! I haven't used tar for more than a year and I don't err anymore: tar -xvzf file (.gz) or tar -xvjf file (.bz2), and I still consider myself quite the newb. Works on all flavors of linux I tried (I like trying linuxes on VMs, dunno about other unixes, but everytime I need it, I get it right, so I wouldn't even consider this in my list of hardest programs to get right first time). For those interested: -x extract -v verbose (I like it) -z uncompress (for some compression types, in some flavors this works with bz2, IIRC) -j uncompress (for bz2, maybe others). [[Special:Contributions/189.123.132.123|189.123.132.123]] 20:51, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

:Your "z" Is wrong for .bz2 (or .z or uncompressed); it's only for ".gz". The reason it works for you is that your distro is using BSD tar, which silently ignores compression-related flags on the t and x commands and figures it out automatically. Which means you're better off using "-xvf" than "-

:More importantly, "works on all flavors of linux I've tried" is a far cry from "portable". The majority of desktop Unix systems are not linux, but OS X. There are plenty of servers running other BSD flavors. And lots of old machines running commercial *nixes or OpenSolaris. Not to mention Cygwin, and native/MinGW ports to Windows. People checking in code because "it works on Fedora and Ubuntu, so it must be portable" is becoming as big a problem as when people used to test on three different BSD derivatives but no SysV. So you should feel bad. :P [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 01:54, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

:Originally bzip used -y. Not speaking about fact that bzip is pretty new - and some unixes don't have ANY compression support in their tar. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:03, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

The quickest tar command with valid syntax would be "tar t". Every switch after the first command letter is optional. Even the initial dash is optional. [[Special:Contributions/85.24.234.35|85.24.234.35]] 11:03, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
:(That would also be a command that is valid in every known tar version throughout the universe.)
: Doesn't appear to work; console redirection is used as the input stream, terminated by Ctrl-D, at which point (on Android, and assuming you don't know the format) tar returns with "invalid tar magic" and then $? is non-zero (fail). If however you redirect 2>/dev/null, then $? returns 0 (success). I think the redirection is what's succeeding so any valid prestidigitation ought to work. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])

The tar command actually has a unique syntax in unix. Classicly, it's first parameter is a subcommand (letter) followed by zero or more option letters. (And I think the subcommand had to be first.) Parameters for the options follow in sequence after that, in the same order the options where listed. Then, for the 'c' subcommand, an input filename list follows. This syntax was rather painful when you had perhaps 5 different option letters each with parameters, but this was a normal enough occurance when you specified the tape drive, tape block size, tape length, and a few others I can't even remember. Early implementations would have a file listing tape configurations so you could pick one and all its parameters with a single digit. In any case, it should be noted that a dash ('-') was actually NOT ALLOWED on the parameters. More recent versions of tar have attempted to add the more common unix option parsing, but still support the dash-less form. Having said all that, I tend to prefer "tar xvzf filename.tar.gz" and "tar tvzf filename.tar.gz". [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 20:18, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

I'm not sure about it, so I'll not add to the explanation: doesn't "tarbomb" also refers to a malicious tarball that releases a ridiculously big file filled with blank/random data? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.18|108.162.212.18]] 01:26, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Um... the prompt is "~# "... That's a root prompt. Shouldn't Rob just "~# kill -9 1

Kernel panic – not syncing: Attempted to kill init!"? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.105|173.245.56.105]] 03:50, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

The user is root (indicated by the ~#). So, rm -rf / [[Special:Contributions/162.158.45.48|162.158.45.48]] 17:13, 29 November 2015 (UTC)
: Linux/OSX will limp along. Root's also probably preserved and the necessary reboot begs the question if you'd be better off rebooting (with power down) in the first place. Assuming it finishes in seconds (OSX is 12 minutes, about), that multiple commands were allowed, or that 'tar' doesn't have to appear first, I'd assume the verifier could be in ROM. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]])

I think the fact that there's a page and a half of comments arguing about what would be an 'obvious' solution shows how difficult a question this is... --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.226|108.162.237.226]] 08:44, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

It would be cool if someone made this (without the bomb) in real life. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.133.30|172.68.133.30]] 02:57, 30 July 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1267: Mess

2017-02-21T22:05:11Z

172.68.133.30:

I do this on purpose whenever people are likely to come over. I mostly clean my house except for a little thing and apologize for the mess. [[Special:Contributions/62.159.14.62|62.159.14.62]] 11:29, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
:Remind me never to come visit you.[[Special:Contributions/184.57.72.181|184.57.72.181]] 12:40, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
::Never come visit him/her. Is that enough of a reminder? --[[Special:Contributions/24.145.230.197|24.145.230.197]] 05:48, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
:: you haven't gone and visited him/her - right? we kinda fell down on this social contract, but here's one more reminder: never visit him/her! [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 18:09, 20 August 2015 (UTC)
::A reminder from 2017: never visit him/her!--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.133.30|172.68.133.30]] 22:05, 21 February 2017 (UTC)

"There is a common psychological phenomenon which causes people to mentally magnify their own flaws, while failing to notice the flaws of others." '''Tell that to my ex-wife!''' --[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 15:03, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
:There is a common psychological phenomenon which causes future ex-wives to mentally magnify their spouse's flaws while failing to notice their own or the flaws of others. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.63|173.245.55.63]] 17:41, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

This comic wierdly mirrors (in contrast) a recently broadcast radio programme (which I doubt Randall will have heard, it being UK's BBC Radio 4 "Thinking Allowed", I think it was, with a segment regarding how normal people react to those not acting 'properly' to social norms) in which the phenomena was mentioned. A lady hostess who unselfconsciously apologises for "not having dusted" (despite dust being possibly shed skin cells and such, it's considered "clean mess"), for her visitor, is then utterly mortified when said visitor breaks the rules and also 'helpfully' points out a coffee-ring stain (considered "dirty mess", for some reason) upon a surface. Doubtless the traditional light and largely insignificant layering of dust possibly somehow prevents highlighting any ''geniuinely'' missed spots (if one had actually dusted ''most'' of the room), yet distinct stains and marks (and dust layers with obvious finger-marks in?) ought to have been cleaned or even prevented in the first place.

(For the record, my own home is a "working mess", much to the chagrin of my mother when she visits. It could definitely be tidier, and there's absolutly no way to convincingly apologise for its state. I consider the whole place to be my "shed", in the grand tradition of "shedology". Mind you, this attitude of mine arises out of the tendency for me to ''lose'' so many things when I deliberately tidy up/pack away "projects in progress" for such esteemed visitors. Better that I can find everything when I need to, IMO. This ''mostly'' works better than with the alternative, under a sometimes Holmesian 'stratified' surface-based filing system.) [[Special:Contributions/178.105.138.196|178.105.138.196]] 15:42, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

:tl;dr--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:09, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

I was reminded of..
http://www.theonion.com/articles/man-puts-glass-of-water-on-bedside-table-in-case-h,33751/ {{unsigned ip|173.14.162.93}}

People call a clean house messy as a way to seem superior to their guests. They clean it before the guest gets here then say that because they know the guest has not cleaned. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 17:37, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

"There is a common psychological phenomenon which causes people to mentally magnify their own flaws, while failing to notice the flaws of others." How is this phenomenon called? [[Special:Contributions/79.227.152.95|79.227.152.95]] 09:36, 23 September 2013 (UTC)
:false humility [[User:Grahame|Grahame]] ([[User talk:Grahame|talk]]) 05:44, 18 October 2013 (UTC)Grahame
:No, more like self doubt, which is the exact opposite. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 09:50, 4 February 2014 (UTC)
I think you mean "What is this called?" I don't know, I've been trying to research it for the last five minutes and it's never the first result on google. Must not exist. [[Special:Contributions/72.94.35.160|72.94.35.160]] 02:37, 25 September 2013 (UTC)