explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

583: CNR

2024-06-06T01:41:19Z

172.68.174.82:

{{comic
| number = 583
| date = May 13, 2009
| title = CNR
| image = cnr.png
| titletext = Can't and shouldn't.
}}

==Explanation==
"Could not reproduce" (CNR as per the title) is used here as a {{w|double entendre}}. Because the reported bug is that speech recognition failed on a young child's voice, the programmers attempt to reproduce (themselves) in order to have a child to use as a test subject to understand and fix the bug, starting by reproducing it (the bug). However the attempt fails, as shown by the negative pregnancy test, and therefore the bug report is closed with the reason being "could not reproduce": they could not reproduce the bug because they could not reproduce themselves.

Nowadays, developers of software usually have a centralized repository of bugs which generally uses one of a handful of standard interfaces for tracking problems and desired features in software. There is usually a quick way of removing pending items from this system by changing the status to closed and selecting a reason from perhaps a dropdown list. "Could not reproduce" is a standard reason provided in almost all of these systems, so the novel pun provides extra humor to software developers. This reason also shows up in comic [[937: TornadoGuard]].

The secondary joke is that Megan has chosen a ridiculous method of obtaining a child for the relatively simple task of testing the software. The obvious solution is to find a pre-existing child to use; {{Citation needed}} giving birth to (and, presumably, raising) a child would burden the programmers with serious expenses, health concerns, and responsibilities; and it would take years before the child would be able to speak clearly enough to use the program.

The title-text "Can't and shouldn't" qualifies the bug report, meaning that the programmers not only could not reproduce, they also should not reproduce, as their reasons for doing so shows they have exceedingly bad judgment. (They also have poor child-rearing skills, as demonstrated in comic [[674: Natural Parenting]].)

==Transcript==
:[Megan is sitting at a computer.]
:Computer: Speech2Text Commander
:Computer: Bug #167801
:Computer: Speech recognition fails on young child voices.
:Megan: Hmm.

:[The view enlarges to show a man sitting at another desk.]
:Megan: Hey, can you do me without a condom? We need a young child for something.
:Cueball: Okay.

:[A pregnancy test is displayed. The label indicates not pregnant.]
:Pregnant
:Not pregnant

:[Megan is typing on the computer.]
:Megan typing: Bug #167801
:Megan typing: Status: Closed
:Megan typing: Reason: Could not reproduce.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Puns]]

Talk:1756: I'm With Her/Comments from 2016

2024-03-13T00:30:36Z

172.68.174.82: Template:Table doesn't exist...

The "I'm with her" and H with an arrow are CLEARLY the respective campaign slogan and campaign logo for Hillary Clinton, not some vagueness having to do with bringing a significant other. {{unsigned ip|173.245.48.78}}
:I see it more as him endorsing voting regardless of who you vote for (as evidenced by half the comic is about "Here's how you vote" without any mention of candidates or issues) and the endorsing Clinton part is an add-on as if to say "This is how I'm voting; vote for her if you agree with me." [[User:Jeudi Violist|Jeudi Violist]] ([[User talk:Jeudi Violist|talk]]) 18:39, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:If you're so insecure about your political beliefs that you abandon a comic you've followed for years just because they have a different opinion to you then maybe you should stop using the internet because you're just going to lose all your hobbies. {{unsigned ip|148.197.114.136}}
:I am not insecure about my political beliefs. I am just upset at the continued and active support of our two party system and the suppression of anyone not in those parties.. It ought to make everyone here very angry (even if you support Hillary). Most Americans would rather have Bernie than Hillary. Most Americans would rather have Kasich than Trump. Insult me all you want, I will not put up with this complacency any more.--[[User:Dayfall|Dayfall]] ([[User talk:Dayfall|talk]]) 21:02, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
:Blocking it from their router? Have they ever heard of the concept of... you know, just not visiting websites they dislike? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.253|141.101.98.253.-730².♫.venus.🍅.Cthulu.♣️]] 19:33, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Has Randall endorsed a presidential candidate before? --[[User:Dfeuer|Dfeuer]] ([[User talk:Dfeuer|talk]]) 17:14, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:He supported Obama on his blog in '08, not in the comic though. {{unsigned ip|162.158.214.230}}

He could have said any number of clever things about the election, and all he did was put up a campaign sign. Disappointing. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 17:37, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:I'm hoping Wednesday will be a newspaper saying "American immigration continues north" and below, "40% of the population move to Canada", but only if Trump wins.{{unsigned|Jacky720}}

what a cuck --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.63|172.68.51.63]] 17:45, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:: leaving aside the most ridiculous slur of the past few years, I don't know what else did you expect from Randall. I guess you must have stumbled upon this wiki by chance and have never heard of xkcd before.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.130|141.101.98.130]] 17:59, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:: AHAHAHAHA. *Ahem.* Hooray for pejorative misappropriation of a kink. /s [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.55|108.162.246.55]] 19:07, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

This is the first time I still don't get the joke even after reading the explainxkcd page [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.123|108.162.219.123]] 18:09, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:It isn't a joke. [[Randall]] is simply encouraging people to vote. [[User:GizmoDude|GizmoDude]] ([[User talk:GizmoDude|talk]]) 20:55, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

:¬I Ummmmmmmmm..... It's Randall's comic strip. He can endorse whomever he wants without getting anyone's permission first. To those who disagree with this endorsement - sowhat? Grow up. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.42}}

;Bit disappointing...

I was hoping for a comic today. oh well. Interesting to see how he's planning to vote, though - it's a shame that there are no candidates this year in favor of strong encryption. {{unsigned ip|172.68.55.80}}

Funny how females outdo males in this 'comic' but in terms of frequency and of elevation. Oh well. xkcd has long been overrepresenting females, it was to be expected. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>{{unsigned ip|162.158.201.90}}
:Seriously? You're whinging 'what about the men?' in a geek web comic?! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.212|108.162.215.212]] 18:21, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
::And there are 11 characters and they are split 5 to 6, and if Blondie represents Clinton then there are 5 to 5 M vs W supporters. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:58, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:"Overrepresenting"?! If there were too many guys you wouldn't bat an eye because it's 'accurate' to whatever demographic you think xkcd is supposed to represent, but as soon as Randall draws 'too many women' you whinge about the oppression of men. First off, even if the readership is male-dominated, that doesn't have any impact on who the comic can portray. Second, there is nothing oppressive about seeing women portrayed in equal numbers or -heaven forbid- in positions of power.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.118.191|172.68.118.191]] 00:28, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
:: >If there were too many guys you wouldn't bat an eye because it's 'accurate' to whatever demographic you think
:: You are literally a priori accusing me of bias regarding what I would have done in a comparable situation.
:: >you think xkcd is supposed to represent
:: xkcd's focus is exceedingly well-defined. It is often narrowed down to a particular academic field. It is not subjective.
:: >you whinge about the oppression of men
:: Please refrain from putting such words in my mouth. Overrepresentation is a numerical fact -- 'oppression' is a charged term which I doubt has a valid definition.
:: >even if the readership is male-dominated, that doesn't have any impact on who the comic can portray
:: You seem to be implying that my mention of overrepresentation pertains to overrepresentation with respect to viewership rather than with respect of gender balance in scientific fields Randall depicts.
:: >there is nothing oppressive about seeing women portrayed in equal numbers or -heaven forbid- in positions of power
:: Again, you are seeing claims of 'oppression' that are not there. I do not use this word -- I am talking strictly about gender quantity. In other words, I don't object to 'oppression', but to distortion of truth. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.203.152}}
:::Oh shit, you're not joking. I don't think Randall cared in the slightest how many of each gender there were, or where they were placed. You are creating a problem which isn't there, and missing what the comic is actually trying to say. It appears that whatever Randall puts in a comic, you'll find a problem with it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.60|162.158.2.60]] 09:27, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
:::: Almost every comic depicting a scientific (academic, laboratory, engineering) context contains a female. As a matter of fact, I looked up the last 20 or so comics in the Science category. Where applicable, the gender proportion is:
:::::f = 4, m = 0
:::::f = 1, m = 1
:::::f = 2, m = 0
:::::f = 0, m = 2
:::::f = 1, m = 1
:::::f = 2, m = 1
:::::f = 1, m = 1
:::::f = 1, m = 1
:::::f = 2, m = 1
:::::f = 0, m = 1
:::::f = 3, m = 1
:::::total: f = 17, = 10
:::: It is even more glaring that I had thought.
::::>It appears that whatever Randall puts in a comic, you'll find a problem with it.
::::You are making it hard not to conclude that you are not quite able to speak otherwise than in irrelevant falsehoods. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.203.152}}
:::::Like I said, Randall doesn't seem to concentrate on how gender is represented, and more on what the comic is about. Randall uses whatever fits best in each comic. Also, please refrian from using nowiki on "<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>" as your signature. It is against the rules, because technically your comment ends in "</nowiki>". It is also pointless, because your IP is recorded in edit history anyway. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.60|162.158.2.60]] 12:19, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
:::::: 'Randall doesn't seem to concentrate on how gender is represented' -- it is quite remarkable for you to say so when the balance is significantly more than 1.5 : 1. As for my signature, 'my comment ending in </nowiki>' is literally false and, again, my choice of it is not intended to obscure my identity, but to signify irrelevance of it in discussion. <nowiki>~~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.203.152 }}
:::::::Your trolling is out of hand. It doesn't matter about relevance of your signature in discussion, you have to sign your comments. If you feel so strongly about it, just stop reading Randall's comics. I don't think he'll care if you stop. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.62|162.158.2.62]] 23:21, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
:::::::: So this is your reaction to the hypocrisy of a comic majorly about science distorting truth (literally -- the female overrepresentation is not, contrary to how another poster presented it, in service to humour/plot, it is just there): 'just don't read it if you don't like it'. This is not tenable. You could 'justify' any wrongdoing this way: 'just don't react, what does it concern you'. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.201.78}}
:::::::::You cannot justify anything with that, only things that don't actually affect anyone in any significant way. Randall is using his right to freedom of speech, and you have no right trying to stop that. And before you argue that I am trying to stop you, realise that I am only giving my opinion in the hopes yours will change. Also, you ''still'' haven't addressed why you don't sign your comments properly. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.60|162.158.2.60]] 11:00, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
: As for my signature, I have addressed it -- you just ignored my explanation, beside implying that it was I who brought its subject in the first place rather than you ('It doesn't matter about relevance of your signature in discussion').
: >things that don't actually affect anyone in any significant way
: 'Not any significant' is a subjective claim rather than objective quantification such as the one I made to point out Randall's gender bias. xkcd has vast readership. In fact, it is *the first result* for the keyword >webcomic in Google.
: >Randall is using his right to freedom of speech.
: This is completely bizarre. You are appealing to free speech to justify *telling falsehoods*.
: >and you have no right trying to stop that
: This is completely bizarre as well. What kind of 'right' are you talking about that I lack? Are you saying that people have no right to point out, condemn, and demand rectification of falsehoods? This is surreal. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>{{unsigned ip|162.158.201.84}}
::The guy was clearly referring to your earlier statement that you were, quote, "signifying irrelevance it in discussion." Also, as the admin who's been having to clean up after your refusal to write a signature without nowiki tags, I'm getting really sick of this. The signature tag is not there for you to disregard it to make an artistic statement about metadata in forums, it's there to mark time, ownership and the boundaries between comments. You're making extra work for me for a trivial excuse. Sign your comments properly. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:31, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
::: 'Time' and 'ownership' are never relevant. All they can ever conceivably serve for is pointing out misattributions of contributions from one poster to another, which holds precisely zero weight for the argument. If your point stands, it stands. If it doesn't, it doesn't. This -- validity of the point -- is the only consideration in discussion, the purpose of which is conveying knowledge. I'm sorry to hear that you feel that it is the form of the argument (such as who made which comment) that matters rather than its substance. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.201.84}}
::::I'm not going to be able to convince you that the metadata is meaningful, so let's put this a different way. I didn't put up three different signs around the talk page box so that someone could try to be clever and make me do the work anyway by signing off slightly wrong. You and I both know why the messages tell you to sign off with four tildes. Typing the four tildes without the nowiki tags takes strictly less time than adding the nowiki tags. There is no discussion being suppressed because of the metadata. I've wasted five minutes of my life typing out the unsigned comment template multiple times when it was clear to me that you knew how to sign and wilfully weren't. Sign your comments properly. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:59, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
::::: >I'm not going to be able to convince you that the metadata is meaningful
::::: Metadata is obviously meaningful for statistical/record-keeping purposes, and guess what, that is provided by the edit history. In direct discussion view, it is actively damaging, in all senses, from visual distraction (cluttering the page) to topical distraction (distracting into discussion of particular posters, including chaff such as squabbling over who said what).
::::: >make me do the work anyway
::::: I am not going to validate a misconception that is harmful to discussion only so to spare you the effort you impose on yourself by erroneously clinging to it. It would be irresponsible towards this community. I tried my best to explain your mistake to you. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.203.141}}
::::::In case you didn't get the subtext from my last comment, I'm invoking site rules that are littered in multiple places around the edit window. Browsing edit logs to find ownership of a comment is incredibly time consuming, and signatures take a fraction of a line to display the information inline. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:09, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
::::::: So basically what you are saying is 'I am not wrong on account of having codified my being wrong into a rule'. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>
::::::::No, that is your opinion of a rule falsely inserted into a statement that sounds like I'm saying it. Less than a hundred characters of timestamp and attribution serves to mark out who actually said what and the benefits to organisation and knowing who is actually saying what far outweigh the character count delta between completed signatures and your intentionally un-rendered tildes. The rule is not a suggestion, and the only thing stopping me from temporarily blocking you to enforce the rule is that I know your IP address is changing between sessions. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:42, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
::::::::: >No, that is your opinion of a rule falsely inserted into a statement that sounds like I'm saying it.
::::::::: ...What? You literally said that signing is a rule here, and I literally agreed and pointed out that that rule is based on a misunderstanding.
::::::::: >the benefits to organisation and knowing who is actually saying what
::::::::: ...facilitate nothing but petty squabbles over authorship of contributions rather than focusing on points therein. The only one of the three benefits to signing you gave at one point that is valid is separation of comments, except that isn't even provided by signing, but by indentation/semi-indentation of colons/quotation marks, respectively, to which signing is, guess what, completely unrelated. If anything, my refusal to sign 'properly' has helped my detractors, giving them an opportunity to attempt to undermine my credibility by repeatedly asking me 'why are you not signing properly?' as if I hadn't explained that two if not three times already. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|198.41.243.245}}
::::::::::What you literally did was put a statement in quotation marks that featured me saying I was wrong and using a tautological rule to to justify it. You believe that identity is irrelevant to discussion, which is disputed in discussions of community management and {{w|Wikipedia:Signatures#Purpose_of_signatures|wikipedia itself}} as the forced ownership encourages a user to remain civil; and I can't help but notice that you are indeed involved in a number of spats on this page. The furthest point of this would be mandatory account creation to edit pages, which I've fought against in the past and don't want to have to instate if anonymous users with changing IPs continue to be difficult to moderate. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:30, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
::::::::::: >using a tautological rule to to justify it
::::::::::: >which is disputed in discussions of community management and wikipedia itself
::::::::::: So you are calling my 100 % verifiable points regarding consequences of presence/absence of signing on poster behaviour tautological, while yourself appealing to authority to Wikipedia ('Wikipedia requires signing, therefore I do too') in lieu of an argument? You have some fucking nerve as well.
::::::::::: >if anonymous users with changing IPs continue to be difficult to moderate
::::::::::: This sounds curiously like preemption, 'let's keep him from posting in case he should offend'.
::::::::::: >the forced ownership encourages a user to remain civil; and I can't help but notice that you are indeed involved in a number of spats on this page
::::::::::: You mean those containing such examples of signing posters' civility as referring to me as 'finding problems with everything', having a 'twisted mind', saying that 'xkcd is as bad as KKK', 'horrible person', 'afraid of women', 'belonging in 18th century', and 'afraid to sign properly'? I agree, civility such as that is quite effective at rendering a picture of effectiveness of signing on discussion quality. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|198.41.243.245}}
::::::::::::I'm not actually making a living off this. I'm not willing to keep making points that you'll brush off as false and state your own claims as true, then still have to clean up after you and the other anonymous users with changing IPs on this page. I should have known this comic was going to be a moderation nightmare when it went up. I have work to do, this talk page is now locked for anonymous users. If you want to continue ignoring site rules, you and the other people on this talk page who I can't seem to manage can make accounts to do so. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:53, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
::It's not telling a falsehood if it's an opinion. There are more women than men in some of his recent comics, that's an opinion. He is not saying that this is what the real world is like. And it is objectively not significant, because it is easy to stop reading his comics, no one is forcing you to read them. Just because it is the first result on Google, doesn't mean that suddenly no other webcomics exist. You can look down a few pixels, and see something completely different. There are far worse problems on the internet. Why single out someone using women more than men, rather than someone who believes that there is a superior sex? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.62|162.158.2.62]] 23:25, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
::: >it is objectively not significant
::: I have taken note that you have shifted from asserting existence of high and low significance ('in any significant way', implying gradation) to asserting existence of categorical absolute insignificance ('objectively not significant').
::: >There are more women than men in some of his recent comics, that's an opinion.
::: Where the hell are you people getting this kind of nonsense from? Depicting a fictitious state of matters is an opinion?
::: >He is not saying that this is what the real world is like.
::: Literally false. There is no indication whatsoever that the overrepresentation of females has a humorous or otherwise irreal or optative dimension. The females are depicted as being self-obviously natural at their positions.
::: >There are far worse problems on the internet.
::: This is not relevant in addition to being a subjective opinion (speaking of dispensing which).
::: >because it is easy to stop reading his comics, no one is forcing you to read them. Just because it is the first result on Google, doesn't mean that suddenly no other webcomics exist. You can look down a few pixels, and see something completely different
::: I am honestly bewildered by your repeated reliance on this clearly morally untenable nonsense. 'If something is wrong, just stop watching.' It's stunning.
::: >Why single out someone using women more than men, rather than someone who believes that there is a superior sex?
::: Randall does depict the latter conviction in the comic AS WELL (search the page for my 'Men in xkcd literally are presented as the less educated gender.'). <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.201.78}}
::::There being less men than women in scientific comics does not signify in any way that women are smarter than men, except in your twisted mind. You say that "there are far worse things on the internet" is subjective, so I suppose the KKK is just as bad as xkcd. That was not intended to say anything about xkcd, but something about yourself. You choose to argue some possible slight sexism, rather than definite and horrible racism. You won't see anything wrong with what you're saying until you see what you are doing now. Also, I redid your table, looking at the past 20 comics in the science section.
::::{| class="wikitable"
| style="background:#c0c0c0;"|'''Number'''||1736||1732||1717||1679||1666||1664||1643||1637||1633||1621||1611||1606||1605||1594||1592||1591||1584||1574||1561||1531||style="background:#c0c0c0;"|'''Total'''
|-
| style="background:#c0c0f0;"|M||1||0||2||0||1||1||1||1||0||0||0||0||1||0||2||1||8||0||0||0||style="background:#c0c0f0;"|'''19'''
|-
| style="background:#f0c0f0;"|F||2||0||1||0||1||2||0||3||0||0||3||0||1||2||0||1||3||0||0||1||style="background:#f0c0f0;"|'''20'''
|-
|
|}
::::Tell me, how did you do your calculations? This seems like an accurate depiction of real life figures, seeing as there are slightly more women than men in most countries.
::::I'm starting to see how you think, you see only what confirms what you think. My table is objective, and does not account for people in the background (which were mostly men, by the way). Yours only includes comics that confirm that you are right, except for one.
::::Now, even if there were far more women than men, it still wouldn't matter. Xkcd isn't about being real. Randall does what he wants, and if he wants to put more women than men in comics, he can. He is '''not''' saying that his comic is exactly what the world is like, so why do you think he is? And please, sign your comments. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.60|162.158.2.60]] 03:37, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

::::: >There being less men than women in scientific comics does not signify in any way that women are smarter than men, except in your twisted mind.
::::: 'There being less men than women in contexts which by definition exact intellectual capacity does not signify in any way that women have more intellectual capacity than men, except in your twisted mind.'
::::: >even if there were far more women than men, it still wouldn't matter.
::::: >Randall does what he wants, and if he wants to put more women than men in comics, he can.
::::: It is, what, third time that you stress people's freedom to do wrong in lieu of providing a counterargument? Fourth?
::::: >He is not saying that his comic is exactly what the world is like, so why do you think he is?
::::: Obviously because it is conveyance of truth that is the core and assumed function of communication, not artistic expression. When we see an arrow and a figurative scene etched in a rock on a foreign trip, we don't assume that it is conveying some indigene's artistic fancy about an imaginary situation -- we assume that it was used for communicating some fact. Accordingly, everything, even in a webcomic, that does not stand out as false/artistic is assumed true / the factual background of the fiction. If female scientists are depicted casually, people won't question their presence. Randall's gender bias is ill-integrated, but integrated seamlessly enough to slip under the radar of most people it appears.
::::: >You choose to argue some possible slight sexism, rather than definite and horrible racism.
::::: >You say that "there are far worse things on the internet" is subjective, so I suppose the KKK is just as bad as xkcd.
::::: Yes, this continues being subjective (let me remind you in case you forgot that it was you who first appealed to 'why do you care, it's not that important' way back in your comment at 11:00 -- I at no point at all referenced subjective importances and instead wholly focused on inherent qualities of the problem) and, more importantly, glaringly demonstrative of your desire to hush criticism. Almost any any wrongdoing can be rendered 'slight' and dismissed by comparing it to lynching. It's fucking cowardly.
::::: Finally,
::::: >I redid your table [...]
::::: your error, which might or might not have been intentional, is that you're counting comics which have no literal academic/scientific context, which my point has from the very beginning been about. xkcd doesn't categorize comics, and this wiki is quite overcategorizing them. When I looked up comics about sex, included was '721: Flatland' just because the mention of the word 'orgy' in the title text and '1253: Exoplanet Names' just because of some raunchy ones! This is misleading in itself, but the point is, comics like '1637: Salt Mine' are clearly too outlandishly fictional to convincingly connote gender equality. I only included those comics in my table in which people explicitly partake in scientific situations or discussions, which can actually sway perceptions. Accusing me of confirmation bias is like accusing a researcher of bias for refusing to include cooking recipes in a study measuring nations' programming output. And 1584, which yields the crux of your numbers (and, amusingly, after excluding which your numbers differ from mine by exactly just one), is just fucking hypocrisy. Three of the 'men' in it are children (I take it that your generous exclusion of 'people in the background' refers to audiences as in 1736), the fourth doesn't even say anything, and Randall had the nerve to 'totally jokingly' attribute Darwin's insight to his wife because 'you can't prove she wasn't responsible for it'.
::::: (Also, I forgot to mention that my final line in my previous comment does not mean that there isn't a superior gender (or race). There obviously is. It was understood throughout my argument on this page, but I should probably make this clear.) <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|198.41.243.245}}
::::::Ok then. I thought your argument was that men are being represented as worse than women when they're actually roughly equivelant. But no, you're the kind of person who believes that there is a superior gender ''and'' race. You are a horrible person, and no amount of reasoning would get through to you. Can you please just go away? Your arguments are invalid, and everyone else on this website seems to disagree with you. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.60|162.158.2.60]] 08:39, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
::::::: >no amount of reasoning would get through to you
::::::: By reasoning which I am incapable of understanding, do you mean things such as positing existence of increasingly minute 'microagressions', 'microsexisms' and 'microracisms' using which to explain racial and gender achievement gaps as an environmental factor after environmental factor is controlled for and proven not to affect achievement in any meaningful degree? Or showcasing the purported importance of 'stimulating upbringing' while failing to account for the fact that relationship between stimulating upbringing on the parent's side and accomplishment on the child's side is simply owing to the shared cause of innate high capacity underlying both outcomes (by proxy of heritability of capacity from parent to child in case of the latter)? Because it can't be something as crude as correlation/causation of 'women underperform because they are being stereotyped rather than are being stereotyped because they underperform'... can it.
::::::: >Your arguments are invalid, and everyone else on this website seems to disagree with you.
::::::: I _just_ think that there might be some delicious irony in how you somehow found it necessary to appeal to majority as well as if your assertion of 'you're wrong' had been a bit too bare. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|198.41.243.245}}

:I will tell my children and grandchildren that in the election of 2016, there was a guy so afraid of women that he complained that a webcomic about the election had "females outdo males...in terms of...of elevation". This is some 18th century stuff. It is the consummate combination of unawareness of self and of others. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.47|108.162.246.47]]
04:36, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
:: >there was a guy so afraid of women
:: I regret to see you rely on such tactics.
:: >This is some 18th century stuff.
:: This is not relevant. It is possible for a society to err away from its prior true notions. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.203.152}}

The only disappointing this are comments like those two above. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.201.96|162.158.201.96]] 18:11, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
: Females being overrepresented in comics like xkcd (but also other ones) with respect to their controlled interest in science in reality is a fact. Therefore, you are calling facts disappointing. How geeky of you. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>{{unsigned ip|162.158.201.90}}
:: So, your real problem is that Randall likes using female stick figures, yes? Also, why are you afraid to "un-nowiki" your signature...? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.201.96|162.158.201.96]] 19:15, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
::: No. Allow me to repeat my point as you had apparently misunderstood: 'females being overrepresented'. This is something else than 'females being represented'. The more you know, the less chance there is for you to accidentally twist another person's words as misogyny/sexism. Also, identity is not relevant to discussion. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>{{unsigned ip|162.158.201.90}}
:::: I understood you perfectly fine. My point still stands: You don't like Randall's preference for female stick figures. I never said you're being misogynic/sexist, so please don't imply I did. Thing with your "hidden" identity is that it's plain visible in the history of this page, so there's really no need to nowiki the signature, that's all. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.201.96|162.158.201.96]] 20:42, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
::::: You are extremely skilled at saying things that are false and asserting that they're true. First you confused objecting to female overrepresentation (over-presence) with objecting to female representation (presence) ('your real problem is that Randall likes using female stick figures'). Then you moved to confusing objecting to female overrepresentation with objecting to *Randall's* female overrepresentation. My objection does not pertain to who is doing overrepresenting, but to the mere fact of it. I would have objected identically to any other writer. Also, your attributing of opposition to female presence in comics (after doing which which you proceeded to asserting my being personally hostile to Randall) is accusing of sexism/misogyny by definition. Also, I am obviously aware of edit history; my use my signature constitutes a reminder that identity is, as I said, irrelevant in discussion. It does not serve to obscure anything. You have a remarkable record of falsehoods. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>{{unsigned ip|162.158.201.90}}
::::::This is the most persistent troll I have seen in a long while. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.185|108.162.215.185]] 14:44, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
::::::: I regret that this is your reaction to my pointing out your false claims. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.203.152}}
::::::::I didn't make any false claims for you to point out. My comment about your trolling was the first comment I made. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.185|108.162.215.185]] 15:41, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
:I'm confused. Are you merely making an observation about the number of female stick figures vs male stick figures in these comics or are you saying that there is a problem that needs to be solved? If so, what is the problem and potential solution? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.229|108.162.215.229]] 21:12, 8 November 2016 (UTC)What?
:: The problem is giving a false impression regarding female academic capacity. The solution is Randall ceasing to overrepresent females. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.201.78}}
:::First, you say that giving a false impression regarding female academic capacity is a problem, but have given nothing to show why it is a problem. I don't think it's fair to say that this comic strives in all points to represent the world exactly as it is, and as an artistic endeavor, I don't believe it necessarily should. Art allows the artist to express a world view different than reality in a safe place. Second, where is the harm being done? Lastly, I reject the premise of your argument. I have studied these comics very hard and can find no discernible genitalia in which to classify the stick figures in question as either anatomically male or female. If we are going based on gender, you would need each character presented to give declarative statements self-identifying as a certain gender in order to affirm them as female or male or other. If those are not available, then you are simply applying your heteronormative bias and assumptions onto these stick figures unfairly. Until you address these claims, this discussion is over as its very basis is proven unknowable. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.229|108.162.215.229]] 16:12, 9 November 2016 (UTC)What?
:::: >you [...] have given nothing to show why it is a problem
:::: >where is the harm being done
:::: If you are asking for proof that truth is preferable over falsehood, I suggest that you give your priorities a look.
:::: >I don't think it's fair to say that this comic strives in all points to represent the world exactly as it is
:::: Again (see the other subthread of this discussion which I'm replying in), the problem is that Randall gives zero indication that the female overrepresentation is just artistic licence or even representation of his wish how matters be. He depicts it as natural.
:::: >Art allows the artist to express a world view different than reality in a safe place.
:::: Agreed. Except, similarly to objections to this very comic # 1756, what Randall does with respect to female representation is not art -- it is just furthering a certain conviction regarding female capacity. It's no more art than product placement is.
:::: >can find no discernible genitalia in which to classify the stick figures in question as either anatomically male or female
:::: Right, two characters engaging in sex in supine position (598, 940), one of which has hair and one hasn't, are clearly lesbians one of whom is shaven.
:::: >you would need each character presented to give declarative statements self-identifying as a certain gender in order to affirm them as female or male or other
:::: This is ridiculous noise. <nowiki>~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.201.78}}
:Randall is in the unique and incredible position to portray the world not as it is, but as it we hope it one day will be. Imagine how many women and girls can encounter these comics in their classrooms or read them online, and have the chance to see all sorts of female rolemodels in the heavily underrepresented STEM fields. The only limit on "female academic capacity"is girls being shown and told that they have no place in science. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Randall is playing an important role in remedying this phenomenon. For scientific progress, for the unique views, backgrounds, and ways of thinking that a diversity of people can bring to STEM, it is amazing that Randall presents - without fanfare, without emphasis, and, most importantly, without implication of a degradation of men - a world in which women play a significant role in science. It is depictions like these that may inspire the next generation of talented and diverse young scientists.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.125|173.245.52.125]] 03:00, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
:: Your sentimental prose is rendered irrelevant by a simple brief fact: motivation must never rely on distortion of truth.
:: >The only limit on "female academic capacity"is girls being shown and told that they have no place in science.
:: This is literally false.
:: >female rolemodels in the heavily underrepresented STEM fields
:: Women are not underrepresented in STEM. The amount of their presence corresponds to their innate inclinations.
:: >the unique views, backgrounds, and ways of thinking that a diversity of people can bring to STEM
:: Desirability of diversity assumes that all members of the diversity are equally capable and focused on the subject in the first place.
:: >Randall is playing an important role in remedying this phenomenon.
:: There is nothing to 'remedy', because there is nothing wrong in the first place. Gender equality is not some sort of inherent state that has been deviated from. There is nothing wrong with wanting female membership in anything to equal males, or even exceed them -- but it is wrong to imply that the reason for failures of such attempts is 'bias'.
:: >unique and incredible position to portray the world not as it is
:: Reread this sentence until you appreciate what you just wrote.
:: >It is depictions like these that may inspire the next generation of talented and diverse young scientists.
:: Motivation must never happen at the expense of truth. By all means say 'I want more women in science' -- it's fine. But saying 'women's absence from science results from environmental prejudice' is false. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>{{unsigned ip|162.158.201.84}}
:: Also, regarding 'most importantly [!], without implication of a degradation of men' -- this is literally false as well. In most comics containing discussion between a woman and a man, it is the man that asks a question/listens and the woman that elaborates / gives facts / corrects him. Men in xkcd literally are presented as the less educated gender. Quantifying that is necessarily somewhat imprecise, but I browsed comics 1423-1483 (the numbers are arbitrary) and the proportion of comics depicting the man as having less clue than the woman is 11 : 3. (See comics 1430, 1513, 1586, 1605 for example of what I mean.) <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.201.84}}
::: "Women are not underrepresented in STEM. The amount of their presence corresponds to their innate inclinations." - Wow. Just wow. David, this guy is insistent that women are innately less good at science than men - not that they are given less opportunities, but that they are given equal opportunities and encouragement, but still are just too stupid to do proper science. Expressing opinions like that, it's no great surprise that he (he's definitely a he) wishes to remain anonymous.
::: To be honest, I don't think he's trolling - trolls don't have this much commitment. I think he's expressing his actual, genuine beliefs. Scary.
::: To the anonymous coward - SIGN YOUR POSTS, or leave this comic. Go write your own blog post on the nature of signatures, if you like, or make your own wiki with your own rules. The message about the comic doesn't contain signatures, because there, the message is the only important thing. This is the discussion section, and these are the rules. I disagree with you very strongly, but I'm perfectly happy to have a civil discussion with you here IF you stick to the basic rules. [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 11:00, 11 November 2016 (UTC)

A little disappointing to have a normally lighthearted comic dive seriously into politics, if even for one strip. Not really a fan of either candidate, but would like to see stuff like this stay above the fray. {{unsigned ip|162.158.69.100}}
:Completely agreed. [[User:SeanAhern|SeanAhern]] ([[User talk:SeanAhern|talk]]) 18:27, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:Completely agreed 2. At first I though it's some kind of a romance statement ("be with her"). And from explainxkcd I have learnt that it's an US campaign ad. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.150|162.158.202.150]] 22:19, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
::Lighthearted? Try to read the comics in the [[:Category:Politics]] and [[:Category:Climate change]]. Also there are many other comics that are not at all light hearted. You must have mistaken this with some other web comic? :) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:33, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:::Yes, lighthearted. Even the earlier political and climate change strips had a bit of humor in them (the only ones that really didn't have at least an attempt at humor were the cancer strips, understandably), this is just a straight up political ad. And while it's Randall's strip and he can do whatever he wants with it, it's just a little disappointing that he dove straight in to political ads. If nothing else, something like Black Hat trolling by voting for himself.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.69.100|162.158.69.100]] 12:34, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
::::Well at least the I'm with her, could be interpreted like the "I'm with stupid"... :-) She is just less stupid than the alternative. Guess he seriously hopes this comic could make a difference and that he is afraid to do nothing. He reaches many people so who knows if this comic might swing an important state. You never know in a tight race. And although {{w|Nate Silver}} ([[:Category:Comics featuring Nate Silver|often referred to]] by Randall in the past) says that it's a [http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/election-update-clinton-gains-and-the-polls-magically-converge/ 70% chance Hillary wins] then he is also not certain it will be her. So Randall does his best to avoid Trump as the big chief... He is even willing to loose some fans, although I think the majority of his readers prefers a world without a President Trump! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:51, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
:::::I don't think he thought this through. Most likely most of the people this comic would have reached were those already going to vote for Clinton, but the small fraction that were undecided/ leaning-Trump probably were actually motivated by this to vote against her. I know I was pushed that way by the persistent media pro-Clinton coverage, not just in news network, but in other stuff that I usually enjoy, like the recent Big Bang Theory episode, basically celebrity that exists and now xkcd. I go to these places to go away from politics, but if you all want to force it down my throat everywhere I go, then fuck you all. That doesn't mean that I won't come back here or to any of the other places I visit, but to me at least this is no longer a haven where I can escape from politics, and that does mean something. {{unsigned ip|162.158.178.8}}
::::::I get what you're saying, and I appreciate the sentiment. I'm also glad that you won't let this deter you from the comic. May I point out that this is the first explicitly politically-partisan comic in nearly 2000 of them, and takes place at the end of a historically bitter election campaign; but let's be honest, even if this is not a one-off but repeated once every four years, it's still only about 1 comic in 500. [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 12:58, 11 November 2016 (UTC)

This is a first... comics 500 and 1130 (possibly 1131 too) were related to the election, but didn't endorse a candidate. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.89|108.162.219.89]] 18:41, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:I think Randall is pretty much just saying '''OH GOD PLEASE DONT VOTE FOR TRUMP''' [[User:GizmoDude|GizmoDude]] ([[User talk:GizmoDude|talk]]) 20:59, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:: If Randall was saying that, he'd also be bringing up third party candidates (honestly surprised he didn't endorse Jill Stein considering she's more pro-science than Hillary. And before anyone says "anti-vax", check snopes. Jill Stein is so pro-vax [she's volunteered time vaccinated children and is on record saying she wants to increase vaccination rates], pro-addressing-climate[she's green party who has that as a primary platform], and wants to replace the people with business degrees on the panels of the FDA with people with science degrees. Jill is so pro-science and that it makes Hillary look like a flat-earther.) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.42|108.162.246.42]] 21:30, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:::Jill Stein's stance on nuclear energy is an unscientific as it gets. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.196|108.162.210.196]] 23:28, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
::::Hillary Clinton's ideas on encryption are in denial of science. Clinton's stance on coal is unscientific, she's pretty abysmal on fracking and natural gas too. Stein could be a lot better, but if Stein is tofu sarah palin, clinton is just palin with a college degree [[User:Cockhorse|Cockhorse]] ([[User talk:Cockhorse|talk]]) 03:32, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
:::: Likewise her position on GMOs. {{unsigned ip|108.162.241.57}}
::::No no no. If Randal just wish that Trump should not become president there is only one way to achieve this and that is by making Hillary win. This is not even saying that he likes her, he just dislikes the alternative more. Voting for anyone else might just help Trump. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:33, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:Also, it looks like minutephysics has done a similar thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDeL4LGuBx4 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.89|108.162.219.89]] 00:44, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

I came here to see what the tone of the comments were going to be. I was half expecting to find an all-out flamewar in progress. I was happy to see that the comments have not devolved into the kind of attacks that one would expect to find pretty much anywhere else on the Internet. Geeks are the best people. :) [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 18:47, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

I'm very dissappointed. Randall never took sides before and - be it as it may - this comic is not a comic but plain out political campaign. Up until now I held xkcd in EXTREMELY high esteem - this comic put a serious dent in that opinion..
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.60|162.158.91.60]] 18:56, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
: I'm really torn about this one. On the one hand I feel that you HAVE to take sides in this one, if your only other option is Donald Trump... on the other hand, I never liked when web comics express political opinions. It will always end in a flame war and almost never have anything to do with the web comic itself. Randall should've just put up a "go vote becaues it's important" sign without taking sides. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.201.96|162.158.201.96]] 19:17, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
: Don't let the door hit you on the way out. I'm sure there are other comics out there that would agree with your ideology. [[User:Sturmovik|Sturmovik]] ([[User talk:Sturmovik|talk]]) 19:25, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:Randall should do whatever Randall thinks he should do. Should he put up "go read about global warming" comics instead of take the side of AGW? If you think this example is an inappropriate one to use in contrasting this comic with the current political election cycle then you've completely ignored the stances of the two popular candidates. But back to the original point: if you don't like XKCD anymore because of this one comic then go find another comic or start your own. All of art is an expression of the person. Randall knew not everyone would like his beliefs when he pushed this out to the world and is obviously prepared to deal with any consequences of taking a stand on his website. I, for one, applaud him for doing so {{unsigned ip|162.158.69.19}}
:: Randall did a comic about global warming a while back, which was very interesting. Because I heard the "earth has warmed up before" argument before and even used it myself at least once. The difference about the global warming comic is that he backed it up with scientific facts, which is well within the scope of this comic. Political opinions aren't (or did the slogan change to ''A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language and politics''?). Yes, of course he can do with his web comic whatever he wants to. But readers can express their opinions about what he does with it. It's called "freedom of speech", you know?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.201.96|162.158.201.96]] 20:47, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:::[[1357|There's a comic for that.]] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.230|162.158.214.230]] 21:19, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
::::Randall has endorsee Obama in 2008 and it is his comic and he can use it to endorse anyone he likes. I'm pretty sure he believes that he will only loose a few real fans of xkcd over this comic, because those who really enjoys all his comics in spite of for instance climate comics would really not like to see Trump as president. And would thus be happy if this comic helped in any way to avoid that. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:34, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Can you help list all the characters in the transcript? From left to right; they're Joanna (ponytail with EMP cannon) from [[322]]; Black Hat; unknown with kite; White Hat; possibly Miss Lenhart (but his hair is somewhat different from [[1519]]); unknown possibly Megan; cueball; unknown woman with glasses; Hairbun; Beret Guy; Cueball with toy sword from [[303]]. [[User:B jonas|B jonas]] ([[User talk:B jonas|talk]]) 19:10, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:Not Miss Lenhart. Blondie. They are listed now. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:34, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Good for Randal. I had been noticing how many Hillary leaning artists had been pulling their punches this election, likely out of fear of trolling or loss of revenue. You want to know what courage looks like? This is is. [[User:Sturmovik|Sturmovik]] ([[User talk:Sturmovik|talk]]) 19:25, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Title text hasn't been explained yet. Is it a reference to the German chancellor Angela Merkel's phrase "Wir schaffen das!'? Don't know if Clinton has a slogan like Obama's "Yes, we can!". {{unsigned ip|162.158.91.36}}
: That's the same I thought. But I'm not sure how well known this phrase is outside of Germany. However "Wir schaffen das!" always had a bitter taste - even considered ironic or sarcastic by some - (which e.g. "Yes, we can!" didn't), so I interpreted "We can do this!" as voting for Clinton is simply the lesser evil. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:15, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

I find (linking to )this civicinnovation website rather questionable. They want to audit peoples address books based on who the names in there might vote for? That sounds like Erich Mielkes wildest dreams come true. Even German newspapers (where i'm from), which are 100% anti-Trump, have in the last days noted concern about the methods of Clintons supporters bullying the other side, and this is a disquieting new piece in that picture. I'll hope this is just a ploy to step up with Trump on the ''bad manners'' side. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.160|162.158.91.160]] 19:37, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

;Not all comics have to be humorous

From [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics#Etymology]
:The English term ''comics'' derives from the humorous (or "[[wikt:comic|comic]]") work which predominated in early American newspaper comic strips; usage of the term has become standard for non-humorous works as well. {{unsigned ip|162.158.69.57}}

:The problem is that this isn't a comic, this is a campaign ad. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.38|162.158.238.38]] 20:32, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

;Could we please just NOT get politics involved in the comments, guys?

Just... please? [[User:Papayaman1000|Papayaman1000]] ([[User talk:Papayaman1000|talk]]) 20:34, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:Are you serious. What had you expected :-) This is the most loaded comic of all time. It will even take down [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]], even though [[388:_Fuck_Grapefruit#Controversy|it beat his blog]] about his Obama endorsement. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:58, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Randall has taken a side in a political Argument before: Not counting the near-invisible easter egg, comic 1005 consists solely of Randall taking a stance on something political and providing links to show how you can help. That wasn't too long ago, but no one freaked out about a serious, political strip back then.
[[User:CJB42|CJB42]] ([[User talk:CJB42|talk]]) 20:39, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:Policy to candidates is not an apples to apples comparison. People get much more up in arms when the topic is either a candidate or policy that goes against religious text or teachings. SOPA and PIPA were neither (well, unless you count GNU as some kind of internet religion). [[User:Zernin|Zernin]] ([[User talk:Zernin|talk]]) 21:22, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

It's sad to see a guy who is so smart in some areas, yet can not see Hillary Clinton for the terrible president she would be. (Granted, part of the reason we only have a few other choices is because of our messed up voting system.) {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.177}}
:I agree with you that Hillary may be worse than almost any one else from the Democrats. But Trump is sooo much further out on a limp, and I'm sure this might be the only reason Randall makes this comic. He is seriously afraid of what woudl happen to the US and the rest of the world if Trump wins --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:38, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Instead of comic, post contained a political statement. I am not amused. I want a refund. I don't vote, and I don't even live anywhere near USA. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.102|141.101.96.102]] 18:40, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:A refund? For what? You pay to read this comic? [[User:Zorlax the Mighty|Zorlax the Mighty'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:Zorlax the Mighty|talk]]) 21:53, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Darn right you better be with her. If you say anything else, you will "commit suicide". Just ask Vince Foster or Seth Rich if you think I'm crazy.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.77|173.245.48.77]] 21:46, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

What, Randy does not say "Bernie or Bust"? I feel cheated now. :P --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.228|162.158.150.228]] 22:54, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
:Poor Bernie. Poor America. Poor world. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.32|198.41.238.32]] 23:07, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Just good luck America (and the rest of the world where I belong), whatever happens tomorrow. But I'm hoping Randall can help his candidate win! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:58, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

I'm with her... unfortunately : (. I just didn't think it made sense to donate to a billionaire. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.106|162.158.74.106]] 00:56, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Don't get political in the comments? The fucking "comic" is a fucking political ad. We're going to call this fucker out on his cuckery. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.27|162.158.74.27]] 01:02, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Honestly, I don't give a damn. Sure, I might not agree with his political leanings (hell, I don't want either of them in the WH), but it's just 1 comic. On Wednesday, he'll probably go back to the same stuff he's been doing for 1755 other strips. This will be nothing special. Just one comic. Sure, it might be politically fueled, but just because a person lets their leanings known doesn't mean you should be allowed to call them a "cuck" or cause a talk page for a popular comic, or a Reddit for a popular comic, devolve into the equivalent of monkeys flinging crap at walls. So just please deal with it and move on.
Yours truly, [[User:GranadalandDreamer|GranadalandDreamer]] ([[User talk:GranadalandDreamer|talk]]) 01:14, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Randall's with *her*? good to know that randall considers arab life worthless/supports financiers over single African-american mothers/refuses to understand encryption/would rather spend public money on coal than retrain miners/loves trade deals that will hurt the poorest, increase inequality, damage the environment, homogenize culture, allow private corporations to sue elected governments/can't make his mind up over the Dakota Access pipeline/changes his accent depending on which state he is stumping in/was late to supporting gay marriage/lied repeatedly about coming under sniper fire in bosnia/has had to repeatedly plead incompetence or rely on bureaucratic politics to evade formal breach of contract or charges of criminality. Iowa, Utah and Wisconsin may have Gloria la Riva of the Party for Socialism and Liberation on the ballot, if you want a candidate who isn't an elitist. And if you didn't want splitters, you should have voted for Bernie. [[User:Cockhorse|Cockhorse]] ([[User talk:Cockhorse|talk]]) 02:12, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

I mean it's not like Trump is going to be a whole lot better for Arab people, Black people, gay people, or pretty much anyone who's not a straight white dude. It's quite possible he voted for Bernie, but at this point it's a little late for him to be asking others to support Sanders. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.71}}

:No, but that doesn't mean we should settle for clinton. It is not late to be asking for people to support Sanders, if anyone was doing that, because if the senate swings to the democrats he ends up in charge of the budget committee. Oh and I forgot one: randall is apparently also planning to disappoint all of us, even those who loathe him, within 100 days. [[User:Cockhorse|Cockhorse]] ([[User talk:Cockhorse|talk]]) 05:29, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

: Trump would be a whole lot better for all Americans, not just "straight white dudes". He won't be better for people in other countries looking to illegally enter the United States, but why shouldn't an American President be like this? You're just throwing demographic categories around thinking you're making an argument against Trump. Only those who buy into the leftist narrative will believe you. {{unsigned ip|108.162.241.57}}

Looks like the Trumpettes are getting rather triggered over a web comic. Wasn't there a candidate in this election that was preaching against this whole getting easily offended by words thing? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.43|108.162.238.43]] 03:25, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

This just makes me... sad... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.117|108.162.215.117]] 03:52, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Why is a webcomic about "romance, sarcasm, language, and math" taking a political stance and telling me who to vote for? Randall can have his own opinion, but this isn't okay. I've read this comic since ... gosh, since the low 200s-300s, so probably over 5 or 6 years and... I think I'm done. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.55|108.162.241.55]] 04:29, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
:''Of course'' it's okay. It's his comic, which he gives us for free. He can use it to entertain us, to draw random pictures of extradimensional red spiders, or to advocate for a political candidate and inform people how to vote, especially people who may have a more difficult time doing so (like the disabled and elderly). However, I really ''must'' thank you... you claiming that this "isn't okay", and all the others here with ruffled feathers over it, makes a previously boring comic one of the most hilarious xkcds in a good long while. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.253|141.101.98.253.-730².♫.venus.🍅.Cthulu.♣️]] 10:38, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

I'm surprised this wiki doesn't have a category for 'serious'/'no joke' comics, and least not that I spotted. There should be, and this should be in it. [[User:Teleksterling|Teleksterling]] ([[User talk:Teleksterling|talk]]) 04:31, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Am I the only one who sees Guy Fawkes in the logo? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.48|108.162.245.48]] 04:33, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

I think the only other time Randall generated that much controversy here in comments was when suggested that all beer tastes bad. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.93|141.101.80.93]] 06:43, 8 November 2016 (UTC)rw

* The title text ''may'' be quoting - directly or indirectly - Angela Merkel's slogan ("We can do this", or in German "Wir schaffen das"), but I don't know why unless it's just an appropriate slogan. [[User:Schroduck|Schroduck]] ([[User talk:Schroduck|talk]]) 08:43, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Hej. I think it was the right thing to do, and if you read some of the older XKCDs (just think about the one about free speech - they just show you the door, and some others) you could have expected that this is his position. even through i would take the vote for stein on my part. I'm sorry for the situation of the citizens of the USA right now. Greetings from Oversea - and good luck today! --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.174|162.158.89.174]] 10:24, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Way to alienate half of your readership, Randall. Well, now we know that Randall is a socialist communist who hates America. {{unsigned ip|162.158.79.235}}
* If you are so repulsed by seeing someone post something that you disagree with that you have to regress to early-teen insults, then I suggest you turn off all your electronic devices and start living in a cave. Engaging with people that we disagree with makes us smarter and better-informed. That said, it's Randall's comic that he provides to us at no charge - and if you stop reading today, you're automatically eligible for a full refund! [[User:Paddles|Paddles]] ([[User talk:Paddles|talk]]) 12:28, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Given that a big chunk of his readers must be non-US, and we don't really give a rat's arse which arse you elect, it is a bit disappointing there wasn't even something a little witty here. Other web-comic authors have often put things like this as an extra one between the others - and given that he missed a comic today, I don't see why he didn't do that. Anyway, have fun you lot and please try not to start any more wars.{{unsigned ip|141.101.98.217}}

Oh we non-USers do care!! I guess Randall just thinks today is too important to not make his position clear. Which is an admirable decision. I'm also shocked and surprised to find there may be Trumpers lurking on xkcd. Glad to hear so many of you are leaving, folks. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.134|172.68.34.134]] 16:46, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
:: If you don't know any Trump supporters amongst your personal circle, you're part of the problem. Expand your worldview. {{unsigned ip|108.162.241.57}}

;Hairbun with glasses
I wonder if she is meant to represent [[wikipedia:Susan B. Anthony|Susan B. Anthony]]. SBA did have a bun (most photos) and glasses (later in life), and she is the most obvious person to be placed at the same prominent level as HRC.[[User:Sysin|Sysin]] ([[User talk:Sysin|talk]]) 14:42, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
:Well maybe, but Randall has drwan [[Hairbun]] with glasses like this several times before as also mentioned in the gallery. So I do not think any of the characters represents real persons except maybe the only one looking out at us, [[Blondie]] which would be how to draw Hillary in xkcd. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:45, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Is that final reminder, about being in line before the polls close true in all 50 states? I believe that Indiana nominally has a different law, that you must be inside the polling building when the polls close in order to vote, which is not quite the same thing. although in practice, it's usually enforced as "be in line" instead [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.45|162.158.75.45]] 15:30, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Frankly, The Hillary Logo isn't particularly egregious. He has two elements suggesting to vote for Hillary (the logo, and the "her"), and 5 elements about increasing general voter turnout. I don't like Clinton, but the comic is mostly about voting, nor voting for Clinton. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.47|108.162.238.47]] 17:41, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Randall's fiance/wife has been diagnosed with cancer, hasn't she (per xkcd 1141: "Two Years")? So if/when President Trump repeals ObamaCare --- and in particular repeals the provisions in regard to "pre-existing conditions" --- then his wife loses her healthcare coverage, doesn't she? This is ample reason for Randall (and his wife, and all cancer patients and their families) to oppose Trump, isn't it? [[User:PNWoldguy|PNWoldguy]] ([[User talk:PNWoldguy|talk]]) 18:07, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

An ad for Hillary? Well, I just removed Thing Explainer and What If from my whistlist. I gave Thing Explainer as a gift last year. I now regret that. Oh, and a coworker's husband blacklisted XKCD from their router. Great idea. {{unsigned|Dayfall}}

Hmmmm...given how this election polarizes (look e.g. in the "Scientific American" for a clear anti-Trump statement which is rather unprecedented for them; dunno about "Science") this is a rather mildly pro-Clinton comic. So what? Other celebs took their stance too. (Eagerly still awaiting NSFWComix's comment :-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.152|162.158.203.152]] 23:16, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Definitely not a Trump supporter here... But on the topic of political propaganda on a nerd comic... And the "free speech" comic about free speech "not existing on discussion forums"... The purpose of discussions is to have your beliefs challenged, so you can distinguish good and bad reasoning, refine your beliefs, and alter them due to evidence. Unpopular opinions should be refuted (if faulty premises), or discussed so everyone can decide for themselves. Banning members for unpopular opinions is not a debate, it's an echo chamber. And I mean this for both sides of a discussion, not just supporting one ideology in particular. [[User:Jimbo1qaz|Jimbo1qaz]] ([[User talk:Jimbo1qaz|talk]]) 23:29, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
:Also, I'm a bit disappointed that this comic is a Clinton campaign sign (although nowhere near as much as I would be if this comic was a Trump sign). [[User:Jimbo1qaz|Jimbo1qaz]] ([[User talk:Jimbo1qaz|talk]]) 23:31, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Explanation needs, somewhere on it, the interesting fact that citizens don't receive fines or criminal charges for not voting. I didn't realise that this was so in the U.S., and many other non-U.S. readers might not realise that it's legal to not vote in the U.S. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.121|108.162.249.121]] 01:27, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
*Most of the world doesn't have compulsory voting. I'm guessing you may be in Australia which does have compulsory voting, but New Zealand doesn't, nor do Canada, UK, Ireland, South Africa, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Japan, China, Nigeria, Finland, Pakistan, Denmark ... --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.127|108.162.216.127]] 17:44, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Seriously,don't get heated about it. I agree that:

*This is just expressing Randall's opinion.
*Even if it wasn't, he deserves a comic off from jokes.
*The campaign is going o end before I wake up at 6 tomorrow.

Also, could you fucking watch your language? Jacky720 (talk) 03:27, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

I saw the two forward facing figures as Clinton and Kaine. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 03:49, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Encouraging people to vote, and helping to know how, great. But I was disappointed that he stooped to campaigning for a specific candidate right in his comic, as opposed to his blag. This is a sad day for XKCD. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.43}}

*I wonder if Randall realized that his "get a ride to the polls" link would only work for residents in one district of Nebraska -- less than 0.25% of his U.S. readership. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.127|108.162.216.127]] 17:44, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Hilarious comic as always! Hillary as president, lol. Good one, Randall :^) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.152|162.158.203.152]] 21:15, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Why is the discussion 3/4th of the page with only 1/4 being related to the explanation? And most of the comments being replied to are ones on Women or Sexism, which is bad. Instead they should bitch about Donald Trump, he is the most sexist and racist here.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.50.35|162.158.50.35]] 12:45, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

Talk:2242: Ground vs Air

2024-03-13T00:25:12Z

172.68.174.82: Sign/date

Wow; it took longer than I care to admit to realize 'thick' wasn't 'viscosity'...but 'altitude'. (i.e., height/thickness re: Kynde's comment) [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]]) 01:08, 17 December 2019 (UTC)
:Ohhhhhhhh! [[User:Sdkb|Sdkb]] ([[User talk:Sdkb|talk]]) 02:38, 17 December 2019 (UTC)
::Not altitude, but height or thickness... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:03, 17 December 2019 (UTC)
::: ^ Yes, that. Correction added; I meekly blame word choice on keyboard dead zones. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]]) 20:22, 17 December 2019 (UTC)

A link to the article is here: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2005GL025621. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.192|162.158.186.192]] 01:12, 17 December 2019 (UTC)

It's probably worth mentioning in the explanation which map projection Randall chose to use for this comic from those listed in a previous comic about map projections. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 02:22, 17 December 2019 (UTC)

And by these metrics, blood is even thinner than water... {{unsigned ip|162.158.107.199|04:48, 17 December 2019 (UTC)}}

But everything changed when the fire nation attacked [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.250|108.162.229.250]] 10:47, 17 December 2019 (UTC)

I assume ocean ridges have a very thin crust, meaning they get the ratio more towards air? I am not at all a geologist, so I ask this question, because ridges would intiutively appear to have a bigger crust, as they stand out from the ground. "That definition would, of course, have resulted in a significantly different picture where the air is thicker than the ground only inside small areas around mid-ocean ridges" should be explained by someone who knows why it is the case. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:26, 17 December 2019 (UTC)
:Mid-ocean ridges can even be raised above the ocean surface--Iceland is actually the high point on one of them. In other places they're trenches, though. Since seafloor crust is spreading at those points, it's at its thinnest there on average. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 02:08, 18 December 2019 (UTC)
::Would you feel confident, adding that in a concise way to the explanation? I do not... But I am glad I learned something by that. That might also explain why these ocean ridges tend to be equipped with volcanoes. I thought the reasoning was the other way round: They are ridges due to their geothermal activity. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:27, 18 December 2019 (UTC)
:::I have done this! And added a bit more earth science knowledge besides. And while Iceland is the highest point on the ridge, I'm not sure I'd say it's actually because of the ridge - Iceland is a hot spot the same way Hawaii (which is not on a ridge) is.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.62|108.162.219.62]] 21:29, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

The current explanation seems to include water-thickness in with (either) air or ground thickness in discussing it in the initial transition from air to ground. Depends how you read it, which, but it easily reads as either. Maybe edit that aside out from that bit, then make sure that sliver of water is gone into later (...end of that para? ...footnote mention?) that sometimes the air ends at sea-level and ground starts after the depth of sea? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.46|162.158.34.46]] 12:28, 18 December 2019 (UTC)
:Just done what I think you asked for, as luck would have it. (And then redid it slightly to avoid adjectival and verb forms of "separate" appearing so close together.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.91|162.158.154.91]] 19:46, 18 December 2019 (UTC)

The current explanations refers to fire as being 12000km, I would rather go with the radius of 6000km. Makes more sense to me since we are on a sphere and not counting the crust thickness twice.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.52|108.162.216.52]] 17:52, 18 December 2019 (UTC)

Should we make a Comics with Citations category? Seems like it's warranted [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.53|141.101.69.53]] 19:21, 18 December 2019 (UTC)

XKCD is he only webcomic where mentioning the type of map projection in an explanation would not be needless pedantism. —[[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 18:52, 22 January 2020 (UTC)
:"Pedantry" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 08:52, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

((Following unsigned comment moved away from the top, before making my reply, to where it's more chronological...)) 
Isn't this just a map of elevation? {{unsigned ip|172.70.114.71|04:16, 14 June 2022 (UTC)}}
:Clearly not, as it covers areas of sea/ocean where elevation is a consistent zero (or possibly negative, according to your convention).
:As illustrated, it's a balance of the amount of 'solid' rock vs the air above, with ground-level elevation (or sea-bed depression?) affecting the air-thickness above more reliably (given the fluidity of air as it gathers and spreads and heats and cools and thus generally evens out) than the span of the rock below which relies upon geological time-scales of shifting that are overwhelmed by the consistency of what the current bit of buoyant rock is (density, strength, etc) and whether tectonics is locally clumping it up or thinning it out beneath a given bit of continent or ocean. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 08:52, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Talk:1052: Every Major's Terrible

2024-03-07T17:32:08Z

172.68.174.82: Fix 404 link

The video link 404's - here is a working archive link: [https://web.archive.org/web/20190610190844/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhaEjgnmy3c https://web.archive.org/web/20190610190844/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhaEjgnmy3c] --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.82|172.68.174.82]] 17:32, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

I think Iambic Octameter has a ''stressed-unstressed'' pattern, not the other way around as this explanation says. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.4|172.68.34.4]] 02:56, 10 April 2017 (UTC)
:No, the explanation is correct, I misread the Wikipedia article. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.4|172.68.34.4]] 13:41, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

Panel 1's cueball is in the same pose as Rodin's "The Thinker"

Panel 4 background is the periodic table of elements.

Panel 5, Fowler's Toad emits a noxious secretion that irritates skin and mucous membranes (it was previously thought to cause warts)

Panel 6, Psychology = a serial killer with a chainsaw, Sociology = hobo; Social Psych = hobo serial killer with chainsaw.

Panel 15, LISP, Scheme, and other computer languages with an excess of parentheses.

Panel 16, biohazard symbol

Panel 19, bongos were played by Richard Feynman

Panel 27, fear of snakes, study of reptiles

Panel 28, a picture of a stomach, pun on "stomach" being slang for "tolerate"

Panel 30, words in all lowercase like e.e.cummings

-- [[Special:Contributions/75.103.23.206| 75.103.23.206 ]] 22:04, 7 December 2012‎
:Hobo serial killer with chainsaw? Social psych sounds awesome!
:[[Special:Contributions/24.2.217.188|24.2.217.188]] 22:42, 22 October 2013 (UTC)
----
In panel 22 (History), what's the theme connecting the years 1935, 1969, and 1991?
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 15:40, 21 May 2013 (UTC)
:1935 is certainly related to some event that lead to the WWII (a quick look at the Wikipedia page for 1935 show that was the year Hitler rearmed Germany), which paved the way to the Cold War. 1969 was Apollo 11, a high moment of the Cold War, as the USA essentially won the race to the Moon. And 1991 was the year that the USSR dissolved, officially ending the Cold War. [[User:Sir labreck|Sir labreck]] ([[User talk:Sir labreck|talk]]) 18:37, 11 August 2015 (UTC)
:1935, Harlem race riot; 1969, race riot in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 1991, Rodney King race riots... 2014-2016??? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.62|173.245.54.62]] 03:33, 13 December 2015 (UTC)
:Although the race riot dates match, I think war related is more likely. 1935 (WWII), 1969 (Vietnam), 1991 (Gulf War) I'm not sure what the common thread is, though, and 'war' is too broad [[Special:Contributions/172.69.250.4|172.69.250.4]] 20:37, 30 September 2018 (UTC)
::{{w|WWII}} began in '''1939'''. The {{w|Vietnam War}} was 1955-1975 and {{w|Gulf_War_(disambiguation)|Gulf War}} is ambiguous. Just sayin... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:34, 1 October 2018 (UTC)
----
This explanation is very small for that big comic. I am starting to add the transcript and after that I will do more investigations to that opera. This should be the key to explain all the panels.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:13, 21 May 2013 (UTC)

:The answer won't lie in the song, trust me. Pirates of Penzance is probably my favorite comic opera out there. Plus Randall gives that the lie in saying you can use the tune from the elements song (a well-known parody) or even Marry Poppins (similar tune, but not exactly the same). I think each panel is just a reference to the words, I don't think that Randall is actually involving The Pirates of Penzance in any way other than the tune. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.211|173.245.52.211]] 20:53, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
----
Feynman was also known for being a ladies' man, so the two girls in panel 19 are significant IMHO.
--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.117|141.101.80.117]] 13:51, 25 December 2013 (UTC)
----
Needs explanation what does it mean to '''choose a major''', and what '''major''' is in this context. Note every reader is from U.S.A.; different countries have different higher education systems. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 10:56, 9 January 2014 (UTC)
:True that. 'Graduation' in Brazil means 'Undergraduation' in the US. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.105|108.162.254.105]] 03:51, 1 February 2014 (UTC)
----
"Math's just physics unconstrained by precepts of reality" - that isn't a binary tree, its a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bifurcation_diagram bifurcation diagram] from chaos theory. And, sorry, it has nothing to do with the Banach–Tarski paradox - that's just mindless name-dropping.
[[User:Davidbak|Davidbak]] ([[User talk:Davidbak|talk]]) 20:54, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
:Are you sure it is not just an illustration of Banach-Tarski, arguably the most famous example where mathematical reality and (physical) intuition diverge? Why would the verse be illustrated by a bifurcation diagram (which I think, and I might be a bit ignorant here, is a concept pretty much only found in the "applied side" of mathematics, which ''is'' constrained by precepts of reality)? And even if it were a bifurcation diagram, why would the mass of the balls change? (again, I am perhaps showcasing my ignorance; if so, please be gentle) Finally, i would deem the bifurcation explanation a bit too obscure to be the real deal - a panel which is only understood by somewhat specialized mathematicians seems strange to me, especially given that all other frames contain understandable references. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.183|108.162.229.183]] 13:38, 9 October 2015 (UTC)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRexBMPeRTo[[User:Halfhat|Halfhat]] ([[User talk:Halfhat|talk]]) 18:59, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:That is distinctly a bifurcation diagram. Banach Tarski doesn't factor into this at all. Disagree-P 15:39, 20 Nov, 2020

Panel 30: possibly iambic septameter[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.154|141.101.104.154]]

---
I think that the reason for not getting hugs in panel 16 is more to do with the fact that as a virus researcher you would be aware of how easy it is to get a virus/disease and so you would keep away from people and be worried about hugs because of that. (Sorry if I've done something wrong this is my first comment!) [[User:Yxquillio|Yxquillio]] ([[User talk:Yxquillio|talk]]) 08:24, 3 January 2016 (UTC)

Another song I guess could provide a good match is "Can You Stop the Calvary?" by Jona Lewie (or "Where's the Modding API" if you're a YOGSCAST fan like me. :)) --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 11:50, 20 September 2016 (UTC)

"End of the first verse where Cueball tells his academic advisor that he is undecided as every major's terrible. He even throws away his study guide." Are you sure it's not a course catalog? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.59|108.162.212.59]] 10:33, 19 June 2017 (UTC)

I think I should add that Pratchett used that quote to prove that geography was not a boring science, as it is physics, which is exciting, with some trees on it. Just a thought.[[User:MrBookBoy|MrBookBoy]] ([[User talk:MrBookBoy|talk]]) 01:30, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

Hey, the cs parens are missing a close paren. Like literally. Lol. [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 15:00, 22 May 2021 (UTC)
----
It should be noted that in panel 35, they're referring to "Sophie's Choice." A movie in which the protagonist has to decide which of her two children to save, and which one to kill.
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.245|108.162.245.245]] 16:36, 11 October 2021 (UTC)

Is "Undecided" related to the alignment chart? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.228|172.71.154.228]] 22:58, 24 April 2023 (UTC)

Panel 31. While epidemiology may well involve the study of causes and trends and whatnot, so does history. Epidemiology is the study of diseases.

Talk:2876: Range Safety

2024-01-03T15:07:02Z

172.68.174.82:

The 'standard' and '2x' sized images had unexpected sizes, so a Trivia section has been automatically generated, and an imagesize parameter has been added (at half size) to render the image consistently with other comics on this website. --[[User:TheusafBOT|TheusafBOT]] ([[User talk:TheusafBOT|talk]]) 14:54, 3 January 2024 (UTC)
:Okay, so, today we learned modern xkcd comics are drawn entirely with the pencil tool, with the brush size for the text averaging 22 pixels, and then downscaled to 1/15th of the size before final publication. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.91|162.158.103.91]] 15:01, 3 January 2024 (UTC)

Why is the tower missing in the second panel?

Talk:2870: Love Songs

2023-12-20T23:56:57Z

172.68.174.82:

I need to know which axis means “does the ‘me’ like them” because I fail to understand it.--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.134.164|172.71.134.164]] 23:53, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

I'm hoping "I Will Survive" isn't a reference to the Zootopia abortion comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.82|172.68.174.82]] 23:56, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

2867: DateTime

2023-12-14T03:59:03Z

172.68.174.82: Fleshed out more detail.

{{comic
| number = 2867
| date = December 13, 2023
| title = DateTime
| image = datetime_2x.png
| imagesize = 679x478px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's not just time zones and leap seconds. SI seconds on Earth are slower because of relativity, so there are time standards for space stuff (TCB, TGC) that use faster SI seconds than UTC/Unix time. T2 - T1 = [God doesn't know and the Devil isn't telling.]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DATETIME SYSTEM BETWEEN T1 AND T2 - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Ponytail]] asks [[Cueball]] how to calculate the time elapsed between two instants. A Cueball not intimately familiar with the complexities of the way humans measure time naively assumes that this is given by the difference of the timestamps. A Cueball who is familiar panics and states that it is impossible to know, and further that it is forbidden to even ask the question.

Some of these complexities include time zones, the international date line, daylight savings time and differing observation (or nonobservation) thereof in different areas (and changes to the observation of daylight savings time over time), leap days and leap seconds, etc. Another complexity is found in relativistic effects. A partial list of such minutia may be found at [https://gist.github.com/timvisee/fcda9bbdff88d45cc9061606b4b923ca Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Time]. The title text of the comic also references some of them.

The statement that it is impossible to know and a sin to ask is obviously hyperbolic; it's an expression of the fact that determining the answer accurately can be complicated and programming systems that attempt to do this can be frustrating.

"T2 - T1 = [God doesn't know and the Devil isn't telling.]": This appears to allude to the expression "god only knows", suggesting that this is so unknowable that even god doesn't know. The idea that the Devil does know alludes to the "devilish" complexity and frustration associated with this problem.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail is talking to Cueball.]
:Ponytail: Event #1 happened at time T1.
:Cueball: Okay.

:Ponytail: Then event #2 happened at time T2.
:Cueball: Mhmm.

:Ponytail: How would you calculate how much time elapsed between T1 and T2?

:[The comic splits into two paths, each with a caption at the top.]

:[Path 1, upper right panel]
:Caption: Normal person:
:Cueball: T2 minus T1.

:[Path 2, lower right panel]
:Caption: Anyone who's worked on datetime systems:
:[Cueball has his arms raised.]
:Cueball: '''''It is impossible to know and a sin to ask!'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Time]]

705: Devotion to Duty

2023-12-11T00:59:28Z

172.68.174.82:

{{comic
| number = 705
| date = February 22, 2010
| title = Devotion to Duty
| image = devotion_to_duty.png
| titletext = The weird sense of duty really good sysadmins have can border on the sociopathic, but it's nice to know that it stands between the forces of darkness and your cat blog's servers.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, we see a man talking on a phone. We are unsure of his aims (terrorism, robbery, etc.) but he has taken hostages and cut all links to the outside world, in order to control the situation and prevent the police from observing the interior of the building (as popularly depicted in film and television). Initially, the villains seem to have everything under their control, but then the hostage-taker explains on the phone that someone has entered the building, climbed the air vents to bypass their cordon, effortlessly killing other hostage-takers (who are likely hardened killers with weaponry) on his way to the server room and then ignored the hostages, preferring instead to reconnect the servers to the outside world. The hostage-taker is evidently puzzled by this and explains it to the person on the other end of the phone, who immediately recognizes the reason: the man that entered the building is a sysadmin (short for {{w|system administrator}}), and he is concerned that his servers are losing uptime (time spent running or connected to the internet). This evidently concerns the man on the phone, who knows that a good sysadmin is an unstoppable force once started!

This comic is a reference to one of two things (or both): the Hollywood depiction of heroes able to perform superhuman feats in tricky situations (such as John McClane in ''{{w|Die Hard}}'', which the first two panels are a deliberate reference to), or the duty that people impose upon themselves to go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that they carry out their work (in this case a dutiful sysadmin, concerned for those trying to use his server).

The title text is a simple joke about the fact that the sysadmin will crawl through broken glass and defeat criminals/terrorists just so a cat blog (where owners write about their cats) can stay up. This creates a humorous contrast between the seriousness with which large websites treat issues like uptime and business continuity and the often mundane and banal uses people actually have for them.

A sysadmin is also mentioned in the title text of [[309: Shopping Teams]] and in [[1305: Undocumented Feature]].

==Transcript==
:[Bearded criminal is holding a pistol and talking on a mobile phone.]
:Criminal: We took the hostages, secured the building and cut the communication lines like you said.
:Phone: Excellent.

:[Still talking on the phone, waving gun around in the air animatedly.]
:Criminal: But then this guy climbed up the ventilation ducts and walked across broken glass, killing anyone we sent to stop him.
:Phone: And he rescued the hostages?

:[Criminal looking confused and defeated, shoulders hunched and pistol hanging limply at his side.]
:Criminal: No, he ignored them. He just reconnected the cables we cut, muttering something about "uptime".
:Phone: Shit, we're dealing with a ''sysadmin''.

==Trivia==
This comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20211218202946/http://store.xkcd.com/collections/apparel/products/sysadmin available as a T-shirt] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]
[[Category:Sysadmins]]

2212: Cell Phone Functions

2023-12-10T22:10:19Z

172.68.174.82: Undo revision 330511 by 172.68.174.233 (talk) not relevant

{{comic
| number = 2212
| date = October 7, 2019
| title = Cell Phone Functions
| image = cell_phone_functions_(1).png
| titletext = ... tazer ... fire extinguisher ... bird feeder ... toilet paper ...
}}

==Explanation==
This comic pokes fun at the ever-increasing function of smartphones and their users' reliance on them through an unusual horizontal bar graph showing what services a smartphone provides (or will provide) that were performed by other devices in the past and when the switch took or will take place. It starts sensibly: Calling, browsing the Internet, and taking pictures are the most prominent examples of tasks that many if not most people use a smartphone instead of a specific device nowadays. The next item, newspaper, extends the Internet's capabilities (either from within the mobile browser or as a dedicated app), and the next, flashlight, repurposes the phone camera's flash unit; both are now commonplace features of smartphones. Some people even use their smartphone as the remote for their TV (either via RF wireless [e.g., WiFi] for smart TVs, or via their phone's infrared port) or to pay in stores using payment providers like Google Play Wallet, Samsung Pay, or Apple Pay, which utilize the {{w|near-field communication}} functionality of modern smartphones. A few cars now support using a phone app instead of a key fob, rendering yet another item obsolete; apparently, Randall just started using this feature in his car, as this item is in the very recent past in the comic's diagram.

Then the comic drifts off into smartphone capabilities either not yet possible or likely never to be possible. These capabilities are right of the "now" mark, meaning Randall has not switched to using a smartphone for them: One cannot currently use a phone app as a dog leash, nor as an adhesive bandage. While using a phone as a steering wheel is possible (likely interfacing with the car's self-driving features), it would be a reversal of current initiatives to prevent drivers from using cell phones while driving. Things get increasingly odd, to the point where a smartphone is allegedly used as a toothbrush. Several items would require physical changes to the phone and not just repurposing existing capabilities, such as operating as a cheese grater, stapler or nail clipper, which would make the phone look and feel more like a {{w|Swiss Army Knife}} instead.{{Citation needed}}

The title text continues this path by continuing the list of objects his phone will supposedly replace. These include a "tazer" (a misspelling of {{w|taser}}), a fire extinguisher, a bird feeder, and toilet paper, continuing the path of absurdity the comic implies with its supposed future uses for a phone.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Function
! Possible way a phone could be used
|-
| Dog leash
| While this could be a physical leash that spools out of the phone, it would more likely be some kind of an electronic leash, which would activate an electronic dog collar which would somehow (mild shock? vibration? ultrasonic or audible sound?) alert and/or stop the dog when it gets too far from the phone.
|-
| Steering wheel
| This could entail rotating the phone in the same manner as one rotates a steering wheel, it could involve dragging your finger on the screen on a picture of a steering wheel, or, less literally, it could be more along the lines of a self-driving car where you use the phone to designate a destination, and the phone (or car) would steer the car automatically to get there. A phone that can steer a car was featured as a {{w|List of James Bond gadgets|James Bond gadget}} in the film ''{{w|Tomorrow Never Dies}}''. Or simply, a lot of remote-controlled drones/cars are steered by a smartphone nowadays, it is just not as common as other smartphone functions because of a lesser market it has.
|-
| {{w|Band-Aid}}
| As a way to cover wounds, it could dispense physical adhesive strips, such as Band-Aid brand strips. It might also contain a liquid or gel that would harden over a wound to seal it. It's unlikely this could be done without some physical substance which would need to be replenished sometime after use unless Randall widened the definition of Band-Aid to include devices such as dermal regenerators featured in Star Trek.
|-
| {{w|Cheese grater}}
| This would be relatively easy but impractical, adding bulk to the phone and risking accidentally grating or slicing substances other than cheese, such as your hand or your pocket. You might also get cheese particles in the phone; a waterproof or water-resistant phone might be okay, but those ratings generally do not test for cheese dust.{{Citation needed}} This may be a reference to Homer’s personal organizer having a cheese grater in the Simpsons episode [https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Brother%27s_Little_Helper/Quotes Brother’s Little Helper].
|-
| Stapler
| This would again add bulk and require replenishing of supplies, and where the phone is presumably helping to eliminate paper, this would work counter to that goal as it would only be useful in the presence of paper. Some "stapling" techniques do not involve actual staples; they work by cutting and folding little bits of paper so a few sheets hang together. This would eliminate bulk and the need to store pieces of metal but would be limited to very short stacks of just a few sheets of paper.
|-
| Nail clipper
| This might not be too hard or add too much bulk, but it's just one more of potentially hundreds or thousands of little things that could be added but aren't justified based on how single-purpose the function is. Maybe as a general-purpose cutter/scissors?
|-
| Electric {{w|drill}}
| More bulk, and it would be a real power drain for the batteries. Maybe that's why it's further into the future, as it probably depends on better battery technology. Many phones already have a built-in motor that rotates, purposely off-balance and meant to cause vibrations (for tactile notifications, especially when sound is turned off). Perhaps that could be made more powerful and given a center hole that can take a bit?
|-
| Toothbrush
| More bulk, and while useful it probably isn't useful enough to justify adding it to the phone. The phone should probably also dispense toothpaste, otherwise, the toothbrush doesn't accomplish the goal of letting the phone completely replace the needed items for a particular function (brushing teeth in this case).
|-
| {{w|Taser}} (misspelled as ''tazer'' in the title text)
| A Taser is a brand of "conducted electrical weapon", typically used as a "less-lethal" weapon by law enforcement. Commercial Tasers are also marketed for the general public for self-defense purposes. With the battery power available for a functional electric drill, a Taser may not be far behind. A Taser as a phone feature is not currently available, but other stun gun-type phone cases are [https://www.google.com/search?q=taser+phone+attachment already on the market].
|-
| {{w|Fire extinguisher}}
| While this might entail having to stock fire-controlling substances (water, Freon, powders, etc.), it's unlikely a phone could contain enough to do anything substantial against a fire. Perhaps there is a future and as yet unknown role for sound or light emissions in the combating of fires?
|-
| {{w|Bird feeder}}
| A phone could contain some seeds or bird food which could be dispensed, but most people would not want a bunch of birds too near their phone, especially pooping on it. Again, not very practical for the space those seeds would take, and it would need frequent refilling.
|-
| {{w|Toilet paper}}
| Definitely not... unless maybe those fictitious sound waves or vibrations or light could be used to "shake" the poop or dirt particles loose, like in Star Trek's sonic showers, and not require actual paper or physical contact. Or unless a wirelessly controlled bidet becomes ubiquitous.
|}

==Transcript==
:[A graph with time on the x-axis and items Randall replaced with his smartphone on the y-axis. For each item, the time he (allegedly) replaced it is marked; the marks form a jagged line down the graph, roughly sorted by when he switched. The regions are marked]
: I have a specific device for this
:[and]
: I just use my phone
: [items where the switch-over date is in the past:]
: Telephone
: Web Browser
: Camera
: Newspaper
: Flashlight
: TV Remote
: Credit Card
: Car Key
:[items where the switch-over date is in the future:]
: Dog Leash
: Steering Wheel
: Band-Aid
: Cheese Grater
: Stapler
: Nail Clipper
: Electric Drill
: Toothbrush

:[The x-axis (time) shows at point labelled as 'now' roughly halfway along the graph, a grey dashed line runs vertically down the whole graph. Car Keys have just been replaced by a phone, all other items listed below that have yet to be replaced. For the most part the gradient of the trend is constant at around -1. The last item (Toothbrush) is replaced before the penultimate item (Electric Drill)]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

2862: Typical Seating Chart

2023-12-02T04:11:19Z

172.68.174.82:

{{comic
| number = 2862
| date = December 1, 2023
| title = Typical Seating Chart
| image = typical_seating_chart_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x943px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Now that airlines have started adding wheel locks to their drink carts, less than half of flights have one accidentally fall out through the hole.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOEING 777 PASSENGER SHOOTING A ROGUE A-10 WARTHOG - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic shows a seating chart for an airplane, albeit with several unusual aspects not normally found on planes.

{|class = "wikitable"
! Label !! Location !! Notes
|-
|{{w|Cowcatcher}}
|Front of plane
|It is unclear whether this is meant for when the plane is taxiing, in which case this could catch any cows that are unlucky enough to be in the airport, or if this is meant to catch flying cows. The term is normally used for the metal grate on the front of some trains. The comic's depiction is similar to a {{w|Cowcatcher|train cowcatcher}}.
|-
|Please only pick these seats if you're a pilot
|Cockpit
|These are the cockpit seats, which should naturally only be used by pilots. {{Citation needed}}
However it's possible the airline might have a system like in [[726: Seat Selection]], where a passenger can pick the seat.
|-
|Main stage
|rowspan="3"|First Class
|This plane is apparently set up to hold a concert or other performance in flight.
|-
|Mosh pit
|The inclusion of a {{w|mosh pit}} implies that the intended performances would be concerts featuring punk, heavy metal, or music of similar genres.
|-
|Various fancy classes
|This is the first actual seating type (the fancy classes here often referred to as First Class and Business Class).
|-
|Some airplane companies waste this space
|Wings
|The comic suggests that the space in (or on?) the wings is unused. In reality the space in the wings is often used for fuel, and it is not safe to sit on the wing. {{Citation needed}}

|-
|Lookout
|End of wings
|Presumably these passengers are required to look for any dangers to the plane. It is unclear what these dangers are, but it could be the pursuers mentioned in the description of the tail gunners.
|-
|Passenger has to pedal
|Propellers
|The passenger's pedaling is likely what causes the engines to work in this plane. It is unlikely that a single passenger can match the power of a jet engine. {{Citation needed}}

|-
|Hole for trash
|Middle of plane, just behind wings
|A big hole right in the middle of the plane would be unlikely to exist in reality due to the danger of people or things falling through the hole (such as drink carts as mentioned in the title text) and possibly landing on other things, as well as the inability to maintain pressure in the cabin. Planes typically keep all trash on board until they land.
|-
|Sidecar
|Left side of plane, behind wings
|A sidecar is a small device that is attached to a main vehicle to provide additional support or space. It is unlikely that this would be needed for an airplane, and would likely make it less stable.
|-
|Extra middle seats
|Back of plane
|Here the aisle moves to add two more seats in a row on one side. The 5 total seats are the aisle, three middle seats, and one window seat. This could actually exist, although it would be inconvenient to traverse. Middle seats are generally considered less desirable than aisle or window seats, so there is no particular customer demand to include more of them on a plane.
|-
|Bumper car seating
|Just in front of tail
|These seats are presumably not attached to anything, instead able to move freely like bumper cars. In reality, this would likely not be approved. Alternatively, the seats could simply be {{w|Bumper cars}}.
|-
|Penthouse
|Tail
|A seat located in the tail, presumably higher than the rest.
|-
|Extra legroom
|Hanging off of left side of tail
|A common complaint with airplane seating is the lack of legroom. These seats do not have this problem - in fact, they have the entire atmosphere as legroom.
|-
|Fighter escort
|Separate, smaller plane
|A small fighter jet flying alongside the main plane. It is unclear if the people inside are also passengers and if they have to operate the jet (especially since similar roles are given to passengers in the main plane).
|-
|Tail gunners (Must protect plane from pursuers but earn extra miles)
|Tail
|People in these seats must protect the plane from any pursuers. The fact that these people are passengers is clear from the incentive of extra air miles. {{w|Frequent-flyer program|Frequent-flyer programs}} are a common system that airlines implement where passengers can receive special awards for flying often.
|}

The title text expands on the hole, suggesting that it was a common occurrence for drink carts to fall down the hole until they implemented wheel locks. The lack of wheel locks would make it easier for a cart to slide towards the hole.

The pilot seat and the wings as seats were also mentioned in [[726: Seat Selection]].

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

:Typical Airliner Seating Chart

:[Labeled items of a plane from front to back:]
:[Front of plane:]
:Cowcatcher
:[Cockpit (2 seats):]
:Please only pick these seats if you're a pilot
:[First Class section (22 seats):]
:Main stage
:Mosh pit
:Various fancy classes
:[Wings (2 x 55 seats):]
:Some airplane companies waste this space
:[Ends of wings (2 x 1 seat):]
:Lookout
:[Propellers (2 x 1 seat):]
:Passenger has to pedal
:[Middle of plane, just behind wings:]
:Hole for trash
:[Left side of plane, behind wings (7 seats):]
:Sidecar
:[Back of plane (24 seats):]
:Extra middle seats
:[Just in front of tail (4 seats):]
:Bumper car seating
:[Tail (1 seat):]
:Penthouse
:[Hanging off of left side of tail (3 seats):]
:Extra legroom
:[Tail (4 seats):]
:Tail gunners (Must protect plane from pursuers but earn extra miles)

:[Separate, smaller plane to the right (14 seats):]
:Fighter escort

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Aviation]]

2585: Rounding

2023-11-30T21:35:31Z

172.68.174.82: Undo revision 329903 by 172.70.90.164 (talk) no, knots

{{comic
| number = 2585
| date = February 23, 2022
| title = Rounding
| image = rounding.png
| titletext = I've developed a novel propulsion system powered by loss of precision in unit conversion.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is about the follies of unit conversion. Normally, when you say you can ride a bike at 45 {{w|Miles per hour|mph}} if you round, you mean that you can ride at a speed between 44.5 and 45.5, something most people are incapable of doing.{{Citation needed}} The joke is that Cueball actually means if you go through a extremely long chain of rounding imprecisely (see [[#Table of rounding|below]]), starting at 17 mph (which is equivalent to 27.4 km/h and not an improbable speed for an ordinary road-bike and a reasonably fit rider), you can get to the value of 45 (72.4 km/h).

Randall also esoterically uses some more historic units here: fathoms/sec, furlongs/min, and furlongs/hr. A {{w|fathom}} is a unit of length, in the modern era being equivalent to six feet, usually used to measure the depth of water. Fathoms/sec could potentially be used to measure the ascent/descent speed of a submersible, but it would normally be a strange choice to enumerate the speed of a bike. A {{w|furlong}} is also a unit of length, equivalent to one eighth of a mile (or 660 feet or 110 fathoms) but is mostly unused except in horse racing. It is possible that furlongs/min or furlongs/hour could be used to measure the speed of a horse. {{w|Knot (unit)|Knot}}s (nautical miles per hour) are a standard unit of measuring speed, but are typically used for measuring speed for airplanes or ships, not speed on land. However, km/h (kilometers per hour, spelled kph in the comic) is commonly used internationally to state the speed of land vehicles, while m/s (meters per second) is a measurement encountered in scientific usage.

The title text furthers the joke by taking the imprecise rounding literally, implying that this increase could actually be used/abused as a novel form of propulsion, but it isn't clarified for what type of vehicle. It could be an engine for ground or air travel, but contains the implication that it is trying to 'trick physics' similar to the {{w|Alcubierre drive|theoretical 'warp drive'}} conceived to propel interstellar spacecraft at otherwise impossible speeds. One interpretation of the supposed chain of conversions is that it has somehow created a great deal of energy from nothing. Suppose there existed a device or system that could magically accelerate an object from 17 mph to 45 mph without any energy input. The sped-up object could be harnessed to a generator or engine in such a way that the object was slowed back down to 17 mph, with the difference in energy being output in a useful way, and the object fed back into the device. The result would be an engine that could create both free energy and non-conserved changes in momentum.

At the demonstrated rate of about 4% median rounding gain, it would just take 73 more steps of rounding-acceleration to reach supersonic speed from the starting speed of 45 mph. If the speed of light could be approached without relativistic effects, another 349 steps would go from supersonic speed to the speed of light. (More efficient approaches may exist.)

===Table of rounding===
{| class="wikitable"
! step !! percentage gain from rounding !! mph !! {{w|Metre per second|m/s}} !! {{w|Knot (unit)|knots}} !! {{w|fathom}}s/sec !! {{w|furlong}}s/min !! {{w|Kilometres per hour|km/h}} !! furlongs/hour !! {{w|yard}}s/sec
|-
! 1
| N/A ||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 17 ||style="background-color:green;"| 7.599680 || 14.77260 || 4.15555 || 2.26666 || 27.35885 || 136|| 8.31111
|-
! 2
| +5.27% || 17.89549 ||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 8 ||style="background-color:green;"| 15.55076 || 4.37445 || 2.38607 || 28.8 || 143.16392 || 8.74891
|-
! 3
| +2.89% || 18.41247 || 8.231111 ||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 16 ||style="background-color:green;"| 4.50083 || 2.45500 || 29.63200 || 147.29977 || 9.00165
|-
! 4
| +11.09% || 20.45454|| 9.144000 || 17.77451 ||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 5 ||style="background-color:green;"| 2.72727|| 32.91840 || 163.63636 || 10
|-
! 5
| +10.00% || 22.5 || 10.05840 || 19.55197 ||style="background-color:green;"| 5.50000 ||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 3 || 36.21024 || 180|| 11
|-
! 6
| +9.09% || 24.54545 || 10.97280|| 21.32942||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 6 || 3.27272||style="background-color:green;"| 39.50208 || 196.36363|| 12
|-
! 7
| +1.26% || 24.85485 || 11.11111||style="background-color:green;"| 21.59827 || 6.07563|| 3.31398||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 40 || 198.83878|| 12.15126
|-
! 8
| +1.86% || 25.31715 || 11.31778||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 22 || 6.18864|| 3.37562||style="background-color:green;"| 40.74400 || 202.53718|| 12.37727
|-
! 9
| +0.63% || 25.47622 || 11.38888|| 22.13823|| 6.22752|| 3.39683||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 41 ||style="background-color:green;"| 203.80975 || 12.45504
|-
! 10
| +0.09% ||style="background-color:green;"| 25.50000 || 11.39952|| 22.15889 || 6.23333 || 3.40000 || 41.03827 ||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 204 || 12.46666
|-
! 11
| +1.96% ||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 26 ||style="background-color:green;"| 11.62304 || 22.59338 || 6.35555 || 3.46666 || 41.84294 || 208 || 12.71111
|-
! 12
| +3.24% || 26.84324||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 12 || 23.32617|| 6.56168||style="background-color:green;"| 3.57910 || 43.20000 || 214.74588 || 13.12336
|-
! 13
| +11.76% || 30|| 13.41120|| 26.06929|| 7.33333 ||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 4 || 48.28038|| 240||style="background-color:green;"| 14.66666
|-
! 14
| +2.27% || 30.68182|| 13.71600|| 26.66177||style="background-color:green;"| 7.5 || 4.09090|| 49.37760|| 245.45454||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 15
|-
! 15
| +6.67% || 32.72727||style="background-color:green;"| 14.63040 || 28.43922||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 8 || 4.36363|| 52.66944 || 261.81818 || 16
|-
! 16
| +2.53% ||style="background-color:green;"| 33.55404 ||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 15 || 29.15767 || 8.20210 || 4.47387 || 54|| 268.43236 || 16.40420
|-
! 17
| +1.33% ||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 34 || 15.19936 || 29.54519 || 8.31111||style="background-color:green;"| 4.53333 || 54.71770 || 272|| 16.62222
|-
! 18
| +10.29% || 37.50000|| 16.76400||style="background-color:green;"| 32.58661 || 9.16666||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 5 || 60.35040|| 300|| 18.33333
|-
! 19
| +1.27% || 37.97572|| 16.97666||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 33 || 9.28295|| 5.06343|| 61.11603|| 303.80577||style="background-color:green;"| 18.56591
|-
! 20
| +2.34% || 38.86364|| 17.37360|| 33.77158||style="background-color:green;"| 9.5 || 5.18181|| 62.54496|| 310.90909||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 19
|-
! 21
| +5.26% || 40.90909|| 18.28800||style="background-color:green;"| 35.54903 ||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 10 || 5.45455|| 65.83680|| 327.27272|| 20
|-
! 22
| +1.27% || 41.42806|| 18.52000||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 36 || 10.12686||style="background-color:green;"| 5.52374 || 66.67200|| 331.42448|| 20.25372
|-
! 23
| +8.62% ||style="background-color:green;"| 45 || 20.11680 || 39.10393 || 11||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 6 || 72.42048 || 360|| 22
|-
! 24
| +0.00% ||style="background-color:lightgreen;"| 45 || 20.11680|| 39.10393|| 11|| 6|| 72.42048|| 360|| 22
|}

==Transcript==
:[In the top left part of the panel is a small drawing where Cueball, wearing a bike helmet and holding a bike, is speaking to Megan.]
:Cueball: I can ride my bike at 45 MPH.
:Cueball: If you round.

:[To their right is a large number with unit, with an arrow going straight down to a normal sized similar number. From there and proceeding all the way down to the bottom, in alternating leftward and rightward rows, the rest of the comic shows arrows connecting conversions from one measured unit into another unit. Straight arrows show the direction of the sequence on each line, the end of each line curving down to start the next line in the opposite direction. The last of these lines ends close to the middle of the panel, with a straight arrow down to another large number with unit, like the first.]
:<big>'''17 MPH'''</big>
:8 meters/sec
:16 knots
:5 fathoms/sec
:3 furlongs/min
:6 fathoms/sec
:40 KPH
:22 knots
:41 KPH
:204 furlongs/hr
:26 MPH
:12 M/S
:4 furlongs/min
:15 yards/sec
:8 fathoms/sec
:15 M/S
:34 MPH
:5 furlongs/min
:33 knots
:19 yards/sec
:10 fathoms/sec
:36 knots
:6 furlongs/min
:<big>'''45 MPH'''</big>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Furries]]

2585: Rounding

2023-11-30T05:25:26Z

172.68.174.82:

605: Extrapolating

2023-11-30T05:23:21Z

172.68.174.82:

{{comic
| number = 605
| date = July 3, 2009
| title = Extrapolating
| image = extrapolating.png
| titletext = By the third trimester, there will be hundreds of babies inside you.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a joke about the incorrect application of {{w|linear extrapolation}}. By connecting two points without any context, we can come up with incredibly funny and absurd results. Here, connecting a bride's number of spouses yesterday (zero) and today—her wedding day—(one) can result in a linear extrapolation to hundreds of spouses a year. Cueball presents the accumulation of husbands as though it were a phenomenon beyond the bride's ability to control. Using similar points for pregnancy (yesterday: no babies, today: one), we can get 200+ children inside a single person by the seventh month of pregnancy.

This is another comic in the infrequent [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]] series.

This particular hobby has later been explored in [[1007: Sustainable]], [[1204: Detail]] and [[1281: Minifigs]].

Note that the title text is evidence that Randall is pro-life.

==Transcript==
:My Hobby: Extrapolating

:[There is a graph. Time runs along the horizontal axis; Number of Husbands on the vertical graph. Yesterday and today are labeled in time, 0 and 1 in number of husbands. Points are plotted with 0 at yesterday, 1 at today. A straight line is fitted through them.]
:[Cueball is holding a pointer to the graph, and looking at Megan wearing a bridal train and veil.]
:Cueball: As you can see, by late next month you'll have over four dozen husbands.
:Cueball: Better get a bulk rate on wedding cake.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with babies]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Wedding]]
[[Category:Extrapolation]]

1812: Onboarding

2023-11-23T15:35:03Z

172.68.174.82: Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy

{{comic
| number = 1812
| date = March 17, 2017
| title = Onboarding
| image = onboarding.png
| titletext = 'So we just have a steady flow of metal piling up in our server room? Isn't that a problem?' 'Yeah, you should bring that up at our next bismuth meeting.'
}}

==Explanation==
This is another one of [[Beret Guy|Beret Guy's]] mysterious [[:Category:Beret Guy's Business|businesses]], in which he shows new employee [[Ponytail]] around the building in which the company resides. The process of showing a new employee around the business and starting to get them introduced to people and systems and procedures is often referred to as "{{w|onboarding}}" - hence the title of the comic.

=== Existential Welcome ===

The first panel starts out as a typical welcoming of the new employee to a small indie business. Very quickly, however, Beret Guy's explanation jumps to an existential viewpoint. Very rarely do conversations or introductions involve discussing the eventual fate of our bodies, and certainly not in a professional light as in this comic. Beret Guy, however, has no problem with discussing death and decay as just part of his business. This seemingly contradicts the title text in [[1493: Meeting]], where it is claimed that employees of the company can not physically die. However, this could be a new company he has started since then. Alternatively, this is a literal statement, perhaps related to the cursed Wi-Fi mentioned later in the comic.

=== Bikeshare ===

In the second panel, Beret Guy shows Ponytail the free bikeshare system this business apparently has in place. {{w|Bicycle-sharing system|Bikesharing}} is a system in which many users share one or more bikes among themselves. Typically the bikes belong to some of the members of the group who are allowing them to be used by other members who may not have one, but Beret Guy calmly remarks that this system will only exist "until whoever owns those bikes finds out", implying that they were not donated or shared by any member of the group, but are being used without permission or the knowledge of the true owner of the bikes. This is, thus, not actually a bikeshare, and would be more properly described as theft.

=== Printer ===

In the third panel, Beret Guy shows Ponytail that the laserjet is over there '''and''' the printer is over there, thus indicating that the ''laserjet'' is not a printer. This is a bit disconcerting, since the {{w|HP LaserJet}} is in fact a common brand of {{w|laser printer}}, suggesting that his laserjet may be some rather more exotic device, such as a {{w|Laser propulsion|laser-propelled}} {{w|jet aircraft}}. In any case, however, the printer is not available, as it's been printing an infinite-scroll web page since 2013.

An [[wikt:infinite scroll|infinite-scrolling web page]] is a web page that, as the name implies, seems to have no end. This style of webpage typically has no definite pages or sections, but instead continues to feed data to the screen as the user scrolls. One such example is [https://endless.horse endless.horse], a webpage that features an infinitely tall horse. In reality, trying to print one of these would only print the current section the user was viewing, and even if it was somehow able to infinitely print, the operator could theoretically cancel the operation at any time. Presumably, this continuous printing serves some useful purpose, e.g. prints latest news, because someone would have to be refilling the paper for the printer to have kept running this long; it would have run out of paper long ago otherwise. Mistaken print jobs are sometimes notoriously difficult to stop due to many levels of buffering (application, printer driver, OS spooler, print server, printer device) and lapses in job control software.

Infinite scrolling (in the sense of an annoying UI design style for browsing large but finite documents) was previously covered in [[1309: Infinite Scrolling]]. A similar separation of the phrase "laserjet printer" has been explored in [[1681: Laser Products]].

=== Infrastructure Buzzwords ===

In the fourth panel, Beret Guy makes three more remarks.

'''Restrooms are all-digital—no pipes.''' While many technology standards nowadays are entirely digital, one's restroom is one of the things that most definitely should not be.{{Citation needed}} A restroom without pipes would have no way to bring water in and transfer wastes away, and would most certainly be at the very least an unpleasant encounter. (It's implied that the waste is being transferred digitally, although this is [[1293: Job Interview|obviously impossible]].) This could also be a pun joking with the fact that a common (in the past and reappearing recently) technology in sound amplifiers is the use of tubes, but nowadays most sound amplifiers are all-digital. So a "latest technology" restroom cannot have pipes (synonym of tubes) and has to be all-digital.

'''The Wi-Fi is very fast, but cursed.''' Fast Wi-Fi is certainly desirable, but in this case, he claims it is also cursed. Whether the curse is a side-effect of the fast Wi-Fi or totally unrelated is left unsaid, as well as what the curse is. This could possibly be a joke relating to American slang: all technology can behave inexplicably from time to time, and Wi-Fi is notorious for randomly losing connection -- this is often exaggerated and called "cursed". Knowing Beret Guy, though, [[1772: Startup Opportunity|it's probably literal]], perhaps purchased from one of the "[[1772: Startup Opportunity|mysterious shops that sell you magical items, and then it turns out they're cursed"]].

'''Our server room is carbon-neutral but produces bismuth constantly.''' Normally, {{w|carbon neutrality|carbon-neutral}} would mean that it is designed to be environmentally friendly by reducing and offsetting its carbon emissions enough that it has no net effect on the environment. The term is a little bit confusing because the meaning is of course carbon-dioxide-neutral. But while carbon is not a common material used in servers, {{w|Bismuth|bismuth}} is used as lead replacement in some {{w|solder}}s. While this replacement is often used because of the toxicity of {{w|lead}}, in this case it refers to an IBM mainframe computer where the Bi58Sn42 alloy is used because of its low temperature soldering characteristics. So producing bismuth would destroy all the electric connections in the server. An alternative explanation is a {{w|Lead-cooled fast reactor|compact nuclear reactor}} in the server room which can both make the server room carbon-neutral ''and'' leak bismuth (by creating it in the reactor). This being Beret Guy, yet another possibility is that bismuth simply appears in that room as the server operates, because he didn't want it to create carbon emissions and so it had to emit something else.

=== Lin-Manuel Miranda ===

In the last two panels, Beret Guy explains that Ponytail will be working on the infrastructure, which is apparently maintained by {{w|Lin-Manuel Miranda}}. He is among other things a songwriter but certainly not an engineer or anyone qualified to be responsible for an entire infrastructure.{{citation needed}} Ponytail knows about his songs and thus surprised asks if he is also an engineer. (This echoes [[1665: City Talk Pages]], which includes a train station designed by {{w|Andrew Lloyd Webber}}, a composer best known for writing ''{{w|The Phantom of the Opera}}'').

It is worth noting that Beret Guy actually acknowledges the mistake here, claiming the mistake "cost a fortune." This is unusual for Beret Guy, as he has of yet failed to acknowledge or recognize the oddity of every other aspect of his mysterious business, many of which are certainly stranger than this. However, he doesn't seem to mind this at all and does not wish to fire him. Instead he plans on fixing the mistake by hiring a real network engineer, Ponytail, to do the work alongside Miranda. Because, as Beret Guy continues to explain, the bright side of having Lin-Manuel Miranda in his business overshadows the lost fortune. Apparently Lin-Manuel Miranda is really nice and he makes {{w|karaoke}} nights fun, a clear reference to his engaging stage presence and vocal skills.

Off screen, Lin-Manuel Miranda is heard singing "{{w|How Far I'll Go}}", which is a song that he composed for the Disney movie ''{{w|Moana (2016 film)|Moana}}''. It was nominated for an {{w|Academy Awards|Oscar}} for {{w|Academy Award for Best Original Song|Best Original Song}} in the {{w|89th Academy Awards|2017 show}} just a few weeks prior to this comic.

=== Title Text ===

The title text mentions the potential dangers of having your server room constantly produce bismuth, but only as a prelude to a bismuth/business pun. Because of the earlier carbon reference, it could also be a parallel to the difficulty in convincing businesses to become more energy efficient and reduce greenhouse gas emissions despite the urgency, as [[Randall]] has [[:Category:Climate change|often referred]] to in xkcd with [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]].

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy shakes hands with Ponytail in front of a building while he points at the two large double doors under an unreadable sign.]
:Beret Guy: Hi! Welcome to the team!
:Beret Guy: We do business here and we'll turn into dirt later.

:[Beret Guy and Ponytail walk by three bikes.]
:Beret Guy: This is our main campus.
:Beret Guy: We have a free bikeshare system, at least until whoever owns those bikes finds out.

:[Beret Guy points forward as they walk on.]
:Beret Guy: The LaserJet is over there, and the printer is over there.
:Beret Guy: You can't use it right now; it's been printing an infinite-scroll webpage since 2013.

:[Zoom in on their heads.]
:Beret Guy: Restrooms are all-digital - no pipes.
:Beret Guy: The WiFi is very fast, but cursed.
:Beret Guy: Our server room is carbon-neutral but produces bismuth constantly.

:[Beret Guy has turned towards an off-panel Ponytail holding a hand out towards her.]
:Beret Guy: You'll be working on our infrastructure, which is currently maintained by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

:[Zoom out to both facing each other. From the right singing is heard from off-panel, as indicated with two musical notes.]
:Ponytail: ...The songwriter? Is he also an engineer?
:Beret Guy: Nope, huge misunderstanding on our part. Cost a fortune. But he's really nice and it makes karaoke nights fun.
:Lin-Manuel Miranda (off-panel): ''How far I'll gooo''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Climate change]]
[[Category:Comics with cursed items]]

Talk:2294: Coronavirus Charts

2020-04-16T16:42:40Z

172.68.174.82:

It must be because there aren't any numbers along the axes [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.104|172.69.34.104]] 23:53, 15 April 2020 (UTC)

I want to know if this is a random sketch with silly labels, or if Randall looked up actual data to plot it. It seems to be a combination of 4 metrics which might be reported somewhere (search popularity, death rate, total reported cases, and number of tests performed). I suspect there aren't many countries/regions for which all 4 are available, but it's conceivable that someone's published enough stats to draw this crazy plot. ¬[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 01:39, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
:What would negative results in a google search be? How do you make them a graph axis? I think its just random labels on graphs. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 05:12, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
::It doesn't say negative test results for a google search. It's the number of people who've tested negative for the disease, divided by the number of people who've searched google for it. I'm moderately surprised that nobody's yet started a list of links to various data soources that could be used to plot this graph. Does Google provide per-country search frequencies? ¬[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 09:34, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
:::[https://trends.google.com/trends/explore/GEO_MAP/1587034200?hl=en-US&tz=420&date=today+3-m&q=covid&sni=3 Google Trends] is always normalized so that the data returned is in [0, 100], and denormalizing out of relative values back to raw numbers is almost impossible. The best you can do is get a unitless proportion by comparing to a second search term chosen as one which doesn't vary much over time. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.203|172.68.142.203]] 10:54, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
::::From the docs, looks like that data is simply scaled. "A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular [as its most popular day]". Using that 0-100 number as if it were an actual number of people should give the same graph, just with the units on the X-axis offset by some value. Positioning the graphs relative to each other would be harder, as the "Interest by region" chart doesn't follow the same rules; we're lacking good data for the ratio between one country and another. [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 13:48, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Is the y-axis ''(death_today + cases_aweekago)/capita'' or ''death_today + (cases_aweekago/capita)''? This would hugely effect the weighting of the two terms. (Parentheses in second interpretation are for clarity only, I know they change nothing mathematically.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.9|172.69.54.9]] 09:03, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
:Perhaps it is intentionally ambiguous to support the main point about bad charts. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.203|172.68.142.203]] 10:54, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
:I assumed the latter; but the page here seems to assume the former. Either way, one of the results will dwarf the other. [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 13:48, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

The 19th COVID19 comic... :-) almost in a row. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:40, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

I tried my hand at graphing the data for the United States, in this spreadsheet here: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1W1ttxu9Dths5uOLOzk7VHd78hXG0EgeMkW5TCtdgtqw/edit?usp=sharing]. If anybody is motivated enough to add data from other countries, go ahead. As it is, this data doesn't really look anything like what Randall graphed, making me think that he just made up the lines. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.82|172.68.174.82]] 16:42, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Talk:721: Flatland

2020-03-12T02:34:17Z

172.68.174.82:

There might be another comic in this joke with Cueball's last line "That was out of line." Where a line would be a 2-dimensional object. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 21:58, 29 October 2012 (UTC)
 Point of order - a line is a ONE dimensional object (and a point is a zero dimensional object) -- mwburden [[Special:Contributions/70.91.188.49|70.91.188.49]] 14:32, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

:True, but in the book "lines" were in fact extremely flat triangles. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 21:33, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Also, how has nobody noticed the "What's up?" line from the square? This could be a double - or even a triple entendre, meaning "What is the nature of 'up'?", "What is located in the upward direction?" or "What's going on?". The first two would be plays on the square's inability to sense 'up', which is the general idea of the Flatland story. [[Special:Contributions/193.88.197.67|193.88.197.67]] 07:35, 3 September 2013 (UTC)

It might be worth noting that there isn't a playable demo yet (unfortunately :P ) [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.188|199.27.128.188]] 18:18, 20 February 2015 (UTC)[http://vectorlightning.tumblr.com VectorLightning] (Guest)

Hidden DoodleBob reference!! -- [[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 8:17, 11 September 2016 (EDT)

<code>sudo sudo</code> is another undocumented command and says "Too much recursion" if entered. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.154|162.158.165.154]] 16:05, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Should the UniXKCD section be put on its own page? It has nearly nothing to do with the actual comic. [[User:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8]] ([[User talk:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|talk]]) 21:09, 4 April 2018 (UTC)
:Yes it should. I have done so. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:06, 6 April 2018 (UTC)

Wait, he played a demo in 2010? It's 2019 and there's still no full release, so where the hell can I find this demo? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.90|172.68.65.90]] 02:09, 16 October 2019 (UTC)

This was just after PAX East (Boston, 26-28 March 2010), one of the only times Miegakure was shown publicly; Randall probably had a chance to play it then. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.82|172.68.174.82]] 02:34, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

2277: Business Greetings

2020-03-06T05:39:51Z

172.68.174.82: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2277
| date = March 6, 2020
| title = Business Greetings
| image = business_greetings.png
| titletext =
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EYEBALL LICKER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The coronavirus is a big deal (citation needed). As a reaction, people are refraining from personal contact. This leads to conflicts with customs in the workplace - eg shaking hands at the beginning.

This comic parodies that by claiming people are reacting to the virus by avoid "licking eyeballs" at starts of meeting. Virus or not, it is not normal lick eyeballs at meetings (citation needed).

This comic does not appear to have a title-text. It is possible that this is to prevent further spread of the coronavirus (citation needed).

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

{{comic discussion}}

326: Effect an Effect

2020-02-25T23:51:55Z

172.68.174.82: Added source for victory marking.

{{comic
| number = 326
| date = October 8, 2007
| title = Effect an Effect
| image = effect_an_effect.png
| titletext = Time to paint another grammarian silhouette on the side of the desktop.
}}

==Explanation==
[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/affect "Affect"] and [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/effect?s=t "effect"] can each both be noun and verb, share the sense of ''influence'', and are often confused. (See the usage note under "Affect".)

In careful speech, both words (as verbs) are similar but not identical. "Affect" is /əˈfɛkt/ (or uh-'''fekt''') and "effect" is /ɪˈfɛkt/ (or ih-'''fekt'''). However, for some people, these words are {{w|homophones}} — it's also explained here: [http://www.writingforward.com/grammar/homophones/homophones-affect-vs-effect homophones affect vs effect].

"Effect" is usually a noun, meaning ''a result'', and "affect" usually a verb, meaning ''to act upon''. "Effect" as a verb has the slightly different meaning ''to bring about''. [[Cueball]] says that the foreign policy ''causes'' the situation, not, as the "grammar nazi" thinks, that it ''changes'' the situation.

The title of the comic translates to ''cause or bring about a result'', which is just what Cueball does! It can also be seen as a play on words, being similar to the phrase "cause and effect."

The title text refers to the {{w|Victory marking}} practice common among fighter pilots in a war zone. Fighter pilots who score a "kill" on an opposing aircraft will have a silhouette of the downed plane painted on the side of their plane as a way of keeping track of kills. In this sense, Cueball "shot down," figuratively speaking, an online (grammar) nazi, and would mark it by painting a silhouette on the side of his computer.

See also [[1429: Data]].

==Transcript==
:My Hobby:
:Using the more obscure meanings of "affect" and "effect" to try to trip up amateur grammar Nazis.
:Cueball: I think that our foreign policy effects the situation.
:Computer: You mean "affects."
:Cueball: tee hee hee

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Language]]

1081: Argument Victory

2020-02-21T03:15:30Z

172.68.174.82: Added a link and a reference, reworded a sentence slightly

{{comic
| number = 1081
| date = July 13, 2012
| title = Argument Victory
| image = argument victory.png
| titletext = Really, the comforting side in most conspiracy theory arguments is the one claiming that anyone who's in power has any plan at all.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is arguing with a {{w|conspiracy theorist}}, who is sitting in front of his computer talking back. They are probably using {{w|Skype}}, {{w|FaceTime}}, or another video calling service, as Cueball later asks him to watch closely, holding his phone up to show the other guy what he is doing.

Cueball's opponent seems to ignore all reliable sources, like {{w|Snopes}} and {{w|Wikipedia}} on top of several {{w|Academic journal|journals}}, instead preferring sources that are seemingly not credible (but that do agree with him). These conspiracy ".net" pages typically just have a black background and uses several different sizes of fonts, the larger (and probably also in bright colors), the more convincing, seems to be the belief, and Cueball cannot take these kind of sources seriously. ".net" websites can be made by anyone and have little limitations. The maker of a ".net" does not need to show sources of information, or even their name. As such, ".net" websites are notoriously unreliable and often have viruses or other malware. [http://zapatopi.net/blackhelicopters/ The Truth about Black Helicopters] is an example of one such website, supposedly explaining the truth behind government "Black Helicopters".

The conspiracy theorist insists that by trusting reliable sources, Cueball is simply buying in to the cover-up. Cueball says he can win the argument, and will show him how, and then ceases to argue further in favor of going down a {{w|waterslide}} while holding up the phone to show the other guy how to have a good time. Since conspiracy theorists tend to be [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intransigent intransigent], Cueball sees himself as the victor after ceasing to argue with a guy who cannot be argued with, and instead decides to have some fun. This is made even more satisfying for Cueball by the fact that it makes his opponent angry. It's likely that this is also a reference to the ''[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/your-argument-is-invalid "Your Argument is Invalid"]'' meme.

The joke here is also in the title of the comic which is ''[http://imgur.com/EKkAXgR Argument Victory]'' something that is very hard to achieve by on the web... Cueball won this victory not by arguing but by stopping this argument he was having with someone that could/would not be argued with, such as going down a waterslide.

The title text points out that belief in a conspiracy presupposes that those with the power to carry out the conspiracy actually have a plan, a situation which might be found more "comforting" than the alternative that those in power are just muddling through with no plan at all. This concept is revisited in [[1274: Open Letter]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, looking right, is talking at his smartphone while holding it up in front of his head using both hands.]
:Cueball: I can't believe you're so wrong. I'm backed by Snopes, Wikipedia, and a half-dozen journals. You're citing .net pages with black backgrounds and like 20 fonts each.

:[A conspiracy theorist is sitting in front of this lap top at his desk looking left. He has his hair combed down. He is talking to Cueball via his laptop, probably Skyping.]
:Conspiracy theorist: It's sad how you buy into the official story so unquestioningly.
:Conspiracy theorist: Guess some people ''prefer'' to stay asleep.

:[Back to Cueball who has lowered his phone a bit. The reply from the conspiracy theorist is shown to come out of the phone with a jagged arrow and likewise speech bubble.]
:Cueball: Watch closely— I'm about to win this argument.
:Conspiracy theorist (reply from phone): How?

:[Cueball is sitting at the very top of a waterslide preparing to descend.]
:Cueball: By ''going down a waterslide''.

:[A split panel, with a close-up of the conspiracy theorist above and below Cueball is sliding down the waterslide with both hands above his head, water splashing up behind him as he holds his smartphone above the water in one hand.]
:Conspiracy theorist: So? What does that prove?
:Cueball: ''Wheee..''

:[Another split panel, this time a smaller part is used for the close-up of the conspiracy theorist above and below Cueball has more of this panels space for sliding down to the bottom of the waterslide with both hands above his head, water still splashing up behind him as he continues to keep his smartphone above the water in one hand.]
:Conspiracy theorist: You didn't win the argument!
:Cueball: ''...eeee!''
:Cueball: ''Sploosh!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Internet]]

1076: Groundhog Day

2020-02-20T23:20:23Z

172.68.174.82: Made a particular statement more neutral

{{comic
| number = 1076
| date = July 2, 2012
| title = Groundhog Day
| image = groundhog_day.png
| titletext = If you closely examine the cosmic background radiation, you can pick up lingering echoes of 'I Got You Babe'.
}}

==Explanation==
''{{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day}}'' is a philosophical comedy film from 1993. The main character Phil, portrayed by {{w|Bill Murray}}, finds himself in a {{w|time loop}}, which forces him to relive the same day (February 2) over and over again. This date is the titular {{w|Groundhog Day}}, which is celebrated in {{w|Punxsutawney}}, Pennsylvania, where the film is set. The folklore ritual consists in removing a {{w|groundhog}} from its burrow. If the sun is shining and the groundhog can see its own shadow, the winter is assumed to continue for six more weeks.

During the course of the film, Phil makes more and more drastic attempts to end the time loop, but not even suicide can prevent his waking up every morning on February 2 with the clock radio on his nightstand invariably playing ''{{w|I Got You Babe}}'' by {{w|Sonny & Cher}}. Eventually, his character improves and he finds himself increasingly attached to a woman named Rita (portrayed by {{w|Andie MacDowell}}). The pair gets closer, and in the end they have sex with each other. This breaks the time loop, and Murray's character can finally wake up on February 3. However, this final scene is disputed, as Phil is still wearing the same clothes as the night before. It is therefore left in doubt if they did anything more than literally sleep in the same bed. [[Randall]] was apparently not aware of this and [http://blog.xkcd.com/2012/07/02/groundhog-day-correction/ apologised] for it.

The comic assumes that the loop was indeed not broken, and that Phil and Rita simply had sex night after night for all eternity. It is then stated that ''not even forever is forever''. This can be explained with the mathematical set theory developed by {{w|Georg Cantor}}. Cantor distinguished between {{w|transfinite numbers}}, which are larger than all finite numbers, yet not {{w|infinite}}, and the concept of {{w|Absolute Infinity}}, which he equaled with {{w|God}}. It was a common concern in Cantor's time to preserve the consistency between mathematics and Christian belief. Cantor's philosophical conception of infinity would allow the comic's scenario to eventually reach the transfinite date of February 3.

The last panel references the {{w|Ussher chronology|chronology of the history of the world}} of Archbishop {{w|James Ussher}}. Ussher deduced the age of the world from the timeline of the {{w|Old Testament}} and calculated the date of {{w|Genesis creation myth|Creation}} to have been nightfall preceding 23 October, 4004 BC. The comic observes that October 23 is exactly 264 days after February 3, which corresponds to the average length of pregnancy. This calculation draws on Ussher's own methodology, which was basically to add the lifespans of the Old Testament genealogy. Although the universe is believed by many to be much older than 6000 years, chronologies like Ussher's can sometimes be found in the arguments of {{w|young earth creationism}}. The comic might therefore be seen as a sideswipe to these theories by introducing ''Groundhog Day'' as a possible creation myth. The {{w|creation myth}}s of many cultures claim that Earth was born by some sort {{w|Mother goddess|primordial mother}}. Here, this role would be assumed by Rita.

The title text refers to the {{w|Cosmic microwave background|cosmic microwave background radiation}}, which is often called the ''lingering sound'' of the {{w|Big Bang}} and regarded as a strong proof for it. If the universe were indeed the offspring of the film's protagonists, we might hear the faint echo of Murray's radio clock lingering in the cosmic background.

==Transcript==
:''Groundhog Day'' really didn't end that way. When Bill Murray finally slept with Rita, it '''didn't''' break the loop.
:[Phil Connors and Rita gettin' busy under the covers of his bed.]
:They just kept having sex, night after night,
:[Bed containing Phil and Rita repeats.]
:February 2nd after February 2nd...
:[Calendar page repeats.]
:..forever
:But nothing is forever. Not even forever
:And the day '''''after''''' that sexual infinity
:[Calendar page shows '''Feb 3.''']
:was February 3rd.
:264 days later (the length of a pregnancy) was October 23rd —
:[An enormous explosion in space.]
:Bishop Ussher's date for the birth of our world.

==Trivia==
The comic mentions Bill Murray by his own name, and not by his character's (''Phil''), whereas Andie MacDowell is mentioned as ''Rita''. This could be subconsciously done, since Murray is mostly remembered for his role in this film, although he has had many other successful ones. Alternatively, the other way round, Bill Murray is famous enough from his various other works to be recognized as an actor, while Andie MacDowell is less known to a broad audience.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

Talk:2267: Blockchain

2020-02-18T08:53:11Z

172.68.174.82:

I wonder if this is inspired by Jimmy Wales mocking the idea that Wikipedia should use blockchain on Twitter the other day: [https://twitter.com/jimmy_wales/status/1226868636020805632] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.88|162.158.214.88]] 22:56, 12 February 2020 (UTC)
:It might also be related to a 2018 paper by the NIST which included a flowchart to explain why you didn't need a blockchain [https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ir/2018/NIST.IR.8202.pdf] (Flowchart on page 42) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.134|162.158.126.134]] 00:42, 13 February 2020 (UTC)
:Wikipedia really has no need to secure data changes, that's the definition of a wiki. Is there ANY benefit AT ALL to changing that? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.211.166|172.68.211.166]] 01:00, 13 February 2020 (UTC)
::No, but according to blockchain enthusiasts, they have some sort of legal obligation to (in order to prevent piracy or illegal porn distribution, apparently). This is as ridiculous as it sounds. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 01:23, 13 February 2020 (UTC)
:::Never mind that [https://www.thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/02/04/bitcoinsv-blockchain-child-abuse-imagery/ at least one blockchain] has images of child abuse written into it... --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 02:06, 13 February 2020 (UTC)
:::Immutable signed history of every furtive access of illicit resources, coming soon to an interface near you! Who ''wouldn't'' want a global record of their porn, drug, & unlicensed content usage, written permanently for all to see? ;S
:::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 08:07, 13 February 2020 (UTC)
:A similar flowchart is the first one in https://medium.com/@sbmeunier/when-do-you-need-blockchain-decision-models-a5c40e7c9ba1 --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.84|162.158.94.84]] 08:13, 13 February 2020 (UTC)
When I first saw this explanation I though "WTF, wall of text. TL;DR". Then I saw the comment of why it's still considered incomplete. And then I actually read the whole thing. And "unfortunately" I think all this is needed to explain the comic to someone who doesn't know what blockhains are, why they can be problematic and why they are not THE default solution to implement. So I'd vote for removing the incomplete tag. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 09:13, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

So, as with the (current) bit of explanation of "blockchain is only potentially useful if you need a data store that must never be erased, must be auditable, and where lots of people need to write to it but none of them can be trusted to have control over it", there I was thinking that this would be ''exactly'' what you need for the democratic process of voting. (''Despite'' [[2030|this]]!) ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.236|162.158.155.236]] 19:16, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

: Maybe I should adjust that to read "administrative control" or something like that, because while it is true that lots of people need to cast ballots, there are still limitations on who is allowed to vote in any given election, so you need to bring in proofs of identity and residency, which the blockchain is poorly suited to handle. Why should everyone in the world have a say on e.g. a list of who is resident in my state? And if you're going to say that only some people have permission to modify that list, it doesn't need to be a blockchain.
: You'll also still need to trust the companies making and operating the application, who haven't exactly had a great showing for themselves when it comes to handling governance of {{w|The DAO (organization)|large organizations}}. --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 21:34, 13 February 2020 (UTC)
:In most countries, there is additional specific requirement for voting: while only specific list of people are allowed to vote, it shouldn't be possible to verify how specific person voted. I think that blockchain won't exactly make this simpler. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:09, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.82|172.68.174.82]]
The real flow chart goes like this: Should I use block chain?-> Users of app cant be sure they can trust developer not to build a network that said developer could exploit for fraud and must therefore distribute the server between all users to be sure no one modifies the data, thus ensuring all transactions can be validated by anyone -> Yes: Otherwise NO!!!

2269: Phylogenetic Tree

2020-02-17T06:13:45Z

172.68.174.82: meow!

{{comic
| number = 2269
| date = February 17, 2020
| title = Phylogenetic Tree
| image = phylogenetic_tree.png
| titletext = And I was kicked out of my March Madness pool because I wouldn't shut up about the evidence for NBA/ABA endosymbiosis.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PHYLOGENETIC TREE WITH MARCH MADNESS BRACKETS. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The title text shows the inverse of what the comic says: apparently the March Madness pool removed Munroe after he tried to introduce biology-related evidence.

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

:[A circular phylogenetic tree is shown, with various parts of the tree colored red, green, blue, and black.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I was kicked off the biology project after I secretly replaced all the phylogenetic trees in our new paper with March Madness brackets.

{{comic discussion}}

2266: Leap Smearing

2020-02-11T02:18:00Z

172.68.174.82: Why do the clocks say it's 3AM? They don't.

{{comic
| number = 2266
| date = February 11, 2020
| title = Leap Smearing
| image = leap_smearing.png
| titletext = Some people suspect that it started as a "No, I didn't forget Valentine's Day" excuse that got out of hand.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SMEARED LEAP SECOND. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic references the practice that Google uses on its services of 'smearing' a leap second over the course of a 24-hour period[https://developers.google.com/time/smear]. The joke arises from the idea of expanding this idea - instead of just using it for leap seconds, using it for leap days,
like that of this upcoming February. In the comic, the extra day is spread out over the course of the surrounding month, which would be very inconvenient for those following it, due to the fact that it would be out of sync with the rotation of the earth for most of the course of the month.

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

[Cueball, Ponytail, and Hairy are standing up, staring at a clock on a wall that displays a time of 3:02 AM.]
Cueball: Why do the clocks say it's 3AM?
Ponytail: Adding an extra day creates too many glitches. Instead, we're just running our clocks 3.4% slower during February, to avoid the irregularity.

[Caption:] This year, Google has expanded their leap second "smearing" to cover leap days as well.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:191: Lojban

2018-10-29T23:38:42Z

172.68.174.82:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRsPheErBj8 --[[Special:Contributions/79.67.240.72|79.67.240.72]] 16:02, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

- What can we learn from this? - I've learned that unless you share your knowledge with others, the rest of your life will be very lonely and no one will understand you. - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 16:11, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

- What can we learn from 79.67.240.72? - That insults have no meaning, after you declaw them with reason. (Thank you Mr. 79.67.240.72) - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 16:15, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

I did change the transcript to the words from the Lojban picture posted here. What the hell was this former text:
la .kiubal. cusku lu da'i ganai do crebi'o la lojban gi le se cusku be do cu mulno pavysmu je logji li'u
.i la .xekrimapku. cusku lu .i .ie ku'i cusku fi le prenu klesi poi certu la lojban li'u
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:38, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

- That's how a transcript would be written in a Lojban text; {.kiubal.}, for instance, is a Lojbanisation of "cueball", and {lu} and {li'u} are open/close quotation marks. It would have been right if this wiki was in Lojban, but since it's in English, it's debatable. I guess the current version is easier for the readership to read. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.225|141.101.98.225]] 13:14, 5 November 2013 (UTC)
:I would be happy if you could do an explain on this. I just did check the transcript, and I am not native Lojban ;). So, if there are any important differences, it has to be explained here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:56, 5 November 2013 (UTC)
::This also could mean changing the transcript again, but then it has to be explained.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:58, 5 November 2013 (UTC)
::It also was not correct, as .xekrimapku. is not a legal cmene. Maybe "xekrimapuk."? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.40|173.245.54.40]] 01:25, 17 March 2016 (UTC)

I would really like to know which of the two alternative interpretations given in the entry text is actually supported by the Lojban translation, though... being a proclaimed unambiguous language and all [[Special:Contributions/162.158.83.210|162.158.83.210]] 18:56, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

162.158.83.210, Lojban is syntactically unambiguous. It is not, and does not claim to be, semantically unambiguous. I don't think that's even possible. Even if Lojban was semantically unambiguous, there would still be multiple ways to translate it into English, another semantically ambiguous language.

2007: Brookhaven RHIC

2018-06-15T17:30:23Z

172.68.174.82: Fix number of electrons; the wikipedia page and the title text indicate that all 79 electrons have been stripped at the point that he proposes diverting the ions

{{comic
| number = 2007
| date = June 15, 2018
| title = Brookhaven RHIC
| image = brookhaven_rhic.png
| titletext = "Buddy, you trying to pull something? I can't buy this gold--all the electrons are missing. I could face serious charges!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CASH FOR GOLD SALESMAN - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The {{w|Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider}} is a particle accelerator designed to collide gold ions together at incredibly high speeds. This is normally done to study particle physics - the high-energy collisions allow us to learn more about how subatomic particles behave.

Randall proposes that, instead of using the beam of gold ions for particle collisions, it should be diverted and sold at cash-for-gold stores to make money. The joke is that because they are traveling at relativistic speeds, the mass of the particles being sold will be much more than the mass of the ions being supplied to the collider's input. However, it would be very difficult to sell a beam of charged particles. The amount of gold involved is microscopic, and since the particle beam is moving at relativistic speeds, it wouldn't stay in the shop long enough to make a sale{{Citation needed}}. It would also be very dangerous. This is probably why Brookhaven rejected Randall's proposal. Randall has done many comics describing impractical research proposals.

The title text imagines the owner of the stores complaining about the sale, not because of impracticality, but because Randall is selling gold ions (the entire positively-charged nucleus of the gold atom with all 79 electrons stripped from it; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativistic_Heavy_Ion_Collider) instead of normal, electrically neutral gold atoms. This is a pun on the word "charges", which could refer to {{w|electric charge}} or to {{w|criminal charge|criminal charges}}.

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

:[A single panel contains a simplified overhead map view of the Brookhaven Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and some of the surrounding area. The collider is located on the left hand side of the image as a yellow beam (representing the Gold ions) outlined in black. Parts of the collider are are labeled and there are light gray arrows indicating the direction of travel for the ions. At the bottom of the main accelerator ring there is a diverter that splits the ion beam and directs it towards a set of three Cash for Gold stores, passing through a more diverters along the way. Each Cash for Gold store is represented with a yellow burst and is marked with a Google maps style "store" locator pin. The following labels are written on the map.]

:Brookhaven Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
:Gold Ion Source
:Accelerator Ring
:Diverter
:Gold Ion Beam

:[There are arrows coming from this label pointing at each store]
:Cash for Gold Stores

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Sadly, Brookhaven rejected my proposed experiment.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1965: Background Apps

2018-03-09T19:10:47Z

172.68.174.82: /* Not necessarily true */

Honestly, the fact that there isn't closing tag doesn't bother me that much. It might bother me more if HTML tags were the same length. When I
first started HTML, I styled all my opening tags with a space < like-this>, just so it could be the same length as a closing tag, </like-this>.
It worked, but I eventually gave up and accepted it... [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 18:50, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

== App closing advice ==
Okay, so I've never edited before, but I found an article from a year and a half ago [https://www.wired.com/2016/03/closing-apps-save-battery-makes-things-worse/ here] that relates to closing apps and batteries. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.211.244|172.68.211.244]] 16:22, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

That's better than the CNET article I found. Updated to use yours, thanks. [[User:TheAnvil|TheAnvil]] ([[User talk:TheAnvil|talk]]) 17:52, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

== Not necessarily true ==
This sounds like good advice if you have a flagship phone with boatloads of RAM, but those of us that have to save money by having a midrange or budget phone absolutely can not leave everything running and using RAM when not in use. On my Nexus 5X (2GB) if I don't close absolutely everything other than what I am actively using the phone will run too slow to be useful, and some apps will even crash. Especially true with Google Maps which just dominates resources. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.52|172.69.69.52]] 17:57, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

I don't know how Android works, but on iOS, if low on memory, the system [https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/iPhone/Conceptual/iPhoneOSProgrammingGuide/TheAppLifeCycle/TheAppLifeCycle.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007072-CH2-SW3 will automatically purge background apps] to free up RAM. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.82|172.68.174.82]] 19:10, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

== Meaning of "<marquee>" banner ==
It may be that the "<marquee>" banner is not a blank template but rather a reference to the obsolete HTML tag (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/marquee).
* You're absolutely right, except that "deprecated" is only half the story: it was never a W3C-compliant tag to start with (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquee_element). And, given the nature of plane-pulled banners, it's also very obviously a reference to the similarity of behavior. Plus, it also meshes with the title-text, since that also delves into HTML both by talking about the Div tag and by the fact that the plane-pulled marquee tag is also un-closed. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.95|108.162.238.95]] 16:58, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

Talk:619: Supported Features

2017-10-12T21:55:28Z

172.68.174.82:

Note that the major reason why is easier for Linux to supports 4096 CPUs than smooth flash playback is that flash is proprietary format and without cooperation from Adobe very little can be done with it. For example, most of Adobe products, flash player included (since version 11), are now compiled with SSE2 support in a way which makes them not work at all on CPUs which don't have such capability. Noone except Adobe can do anything with it, and Adobe apparently don't consider it problem. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:05, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Who is this we that he refers to in the title-text. Is it him and his Intel card, him and his fiance, is he royalty, or does he simply have a tapeworm with good taste in political comedy? [[Special:Contributions/66.249.85.193|66.249.85.193]] 21:50, 23 October 2013 (UTC)

http://asset.soup.io/asset/0453/8747_0991_800.png (Changelog for xorg; "Fixes XKCD #619")
Sudofox (I haven't made an account. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.31|108.162.216.31]] 19:13, 29 December 2013 (UTC)

The commit that added 4096 CPUs support was [https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/1184dc2ffe2c8fb9afb766d870850f2c3165ef25 1184dc2] by Mike Travis from SGI (which sells systems with that many CPUs); see also [https://events.linuxfoundation.org/slides/lfcs09_travis.pdf this presentation] by him.
However, that commit was soon reverted in [https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/d25e26b61d59370eee8b7f2634641eb0fa76e952 d25e26b] because it caused too many problems (big CPU mask → some huge stack frames), with a comment that “Some day we'll have allocation helpers that allocate large CPU masks dynamically, but in the meantime we simply cannot allow cpumasks this large.”
Today, [https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/1e3827bf8aebe29af2d6e49b89d85dfae4d0154f/arch/x86/Kconfig#L778 up to 8192 CPUs are supported], so presumably they do have these helpers now :) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.230.95|108.162.230.95]] 09:03, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

:I put some paragraph spacing in your comment because it is difficult to follow on the edit page.
:The problems of computer engineering mirror the difficulties faced by producers of machinery everywhere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_calculator
:It doesn't matter what level of technical genius their builders attain nor in which field they exert their energy, Linux machines will be cold-shouldered because Microsoft's is the only code that allows users to work with a cludge like Flash.
:This sort of thing will continue as long as vested interests allow such indecencies to exist. Blaise Pascal never had the luxury of working in tens. It took a famine, an egregious tax system (rather similar to that of the USA's) and a revolution to improve things. Perhaps we can learn something from history?
:
:In 2009, when this comic was published, most computers being sold were 4 cores. The problem was the dissipation of heat and incidental costs of electricity used. Manufactures could see the wall presented by frequency oscillations. Having 4000 CPUs/cores/threads/whatever just meant you had a hotter frying pan.

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 08:18, 29 January 2015 (UTC)

So when is Linux going to follow the others AGAIN, had to wait til the rest did flash, before they discontinue flash support like MS and Mozilla, and all. This is why there never be a year of the linux desktop as they do not care about desktop users. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 13:33, 28 July 2017 (UTC)

Hey look, this was fixed [https://github.com/jjneely/elrepo/blob/master/xorg-x11-drv-intel/el6/xorg-x11-drv-intel.spec#L259 here]!
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.82|172.68.174.82]] 21:55, 12 October 2017 (UTC)