explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

954: Chin-Up Bar

2019-12-11T23:55:58Z

172.68.142.227: Do we really need to define "escalator"?

{{comic
| number = 954
| date = September 21, 2011
| title = Chin-Up Bar
| image = chin up bar.png
| titletext = Those few who escaped found the emergency cutoff box disabled. The stampede lasted two hours and reached the bottom three times.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] has once again showed everyone that he is a classhole, with a plan to block traffic on the {{w|Escalator#Longest individual escalators|longest single-tier escalator}} in the Western hemisphere. At the time of the comic's publishing, that placed the comic in the {{w|Wheaton (WMATA station)|Wheaton station}} in {{w|Washington D.C.}}'s {{w|Washington Metro}} subway system, where the 70-meter (230-foot) escalator is. It's clear that Black Hat knows it is the longest and that this is the reason he has chosen this exact escalator for his plan.

Black Hat carries a {{w|chin-up bar}} over his shoulder up the escalator, resulting in a conversation with [[Cueball]], riding up behind him, about Black Hat's motives for doing such. Black Hat uses sly conversing methods to avoid saying his true motives. First he counters the question with another question: ''Why aren't you wearing a hat?'' Cueball's reply is a normal ''I'm not really a hat person'', whereas Black Hat's copy reply is not a real answer; ''I'm not really a not-carrying-a-chin-up-bar person'', which is probably a sentence never used before this comic. It takes Cueball a second to process this answer, but he doesn't give up and asks why again. Black Hat continues deflecting his questions by stating that he's ''not a psychologist'', although he clearly is aware of his own motives and intentions. (One could argue that it would take a psychology degree to explain those motives and intentions.)

After this they reach the top and once they get off Black Hat quickly turns around and locks the bar in place at about waist height (i.e. as high up as possible on an escalator), just before the moving part of the escalator ends.

Chin-up bars are typically capable of holding up a 300 pound (130 kg) person without moving, and a bar like Black Hat has brought with him can be [https://www.amazon.com/Sunny-Health-Fitness-Door-Chin/dp/B0016BNDXI/ref=sr_1_6?s=sports-and-fitness&ie=UTF8&qid=1470541509&sr=1-6&keywords=chin+up+bar installed easily in a doorway], or in the opening of an escalator…

The unexpected appearance of a solidly attached bar at the top of a crowded escalator could be disastrous. The first people would probably stumble backward to avoid it or hit it and topple backwards, and collide with the passengers immediately behind them, knocking them off their feet and likely creating a {{w|domino effect}} all the way down. Indeed, this is exactly what happens and is depicted in the last panel. Black Hat and Cueball are seen on the descending escalator in the background, Cueball has turned around looking at the scene and displaying worry about what Black Hat has done, but Black Hat isn't even looking at the chaos he has caused, completely ignoring all the falling bodies. Although it might be possible, the two are fairly lucky to be unscathed, as they could have been hit by someone in the pileup falling all the way over in their side of the escalator. Since they are most likely on the way down to a subway, the traffic should make it easy for them to get away on the next train, before anyone has a chance to try and find the perpetrator, so Black Hat gets away with his schemes once again.

In the title text it is made clear that the few people that actually escaped the moving stairs were unable to use the emergency shutdown because Black Hat had disabled the system, presumably before ascending in the first place. This is stated to have caused the {{w|stampede}} to last for two hours and waves of falling people would end up reaching the bottom three times, before ascending with the stairs again. The reason for this extended mayhem could be that only the very first people at the top of this domino effect who actually hit the chin-up-bar know what caused the problem to begin with. Since they are likely among those people too hurt to explain anything in time, the next group of people trying to get out after the first wave of falling people might just proceed to run into the same problem at the top once again. The problem is exacerbated by the disabled shutoff, so even if someone sees the chin-up-bar and knows how to escape, he would either be pulled back into the crowd of traffic or be free but unable to help. This helps to explain why the cycle of crowd collapse happened three times, and the use of the word "stampede" connotes the panicked, unorganized behavior of the trapped people that serves to make the problem worse.

Alternately, the stampede reaching the bottom might suggest that the people traversed the entire length of the escalator, though this is not sufficiently wide enough for a human body.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is in the middle of on an escalator with five other people as it ascends. He carries something like a a pole.]

:[Zoom in on Black Hat and Cueball.]
:Cueball: This is a long escalator.
:Black Hat: 70 meters. Longest in the country.

:[Black Hat goes upwards holding his pole.]

:[Cueball is still behind Black Hat.]
:Cueball: Why're you carrying a chin-up bar?
:Black Hat: Why aren't you wearing a hat?

:[The view returns to the original view only showing the six people ascending, only shifted so they are all a bit longer to the right.]
:Cueball: I'm not really a hat person.
:Black Hat: And I'm not really a not-carrying-a-chin-up-bar person.

:[Close up on Cueball on the escalator.]

:[Zoom out. Black Hat still has the pole in his hands.]
:Cueball: Seriously, why did you bring it?
:Black Hat: How should I know? I'm not a psychologist.

:[Zoom in on the top of the escalator where Black Hat steps off and installs the chin-up bar on the exit of the escalator.]
:''Twist'' ''Click'' ''Click''

:[View from above towards both ascending and descending escalators. Black Hat and Cueball are on the descending escalator.]

:[The final panel takes up two entire rows and shows all people falling down.]

==Trivia==
It would appear that the man behind Cueball with glasses and a goatee is the psychologist from [[435: Purity]], and then Megan next to him could be the sociologist from the same comic. This gives new meaning to Black Hat's line about not being a psychologist.

Escalators were also the subject of the earlier comic [[252: Escalators]], a rather more funny take on these dangerous devices.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Psychology]]

Talk:488: Steal This Comic

2019-12-10T16:34:51Z

172.68.142.227:

I'm not sure how credible Natural News is.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/NaturalNews
Then again, I'm not sure how credible RationalWiki is, either. [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 16:08, 5 April 2013 (UTC)
:I'm not sure how credible The Internet is. [[User:Thokling|Thokling]] ([[User talk:Thokling|talk]]) 06:43, 25 September 2013 (UTC)
:Replacing that NaturalNews link with a link to the same story on The Guardian. --[[User:Alex|Alex]] ([[User talk:Alex|talk]]) 14:26, 4 June 2014 (UTC)
"Steal this Comic" refers to the TPB-related "Steal this Film" and not to "Steal this Book" unless I'm very much mistaken. Also, it needs an explanation of what DMCA 1201 is and why it makes "getting your stuff back" illegal (it is, IIRC, the anti-circumvention clause, which says that breaking DRM, even for a legal purpose, is illegal; thus, getting your stuff back, ordinarily a perfectly legal act, is illegal if it involves getting around the DRM). [[User:Magic9mushroom|Magic9mushroom]] ([[User talk:Magic9mushroom|talk]]) 11:39, 21 December 2015 (UTC)
:The title of "Steal this Film" was itself a reference to "Steal this Book." {{unsigned ip|162.158.56.197}}

I believe the breaking of DRM is necessary in certain cases because the media could be associated with specific accounts/computers/IPs/etc. It is not just about the use of iTunes or any other media manager. [[User:Flewk|flewk]] ([[User talk:Flewk|talk]]) 23:12, 3 January 2016 (UTC)

I deleted the "license" crap. When you buy music - on physical media - you do own it. Copyright law prohibits you from doing some things with it - just like how driving laws prohibit you from doing some things with your car - that doesn't mean you don't own it. CDs, tapes, and LPs usually don't even have shrinkwrap "licenses". You only need a license to do legally restricted stuff. IANAL. PS I hate the CAPTCHAs on this site.Tor user @ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.47|108.162.218.47]] 04:30, 13 April 2016 (UTC)
:Once you have an account for 5 days (I think), you don't have to answer any CAPTCHAs. [[User:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8]] ([[User talk:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|talk]]) 21:59, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

There's also System of a Down's album titled "Steal This Album" which is more directly related to the topic of the comic, which is music. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.7|108.162.215.7]] 02:06, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

Black Hat's arms seem too short in the last drawing, or is it just me? [[User:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8]] ([[User talk:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|talk]]) 21:09, 16 March 2017 (UTC)

I followed directions, yay me[[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.227|172.68.142.227]] 16:34, 10 December 2019 (UTC)

1912: Thermostat

2017-11-14T07:55:53Z

172.68.142.227: /* Explanation */ Tweaked word cruft

{{comic
| number = 1912
| date = November 6, 2017
| title = Thermostat
| image = thermostat.png
| titletext = Your problem is so terrible, I worry that, if I help you, I risk drawing the attention of whatever god of technology inflicted it on you.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Rough draft, could still use work. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Hairy]] is working at a tech support office, and receives a call from [[Cueball]]. After the scripted greeting, Cueball, who [[1084|has the]] [[1586|most bizarre]] [[1700|tech issues]], tells Hairy that his thermostat – a single-purpose device used to control indoor heating and air conditioning – is showing an error screen from the {{w|Android operating system}}, and asking if he wants to partition the volume. The Android error seems to imply that it is trying to mount a file with {{w|.doc}} extension (likely a [[1459|Microsoft Word document]]) as the {{w|Boot_device|boot device}}. An added twist is the "(1)" in the filename, which is appended by Windows when a user attempts to copy a file into a directory that already has a file with the same name. (Furthermore, the extension {{w|.docx}} has been the default option from Microsoft Office 2007 onwards rather than the earlier .doc extension used in the comic, implying that the file is likely a rather old one.)

The error message suggests a system problem at a low level of the device. Not only is the operating system missing, but the device is trying to locate the operating system inside a Microsoft Word document, something that has little to do with regulation of temperature and probably has no way of getting onto the device in the first place, let alone being considered as a bootable file.

This is so abnormal that Hairy is briefly struck silent, and upon recovering he suggests Cueball {{tvtropes|SuicideBySea|walk into the sea}} as a form of suicide, rather than try to solve the issue. Hairy might also attempt to interpret the message (partition the volume) more liberally as suggesting the device can {{w|Crossing the Red Sea|part the sea like Moses did in the book of Exodus}}. This may also be a reference to [[349: Success]], but probably isn't.

The title text elaborates that the situation is so absurd that it must be divine punishment, so Hairy does not want to try and help him for fear of invoking the wrath of whatever deity is issuing it. An example of such reasoning in literary culture can be found in the character of {{w|Aeolus_(son_of_Hippotes)|Aeolus}} in the ''{{w|Odyssey}}'', who, having made an unsuccessful attempt to assist {{w|Odysseus}} by giving him a bag containing unfavorable winds, refused to provide further assistance on the grounds that the gods were clearly hostile to Odysseus.

Part of the humor is the problem being only a slight exaggeration of real software issues. The symptoms are unlikely, yet potentially possible (a thermostat could be running Android and could generate a report as a .doc file; given some data corruption, the name of the .doc file could get into the boot script and a volume could appear unpartitioned). It would take an expert Android or Unix engineer to fix, particularly on an embedded device with no obvious way to connect remotely or attach a keyboard. In real life, an embedded device whose software was this broken could just be replaced.

==Transcript==
:[Hairy, with a headset on, is sitting in an office chair at a desk with his hands ready on the keyboard of his computer.]
:Hairy: Tech support, how can I help you?

:[Cueball is on his smartphone while looking at a small blinking panel on the wall in front of him.]
:Cueball: The little LCD on my thermostat says ''Error: Android system recovery: Unrecognized boot volume "/MONTHLY ENERGY REPORT (1).DOC"

:[In a frame-less beat panel Hairy just stares at his screen with his hands on his lap.]

:[Back to Cueball, now with Hairy's reply coming from the smartphone in a box with a jagged arrow pointing to the smartphone.]
:Cueball: It's asking if I want to partition the volume. What should I do?
:Hairy (on the phone): Have you tried walking into the sea.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]

1912: Thermostat

2017-11-14T07:53:55Z

172.68.142.227: /* Explanation */ Fixing word cruft

{{comic
| number = 1912
| date = November 6, 2017
| title = Thermostat
| image = thermostat.png
| titletext = Your problem is so terrible, I worry that, if I help you, I risk drawing the attention of whatever god of technology inflicted it on you.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Rough draft, could still use work. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Hairy]] is working at a tech support office, and receives a call from [[Cueball]]. After the scripted greeting, Cueball, who [[1084|has the]] [[1586|most bizarre]] [[1700|tech issues]], tells Hairy that his thermostat – a single-purpose device used to control indoor heating and air conditioning – is showing an error screen from the {{w|Android operating system}}, and asking if he wants to partition the volume. The Android error seems to imply that it is trying to mount a file with {{w|.doc}} extension (likely a [[1459|Microsoft Word document]]) as the {{w|Boot_device|boot device}}. An added twist is the "(1)" in the filename, which is appended by Windows when a user attempts to copy a file into a directory that already has a file with the same name. (Furthermore, the extension {{w|.docx}} has been the default option from Microsoft Office 2007 onwards rather than the earlier .doc extension used in the comic, implying that the file is likely a rather old one.)

The error message suggests a system problem at a low level of the device. Not only is the operating system missing, but the device is trying to locate the operating system inside a Microsoft Word document, something that has little to do with regulation of temperature and probably has no way of getting onto the device in the first place, let alone being considered as a bootable file.

This is so abnormal that Hairy is briefly struck silent, and upon recovering he suggests Cueball {{tvtropes|SuicideBySea|walk into the sea}} as a form of suicide, rather than try to solve the issue. Hairy might also attempt to interpret the message (partition the volume) more liberally as suggesting the device can {{w|Crossing the Red Sea|part the sea like Moses did in the book of Exodus}}. This may also be a reference to [[349: Success]], but probably isn't.

The title text elaborates that the situation is so absurd that it must be divine punishment, so Hairy does not want to try and help him for fear of invoking the wrath of whatever deity is issuing it. This may be a reference to the character of {{w|Aeolus_(son_of_Hippotes)|Aeolus}} in the ''{{w|Odyssey}}'', who, having made an unsuccessful attempt to assist {{w|Odysseus}} by giving him a bag containing unfavorable winds, refused to provide further assistance on the grounds that the gods were clearly hostile to Odysseus.

Part of the humor is the problem being only a slight exaggeration of real software issues. The symptoms are unlikely, yet potentially possible (a thermostat could be running Android and could generate a report as a .doc file; given some data corruption, the name of the .doc file could get into the boot script and a volume could appear unpartitioned). It would take an expert Android or Unix engineer to fix, particularly on an embedded device with no obvious way to connect remotely or attach a keyboard. In real life, an embedded device whose software was this broken could just be replaced.

==Transcript==
:[Hairy, with a headset on, is sitting in an office chair at a desk with his hands ready on the keyboard of his computer.]
:Hairy: Tech support, how can I help you?

:[Cueball is on his smartphone while looking at a small blinking panel on the wall in front of him.]
:Cueball: The little LCD on my thermostat says ''Error: Android system recovery: Unrecognized boot volume "/MONTHLY ENERGY REPORT (1).DOC"

:[In a frame-less beat panel Hairy just stares at his screen with his hands on his lap.]

:[Back to Cueball, now with Hairy's reply coming from the smartphone in a box with a jagged arrow pointing to the smartphone.]
:Cueball: It's asking if I want to partition the volume. What should I do?
:Hairy (on the phone): Have you tried walking into the sea.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]

1914: Twitter Verification

2017-11-11T17:45:51Z

172.68.142.227: /* Explanation */ I HIGHLY doubt the in-comic spokesman is being sarcastic. The comic itself obviously is though

{{comic
| number = 1914
| date = November 10, 2017
| title = Twitter Verification
| image = twitter_verification.png
| titletext = When we started distributing special status tokens that signify which people are important enough to join an elite group, we never could have imagined we might be creating some problems down the line.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Verified Twitter User. Please alter this comment when editing the wiki page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Some {{w|Twitter}} users (such as [https://twitter.com/coldplay Coldplay], or [https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump Donald Trump]) have a verification checkmark next to their name. This checkmark is used to indicate that the user is who they say they are, rather than being a fake account made by someone else using their picture and name. This helps fans find the real accounts of their favorite celebrities. However, since the most notable people benefit from this the most, there is some ambiguity in the granting of the verified mark, as it also seems to be interpreted as a status symbol to indicate the notable celebrities. Some even see this as Twitter actively endorsing the user. For this reason, Twitter has removed verified checkmarks from real accounts of celebrities because of political controversies in the past. Examples of this are political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos (before he was banned from the service) and gaming YouTuber PewDiePie. One recent controversial decision regarding the verified mark is that Twitter gave a verification checkmark to {{w|Jason Kessler}}, the organizer of a {{w|Unite_the_Right_rally|recent far-right rally}} in Charlottesville, Virginia. This drew attention to Twitter's verification system, [https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/11/09/twitter-halts-verification-over-checkmark-charlottesville-rally-organizer/848314001/ so they temporarily suspended it].

The alt-text comments on the lack of foresight on Twitter's part when implementing the ''verified'' system: as it by design separates users between an in-group and an out-group, it seems to imply endorsement or, at least, favors some users to the detriment of others. This in turn automatically creates the twin sets of "people who shouldn't have been verified, but were" and "people who deserve to have been verified, but weren't." As the internet is populated by various large and strongly opinionated groups [''citation not needed''], neither set will ever be empty and Twitter will always be seen as either endorsing unworthy or snubbing worthy people.

The character depicted is the Twitter CEO {{w|Jack Dorsey}}, judging by the beard.

==Transcript==
:[A bearded figure, depicting the Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, is standing behind a podium with the blue Twitter bird logo.]
:Jack: Everyone calm down—
:Jack: We just need to go figure out how to bestow a global in-or-out status badge on some people, at our discretion, without anyone reading anything into who gets one.
:Jack: This should only take a moment.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Social networking]]

1093: Forget

2017-11-06T23:55:24Z

172.68.142.227: Fixed link to Iran hostage crisis

{{comic
| number = 1093
| date = August 10, 2012
| title = Forget
| image = forget.png
| titletext = 'Baby Got Back' turned 20 this year. My favorite nostalgia show is VH1's 'I Love The Inexorable March of Time Toward the Grave That Awaits Us All.'
}}

==Explanation==
The median age in {{w|USA}} is currently about 37 years. Assuming that you must be at least five years old to remember a cultural event later, this means that anything that happened more than thirty-two years ago is remembered by a minority of people today. This applies to any event prior to 1980, so here in 2012, the majority of Americans are too young to remember the Seventies. However, according to census estimation the median will raise in the future, so instead of a 32 years gap between event and the moment when most people can't remember it, the gap becomes 35 years (implying a median of some 40 years).

'''2013: The Carter presidency''' {{w|Jimmy Carter}} was the {{w|President of the United States}} from 1977-1981. He lost all popularity after he was viewed as mishandling several crises during his presidency, including the {{w|Three Mile Island accident}}, the {{w|Iran hostage crisis}}, and the "{{w|stagflation}}" of the late 1970s. According to Wikipedia, his decisions to reinstate registration for the draft and his decision to boycott the {{w|1980 Summer Olympics}} in Moscow (over the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) helped contribute to his defeat in the 1980 Presidential campaign.

'''2014: The Reagan shooting''' References the 1981 {{w|Reagan assassination attempt|assassination attempt}} on the then American president, {{w|Ronald Reagan}}.

'''2015: The Falkland Islands War''' This is in reference to the {{w|Falklands War|brief outbreak of hostilities}} between the {{w|UK}} and {{w|Argentina}} over the {{w|Falkland Islands|Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)}} located off the shore of Argentina claimed by both but controlled by the UK. Even to this date, tensions remain high over the ownership of these islands, and while many people alive today weren't alive to witness it, it nevertheless remains present in the collective psyche of both nations.

'''2017: The first Apple Macintosh''' The {{w|Macintosh}} was a line of computers created by {{w|Apple Inc.|Apple}}, first introduced in 1984, with the {{w|Macintosh 128K}}.

'''2018: New Coke''' References a public relations blunder that the Coca Cola corporation undertook in attempting to reformulate its cola recipe, the new formula called {{w|New Coke}} popularly. The public backlash so shook the company that they reintroduced the original recipe as {{w|Coca-Cola Classic}} within 3 months. New Coke was eventually rebranded from Coca-Cola to Coke II, and then discontinued. Coca-Cola Classic has quietly been rebranded back to simply Coca-Cola, as it originally was. The "New Coke" introduction is considered one of the biggest PR blunders from a major company ever.

'''2019: Challenger''' The {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger|Challenger}} was a {{w|NASA}} space shuttle, which was launched in 1986, but {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|exploded}} 72 seconds into its flight, killing everyone aboard, including {{w|Christa McAuliffe}}, a teacher selected to be the first teacher in space.

'''2020: Chernobyl''' Refers to the 1986 meltdown of a {{w|Chernobyl|nuclear power plant}} in the {{w|Ukranian SSR}} (then a part of the Soviet Union). The meltdown forced the nearby city of {{w|Pripyat}} to be abandoned, and it remains a ghost town today.

'''2021: Black Monday''' Refers to the 1987 {{w|Black Monday (1987)|day}} of the largest one-day {{w|stock market}} drop in history.

'''2022: The Reagan presidency''' {{w|Ronald Reagan}} was an American president from 1981 to 1989, and was a generally well received president known for ending the Cold War, oversaw the {{w|Iran–Contra affair}}, {{w|Invasion of Grenada|invading Grenada}}, and issuing forth a number of new {{w|Reaganomics|economic policies}}.

'''2023: The Berlin Wall''' Refers to the {{w|Berlin Wall|barrier}} surrounding the western-controlled part of {{w|Berlin}}. It was erected by the {{w|East Germany|East German}} Government in 1961 to stop illegal emigration to West Berlin-the western-controlled enclave after the ending of the Second World War. After a friendly revolution in 1989, emigration to West Berlin (and West German in general) was granted suddenly and very surprisingly again on November 9, 1989. The following rush of people to the Wall from East (to cross the border) and from West (to welcome friends and relatives) in that night coined the figurative "Fall of the Wall", preceding the actual reunion of Germany in 1990 and (almost) complete demolition of the Wall.

'''2024: HammerTime''' Refers to a refrain in {{w|MC Hammer|MC Hammer's}} 1990 hit song {{w|U Can't Touch This}}; [[Randall Munroe]] makes reference to this song elsewhere in his comics, too (specifically [[108: M.C. Hammer Slide]] and [[210: 90's Flowchart]]).

'''2025: The Soviet Union''' Refers to a country emerging after the end of {{w|World War I}}. It became the cold-war adversary of the United States after the end of {{w|World War II}} and only collapsed in 1991.

'''2026: The LA Riots''' Refers to the {{w|1992 Los Angeles riots|massive riots}} occurring at the release of the verdict acquitting the officers accused of the {{w|Rodney King}} beatings in 1992.

'''2027: Lorena Bobbit''' Refers to the {{w|John and Lorena Bobbitt|woman}} who {{w|emasculated}} her husband in 1993.

'''2028: The Forrest Gump release''' ''{{w|Forrest Gump}}'' was a 1994 drama starring {{w|Tom Hanks}} as a mentally disabled man, telling his spectacular life story. The movie had a highly successful release, and remains one of the greatest films of all time.

'''2029: The Rwanda Genocide''' Refers to the 1994 {{w|Rwandan genocide}}, where an estimated 800,000 people were killed.

'''2030: OJ Simpson's Trial''' The {{w|O. J. Simpson murder case|O.J. Simpson trial}} was a famous criminal case during which {{w|O.J. Simpson}}, a professional football player, was {{w|acquitted}} of the murder of {{w|Nicole Simpson}} and {{w|Ronald Goldman}}. He was later arrested and jailed for other crimes, including armed robbery and kidnapping.

'''2031: Clinton's reelection''' {{w|Bill Clinton}} was the American president from 1993 to 2001. He won his second term in the {{w|United States presidential election, 1996|1996 presidential election}}. During his second term, he faced controversy during an {{w|impeachment}} trial, for which he was acquitted, and a large number of pardons he made on his last day of office. Clinton was a generally favoured president, exiting his presidency with a high approval rate.

'''2032: Princess Diana''' {{w|Princess Diana}} was a famous {{w|Commonwealth}} princess who made headlines after her 1997 {{w|Death of Diana, Princess of Wales|death}} in a car crash.

'''2033: Clinton's impeachment''' In 1998, the American {{w|Congress}} voted to {{w|Impeachment of Bill Clinton|impeach}} then-president Clinton, based on allegations that he {{w|Lewinsky scandal|lied}} about relations with a {{w|Monica Lewinsky|White House intern}}. He was later acquitted.

'''2034: Columbine''' Refers to the 1999 {{w|Columbine High School massacre}}, where 13 people were killed by a {{w|Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold|pair of shooters}}.

'''2035: Forgot About Dre''' Refers to the {{w|Grammy}} winning 2000 song, "{{w|Forgot About Dre}}," by the rapper {{w|Dr. Dre}}. In it, Dre complains that his accomplishments have been purposefully ignored and forgotten; ironically, at some point in the future Dre's complaints about being forgotten will, themselves, be forgotten.

'''2036: 9/11''' Refers to the {{w|9/11}} event, in 2001, where terrorists crashed two planes into the {{w|World Trade Center}} towers, in {{w|New York}}. Two other planes crashed that day: one into the {{w|The Pentagon}}, and one in a field outside of {{w|Shanksville, Pennsylvania}} (presumably on its way to crashing into the Capitol Building).

'''2037: VH1's I love the 80s''' ''{{w|I Love the '80s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '80s}}'' was a 2002 nostalgia TV series by {{w|VH1}}. This will make the 1980s doubly forgotten; not only will people not remember the decade, they will not remember the famous retrospective of people remembering the decade.

'''2038: A time before Facebook''' Refers to the online social media site, {{w|Facebook}}, launched in 2004.

'''2039: VH1's I love the 90s''' ''{{w|I Love the '90s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '90s}}'' was a TV series airing in 2004.

'''2040: Hurricane Katrina''' {{w|Hurricane Katrina}} was a devastating 2005 hurricane that hit {{w|New Orleans}}, killing almost 2000 people and causing 81 billion dollars in damage.

'''2041: The planet Pluto''' {{w|Pluto}} is a {{w|dwarf planet}} in our solar system. Up until 2006, Pluto was considered to be a planet.

'''2042: The first iPhone''' {{w|Apple}}'s first iPhone was released in 2007.

'''2043: The Bush presidency''' {{w|George W. Bush}} was the American presidency from 2001 to 2009. He was criticized for the wars on {{w|War in Afghanistan (2001%E2%80%93present)|Afghanistan}} and {{w|Iraq War|Iraq}}, poor handling of Hurricane Katrina, and seeing the United States enter a recession. His approval peaked after the 9/11 attacks, but had fallen to historical lows by the end of his second term, making him one of the least liked US presidents.

'''2044: Michael Jackson''' Refers to the {{w|Michael Jackson|pop singer}} who died of drug overdose in 2009.

'''2045: Trying to say Eyjafjallajökull''' Is a reference to a volcano in {{w|Iceland}} that {{w|Eyjafjallajökull#2010 eruptions|erupted}} in 2010. The eruption threw volcanic ash several kilometres up in the atmosphere, which led to air travel disruption in northwest Europe for six days.

'''2046: The Arab Spring''' Refers to the {{w|Arab Spring|wave of revolutions}} that began in late 2010, where many Arabic nations overthrew leaders and started civil wars, with many nations converting to democracies.

'''2047: Anything embarrassing you do today''' Refers to the fact that in 35 years, the majority of Americans will not have been around on this date.

The title text is in reference to the vastly over-saturated programming on VH1 dedicated to the history of the TV universe.

==Transcript==
:'''When Will We Forget?'''
:Based on US Census Bureau ''National Population Projections''
:Assuming we don't remember cultural events from before age 5 or 6

:By this year: The majority of Americans will be too young to remember:
:2012: The seventies
:2013: The Carter presidency
:2014: The Reagan shooting
:2015: The Falkland Islands war
:2016: ''The return of the Jedi''release
:2017: The first Apple Macintosh
:2018: New Coke
:2019: ''Challenger''
:2020: Chernobyl
:2021: Black Monday
:2022: The Reagan presidency
:2023: The Berlin Wall
:2024: HammerTime
:2025: The Soviet Union
:2026: The LA Riots
:2027: Lorena Bobbit
:2028: The ''Forrest Gump'' release
:2029: The Rwanda Genocide
:2030: OJ Simpson's Trial
:2031: Clinton's reelection
:2032: Princess Diana
:2033: Clinton's impeachment
:2034: Columbine
:2035: ''Forgot About Dre''
:2036: 9/11
:2037: VH1's ''I love the 80s''
:2038: A time before Facebook
:2039: VH1's ''I love the 90s''
:2040: Hurricane Katrina
:2041: The planet Pluto
:2042: The first iPhone
:2043: The Bush presidency
:2044: Michael Jackson
:2045: Trying to say ´´Eyjafjallajökull``
:2046: The Arab Spring
:2047: Anything embarrassing you do today

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics to make one feel old]]

1912: Thermostat

2017-11-06T19:28:28Z

172.68.142.227: /* Explanation */ Comic 349 shows them swimming away from a prison island, not walking into the sea by choice

1905: Cast Iron Pan

2017-11-03T07:42:03Z

172.68.142.227: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1905
| date = October 20, 2017
| title = Cast Iron Pan
| image = cast_iron_pans.png
| titletext = If you want to evenly space them, it's easiest to alternate between the Arctic and Antarctic. Some people just go to the Arctic twice, near the equinoxes so the visits are almost 6 months apart, but it's not the same.
}}

==Explanation==
White Hat is discussing tips for maintaining {{w|Cast-iron cookware}}. In typical xkcd fashion, the comic starts off somewhat realistic and escalates to absurdity.

===1st Panel===
[[White Hat]] tells the old myth (debunking articles: [https://lifehacker.com/go-ahead-and-use-soap-to-clean-your-cast-iron-pan-1658416503 Lifehacker], [http://www.thekitchn.com/can-you-really-not-wash-your-cast-iron-with-soap-235237 The Kitchn], [http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/the-truth-about-cast-iron.html Serious Eats]), that "you shouldn't wash your {{w|Cast-iron cookware|cast iron pan}} with soap since it destroys the {{w|Seasoning (cookware)|seasoning}}", to [[Cueball]]. Seasoning is the process of treating the surface of a pan with a stick-resistant coating formed from polymerized fat and oil on the surface. Although it may not be a problem to use soap on your seasoned cast iron pan, you should still {{w|Seasoning_(cookware)#Care|proceed with care}} with how you treat it.
===2nd Panel===
White Hat starts to exaggerate; he tells him that if he ever as much as let soap touch the pan he should just throw it away, as that fact alone would prove that he would not be up to taking care of such a precious possession. This is a kind of scare tactic that might make Cueball believe this and anything else he tells him.
===3rd Panel===
White Hat continues to give dubious advice to the point of absurdity, and Cueball becomes more and more wary of it.

His next word of advice is to apply {{w|moisturizer}} to the pan daily to keep it fresh. Cueball asks why and is told that it is to avoid the pan getting {{w|Wrinkle|wrinkles}}. This implies that the pan would age like a human and get wrinkles. This is, of course, nonsense{{Citation needed}}, but Cueball is not yet ready to dismiss White Hat's advice.
===4th Panel===
The final piece of advice is that twice a year Cueball should fill the pan with {{w|iron filings}} and leave it in direct sunlight for 24 hours. Both details are intended to be absurd. For one, {{tvtropes|NoodleImplements|neither the iron filings nor the sunlight appear to serve any actual purpose}}. Second, White Hat proclaims that you should be willing to go to a place where the sun shines 24 hours in a day twice a year. North of the {{w|Arctic Circle}} (often shortened to simply "the {{w|Arctic}}") there will be at least one day a year where the sun does not set. So what White Hat implies is that it is not enough to leave the pan with the iron filings in sunlight for a combined 24 hours (over a couple of days); no, it has to be 24 continuous hours of sun. And if you are not prepared to make such a trip, you simply don't deserve a cast iron pan.

White Hat's strict tone "If you're not willing to travel to the Arctic, you don't ''deserve'' cast iron" might also suggest that cast iron is a special almost-legendary metal similar to {{w|Damascus steel}} or its fictional counterpart Valyrian steel and requires distant travel to obtain/maintain. This might have historically been true, as few people had access to cast iron in the West before the 15th century unless they were willing to travel to China (a civilization that had been casting iron for two millennia or more) to get it.
===Title text===
In the title text, White Hat mentions that, if you wish to evenly space the two 24 hours of sun each year, it is easiest to alternate between the Arctic and the {{w|Antarctic}} regions. But this will mean that you have to travel a long distance at least once a year; even if you already lived inside one of the {{w|Circle_of_latitude#Polar_Circles|Polar Circles}}, you would have to travel to the other at least once a year.

It is implied that you do not have to space them evenly. As he mentions, some people just go to the Arctic twice a year near the {{w|equinoxes}}. However, according to White Hat, this is not the same, probably because it doesn't lead to an exact six-month spacing and the sun would stay very low on the horizon and the sunlight would not be as intense.

In order to accomplish this other scheme, it also means that they would actually have to go very close to the {{w|North Pole}} (or {{w|South Pole}}), as this is the only place with midnight sun around the equinoxes. So, in principle, this would be much more cumbersome than just going inside the southernmost part of the Arctic region at the {{w|summer solstice}}, and similarly the northernmost part of the Antarctic region at the northern hemisphere's {{w|winter solstice}} (which will be the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere).

When looking at it like this, it may seem that White Hat actually means that you should always go to the poles, rather than just to a place with 24 hours of sunlight, in order to have the sun high in the sky as well.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat is holding a pan by the handle pointing to the frying surface as he shows it to Cueball.]
:White Hat: Never clean a cast-iron pan with soap. It destroys the seasoning.
:Cueball: Got it.

:[White Hat shift the pan to his right hand and lowers it to his side holding a finger up in front of Cueball.]
:White Hat: If you ever let soap touch the pan, throw it away. You're clearly not up to taking care of it.
:Cueball: Wow, okay.

:[In a frame-less panel White Hat has taken the pan back to the first hand holding on the the edge while he holds his other hand close to the frying surface.]
:White Hat: Apply moisturizer to the pan daily to keep it fresh.
:Cueball: ...Moisturizer?
:White Hat: Do you want it to get all wrinkly?
:Cueball: ...I...guess not.

:[White Hat has shifted the pan to the second hand again holding it by the handle away from Cueball, while pointing at Cueball with the other hand.]
:White Hat: Twice a year, fill the pan with iron filings and leave it in direct sunlight for 24 hours.
:Cueball: Wait. 24 hours of sun?
:White Hat: If you're not willing to travel to the Arctic, you don't '''''deserve''''' cast iron.

{{comic discussion}}

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

1910: Sky Spotters

2017-11-03T07:24:40Z

172.68.142.227: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1910
| date = November 1, 2017
| title = Sky Spotters
| image = sky_spotters.png
| titletext = Where I live, one of the most common categories of sky object without a weird obsessive spotting community is "lost birthday party balloons," so that might be a good choice—although you risk angering the marine wildlife people, and they have sharks.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic explores how people with various hobbies notice strange things in the sky.

In first panel the plane enthusiasts [[White Hat]] and [[Hairy]] notice that there is a {{w|Piper PA-24 Comanche}} in the sky (apparently the most recent of several), belonging to a holding company that has filed no flight plans. Flight plans do not need to be filed for many short flights at lower altitudes in good weather, so for a small aircraft like the PA-24 the missing flight plan alone should not be unusual. Many government or company planes used for secret purposes, like [https://www.buzzfeed.com/peteraldhous/hidden-spy-planes FBI planes registered to fake companies], go a step further and are blacklisted from major databases. Regardless, it makes White Hat and Hairy wonder why, enough that they decide to post about it on their {{w|Aircraft spotting|plane spotter}} forums. (See [[1669: Planespotting]]).

In the second panel [[Hairbun]] and a male bird enthusiast are wondering why there is a {{w|broad-winged hawk}} in the area in November, when many broad-winged hawks should have migrated south to areas like Florida and Central America. They decide to send a message to their {{w|birdwatching}} e-mail list. (See [[1824: Identification Chart]] and [[1826: Birdwatching]]). The two birdwatchers in this panel look like the old version of [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] in [[572: Together]].

In the last panel, a committee from what appears to be the {{w|National Security Agency}} wonders how to disguise their {{w|Unmanned aerial vehicle|drones}} so that people will not pay attention to them. The boss at the end of table is lamenting the fact that both their bird- and plane-disguised drones have been noticed because of all these people constantly checking out the sky, also indicating that there are even more subcultures who are obsessed with things in the sky than the two mentioned already. [[Ponytail]] asks what else they could disguise their (secret) surveillance drones as, and Cueball suggests a {{w|weather balloon}}. But Ponytail shoots this down since such a disguise would attract both the {{w|UFO}} enthusiasts and the "weather people" (presumably some regulation board that checks unauthorized use of meteorological survey balloons). A joke is then put in as she notes that she doesn't know which is worse. Since most people consider UFO enthusiasts to be in to conspiracies, the "weather people" may be annoyed by this. Maybe [[Randall]] is indicating that people trying to predict the weather are correct as often as those claiming to have seen a UFO...

There are numerous instances of weather balloons being labeled as UFOs by enthusiasts, one of the most notable being the {{w|Roswell UFO incident}}, which for years was explained by the US military as a weather balloon crash, but turned out to be a nuclear test surveillance balloon. It is now known as the ''most thoroughly debunked UFO claim''.

In the title text it is suggested that "lost birthday party balloons" should not attract too much attention. But then it is noted that it might make marine wildlife people angry, their concern probably being that balloons ultimately end up in some water body, which causes marine wildlife to get trapped in plastic and other synthetic material that was dumped in the water. (see {{w|Marine debris}}) "Marine wildlife people with sharks" may be a reference to [[585: Outreach]], which also features a balloon carrying a shark. Another possible issue with disguising drones as "lost balloons" is that such balloons are quite rarely seen, and a sudden increase in the number of "lost balloons" seen would certainly raise suspicion even without a "spotting community" that focuses on them.

The reference to red trim on the Piper PA-24 Comanche could be a reference to the livery of {{w|Janet (airline)}} which operates clandestine flights between Las Vegas, Area 51, and other desert military bases, although these planes are in fact registered to the Department of the Air Force, rather than a holding company.

Among other types of people looking at the sky, the comic doesn't even get around to mentioning the subject of comic [[1644: Stargazing]].

==Transcript==
:[White Hat and Hairy are standing in front of some buildings. White Hat points to the sky while holding his smartphone in the other hand, while Hairy holds his smartphone up in both hands as he looks at the screen.]
:White Hat: That's odd—another PA-24 Comanche with red trim. Registered to a holding company, no recent flight plans.
:Hairy: I'll ask the forums if anyone knows who operates those.

:[Hairbun and an old man with white sailor cap, are standing in a field with rolling hills behind them. Hairbun is looking at the sky through her binoculars, that she has in a string around her neck. The man also looks up but he is holding his string attached binoculars down in front of him.]
:Hairbun: Goodness, I think that's a broad-winged hawk!
:Man with sailor cap: In November?! They should be long gone by now!
:Hairbun: I'll email the list.

:[Five people sit around a table in a boardroom, which presumably belongs to the government as the table has a circular insignia with an eagle in the center and unreadable text in the ring around the eagle and beneath the insignia. A man with slick black hair is sitting at the end of the table in an office chair. The other four are sitting behind the long side of the table; from left they are Cueball, Megan, another version of Hairy with spikier hair, and to the right, Ponytail.]
:Man at the end of the table: Dammit, why are there so many different subcultures obsessed with staring at the sky?
:Ponytail: What else could we disguise our surveillance drones as?
:Cueball: Weather balloons?
:Ponytail: No, that gets the UFO people ''and'' the weather people.
:Ponytail: Don't know who's worse.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Drones]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1074: Moon Landing

2017-10-30T23:41:31Z

172.68.142.227: Cassini is no more. Long live Cassini!

{{Comic
| number = 1074
| date = June 27, 2012
| title = Moon Landing
| image = moon_landing.png
| titletext = Ok, so Spirit and Opportunity are pretty awesome. And Kepler. And New Horizons, Cassini, Curiosity, TiME, and Project M. But c'mon, if the Earth were a basketball, in 40 years no human's been more than half an inch from the surface.
}}

==Explanation==
The comment to which [[Cueball]] is referring is [https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/73388356461019136 a tweet] by {{w|Neil deGrasse Tyson}}, an American astrophysicist and science communicator. As of this comic, Tyson is the "Frederick P. Rose Director" (a special honorary title) of the {{w|Hayden Planetarium}}. He has appeared on many different shows, ranging from The Discovery Channel to The Big Bang Theory.

There are a number of {{w|moon landing conspiracy theories|conspiracy theories}} claiming that the moon landing was a hoax. Tyson offers a pretty compelling argument against them, but [[Megan]] presents an even more convincing refutation, snarkily implying that NASA really hasn't done anything spectacular since 1969.

And Cueball responds with a pun on the word "burn". Burn can mean a particularly effective insult, or it can mean the consumption of fuel for propulsion. In this case, the "burn" was so effective it pushed the spaceship out of orbit (which usually takes a very large amount of burning, depending on the gravity of the planet or moon).

In the title text [[Randall]] mentions many successful {{w|NASA}} unmanned missions:
*The {{w|Mars Exploration Rover|Mars rovers}} Spirit and Opportunity, which landed in 2004. Opportunity has been working for over ten years on the surface of Mars; Spirit got stuck in 2009 and shut down for good in 2010. See this comic: [[695: Spirit]].
*{{w|Kepler (spacecraft)|Kepler}} found many {{w|exoplanets}}
*{{w|New Horizons}} is a mission to the dwarf planet {{w|Pluto}} and beyond. It did a flyby of Pluto in July 2015 and is on its way out of the solar system.
*{{w|Cassini–Huygens|Cassini}} was a probe orbiting {{w|Saturn}} from 2004 until {{w|Cassini_retirement|its controlled entry into Saturn}} in 2017.
*{{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}} is another, larger Mars rover, exploring the Martian surface since August 2012.
*{{w|Titan Mare Explorer|TiME}} is a proposed mission to explore the oceans of Saturn's moon Titan.
*{{w|Project M (NASA)|Project M}} is an idea to send human-like robots to the Moon.
The final sentence of title text notes that all manned missions since the Moon landings have taken place in low-earth orbit, which is barely far off of the Earth's surface. If the Earth were scaled to the size of a regulation basketball, approximately 24 cm (9¼ inches) in diameter, those manned missions would have all taken place within 1.25 cm (½ inch) of the ball's surface. At this scale the Moon would be at a distance of 7.7 m (25.3 ft). Unmanned missions, such as those named above or the {{w|Voyager program|Voyager}} and {{w|Mariner program|Mariner}} probes of the 1960s and 1970s, have travelled much further.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting at a table with a laptop open. His hands are on the keys.]
:Cueball: Hah- Neil DeGrasse Tyson has a great reply to people who doubt astronauts went to the moon.
:Voice off-screen: Oh?
:Cueball: "Atop 3,000 tons of rocket fuel, where ''else'' do you think they were headed?"

:[The voice off screen turns out to be Megan. She is depicted, and now Cueball is off-screen.]
:Megan: Cute. But it overlooks an even simpler argument.
:Cueball: Which is?

:[Both Megan and Cueball are now visible. Cueball has turned his chair around to face her.]
:Megan: If NASA were willing to fake great accomplishments, they'd have a second one by now.
:Cueball: ''Ouch.''
:Megan: ...Too mean?
:Cueball: That burn was so harsh I think you deorbited.

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

Talk:1277: Ayn Random

2017-02-26T07:55:06Z

172.68.142.227:

I think that should be /(\b[plurandy]+\b ?){2}/i.

[[Special:Contributions/173.66.108.213|173.66.108.213]] 05:12, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

I agree. I was confused for a while about what the b's were doing.

[[Special:Contributions/99.126.178.56|99.126.178.56]] 06:57, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

Maybe it's time to have an Ayn Rand category? --[[Special:Contributions/141.89.226.146|141.89.226.146]] 07:34, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

Can someone explain to the mathematically challenged *how* the list of names fits the regular expression? [[Special:Contributions/141.2.75.23|141.2.75.23]] 09:14, 14 October 2013 (UTC)
: Agreed, I would like to understand what the hell is going on with that. --[[User:Zagorath|Zagorath]] ([[User talk:Zagorath|talk]]) 09:20, 14 October 2013 (UTC)
: How specific do you want it? Basically it matches two words consisting of the letters plurandy. The list of names is just a random selection of two part names that only consists of these letters. More specifically it matches: Two groups ({2}), each consisting of a word boundary (\b), followed by a non-empty sequence of the letters plurandy ([plurandy]+), followed by a word boundary (\b), finally followed by an optional space ( ?). [[User:Pmakholm|Pmakholm]] ([[User talk:Pmakholm|talk]]) 09:33, 14 October 2013 (UTC)
::Also, the /'s on the end delimit the regex proper, and the `i` on the end denotes case insensitivity. --[[Special:Contributions/75.66.178.177|75.66.178.177]] 09:39, 14 October
2013 (UTC)
:::In the explanation of how the regex works after the explanation "'''the {2} on the end means to repeat the pattern, so it must match exactly twice'''" I think you need an explanation of how the optional space in the middle interacts with the word boundaries. I.e.
::::(\b[plurandy]+\b ?){2}
:::Expanding:
::::\b[plurandy]+\b ?\b[plurandy]+\b ?
:::Now the optional space at the end is redundant, and the space in the center is not optional, since if there is no space the word boundaries do not exist. If the space is present the word boundaries are redundent because letter space letter sequence always matches them.
::::\b[plurandy]+ [plurandy]+\b ?
:::And this now closely matches the text description "'''Overall, it matches two words separated by a space, composed entirely of the letters in [plurandy], which is what all the names listed have in common.'''" --[[Special:Contributions/108.17.2.71|108.17.2.71]] 17:26, 16 October 2013 (UTC)
:Some examples
:* "Ru Paul" would match, because it is two sequences, each containing only capital or lowercase versions of the listed letters.
:* "Randall Flagg" would not match, because the letters F and G are not in the bracketed list.
:* "Aura Anaya Adlar" would not match; even though the letters are all in the list, there are more than two sequences.
:Hope this helps!
:[[User:Swartzer|Swartzer]] ([[User talk:Swartzer|talk]]) 20:24, 15 October 2013 (UTC)
[[Special:Contributions/209.132.186.34|209.132.186.34]] 09:26, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

I do not think Randal would make such mistake, he would probably use \< \> anyway... unless, he wants us
to think he did mistake, or that backslash was eliminated in html/javascript... thus poining ut to
source code of the page... is there something interesting?
: I skimmed over the source and didn't see anything unusual. The '\'s are absent from the source too. I think it's just that Randall (or a tool he's using) was so affraid of [[327|Bobby Tables]] that he stripped all backslashes from the alt text. {{unsigned|Jahvascriptmaniac}}
::The title text at xkcd.com now has the missing backslashes. Do you normally update the comic here to reflect updates?--[[Special:Contributions/108.17.2.71|108.17.2.71]] 16:14, 14 October 2013 (UTC)
:::Already updated. You were saying?
::::Hmm, backslashes are still missing for me when viewing the original at xkcd.com (viewing in Chrome) [[User:Brion|Brion]] ([[User talk:Brion|talk]]) 02:33, 20 December 2013 (UTC)

Can someone explain to me where "In their view, if some humans are born more capable of satisfying their desires than other people, they deserve to reap greater rewards from life than others" comes from? I'm somewhat familiar with objectivist philosophy and I've never heard this put forward as an actual principle. [[Special:Contributions/50.90.39.56|50.90.39.56]] 14:14, 14 October 2013 (UTC)
:Objectivism is the target for much scorn and ridicule in the intellectual world, for its being an inconsistent philosophy that has the sole objective of justifying selfishness and elevating it towards moral righteousness. It's used as the basis for libertarian thought and other radical capitalist economical theories and political stances which promote shameless exploitation (and this attracts further hatred). Randall is no exception to this trend of detractors, and I'd say rightfully so. Ayn Rand's writings are particularly awful, both aesthetically and content-wise, yet in the US a relatively large group of philosophers still adhere to her maxims and the debate continues.{{unsigned ip|37.221.160.203}}
:In fact, this is an imprecise and, therefore, incorrect statement of Objectivist philosophy. A correct and more complete statement can be found under the entry for "Selfishness" in the Ayn Rand Lexicon: "The Objectivist ethics holds that human good does not require human sacrifices and cannot be achieved by the sacrifice of anyone to anyone. It holds that the rational interests of men do not clash—that there is no conflict of interests among men who do not desire the unearned, who do not make sacrifices nor accept them, who deal with one another as traders, giving value for value."[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.8|108.162.237.8]] 23:38, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

Most people would write the regexp as /(\b[adlnpruy]+\b ?){2}/i. Using "plurandy" makes it look like a word, which is more confusing than using the letters' natural order. --[[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 15:58, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

Would it be better to identify Alan Alda not for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in MASH, but for his role in The West Wing as Arnold Vinick, a fiscally-conservative Republican presidential candidate? [[Special:Contributions/193.67.17.36|193.67.17.36]] 16:03, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

:Depends, are we trying to remind him to general audience (I think MASH is more known) or find out why he was included in list? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 08:50, 16 October 2013 (UTC)

There is probably an additional joke or three in that the regex is the minimum needed to capture the first three names together (hinted at by "plurandy" eg plural rand) , but also captures the others. on top of which all of the listed people are considered "intrinsically better" (by virtue of fame if nothing else)[[Special:Contributions/74.213.201.51|74.213.201.51]] 03:14, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

Alan Ladd may have been a founding member of the Secret Council of /(\b[plurandy]+\b ?){2}/i. [[Special:Contributions/71.190.237.117|71.190.237.117]] 07:15, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

It's probably obvious to most programmers, but is it worth pointing out that part of the pun is that the random number generator function is called rand() in most C-family languages? [[Special:Contributions/130.60.156.183|130.60.156.183]] 14:07, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

Another member of this secret society is Randall P [[Special:Contributions/79.182.178.53|79.182.178.53]] 16:45, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

From above: "Objectivism is the target for much scorn and ridicule in the intellectual world, for its being an inconsistent philosophy that has the sole objective of justifying selfishness and elevating it towards moral righteousness. It's used as the basis for libertarian thought and other radical capitalist economical theories and political stances which promote shameless exploitation (and this attracts further hatred). Randall is no exception to this trend of detractors, and I'd say rightfully so. Ayn Rand's writings are particularly awful, both aesthetically and content-wise, yet in the US a relatively large group of philosophers still adhere to her maxims and the debate continues." OK, but a few comments: All philosophies are inconsistent when looked at closely enough, refer Godel and others. Others do not see the inconsistency in Objectivism quite so plainly as in the quoted comment. Ayn Rand and Objectivism are not "the" basis of libertarian thought, there are far more highly thought of libertarian thinkers, a list of whom should come readily to mind to any of those occupying "the intellectual world" (sic), whether or not they have sympathy with libertarian ideas. It is also unfair to characterise Objectivism as having as its "sole" objective that as stated. Further, as a general principle, one ought not to take someone poking fun at a concept as *proof* that they are quite as opposed to it as you are. Now, whereas I would not categorise myself quite as a fellow traveller, a much fairer view of Objectivism is found at WP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_(Ayn_Rand) [[Special:Contributions/81.135.136.159|81.135.136.159]] 11:22, 16 October 2013 (UTC)

:Other philosophies are no more consistent, agreed. But other philosophies do not claim perfect "objective" consistency as their fundamental principle. Attacking Objectivism/Objectivists for lack of internal consistency--or for not recognizing that at some, very fundamental, level it is all stacked on top of some assumptions (just like every other philosophy, and even the scientific method)--is the equivalent of attacking Christianity/Christians for lacking compassion and forgiveness. [[Special:Contributions/129.176.151.14|129.176.151.14]] 14:04, 16 October 2013 (UTC)

:Poking fun can indeed fall into the categories of self-irony or goodwill, but in this case Randall quite explicitly accuses the recipient of bias, making his disapproval pretty unequivocal. [[Special:Contributions/199.48.147.40|199.48.147.40]] 16:51, 16 October 2013 (UTC)

I have added a line about the rational numbers joke; it's definitely there, though I'm not sure if Randall intended it (probably did?). {{unsigned ip|76.124.119.161}}
:Don't think it makes much sense, because a random number generator algorithm of any kind couldn't possibly generate irrational numbers in finite time. [[Special:Contributions/77.244.254.228|77.244.254.228]] 16:34, 17 October 2013 (UTC)
: It does make sense, mathematically speaking a random number chosen in any open interval is irrational with probability 1, and yet any open interval contains rational numbers that could, in principal, be chosen due to density of the rationals. The joke is brilliant, if intended. [[Special:Contributions/76.124.119.161|76.124.119.161]] 04:00, 18 October 2013 (UTC)
::Yes but, at that point, all random number generators are biased and not just the Ayn Random number generator. Also, the bias towards rational numbers doesn't seem to be there when your pool of numbers is just the rationals. The whole idea behind the joke seems to be more like Ayn Rand's assumptions of objectivity ending up favoring certain social groups. I dunno, it just seems forced to me. [[Special:Contributions/220.117.150.36|220.117.150.36]] 19:00, 18 October 2013 (UTC)
::: Considering real numbers are well-understood mathematically this seems like a shortcoming of implementation, which isn't that interesting... the concept is there. [[Special:Contributions/76.124.119.161|76.124.119.161]] 22:06, 18 October 2013 (UTC)
:::: The whole idea behind random number generation bias is the bugs they can create within software implementation (for example, weakening cryptography). An hypothetically generated irrational number would have to be truncated at some decimal place (thus making it rational) for it to be usable. Here it's a programming joke, not a math one. [[Special:Contributions/95.229.229.31|95.229.229.31]] 22:37, 18 October 2013 (UTC)
::::: ...unless interpreted as a math joke. I agree that the joke admits programming interpretation, but I'd never try to exclude other interpretations as well. The math interpretation is valid since one can choose not to get muddled in implementation and to instead envision a hypothetical random number generator not bound by truncation. Randall's comics certainly admit this kind of whimsy. [[Special:Contributions/76.124.119.161|76.124.119.161]] 23:55, 18 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::: Well, it says "This Ayn Random number generator you wrote" so I'd take it at face value, but that's just me. [[Special:Contributions/95.229.229.31|95.229.229.31]] 00:33, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

And somehow, no one's mentioned the classic cartoon ''[[221]]:Random Number'', which presents a random number generator which is heavily biased towards one number. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 21:58, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

Is the joke here not along the lines that Ayn Rand's politics, and that of Libertarianism, claim that they are fair and that they treat everyone equally - in that, supposedly, anyone can get what they want and be successful if they work hard - but the reality is that some people will fare better than others due to having certain advantages such as having been born into wealth, knowing the right people, one might even suggest that being white, middle class and male are advantageous. In a random number generator you would expect any number to be as likely to come up as any other. Similarly, Rand supporters would argue that under Objectivism, any person is by default as able to be successful as any other. The fact that some people succeed and others fail is explained as some people being inherently more able to succeed, rather than any bias in the system itself - hence she divides people into 'looters' and 'moochers'; there's also that scene I always remember in Dirty Dancing where the guy chucks a copy of The Fountainhead in Baby's direction and says 'some people count, some people don't'. Randall is mocking the idea of a system that is supposedly inherently fair and yet biases certain classes of people, with the idea of a 'random' number generator that is biased towards certain numbers not because of a problem with the system but because some numbers are supposedly 'inherently better'.[[Special:Contributions/213.86.4.78|213.86.4.78]] 15:09, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

Regarding rational numbers, p and q are allowed to have a common factor. 3/3 is still rational, just not reduced. Every rational number has an irreducible representation, but it doesn't have to be reduced to be part of the set of rationals. Also, since the definition is otherwise very specific, it could mention that q cannot be 0, which I don't think is mentioned. While that's a neat observation, I agree with the guy above that pointed out that no implementation of a random number generator produces irrational numbers. It isn't simply that the random number generator has to truncate the number, but you cannot fit infinite digits which neither terminate or repeat in a physical computer's finite memory. The random number generator would have to return symbolic results like "sqrt 2" or "e" instead of numerical values, but not returning actual numbers makes the idea of it being a random 'number' generator debatable. {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.197}}

All numbers are random, but some numbers are more random than others. [[User:Jorgbrown|Jorgbrown]] ([[User talk:Jorgbrown|talk]]) 23:33, 2 November 2014 (UTC)
:Goddammit Jorgbrown, I was going to say that! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.89|108.162.237.89]] 22:14, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

Computers don't store any "thing", they store a representation. Therefore, a computer can reference any "thing", because representation "sets" can be swapped out. At any given moment, if the user is aware, "1" could mean a purple flying dog. At any other given moment, "1" could mean a swimming cactus. Therefore, the number of "things" that computers can store representations for is unlimited, even if the "set" of representations it can store at any given time is limited. In our specific example, the computer can store a representation of an irrational number by collapsing the number into a recursive or incremental method of reproducing the number. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.114|108.162.216.114]] 20:07, 10 December 2014 (UTC)
:"Although a computer could encode irrationals or generate them randomly if it uses another representation" - however even that is not enough. Whatever format you chooses you can only specify only definable numbers because other are... well cannot be defined. Whatever language you choose as long as you require the description to be finite you can cover only countable many of numbers. To cover all reals - including not only π or e but all of them - you need to have capability of storing infinitely large amount of memory. Similarly incremental method will give you only computable set. Either way you miss significantly large amount of numbers (ℶ₁ vs ℶ₀). This is ignoring that we cannot draw a number from natural numbers with equal probability (we would expect P(3|X) = 1/3 and P(¬3|X) = 2/3 but both sets are equal so we would expect P(3|X) = P(¬3|X)...). That's why we get random numbers for the finite set and normalize according to need. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.227|172.68.142.227]] 07:55, 26 February 2017 (UTC)